this is part two of Menopause and Weight Loss
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Hi, my name is Tsao-Lin Moy, and this is part two of Menopause and Weight Loss. This is a really important thing and what makes Chinese medicine practitioners acupuncturists different from a Western model is we’re not looking to fix them. We’re gonna help them . To get a better grasp on how their body actually works.
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We can help them understand from that perspective of how to get themselves into a place of balance. For, again identifying the constitutional type, the yin and yang within the body constitution plus . What else is going on? How are they eating their environmental stressors? We can’t be there all the time.
So these are things that they’re gonna have to identify and then work with. So body and fluids are really . Believed to be derived from food and drink, and they serve to nourish and warm the muscles and the skin and lubricate our joints, right? And they also surround our brain. This is really like something to not just address with herbs, but really incorporate dietary recommendations.
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So I just wanna give like an example of one of my patients she’s 52. I actually treated her 20 years ago. So I really know what her constitution was when she was younger. Was a very, let’s say lung, large intestine, stomach, spleen type. She had chronic constipation, a lot of weight on below, right?
She was and why I say lung, large intestine is she emotionally was dealing with like trauma from her childhood, like grief, loss of a parent. And then also like holding on to. Things that weren’t really true, but as a child she believed them and she was also very damp ’cause she had a lot of squishy fluid.
So recently she came to see me and after, having kids and then she had moved to the south very damp and hot where she was which was not great for her constitution. So this is also, we look at . Seasonally, you can figure out someone’s constitution also, like how they are seasonally, what do they prefer?
How are they’re a lot better. Some people are perfectly fine in a hundred degree weather and 90% humidity. I’m not one of them. But some people even will need a sweater. They’re very dry and they are always cold and they, so the heat and the moisture they love so working.
So she’s been working a lot and stressing, her main complaint was this weight gain and swelling, right? That she was starting to swell. She was having frequent urination, but she was still . Gaining all of the water. So she, was working a lot high cortisol overall not getting enough sleep.
And especially at night, this is this circadian rhythm. And again, going back to women have a cycle, men too, right? If men don’t sleep. At night, it’s actually really affects their fertility and their sperm production. So we are creatures that need to be much closer to nature.
So when someone’s not sleeping, then we know that’s also, they’re off balance. And so strategy, because she’s in menopause, I was looking, both her yin and yang were diminishing though, not at the same rate. So lots of water. In her body. Am I thinking kidney? Yes. Because of her adrenals.
And also that the jing is depleting and her constitution. But also from a five elements perspective. The water is not nourishing the wood, so she was . Had this liver defic deficiency, right? Because liver is involved with the blood, it’s involved with the uterus reproduction, it’s responsible for the smooth flow of qi and blood and our emotions.
So really, the strategy was like, okay, how can we address this simply, right? Because when the body is in a state of fluctuation, you wanna have a clear direction. To the body. So the more complex a person’s symptoms, then the more simple you want the the treatment to be. The first order is how can I bring this person into balance?
How can I help them so that then their body is going to heal, they’ll balance out, and then they’ll get stronger and they can at the same time make adjustments. So in terms of let’s say the strategy . With acupuncture. So this is where you’re, we’re looking at what methods do we have? We have food, we have acupuncture, we have herbs, we’ve got some cupping.
We’re doing a, we’re checking constitutionally and where the person is, we have teas as well. Okay. So in terms of . The strategy for this person, and I think this is something that is no matter what you can you’re not gonna do any harm with somebody is to look at source points and also shoe points.
So for this patient really my focus was, spleen, spleen three, liver three, large intestine, four combination, like kind of move, get things moving adding in spleen nine or seven for all the dampness. CV nine for that fluid. So fluid accumulation. Also dimmi because a lot of the fluid was below.
So like sitting in water. Kidney seven. Which actually goes to Dai. So really, and then according to Kiko, Matsumoto style, really like looking at stomach chi, which is, finding the points. And that’s around stomach, 36, 37, 39. So really looking at the stomach, the large intestine, small intestine, because we are looking at digestion right now in terms of food.
Warm foods, . For someone who has the damp, we want warm and like gentle dispersing. So I always think of something like a little bit of cinnamon. So that actually increases a little bit of the peripheral circulation and it’s actually warm. It’s also great for someone who might be, have a difficulty with sugar metabolism and maybe even pre-diabetic is, that’s actually something that can be incorporated, in addition. Looking at excellent probiotic with your patients. You also want to look at dietary adjustments. These are absolutely a must and a kind of detoxification support, whether it’s lymphatic. Some different kinds of foods to clear out to help the system release metabolic waste, let’s say.
And also, oftentimes in menopause with lower estrogen, there’s an increase of what is known as the non-alcoholic fatty liver, which is an means that there is this weight gain because the liver is not able to process, right? So everything gets backed up. In terms of formulas, basic formulas, I like ones that are less than 10 ingredients.
And again, because we’re looking at . The perimenopause menopausal state is in fluctuation, so it’s not that stable. So you start adding a lot into the mix. Then what happens is that you’re sending mixed messages. So better to go simple. I love like jwe shaan, right? The shaan for someone who has a spleen, like kinda worrying.
Type of personality Ong or Swan again for yin and blood deficiency. And this is this recent research with Iwe to and Shan Ma Huang, which are very close was actually used for premature ovarian failure they’re looking at. So it also gently nourishes the yin and the blood, and so
Nothing wrong with, possibly adding those formulas if you know your patient and you also know herbs, right? So we don’t wanna just give herbs based on formula based on a protocol only, right? We need to do a good diagnosis. Okay? So in terms of food and diet I cannot, emphasize more.
This is where the gold is. Your patients absolutely must make changes. It’s really if they’re not willing to do that, then it, it be, it’s you’re constantly battling, right? . So things like eating fresh and organic, primarily plant-based, ’cause it’s a lot cooler and nourishing. I didn’t put it in the list, but in season.
And this is also a way to be in the cycle of the season and also have the body go with the season, right? And also the food is much more nutritious because you’re gonna it because it is actually gonna have a higher nutritional value to it, right? No diet drinks or artificial sweeteners.
One of the traps for women that are trying to like they’re trying to lose weight is that they start looking for diet foods and things that are zero calories or fat free and things. But that actually is very problematic because we do need fats and in fact, because. We are becoming yin and blood deficient, that it’s really important that we have fats and eating foods like a bone broth, right?
Or even marrow stews. That are gonna be nourishing. We can add in even the the dots out, the jujube beads. Really looking at more of like kind of medicinal soups and we really. Getting about it too, right? Gluten and dairy can be very inflammatory. And even when my patients say I’m not I’m fine with gluten I really encourage them to maybe
Try to limit certain foods or to do something called food combining. And that’s a strategy where if you’re gonna have a starch, then you eat it with like leafy green or leafy green with an animal protein, but you don’t eat like animal protein with a starch because that changes the absorption and the sugars the way we digest.
Alcohol. And so these are things to look into and I would actually encourage you to try them yourself, right? The best is if you’ve experience, you can also share it. The other thing too is you can decide, Hey, for all of my . Patients that are in their forties, fifties, and going through a change.
Let’s do it together. Let’s do a sleep work on our sleep, let’s work on eating more vegetables and fruits and stuff and really, come up with recipes and stuff to get involved. I think if you’re involved with your patients and you’re excited about it, that you’re gonna have a better outcome for them.
And always the idea is to teach them, right? Alcohol, preferably none. Alcohol is not. Good . It reduces the immune system. It causes inflammation. Actually, yeah. I know there’s maybe some, that’s something that people will have to make a, make decide to do that, right?
There’s plenty of evidence that it’s not really great and can cause inflammation. So why do that? And again, oh, and I mentioned the food combining. Okay. And let’s see where we are. Yes, here’s some wonderful food. One of the things that is really useful is to certain kinds of foods are can help with hormonal health, so things like seeds. One of the strategies for, for the menstrual cycle is something called seed cycling. And then using the four phases of the menstrual cycle to then have flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds.
So these are things that you can actually. And encourage. I would encourage, because again, even though like I showed in the very beginning of the slides that the . Period is ending, the cycle is still going on underneath. And so being able to look at the cycle and nourish according to where the cycle is going to make a difference.
So once you find, it’s like when you find the wave, then you can ride the wave. If you don’t know where you are on a wave, you’re gonna be tumbling and be pulled in the current. Okay. And then, okay, so this last of heart, and this is teaching your patient self-care. Now here’s the thing, consistency and commitment is gonna get a result.
And so I know oftentimes patients say how many times do I need to do it or how long before it will happen? And really everybody is different, but one thing is certain they need to commit to make that commitment and have the consistency and really look at like when do they give up? Sometimes they just give up or it’s too hard, right?
But the thing is you know, that’s where we can help and coach them through and encourage them so little wins. Let’s say they, stop drinking diet. stuff we need to say great, how long are you doing it? Helping with a mindfulness practice, this is a really big thing because stress is going to increase cortisol.
It’s gonna cause sleep problems, it’s gonna cause more problems with weight. It’s gonna interfere with hormonal balancing and emotional stability. And so having a mindfulness practice, . I encourage doing breath work. I do it every morning. I do Wim Hof breathing and I’ve done GR technique. And really what does breath work do?
It helps you with your nervous system but also when you do breath work, it actually pumps your lymph, right? It actually supports your organs, and this is important to get. Of the inflammation and move the fluids. Sleep hygiene again making sure to go to bed at night. Really important is get off of the phones.
Stop with the Netflix and the videos and the Instagram and the Facebook, even though we’re . On Facebook to really stop that because it actually interrupts our brain patterns. It also creates a lot of anxiety and a lot of worry. And then on top of that, we’ve got cortisol and the stress, and that creates more of this like cycle of doom and gloom.
Exercise and movement again to move the chi in the blood. Not overdoing it, but really looking at what is the purpose is to increase the blood flow, tone the muscles. And it could be used as a practice drainage, again with the breath work. But also I encourage teaching your patients how to actually do a little lymphatic massage on themselves or even to get some body work for that.
And then again making the dietary adjustments such as preparing food themselves. And this is something that. You can offer to your patients in your newsletter or in your posts, some healthy recipes. Again, you can decide to do, a campaign maybe in January as we’re coming up on the people making resolutions or even maybe before start, before, since we’re heading into Thanksgiving and Christmas and all the cookies, et cetera, et cetera, to really start creating things as tools for them.
This is the end of the presentation. If you have any questions, please, to put them in the chat and we can get back to you. Thank you.