🌿 Folk Prescriptions

With summer arriving, those dissatisfied with their weight can no longer stay still—more people are turning to acupuncture for weight loss. Miss Zhang has already undergone her second course of acupuncture treatment. She finds acupuncture the most effective method among all the weight-loss techniques she’s tried, especially because she doesn’t need to restrict her diet. When the doctor inserted tiny silver needles into her forearm, she instinctively exclaimed, "It’s so tingly!" Tingling, numbness, heaviness, and distension are normal sensations during acupuncture, indicating stimulation of acupoints.
Associate Professor Lin Guohua from the Acupuncture Department at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s Tianhe Outpatient Clinic explains that acupuncture isn’t exclusive to summer, but summer is the optimal time for acupuncture-based weight loss. Acupuncture primarily regulates the spleen and stomach, both central to metabolism. Obese individuals typically have phlegm-dampness constitutions. Summer is ideal for warming the spleen and kidneys’ yang energy—this is known as "harmony between man and nature." With external yang energy abundant in summer, adjusting bodily imbalances is more effective than in colder seasons. Moreover, heat enhances metabolism, and combined with acupuncture, aids in eliminating phlegm and dampness, improving obesity at the constitutional level.
Best for Simple Generalized or Abdominal Obesity
1. Individuals with generalized obesity or localized abdominal fat. Since the abdomen lies along the spleen and stomach meridians, acupuncture targeting these channels yields the most noticeable results for abdominal slimming.
2. Those with simple obesity.
Obesity is generally categorized as simple or secondary. Simple obesity results purely from excessive intake and inadequate metabolism, and can be effectively treated with acupuncture. Secondary obesity stems from underlying diseases; acupuncture alone is ineffective or only temporarily helpful. True weight loss requires treating the root disease first.
3. Those with soft fat deposits.
Acupuncture is more effective for reducing soft fat than hard fat. Softness or hardness of fat can be determined by touch. Doctors note that hard fat deposits usually form from childhood, indicating a higher number of fat cells. Acupuncture cannot reduce cell count, so its effect on such fat is limited. Soft fat deposits result from enlarged individual fat cells, making them responsive to faster and more effective acupuncture treatment.