Most of us want to stay feeling and looking young and healthy as we grow older. I know I do! But do you know how to do it, besides going for a botox injection, taking supplemental hormones or going for the latest fad supplement? Do you know what your body specifically needs?

Anti-aging medicine is a new and growing field, but most of the medical doctors in the field subscribe to the view that supplementing with hormones is the way to go. It’s true that as we age, our natural hormone levels begin to decline, often leading to many of the signs and symptoms of aging. But that isn’t the only cause. And what if we don’t want to take a boatload of hormones?

As a matter of fact, I have had patients go down this road to hormone supplementation, spending hundreds of dollars for consultations, lab work and the hormones themselves, only to feel worse than when they started. There may be times when this is appropriate, but this is not a road I would recommend for the average person.

As researchers uncover more and more clues to the causes of aging, what can we do now to help ourselves.

Below you will find a strategy that I have found works really well for everyone!

These are the five keys to staying young, feeling young and looking young well into your later years!

1. Preserve jing also known as essence.
2. Eat for your constitution.
3. Take the proper longevity herbs for your personal needs and body type..
4. Expand your mind.
5. Breathe & move.

So, what do these five keys really mean?

• preserve your essence

• know your proper foods and herbs

• expand your mind and avoid mental decline

• breathe and learn the important component of air?

1. Preserve your essence or Jing.

Your essence, according to Chinese Medicine, is your basic life substance. You can kind of think of it like DNA, as you inherit it from your parents. This jing can be made stronger by self care and by practicing Qi Gong, meditation and other like practices. Jing is a difficult substance to replenish once it is expended, so guard it well by using moderation in lifestyle practices.

2.  Eat for your constitution.

Knowing what your constitution is and matching it with the right foods can help you maintain not only good health, but it can strengthen you and help to re-balance any imbalances that may be contributing to aging too quickly. Typical constitutions can be hot, cold, dry, damp, deficient and excess. Many people have a combination of these and require a multiple approach.

3. Take longevity herbs specific for your body needs.

Longevity herbs can help to replenish some of what has been lost through aging and can help to prevent some of the effects of aging. Many of these herbs help to boost hormone and metabolic function that decline as we age.

4. Expand your mind.

You know the expression use it or lose it? Well using your mind, learning new things and keeping it active is very helpful in preventing some of the age related memory dysfunction of growing older. Expanding your mind also falls into the category of other types of mental training like meditation.

Stress is a contributing factor in expending our Jing and aging us faster than we would like. Practicing meditation is a great way to relieve stress. There are many types of meditation and even if you think it’s not for you, I bet there is a form that you will find works perfectly for you.

5. Breathe & move.

Yes, oxygen is important to maintaining youthfulness. And I’m not talking about an oxygen bar, but simply breathing deeply. Not only is this a stress reliever, but it helps bring vital energy into your body called Qi. The Qi found in air is just like every other nutrient that your body needs and Qi helps to supplement your Jing! Learning how to breathe properly will enhance your health and longevity more than you might imagine.

Move- yes, use it or lose it applies here too. Moving helps your essence travel throughout your body to nourish every body part. Moving helps keep you limber and strong. Our bodies were built for movement, not for sitting. If you want to maintain your youthfulness, you must exercise regularly. There is no getting around this! The youngest appearing seniors I know have exercised throughout their lives.

Now you have the keys to staying young and slowing down the clock.

If you want more details on how to do this, I am happy to speak with you on the various anti-aging programs available.

Often times my patients will ask how acupuncture for pain works. What is it that acupuncture actually does to relieve pain? This is the big question. Science has not come up with an exact answer to this. Many theories exist and many of these theories are in part true. We do know that when an acupuncture needle is placed it causes our body to release endorphins, which are our body’s natural pain killers. Research regarding how acupuncture works is ongoing and is pointing to multiple ways that acupuncture may work to relieve pain.

Is it a placebo? People often wonder this. However, are animals subject to the placebo effect. I often use this example
when people ask me this question. It is clear that as more and more animals receive acupuncture to relieve pain that the
results are quite dramatic. The dog limps into the vet with painful arthritis and after treatment trots out with no sign of pain remaining. Does acupuncture work for pain? Apparently so. Is it placebo? It doesn’t seem to be in this case!

In Chinese Medicine we say that pain is a result of blocked Qi (pronounced chee). Qi is our vital life force and it travels throughout our bodies in channels similar to blood vessels or nerve pathways. These channels were discovered by the ancient Chinese and travel from the surface of our skin all over our bodies and connecting up with our internal organs.
When the vital life force, Qi gets stuck somewhere due to injury, overuse or many other reasons, pain can result.

When an acupuncturist places a needle in a specific acupuncture point we are helping to release the stuck Qi and direct it where it needs to go, thus relieving the pain. Pain can often be relieved with a single treatment. Sometimes it may take longer. It all depends on the severity on the pain, how long a client has had the pain and many other factors. If you would like to find out if acupuncture can relieve your pain, give us a call and we will be happy to discuss your case.

Is acupuncture an effective remedy for PMS? Let’s take a look!

PMS or premenstrual syndrome, is a term most women are familiar with. However, many are confused about just what it means to have PMS.
What are the symptoms of PMS?

• headaches
• migraines
• irritability
• mood swings
• anger
• anxiety
• depression
• food cravings
• bloating
• breast swelling and pain
• cramping
• acne
• fatigue
• achy muscles, joints or low back

You may have only a couple of these symptoms or many of them. You may have some one month and others the next month. If you have one or two of the above symptoms and they are mild enough not to cause any real disruption in your life then you probably don’t have PMS. If you have more than one or two and your symptoms are moderate to severe, especially if they are bad enough to disrupt your life, then you have PMS.

What causes PMS?

From a medical standpoint PMS is believed to be related to the fluctuating levels of hormones in the time between ovulation and your menstrual period. For some women PMS starts just after ovulation, extending to the first day of the period. Others experience it for a week to a few days prior to the menses.

Acupuncture has a track record of helping women to balance hormones, reduce the stress hormonal fluctuations place on our bodies, eliminate headache pain, alleviate irritability and depression. Herbs are effective treatments for all of these including correcting acne and many other symptoms.

Can acupuncture help as a remedy for PMS? In my experience the answer is Yes!

Can diet affect your fertility?

A large group of nurses over many years kept track of their diet and activities in a research project called The Nurses Health Study. Subsequent researches took this information and analyzed it in an attempt to discover what foods contributed to their fertility. They discovered that diet and fertility are indeed linked. What you eat does have an effect on ovulation and ovulation related infertility.

They discovered  10 key dietary and lifestyle guidelines to follow to maximize your fertility through diet. If you want a natural do it at home approach to increasing your fertility, this is it.

• Don’t eat trans fats which is found in fast food, commercially prepared baked goods and stick margarine just to name a few common foods. If your read food labels it may also say partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. THis is trans fat. There is also evidence that a diet high in trans fats may contribute to endometriosis and to miscarriage.

• Eat unsaturated fats like olive oil and canola oil. We all need oil in our diet and these are the healthy ones. Omega 3 oils are also in this category. These oils are necessary in our diet since our body doesn’t make them. Eating omega 3 fatty acids found in fish like salmon and trout and also found in walnuts, flax, chia seeds and others seem to help protect against endometriosis.

• Eat more vegetarian type dietary proteins like beans and nuts and less animal protein. Some believe that protein sources other than meat sources are a healthier choice, since replacing an animal protein with a vegetable source showed the lowest risk of ovulatory infertility. Protein is an important nutrient and provides the basis of our muscles, bones and skin. Meat and fish provide a complete protein, however, vegetable proteins are incomplete proteins so you must properly combine them to get the full spectrum of proteins. Eat beans with whole grains or nuts with whole grains. Check with a vegetarian cook book to learn more about protein combining. I am not advocating avegetarian diet, but just make sure if you do limit your animal protein, that you get sufficient full spectrum protein.

• Eat whole grains that have a slower effect on your blood sugar and insulin levels. Your body produces insulin in response to the flood of sugar entering your blood stream as your food is digested and broken down. If insulin is produced too much, it can have a detrimental effect on your sex hormones andinterfere with conception.

• If you eat dairy products replace your low and non-fat dairy with whole dairy products. In the Nurses Health Study those that ate full-fat dairy had less trouble getting pregnant, while those who ate low or no fat dairy had more trouble becoming pregnant. Even one serving a day of non fat dairy had a large impact on fertility and in fact those who ate low fat yoghurt, frozen yoghurt and sherbet had the highest incidence of ovulatory infertilily.Full fat yogurt is a good choice to include with the added benefit that it introduces probiotics into your system.

• Take a daily multivitamin that includes B vitamins and folic acid in adequate amounts. The nurses who took a multivitamin had a 40% lower likelihood of having ovulatory infertility. Taking at least 700mcg daily of folic acid showed in the study to help improve fertility and ovulation.

• Get your iron from supplements and foods, but not red meat. Good dietary sources of iron are beans, dates, apricots, almonds, spinach, molasses and many others. Women in the study who took 40-80mg of iron daily had the greatest protection from ovulatory infertility, while women who got their iron from meat had the least protection. Iron from vegetable sources also increase fertility as well.

• Drink water, avoid sugary sodas and limit coffee, tea and alcohol. While the study seemed to show that moderate caffeine and alcohol consumption didn’t have an effect on fertility, use caution here. Being properly hydrated is very important. Just remember caffeine and alcohol can dehydrate you and you will need to take this into consideration if you do include it in your diet. The biggest culprit in beverages was the sugary sodas. These had a definite negative impact on fertility, so if you eliminate anything this is the most important one.

• Stay in a healthy weight range. If you are overweight losing 5-10% of your weight may help jump start ovulation! If you are already slender don’t lose weight since this can adversely affect or stop ovulation.

• Exercise daily. Exercise helps regulate blood sugar and insulin levels. Keeping these two in check will enhance your fertility and when they are not well regulated they can interfere with ovulation. The Nurses Health Study and other recent studies have confirmed that exercise does indeed improve fertility.Start slowly if you are unused to exercise, but if you already exercise increase your workouts a little, but but don’t overdo it as this can also adversely affect your fertility. The best rule of thumb is to get 30 minutes of exercise per day.If you are an athlete and/or extremely lean and exercise vigourously, have a BMI under 18, and don’t have a regular menstrual cycle,you may want to disregard this advice. In fact stopping exercise for a while may in fact help you to start ovulating and menstruating again.

Even if you aren’t concerned about fertility, this is an excellent diet for overall general health and will serve you well throughout your life!

If you would like a dietary program created specifically for you I provide Diet and Fertility programs and coaching.

Much of the information on this page came from the fabulous book The Fertility Diet by Jorge Chavarro, MD and Walter Willett, MD. I highly recommend it.

Many women wonder if acupuncture is safe during pregnancy. The answer is yes, if done correctly by a professional licensed acupuncturist.

Not only is it safe, but it can help many of the pregnancy related problems that may arise such as morning sickness, acid reflux, anxiety, depression, hypertension, back ache, insomnia and many more.

Nausea in pregnancy is a well known fact for many women. Not every woman is subject to it, but most have some degree of nausea at the very least in the first trimester pregnancy. This is the most challenging time for most women and the time of most stress.

Acupuncture is well known to help in alleviating nausea during pregnancy. In fact many health insurance policies cover acupuncture treatment for nausea in pregnancy.

Acupuncture is especially useful for women who have been taking medication for depression or anxiety and wish to discontinue while they are pregnant. I have had great success treating women for this during their pregnancy.

If someone you know is having a problem during their pregnancy with any of the above ailments or any others, let them know that acupuncture is a safe alternative, especially when pharmaceutical medications are not an option.

Can acupuncture help unexplained infertility? The answer is yes, it can help.

Let’s look at what it means to have a diagnosis of unexplained infertility. It simply means that your medical doctors don’t have a definite answer as to why you can’t get pregnant. You have been through all the tests and everything is fine, you just simply can’t seem to get pregnant.

Those of us in the field of Chinese Medicine and acupuncture look at you differently. While we may consider your laboratory test results, we also look at all of your systems to identify underlying imbalances as a cause of infertility. We ask questions about your digestive health, about how you sleep at night, how much stress do you feel and how do you deal with it? Other questions may include what your diet is like, if you catch cold a lot, if you have pain, if you have cold hands and feet. All of these questions are posed to see where there are imbalances that need to be corrected. Acupuncture is
the perfect medicine to return your body to balance and correct those underlying imbalances that may be causing your inability to get pregnant.

We look at the body as a whole. When one part is out of alignment it affects all of the other parts. When there is a symptom like unexplained infertility that means some part is out of alignment. If you have a lot of stress, low back pain and tend to have cold hands and feet, we may give you a diagnosis of Liver qi stagnation with underlying Kidney Yang deficiency.

There are many possible Traditional Chinese Medical (TCM) diagnosis that are causing your undiagnosed infertility. Once we know the cause, we can start treatment to correct it.

If you would like to know the TCM diagnosis  for your unexplained infertility, I can be reached at 310-367-1564.

When we feel stress our sympathetic nervous system kicks into action providing us with the fight or fight mechanisms discussed above. The question is what can we do to turn off this system and activate our parasympathetic nervous system. This is the one that relaxes us and helps us feel at peace and that all is right with the world.

Breathing  is one way to do this. When we are stressed, we are breathing shallowly, into only the top portion of our lungs. By breathing into our belly, using our diaphragm, we can active this relaxation response.

Start by sitting or lying comfortably with one hand on your chest and one hand on your belly around your navel. Breath in slowly through your nose to the count of 5 making sure your belly expands as you do. You want your belly hand to raise up higher than your chest hand. When you do this you are using your diaphragm to help you breathe. With your belly expanded hold your breath to the count of 5. Then slowly release through your mouth to the count of 5. At the end pause for a moment before taking another breath. Do this breathing cycle 5 more times. Eventually as you build up breathing stamina you will want to take the breath counts up as high as you can, maybe even to the count of 15 or 20. You will be breathing very slowly then.

When you are feeling stressed take a moment to do this breathing and you can reset your autonomic nervous system from stress response to relaxation.

Most of us at some time or another have experienced adrenal fatigue from an overload of stress. Maybe it was when you were in college and were staying  up all night to study for finals. Maybe it is now because you have two or more young children that you are caring for and maybe you are working a 40+ hour work week in addition. Maybe you are simply working too hard at your job and under constant pressure from your boss. The reasons are many but the results are all the same.

What happens when we are stressed?

Stress signals our body to produce hormones that will get us into action. You have heard of the fight or flight response? This is what your body is preparing for. Our adrenal glands produce a variety of hormones, two of them you are probably familiar with. One is epinephrine, also known as adrenalin the other is cortisol. The effects of adrenalin are to increase heart rate, elevate blood pressure and decrease digestive function.

Cortisol, which is a steroid, floods the body with fuel (glucose). The body signals the adrenal glands to keep producing cortisol until the stress is gone. Over time this can create blood sugar imbalances among other things. All of these effects are produced so we have the energy to run or respond to whatever is causing the stress. In small doses and for the short term these hormones do good things. However, when the adrenals are force to persistently produce these hormones they become fatigued and detrimental effects result.

The signs of adrenal fatigue can show up as:

• Insomnia

• Digestive trouble

• Compromised immune system, getting sick a lot

• Fatigue even after consuming caffeine

• Irritability

• Neck and shoulder pain

• Weight gain, especially through the mid section

• Hypertension

I’ve only mentioned just a few of the things that can happen as a result of over taxing the adrenals. It is true that chronic stress can cause weight gain, it can contribute to elevating your bad cholesterol (LDL and VLDL), it can cause you to catch every cold that comes down the pike and just simply make you feel pretty miserable.

However, there is a solution. Acupuncture is one. It is proven to alleviate stress and counter many of the ill effects of adrenal fatigue like hypertension, insomnia, digestive trouble, neck and shoulder pain and more.

In addition, adaptogenic herbs are very useful in combating chronic stress and its effects. These include many herbs like ginseng, astragalus, goji berries, rhodiola and others. Taking an herbal formula of adaptogenic herbs daily can help return your body to homeostasis or balance and get you feeling better before you know it.

Of course stress control methods like yoga, meditation, qi gong or moderate exercise are all good ways to alleviate stress. Whatever you choose to do don’t wait to do it. While the signs listed above can be troublesome, long term adrenal fatigue and stress can lead to unfortunate health compromises like heart disease.

If you would like to know more about how an herbal formula or acupuncture may benefit you please call for a free 15 minute consultation.

Menopause symptom control and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) pros and cons have been in the news endlessly in the last few years. The controversy and the questions remain. Is it safe? What combination of progestins and estrogens are safest with the fewest potential risks? If your menopause symptoms are bad enough you may feel that the potential risks are worth the benefits of having your life back and under your control again.

However, even when doctors are recommending and prescribing HRT, most are now saying that you should limit the number of years you should stay on the hormones. Then what do you do? Do you risk staying on them with the knowledge that you could develop cancer or have a stroke?

This is the dilemma most woman must face. Should you go on hormone replacement to deal with the myriad of menopause symptoms that can disrupt your life?  Do you take the risk?

And then dealing with  menopause symptoms is only one aspect of the post menopause picture for women. We also must deal with the threat of osteoporosis and how to avoid it. And again the pharmaceuticals (bisphosphonates) that have been developed to treat osteoporosis are implicated in causing osteonecrosis (bone death) of the jaw and femur fractures. Merck the maker of Fosamax even acknowleged this with a precaution on its label that it could cause osteonecrosis of the jaw.

So what is a woman to do?

I will outline here a four step program to help with both menopause symptoms and osteoporosis.

1. Exercise not only helps relieve menopause symptoms like hot flashes, insomnia, mood swings, irritability but the right kind of exercise helps to strengthen bones and prevent osteoporosis. Weight bearing exercise like walking, strength training, dancing, tennis and others are fun and easy ways to add bone strength.

2. Take an excellent multi-vitamin/mineral supplement daily. Make sure that it includes B complex, calcium, magnesium, Vitamin D3. Ask your health care provider or nutritionist for help in choosing a good supplement.

3. Eat a healthy balanced diet and avoid things that can increase the incidence of hot flashes like alcohol and spicy food. Add seaweed to your diet for calcium and minerals. Make sure to eat whole grains and phytoestrogenic plants like tempeh, miso, black beans, yams. Drink red clover tea which is highly phytoestrogenic and may also help protect the breast from breast cancer. There is a special way to brew it, call me and I will tell you how.

Limit caffeine which can interfere with calcium absorption and don’t drink sodas, especially cola based ones as studies have shown these decrease bone mineral density.

4. Take an herbal formula that can support you hormonally and that can contribute to bone density. Many Chinese herbs like Dang Gui and other less familiar herbs are highly phytoestrogenic and contain other plant substances to support you during your menopausal years and beyond. Studies show that many specific Chinese herbs actually stimulate the creation of new bone.

By following these steps you can eliminate the risks associated with HRT and bisphosphonates, reduce menopause symptoms, take care of your bone health and reduce the risk of osteoporosis, take back control of your life and enjoy being a woman.

If you would like to know more about my programs to support you naturally during menopause and beyond call now for a free 15 minute
consultation. 310-367-1564 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 310-367-1564 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

I want to get pregnant quickly.

I have heard women say this often enough. But how to do it?

One of the best ways to get pregnant quickly is to know when you are ovulating. You can do this either with an ovulation predictor kit or with a basal body temperature chart (BBT chart) or both. Timing your love making is of the utmost importance in achieving pregnancy

The kits are good at predicting ovulation 24-36 hours before it happens. The BBT charts are good at telling you about when in your cycle you usually ovulate, but they can’t predict it. The BBT chart is useful in that it shows the temperature rise after ovulation indicating that it has indeed occurred. The BBT charts are also useful in letting you know the health of your cycle and hormonal balance. They can also be good at telling you that you may be pregnant as your temperature stays elevated past your usual menstrual cycle.

What else can you do to get pregnant fast?

Make some positive changes in your diet. Stop drinking coffee and eating sugar.
Coffee and sugar create inflammation in your body; not helpful for achieving pregnancy. Eat lots of vitamin and mineral rich dark green vegetables and red and blue berries. Eat black beans and whole grains. Any of these will improve your overall health and help you achieve pregnancy faster.

Eliminate stress and get lots of sleep to help keep your hormones in balance. Stress and insufficient sleep can adversely affect your hormones and make achieving pregnancy quickly very difficult.

The key is to achieve a healthy balance in your body, a natural homeostasis. One of the best and easiest ways to get your system back in balance, is with acupuncture and herbal formulas that are directed specifically at balancing your reproductive system and in helping you to get pregnant as quickly as possible. Sometimes it is merely just a matter of managing your stress with acupuncture and like many of my patients, you can achieve pregnancy on your very next try.