Wellness Programs and Acupuncture

Diet and nutrition are at the cornerstone of wellness. Not only do they add to the overall well being but they help the patient to center and focus their energy on their own empowerment. This is the first step in taking responsibility for ones health.

There are many ways the body balances itself with nutrition, Being aware of one's metabolic type helps a patient to know what best ways to nourish themselves. Acupuncture then enhances the body's capacity to absorb nutrients, detoxify and tonify the metabolism.

Chinese Medicine offers many suggestions for strengthening the digestion and metabolism. Did you know that:

-- on average, the Chinese diet consists of 3 times more fiber than the average American diet. *

This means that the Chinese naturally incorporate detoxification with their foods. A healthy and clear stomach and intestinal area are the basis to good health. The blood is cleansed by processes of the intestines. The immune system begins here. A healthy gut is a key to longevity. Acupuncture works to tonify the digestive processes which are sluggish and to balance areas that are over working.

--Chinese eat more calories daily than Americans per pound of body weight but suffer little obesity and lower cholesterol.*

How is that possible? The Chinese eat a much lower percentage of fats in their daily diet. Included in their diet are Chinese herbs, the wisdom of stimulating the digestion with Acupuncture and Qi gong and an understanding of nutrition on the effects different types of food have on us so we can taylor our diet to meet our nutritional needs.

Types of Wellness Programs

We offer Wellness Programs  in these categories:

Weight loss

Fertility

Metabolic Syndrome

Parasitic Cleanse

Detoxifying Cleanse

Blood Sugar Balancing

Chinese herbs and Acupuncture are a part of every wellness program, as well as specific plant based food supplements and a metabolic profile.

Every wellness program starts with observing the digestion, the foods we readily assimilate and the foods that interrupt our digestion process.

For more information on nutrition programs that work specifically for you, call us at: 720-201-4101. We are happy to help!

Foods to Avoid

Coffee
Alcohol
Chocolate
Ice cold foods, including salads
Spicy hot foods including garlic and chili
Coffee, alcohol and chocolate all create toxins and irritate the liver.
The stomach lining is more like a delicate plant than an iron combustion chamber. Think of it like a flower. Too much cold or hot water will kill a flower. The stomach creates the delicate process of absorbing and breaking down nutrients. Excess of spicy or cold foods can de-sensitize it making it harder to function in a balanced way.

Water

The body is made of 93% or 98% water. Water is transportation in and out of the cells with electrolytes. Electrolytes are chemicals with in the body, which have an electrical charge. This charge creates movement. Movement increases transportation of nutrients and waste into and out of cells through the membrane of the cell. Electrolytes enhance this activity and so provide more effective flushing of waste particles and better absorption of nutrients. Drinking water that is enhanced with electrolytes enhance this activity.

Nutrition

Provided by the food you eat, the air you breathe, your thoughts and your emotional environment, add to your health and care of your body. These are the tools that help your body to heal, help the nervous system relax fuel our energy and improve our immunity. With Chinese Medicine and Chinese Medical diagnosis, you are guided about the foods and nutritional habits which benefit you and enhance your longevity and the nutrition which is weakening your health.

Electrolytes

Electrolytes are an important aspect of our body’s chemistry and energy system.
Here are a few examples:

Calcium

Calcium is the most abundant and important mineral in the body. It is an integral element for cellular function throughout the body. Most calcium is stored in the bones and teeth and it is also found in the blood, muscle and interstitial fluid, which is the fluid between cells. Calcium is necessary for blood vessel dilation and contraction, muscle contraction, secretion of hormones and enzymes and relaying messages through the nervous system.

The balance between bone re-absorption and deposition changes as people age. When we experience a shortage of calcium, as women do with menopause, the body will leach calcium from the bones and teeth. This creates osteoporosis.

It is vital to our health to maintain calcium in our body.

Sources of Calcium include:
Leafy green vegetables – kale, cabbage, spinach, etc.
Broccoli
Salmon
Tofu (best when cooked with ginger)

You can supplement your calcium intake by taking a powdered or liquid calcium supplement. Calcium supplements in the form of a pill, aren’t as easily absorbed.

To discern whether your calcium supplement is working for you, put a tablet in a cup of water and observer whether it dissolves or not. If it doesn’t dissolve in the water, chances are it won’t dissolve in your digestive track either.

Weight bearing exercise is the best way to increase bone strength. Enjoyable weight bearing exercises are:
Weight training
Walking
Running
Dancing

Calcium is excreted from the body in sweat, urine and feces. This excretion can be affected by many factors and by the intake of other electrolytes such as sodium and potassium.

Sodium

Sodium is found, plentifully, in the American diet, particularly with people who eat out often.

Potassium

Potassium is found in avocado’s and honey.
 Increasing dietary potassium intake (such as from 7-8 servings of fruits and vegetables per day) may help to balance high sodium intake and decrease calcium excretion particularly in postmenopausal women.

Ph - Alkalinity and Foods

The body maintains a slightly alkaline environment, around 7.4 constantly

Acids are all around us, in the water, air and food(alcohol, meat, dairy, eggs, medications, etc.)

The adrenals are stimulated by acids in the blood, to send out aldosterone to retain more sodium from the kidney to keep the blood alkaline. If the adrenals are fatigued, then hypoglycemia results for cortisol is low in the blood and glucose level falls below normal. Adrenal stress also causes digestive impairment when fight/flight sympathetic system is stimulated, digestion shuts down or is at least, slowed.

Acids in the blood also stress the liver, for the liver can only clear so many acids, then they back up in cells, resulting in lipofuschin, which is a yellow sldge that is a breakdown product of food. This substance can be trapped in cells and impair cell function.

By eating alkaline foods(whole grains, fruits and vegetables) the permeability of cell is increased, thus passive transport is increased, and thus the cell can rid itself of waste. Exercise (aerobic) also helps this process.

Alkaline diet:
25% vegetable
50% grain
15-20% complete protein
5-10% fruit
5% seeds, sprouts

Acid:
45% vegetables
25% grain
10-15% complete protein
10% fruit
5-10% seeds, sprouts

Balanced:
30% grain
30% vegetable
20% complete protein
20% fruits, seeds, sprouts

Adding a few tablespoons of chlorophyll to water, a few times a day, is a good way of maintaining an alkaline environment.

* from The Qing Dan Diet, by Bob Flaws