It’s that time of year again…the weather is getting colder, the leaves have fallen off the trees and people are beginning to trickle into the office with autumn colds and allergies. As an acupuncturist, I have to say I rarely get sick. I have lots of tools and tricks in my bag to stay healthy during cold season, and I’m happy to share some of them with you!

You know how your mom always made you wear a scarf when you were a kid, telling you that you’d catch a cold if you didn’t? I used to think she was just saying that, but as it turns out, there was something to it after all! In the world of Chinese medicine, there is an area at the back of the neck which can absorb wind and cold, allowing it to permeate into your system and creating an ideal situation to catch an actual cold. By keeping this area warm and covered, you are putting up a shield between yourself and this invading wind, increasing your chances of avoiding colds.

Since we acupuncturists view cold as an entity that can migrate into your system, adding warm foods into your diet can help to balance out that cold, keeping you healthy or speeding up your recovery once a cold has set in. Eating chicken soup to ward off illness isn’t just a fallacy; the temperature of the soup is helpful, but there are also lots of “warm” ingredients within the soup. Every food has an energetic quality, and warm spicy foods balance out excess cold in the system. Most good chicken soup has garlic, pepper and other spices that are considered “warm” in TCM.

Adding spicy foods into your diet when cold season hits is a way to protect yourself from succumbing to the sniffles. Whenever I begin to feel a cold coming on, I sautée slices of ginger with a little butter or oil, and add it to a tea made with lemon, honey, cinnamon, clove and a dash of cayenne. I let the ginger soften as I drink the tea, and then eat the ginger. This never fails to get me feeling healthy again, if I drink it before the cold settles into my system. It’s also delicious!

Staying warm and eating the right foods are two ways to stay healthy, and another is acupuncture. If you don’t have access to your acupuncturist, the next best thing is to utilize some acupressure points to crank up your immune system. If you slide your finger down the side of your thumb, you will hit a bone just below the wrist crease. Keep sliding down about an inch or so, and press hard while feeling for a tender spot. This is Lung 7, which is a powerful point to build up the energy of the lung, which boosts the immunity. Another great immunity point is Stomach 36. This point is located approximately four fingers down from the bottom of the knee cap, along the outer boundary of the shin bone. This point boosts the energy of the entire body, so massaging it will help to keep your “Wei Qi” up. This Wei Qi is your defensive energy, which creates a barrier between yourself and pathogens that cause harm. In Western terminology, it would be the equivalent of the immune system. Pressing on both of these points will allow you to tap into the positive effects of acupuncture, minus the needles.

The common cold is something that everybody deals with throughout the year. For some, it’s just a quick two to three day speed bump on the road of life. For others, it can become an ordeal that may last for weeks. Regardless of the amount of time, the common cold has been wreaking havoc on humans for centuries. And to date, nobody has found a bulletproof cure for this little monster.

That is mainly because the common cold is attributed to a virus. There are actually over 200 known viral strains of the common cold. Viruses are tricky because they learn and mutate, making them nearly impossible to treat. When somebody catches a cold, the virus will attach itself to the mucous membranes of the throat and nose. The virus then hijacks the cells that reside in the mucous membranes and forces them to replicate more virus cells. The symptoms of the common cold, sneezing, coughing, sore throat, congestion and fatigue, are all just the defensive attack the immune system mounts when trying to fend off the cold.

If there is no “cure” for the common cold, then how do we deal with it? Well, there are a lot of natural choices out there for fighting the common cold. Some are age-old, tried and true, while others are a little less utilized. We are going to examine three of the most widely known and frequently used ways to alleviate the common cold. Methods we all can use to hopefully bring some relief from the suffering.

1. Chicken Soup

Ever heard the saying “feed a cold, starve a fever”? Well this actually has some validity to it. When the body is fighting off an infection, there may be a fever involved. However, typically with most colds, this is not the case. When a cold occurs, the body needs nourishment to fight off the attack. This is why chicken soup is a great remedy for the common cold. Hot liquids and bland foods like chicken soup, will help keep the body hydrated and nourished. With proper nourishment, the body can return to a harmonious balance and the cold will diminish. And chicken soup is full of essential vitamins, nutrients and antioxidants known to speed up the healing process. Homemade organic chicken soup is the best option.

2. Ginger

Ginger is an amazing plant with lots of healing properties. Ginger can be helpful when fighting off the common cold due to its antiviral, anti-inflammatory and expectorant properties. Eating raw ginger or adding it to tea several times a day, can greatly improve cold symptoms quickly. And to enhance the power of ginger, add some lemon and honey, both powerful herbs in their own right. The anti-inflammatory property in ginger makes it great to help relieve a sore throat. Ginger also helps the body sweat out the toxins associated with the common cold. It is recommended to keep ginger handy at all times of the year and use it as a preventive medicine, even when not feeling sick.

3. Get Plenty of Rest

This one seems like a no-brainer. But in today’s society, we really don’t take this as seriously as we should. When fighting off an illness, proper rest is pertinent. A number of studies have found sleep deprivation leads to poor immune function. Having good sleeping habits will not only help somebody recover from a cold, but it also helps prevent getting sick to begin with. The rest itself should be quality though, not restless. And this can sometimes be difficult with a cold. This is where a lot of people turn to over-the-counter cold medications that contain alcohol. Alcohol will induce sleep but it won’t allow for quality sleep. So try to steer clear of these if possible. And take time off from the everyday grind when needed.

Dealing with the common cold can be difficult but incorporating these important habits, may just be what is needed to kick that cold to the curb. So give them a try next time that nasty cold tries to take control.

As the air starts to cool and the sun begins to fade with entrance of autumn, many people begin to experience a flare up in back pain symptoms. Back pain is a very common problem; one that will strike four out of five Americans at some time in their lives. In fact, it’s one of the top reasons people seek medical care. Unfortunately, back pain isn’t always easy to diagnose or relieve. Low back pain in particular can become a chronic, or ongoing, problem.

Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are very effective in treating back pain and helping keep your body in tune with the seasonal shift. They can also be used together with traditional Western treatments to maximize your healing and recovery.

There are many possible causes for back pain, including strained muscles or ligaments, often caused by improper lifting, sudden movements or traumatic injury. Other culprits include arthritis (whose symptoms can be exacerbated with the onset of cold damp weather), structural abnormalities of the spine, or when the disks between the vertebrae bulge or rupture and press on a nerve.

Practitioners of acupuncture and TCM view back pain another way. An acupuncturist will not only work to relieve your symptoms, but will also work to find and treat the underlying cause of your pain.

Back pain can arise from disharmonies such as:

• Stagnation type pain
• Cold, damp obstruction type pain
• Deficiency type pain

Once I have determined the cause(s) of your back pain, I can create a specific treatment plan designed to address your concerns and boost your overall health and vitality.

Transitioning to Autumn

With autumn approaching and the beginning of the yin cycle, the energy of plants is moving down into their roots, helping the body become aware of the energy of the season. This season is a time for the body to begin gathering energy for the colder months to come.

The lungs and large intestine are the organs associated with fall. The lungs are responsible for the circulation of Qi (the body’s natural flow and circulation), and are also very susceptible to cold and illness. For this reason, it is important to stay healthy and warm during the season. If the Qi circulation is weakened, muscles will not be able to warm the body properly.

Autumn Foods: Vegetables of autumn like carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach and kale can help purify and protect your body against free radicals. These color-rich vegetables are packed with beta-carotene, which then turns into vitamin A. Vitamin A is essential for our immune system, especially as the cold and flu season rolls in. These vegetables can also strengthen your lungs and large intestine to fight illness.

Autumn weather becomes more yin, calling for warming dishes. Foods to cook that are in harmony with the season include more sour foods, as well as foods rich in protein and fats.

Some find it hard to let go of summer, with the longer days and warm air transitioning into the crisp and shorter days of fall. Acupuncture not only helps the body physically, but mentally as well. Fall is a great time to see an acupuncturist as your body and mind adapt to the changing of the season.

Give your acupuncturist a visit to prepare for the new season ahead and to stay in good health!

Many of us struggle with unpredictable seasonal-allergy symptoms. How does one create a plan of action to reduce the incidence and severity of an illness with such an unpredictable temperament? Luckily, acupuncture is like the duct tape of medical interventions, patching dysfunction and boosting the body’s natural resilience with the creative tenacity of MacGyver.

Acupuncture can often provide a measure of relief spanning several areas at once (stress relief, pain relief and immune system support at the same time). Because acupuncture’s mechanisms of action impact several biochemical pathways that influence seasonal allergies, it is a tool that works in both a preventive and a pain-relieving way. In this case, it treats nearly every stage of the seasonal allergy process (barring emergency medical conditions). continue reading »

We all have stress. Stress at work, stress at home, stress, stress, stress. And most of us know how harmful chronic stress can be to our bodies and minds. Stress can cause us to be fatigued, irritable, sad, restless, anxious and unmotivated. It can also lead to detrimental habits like smoking, drinking, drug usage and overeating.

What if you could combat and alleviate stress in 10 minutes or less? Your body, family, friends and co-workers would probably thank you. So, let’s explore three easy ways to fight off everyday stress. continue reading »

Summer. School is out, vacations with the family are planned, good times are on the horizon, but you’re face to face with an old friend, allergies. You’ve tried Zyrtec, Claritin-D and even Allegra. If it is an allergy medicine on the market, you’ve bought it. But, unfortunately none of the medications seem to be doing the trick. Lucky for you there are many forms of natural remedies, which can give you a quick and easy fix to your allergy issues. Here are three quick fixes you should try this summer.

Apple Cider Vinegar

One of the quickest and easiest allergy fixes in the books. And, this cure has been used for centuries. If something has been used for that long, it’s guaranteed to be good, right? All you have to do is take one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and mix it with a cup of water. Easy right? But, there is one very important catch. continue reading »

Spring is a season of awakening and of new beginnings. Making healthy choices that will carry you through the seasons is important this time of year. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

1. Embrace yourself honestly.

Assess the various aspects of your life, see where the stressors and weaknesses exist. Are they in your diet, exercise program, work or relationships? Focus on the ones that need improvement, and begin moving away from the ones that detract from your life.

2. Examine personal relationships.

Include your significant other, friends, or relatives. Think about how you effect each other and what you can do to make each relationship more meaningful.

3. Choose to change habits.

Perhaps you want to be more positive, exercise more, or give up junk food. Do you need help or can you do this on your own? It may be easier to make changes with support from others.

4. Clean and organize.

Clear out the old and bring in the new. Take a look at your possessions and give away or recycle anything that doesn’t serve a good purpose. You may be surprised at how much lighter and happier you feel when you’ve cleaned and freshened up each area of your home.

5. Get active.

Work more exercise into your day to improve your health and reduce stress. Walk around your neighborhood, try a yoga class, go dancing, or ride your bike someplace new.

6. Make positive choices.

Think about what you take in every day with your eyes, ears, and heart. Consider the things that make you feel your best such as beautiful music, energetic friends, and inspirational art. Consider taking a break from TV, news, violent movies, and stressful people.

7. Feel your best.

Assess your emotional well-being. Take an honest look at your moods and emotions. Find the cause of the disharmony, and make a conscious choice to change. Many factors, from diet and digestive health to learned behavior, can have an influence on mood and energy level.

8. Try a Detox Program.

You may want to try a 1 to 3 week detox program during the spring. Choose a program that works for you whether it’s a juice cleansing, fasting, cutting out dairy or refined sugars, or a more in-depth detox diet. Talk to me, I may be able to give you helpful information about how to approach the detoxification process.

9. Consider nutritional supplements.

You might find supplements helpful for boosting your immunity and overall health. Consider taking an age and gender appropriate multivitamin and mineral daily, as well as additional antioxidants such as Vitamins C and E. Also remember to drink plenty of water and green tea.

10. Commit to a plan.

Consider what you want out of life, from your health, habits and relationships to your career and work. Create a plan to achieve these goals. Most importantly, remember to be nurturing and kind to yourself as you commit to making positive changes in your life.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Spring represents the season of the Wood element, the Liver and Gallbladder. TCM believes that eye diseases are related to deficiencies in the liver and kidney organs and result from an imbalance in the body. Spring is a great time to focus on eye health for the new season. There are many ways to improve eye health and prevent damage down the road. Finding the root of the problem and taking preventative measures is important when it comes to eye health. Below are simple ways for healthier, stronger vision.

Eat right. Certain foods are great for eye health. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables has been known to improve eye health. Specifically, try adding in more spinach, kale or collard greens into your diet. Fish such as salmon, tuna and halibut are filled with omega-3 fatty acids, which are also great for eye health.

Give it a rest. If you’re like most working adults and spend hours on the computer every day, make sure you’re taking breaks from screen time to reduce eye strain.  The best strategy is the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes look 20 feet away from your computer for 20 seconds.

Protect your eyes. Protect your eyes just like you would your skin when in the sun. Make sure to wear sunglasses to protect your eyes from damaging UV rays. Make sure to find sunglasses that offer both UVA and UVB protection.

Quit smoking. There are many health reasons to quit smoking. A lot of people aren’t aware that smoking can expose your eyes to high levels of oxidative stress, which damages blood vessels. Smoking can increase your risk for many health problems that affect the eye. Contact a doctor to discuss ways to quit.

Know your history. Many eye problems can be genetic. See if family members have any eye conditions and make sure to get regular check ups if this is the case to help maintain healthy vision.

Take care of your contacts. It is easy to get into bad habits when it comes to contact wearing. Make sure to replace your contacts at the recommended time. Wash your hands before touching your contacts and take them out at night to give your eyes the rest and oxygen it needs.

Acupuncture. A number of studies found that acupuncture may have positive effects on people who suffer from chronic dry eye. One study showed that acupuncture could help reduce tear loss that those with dry eye usually experience. Common eye problems that acupuncture can treat include glaucoma, cataracts, chronic dry eyes, macular degeneration, optic neuritis, optic atrophy.

Improve Eye Health

Improving eye health can be as simple as switching up your diet and adding some healthier choices. Certain foods can have a great impact on not only overall health but vision as well. Below are some natural foods that are great to eat on a daily basis.

• Carrots: Carrots are filled with beta-carotene, a vitamin A that is good for retina health and overall eye function.
• Leafy greens: Spinach, kale, arugula and other similar greens are full of the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin that have been shown to lower the risk of macular degeneration and cataracts. Bottom line, up your salad intake!
• Fish: Fatty fish such as salmon, tuna and trout are packed with the omega-3 fatty acid DHA. DHA is known to help chronic dry eyes. Those with dry eye syndrome tend to have a lower level of DHA than average. Another option can be fish oil supplements with DHA.
• Eggs: Eggs are overall a great health food, filled with calcium, iron, zinc and folate. Eggs also have lutein and vitamin A, which helps night blindness and dry eyes.

Allergies, seasonal or year round, are an ongoing problem for many individuals.  Seasonal allergies typically affect people during a particular season or time of year, most commonly in the spring. They are also referred to as outdoor allergies and are generally triggered by tree, grass and weed pollens or outdoor mold spores. Year round allergies also known as indoor allergies are typically brought on by animal dander, dust mites, mold spores or insect allergens. There are also food allergies, which occur as a result of eating a culprit food, and can also create physical and/or emotional symptoms such as body hives, swelling, itching or redness of the skin, depression and/or moodiness.

No matter what kind of allergy you suffer from, environmental or food related, acupuncture can provide needed relief. While medications (over-the-counter or prescribed) often come with unwanted side-effects, acupuncture does not. This makes acupuncture an appealing option for people looking for a new way to combat their allergies.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, the symptoms and signs that indicate a Western diagnosis of allergies relate to imbalances in the meridian and Organ Systems of the body. These imbalances may stem from a variety of causes, including stress, poor diet, foods that don’t agree with your body, constitutional weakness, pollutants and environmental toxins.
Over time, if imbalances remain within the body, they will affect the functions of the Organ Systems. Some of these Organ Systems are involved in the production of Wei Qi (pronounced “way chee”). According to the theories of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, it is important to have the correct quality and quantity of Wei Qi circulating around the body in order to stay healthy.

What is Wei Qi? The Chinese concept of Wei Qi is similar to the Western concept of the immune system. Wei Qi functions to protect and defend the body against foreign substances, that if not caught can lead to allergies. When Wei Qi is strong and abundant, we remain healthy. When the supply of Wei Qi becomes deficient, health is compromised and we become vulnerable to foreign invaders such as dust, mold, animal dander, bacteria, viruses and pollen. People who have a Wei Qi deficiency are prone to allergies and frequent colds.

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine support and strengthen the systems of the body that are involved in the production of Wei Qi. By building up the supply of Wei Qi, and facilitating the smooth and free flow of it through the body, symptoms and signs related to allergies could be greatly reduced or eliminated.

Acupuncture treatments may be combined with herbs, dietary changes, massage (tuina), or exercise. These therapies accelerate the healing process in order to balance, build, and support the health and functioning of your body’s systems.

Your mother was right–say thank you.

Scientists have now proven what your mother always knew–it’s good to be grateful.  Being grateful is more than just politeness; it’s actually good for your health and well-being.

In a study by Robert A. Emmons, of the University of California, and Davis and Michael E. McCullough, of the University of Miami, ( http://1.usa.gov/1Ja5vR9 ) people who kept gratitude journals showed higher levels of health and well-being than people who journaled neutral events or counted hardships.  After 2 months, the people who journaled their gratitude felt more optimistic and happier than their control counterparts. They reported fewer physical problems and spent more time working out.  People with neuromuscular problems who did the same thing fell asleep more quickly, slept longer and woke up feeling more refreshed.  Even their spouses noticed the difference!

How can you cultivate gratefulness even if you’re a glass-half-empty person?

The first step for pessimists is to fake it ( http://bit.ly/1OupjjR ).  Write down what you’re grateful for, even if you don’t feel it at the moment.  Eventually the habit of finding life’s gifts will change your outlook.

Keep your gratitude list simple.  Write down 5 things you’re grateful for every day.  Use short, simple sentences, but be specific.  “I’m grateful for my son” is less effective than “I’m grateful my son snuggled next to me before bed.”

Carry a traveling gratitude journal ( http://nyti.ms/1YivBYZ ).  Buy a mini-notebook or use a note-taking app on your smart phone.  Count the things you’re grateful for as they happen.

And finally, write a gratitude letter.  Send a letter to someone who influenced your life and tell them how much you appreciated their support.  You’ll feel happy and you’ll make them feel happy.

The trick to building gratefulness is to do it often and regularly.  While the end of the year is a good time to celebrate gratefulness as a holiday, take the habit into your everyday life.  Soon you will notice that you feel lighter and happier.

I am grateful to all of you for an extraordinary year.  It has been my pleasure to work with you and support your health.  Thank you for a wonderful 2015 and may this next year bring you health, prosperity and happiness.