Stress eating. Everybody’s doing it. I admit it happens to me sometimes. But to support our immunity during a pandemic part of it includes eating well. In this video I just share a few things that are in my kitchen. By no means the be all end all, just a few little tips for foods that won’t spike your blood sugar leading to more cravings.
As a holistic practitioner specializing in women’s health, and the daughter of a breast cancer survivor, I feel deeply connected to the work I do to support women going through cancer treatments and women dealing with the after effects of treatment.
While cancer treatments are life saving they’re also harsh to the body and spirit. Acupuncture is a safe way to support a woman receiving chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. It allows the body to enter a resting state so it can heal and repair. And it’s not just the needles. As the practitioner, I am not just a technician inserting needles. There is a patient-practitioner synergy that has its own value in the healing process. The result is very supportive and healing.
This article on cancer.gov discusses how several studies show that acupuncture can reduce side effects of treatment such as joint pain.
And this breastcancer.org article cites studies showing acupuncture as being effective for other sides effects including nausea, hot flashes and fatigue.
Let’s not forget the mental-emotional strain cancer causes. Acupuncture is very effective for anxiety, insomnia, and depression as well.
Acupuncture does not interfere with medications and can be modified to accomodate each patient individually. Please share this article with someone you know who needs support as she makes her way through this difficult journey.
I love turning nouns into verbs! So ya, in my world, I cup people. It’s fun for me and my patients love it too!!
Cupping is the application of suction cups to any area of the body on the skin. Either glass, plastic, or silicone cups are applied and the air removed from inside them to create suction. This creates a negative pressure, meaning a pulling away from the center of the body, and there are many benefits to this type of bodywork.
There’s two ways to cup – leave them in one place or slide them around, pulling up the tissue with the suction like an inverse massage. Instead of pressing into muscles, the muscles are gently pulled up, and the amount of suction can be adjusted to comfort.
Cupping is a deep tissue therapy that breaks up adhesions, promotes blood and lymph circulation, and releases tension in the local tissues. Often joints, muscles, and various connective tissues can accumulate toxins due to tension and lack of circulation. These toxins contribute to pain and discomfort. Because cupping releases blockages, this in turn means it promotes qi circulation. The result is looser tissues allowing waste products to be flushed out and blood and lymph and qi to circulate more freely.
Cupping can help treat the following problems:
Most patients will have marks in the shapes of the circular cups for a few days after the cupping session. This is normal and discoloration varies from hardly anything to very dark purplish or red marks. These are not bruises, but instead reveal toxins and old dead blood and waste products that had been trapped in areas of poor circulation. The discoloration shows that these waste products are pulled closer to the surface, where the blood and lymph can flush them out through our natural detoxification pathways such as sweat and urine. Most importantly they don’t hurt!
To determine if or when cupping is right for each patient, I create individualized treatment plans. I can do a quick short amount of cupping with acupuncture after, or we can do a whole cupping session to cover more areas and spend more time with it.
Cupping is not done on open sores, broken skin, active cancer patients, or over a pregnant belly. They are overall extremely safe. Amy Rieselman is a Certified Cupping Therapist who’s received training from the International Cupping Therapy Association.
Questions? We’d love to hear from you. Drop us a line.
September is PCOS Awareness Month, and since this is something I see a lot in my practice, I want to delve in and not only explain what it is, but also give some real solutions for reversing. A whopping one in ten women of reproductive age have PCOS, so it definitely deserves attention.
A syndrome, by definition, is a collection of criteria, that, when someone meets a certain number of these, is given the diagnosis. There are misconceptions about what it looks like and who has it. The main sign is, like in the name, multiple cysts on the ovaries detected with ultrasound. However, not everyone with PCOS has this. Elevated androgens (i.e. testosterone), which can cause abnormal hair growth on face or body, head hair loss, and acne. And irregular periods or no periods. Some also have weight gain around the middle. Again, some PCOS patients have some of these symptoms, while others don’t. Not everyone with PCOS is overweight, and not all have acne or hirsutism. Diagnosis is based on at least two of the above symptoms.
As a natural health practitioner – we always ask why. A conventional medical diagnosis often just describes the problem, but doesn’t explain it. Luckily, quite a bit of research since this syndrome rose in prominence in the 90’s has pretty much identified what goes wrong in these women’s bodies. Here’s the gist:
Bottom line: chronic stress, inflammation, and dysregulation of blood sugar is a recipe for hormonal imbalance, weight gain, etc.
By realizing the underlying causes of Insulin Resistance we can begin to create a treatment plan to address and reverse the upsets to the biology.
The above 4 points form a foundation for what needs to be addressed and changed in order to allow PCOS patients to reverse the disorder.
While lifestyle modifications are essential, this alone may not be enough for some PCOS patients. The power of East Asian Medicine includes techniques that work deep in the mind-body to further repair and restore hormonal health. I develop a treatment plan incorporating acupuncture, nutritional therapy, lifestyle counseling, herbal medicine, and emotional healing to address the underlying imbalances. It’s so effective because I assess each patient individually, and tailor the plan to each woman’s unique needs. Health is never one dimensional, healthcare shouldn’t be either.
Please call or text 630-335-1069 to find out more or to schedule a free consultation.
These miraculous and special nine months should be a time of joy and wonder, not suffering. I absolutely love supporting women in creating a pain free comfortable pregnancy. Please reach out if you experience any of the following:
Once baby arrives, we continue our relationship to ensure your uterus returns to its normal shape, your energy is supported as you nurse, and your bodily functions are functioning! I also help with insufficient lactation, postpartum constipation and postpartum depression.
