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Weight a Minute
Chinese Herbal Medicine
For weight loss:
There is a health crisis in this country and it is type 2 diabetes and obesity. It affects not only adults but more and more children are diagnosed with obesity. That extra weight increases the risks for heart disease and stroke but also certain cancers. Type 2 diabetes is a preventable disease and if we make the right choices we can avoid it, and so do our children.
The key to weight loss: blood sugar control.
Type 2 diabetes is preceded by a period of insulin resistance, where it takes more and more insulin to bring down the blood sugar. This results in massive insulin secretion, sending the blood sugar way down, which makes us want to eat, especially sweet or high carbs foods. If this is allowed to last for years, the pancreas becomes depleted and no longer can secrete insulin, establishing the onset of Type 2 diabetes.
If you burn 10 pounds of carboard in a fireplace, it will burn very hot, but for just a few minutes. If you burn 10 pounds of oakwood, it will be harder to ignite but the heat will be moderate and last for hours. Well, sugar and simple carbohydrates are similar to cardboard and complex carbohydrates and proteins burn down steady for a long time, like the oakwood. After just a few weeks on a low sugar, protein and complex carbohydrates rich diet, the food cravings subside and it is easy to lose weight.
Recently, medications prescribed for diabetes have been shown, not surprisingly, to help people loose weight. Also Berberine, and herbal extract, has been shown to have a similar effect.
In Chinese herbal Medicine, we use herbs that contain berberine, and other herbs that increase insulin sensitivity (decrease insulin resistance) . But we always take into account the whole person, it is not a one size fits all. We want to know, what medications the patient is taking, and what king of symptoms are present. Is there fluid retention, constipation, fatigue and weak digestion or an underlying hormonal imbalance? The key, here, is first not to expect immediate miracles, but to give the prescription time to work. It is also important to use it as a tool amongst other tools, such as exercise, stress reduction and lifestyle changes.
Written By: Lalou Begue, Lic. Ac.