Recently, I received an email via my website, asking “Can Feng Shui help with weight loss?” As this is a question which interests many people, I thought we could discuss it in this article.

There are many theories about weight loss and many suggested solutions, diets, supplements and even surgeries. Most of those do not address the cause of the problem to start with, but rather try to fix the symptom, excess weight. If one only works on the end of the chain of causality, positive results are much harder to achieve and even more difficult to sustain. For example, as soon as one stops a diet, typically the body gains back even more weight, as if preparing itself for the next famine.

I have already conceded that both my wife and I are big fans of microbiologist Dr. Robert Young, one of the major contributors in the alkalizing movement. Dr. Young states in his lifelong research, that all disease goes back to one major imbalance, the over-acidification of the body, a pH imbalance. Our blood pH is slightly alkaline with a pH of between 7.3 and 7.4. If our system is overly acidic, the body needs to constantly balance the acids. One of the ways the body deals with these acids is binding them in fat cells.

In this respect, fat may be saving your life! On the other hand, those who work off excess fat through extreme exercise, but do compensate with an alkaline diet, run into other serious problems, where the fat storage is now forced to take place inside the blood vessels; what we call “high cholesterol.” I am sure you have heard of famous athletes, marathon runners and other “super healthy people,” who suddenly drop dead of a heart attack at a much too young age without any prior symptoms.

So how can Feng Shui contribute to the effort of controlling one’s weight? Dr. Young’s theory gives us an interesting perspective:

The question we have to ask ourselves is: “What are causes for an overly-acidic body?

Acidic food; junk food, especially sugar, beverages such as sodas and alcohol, meat, carbs (ferment into sugar!), dairy to a large degree, even very sweet fruits like apples, oranges and bananas (again, very high in sugar).

Environmental drains, “sick” buildings, pollution, geopathic (= harmful earth related) stress!! (This is where Feng Shui and Geomancy can help.)

Bad habits (smoking, not enough sleep)

Exhausting relationships and emotional strains; stress at work and at home

Lack of spiritual foundation, missing a purpose in life, depression, and so on.

Yes, stress causes acidity in the body, regardless of its origin. The predominant symptoms on both ends of the spectrum are lack of energy and stress on all levels, physical, as well as mental, emotional, social and spiritual. Even physical exercise, if extreme and out of balance, produces lactic acid, and will contribute to the over-acidity of the body.

In order to address those causes for acidity we need to face one problem at a time:

In terms of food:

Stay away from sugar! Sugars ferment into alcohol inside our body. Have you ever wondered why someone is suffering from liver cirrhosis without having had a drop of alcohol all his or her life? These people always have a very sweet tooth. Alcohol is produced through fermentation of sugar inside the body.

Stay even further away from any artificial sweeteners. Aspartame chemically becomes wood alcohol, a well-known toxic. Therefore anything labeled, as “sugar free” needs to be examined carefully to make sure what’s in there. Choose carefully among natural sweeteners such as stevia or agave nectar.

Use organic as much as you can, and much more vegetables. High energy levels and a more balanced diet will help you reduce the acidic waste the body needs to process and it’s urgency for holding on to more fat cells.

Habits and physical activities:

Smoking, drinking, drugs... I don’t think I have to explain that, do I?

Lactic acid, as mentioned already, is a by-product of physical activity. As important as it is to exercise every day, it should be absolutely done with moderation. Excessive workouts drastically increase oxidation, which causes more free radical damage and makes us age faster, not the reason we work out to begin with.

Long-term sleep deprivation is another form of long-term stress. Problems with sleeping are such a common issue that many consider them already as inevitable or “normal.” A typical cause for sleeping issues can be found in problematic house energies and harmful geopathic stress. If not corrected they permanently weaken the body, increase daily stress and contribute in this way to the difficulty of losing weight or keeping if off.

This is where Feng Shui can make a major contribution, if practiced with the awareness of the effect earth energies have on our health, and not just with aspects of interior design or Chinese symbolism. In my opinion this is one of the most overlooked factors in the process of losing weight. If these environmental stressors are not taken care of, all other good intentions and efforts are counteracted and often fail.

What are typical environmental stressors?

Geopathic stress, as the name suggests, is a form of stress caused by harmful earth patterns. The greatest impact on our health is from the harmful earth patterns in the area where we sleep, as we spend at least 8 hours a day there or one third of our life. Geopathic stress appears above underground water veins, fault lines and along earth grid structures in several systems (Hartmann grid, Benker grid, Curry grid, etc.).

Next to those natural occurrences there is a steadily growing man-made component, too: all forms of electromagnetic pollution, what Germans call “electro-smog” or “EMF-stress.” Although caused by electrical appliances and our electronic environment like transformers, power lines or high frequency radiation from computers and cell phones, these devices cause our physical body to be permanently stressed out. Not the balanced, relaxed environment, which would help us lose weight.

Additional forms of stress in the realm of emotional tension are stress at work, burdens at home, anxiety, worry, and trauma, as well as spiritual forms of stress, such as a missing purpose in life. They, too, contribute to acidity and need to be addressed. In German, we call somebody “sour” (= acidic) if he is angry, fed up or emotionally unstable.

My point for today is, if one tries to lose weight, it is essential, as with health in general, to de-stress and to balance, not just our diet, but also our living environment and our lifestyle. If permanent stressors cannot be brought under control, energetic depletion and the over-acidification of the body will continue and counteract all attempts to improve.