A set of easy-to-understand and
easy-to-use lifestyle guidelines
to help you lose weight
by B.J. Wang
E Shan Tang Herbs, Inc.
Introduction
Many books talk about weight loss. Many people say they have good ideas for losing weight. Many companies make weight loss capsules and pills. Many companies make food or recipes to help people lose weight. Many companies offer exercise courses.
I have worked in the Boston area since 1991. Boston Magazine and Bostonian Magazine both awarded me the Best Herbalist award. I've helped many overweight people and I've learned a lot from them, including many ways to lose weight.
I want to share these ideas with you. You don't have to spend all of your time cooking or exercising. Just understand these ideas.
For example, associate heat with weight loss, and cold with weight gain. Why? Consider water. Add enough heat to boil it and it becomes steam and disappears; remove enough heat from it and it becomes ice, which actually takes up more space than before, and as a solid, doesn't flow like water. When you wash a dirty pan in the sink, you use hot water because it more effectively releases the oils and foodstuffs from the pan to be washed down the drain. Drinking hot water versus cold water adheres to the same principles: hot water promotes flow and helps to cleanse the body better than cold water.
Given this simple idea, you should try to adjust your diet to exclude cold things and include warm and hot things. Soup, water, tea, and even milk and juice should be drank warm, or at least room temperature. Millennia ago in Asia, fast food didn't exist; now it does, and the rise thereof correlates to the rise in overweight children there. I don't think anything is wrong with the food; rather, they have a poor combination. The oily food combined with cold soda keeps that oil in your body longer, promotes gas and the expansion of the stomach, and creates phlegm. That phlegm in turn may cause stuffiness and snoring at night, which hinders your breathing; taking in less oxygen makes you worse off in the morning, losing focus and short term memory, and slows your metabolism, causing fatigue. If you don't stay active, and if you are not inclined to be active, then you will not burn any calories. Continuing a diet of this sort will cause weight gain over time.
On the other hand, if you were to take those oily foods with a hot beverage, you would see a major difference. The food can be broken down and passed through your body faster. This both helps reduce gas and helps make bathroom trips easier. This is just one example of the importance of having heat in your diet, and just one example of an easy-to-grasp principle that you can apply to your daily life to help you lose weight.
Please remember that while all of these things can help you lose weight, none of them are entirely necessary. These are only guidelines, as opposed to a strict regimen. You don't have to do all of them at the same time, or any of them: this guide is purely informational. We ask that you take our advice with your health and safety in mind first and foremost.
Regards,
B.J. Wang, Herbalist.