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There are people who decide to start a diet but hesitate due to concerns about taking herbal medicine. “I want to lose weight, but won’t herbal medicine put a strain on my liver?” “I heard that taking herbal medicine can raise liver enzyme levels.” “My body doesn’t seem to have fully recovered after childbirth, is it okay to diet?” These are common questions we hear in the consultation room.
Especially those who struggle to lose weight after childbirth, experience easy swelling before and after menstruation, or suffer from recurring fatigue and sleep deprivation, are more cautious about whether dieting itself might strain their body. At Sunyujae Korean Medicine Clinic, we don’t view dieting merely as a process of reducing numbers on a scale. We examine why appetite increases, why the body swells easily, whether digestion is weak, if sleep deprivation affects weight, and if the menstrual cycle is linked to edema.
Strong approaches when the body is exhausted are not always the best. Simply suppressing appetite is difficult to sustain long-term. Forcing yourself to starve when you’re sleep-deprived, swollen, and fatigued often leads to temporary weight loss that quickly returns. Therefore, diet herbal medicine must be prescribed only after first assessing the patient’s body condition. Herbal Medicine and Liver Health: The Safety of Prescribed Herbal Medicine as Seen Through Research
A recent large-scale domestic study published in an international academic journal analyzed 672,411 patients diagnosed with drug-induced liver injury using data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. This study examined how visits to Korean medicine clinics and herbal medicine prescribed by Korean medicine doctors affect the risk of drug-induced liver injury diagnosis. The baseline number in the study is 1.0.
This was based on the liver functioning normally when no medication was taken. As a result, prescribed herbal medicine by Korean medicine doctors was reported at a level of 0.99, and visits to Korean medicine clinics at a level of 1.01. These figures show no significant difference from the baseline of 1.0.
This study reported that herbal medicine prescribed by Korean medicine doctors in medical institutions has a low impact on the risk of drug-induced liver injury. However, it also explained that patients with pre-existing liver conditions require more caution. In other words, this result does not mean that “any herbal medicine is fine for anyone.”
What’s important is the diagnosis and consultation with a Korean medicine doctor, and receiving a prescription tailored to your body’s condition. Prescribed herbal medicine and folk remedies are different. Most misunderstandings about herbal medicine begin here.
Sometimes, problems arising from arbitrarily brewing and consuming unknown medicinal herbs, taking products purchased online, or consuming multiple health supplements at once are all collectively referred to as ‘herbal medicine.’ However, herbal medicine prescribed at a Korean medicine clinic is different. It is a medicinal product prescribed by a Korean medicine doctor after checking the patient’s constitution, current symptoms, medications being taken, and lifestyle habits.
Especially for diet herbal medicine, it’s crucial to consider not just weight, but also the body’s metabolism, edema, fatigue, sleep, and digestive state. At Sunyujae Korean Medicine Clinic, we first assess whether the patient’s body is currently in a state to handle weight loss. Female diet requires considering the body’s overall flow. For women, dieting is often not just a matter of food intake.
Before menstruation, the body can swell, and appetite may increase. After childbirth, sleep deprivation and fatigue accumulate, and reduced activity can make it difficult to lose weight. Furthermore, severe stress can lead to cravings for sweet foods or late-night snacks, and this recurring pattern often results in easy weight gain.
In such situations, simply thinking “if I eat less, I’ll lose weight” can make your body even more sensitive. If someone with weak digestion drastically cuts their diet, they may experience more discomfort, and if someone with severe fatigue only increases their exercise, recovery can be delayed. At Sunyujae Korean Medicine Clinic, we consider these aspects together.
We determine the prescription direction after checking whether the body tends to swell, has a lot of heat, has cold hands and feet with reduced metabolic flow, or experiences significant condition changes according to the menstrual cycle. Women often experience menstrual cycles, childbirth, edema, and fatigue alongside weight changes, so a more meticulous assessment is necessary.
The prescription direction may vary depending on whether recovery after childbirth is incomplete, if edema is severe before and after menstruation, if stress-induced appetite is strong, or if metabolic flow is disrupted due to poor sleep at night. Of course, diet herbal medicine is not a prescription needed only by women. Male diet also requires considering abdominal fat and lifestyle patterns together. Men also often gain weight due to late-night snacks, alcohol consumption, company dinners, sleep deprivation, and stress-induced appetite.
Especially in male dieting, weight gain centered around the abdomen is frequently observed. Abdominal fat, which accumulates around the belly, can go beyond a simple body shape issue and be linked to metabolic problems such as blood sugar, triglycerides, blood pressure, and fatty liver, making it important to assess these together. Furthermore, men often find it difficult to control their appetite due to recurring late company dinners, snacking after drinking, and sleep deprivation from overtime work.
Suppressing cravings during the day, only to crave carbohydrates or fatty foods at night, is a common pattern, and if this pattern repeats, abdominal fat may not decrease easily. Therefore, for male dieting, simply “eating less” is not enough. It’s necessary to consider alcohol consumption frequency, late-night snack habits, sleep duration, fatigue levels, activity levels, and even health check-up results.
At Sunyujae Korean Medicine Clinic, when prescribing male diet herbal medicine, we don’t just look at weight; we also examine the lifestyle patterns that led to abdominal fat accumulation and the body’s metabolic flow. Understanding why your body started gaining weight is more crucial for maintaining weight loss than simply starving yourself for a short period. Dieting should be stable rather than rushed.
Rapid weight loss alone does not constitute a good diet. If your body becomes too exhausted, digestion deteriorates, or sleep worsens, weight often returns. This is why diet herbal medicine should also be prescribed after carefully assessing your body’s condition.
If you have a history of high liver enzyme levels or have been diagnosed with liver-related conditions such as fatty liver or hepatitis, please be sure to inform us during your consultation. Additionally, if you are taking any medications or health supplements, we need to review them together. At Sunyujae Korean Medicine Clinic, rather than vaguely recommending strong prescriptions, we guide patients toward diet herbal medicine that is not overly strenuous, tailored to their constitution and lifestyle patterns.
If you’ve been concerned about herbal medicine and liver health, please do not judge based solely on rumors, but first check your current body condition. https://m.blog.naver.com/sunyujae21/224282158046
We hope you will join Sunyujae Korean Medicine Clinic, which shares valuable information for a healthy life. Sunyujae Korean Medicine Clinic in Suji-gu pursues evidence-based medicine and integrative medicine.
This post was written directly by the medical staff of Sunyujae Korean Medicine Clinic to provide medical information, in compliance with Article 56(2) and Article 57(3) of the Medical Service Act. The duration and outcome of treatment may vary from person to person, so please consult a qualified practitioner before beginning treatment.
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