Will taking Chinese medicine make you fat?

There are many types of traditional Chinese medicine. Generally speaking, traditional Chinese medicine will not cause the body to gain weight. The main reason for gaining weight is the intake of too much fat or calories, which will lead to obesity. Some tonic Chinese medicines may cause you to gain weight. For example, Chinese angelica, Cistanche, Polygonatum sibiricum and other Chinese medicines may cause you to gain weight. This is something you need to pay attention to.

Will taking Chinese medicine make you fat?

First: obesity is mainly caused by eating too much sugar and fat food, which exceeds the body's needs and may cause fat to accumulate in the body, causing obesity.

Second: Obesity may be caused by taking blood-enriching Chinese medicine. Blood-enriching Chinese medicine can make people fat, which is a normal reaction of the body. Taking Chinese medicine will lead to increased gastrointestinal absorption and increased reserves, so you will gain weight. The effect of taking Chinese medicine will be better in summer, because the qi and blood circulate faster in summer.

Third: In addition, if the traditional Chinese medicine prescription contains angelica, epimedium, Millettia reticulata, Cistanche deserticola, Astragalus, Polygonatum, these tonic medicines may also cause obesity.

Precautions

In addition, in daily life, after taking Chinese medicine, you must not sit still for a long time, but get up and participate in some activities. At the same time, do not eat too much meat products, especially fatty meat.

Some Chinese medicines are too nourishing and can indeed make people gain weight, but most of them do not. Before taking Chinese medicine, consult your attending physician and ask whether the medicine will make you gain weight. But in some cases, weight gain is caused by eating too much and exercising too little.

When taking Chinese medicine, both the time and the decoction are important

Many people choose to decoct Chinese medicine to regulate their bodies in order to achieve a balance between yin and yang. Speaking of boiling Chinese medicine, it seems that the technical content is not high, but it turns out that the decoction method and the time of taking the medicine alone are very particular.

Li Shizhen mentioned in "Compendium of Materia Medica": "When taking decoctions, even if the ingredients are fine and the preparation is in accordance with the rules, but the person who decocts the medicine is careless and hasty, and the water and fire are not properly controlled, and the temperature is off, the medicine will be ineffective." In layman's terms, if the temperature is not properly controlled when decocting the medicine, it will be in vain.

The decoction and administration methods of Chinese herbal medicines are closely related to their efficacy, and whether the efficacy of the medicine can be fully exerted is inseparable from them. Therefore, when decocting Chinese medicine at home, it is even more necessary to master the correct decoction method and administration time.

One method of taking Chinese medicine is to take it on an empty stomach, which means taking the medicine in the morning before eating. Decoctions with tonic effects should be taken on an empty stomach in the morning to facilitate full absorption. This allows the drug to enter the intestine quickly and maintain a high concentration so that it can quickly take effect. The same is true for decoctions with laxative effects to enhance the efficacy.

If you take it before a meal, generally take the medicine 10-30 minutes before a meal. For the treatment of intestinal diseases, it is also advisable to take medicine before meals. Because, when the stomach is empty, the drug solution can directly contact the gastrointestinal mucosa and pass through the stomach into the intestine more quickly, so that more of it can be absorbed and take effect, without being diluted by food in the stomach and affecting its efficacy.

Take after meals, usually take the medicine after meals. Taking drugs that are irritating to the gastrointestinal tract after meals can reduce damage to the gastrointestinal mucosa.

If you take medication before bed, it is usually taken 30 minutes before bedtime. Drugs that nourish the heart and spleen, calm the mind, and induce sleep can be taken at this time.

When decocting Chinese medicine at home, it is generally recommended to use clay pots or sand pots, and avoid using metal utensils such as iron and aluminum to prevent chemical reactions that may reduce the efficacy of the medicine. The container should be of appropriate size and covered when decocting medicine to prevent the effective ingredients from evaporating and the amount of decoction from decreasing. For some light medicines that float on the water, it is best to turn them over after the water boils to facilitate the full extraction of the medicinal properties.

Clean and fresh water should be used for decocting medicine. As for the amount of water to be added, traditionally it is appropriate to submerge the medicinal materials by 2 to 5 centimeters after soaking. If the medicine is made from flowers or herbs or the decoction time is longer, the amount of water should be increased or decreased as appropriate. Sufficient water should be added at one time. Do not add water in the middle of the process, and do not add water and re-decoction after the medicine is dry.