Acupressure For Appetite Control

Traditional Chinese medicine views excessive appetite or food cravings as signs that your qi or vital life energy is not as balanced or abundant as it should be. Acupressure works by opening the body's energy channels to the free flow of qi, allowing you to replenish yourself. In addition to making sure your diet contains adequate nutrients for your activity level, performing self-acupressure or going for an acupressure treatment can help you ease or resolve food cravings.

Theory

In addition to providing physical fuel for your body, food plays a very important role in building and maintaining an adequate supply of qi or vital life energy. About 70 percent of your qi comes from food, according to Joerg Kastner, MD, acupuncture practitioner and author of "Chinese Nutrition Therapy." However, poor diet and stress can upset the body's ability to absorb and use qi. In addition to utilizing acupressure, eat plenty of fresh, seasonal, local produce, and get adequate rest to help balance your appetite.

Key Concepts

TCM views emotional imbalance as one of the common factors behind excessive appetite, notes Michael Reed Gach, founder of the Acupressure Insitute in Berkeley, California, and co-author of "Acupressure for Emotional Healing." Unresolved feelings can change your body's relationship to food, causing it to crave nutrients that aren't good for you, like refined sugars, notes Gach. If you are experiencing depression, anxiety or strong emotions in addition to your food cravings, an acupressure plan that treats the emotions will also help you address the cravings.

Considerations

One of the most common energy imbalances today is spleen qi deficiency, a condition that can cause food cravings. If you overwork, worry, don't get adequate rest, or eat too much sugar, the spleen can become stressed and its qi depleted, according to Alex Holland, acupuncturist at the Peninsula Acupuncture Clinic in Port Townsend, Washington, and author of "Voices of Qi: An Introductory Guide to Traditional Chinese Medicine." Common symptoms of spleen imbalance include obesity, food cravings, nausea, bloating in the abdomen and diarrhea.

Research

Acupressure has proven helpful for maintaining weight loss, according to a 2007 clinical trial published in the "Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine." Trial participants who used the Tapas Acupressure Technique had greater success maintaining weight lost during a 12-week behavioural weight loss program than those who performed self-directed support or qigong, according to Charles Elder and colleagues at the Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon.

Tapas Technique

The basic components of the Tapas technique are easy to learn and practice each day, according to Acupressure Online. First, apply firm downward strokes to the gall bladder point that sits on top of your shoulder muscle, directly up from the nipple. Work on each shoulder for one minute. You'll know you've found the point when you press a spot that is more tender than the surrounding area. Next, press the inner corner of the eye, applying pressure upward and toward the bridge of the nose on both sides for 1 minute each. Press the area above the bridge of the nose, between your eyebrows, in firm upward strokes for 1 minute. Apply downward strokes to the hollow between your upper lip and nose for 1 minute. Finally, locate the tender point in the middle of your chest, level with your nipples. Apply pressure in firm upward strokes for 2 minutes.