In my previous blog, I highlighted how acupuncture is so powerful to reduce effects of stress on the mind-body.  Here I want to give you even more guidelines for crafting your healthy lifestyle and fortify yourself against the barrage of the outer world and all the stress it throws at us.

Which of these have you adopted, and which are new to you?  Can you identify little tweaks in your daily routine to increase wellbeing?

Dietary Hacks

• Eat protein at breakfast and fat and /or protein with a higher carb meal.
• Avoid excess sugar especially refined sugar.  This can upset your body’s blood sugar regulation.  According to Dr Datis Karazian – Managing low blood sugar balance is foundational to improving your brain and hormone health.
• Caffeine can often cause blood sugar dysregulation.
• If you know a certain food causes symptoms such as diarrhea, bloating, constipation, hives, or agitation, these create inflammatory responses that tax the body.  Do your best to avoid them, even if small quantities don’t cause the symptom, they’re still creating inflammation.
• Everything you consume is a part of your diet – so turn off the news!  Stop hanging around negative people.

Mindfulness Practice

There’s so much talk and research around mindfulness – many companies are incorporating offerings for their employees and there’s a number of apps full of meditation timers and guided meditations.  The methods vary, from simply paying very close attention to the present moment in every day activities, to listening to a guided meditation, to sitting in close-eyed silent meditation.   I recommend reading Bliss More by Light Watkins to learn more about what mediation does for you that’s easy to understand.

Physical Activity that’s Enjoyable

If you like running – power to you.  It is very stress-relieving for many people.  Maybe for you it’s tennis, or weight lifting, or dancing.  Other powerful stress relieving movement therapies include qi gong, tai chi, and yoga.  The key: move that body to release tension and deepen breathing.

community is a human need

We are social creatures.  Don’t isolate to the point of loneliness.  We need each other.  Find people you can relate to and figure out how to connect.

Nature Soothes the nerves

Please please make time to be with green things outside!!! There’s tons of research about this, and such a thing as Nature Deficit Disorder. It’s real folks.  Aim for at least 1 hour outdoors every day.

What Does having balanced hormones feel like?

The ultimate goal of pursuing health is to become more adaptable.  When we adapt we thrive!

Additional resources:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S138994571730093X

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5981243/

Our world is in a state of heightened fear, anger, hurt, and uncertainty.  Our values are being challenged and brought front and center. Rightfully so.  What the world needs now is leaders, and we all have it in us to lead in our own lives by example for others.

But that’s harder when your body is struggling to maintain proper functioning.  Stress is the looter inside us. Be diligent to counteract it where you can.

Where do we start? We can actually take a look at our stress level – perceived, and also actual demands on you that are “normal”.   Here is more about stress and the way it impacts your hormones and thus your total health and resilience!

What are hormones?

Hormone functions can be broadly grouped into several categories: reproduction and sexual differentiation; development and growth; maintenance of the internal environment; and regulation of metabolism and nutrient supply. A single hormone may affect more than one of these functions and each function may be controlled by several hormones.

In short, hormones are chemical messengers telling the body how to react to stimuli.

Stress 101

You may have heard of the adrenal glands and how they produce cortisol which is a “fight or flight” hormone.  The HPA axis – hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis – is the relay system that activates our “fight or flight” response.  This process occurs whether we acknowledge that we’re stressed or not.  Much happens without our cognitive awareness – after all it was designed so that we can react instantly to danger, no thinking needed.  Unfortunately, most of us are in a state of chronic low grade stress.  And this leads to many chronic ailments.  Overproduction of stress hormones creates chaos for blood sugar which contributes to inflammation.  It’s a cascade effect.

Stress–>Fight or Flight Response via the HPA Axis –>Insulin resistance, insomnia, fatigue –>Dysregulation of metabolic hormones and mood neurotransmitters

Chronic stress means excess stress hormones like cortisol, which works to shut down digestion, increase heart rate, and keep us alert (aka anti-sleep).  Chronic stress also causes or contributes to:

• hypertension
• weight gain/obesity
• anxiety
• infertility
• insomnia
• thyroid dysfunction
• IBS

And the list goes on.

To reduce stress, lifestyle changes are really important. Here’s my blog about how to organize your lifestyle around reducing stress.

But there’s other ways you can really promote wellness, be proactive against the hidden damage caused by stress, and prevent chronic illness.

One of the best ways is regular acupuncture treatments.

How Acupuncture Reduces Stress

Acupuncture works very similarly to meditation in that it reduces the active beta brain waves, increases the relaxed alpha brain waves, and also produces your happy hormones including endorphins which are natural pain killers, and neurotransmitters seratonin and dopamine known to affect mood.  While stress creates the fight or flight response, acupuncture induces the rest and digest response, which allows the body to heal itself.  In addition, acupuncture can really help you achieve better sleep as well.  Insomnia is a major barrier for hormonal health, and acupuncture through the mechanisms mentioned, helps you restore your natural circadian rhythms.

Stress creates inflammation, and acupuncture reduces the inflammatory response and promotes circulation of blood, lymph, and nerve signals.

When working on resolving a health issue, acupuncture is prescribed in a series of treatments, at first close together, then spreading further apart, until you are feeling good, the problem is resolved, and then you continue with a maintenance plan to keep the body functioning properly.

Dear Friends,

Now is the time.  It’s always now, but now is a time of power and movement more than ever. 

In mind-body medicine, particularly the East Asian traditional variety, we are often very concerned with detecting stagnation and blockage.  Like a dam in a river – it will create build up on one side, and lack on the other.

This is what our society reflects, and no wonder we see it in our health.

The body keeps the score.

All the pain and trauma of the past, it can be released, but we have to identify the dams, and we have to find another way to allow flow and therefore healing after we move and remove the dams that are obstructing our health, our society.

That is a broad metaphor that does not show the absolute atrocities that continually repeat,  but what we’re seeing now with national dialogues is that the silenced voices are finally being listened to.  Solutions and ideas for healing the wrongs that have been said for so long are finally being allowed to broadcast.  I can see the old “Berlin walls” being hacked away. 

This is what our country needs.  Breaking down of old ways, hurtful and wrong ways.

The stress of all these wrongs explain so much of the dis-ease we experience. Much being subconscious, even the imprints of these past centuries and past decades of brutality and pain are carried by many of us through our connection to the collective unconscious.  And now the pain felt daily by black, indigenous, and brown people is being acknowledged globally.  

Just think of all the healing that can come from this moment we’re in – if we can all keep moving with it, and arrange our inner selves, our minds and hearts, to open to change and embrace it.  To see the beautiful possibilities of what a healed world, and what we ourselves as healed bodies, will be like.  What would it feel like to not be controlled by the stress, anger, worry, fear, that these dams inside us create?

If you are in a place of wanting to heal, wanting to move forward, wanting to be of service to this movement of change, I say thank you.  Thank you for choosing love and vulnerability. 

You don’t have to know all the hows right now.  Just be open, be open.

Know that I am here to facilitate your growth and healing.  I’m there with you.  I am learning, listening, changing, desiring good for our community. 

The important thing is to not give up, not get exhausted and burned out, but to balance the pushing forward with the breaks to rest, heal, and replenish.  If you need help with working on your inner health so that you can bring yourself out there to help others, I get it and that’s what I do.   

What a time to be alive.  It’s not easy what’s been set before us, but it’s absolutely what we’re here for, and what we’re here to learn.  It’s taken so many lifetimes of suffering, but let’s turn up the light brighter than ever to amplify and speed the healing. 

With so much love and gratitude,

Amy

Have you ever imagined what the grocery store would look like if only foods grown within a 500 mile radius, made with normal kitchen equipment, were sold there?  What if refined sugar, artificial flavors, and refined vegetable oils were illegal?

As a health care provider for over 15 years, when I shop for food I’m always conscious of two main perameters:  1. is it natural or processed, or in other words, could this item be made in a kitchen or grown in the ground without a ton of technology, and 2. is it in season now in my region?  Of course, exceptions are going to happen, but when I keep these criteria in mind, I am already bound to make healthier choices.

Why does eating low-tech and in season mean healthy? Let’s take a look!!

Eating with the Seasons, and with your internal environment

In Traditional East Asian Medicine (TEAM), people are always considered to be a part of nature, not separate from it.  This includes diet and nutrition.  Food is considered the first medicine, and only after diet has been corrected should other medicines be considered.  Choosing foods based on their special qualities and properties, the TEAM practitioner can prescribe certain foods to complement the patient, while advising against foods that are contraindicated for their condition.

In cold weather, foods should be warming, like soup and stews, and salads and fruit should be infrequent.   In summer, eating light, fresh and seasonal produce will encourage a deeper connection with food, and greater nutrition.

Going Local – The biggest bang for your buck

Thanks to world wide distribution channels and global food companies, we can have almost any fruit or vegetable, from all over the world,  year round.  This is a wonderful asset, yet, if we compare the nutritional content of what we can grow here to foods that were harvested months ago and trucked or shipped thousands of miles?  The quality of the food, and it’s vitamin and mineral content, are greatly diminished. Pesticides and other chemicals may need to be used in larger quantities to yield the types of harvests to feed the huge demands.  Strawberries are a great example – I recently read an article about all the special conditions that year round red berries in every store across the nation require.  It’s quite eye opening and provides incentive to change buying habits.

Big Food vs You

People are busy.  We work too much,  our activities take up the rest of our time.  So where’s the time to cook from scratch?   And why should we? Especially where I live in the suburbs, and in many communities, grocery stores and restaurants abound  to satisy any craving, meet any budget, and to fit into any busy lifestyle.  But when you step back and take a look from afar,   we see how health benefits are sacrificed for profits.  Insidious practices, like increasing fat, salt, sugar, and flavorings to make foods “hyperpalatable” and arguably addictive, are commonplace.  About 10 companies control the world’s food supply.  They dictate what is available and thus our choices.

When we can see the marketing and corporate decisions aimed at profits behind the products, it can open our eyes.  We don’t have to sacrifice quality for convenience.  Read labels to make informed choices.  Keep it simple.  Protein, veggies, and a carbohydrate are the main components to a nourishing meal.

Avoid these three things for better health

The name of the health game is anti-inflammatory, since all chronic disease is a form of inflammation.  Keep these off your plate to make the biggest impact.

Bad Oils – certain oils produce free radicals that damage our tissues.  This article has a good summary of oils that are safe to cook with and oils that are damaging.

Processed Meats – I’m talking about deli meats and “meat products” like boloney, and sliced meats full of preservatives. See the link below for information about how it’s linked to cancer and heart disease.

SUGAR! – of course, the most fun thing, but also the most inflammatory.  This should really be limited in its refined forms.  Go for unrefined alternatives like evaporated cane juice (also called sucanat), raw local honey, and natural maple syrup. Or skip the sweeteners and retrain your tastebuds to enjoy whole fruits! Stevia and Monfruit extract are natural sweeteners only required by the drop!  The internet abounds with naturally sweetened treats recipes, and if you are savvy you can make better choices at the store for that occasional treat!

So next time you are tempted to buy tomatoes in winter, or donuts in the drive thru, think about your body and ask if it’s worth it.  And as a gardener, think – can I grow that? If not, maybe put it back on the shelf!

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5296687/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/08/16/companies-that-control-the-worlds-food/14056133/

https://www.consumerreports.org/deli-meats/danger-at-the-deli-cold-cuts-increased-risk-cancer-heart-disease/