With new predictions that one in two people will be obese by 2030, I’ve been delving deeper into how Chinese medicine treats obesity and weight issues.

If you want to lose weight going on a diet is your first mistake. It is based on the judgemental mindset that you have ‘lost control’ of your eating habits and that behavioural modification strategies like food diaries, calorie counting and dieting will fix that. But it won’t. It creates food anxiety and food obsession because everything revolves around food and food is not the problem.

Dieting is a decision based on deprivation. You have to give up something you may need. So even while you are saying “I’m going on a diet”, you’re silently screaming “noooo”! This is the opposite of an affirmation. Deprivation creates an imbalance and your body will naturally seek to restore balance. This is yoyo dieting and binge territory.

Dieting is a conscious decision. You have to rely on your mind but the reason you can’t resist pizza, chocolate, chips, burgers or ice-cream, even though you know you will gain weight, is that something more powerful than your mind is calling the shots. Your mind is not good at regulating your internal environment. Your organs are a system that has evolved to do this.

Hunger control comes from your organs. Metabolic rate control comes from your organs and so does willpower. If you want to lose weight you want your organs to be in charge. If your mind could do it there would be no problem. It would already be done.

Dieting doesn’t address the underlying causes of weight gain. For example, rushing meals while multi-tasking; eating while stressed or even having your coffee before food interrupts digestion and leads to nutrient deprivation. You feel something is missing and instinctively try to correct by eating more or snacking. Meals with low nutritional value create cravings; eating randomly or too late at night; skipping the wrong meals, or having midnight snacks (a major contributor to obesity) all set off a progressions of organ malfunctions that lead to weight gain.

In Chinese medicine obesity and weight gain is what we call Phlegm Turbidity Syndrome, so instead of focussing on dieting, focus on treating phlegm. I’ll be going through how ‘phlegm’ develops and how to treat it in my webinar. And I’ll get into the causes of comfort eating and bingeing. For example: food belongs to the Earth element and your stomach does as well. ‘Mother earth’ is associated with growth and nurture. If you feel lonely or alone food can become like a caring mother.

I’ll also share the Chinese herb formulas (available online), that treat Phlegm. And the Chinese medicinal herbs that reduce body weight, plus some insights on leptin and TCM, and the Chinese herbs that decrease leptin resistance.

So for a new / old way to tackle weight gain and to find out the many things you can do with lifestyle, Chinese herbs and supplements and more, check out my webinar New Ways to Lose Weight 

• Chinese medicine on weight loss
• Chinese medicine explanation of, and treatments for, obesity
• Leptins and weight loss
• Comfort eating and binge eating
• Circadian rhythm /chi-cycle and weight loss
• Emotional control, purpose and weight loss
• My energy generating system for weight loss and healthy fat / muscle ratio