HQ acupuncture...

Japan

2011-03-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

I cannot tear myself away from watching the news about Japan. More than anything it is because of the tremendous sense of community, calmness and dignity that the people of Japan show in the midst of this tragedy - it is unbelievable and it inspires me.

My sentiment is shared by so many members of the western media who have first hand accounts of other disaster areas across the world. This sense of community, dignity and calm comes from watching reports about Japanese cities and villages - one reporter describing evacuees greeting one another with a Japanese term that roughly translates to "we're in this together". It also comes from the tiniest details. The smallest things amaze me and just remind me how much I love Japan.

In another news story, the reporter spoke about the high number of earthquakes in Japan and how everyone in that country is prepared. They mentioned that majority of people have an "emergency bag" or "grab bag" that is filled with some basic supplies. What really moved me when I saw this story is how beautiful these bags were. Most of them in gorgeous patterns and bright colors. I was thinking to myself that there are few places in the world where the person who is preparing for an emergency situation - if they plan at all, would spend any thought on the bag itself. It may seem so irrelevant, so unimportant, yet, after this great disaster it somehow sums up the attitude of the person caring it and for me it reflects the order, piece and dignity that is now so apparent among the Japanese survivors.

The attention to every detail is one of many reasons why I've been so inspired for years by Japan and it's people. It is also the reason why I'm certain that even in the midst of this tragedy, Japan will rebuild and recover better than any other place on earth ever could.

Please take the time to generously donate to help the people of Japan so they may recover, rebuild and continue to inspire the rest of the world - no detail overlooked.

27 minutes per day to a healthier brain

2011-01-22T12:17:00.000-08:00

Researchers at Mass General Hospital found that participants of an 8-week mindfulness meditation program to reduce stress showed positive changes in the parts of the brain associated with memory, stress, sense of self and more. The participants were asked to engage in yoga and sitting meditation for just 27 minutes per day on average. They were all novices to these practices.

27 minutes per day seems like a small investment of time when the results benefit the brain.

Read full research article here.

Looking for a meditation class? I recommend Akasha Center's Swati Desai, Ph.D., LCSW. She offers group meditation classes every Wednesday and Saturday morning.

For information please call 310-308-9531

Getting Started

2010-12-09T21:14:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Kim for inviting me to post on the "Kiiko Student Formu" and write about my experience with Kiiko Matsumoto style of acupuncture.
Since this is a new forum and many of you are just beginning to learn Kiiko Matsumoto style of acupuncture, it seems appropriate to start with the idea or question of “where do I start?”

Here are my two suggestions – these are the two things that helped me the most when I first started to study with Kiiko Matsumoto.

Number one:

Make a lot of copies of page 16 of Kiiko Matsumoto's Clinical Strategies, Volume 1.

What’s on page 16...the entire “map” of the abdominal diagnosis.

Why a lot of copies...because I recommend that you have a copy of this page with you every time you see a patient. Put a fresh copy in your patient’s file and each time you see them, try to palpate as many of the areas listed as your appointment time allows and mark the areas you palpated on the copy. Even if you don’t have time, or at this point are not sure how to clear these areas, palpate and mark as many as you can.

I recommend this to every person I’ve talked to who inquires about this style of acupuncture because, I believe, the key to a good diagnosis comes from remembering the “map” and practicing palpating the patient each and every time. Using the abdominal diagram from the book allows for a quick way to record your findings – just circle or highlight the areas that have pressure pain or tightness. Then when you review the case at home, you can look up the different treatment strategies that you can apply next time you see the patient, or, thanks to this forum, discuss the case with your fellow students.

That brings me to suggestion number two.

When you start to practice this style of acupuncture, you have to shift your thinking from focusing on the symptom to focusing on identifying “types”. If you studied TCM before, you may be used to coming up with your diagnosis based on a list of symptoms and detailed questions about them. You may ask your patient a series of questions like: “Is your pain better or worse with heat or cold?”, “Is it better or worse at night?", etc. These questions help you determine the diagnosis and which points to use. The symptoms are the key to putting together a treatment plan.

But in Kiiko Matsumoto style, the symptoms themselves are not as relevant as the patient’s constitution. What “type” of patient are they, NOT what symptoms do they present with? For example: are they a “liver type” or a “cardiac type” or “adrenal type” etc. Determining the “type” allows you to identify the weakest-link in the body and allows you to treat the problem at the very root. The abdominal palpation, not the conversation with the patient, will be the key to determining the “type” of patient they are.

The points you choose will also be for the “type” not the symptoms. For example, if you determine that your patient is a “liver type” presentation, you will use the same points and get great results in resolving anything from a headache to low back pain, to IBS to allergies. Why? Because if the patient presents as a “liver type” they will most likely have the same areas of pressure pain on the abdomen and other reflex points regardless of their symptomatic presentation.

By learning to think in this new way about each case and identifying the different “types”, you will quickly gain the confidence to approach the most complex patient cases – even if their list of symptoms is so long it would take you a whole hour to discuss them if you were approaching it from a TCM perspective.

So next time you have a question about a patient you’re seeing, jot down the abdominal findings and post them on this forum – if you describe the abdomen and what you’re trying to release along with the symptoms you’re trying to treat, someone here will enthusiastically help you out.

Happy studying.

Art and acupuncture for a better city

2010-06-19T11:32:00.000-07:00

I always learn so much from you, my patients. Today is no exception. I just received an email with information about a fantastic art work called the Portland Acupuncture Project.

In an effort to identify important spots around the city and bring a sense of interconnectedness, an artist named Adam Kuby is placing large scale needles in different points around the city.

With this "acupuncture", Portland is sure to become one of the healthiest cities!

Thanks Laura for sharing the info!

Wonderful book

2010-01-25T21:15:00.000-08:00

While waiting for a flight at LAX I found a book (or as my friend Deborah puts it... the book found me). The book is called Keeping the Feast, by Paula Butturini. It is a beautifully written and very moving memoir of an American couple who, after experiencing personal tragedy, finds comfort and healing in love, food and Italy.

I felt a special connection to this book as it brought back memories of my own family's move from Poland to Italy and finally to the US in the late 80s, while the book describes the author's life as it unfolds in the opposite direction - from US to Italy to Poland.

Keeping the Feast captures with equal grace moments of pure joy in life and the hardship as that life is taken away in a single moment. More importantly, it demonstrates the powerful role that simple daily rituals, like preparing food and gathering with loved ones, can have in the healing process.

Find out more about Keeping the Feast here.

Let's talk numbers

2009-09-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

You may find the little stickers on fruits and vegetables a bit annoying to remove, but they do have their purpose. Their primary function is to speed you through the checkout line but they also contain some information that you may find useful as you pick your produce.

If the first number of the five digit PLU (price look-up) code is 9, it means that the fruit or vegetable was grown organically.

If the first number of the five digit code is an 8, then this produce has been genetically modified.

All others, or conventionally grown fruits and vegetables, will have a four digit PLU code.

In most supermarkets, the difference between organic and conventionally grown produce is clearly marked. But genetically modified produce is not usually marked with large, clear signs. Next time you're at the supermarket, you may want to take a closer look at those little stickers.

Back to school

2009-09-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

It’s been a while since I had an official “first day of school”, but the transition from summer to fall always brings out the sense of anticipation, the ideas of new beginning, excitement over fresh new notebooks and a little bit of sadness that my favorite season has passed. Even if you’re not going back to the classroom this year, September may be the perfect time to take advantage of this “back to school” ritual and incorporate some new things into your daily life.

Start a new journal – if you’re like me you’ve been eagerly anticipating any excuse to buy some new writing supplies. Journals can help you organize ideas, create and keep track of plans or just take a break from the day to doodle.

Create a little space that will remind you of the calm, lazy days of summer. Imagine what it would be like to wake up each morning and the first thing you see is a reminder of the warm, sunny days at the beach, or something else that instantly brings a smile to your face. Spend a few moments and put together those things and set them on your night stand or next to your toothbrush so that they can set the mood for your entire day.

Find time to meditate. By now you’ve heard all about the health benefits of meditation, so this “school year” it’s time to take that “class” and make it a part of your daily schedule. Don’t be intimidated by the idea of meditation or the notion that you have to turn your mind off. All you have to do is find a quiet spot, close your eyes and focus on your breath. For example, try to visualize the path your breath takes as it enters your nose and then follow it all the way to your heels and back out. If you find yourself thinking about the events of the day while your eyes are closed, simply to shift your focus back to visualizing your breath. With practice you can stay focused on that one thing longer.

Get a couple of new dishes, cooking pots or cookbooks and get excited about cooking again. Preparing healthy meals will feel fun again when you have new tools you can’t wait to try out. If you’re watching your budget, you can always trade dishes or cookbooks with a friend.

Hope all of you had a great summer and will have an even better “school year.”

Burn Treatment

2009-06-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, while rushing around the kitchen, I accidently grabbed a metal spatula that had just come out of the oven. The utensil left a perfect outline burned into my palm. I quickly abandoned my dinner prep and rushed to grab my acupuncture kit. I’ve read and studied all about Dr. Manaka’s burn treatment in school, but this was going to be the first time I would get to use it. Since this incident, it’s still one of my favorite treatments because the results are unbelievable and undeniable.

Dr. Yoshio Manaka was a Japanese poet, artist, scholar and physician. During his medical tour of duty in World War II, he discovered that applying tin foil to burns reduced pain and helped to speed up the healing of the area. Upon further studies, he developed a device called an ion-pumping cord which serves as a way to use the body’s own electrical potential to reduce the severe pain that comes with second degree burns. Within 10 minutes of starting the procedure, patients in severe pain noticed a reduction in pain. After 20 minutes, all patients reported markedly less or no pain at all.

Since I’ve always been a huge skeptic, I didn't count on much relief but I thought I would at least get a chance to “test” Dr. Manaka's treatment on myself. Within a few minutes of treatment, my hand stopped hurting. My first thought was that my burn wasn’t that bad! So I removed the cords and foil and, within minutes, the pain returned and my hand throbbed. I spent the next 10 minutes applying and removing the treatment – just because I could not believe how clear it was that it was helping. By the end of the day, with my hand “healed” enough to submerge in water without screaming, I decided that this was officially my favorite acupuncture treatment – and a much better reminder of that day than a spatula-shaped scar.

Since that day, Dr. Manaka’s treatment has brought smiles to many of my patients who showed up for treatments, sunburned and in pain.

Motivation

2009-06-03T11:52:00.000-07:00

Like most people, I find it hard to stay motivated to exercise all the time. When a friend of mine worked close by, I had no problem meeting her daily for a quick run… rain or shine. But when she changed jobs, the struggle to stay motivated resurfaced again.

After some trial and error, I found three things that helped me the most:

Setting a specific time to run. Just as I did when running with my friend, I set a specific time each day that was dedicated to my workout. I noticed that if I didn’t do that, it was too easy to come up with a million and one projects that were more important to do first and all of the sudden the day had passed. Scheduling my workout in advance, preferably at the same time each day, has made a huge difference.

Adding books on tape to my ipod. Listening to music is great, and some songs get me going the minute I hear them. But after about a week of running, I noticed I would just tune out the music and get really bored on my run. Listening to a book on tape or an interview with an interesting person made a huge difference. It almost felt like chatting with a friend and, before I noticed, I had completed my full workout.

Nike+ gadget. This is that little sensor you can put inside your Nike shoes or simply attach to the laces on any kind of a shoe. While you run or walk, the sensor communicates with your ipod nano or itouch letting you know how far you’ve run, how fast you’re going and how much further you have to go to complete your goal. You can also set up a power song that, with a press of a button, can come on right when you need to conquer that hill. At the end of a workout you may hear Lance Armstrong congratulate you on completing your fastest mile or longest workout.

But the real advantages of using the Nike+ system, at least for me, are the features that you have available to you when you sync up your ipod with your computer. They include:

Keeping track of all your workouts

Setting up goals for yourself

Creating challenges – for yourself or joining other teams and contributing the miles you ran or walked to an overall team goal

Creating a cartoon version of yourself (perfect opportunity to try out that pink hair color you’ve been thinking about) that can then become your screen saver and praise you when you workout or scold you (gently) when you don’t.

Adding any of the above feature to your Facebook or MySpace page so that your friends can cheer you on – and maybe even get inspired to work out themselves.

Given a choice, I still prefer to have a friend at my side when I run. But with this little gadget, her and I can still share our workouts and keep each other motivated – even if it is in cyberspace.

Fire up a healthier grill

2009-05-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

Summer is here and the air will soon be filled with the irresistible scent of a backyard BBQ. To keep the meat tasty while reducing the carcinogenic compounds use rosemary.

A Kansas State University food science professor, J. Scott Smith, while researching a way to reduce cancer causing compounds in meats, found that rosemary could help keep grilled meats healthier.

When meats, such as beef, are cooked for more than four minutes or at temperatures greater than 350 degrees, they produce high levels of carcinogenic compounds called HCAs (heterocyclic amines).

Unfortunately reducing the temperature or cooking time is not a great solution if your mouth is watering at the thought of that true BBQ taste. The simple and healthy solution is to use rosemary.

Rosemary's rich antioxidant make up includes phenolic compounds - rosmaric acid, carnosol and carnosic acid, which can block the HCAs before they can form during the cooking process.

Using rosemary in a marinade for example, will allow you to cook the meat at high temperatures while helping to prevent the cancer causing compounds from forming.

Professor Smith's research team recommends a rosemary extract for meats where marinades are not practical - burgers for example.

For more variety, you can experiment with marinades and rubs made from other herbs that are rich in antioxidants. These include basil, mint, sage, savory, marjoram, oregano and thyme.

Drink your greens

2009-05-26T14:53:00.000-07:00

If you want the health benefits of a diet rich in leafy greens but are finding it hard to get excited about yet another salad, drink your greens instead. Making a smoothie that includes spinach and kale for example, is a surprisingly tasty way to consume these leafy greens...really! It also allows for easier digestion.

Here are a couple of suggestions:

Sweet and Spicy Green
Blend together 2 cups of spinach, half of a regular cucumber (or use a whole Persian cucumber), 1 kiwi, ½ cup of apple juice, ½ teaspoon of freshly grated ginger root, 1 tablespoon of *Total EFA with pure fish oil (you can also use flax seed oil, or borage oil or use 1 tablespoon of crushed flax seeds). If too thick, simply add a little water or a bit more apple juice. Slowly sip on your way to work or with dinner… better yet, have it twice.
*Total EFA with pure fish oil can be found in the refrigerated section of the vitamin and supplement aisle at the local Whole Foods. I really recommend this particular one because of its light taste - it has a slight citrus flavor.

Green in Disguise
If the thought of drinking something green is too traumatic for you, try this one.

Blend together 1 cup of spinach, 1 cup of kale (remove and discard stems), 1 banana, ½ cup of blueberries (you can use frozen ones), ½ cup of apple juice, ½ cup of water, 1 tablespoon of Total EFA with pure fish oil (or suggested substitution from above). The blueberries in this smoothie will change the color from green to purple… so your green-phobia can stay safely intact while you get all the benefits of leafy greens.

Experiment on your own by combining your favorite fruits with spinach, kale, collard greens etc. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to get all the iron, fiber, B-vitamins, calcium and more each day when you drink your greens.

For more ideas and a little bit of humor, check out this video from Tim VanOrden’s Running Green Project. http://tinyurl.com/oxlalo

Make the long weekend memorable

2009-05-22T14:11:00.000-07:00

For many, long weekend plans will include spending a lot of time outside – a day at the beach, bike ride or catching an extra wave surfing. To ensure your Tuesday recap of this weekend includes only the fun stuff, not your sunburn or achy muscles, try a homemade bath to wrap up your extra dose of fun.

Muscle Rejuvenating Bath
Perfect after all those sports activities you decided to do over the weekend.

You’ll need: 10-12 basil leaves, 3-4 sprigs of rosemary, 1 cup of Epsom salt and a piece of cheese cloth and string or ribbon.

How to use: Crush basil and rosemary together, combine with Epsom salt, place in cheese cloth and secure with a long piece of ribbon or string. You can hang this pouch from your tap as you fill the bath or just drop it in the water. Keep the water a bit cooler, to help invigorate muscles.

Too tired or sore to make your own bath? Try Dr. Hauschka’s Sage Bath for a soothing, rejuvenating effect.

Hydrating Milk Bath
Perfect after a long day in the sun to restore your skin to its silky smoothness.

You’ll need: ½ cup of baking soda or cornstarch, 1 cup dry goat milk or dry milk, 1 cup ground oats (use a blender to make ground oats or use oat flour), 1 tablespoon of honey, 10 drops of lavender essential oil.

How to use: Combine everything in a bowl, except lavender essential oil. Add mix to running water. Once the tub fills, add lavender essential oil.

Enjoy your weekend!

Make room for Quinoa

2009-05-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

Have you incorporated this highly nutritious food into your meals?

Quinoa is considered a grain, but actually it is an edible seed from a plant related to chard or spinach. You can find it in many stores and cooking these tiny little sees could not be easier. (Similar to cooking rice and other grains, but much quicker.) To cook, simply combine 1 part quinoa with 2 parts water. The texture is similar to couscous with a bit more crunch and a mild nutty flavor.

Quinoa is packed with nutrients and it's gluten-free making it an easily digested food for almost everyone. It contains eight essential amino acids and is therefore considered a great source of complete protein – one of only a few non-animal sources of complete protein. It’s also rich in magnesium which helps to relax blood vessels and contributes to good cardiovascular health as well as reduces migraine headaches.

Quinoa is a great source of manganes, a trace mineral that helps your body use key nutrients like thiamin and ascorbic acid, protects cells from free-radical damage, promotes thyroid health and helps the body synthesize fatty acids and cholesterol.

Its rich insoluble fiber content puts it on the list of foods that help reduce the risk of Type II diabetes and prevent gall stones.

As you can see for yourself, this little “grain” would make an excellent addition to your pantry. Try it in place of rice for dinner, or add a sprinkle of cinnamon, soy or almond milk and fresh fruit for a tasty breakfast. You can also use it instead of couscous next time you prepare tabouli.

More about taste

2009-05-19T10:13:00.000-07:00

In yesterday’s post, I mentioned the six tastes and how many Eastern cultures use them. By including all six in a course of a meal, the nutritional needs of our bodies can be met with ease. The six tastes again are sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent. Now before you run out and purchase a spicy TV dinner, bag of chips, an ice cream cake and a cup of coffee in an attempt to include the six tastes, there is a catch. The idea is to incorporate these tastes using natural, non-processed ingredients. Here is a partial list of pretty common foods that fit within each category to get you started.

Sweet: milk and milk products, grains (rice, barley, wheat), legumes (beans, lentils), bananas, mangoes, some cooked vegetables (carrots, potatoes, beets).

Sour: lemon and limes, fermented foods (vinegar, sauerkraut, soy sauce, wine), yogurt, cheese, sour cream.

Salty: sea salt, sea vegetables.

Bitter: green leafy vegetables (spinach, kale, green cabbage), zucchini, eggplant, spices (turmeric), olives, bitter melon, coffee.

Pungent: chili peppers, garlic, ginger, cumin.

Astringent: beans, lentils, cranberries, pomegranates, pears, broccoli, cauliflower, artichoke, turnips, asparagus, quinoa, buckwheat, turmeric, marjoram, coffee and black tea.

As I mentioned yesterday, the most difficult to digest foods on this list, fall into the sweet category and therefore should be included at the beginning of the meal for optimal digestion.

If you would like ideas on how to prepare some of these ingredients in a simple and delicious way, I recommend one of my favorite cookbooks (really a guidebook to healthy eating), a book called Eat. Taste. Heal. by Thomas Yarema, MD, Daniel Rhoda and Chef Johnny Branningan.

Rearrange dinner tonight

2009-05-18T10:34:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for a simpler way to ensure proper digestion and nutrition, focus on taste and order. More specifically the six tastes of food – sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent and the order in which you eat them during a meal.

Western nutrition emphasizes protein, fat and carbohydrate content which often leads many people to perform complicated math equation before sitting down for dinner. In Eastern cultures, on the other hand, the key to proper nutrition is a simple matter of balancing all six tastes in a meal in order of how difficult they are to digest. For example, sweet things are the hardest to metabolize and therefore are eaten at the beginning of the meal (dessert before a meal anyone?) and bitter and astringent foods, like green leafy vegetables, are consumed last. A balanced meal is simply a meal that includes all six of these tastes. No math, no calculator needed.

If your plans for dinner tonight include a salad, main course and dessert, try reversing the order and you might notice a lighter, less heavy feeling at the end of your meal.

Stress… in a new light

2009-03-03T10:18:00.000-08:00

Who Says Stress is Bad for You? by Mary Carmichael caught my eye in last week’s issue of Newsweek magazine. Until now, most articles on stress only stress how bad stress is for us and how we should, in any way possible, eliminate it from our lives. Of course that’s easier said than done. But in the Newsweek article, the author points to studies that show that not everyone is affected by stress in the same way and how, in some cases, stress may actually be beneficial.

In one of the most fascinating examples, she quotes a 1970s and 80s study that followed some 430 employees of a company that was undergoing a major crisis. “While most of the workers suffered as their company fell apart – performing poorly on the job, getting divorced and developing high rates of heart attacks, obesity and strokes – a third of them fared well”. Surprisingly, those that survived the crisis without sacrificing their health were people who had experienced a lot of stress in their early childhood.

Another common assumption that is picked apart in this article is that mother’s stress during pregnancy harms the fetus. But in a soon-to-be-published paper, a Johns Hopkins researcher showed that “women under moderate stress in mid-to-late pregnancy wound up with toddlers who were developmentally advanced, scoring highly on language and cognitive tests… [and that] 2-week-old babies whose mothers were under moderate stress show evidence of faster nerve transmission – and possibly more mature brain development – than those whose moms had stress free pregnancies.”

The biggest problem with studying stress, according to the author and most researchers, is to classify what mild or moderate stress means. Each individual responds differently. Therefore, there is no such thing as a standardized method of measuring stress. There is also evidence to suggest that forcing yourself into stress-reducing activities like meditation or exercise may actually do more harm than good.

Ms. Carmichael writes about a study that placed two rats in running wheels. One of them was allowed to exercise whenever he wanted but the other was forced into the activity whenever the first rat was running. The rat given the freedom to exercise when it wanted showed positive changes in the brain (new neuron growth). The other one lost brain cells.

This, and similar studies, shows that the amount of control that we have over our lives determines how well we manage. “As a rule, if we feel we’re in control, we cope. If we don’t, we collapse” and Carmichael writes, “no amount of meditation or reframing our thinking can change certain facts of our lives.”

Regardless of how we choose to interpret these studies, I think they do provide a bit of hope and therefore may help us regain a little control in our own lives – or at least eliminate all the stress about being stressed out.

Study: Acupuncture - no side effects and cost effective treatment choice for oncology patients.

2009-02-17T10:43:00.000-08:00

Recently published study showed acupuncture to be as effective at reducing hot flashes in women with breast cancer as other medication. But acupuncture produced these results without negative side effects.

Dr. Eleanor Walker, MD, director of breast radiation oncology in the Henry Ford Health System, and the lead author of the study, said that patients treated with medications reported experiencing nausea, dry mouth, headache, difficulty sleeping, dizziness, double vision, increased blood pressure, constipation, fatigue, anxiety, feeling “spaced out,” and body jerking during the night.

Patients treated with acupuncture experienced no negative side effects. Instead they reported having more energy, increased sexual desire, being able to think more clearly, and feeling better overall than before treatment.

In addition, Dr. Walker found that acupuncture was a much more cost effective way to treat hot flashes. She reported that patients treated with acupuncture had long lasting effects - lasting up to 3 months after initial treatment, compared to only 2 weeks when using medication.

Read full article.

Just because it's Friday.

2009-02-13T11:24:00.001-08:00

Maybe because it's Friday the 13th or just in case someone needs to laugh a little today, I thought I would post a recent observation a patient of mine made.

Since I do house calls and occasionally find myself squinting because there is not enough light in the room where I'm treating someone, I decided to hire the help of a small light. I picked out this little book light because it fits well in my travel case and provides just enough light to stick the needle exactly where it needs to be. This is what it looks like:

Little did I know, until my patient pointed it out and sent me the picture below, that my light had a previous life as an alien in the original movie, War of the Worlds. Here it is in it's movie debut and a slightly different costume.

I promised her and everyone else that if it starts to shoot lasers during treatments I will immediately send it back to it's home planet.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Try it once and then repeat eleven more times…

2009-02-11T14:22:00.000-08:00

During a recent late night channel flipping, I learned something fascinating. Dr. Oz (Oprah’s and everyone else’s favorite doctor) pointed out that 12 is the magic number when it comes to new food.
He said that studies show it takes about 12 samplings before you get used to the new taste and texture of food.

The show addressed healthy eating habits for kids but I think that this concept applies to a lot of adults as well. We could all use more vegetables in our diet, but we are often very quick to dismiss that which is new. As adults, we’re often well set in our ways and change is very, very difficult – we even call it painful. But armed with this new information, maybe it will be easier to rework your eating habits.

So, before you give up on that spinach salad, edamame snack or whole wheat bread after just a few bites, consider bringing it for lunch 11 more times and only then decide how you feel about it.

Breathe

2009-02-06T08:37:00.000-08:00

You probably don’t notice or think about your breathing unless you’re running to catch your dog or trying to mimic Michael Phelps by trying to swim half the length of the pool underwater. But paying attention to your breathing and doing some simple exercises to improve it, will have a great effect on your overall health – and it’s very easy.

Each time you are sitting in traffic, or reading a blog or watching TV, plan to practice this breathing technique. Imagine that as you breathe in, you are trying to inhale all the way to your heels. Yes, your heels. By focusing on your heels, you ensure that you fully expand your lungs, diaphragm and as a result “squeeze” all the vital organs in your body which will help improve the lymph and blood circulation through them.

My teacher explained this breathing technique in terms of a karate student trying to break a block of wood with a swift chop. Those who focus on the block itself would fall short and end up with a broken hand. But if instead they focused their attention on the floor below, the wood block simply became something on the way to their final goal and was much easier to break.

With a little practice you can put something as simple as breathing to use and really improve your overall health.

National Homemade Soup Day

2009-02-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

I could eat soup every day – “because soup is good food”. Thanks to Twitter’s Foodimentary, I found out that today is the day to celebrate homemade soup.

Soup is one of the easiest things you can make at home and a fantastic way to add vegetables to your diet. You don’t have to be a chef to prepare your very own tasty creation. If you can cut vegetables, boil water and stir, you can make soup.

Most soups can be made using the three step process. Step 1: cut vegetables. Step 2: sauté for few minutes. Step 3:add spices, water and/or stock and cook. For creamy soups, you can finish with a fourth step which is to blend the soup.

Could it be any simpler? Celebrate with your own creation tonight.

Here are a couple of my favorite soups:

Butternut squash soup:

1 butternut squash, cut into small cubes, sauté with ½ an onion. Add a little bit of nutmeg, a pinch of cayenne pepper, fresh ginger and then cover with ½ water, ½ chicken or vegetable stock. For a Thai twist on this soup, replace the chicken stock with 2 cups of coconut milk and a squeeze of lime juice. Once all the vegetables are cooked, you can use a blender or immersion blender to cream the soup. To serve, top with fresh cilantro for the Thai inspired one or with roasted almonds or pine nuts for the regular one.

Japanese spinach noodle soup:

(This is a variation on Harumi Kurihara’s recipe from Hurumi’s Japanese Cooking)

Bring to a boil ½ water, ½ chicken stock. Add a teaspoon of Sake. Throw in Japanese Buckwheat noodles (or other thin pasta that you like), let simmer until noodles are cooked. Add 4 big handfuls of chopped baby spinach and let simmer for about 1 minute – just until spinach wilts. Sprinkle a few drops of chili oil and enjoy.

Shoulder Pain After Gallbladder Surgery

2009-02-03T11:02:00.000-08:00

Stones present in the gallbladder do not cause problems for everyone, but if they decide to move, they may cause a blockage of the bile duck. This leads to, what is commonly referred to as, a “gallbladder attack.” In this case one of the presenting signs might be pain between the shoulder blades or pain under the right shoulder. Other signs and symptoms include right side abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and fever. Often these symptoms start after consuming fatty meals, or in the middle of the night. A trip to the ER quickly follows and, in most cases, the gallbladder will be removed.

What frustrates many patients and doctors is that the pain in the right shoulder returns and stays even after the gallbladder has been removed and surgery scars have healed. Treatment for this pain usually involves painkillers, which do not work for everyone.

So what can you do?

Positive effects on reducing all kinds of pain with the use of acupuncture have been well publicized. Both patients and doctors recommend acupuncture because it’s safe, non-invasive and does not produce negative side effects. But there is another reason why acupuncture can be very effective in eliminating the pain that occurs after the gallbladder has been removed.

Diagnosis during your acupuncture visit includes palpation and examination of the abdomen as well as specific acupuncture channels to find “weaknesses” in the body that may have contributed to the gallstone formation in the first place. Gallstones and a gallbladder attack are both presenting symptoms, but the goal of an acupuncturist is to find the root of the problem. By observing individual patterns in each patient, we can determine and treat that root cause and therefore eliminate the leftover symptoms – like shoulder pain.

To make it easier for you to visualize how acupuncture works to diagnose and treat the problem, here is my favorite analogy. If you see that a tree in your garden has dry leaves, at first, you may pull off the dry leaves and that’s it. But if you notice that more dead leaves keep showing up without a reason, you will probably check the water supply and look for evidence of bugs or disease somewhere else on the tree. By doing this, you are trying to determine the root of the problem because you intuitively know that the whole tree is connected. That’s the goal of acupuncture – find the true cause of the problem, beyond just the symptoms that are most obvious.

Treating each patient on individual basis helps to create a treatment protocol that is specifically catered to their own needs. For one patient that might be a combination of points “A”, B” and D” while others will get better results with “Z”, “F” and “Q”. This approach not only relieves the pain, it also produces results that last.

A Super Weekend...

2009-02-01T20:57:00.000-08:00

The anticipation. The excitement. Seeing the best doing what they do best. What a weekend!!!

Scramble left… scramble right… pass the acupuncture needle…

Before I confuse too many football fans, I should clarify; I’m not talking about the Super Bowl here! Sorry. That may have been an exciting game, but I’m buzzing with excitement about a different display of talent and grace.

Here is a “play-by-play”.

This weekend some fortunate fans descened on Pasadena and got to see Coach Kiiko Matsumoto, once again, generously share her latest “plays” and winning point combinations. In an eye opening, fun and often funny two day seminar, Kiiko Sensei scored all sorts of victories while navigating the tough field of stubborn and complicated cases.

A history of chronic cough, a lower leg neuropathy, a frozen shoulder, a case of painful menstruation are just a few of the “players” that ended up on the losing team as Kiiko Sensei whipped out her needles and sent these symptoms packing.

Her winning “team” consisted of rookies such as “Mr. Trochanter Treatment”, “Ms. Bai Liao #2" and "Mr. Bai Liao #3”, “Mr. Outer Kidney Shu” and “Mr. Edge of 12th Rib”, together with some of the seasoned veterans such as “Mr. Oketsu.” Together, they delivered wonderful results and sent the fans home inspired.

What a weekend indeed. I can’t wait to apply these strategies in the coming weeks! Domo Arigato Gozaimasu Kiiko Sensei!

Sorry gentleman, this one is for the ladies

2009-01-31T22:20:00.000-08:00

It seems that these days a woman’s menstrual cycle is getting all sorts of negative publicity. Think about the last time you heard or read something good about “that time of the month.” If you’re drawing a blank, you’re not alone.

Even if you yourself are not suffering from painful cramps or especially bad mood swings, you’re probably indulging in thoughts of eliminating the vacation-spoiling, wardrobe-limiting, monthly event – at least on occasion.

But there is a reason to, dare I say, embrace the period. The fact is the menstrual cycle is a very good reflection of a woman’s overall health. Regular, pain-free, not too heavy, not too light periods demonstrate that everything from our hormones and fluids to muscles and organs is functioning well.

If you are experiencing painful periods, irregular periods, skipping periods, heavy bleeding or any other symptoms that occur as part of your menstrual experience, don’t wait to get treatments. The sooner you take charge of your body the faster and easier it will be to nudge it back to a balanced state.

If you think that the only options available are over-the-counter drugs, birth control pills or surgical intervention you will be pleasantly surprised by how much acupuncture can help eliminate these symptoms – in a safe and non-invasive way!

Acupuncture has developed a huge following in US over the last few years - by both patients and their gynecologists, because of its high success rates and virtually non-existent negative side effects. In addition, acupuncture diagnosis and treatments DO NOT involve some of the… how should I put this?… dreaded “positions” we end up in during the yearly gynecological check-ups. Instead, acupuncturists rely on pulse diagnosis, acupuncture channel palpation and external-abdominal palpation to design treatments. In fact patients report that the treatments are relaxing and pain free.

If you are suffering from:

Pain – before, during or after your period
Irregular or missed periods
Heavy or very light bleeding or spotting
Fibroids
Changes in mood associated with your cycle
Changes in appetite and digestion associated with your cycle
Skin changes associated with your cycle
Negative reaction to birth control or hormone treatments
Hormonal imbalances
Infertility

Visit your gynecologist for a check-up and call your acupuncturist for some relief.

The sooner you start paying attention to these symptoms that keep reoccurring month after month, the quicker you can say – wait, that really was a “happy period.”

Modern Gadgets and Ancient Medicine

2009-01-30T06:06:00.000-08:00

I thought it would be appropriate to talk about technology in this first blog. Here I am practicing what is a 2,000+ year old medicine yet I believe that some modern technology is responsible for making me a better physician. Some of it is obvious – like the internet, of course. How did anyone live without it? What about something much, much smaller? Take for instance a pocket-sized keyboard, which opens up to laptop size, and allows you to type notes straight to your smart mobile phone – no laptop or outlet required. If you’re wondering how this gadget can possibly contribute to a better treatment for my patients, consider the following.

Each medical professional, myself included, relies on and is required to complete continuing education classes in their field. It is in these seminars that we learn from some of the best people in our respective fields. For me, it’s following the work of Kiiko Matsumoto by attending weekend seminars. Each seminar is about two days long and usually held in a classroom or a conference room.

The information we learn in these classes is advanced and cutting edge. The rooms we are in are not. On average the class size is anywhere from 25-100 people while the number of electrical outlet plugs is 2! Now imagine 25 people trying to use the same plug to keep their computer alive for 8 hours, two days in a row. Knowing this situation, most will opt for the old fashion pen and paper. But in my experience the notes you take the old fashion way often end up collecting dust somewhere in a box. Mine were always illegible, messy, and incomplete.

With the help of this relatively inexpensive gadget you can type on a full size keyboard that operates on a couple of AAA batteries. The battery life of BlackBerry or Palm far exceeds that of my laptop so I can sit anywhere in the classroom, type quickly, almost to a point of transcribing, and then with a quick sync to my own computer, have the notes available to me with a click of a mouse.

When researching patient cases I can find treatment ideas with a simple click of “Ctrl F” and immediately have access to several weekend lectures at once. No paper cuts. Having done this for several years now, I continue to be constantly amazed at treatment ideas that are in my notes that I simply did not remember from class.

So, as this weekend and Kiiko Matsumoto’s latest class approaches, I’m packing fresh AAA batteries and my little techno gadget and looking forward to learning about the ancient medicine that, with a little help from technology, will make my patients feel much better.