Abdominal distension is what happens when chi stagnates in your abdominal area. This is the hub of chi flow in your body. Abdominal distension is not bloating, as it doesn’t go down, and in the initial stage it is not fat, it is not weight gain, it is just chi stagnation. This begins on an ‘energetic’ level. The organs involved are your liver, spleen and small intestine. If stagnation continues they can’t work properly and then it will lead to belly fat and a whole lot of other symptoms. If it becomes deep seated belly fat (which you can’t target with dieting) it can lead to inflammation, type 2 diabetes and other lifestyle diseases. Primary causes of abdominal distension are sedentary lifestyles (your body needs to move) and an overload of sugar and carbs. Emotional stress, a hectic lifestyle with inadequate rest; anger, frustration and resentment, and too much cold and raw food also weaken the liver, spleen and small intestine contributing to the stagnation that creates abdominal distension.

I see many clients who diet madly to try and get rid of abdominal distention, but focusing on dieting to lose weight doesn’t address the underlying cause of abdominal distension. When dieting doesn’t work, they blame the diet and try another one. This actually makes chi stagnation worse, your organs don’t like radical dieting. Focusing on keeping chi moving is a better approach. It is never just one thing behind a symptom or condition in TCM, we never look at isolated symptoms, all your organs are connected and the physical and psychological are integrated. Your self-image, for example, is directed by your liver and, as abdominal distention is liver-affiliated you can start thinking you are fat which sets of behaviours such as dieting. Book a holistic lifestyle consultation to find out what specific factors are contributing to your abdominal distension and what to do to get rid of it. The chi-cycle lifestyle keeps your chi flowing smoothly, it automatically targets abdominal distension and all of the contributing factors. For more info on the lifestyle changes that target abdominal distension read my book Clock On To Health.