🌿 Folk Prescriptions

With summer arriving, those who feel self-conscious about their weight can no longer sit still—more people are turning to acupuncture for weight loss.
Miss Zhang has already completed her second course of acupuncture weight loss treatment. She feels that acupuncture is the most effective method among all she has tried, and importantly, she doesn’t need to restrict her diet. When the doctor inserted small silver needles into her forearm, she couldn’t help exclaiming, “It’s so numb!” Tingling, numbness, heaviness, and distension are normal sensations during acupuncture, indicating stimulation of the acupoints.
Associate Professor Lin Guohua from the Acupuncture Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine says acupuncture is not exclusive to summer, but regarding the best timing for acupuncture weight loss, summer offers better results. Since acupuncture mainly regulates the spleen and stomach, and metabolism is closely related to these organs, obese individuals typically have phlegm-damp constitution. In summer, it's ideal to warm and supplement the yang qi of the spleen and kidneys—this is known as "harmony between man and nature."
During summer, external yang energy is abundant, making it easier to correct internal imbalances than in colder seasons. Additionally, the heat promotes metabolism, and combined with acupuncture, facilitates the elimination of phlegm-dampness, improving obesity at the constitutional level.
1. Individuals with general obesity or localized abdominal obesity.
Since the abdomen lies along the spleen and stomach meridians, acupuncture targeting these channels produces the most significant effects on abdominal slimming.
2. Patients with simple obesity.
Obesity is generally categorized as simple or secondary. Simple obesity results purely from excessive intake and insufficient metabolism and can be effectively treated with acupuncture. Secondary obesity stems from certain diseases; acupuncture alone is ineffective or only temporarily effective. True weight loss requires treating the underlying disease to eliminate the root cause.
3. Individuals with abundant soft fat deposits, particularly in areas with soft fat.
Compared to hard fat, acupuncture is more suitable for reducing soft fat. The hardness of fat can be determined by touch. Doctors believe hard fat deposits form early in life due to a high number of fat cells, which cannot be reduced through acupuncture alone, so acupuncture has minimal effect on such deposits. Soft fat deposits consist of enlarged fat cells, making them responsive to acupuncture treatment, resulting in faster and more noticeable reduction.