A Natural and Health Guide to Weight Loss
~By Lawrence Hsiao, Licensed Acupuncturist

Have you been on too many diets lately? Do you usually regain the weight eventually no matter how hard you try? Have you tried to lose weight constantly but cannot achieve satisfying results? Do you have certain health conditions (such as migraine, indigestion, etc.) that you suspect might be related to your excess weight? If you answer yes to any of the question, then Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) may be able to help you. The program can offer you a healthy way to get off the weight loss merry-go-around so that you can maintain a healthy body for the rest of your life.

The TCM way is unlike any other “diet” program you have been on or heard about. In fact, it isn’t really a “diet program” as you have come to know it in the western world. With the TCM way, you will find that weight will come off.  You will also discover something remarkable - once you have helped your body rebalance itself and helped your five major systems (Liver, Heart, Spleen, Lung and Kidney) to work in harmony again, you can pretty much eat whatever you want! The TCM way will help you learn how to think about food in a whole new light - something that heals your body. In fact, most often you won’t have to think about or obsess about food any more, which many former dieters tell us is a big relief. Your body will let you know what it needs naturally.

How can this be?  The TCM way is unique. It’s about two things that you will not find in virtually any western diet program or product: It’s about Qi, or vital energy, your life force, and it’s about reawaking the ability to heal yourself. This is based on the ancient TCM principles, one of the oldest holistic medical systems in the world. TCM is not New Age medicine. Nor is it a basket full of different techniques. It has been in continuous use for more than five thousand years, keeping millions upon millions of individuals’ health for thousand of years. It is time-tested medicine that is just now being understood and recognized throughout the world for the tremendous benefits it can bring.

“Self- healing” can mean many things to many people. In TCM, it means awaking or recalling the body’s own inborn healing ability, a talent which everyone has, and reconnecting the internal dots so that all your systems function at their best in three ways: first in and of themselves, second with each other, and third with the Universe itself, the very ancient web into which TCM believes all things are woven. The key to powering your organs’ systems is Qi. Qi is the very life force of the Universe. It animates all things-both living and nonliving. It makes up the Sun, the Moon, the Earth, and, of course, human beings! Although Qi is an invisible force, it is as real as wind or gravity or electromagnetic. Often Qi is described as energy, but as you go through the TCM way, it will help you immensely to understand that Qi contain two essential elements: one is power, the other is the special message carried by the power.     
If you’re used to dieting the American way, the following guidelines may seem a little unusual to you. Each relates to TCM principles that have been practiced for thousands of years.

• Avoid cold fluids
• If you are used to drinking a lot of water - please stop!
• Only drink room temperature water
• Eat only cooked vegetables
• Avoid fried and barbecued foods
• Eat your heaviest foods only in the morning or early afternoon
• Eat fruits for lunch and vegetables for dinner
• Given the complexity of the digestive process, strive to eat dinner before 7:00 or 8:00 in the evening
• Eat other fruits and vegetables, but try to stick to the list because they provide a greater healing benefit for weight loss.

Digestion is a function of the whole body. It applies to food, as well as emotions and spiritual aspects of the soul. Try to process everything you put into your body in a calm, peaceful way.