Pomegranate Juice Highlights Prostate Energetics

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Pomegranate for anti-cancer - illuminating acupuncture theory

Pomegranate seeds

Pomegranate Juice

Highlights Prostate Energetics

In a recent post on Dr. Andrew Weil’s blog he writes about new research into the chemical biomechanics of how pomegranate juice inhibits the progression of prostate cancer. What intrigued me in these research findings is what it highlights about the relationships between the body’s systems.

Chinese Medicine and acupuncture define five main energetic systems in the body – Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. The prostate essentially belongs to the “water” energy. The type of cancer that affects the prostate naturally has the water “flavor” as well, as it comes from these cells.

This new research shows how pomegranate juice inhibits a bone-marrow protein. This protein promotes the migration and propagation of prostate cancer cells into bone, allowing the formation of new tumors there. But why does prostate cancer tend to move into bone, instead of, say, the lymphatic system?

Chinese Medicine theory illuminates this dynamic. Bone also belongs to the body’s “water” energetics. Since these cancer cells are already imprinted with this “water” signature, they are compatible with bone tissue, and metastasize there more easily than to tissue of a different energetic signature.

Even at the cellular scale this research supports the relationships described in the classic texts of acupuncture and Chinese Medicine many centuries ago.

To see if acupuncture might be right for you, give us a call at our Durham location or you may call us at 919-228-8448. If you find it easier to make an appointment online, you can simply click here to use our online schedule to set up a free face-to-face consultation.

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The Heart On Valentine’s Day

Hearts- The role of the heart in acupuncture and Chinese MedicineSince it is Valentine’s Day I thought it would be appropriate to write a post about the heart.

In Chinese medicine and acupuncture theory the heart is closely related to a person’s spirit and consciousness. It is also the source of the experience of joy in the mind and body. The heart is associated with “fire” in the body and with the color red. When are heart is agitated we find peaceful sleep difficult to obtain.

I hope you are good to your (and your sweetie’s) heart! Create some joyful hearts today!

To see if acupuncture might be right for you, give us a call at our Durham location or you may call us at 919-228-8448. If you find it easier to make an appointment online, you can simply click here to use our online schedule to set up a free face-to-face consultation.

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Sticking to Your Resolutions

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Sticking to Your Resolutions

It’s February and I’m making resolutions. I’m an acupuncturist, so I could say that I’m working on the Chinese calendar. But the truth is that any time inspiration strikes is the time to make resolutions or declarations.

There is a reason that I’m letting everyone know about mine. I’ll explain why in a minute. Here they are:

  1. At least five minutes of meditation a day. Om.
  2. Daily yoga asana practice. Practicing most days is not at all like practicing every day.
  3. Yoga teacher training! I am committing to the upcoming Yoga Teacher Training at Yoga Garden starting in September.

It is my hope that you will begin and/or continue to set new stretchy goals for yourself in your health and in every other domain. And once you have resolved yourself to a new goal or action, I hope you tell everyone who will listen. Have your support network work for you to help keep on track. By being accountable to someone outside of yourself you will be much more likely to follow through.

I am sharing my particular resolutions not because my resolutions are so important that you should know about them. I’m sharing because I hope that it will inspire or encourage you to do the same.

Sometimes people stick to their resolutions and sometimes they don’t. What new stretchy resolutions and goals are you taking on in your life? I’d love to hear about them, so please let me know by leaving a comment!

To see if acupuncture might be right for you, give us a call at our Durham location or you may call us at 919-228-8448. If you find it easier to make an appointment online, you can simply click here to use our online schedule to set up a free face-to-face consultation.

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Introduction to Ayurvedic Medicine

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Ayurvedic Medicine

Yesterday I was fortunate to get to sit in on a presentation by Reuben Schooler introducing ayurvedic medicine. Ayurvedic medicine (or simply ayurveda) is an ancient Indian practice of medicine. Reuben is a practitioner of ayurvedic medicine, a yogi and registered yoga teacher, and a licensed massage therapist.

Ayurveda is the only currently practiced medical system that may actually pre-date Chinese Medicine and acupuncture. I have been curious to learn more about ayurveda for some time, so I was really excited for this opportunity.

With only a couple of hours to present on thousands of years of medical history Reuben had quite a challenge before him. I thought he did a great job that left me wanting to know more. I came away with a lot of respect for the food-based therapies of ayurveda especially.

Reuben, thank you so much for generously sharing of your time and knowledge.

Readers, if you have a personal experience with ayurvedic medicine I’d love to hear about it. Did it work for you? What was the experience of treatment like? Please leave a comment below.

To see if acupuncture might be right for you, give us a call at our Durham location or you may call us at 919-228-8448. If you find it easier to make an appointment online, you can simply click here to use our online schedule to set up a free face-to-face consultation.

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Icing Injuries – “Ice is for dead people”

A man with an icy frozen beard

Icing I photo by Robert Thomson

Icing Injuries

Shelby VanCleve recently blogged about the common use of ice for sports injuries. I have to say that I totally agree with her. Icing injuries may be helpful immediately after an injury when swelling can really flare, but after that point you are probably doing yourself more harm than good.

When ice is applied it causes the blood supply to the area to be shut down. The tissue almost goes into suspended animation. But it is that blood supply that the body is using to bring nutrients and white blood cells to repair the damage and heal the injury. Icing injuries just doesn’t make a lot of sense.

I don’t work a lot with herbs, but one of the formulas I think no one should be without is called San Huang San. When I start selling a few herbal formulas this will definitely be one I offer. It is able to reduce the swelling of an injury while moving blood and energy through the area to help the healing process. There’s no real substitute.

To see if acupuncture might be right for you, give us a call at our Durham location or you may call us at 919-228-8448. If you find it easier to make an appointment online, you can simply click here to use our online schedule to set up a free face-to-face consultation.

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Acupuncture Points Explored

Acupuncture - Needle in an acupuncture point

People often wonder how acupuncturists help people. What we do is located the acupuncture points. What is an acupuncture point?

Acupuncture points are the places on the body where an acupuncturist typically places needles. They are also the same points used in acupressure. But just what are they? What is special about these places on the body? How can points on one extreme of the body change what’s happening at the other end?

I wrote an article recently explores the topic of what acupuncture points are and how they are able to cause all of the amazing effects possible through acupuncture. It’s a heady look at the topic for the intellectually curious. The article is available here: What are Acupuncture Points?

I’d like to hear your thoughts on the topic. Does this clash with your understanding of acupuncture points? Does it fit well or poorly with modern science? Please comment below.

To see if acupuncture might be right for you, give us a call at our Durham location or you may call us at 919-228-8448. If you find it easier to make an appointment online, you can simply click here to use our online schedule to set up a free face-to-face consultation.

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Food for Energy

Food for Energy

A neat blog I follow bodyhacker recently blogged about 7 Foods for an Energy Boost. Being married to Melissa, The Avocado Queen I am a huge fan of food, so I took particular interest in that post. I don’t always agree with what I read on bodyhacker (this article being no exception), but like many of their articles, it does provide “food for thought”, so to speak.

In this bodyhacker post, in particular, I take exception to the number of fruits on the list. Fruits have lots of simple sugars (fructose mostly- as in “high fructose corn syrup”), which can lead to an energy crash after eating them. It is true that most fruits compensate in the body through their high fiber content. Still, I wonder if there aren’t other sources of these energy boosting vitamins and minerals that don’t contain so much fructose and might be better candidates for this list.

For vitamin C sources I suggest bell peppers, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and cabbage. For potassium consider spinach and mushrooms. For dietary fiber, how about dark leafy greens, broccoli, and cabbage?

Details aside, it is easy to forget how much our food effects our health. From our energy to our skin to our mood to our stress levels to our sleep, we are deeply affected by our food.

Eat well, folks! Use food for energy.

To see if acupuncture might be right for you, give us a call at our Durham location or you may call us at 919-228-8448. If you find it easier to make an appointment online, you can simply click here to use our online schedule to set up a free face-to-face consultation.

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Green Tea – More Amazing Than We Thought

Green Tea- healthy like acupuncture

Green Tea

Medical researchers have had good evidence for the health benefits of green tea for quite some time now. Evidence for its ability to prevent cancer (and perhaps slow the progression of) through a high antioxidant content (through polyphenol compounds) has been supported by years of scientific studies.

Now a study published in the journal Phytomedicine is showing that green tea provides more health benefits than anyone suspected. In particular they show how it helped with the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and cancer.

In this study what they found was that the body’s digestive enzymes created forms of these antioxidants that are more potent than the raw antioxidants originally present in the tea!

Feeling nerdy? Here’s the article in pubmed.

In my next acupuncture newsletter I’m going to talk about how green tea relates to a cancer-preventing lifestyle. I’ll also share what many women do in China that decreases their risk of breast cancer by an amazing 89%! You’re going to want to check this out, so sign up now so you won’t miss out.

Update: On the Dr. Weil blog I found a neat post called “5 Reasons to Drink Green Tea“. He lists five reasons to drink green tea besides its cancer fighting properties.

To see if acupuncture might be right for you, give us a call at our Durham location or you may call us at 919-228-8448. If you find it easier to make an appointment online, you can simply click here to use our online schedule to set up a free face-to-face consultation.

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Hangover Help

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Hangover Help

Happy 2011!

Did you wake up to the new year with a hangover? It can be a painful reminder that more isn’t always better. Well, what’s done is done. So how can we make the day less miserable?

Rehydrate

Dehydration is a big cause of hangover pain. Lots of water is great help. I especially like coconut water to rehydrate.

Supposedly coconut water’s mineral content makes it a natural sports drink. (8oz is supposed to contain more potassium than a banana.) I don’t know how true that is, but it does seem to do something different for my body than just plain water.

Stomach Upset

For all sorts of temporary stomach upset a Chinese Herbal formula named Po Chai is my go-to. This is a very popular formula so you can find it in most Chinese / Asian grocery markets. It’s often kept behind the counter- just ask for it.

Po Chai comes in a vial full of mini pills. You take one or two vials all at once. You also may need to repeat the dose, so be sure to purchase at least 4 vials.

I keep some around my home just in case someone catches a stomach bug… or over-indulges in alcohol.

Have a fantastic New Year everyone!

To see if acupuncture might be right for you, give us a call at our Durham location or you may call us at 919-228-8448. If you find it easier to make an appointment online, you can simply click here to use our online schedule to set up a free face-to-face consultation.

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Congratulations Dharma Richards!

Dharma Richards

Just a quick note of congratulations to my friend and yoga teacher, Dharma Richards. She was the Grand Prize winner of Yoga Bear‘s “Cinemasana” contest.

If you have a yoga practice, definitely check out Dharma Richard’s YouTube Channel, where she posts videos that will help you in your practice of asanas. She also posts some really nice guided meditations there. It’s a great free yoga resource.

And for those in or near Apex, NC, definitely check out her studio – Yoga Garden.

To see if acupuncture might be right for you, give us a call at our Durham location or you may call us at 919-228-8448. If you find it easier to make an appointment online, you can simply click here to use our online schedule to set up a free face-to-face consultation.

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