Article 12: Red wine doesn't help with weight loss, and dampness isn't the culprit behind obesity.

twenty two

Drinking red wine won't make you fat

No matter what kind of alcohol it is, drinking too much will make you fat.

Alcohol is an indispensable part of the lives of most adults.

Whether it's for business entertainment, a gathering with friends, or simply relaxing in private, having a few drinks is truly wonderful.

However, we can see that people who drink alcohol frequently often have a round "beer belly," which makes friends who want to lose weight hesitate to drink alcohol.

Some people have come up with the idea of ​​"indirect weight loss": since drinking beer makes you fat, then I can just drink red wine instead.

How naive! You're so incredibly naive. You'll gain weight no matter what kind of alcohol you drink; there's no real difference between red wine, white wine, and beer.

It's the alcohol in the wine that makes you fat, not the red, white, or yellow color.

For example, the alcohol content of baijiu (Chinese white liquor) is usually 50 degrees, red wine is 12 degrees, and beer is 5 degrees.

Red wine and beer have a lower alcohol content compared to spirits, but they can't withstand drinking too much of them.

If you drink 100 ml of baijiu (Chinese liquor), that's 50 grams of alcohol ingested; if you drink half a bottle of red wine, 400 ml, that's 48 grams of alcohol ingested; if you drink two bottles of beer, 1000 ml, that's also 50 grams of alcohol ingested.

The amount of alcohol consumed is actually not that different.

As everyone knows, sometimes when the atmosphere gets lively, it doesn't matter what kind of alcohol you're drinking. You'll chug beer bottle after bottle and drink wine glass after glass.

Moreover, red wine doesn't have a lower alcohol content just because it looks more upscale.

This results in a frighteningly high total amount of alcohol consumed.

Therefore, the key to deciding which type of alcohol is less likely to cause weight gain is not the type of alcohol, but the total amount of alcohol you consume.

No matter what kind of alcohol it is, if you drink too much, you'll gain weight.

In addition, alcohol makes people fat not because of its calories-the body does not directly absorb calories from alcohol.

The main reasons why alcohol causes weight gain are as follows:

1. Alcohol can cause metabolic disorders and accelerate obesity.

2. Foods eaten while drinking alcohol, such as barbecue, peanuts, and fried chicken, are likely to cause weight gain.

Alcohol disrupts your metabolism while tricking you into consuming high-calorie foods. What else could it be but a devil? The more of this devil you have, the easier it is to gain weight.

Of course, there are also some people who drink a lot of alcohol but don't gain weight. Why? Because they damage their stomachs from drinking.

This problem is more serious than gaining weight.

Further Reading 1: Can red wine soften blood vessels?

The claim that "red wine can soften blood vessels" is pure pseudoscience.

To date, there is no scientific evidence to support this claim.

The reason why drinking red wine is believed to soften blood vessels is because red wine contains a substance called resveratrol.

Some in vitro and animal studies have found that resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red wine, may help protect the inner walls of blood vessels.

However, in vitro experiments and human experiments differ greatly. Moreover, the resveratrol content in red wine is negligible. To achieve preventative and health-promoting effects, one would have to drink hundreds or even thousands of bottles a day, which is clearly unrealistic.

In addition, in August 2018, The Lancet, a world-renowned medical journal, published an article pointing out that drinking alcohol directly caused the deaths of 2.8 million people worldwide.

Meanwhile, studies have shown that alcohol is directly linked to a variety of diseases, including cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Multiple studies have confirmed that any amount of alcohol consumed is harmful to the human body.

In other words, the less alcohol you drink, the better, not to mention the nonsense about softening blood vessels by drinking red wine.

Further Reading 2: Can alcohol improve blood circulation?

While alcohol does have a slight effect on improving blood circulation, the same effect can be achieved through exercise and foot baths, so there's no need to specifically improve blood circulation by drinking alcohol.

Some people know that drinking alcohol is bad, but they can't resist the urge to indulge, so they start making medicinal wine.

It is euphemistically called "dissolving" Chinese medicine and wine into one, which can strengthen the body.

If you ask me, just take your medicine properly, why do you have to mix it with medicinal wine? Don't make excuses for your drinking!

Of course, if you're really too old to quit drinking, it's best to find a reliable traditional Chinese medicine practitioner to prescribe a formula and make a small medicinal wine to dispel wind and dampness and clear the meridians. Don't try to do it yourself.

Taking a small sip each day for a moment of pleasure is perfectly acceptable.

However, alcohol should never be taken as a daily beverage, and one should never expect it to have "health" benefits.

twenty three

Dampness leads to obesity

It's not dampness that causes obesity.

Have you ever heard of the saying "nine out of ten people are wet"?

It is said that dampness can invade the body at any time, regardless of season, constitution, or gender.

This has led many people to immediately suspect that they have excessive dampness in their body when they experience even a slight headache or fever.

Dampness is like a scapegoat for a thousand years; it's always blamed for whatever happens to the body.

Even obesity is trying to "claim credit." People who can't lose weight blame it on "dampness," believing that dampness is the cause of their obesity.

To this, dampness can only say: "I'm not taking the blame for this."

The truth is that obesity leads to dampness, and then dampness makes it difficult to lose fat.

Why?

When it comes to dampness, it's actually a very broad concept, and it's impossible to explain it all in one go.

Simply put, phlegm-dampness is a type of dampness, and there is a necessary connection between obesity and phlegm-dampness.

Phlegm-dampness is a concept in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Phlegm is divided into tangible phlegm and intangible phlegm. Tangible phlegm can be understood as the phlegm coughed up, while TCM usually refers to intangible phlegm.

The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic states: "The root of phlegm is water, which originates from the kidneys."

The human body is 70% water, which is called "body fluids" in traditional Chinese medicine. It transports nutrients to all parts of the body and removes waste products from the body.

If the body fluids are not properly circulated, dampness will form first. When dampness cannot be properly metabolized, it will evaporate into the body fluids and form phlegm.

Phlegm-dampness constitution is caused by excessive water retention, which is mainly related to the relative insufficiency of spleen function.

Based on my experience in the clinic, more than 90% of overweight people have a phlegm-dampness constitution.

What are the characteristics of this type of constitution? A white and greasy tongue coating, a pale complexion, clear and copious urine, soft or sticky stools, and some individuals may have some edema, etc.

The ancients said that "fat people tend to have more phlegm" rather than "damp people tend to be fat." This shows that phlegm and dampness are typical characteristics of obese people.

However, not everyone with phlegm and dampness is obese.

Dampness is divided into internal dampness and external dampness. External dampness comes from the environment, while internal dampness comes from diet.

A noticeably humid environment would remind us of eastern and southeastern coastal regions such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong.

However, you might be surprised to find that the obesity rate in these regions is not high, and they don't even rank in the top ten in the country.

Provinces with high obesity rates, such as Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and Shandong, may not have severe external dampness, but they suffer from severe internal dampness due to people's unbalanced diets.

In fact, it is not dampness that causes obesity, but rather improper or excessive diet that leads to obesity and severe internal dampness, the typical manifestation of which is a swollen tongue with obvious teeth marks.

When there is severe internal dampness, phlegm and dampness can hinder the function of the spleen and stomach, reduce the body's metabolic efficiency, which not only aggravates obesity but also reduces the efficiency of weight loss.

Therefore, obese people should stop blaming dampness and pretending to be innocent victims!

If dampness is a vicious wolf, then you yourself have "personally" invited it into your home.

Only when you truly understand this can you face and solve problems.

Of course, from a treatment perspective, almost all obese people need to get rid of dampness, that's for sure.

So, how should obese people get rid of dampness? Try the "Three Musketeers for Getting Rid of Dampness".

Strengthen the spleen and stomach

Strengthening the spleen and stomach can enhance their ability to metabolize dampness, thus eliminating phlegm and dampness from within.

As the saying goes: "For those with fullness in the middle, purge it from within." - *Huangdi Neijing Suwen*

Foot bath, exercise

Soaking your feet or exercising can dispel cold and induce sweating, allowing external dampness to dissipate upwards and outwards through the pores.

As the saying goes: "For those with pathogenic factors, soak the body to induce sweating; for those with pathogenic factors on the skin, induce sweating to expel them." - *Huangdi Neijing Suwen*

Promotes urination

Drinking more water or using dietary therapy ingredients such as Poria cocos and red beans can promote urination and remove dampness, allowing the body to expel dampness through urine.

As the saying goes, "Those who are below, draw them out and exhaust them." - *Huangdi Neijing Suwen*