Summer and Your Heart

We will soon be transitioning to the summer season which is associated with the element of fire, and is governed by the Heart and Small Intestine.

The Heart is considered to be the king of bodily systems. It is said that our shen, or spirit, is stored in the heart and because of this, our heart energy is linked with our outlook on life.
In the summer, the days are long and the earth is in full bloom. The lightest (most yang) energy is available to us at this time. When balanced, our bodies should feel light and happy while enjoying the reward of sunshine.

The Heart governs the circulation of blood, as well as our sleeping patterns and our moods. Since the energy of the earth in the summertime is the lightest, the circulation of our blood and energy in our bodies should be smooth, allowing us to access the abundant energy available to us. This lightness in energy allows our mood to follow.

Keys to Summer Health

•Spend as much time outside as possible
•Move your body
•Breathe in fresh air

Summer is about eating for replenishment from outdoor activities, with less emphasis on the cleansing of spring. Continue to choose light foods, leafy greens, light soups, and fish. The natural resource of summer is fruit and is an ideal way to harmonize with energy of summer. Fruits are cooling, moisturizing and replenishing, as well as high in natural sugars, vitamins and minerals.

Try to eat locally grown, organic fruits that have matured in the season you are in. This will help you harmonize to the season because the food you are eating has adapted to the same environment.

Remember to choose the “middle path” with your food choices. Moderation is always best. Too much fruit can produce too much moisture, causing dampness in the body. Dampness can damage the spleen energy. Cooking fruits can reduce dampness.

•Red foods can stimulate the mind
•Mix red veggies in soups and salads

•The fire element has a bitter taste that can cool heat, detoxify the liver and blood, and calm the shen. Bitter greens like dandelion greens, kohlrabi and collard greens are great additions in the summer months. Allow for higher amounts of raw, fresh foods, while continuing to balance with warming soups, teas, and cooked foods. Moderation remains in all aspects of the diet.

It is important to work the body for a sustained period of time, building a vigorous sweat to increase stamina and nourish the function of the heart. It is a good idea to exercise in the late morning, preferably outdoors, for longer periods of time. You might use a slower pace with a longer duration of your favorite movement. Remember to have fun and listen to what your body needs.

The summer is a great time to reflect on bliss. In yoga, bliss is considered the deepest part of who you are and is a constant throughout life. You might practice a couple of minutes a day, bringing your awareness to your heart, imagining a tiny flame. With each inhale, invite your flame to expand.

Enjoying the lightness of summer not only feels good but is good preventative medicine for an easy transition through winter especially if you suffer from seasonal depression. Now is the time to feel and good and keep it that way!

Sarah Zender LAc

Whole Health Acupuncture 50 Turner Ave Elk Grove Village IL 847.357.3929

www.wholehealthprograms.com

Stress and the Spleen/Stomach System

Last week we talked about stress and its impact on the body.

The spleen/stomach system according to Chinese Medical theory is responsible for the transportation and transformation of food. This system is what gives us usable energy. The quality of our health is determined by the essence we received from our parents (DNA) and as well as our lifestyle habits. If you were born with good essence that's great! The best way to keep it that way is to make sure you are living a healthy lifestyle or it will catch up with you.

The spleen/stomach relate to:

emotion: worry/over thinking

taste: sweet

pathogen: dampness

color: yellow

season: late summer and transitional phases



When our stressors cause us to over think or worry it can damage the spleen. You might know a few people who are worriers and have weak stomachs, this is because the spleen/stomach system governs both activities. If you are a multitasker this can also cause disharmony in your spleen/stomach making you feel anxious. The spleen/stomach system also keeps the blood contained. As a women, if you are living a stress filled life with no outlet you might experience spotting between periods, and other disharmonies with your menstrual cycle.



The spleen is a dry organ that hates dampness. What does that mean? Damp causing foods are sweet, especially empty sweet foods like processed cookies and candy. Dampness causes the body to feel heavy and weighed down metaphorically or literally with extra pounds. In order to keep your digestive system strong its important to eat warm foods. Raw vegetables are considered cooling and are hard for your system to process. Always cook your veggies. Processed, deep fried, fast foods cause dampness in the body and damage your spleen/stomach. What you might not know is that it is important to focus just on your food while you eat. If you watch tv, drive, sit at the computer etc while you eat you are dividing the attention of the spleen with thinking and eating which ultimately imbalances your spleen.



The Dali Lama once said, "if the problem has a solution then there is no need to worry and if the problem doesn't have a solution worry will do know good." Easier said then done, but do your spleen a favor and let it go. :)



How can you avoid stressing out your spleen?



Avoid refined sugars as much as possible



Eat yellow foods with full sweet flavors such as grains, squash, sweet potatoes, yellow peppers, or baby corn.



Take life one moment at a time. Instead of multitasking, try to tackle one thing and complete it before moving on.



Avoid living spaces and work environments that are below ground like garden apartments and basements. Keep yourself warm and covered when it rains or snows (dampness).



Eat mindfully. Whenever possible eat with friends or family and enjoy their company and the food that you are eating. Notice the flavor of your food and chew! You might notice that you don't need to eat as much as you used to.



Unplug. Turn your cell phone and computer off when your work day is done. Even if all you do is turn your car off and sit for a moment of silence before going inside your home. Take some "me" time.

Sarah Zender LAc

Whole Health Acupuncture 50 Turner Ave Elk Grove Village IL 847.357.3929

http://www.wholehealthprograms.com/

Spring Cleaning

I saw my first pair of robins this weekend. While spring has been in the air for a bit that was the sign I was looking for especially since Saturday marks the official first day of spring.

The liver/gall bladder system in chinese medicine is associated with the season of spring. As the world around us starts to turn greener and flowers start to blossom similar things are taking place with in our bodies.

The heavier energy of winter is lifting and lighter energies are now becoming available to us. The spring is a perfect time to cleanse the body of the heavy rich foods of winter and more sedentary lifestyle we've been living.

So what can you do?

Clean your house, reorganize your closet and open the windows even if just for a few minutes. Donate or free cycle anything that you no longer use or wear.

Get active outside. Spend more time outdoors breathing in fresh air moving your body. Make sure to keep your neck covered in the wind so you don't catch a cold. Resist the urge to peel away all of your layers...its not summer just yet. The liver controls the tendons in the body so make sure to stretch often as your cleanse your body.

Eat lighter foods. As the energy in the world becomes lighter in spring your body should also feel lighter and more energized. Eat smaller meals more often adding extra green leafy vegetables to cleanse your blood and liver. If you eat meat, replace warming foods like red meat with more seafood. (make sure to add cilantro as it helps detox heavy metals out of the body) Stay away from heavy foods like dairy and sweets.

Wake up with the sunshine and birds chirping and do your workout early so that your energy and metabolism are high throughout the day.

Emotions, memories, or feelings that have been buried can resurface when harmonizing the liver. The old rises up and out before it leaves the physical/emotional body. Practice meditation breathing in through the nose, tongue touching roof of mouth, exhaling out through mouth allowing tongue to drop. Exhale with an affirmation such as I trust, I am motivated, I believe.

Get your spring tune up acupuncture treatment to keep your immune system strong and allergies, hay fever, and asthma at bay as well as helping your body readjust after the time change.

Ask your acupuncturist for an herbal formula that will keep your body at its best for the spring.

The more you are able to harness the cleansing energy of spring the more energy you will be able to soak up in the summer time when the energy is lightest and most available to us. Not only is this great for your health in the present moment, it will also help you transition smoothly to next winter creating more reserves of energy later.

Garlic, Lime, Swiss Chard Soup

the perfect spring cleanse soup

sautee 9 cloves of garlic with ghee

add 6 cups of water

add the juice of 3 squeezed limes

use large can of white beans with water

(after mixing together you might blend beans to make soup creamier)

rinse swiss chard and chop

chop stems of chard (tastes just like celery and is rich in phytochemicals)

let simmer on low for 40-60 minutes

garnish with cilantro

Sarah Zender LAc

Whole Health Acupuncture

50 Turner Ave Elk Grove Village IL 847.357.3929 wholehealthprograms.com

Apple Test Results

The results of the apple test are in. If a picture is worth a thousand words I wonder what the smell of an apple is worth? The pictures do the apples justice but the smells of each apple were most striking to me.

Apple Before and Afters:

Apple and Water before and after:

Apple and Trader Joe's Vitamin before and after:

***This one didn't turn black which I found interesting according to Tyanna our vitamin rep she has never not seen the other apples go black(GNC, Walgreen generic, centrum). What was striking about this apple is that it smelled the worst, rancid.

Apple and Shaklee Vitamin before and after:

Pretty shocking eh? I didn't even want to touch this one to throw it in the garbage. yuck.

Apple and Usana Vitamin before and after:

You can see from the picture that the apple still looks pretty good. Again the most striking thing about this apple to me was the smell. It smelled like it has just been sliced crisp and refreshing and the feel of the apple was still firm when I threw it away.

*** I consulted with Tyanna at the end of the apple test. She normally leaves the containers open and lets the apples oxidate. The vitamins dissolve and the apples change in 6-12 hours. I kept my containers sealed so I don't know if that would have changed the results at all perhaps the apple in water would have been more brownish like it normally turns after sitting out for awhile.

Let me know what you think. If anyone does an apple test with their own vitamins please let me know how it goes.

Sarah Zender LAc LMT

Whole Health Acupuncture 50 Turner Ave Elk Grove Village IL 60007

http://www.wholehealthprograms.com/

Apple Test I

One 1/7/2010 I started my own apple test expirement to share as a follow up to the blog Do You Know What Is In Your Vitamins? For those of you curious as to what the apple test would look like but too lazy to do it yourself. Check in over the next couple of weeks to see the results.

I've seen the apple test presentation before but wanted to see if for myself. (I always did love science expirements.)

I started with 2 apples and 4 tuperware containers. An apple half is floating in regular tap water in each of the containers.

The first is simply an apple and water. This is meant to represent the normal dealth and decay of the aging process of our cells.

The second is apple, water, and trader joe's men multi vitamin formula. (it was laying around) This is probably just slightly better then pharmacy and generic brand vitamins. You know the cheap ones that you're probably buying because a vitamin is just a vitamin right?

The third is apple, water, and Shaklee multi vitamin + iron (again it was laying around) Shaklee is known for having an above average quality.

The fourth is apple, water and Usana Mega Antioxidant. This is half of Usana Essentials that I take every morning. Usana uses a binding agent to keep their vitamins together made of olive oil called Olivol.

Supposedly Usana will help keep the apple from turning brown for longer then any of the others. We'll see what happens next.

Sarah Zender LA.c 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