Some of you that struggle with this condition, whether it's a rash or some form of eczema, have had it for years. You’ve tried the steroid creams, the anti-inflammatory meds and are wondering how acupuncture & food therapy can help.
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TCM
As the cold winter approaches, it's important we understand how to stay balanced during this season. Winter is the time our energy hides in the deeper layers of our body, making us more susceptible to catching colds. For those who have poor circulation, cold temperatures can slows things down even more, reducing blood flow to your extremities. You may experience cold hands and feet, or become more prone to pain in your body as blood stagnation occurs. Here's what you can do to offset these imbalances.
1. Add Some Spice
Star anise, fennel, and cloves not only spice up your meals, but have very strong warming properties that can tonify your Yang (warming) energy according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Add them to soup, or marinate meat with these warming spices.
2. Eat Venison/Lamb
This brings me to my next point. Meat can have a negative connotation in our modern society especially with factory farming practices. Sometimes we forget the beneficial properties of meat. I always recommend eating organic when possible, and consuming meat in moderation. Lamb and venison can warm the body up, relieving your from cold extremities, feeling cold all the time, or even low libido as these meats strengthen the Kidneys as well. They are often marinated with rosemary - another warming herb that can help you stay balanced during the cold, frigid winter months.
3. Drink Alcohol
You're probably are starting to question this article - but believe it or not, moderate alcohol consumption was recommended during the Ming Dynasty to help regulate blood flow, improve circulation, and warm the body. All good things in moderation.
4. Acupuncture
Acupuncture
TCM is all about balancing Yin and Yang. For those with a deficiency in Yang, they tend to feel cold more often, lack energy, and may even experience low libido, or loose stools. Yang represents warmth, and along the back of your spine lies the Du Channel "Sea of Yang". By choosing points along this channel, acupuncture can boost the body's warming energy to relieve the sensation of cold. If you haven't tried it yet, book your session today at www.acusoul.com.
5. Sit By The Fire
This time of year it is quite difficult to get more sun, but there are other options. Layer up at the office, plug in a portable heater, or sit by a fire if you get the chance. External heat is just as important as warming the body up from the inside out. As you plan your holiday season, try to spend some time near a fire, whether that's at home as you cozy up next to the fireplace, at a cabin resort, or the inside of a chalet.
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1. Slow down & Enjoy the moment
A fall tree begins to lose its leaves and change colour, reflecting a time to slow down as energy becomes scarce during this season. Likewise, we should do the same. Focus more on slow exercises that calm the mind like yoga, tai chi, and meditation. These exercises are great as they build up our internal energies. Intense sport activities, excess work, stress, and anxiety should be reduced during this time of year as they over consume us. Remember, life is all about balance, without building up our internal energy, how can we meet the demands of life?
2. Refine Yourself
Knowing that you have less energy during this time of year, it is important to become more efficient in the things you do. Fall is a season that resonates in nature with "Metal" - refined rocks, diamonds, gems, etc. Like a gem, through the process of refinement, one can bring out the best qualities in themselves. Learn to refine your processes at work, or at home so that they become less draining on you. Let go of things that aren't working or have a low return on investment. Metal also reflects structure, prioritize your list of things to do based on importance, not urgency. By becoming organized and efficient with your time spent, you conserve energy, life becomes clearer, and you become your best self.
3. Tidy Up
One of the organs associated with Fall is the large intestine - whose job is to eliminate waste, or let go of the unnecessary. When there's clutter in your home, this represents clutter in your mind, that you live with day in and day out. By tidying up your desk, closet, or home, you go through the process of eliminating waste. This will make you feel like you have more space, and can finally breathe again! Breathing is the main function of the Lungs - the other organ associated with fall, responsible for bringing in clean pure air into our bodies. Once you let go of the old, and eliminate waste, this gives your body the opportunity to bring in something new, and positive into your life.
If you find it difficult to accomplish these tasks, acupuncture can re-balance the body physically to make way for an improved mindset. Feel free to book an acupuncture session today!
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Looking for ways to stay balanced this fall? Listed below are four recipes that taste great AND boost your body's immune system during this cool & dry season
Summer is the season of joy, movement, energy, and activity! Staying in harmony with the seasons is an age old tradition according to Chinese Medicine. Follow these tips to stay balanced this summer.
1. Get Outdoors
Enjoy this nice weather while we have it. For those of us that tend to spend all day in an office, hidden from the sun, it's important we get outdoors when we can to stay balanced this season. The sun offers us a good dose of vitamin D, which is important to prevent depression, and ensure good kidney function. If you're the type of person that feels cold all the time, getting more sun is one of the easiest and most natural ways to warm your body up. Just set a reminder on your phone every 2 hours to go outside and get some fresh air. It will not only keep you balanced this summer, but you may find you're more productive too!
2. Socialize
For many of us this can can be as simple as enjoying drinks with friends, camping, having a BBQ, or a day at the beach. The one thing these activities all have in common is - more time spent with the people you love. The season of summer resonates with Fire, the elemental nature of the Heart organ, which is nurtured by the emotion of Joy in Chinese Medicine. During the summer, you will want to nourish your Heart by socializing, and experiencing more joy with the people you love. Camping is great for this, because we tend to gather in groups around a campfire - indirectly nourishing your Heart and Fire element.
3. Eat Fruit
Fruit is naturally "in-season" during the summer months. Of course in North America we can get fruit all year around but Summer offers fruit which has been picked ripe, and grown locally, improving the health of the fruit and its benefits to our bodies. Summer in general is the season when the amount of energy we receive from the sun is strongest, warming our bodies up, and boosting our energy as we experience more daytime. Given this increase in warmth in our bodies, this makes eating raw fruit a viable option as our bodies have more warming "Yang" energy to transform the raw fruit into vital nutrients. It's also a great way to stay hydrated if you're spending much of your time outdoors. BBQ tends to create toxic heat in the body. You may experience more nose bleeds this time of the year, mild afternoon fever, sweating more easily, or a desire for cold drinks. These are all signs that there could be excess heat in the body. Good fruit options for clearing heat are pears, cantaloupe, watermelon, and bananas. Caution to those who are pregnant, and individuals who feel cold all the time, or have a weak digestive system as these foods may be contraindicated.
4. Exercise
It's important that we exercise throughout the year, but Summer is the season we should be most active according to Chinese Medicine. If you're finding it difficult to exercise at the end of a long day, try waking up earlier to go for a quick run. The sun rises earlier this time of year, which shortens our natural sleeping patterns, and makes it easier to be an early bird.
5. Realize Your Potential
Summer being the most expansive, and energetic of all, is the season when our goals, visions, and dreams should be realized. Whatever dreams you've been holding onto for the past year, or visions you have for your life's potential, don't hold them back anymore, put them into action. The joy and satisfaction from making your vision or dream a reality, will boost your spirit and nourish your Heart. Ultimately, making you realize that any dream you have, big or small, can come true. Summer is the season to live your life with joy, happiness, and love. Go out, and do that which satisfies you deep within your heart. Make your dreams a reality this summer.
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1. Reconnect With Yourself
Acupuncture is a way for you to take time out of your busy life, and tend to your body's needs, which may or may not have been neglected for weeks, months, or years. By taking an hour out of your day to re-balance the body through acupuncture, this allows you to leave your anxiety, stress, and tension behind and really focus on you. Bringing you back into the present moment and reconnecting your mind and body.
2. Get To The Root Cause
Acupuncture gets right down to the root of your health imbalances. By inspecting the tongue, and palpating the wrist pulse, your practitioner can see and feel any imbalances in your life, whether chronic or acute. The tongue's qualities such as colour, moisture, and size reveal the overall health of each organ. Using a system of points which are mapped out throughout your body, acupuncturists are able to promote healing from the root.
3. Experience Positive Side Effects
The side effects of acupuncture are many, yet all positive. After an acupuncture treatment you may notice an overall improvement in your sleep, digestion, and stress levels.
4. Find Out Your Imbalances
Many of us visit the doctor only to find that there's "nothing wrong". We may not be dieing of a chronic disease, however, many of us still feel something is "off". These are the types of problems you want to bring to your acupuncturist. They specialize in taking into consideration all aspects of your health history, including current signs and symptoms you may be experiencing, and are able to explain to you what they all mean from a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective.
5. Tried, Tested & True
Acupuncture has been around for over 2000 years. It is one of the oldest forms of Traditional Chinese Medicine and in fact predates the use of herbal medicine. If it were not an effective form of treatment, why has it continued to survive throughout the ages? The clinical experience of patients and practitioners over thousands of years offers clear evidence that acupuncture works.
For a list of illnesses acupuncture has been proven to treat according to the World Health Organization(WHO) click here.
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Author: Justin Lee
Each food has the potential to influence your health in the right or wrong direction. Whether you suffer from being overweight, low in energy, or have a general sluggish feeling all the time, there are foods that are right for you. By understanding our imbalances from a Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) perspective, we can then use a TCM food therapy approach to eating healthy and rebalancing the body.
Food therapy is all about eating according to your body's needs. If you are trying to lose weight or boost your overall energy, it's important that the digestive system - the Spleen/Stomach - is supported for optimal digestion. People who tend to crave sweets tend to have a weakness in their Spleen/Stomach. The Stomach is responsible for taking in food, and rotting and ripening it. It's important that we chew our foods so that this process can flow smoothly. The Spleen's job is to then take the digested food, and transform it into vital nutrients. However, foods that damage these organs are refined sugars, greasy/oily foods, and foods that are cold in temperature. Refined sugars have been stripped of all nutrients and fiber, and actually overload the Spleen, making it unable to transform and transport. Cold foods tend to slow down digestion to a hault, making you feel heavy, sluggish, tired, and bloated as these foods sit in your body unable to be processed. You want to think of your digestive system like a furnace that needs to be kept warm all the time. Cold foods put out your digestive flames making it harder for you to process the foods you eat. Cold drinks do the same thing, except in the form of liquids - leading to water retention or what we call "dampness".
Another big issue with trying to lose weight is eating at the right times. 7-9AM is the optimal time for the Stomach to receive food, and so breakfast should be your biggest meal, while dinner should be a smaller meal as 7-9PM is when your Stomach is weakest according to TCM. Being mindful of your eating habits can help improve how much your body is going to absorb from the foods you eat. We always recommend in TCM to eat in a calm environment, where you can focus on your food alone without distraction. Eating in a hurry, or while working on the computer or checking your phone actually divides your energy and makes it more difficult for your Spleen/Stomach to do its job efficiently.
In TCM, people with weak spleens should eat everything cooked. By doing so, this optimizes nutrient absorption and the elimination of dampness. Earth vegetables are great for boosting the Spleen - carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, turnips, beets & more. These foods give us energy, eliminate waste, and ultimately help your body to drop the excess weight.
It's interesting to note that the element of the stomach/spleen in TCM is Earth - hence why "earthy" vegetables help boost our spleen. Organic makes it even better as these vegetables are grown in a healthy, nutrient rich "earth" environment. Feel free to follow Justin on Instagram @acu_soul for more health tips on food from a TCM perspective.
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Many of us tend to wait until we are completely burnt out before focusing on our health and what we need. Acupuncture is a great way to rejuvenate your body from the inside out.