New Years Resolutions II

In light of being held accountable I'd like to follow up with a previous blog New Years Resolutions. My kick off to the New Year was 7 yoga classes in 7 days. I was a little nervous about completeing it as it was going through New Years Eve week and I had family coming into town. I'm happy to report that I did indeed complete 7 yoga classes in 7 days as well as teaching my regular Monday yoga class. I'm even happier to report that I am feeling really great. :)

The second part of my New Year's Resolution was to make it to the gym 2 times a week and a yoga class in addition to the yoga classes I teach and my hectic work schedule. I've made it to the gym once so far this week.

I'm always amazed at how packed the gym is in the first month following the New Year's. What happens to that "resolution" as the year unfolds? As most people's New Year's resolutions involve physical goals I like to share a stat from Dr. Oz I recently caught on his show.

"Your endurance level at 67 years old is the same at 17." Dr. Oz.

What's more is I found this stat in Essential Lifestyle "According to Dr. Moira Fordyce, a geriatrician at Stanford University School of Medicine, longevity is based 30% upon our genetics and 70% on lifestyle choices." Let me rephrase so this can settle in How well you take care of yourself is more important than your genetic make up. You are in control of the grace with which you age.

So what can you do that is realistic to the life you manage?

Moderation is key.

As much as you can prepare your own meals. In the long run this is easier on your budget, tastes better and is better for you. Stay away from boxed meals, eat foods that are alive! At the end of a long day it might seem like take out is quicker and easier however cooking a healthy meal at home might even be quicker then waiting in a drive through line or the delivery man. The biggest key here is planning. Crock pots are a great tool in the winter months to have dinner waiting for you. Spending one day to prep your meals for the week is also helpful. Find what works for you. Let eating out become your exception rather than the rule.

Take a vitamin and mineral supplement. See Do You Know What Are In Your Vitamins blog to find the best brand. Usana Essentials is the best supplement I've ever taken. Think of this as investing in your health and what you will save in perscription co payments later.

Stay active. This doesn't mean you have to spend hours and hours at the gym everyday. Participating in a moderate exercise program can lower your risk for many common diseases and help you recover faster when you do get sick. Individuals who maintain an active lifestyle can also benefit from stronger bones, reduced joint and muscle pain, improved mobility and balance, lower risk of falls and serious injuries and slower loss of muscle mass. Instead of thinking of exercise as something you have to do get involved in an activity you enjoy. If you are a gym junkie take up a group program. Your community will keep you motivated as the new years resolution begins to wan.

Here's to our healthiest year yet!

Sarah Zender LAc LMT

Whole Health Acupuncture 50 Turner Ave Elk Grove Village IL 847.357.3929

http://www.wholehealthprograms.com/

Acupuncture for Weight Loss

Acupuncture for Weight Loss:

The function of the spleen and stomach system in Chinese Medical theory is to transform and transport the food that we eat. The spleen specifically can become imbalanced from dampness either from the environment (rain, snow) or the foods that we eat (dairy products, greasy foods etc). Dampness is a pathogen that weighs the body down literally through extra weight and energetically through fatigue. Chinese Medicine sees excess weight as an imbalance in the body. Think about it, if your body is overweight you have a higher chance of developing high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and so on. From this point of view the goal of acupuncture is not necessarily weight loss, it is harmony. When the body is in balance it knows how to process the foods that are consumed properly so that instead of storing food that is not needed it is eliminated. According to research from the Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine acupuncture is particularly useful for weight loss especially when the weight is carried around the abdomen and organs in middle aged people. Commonly people who are overweight have other imbalances such as hypertension, fatty liver, high cholesterol, menstrual or menopausal problems, stomach inflammation, constipation, or depression. Often times these other issues that may or may not seem related are actually the root cause of the weight gain. As we look at the body as a complete system the goal is to harmonize all organ systems so that the body can function most optimally. In this way the body naturally lets go of the excess weight it does not need and the effects of treatment positively impact the entire body. It is important to remember that balance is a process and being committed and consistent are key to lasting success. Weight gain does not happen over night and it is not reasonable to expect it to be lost over night either.

What you can do:

Eat breakfast and make it your largest meal of the day. The energy of the large intestine, spleen and stomach are most active in the morning. When you eat breakfast you stoke the fire of your metabolism so that your body has energy to get through the day.

Limit your intake of dairy and sweets. Dairy and empty sweet foods contribute to dampness and phlegm in the body. When the spleen is out of balance it will crave empty sweets like candy and ice cream (sweet and damp and just about the worst thing for your spleen). Yellow foods like grains and squash as well as full sweet foods such as sweet potatoes nourish the spleen.

Don’t eat after 8:00pm. Your stomach should be finished with digestion when you go to sleep at night. In this way your body can use this time of rest to repair and rejuvenate instead of multitasking. Also, your stomach will be empty in the morning and ready for breakfast, making it easier to wake up.

Move your body everyday. For many people exercise is a dirty word, so change your language! Move your body a little bit every day in whatever way gives you joy. Talk a walk or a yoga class, dance while you’re cooking dinner, skip from your parking spot to the entrance of the grocery store, hula hoop. The more you move your body the more your body will want to move.

Testimony:


"Just to let you know, I had acupuncture for six weeks for knee pain and low thyroid and noticed when I stepped on the scale I had lost 5 pounds without even trying or realizing it! That was an awesome benefit especially since I watch what I eat and workout 3 times a week and go to yoga 2 times a week and can never seem to tip the scale in my favor. I see acupuncture helping so many people. Thank you for the work you are doing to help people live a healthier life."

Joyce Hodnett

Do You Know What Are In Your Vitamins?

Awhile back I posted a question on facebook to see who was taking vitamins, what people were taking, and what brands people were using. Kara and I were doing our own research as to what brand we wanted to endorse at Whole Health Acupuncture that had the best quality and value for our patients.

As we met with various reps of different supplement companies I learned one thing: everyone has the best vitamins on the market. As we poured over research data and stats and catalogs we went back to the simplest way to know if a product is worthy. We started using the vitamin samples left behind by all those reps.

I'm not going to lie, I'm not a very good supplement taker myself. At least I didn't used to be but we'll get to that. In many circles there is still controversy over the need to take vitamins. Some people feel they are a waste of time and all of those nutrients should be received from the foods we eat. Which in theory is good but who eats fresh fruits and vegetables everyday? Others argue that our soil is so depleted that vitamins are a necessity for health. Still others are starting to take note of vitamin deficiencies and their relation to certain ailments. (for example did you know if you have pain conditions many times a part of the culpret is a vitamin B deficincy?) Anyways I started taking Shaklee vitamins. They had a good reputation, they had research backing them, and as always, I wanted to see for myself. The result was I didn't really feel much of anything. I went on to another brand, this one was a powder that I mixed with water called isotonix. The result, a big sticky mess. Again I didn't feel much during the process of taking them as directed or after I stopped.

Now I was starting to get discouraged thinking that maybe vitamins weren't really all that big of deal and I should just stick with chinese herbs and call it a day. I might have if it weren't for my background in nutrition. It was around this time that I met Tyanna Cannata of Usana vitamins doing a presentation on her vitamins. She had some great information to share that I will now pass onto you.

First, the label on your vitamins that tells you what percentage of your daily requirements are in your vitamins tells only half the story actually more like 20%. Vitamin companies are only required by law to put 20% of what the label actually says is in each pill in the entire bottle. 20%! No wonder I wasn't feeling anything with these vitamins there might not have been anything in them to feel. Second, most companies use byproducts of petrochemicals (think about scraps after making a tire) as binders to keep the vitamins together in a pill form. I don't know about you but that is pretty gross. What's worse is that Tyanna had a visual of all of this. She calls it the apple test.

In three seperate jars there contained half of an apple soaking in water. The first jar had a regular old apple in water. This represented the natural aging process. The apple was starting to turn brown as apples do when they've been out for awhile. The second jar had an apple in water with a Centrum complete vitamin. This apple was floating in murky blackish gray water and the apple itself was blackish gray. This was a demonstation of the "additives" that the body absorbs when taking a vitamin that is not up to par and what it is doing to your body. The last jar held an apple floating in water with a usana vitamin. The apple had not turned brown, instead it looked as if it had just been cut. This represented using a vitamin with actual vitamins in it and how it can slow down the aging process and keep your cells healthy.

You might think big deal, so what who cares about apples. Me too. I was more intrigued by the results Kara was feeling on the vitamins. She was reporting having more energy to get more things done (she has 2 kids 1 who still doesn't sleep through the night and owns a business) and having 3 bowel movements a day and on and on. I went through my last round of trials myself, this time with Usana. I started to notice my energy levels pick up. It occured to me when it was midnight and I was laying in bed while Christian slept watching tv not because I was restless and couldn't sleep but because I wasn't tired. What was even more surprising is that I was waking up in the morning with the sun shine during the fall without an alarm clock because I wanted to not because I had to. Getting up in the morning has always been a struggle for me, to say the least.

Vitamins are rated on a star scale 0-5. 5 star having the best potentancy and purity.

Lyle MacWilliam MSc, FP has published a great book called NUTRISEARCH COMPARATIVE GUIDE TO NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS it contains over 1500 products available in the US and Canada. You can find this book just about anywhere, Borders Book, Barnes and Noble, Amazon etc.

Below are the ratings for the vitamins mentioned above taken for this book.

Shaklee = 1 star

Isotonix = 2 stars

Centrum = 0 stars

Usana = 5 stars


Now I know what its like to take vitamins with vitamins inside of them. It makes a difference to me. But don't take my word for it, try it yourself or try the apple test.

For more information visit Tyanna's website: http://www.tyannacannata.usana.com/


Sarah Zender LAc LMT

Whole Health Acupuncture 50 Turner Ave Elk Grove Village IL 847.357.3929 http://www.wholehealthprograms.com/

Whole Health Acupuncture Offers Solution For Health Care Crisis

Whole Health Acupuncture has recently implemented community style acupuncture on a sliding scale.

What exactly is community acupuncture?

Community Acupuncture is how acupuncture is practiced traditionally in Asia with several patients resting together at the same time. At Whole Health Acupuncture we have two community rooms with zero gravity reclining chairs. Your acupuncture treatments are tailored to your individual needs and you rest comfortably in your recliner with other individuals that are also receiving acupuncture. This system allows us to reach more people in need of health care and keeps costs down. We find in this way people are able to go into deeper states of relaxation because of the security of other people in the room that are also relaxing. Much the same way you would work out at a harder intensity in the gym vs working out alone at home.
Community Acupuncture also allows those that are nervous about the idea of needles to bring a family member or friend for moral support.

Community Acupuncture's intention is to empower You

In the West most acupuncturists treat one patient alone in a treatment room and sessions last 15-40 minutes and can cost anywhere from $65-150 a session. At Whole Health Acupuncture we find that many patients' bodies are not finished processing their session in 20-30 minutes and leave feeling fatigued instead of energized. With Community Acupuncture you determine when your treatment is over. Patients rest anywhere from 20 minutes-90 minutes depending on what their individual needs are. This fosters body awareness so that patients start to pay attention to their own body's needs.

Whole Health does not require proof of your financial situation. You choose the cost of your treatment ranging from $15-50. Each time you come in you may pay the same fee or a different fee depending on what works for your budget. What you pay for treatment does not change the quality of care. Acupuncture is most effective when done consistently over a period of time and can assist with just about any health condition from the common cold, headaches, PMS, depression to cancer recovery. Community Acupuncture on a sliding scale allows Whole Health to bring safe, effective healthcare to everyone on every budget. We are sensitive to the fact that illness and pain does not disappear when the economy is down and believe that illness is not just the absence of disease and prevention is not just early detection. Acupuncture can improve your quality of life, give you an outlet to manage stress and be used as preventative medicine.

"American's healthcare system is neither healthy, caring or a system." Walter Cronkite 1993

It is the goal of Whole Health Acupuncture to assist patients in becoming healthy and staying healthy. The practitioners of Whole Health Acupuncture went to school to serve the community with a 5000 year old tradition of effectiveness that is non invasive and without the side effects and dangers of drugs and surgery.

For more information and to schedule an appointment call 847.357.3929 or visit www.wholehealthprograms.com

Whole Health Acupuncture
50 Turner Ave
Elk Grove Village IL 60007
847.357.3929
www.wholehealthprograms.com