Is acupuncture good for weight loss?

Many people think acupuncture is synonymous with pain relief. However,

another one of the benefits of acupuncture is that it can help you lose weight.

Before 1971, most people in the United States had never heard

of acupuncture. In fact, complementary and alternative medicine

in any form can be traced back to a single event that happened in

1971. A New York Times columnist, James Reston, had to have

an emergency appendectomy while visiting China to provide

media coverage of President Nixon’s visit there. When James

Reston returned from China, he wrote about acupuncture

anesthesia in China.

That famous piece in the New York Times about acupuncture

anesthesia in China is what put acupuncture on the map, and

many Westerners became intrigued with acupuncture’s benefits

for pain relief. Since that time, acupuncture has become

synonymous with pain relief, although the benefits are far more

extensive than that. Acupuncture may hold the “secret” to

maintaining a youthful appearance, hormone balance, longevity,

fertility, and a slim physique.

Auricular acupuncture (acupuncture that is done at specific

points on the ear) is known to help curb cravings for addictive

substances, including sugar, nicotine, and drugs, and it is often

used in drug rehabilitation centers to ease symptoms of

withdrawal. For weight loss acupuncture in Del Mar, CA,

auricular acupuncture is combined with meridian acupuncture at

different points on the body. While the points on the ear help to

curb cravings and withdrawal from addictive foods, the points

on the body help to balance a variety of hormones.

The hormones that are considered the most well-studied ones

involved in hunger and satiety are leptin and ghrelin.

Leptin is known as the “satiety hormone.” It is secreted by

adipose tissue (fat cells), so typically an overweight or obese

person will have a lot more circulating leptin than a lean person.

The reason why overweight or obese people continue to feel

hungry despite high levels of leptin is because they become

“leptin resistant” in the same way that a person with type 2

diabetes becomes “insulin resistant.” The body’s cells fail to

recognize the leptin (or insulin, in the case of type 2 diabetes)

because leptin is chronically elevated because of chronic

overeating and weight gain. Getting Acupuncture in Del Mar,

CA can be beneficial by helping the body’s cells to recognize

the leptin, therefore helping overweight people to feel satiated

with fewer calories.

Ghrelin is known as the “hunger hormone.” When ghrelin levels

rise, you feel hungry. After a meal, your ghrelin levels decrease

and you feel satiated. The catch-22 with weight loss diets is that

ghrelin levels increase in response to weight loss and decrease in

response to weight gain. This is why most dieters end up feeling

very hungry when they start to lose weight, so they end relying

on willpower to maintain the weight loss with a constant feeling

of deprivation and hunger. Eventually, the willpower wears off,

they eat to satiety, and the weight piles back on. Acupuncture

for weight loss works by lowering ghrelin levels so hunger

decreases even with weight loss, and the weight loss can be

maintained without having to rely on willpower and deal with a

constant feeling of hunger.