by Yoga Digest | June 10, 2014 7:02 am
Summer is here! Are you ready to show yourself off by beach and pool? Maybe you want to lose a little of that winter weight. If your usual weight loss methods are not giving you the results you want, the body you desire could benefit from some traditional Eastern medicine techniques:
Yoga
Yoga is a treatment for various diseases in the eastern world. It is an amazing and complete mind-body balancing practice that can help you lose weight in more ways than one. The obvious weight loss benefit of yoga is that it is a calorie-burning physical exercise, especially with hot yoga. Hot yoga creates heat within the body resulting in increased heart rate and a thermogenic effect on your metabolism. Doing a Yoga practice without heat may not burn as many calories as hot yoga or other exercises, but it has so many other benefits for the body. All types of Yoga has been shown to relieve pain reduce inflammation, improve flexibility and balance the mind and body.
Acupuncture
As an adjunct therapy, acupuncture has helped many of my patients control their weight. One of the ways it is believed to work is by affecting the hypothalamus – the part of the brain that’s responsible for maintaining “homeostasis ” or balance in the body. It regulates body temperature, fatigue, sleep cycles, emotions, blood pressure, pain, thirst and hunger. Acupuncture can be used to stimulate the hypothalamus and, among other things, regulate hunger. Since acupuncture can also reduce stress and anxiety, it can help prevent stress eating and control the levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which is responsible for those stubborn fat deposits in the abdominal area.
Eat Raw Foods
Focus your diet more towards raw wholesome fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, spices and herbs. This diet is proven to help you lose weight. In fact, the more raw foods you eat, the more weight you lose! Furthermore, this diet will detox your body and help you feel amazing in every way imaginable!
So, why do we gain unwanted weight?
The problem goes way back to our ancestors lifestyle. Genes passed on by our cave-dwelling ancestors predispose us to eat as much as possible whenever food is available. After all, they didn’t know where their next meal was coming from. The same prehistoric genes prevent us from losing fat easily, because back in the day, stored fat was a useful defense against starvation.
Fast forward millions of years, modern lifestyle and food habits have changed substantially. In the modern Western world, food, especially fast food and junk food, is cheap and readily available. Processed foods, sugar, GMO’s can all affect our bodies structural DNA. Combine all of this with the fact that many of us eat when we’re stressed, and you have the perfect recipe for weight gain.
Adapt one or all of these Eastern Medicine practices to your lifestyle to help with the unwanted pounds. Most importantly, observe how you feel!
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