Acupressure for Appetite Control and Acupuncture for Weight Loss: Principles, Techniques, and Acupoint Locations
Controlling appetite with massage
The human body has nearly two hundred tiny acupressure points. These points can alleviate, control, and even cure more than two hundred and fifty ailments. The acupressure techniques described below can reduce hunger and, when used in conjunction with other methods, can also promote weight loss.
1. Pre-meal lip pressure method
Place your index finger on the philtrum (the area between the nose and upper lip) and your thumb on the front of your upper lip. Quickly pinch 30 times within 10 seconds. This method can control appetite and reduce the feeling of hunger in the stomach.
2. Stomach pressure method during meals
During a meal, use the tips of your index and middle fingers to press the center point between your sternum and navel about 30 times within 10 seconds. This method can fill your stomach and control hunger.
3. Avoid snacking while using acupressure.
Use the tips of two fingers to press on the inside of your wrist, slowly moving from below your thumb to in front of your little finger. You can use either hand.
4. Acupressure for tension and cravings
Many obese people tend to overeat when they are stressed or anxious. In such cases, they can use their left and right hands to press each other's fingers from below the index finger all the way to the elbow joint. This can relieve tension, reduce stress, and change the bad habit of wanting to eat due to tension.
Acupuncture for weight loss
A beautiful figure is a relentless pursuit for modern people. There are countless methods for weight loss. After the craze for dieting, aerobics, slimming teas, and diet pills, acupuncture has quietly become popular around us. As a traditional Chinese medicine therapy, acupuncture for weight loss has become one of the most popular methods today. Women who desire a slender figure flock to acupuncture clinics, leading to a proliferation of acupuncture and weight loss beauty salons seemingly overnight.
The principle of acupuncture for weight loss
The reason acupuncture can aid in weight loss lies in its scientific basis; it can effectively regulate lipid metabolism. Obese patients have higher levels of lipid peroxides in their bodies. Acupuncture, by stimulating key acupoints for weight loss, can lower the level of lipid peroxides and accelerate fat metabolism, thereby achieving weight loss. Acupuncture for weight loss falls under the category of Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment.
One approach is to stimulate various acupoints for weight loss through acupuncture, implement a dialectical approach, dredge the meridians, regulate the balance of qi and blood, and at the same time, directly destroy fat cells, thereby reducing the number of fat cells in the body.
Secondly, it can correct the patient's abnormal appetite by regulating the nervous system and inhibiting excessive gastric acid secretion, thereby achieving the goal of not feeling weak or hungry.
Thirdly, it can effectively regulate endocrine disorders. The incidence of endocrine disorders is extremely high among obese patients. For example, women who have given birth will gain weight, not because of overnutrition, but because childbirth disrupts their endocrine balance, causing weight gain. Similarly, endocrine disorders can also cause weight gain in women during menopause.
Acupuncture corrects endocrine disorders and accelerates fat metabolism by regulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal cortex and sympathetic-adrenal cortex systems, thereby achieving weight loss.
Who is suitable for acupuncture weight loss?
Acupuncture for weight loss is particularly effective for "apple-shaped" obese patients, characterized by a large abdominal circumference but relatively less fat in the limbs; their fat mainly accumulates in the abdominal wall, mesentery, and greater omentum. This type of obesity poses a significant health risk, as it increases the likelihood of complications such as hyperlipidemia, fatty liver, heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. However, not all obese individuals achieve ideal results with acupuncture for weight loss. It is most effective for obese young and middle-aged individuals aged 20-50. During this age group, the body is more mature, and various functions are more complete, making it easier for acupuncture treatment to regulate the body's metabolic functions, promote fat breakdown, and achieve weight loss and lipid reduction.
Note that girls with the following symptoms should not use acupuncture for weight loss: during illness; bleeding disorders and anemia; less than one month of voluntary blood donation; or skin disease.
Advantages of acupuncture for weight loss
(1) Low rebound rate. Some patients still experience a sustained effect after stopping acupuncture and completing the course of treatment, that is, their weight continues to decrease slowly and gradually until they reach their ideal weight.
(2) No excessive dietary control is emphasized. Unlike many weight loss methods, acupuncture weight loss does not emphasize excessive dietary control, and especially does not advocate "starvation therapy." This is because excessive dieting can lead to anorexia in severe cases, causing digestive organ dysfunction and serious consequences; in milder cases, it can reduce the body's metabolic function, which is a potential factor for further weight gain. Once normal eating resumes, patients will continue to gain weight, and may even become heavier than before.
Acupuncture techniques
Proper acupuncture technique is very particular. When performing acupuncture for weight loss, the practitioner must be intimately familiar with the angle and depth of insertion at each acupoint. After insertion, there is the issue of needle manipulation. Needle manipulation involves "lifting, thrusting, and rotating" the needle according to the patient's condition. During acupuncture for weight loss, needles in the abdomen should not be inserted too deeply, otherwise, it may damage internal organs. This is especially important for young women with thin abdominal walls. Furthermore, the acupuncturist should be able to handle abnormal phenomena such as fainting, needle retention, bent needles, and broken needles.
Acupuncture is effective for weight loss with few side effects, making it one of the most effective methods. However, this success hinges on correct acupoint selection and treatment. Even with acupuncture for weight loss, incorrect or inaccurate acupoint selection will hinder its effectiveness. Acupoints are generally selected primarily from the abdomen (where multiple meridians such as the Ren, Spleen, Stomach, and Liver meridians are distributed), supplemented by acupoints from other areas. The selection of acupoints is similar to prescribing traditional Chinese medicine; there are specific considerations for which acupoints to use depending on the situation. For example, young people focusing on weight loss should primarily regulate their spleen and stomach, while middle-aged and elderly individuals need to regulate their spleen, stomach, liver qi, and kidney qi, requiring different acupoints.
In other words, acupuncture for weight loss must be based on traditional Chinese medicine theory and involve syndrome differentiation. It requires mastering theories such as organ-based differentiation and meridian-based differentiation, which is difficult to achieve without several years of theoretical study and clinical practice. It's also important to note that when getting acupuncture for weight loss at a beauty salon, you should check the acupuncturist's license to avoid being misled by an incompetent practitioner.
Accurate positioning
When locating acupoints for treatment, it is best to use an ear acupoint detector or probe to find the best sensitive point in the ear acupoint area. Then, accurately press the acupoint onto the sensitive point, fix it firmly, and gently rub until there is a noticeable sensation of soreness, numbness, swelling, and qi.
(1) Baihui acupoint: Prevents overeating and constipation. Baihui acupoint is located at the top of the line connecting the two ear canals. It can calm the nerves and prevent overeating.
(2) Zanzhu acupoint: Relieves eye fatigue and puffiness. Located in the depression below the eyebrow. Eye fatigue and headaches can cause puffiness around the eyes, and this acupoint can relieve discomfort.
(3) Temples: Relieve eye fatigue and puffiness. Located on both sides of the face, about one finger's width behind the area between the eyes and eyebrows, close to the hairline. This acupoint can promote metabolism.
(4) Chengqi acupoint: Prevents sagging under-eye bags. Located directly below the eyeball, near the orbital bone. Since people with stomach prolapse are prone to sagging under-eye bags, this acupoint can improve stomach function, thereby preventing sagging under-eye bags.
(5) Bulboushou Point: Improves small intestine function. Located at the junction of the outer 1/4 and inner 3/4 of the lower edge of the eye socket. It can regulate small intestine function and help absorption.
(6) Yingxiang acupoint: relieves shoulder pain and nasal congestion. The Yingxiang acupoint is located directly below the eyeball and on both sides of the nose. This acupoint can not only eliminate eye puffiness and prevent skin sagging, but also relieve shoulder pain.
(7) Jiache acupoint: Eliminates facial swelling. Located on the cheek, about one finger-width (middle finger) in front of and above the angle of the mandible. When chewing, the masseter muscle bulges, and the depression when pressed is the Jiache acupoint. It can effectively eliminate obesity caused by excessive sugar intake.
(8) Dicang acupoint: suppresses appetite. It is located about 0.5 cm away from the corner of the mouth. If the stomach is in a state of high temperature, it will promote appetite, so the function of this acupoint is to lower the stomach temperature and suppress appetite.
(9) Chengjiang acupoint: Eliminates chest edema. Located in the depression between the lower lip and chin. It can control hormone secretion, maintain skin elasticity, and prevent facial sagging.
(10) Tian Tu acupoint: Promotes the elimination of water. Located on the neck, on the front midline of the body, between the two clavicles, in the center of the suprasternal notch, it can stimulate the thyroid gland, promote metabolism, and remove excess water from the face.
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