New Year's Resolve Fading? How Acupuncture can help you reach your goals (part 1 of 5)

With each new year, we once again reflect on what changes can improve our lives. By the end of January, many of us have already "slipped" or even given up our resolutions as "too difficult" or postponed them to "next year."

If your intention is to improve your health, acupuncture and Chinese medicine can help you "stick" to those resolutions.

Over the next five Thursdays, I will give you an example of how acupuncture can help you keep your New Year's resolutions and achieve your goals.

Resolution 1: Reach Target Weight and Stay There

Losing weight is the #1 most common New Year's resolution. Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine can help you reach your goal level of fitness and maintain it by promoting better digestion, smoothing emotions, reducing appetite, improving metabolism, and eliminating food cravings.

From an Oriental medicine perspective, the acupuncture points, foods, and herbs that assist with weight loss directly influence the Qi of the Spleen and Liver systems to treat the root imbalances that are causing the weight gain.

From a Western perspective, acupuncture and Oriental medicine have been shown to have an effect on the function of the nervous system, endocrine system, digestive system, food cravings, and metabolism. All of which can help to energize the body, maximize the absorption of nutrients, regulate elimination, control overeating, suppress the appetite, and reduce anxiety.

Each treatment is catered to the needs of the individual patient. Acupuncture points on the body are chosen for overall wellness to increase circulation of the blood and Qi (stimulating the metabolism) and calming the nervous system.

Acupuncture and TCM are powerful tools for healthy weight loss, by themselves or as a supportive treatment in conjunction with other weight management programs.

At Point-A Place Of Wellness, we offer herbal consultations as well as acupuncture treatment and have had great success with weight loss patients.

Miso Healthy (Soup Is Good Food)

According to the ancient Chinese medical text, the Huangdi Neujung (or Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon), we should live in harmony with the natural cycles of our environment. The cold and darkness of winter urges us to slow down, reflect on our health, and conserve strength. My last blog post gave you some moves to maintain flexibility and this post advises what foods will best support you in winter.

Winter is Yin in nature; inactive, cold, and damp compared to other times of the year. Remain introspective, restful, and consolidate your Qi through the season to prepare for spring’s burst of new life and energy.

Winter is ruled by the Water element, which is associated with the kidneys, bladder and adrenal glands. The kidneys are the source of all energy (Qi) within the body. They store all of the body’s reserve Qi so it can be used to heal, prevent illness, in times of stress and change, and to age gracefully.

During winter months it is important to nurture and nourish our kidney Qi. Winter is when energy is most easily depleted. Our bodies instinctively express the fundamental principles of winter – rest, reflection, conservation and storage. The Nei Ching, another ancient Chinese classic, advises us to go to sleep early and rise late, after the sun's rays have warmed the atmosphere a bit. This preserves Yang Qi for the task of warming in the face of cold.

To keep nourished and help warm the body’s core, eat the following:

• warm hearty soups,
• whole grains,
• and roasted nuts.

Fortify the kidneys with:

• dried foods,
• small dark beans,
• seaweeds,
• and steamed winter greens.

Cook foods longer, at lower temperatures and with less water.

Small, regular amounts of salty and bitter foods are needed in the winter to promote a sinking, centering quality which heightens the capacity for storage. Such foods also cool the exterior of the body and bring body heat deeper and lower (with a cooler surface, one notices the cold less). However, use salt with care. An excess salt will cause over consumption of water which creates too much coldness weakening the kidneys and adrenal function and the heart.

• Salty foods include miso, soy sauce, seaweeds, salt, millet and barley.
• Bitter foods include lettuce, watercress, celery, asparagus, alfalfa, rye, oats, quinoa and amaranth.

To summarize: Sleep early, rest well, stay warm, eat small and regular amounts of bitter and salty food and cook the food longer at low temperature.

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Here is a recipe of for Miso Soup with Scallions, which not only supports the kidney during winter; it is also an ancient Chinese herbal remedy for colds.

In 300 AD famous herbalist, Ge Hong, writes about Miso Soup with Scallions in a book called, Bei ji zhou hou fang or Emergency Formulas to Keep Up One’s Sleeve. The soup is indicated for the onset of a cold when a person is just beginning to feel a headache, stuffy nose and a slight fever.

So, the next time you feel a cold coming on, be sure to have your miso!

Miso Soup
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 6 cups water
• 3-4 Tablespoons red soy bean paste
  (a.k.a. miso, usually sold in the refrigerated section)
• 3-5 green onions stalks, chopped

Directions:

• Dissolve the miso in a little bit of boiling water
  (about 2 tsp.)
• Bring water to a boil in a saucepan and add the miso & scallions.
• Simmer for 5-10 minutes.
• Remove from heat top with green onions and serve.

Variations:
You can add various other ingredients to make a more substantial soup, such as tofu, fresh mushrooms, cooked shrimp, snow pea sprouts, cooked rice noodles, or paper-thin slices of fresh ginger.

Upset Stomach and Turkey Comas

Are you planning a fun and festive Thanksgiving? Gathering friends and/or family for turkey (or tofurky) and the big game? Celebration is fun, but sometimes the turkey isn’t the only one that gets “stuffed.” Add jet lag (Thanksgiving is the busiest travel day of the year) and maybe a drink or two and this is a good time to stock up on the Chinese remedy called “Curing Formula”.

Curing Formula is a traditional herbal remedy for indigestion. It works well for post-celebratory discomfort because, it has herbs for upset stomach, dehydration, fatigue, bloating, body aches and classic post-meal lethargy a.k.a “Turkey coma”.

The unpleasant physiological effects of eating too much or eating new/different foods (nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, bloating, thirst, difficulty concentrating, irritability, diarrhea) can last days but are reduced by taking Curing Formula both BEFORE AND AFTER the celebration.

Gentle but effective Curing Formula is used as a remedy for many acute digestive disorders (food poisoning, stomach flu, jet lag, food allergies, etc.) and works as an excellent hangover remedy, so it is a great addition to your medicine cabinet and travel kit.

Have a Safe, Healthy, and Happy Holiday season!

What's your gut feeling?

The holidays are a time to celebrate with family and friends. Having good food and connecting with people can give us energy, a sense of purpose, and fill us with happiness.

“Eating, feeding, being fed, and all of the concomitant sensations of sound, touch, smell, warmth and closeness quickly merge with the internal urges of appetite, the enjoyment of satiety, and the innately pleasurable process of ingestion, digestion, assimilation, and elimination.”[1]

One down side of that celebration is overeating. Instead of coming back uplifted, you can feel bloated, heartburn, sluggish, become constipated or have diarrhea, and/or gain extra weight. TCM defines this condition as “Qi Stagnation and Food Accumulation.” The lingering symptoms produced are hunger and uneasiness after eating, distention and aching of the abdomen, belching and flatulence, heartburn, irregular bowel movement and a loss of the ability to discriminate between unreasonable cravings and true hunger.

The main herb in the formula to reduce the food accumulation is Chinese Hawthorn Fruit which has enzymatic effects on protein (especially meat), fat and carbohydrates. Poria, Pinellia and Tangerine peel counter the Dampness and Phlegm that are generated by excessive amounts of food in the stomach and small intestine. Radish seeds and Rhubarb encourage the normal peristalsis and relieve constipation or diarrhea. Restoring normal digestive function makes you feel better and is the key to preventing illness.

The benefits of balancing your body with Acupuncture are great. The gut in TCM is under the governance of the stomach and spleen. The source of indigestion lies in the disruption of the Spleen Network: it is responsible for the processing of food and nutrients and distributes these constituents, upward and downward through the abdominal region, and outwardly to the four limbs. When these essential activities are impeded by over consumption of food, enzyme secretion and vigorous rhythmic peristalsis becomes disrupted leading to inefficient transformation and absorption causing gas and accumulated undigested food.

Qi Stagnation and Food Accumulation are very simple to correct and prevent, even at holiday parties. Some strategies you can use during the holidays to reduce digestion maladies (bad breath, irregular bowel movement, food allergies, food poisoning, hangover) and the results of other holiday overindulgences include:

• Have One Meal. Sit down to eat: one plate, small portion (no seconds).

• Don’t Graze. Survey what is offered and create your own menu. It’s o.k. to pass on some items. You don’t have to try everything.

• Take some time to enjoy your beverage. It is healthier to avoid sugary drinks (including some alcohols) but what ever you drink—sip, do not gulp. Alcohol dehydrates, have water in addition to other drinks.

• Get back to your regular schedule as quickly as possible. After a big party, avoid meat, reduce dairy and sugar intake. Eat light, easy to digest foods, small portions, and take an herbal supplement to restore your body.

Other illnesses occur when the body cannot absorb nutrients or eliminate waste properly. Please call Point - A Place of Wellness to schedule an acupuncture treatment and herbal consultation to restore your digestion system to prime function.
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[1]“Chinese Medicine Works Clinical Handbook” H. Beinfield, L.Ac; E. Korngold, L.Ac., O.M.D., Revised Edition 2007