Cellulite comes and goes, then comes back with a vengeance.

Hence the trick is to understand why it occurs in the first place.

It’s over to one of our TCM Doctors, Peter Haxell to break it down further.

“Cellulite is a stubborn, and visible blemish on the skin that is often hard to remove. It occurs when fat cells press on the connective tissue under the skin to give a dimpled or blotted appearance to the skin. However, with the right tools in the form of diet, exercise and correct herbal formula you can make the process a whole lot easier.

In TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) cellulite and fat cells correspond to a condition where dampness builds up in the body, due to an intake of greasy and fatty foods, or foods that weaken digestive function such as eating lots of cold and raw foods- eating too many fruits and cold salads, smoothies. Exercise that includes resistance training will help tighten the skin and connective tissue, but the focus should be on enabling the digestive system to process food optimally to prevent cellulite formation.

Foods to avoid:

fried foods, fatty meats such as pork and lamb, salads and smoothies/ raw foods, sugar and excess salt

Beneficial foods:

wholegrains such as pearl barley, rice, millet, oats and buckwheat and legumes such as adzuki beans. Local, seasonal vegetables- just make sure they’re cooked and warm (asparagus, celery, broccoli, radishes, cucumber etc). Good fats such as avocados, olive oil can also be very beneficial.

Fu Ling or Poria root is one of the main herbs in Anti-C tea and is used classically to strengthen digestive function to regulate dampness and fluid retention. In Ant-C tea it enables the gut to function and process fats more easily. Pu gong yin or dandelion, regulates dampness and assists the liver and digestive system to process fats and toxicity, and is assisted by Xun Yi Cao or lavender that has a guiding effect on the formula. Typically a herb that regulates the skin it guides the actions of the other herbs in the formula to regulate dampness under the skin (i.e. cellulite). The last herb in the formula is green tea, which helps relieve the oxidative stress on cells in the body”.

Yours in Eating Right,
Your Tea