How Acupuncture Miami Helps in Weight Loss

Some people wonder what effect acupuncture Miami has in enabling people to lose weight.  The same people may also believe that acupuncture is merely an effective way for pain relief, nothing more nothing less.

Acupuncture, for people who do not know what acupuncture is, literally is the puncturing of needles as thin as a human hair to certain parts in the body called acupuncture points or acupoints to assist the body to heal itself.  The needles go a few inches deep and are allowed to stay in the skin for 15 to 40 minutes.  The way acupuncture works from a western medical science point of view, is by activating the nervous system and boosting the function of the circulatory system among other physiological benefits to allow the body to heal itself.  Acupoints in the skin are connected to energy thoroughfares in the body called meridians.  These meridians form a huge vast network system where chi (electromagnetic energy), or vital energy travels all over the body.

How are all of these connected to losing weight?  For one, acupuncture stimulates the release of beneficial chemicals called endorphins and enkephalins among others that allow the body to relax and remain pleasant.  These sensations neutralize the food cravings helping the individual effectively resist the craving.  Another factor where acupuncture helps in weight loss is that acupuncture improves blood circulation in the digestive system, improving its function.  This causes increased body metabolism, allowing the body to lose calories efficiently and better absorption of nutrients, which causes the body to feel sated as more nutrients are absorbed with less food intake.  As the cravings are neutralized and calories are burned efficiently, losing weight is a guaranteed result.  Proper nutrition and exercise are of course vital elements in losing weight and coupled with herbal medicine and acupuncture, weight loss is easily accomplished.

If a person’s injury prevents him/her from any exercise, acupuncture can be used as a treatment for the person’s pain and injury thus making exercise for that person possible.  Acupuncture is also utilized for treatment of extreme emotional stress such as anxiety or depression.  Extreme emotions are usually trigger points that causes a person to overeat and not to exercise.  This is another way in which acupuncture helps one’s overeating problem.

Some tips to for a healthy body and sound mind:

1.    Be conscious of your eating habits – make it a point to consider where your food came from and what type of food you eat.
2.    Exercise for vitality and strength.  Exercises are positive life changers.
3.    Have a qualified acupuncturist guide you in maintaining a healthy mind and body.
4.    Consult with an experienced herbologist for suggestions on herb intake.
5.    Live a spiritual enriching life.  Always search and follow the truth wherever it leads you.

Introduction to Acupuncture Miami

Acupuncture Miami is a non-traditional (not a part of Western medicine) treatment alternative for back or neck pain.  It is a part of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practiced for 3,000 years and its core of belief is that the body contains networks of energy channels.  The vital energy or life force flowing in the body is called qi or chi and the normal flow of chi is believed to be the reason for good mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health.  There are about 2,000 acupuncture points on the human body connecting to 20 energy channels called meridians. These channels are where chi flows throughout the body.  Acupuncture treatment is the application of reed-thin needles into certain points in the body in order to restore the normal flow of chi.  Acupuncture, though not empirically proven, has shown an ability to stimulate the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord).  Some people have experienced a tingling sensation while others felt relaxed and some become full of energy when receiving treatment.

In an acupuncture treatment session, needles ranging from 1 to 20, metallic, sterile and disposable needles are inserted with depths from just merely penetrating the skin surface to up to an inch to several inches deep.  Acupuncture needles of sizes 5 to 9 inches long are used in the muscles and/or fat layers in the skin and in the scalp. The needles are inserted for 10 to 30 minutes.  Many times, the needles are “tweaked” or manipulated depending on the result the acupuncturist wants the body to elicit.  Some treatments involve inserting a needle for about 10 seconds and then removed with the same needle used for treating other points on the same patient.  Some treatments are with heated needles and some with needles connected to thin wires plugged in to a machine that generate weak electrical pulses.  Some treatments use moxibustion and burn this on the needles during insertion. There are treatment techniques such as cupping whereby cups are heated and used on the skin to create a suction effect and bring blood up to the skin.  Some treatments treat a certain micro system such ear acupuncture where many meridians connect to important organs and tissues in the body.

Acupuncture is believed to stimulate the release of certain beneficial chemicals in the body, which help relieve many kinds of pain and stresses physically and psychologically.  These chemicals are called opioid peptides and they have an analgesic effect on the body.  They help relieve or take away many different kinds of pain.  Acupuncture is also acknowledged to stimulate the hypothalamus and pituitary gland to release chemicals necessary for the mitigation of pain as well as control of the activity of organs.  Studies also manifest that acupuncture plays a big part in improving the immune functions in the body.

Acupuncture Miami and Hypertension

According to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), hypertension is the state where the heart needs to churn out more energy when an individual performs its normal daily functions.  Symptoms are oftentimes nonexistent or subtle with hypertension, which is why it needs to be seriously and immediately addressed and also why it is called the “silent killer”.  Hypertension affects about 50 million US citizens and a substantial amount of these have no clue that they suffer from hypertension.  Hypertension can easily be known though by having a nurse or any medical practitioner trained to take vital signs measure one’s blood pressure. One has hypertension when one’s systolic reading reaches 140mm Hg or higher and/or has a diastolic pressure of 90mmHg or higher.  Acupuncture Miami is widely known as an effective alternative form of therapy for treating high blood pressure.

Medical science has classified hypertension into two:  Essential or labile hypertension and organic or secondary hypertension.  There is no known origin for labile hypertension but some experts believe it is connected with extreme stress.  Organic hypertension happens due to a specific cause like a vascular or glandular disease, which makes the blood pressure rise.  TCM sees hypertension in a different perspective.  Hypertension for TCM is a sign of disharmony and imbalance and the presence of disease in the body’s physiology.  TCM believes that hypertension is a manifestation of an imbalance in the presence of chi, blood and moisture in some parts of the body.  It also believes that the liver is the organ where chi flow has stagnated causing the blood pressure to stay elevated.  However, it is the responsibility of the acupuncturist to determine precisely where the imbalance lies before starting treatment.  Acupuncture points where needles are inserted may vary depending on the state of health of the hypertensive patient.

Acupuncture is the treatment where needles are inserted into certain strategic points in the body with the acupuncturist manipulating the needles as they are inserted to elicit the desired reaction.  The points are connected to energy networks called meridians, which are in turn connected to specific organs, tissues and other parts of the body.  The needles transmit a neuro-chemical signal through the neural and endocrine systems to the part of the brain that correlates to the unbalanced part of the body.  The imbalances may not be in accordance with Western medical viewpoint as they (the imbalances) refer to TCM concepts such as chi energy, yin-yang forces and the five elements imbalances interacting in the body causing the hypertension.  Acupuncture stimulates the brain to release endorphins (natural pain killers) to the affected areas. These endorphins enable the body as a whole to relax and perform at their normal performance levels.  This relative soothing sensation and calmness, in turn causes the blood pressure to fall and normalize to its proper level.

Acupuncture Treatment for Bulimia in Miami

Miami Acupuncture is a recommended treatment for eating disorders such as bulimia.  Bulimia is an eating abnormality of consuming enormous amount of food followed by willful expulsion of the digested food to prevent weight gain.  Although, western media portrays bulimia as the expurgation of food by vomiting, there are other unhealthy ways to expel food.  Frequent enemas, inordinate laxative and diuretic applications and compulsive exercising are rather harmful to the body in the long run.

Heavy psychological and emotional stresses due to environmental and social factors are often causes of eating disorders.  Some causes can also be attributed to genetic predispositions.  Symptoms of bulimia can be seen in overeating, extreme dieting, expulsion of food not usually through the digestive process, extreme exercising, vomiting of blood, mood swings and depression, dental problems and frequent use of the toilet after meals to purge food.

Acupuncture has been a well-known treatment for eating disorders.  It has a very good track record for curing overeating and obesity and it has cured not only the obesity problem but has removed the root cause of the disorder as well.  Chinese medicine is holistic medicine designed to not only the cure symptom but the root problem as well.

For treatment of eating disorders caused by psychological factors, acupuncture needles are applied in the ears. This is called auricular acupuncture.  The ears have connections to the three organs (liver, spleen, kidneys) often affected by psychological and emotional problems.  The ears also connect to the central nervous system where a specific needle is used for this connection.

The effects of emotional and psychological pressures block the liver chi.  When chi, the Chinese word for life force or vital energy cannot travel freely around the body, the body then experiences sickness and ailments.  These maladies manifest in the form of eating and physiological disorders.

Acupuncture helps remove the blockages in the organs where chi has stagnated.  The chi then flows and balances the harmony of the energy of the body.  Acupuncture also treats the nervous system to help release endorphins to combat the craving for food.  In food addiction, the brain usually is dependent on food to release endorphins so it craves for food in excess amounts.

Acupuncture allows the body to naturally release endorphins to quell that craving enabling the patient to resist the urge to overeat.  When the organs are nourished with enough chi, the body heals itself by correcting body metabolism and regulating body heat to burn calories in an optimal manner.

Herbal medicines are also given to speed up the treatment process and the acupuncturist encourages the patient to have a change of lifestyle to make the body healthier, physiologically and psychologically making it thus more resilient to diseases.