Acupuncture for weight loss: Does it work?

Do you feel like you've tried it all? After countless diet and exercise plans you're still struggling to lose those extra pounds. Or are you in a constant battle to keep the weight from creeping back as soon as you relax your strict eating habits? Then maybe acupuncture could be the key to your weight loss success.

What is acupuncture?
Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese medical practice of placing fine, filiform needles into the body at specific points for therapeutic effect.

According to Dr. Neemez Kassam, Associate Professor of Asian Medicine at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, there are two schools of thought on how acupuncture works: The Western perspective whereby acupuncture releases endorphins which produce natural euphoric activity, and the traditional approach where acupuncture regulates the flow of QI, or energy, bringing the body back into balance.

Around for more than 2,500 years, this relatively painless healing technique has become more and more popular in Canada over the past two decades, and is now recognized as a safe and effective treatment for everything from migraine pain to infertility, and is often used to help with weight loss and weight management.

Should you try it?
To incorporate acupuncture into your own life, Dr. Kassam says you must first have a consultation with your chosen practitioner to clarify the reasons for your weight problem, whether physiological due to issues such as a slow metabolism, menopause or thyroid problems, or behavioural due practices like overeating and binge eating.

"If there is a craving issue and potentially an eating disorder, then that can be controlled with the acupuncture," says Dr. Kassam, "but also if it's a metabolic one, where they're not eating that much but putting on weight, then the acupuncture can help stimulate the metabolism and also their digestive system so things don't sit around as long."

Have you tried acupuncture for weight loss? Was is a success? Chat about it with fellow readers in our forums!

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