Doctor, is there really such a thing as 'International No Diet Day'? I’m curious how this relates to the success of my weight loss journey.
May 6th marks 'International No Diet Day,' established to raise awareness against the side effects of extreme dieting, such as eating disorders. Rather than just a break, it serves as a reminder that restrictive dieting—which ignores bodily homeostasis—is often destined for failure. Medically, extreme caloric restriction spikes cortisol, the stress hormone, which lowers the metabolic rate and creates a constitution that gains weight more easily. In Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM), this is understood as a process where the flow of Qi and Blood (氣血) becomes obstructed.
I have experienced the pitfalls of excessive fasting myself; the resulting dizziness once hindered my entire day's work. When nutrition is abruptly cut off, the body enters an 'emergency state' and clings to fat even more aggressively to survive. In Traditional Korean Medicine, this phenomenon is explained through a three-stage pathological process. It often starts with Spleen Deficiency (脾虛). When the Spleen—responsible for digestion and transformation—weakens, it fails to burn energy properly, leaving behind metabolic residues. These residues turn into Phlegm-fluid (痰飮), unnecessary moisture that acts like toxins and causes the body to feel heavy and swollen. Furthermore, accumulated stress leads to Blood Stasis (瘀血), where circulation stagnates. The reason I highlight 'No Diet Day' is to encourage listening to your body’s internal signals. Suppressing urges indefinitely builds Heart Fire (心火), which inevitably leads to a compensatory explosion of binge eating. Instead of just 'enduring,' we must identify why your body is storing energy. We need to tonify the underlying Deficiency (虛) and clear the blockages to reactivate your dormant metabolic switches.
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