No Acupuncture Happy Hour Today 9/30 and "Smart Choices" foods

Please note, there will be no Acupuncture Happy Hour today. Will resume next week 10/7.

In the meantime, I wanted to share an article that came out today in the LA Times that warns consumers of the marketing ploy food companies are now employing to have consumers purchase "Smart Choices" labeled foods.

Many of my patients come in confused as to what pertains a healthy diet. What with the conflicting information and marketing ploys out there to get consumers to purchase healthy foods - including this "Smart Choice" labels, no wonder! What I always tell my patients is to eat foods that come from the earth and that has been barely processed. But don't all foods come from the earth at one point? they ask. Sure, but from eating a tomato or an apple or a lean cut of meat, compared to eating Froot Loops, Twinkies, and fast food burgers, which one do you think has the lesser amount of work done on the food? Which one requires just washing, cutting and eating (or in the case of meats, cooked, then eaten)? The first three foods. The latter three foods came from a natural food source, sure, but then they were processed using all kinds of chemicals, additives, flavorings, colorings and god knows what else, to be sold to the consumer. It's a far cry from what it originally looked like when it came from the earth. Eat foods your grandmother would recognize, instead. And unless you have a digestive disease like Celiac disease or diabetes, I always like to tell my patients to eat anything - but everything in moderation. Focus on a variety of vegetables, but meats are good for the body, fish keeps the blood smooth and flowing, and carbohydrates of the complex kind (like whole wheat, quinoa, amaranth, etc.) provide the burst of energy we need. The rest - alcohol, caffeine, sugar/desserts, dairy - those are fine as long as it's occasional. I tell my patients, If you've been eating a really good, clean, healthy diet, reward yourself one night with a gorgeous red wine or a sumptuous chocolate cake! Eating shouldn't be about punishment, calorie-counting, or starvation. Eating is nourishment for the body and soul, and we want to eat foods that promote longevity, vitality and stamina.

So to use Michael Polan's mantra, Eat Food, Mostly Plants, Not Too Much.

If you are interested in improving your dietary habits and/or wanting to see how well your organs and body systems are functioning, I provide nutrition counseling and assessment at Iyashi Wellness. In addition to filling out a questionnaire, during the assessment, I take my patients through several quick tests to evaluate what nutrients their organs and body systems may be lacking. Based on this assessment, I prescribe whole-food based nutritional supplements from Standard Process. Because Standard Process' supplements are high quality, whole-food based using mostly organic ingredients, the body is able to better absorb the supplements nourish the body as opposed to the synthetically created supplements that are commonly available in the market. Please contact me if you are interested in a consultation or nutrition assessment at info@iyashiwellness.com or 424.248.5576

How safe is your cellphone?

Wanted to share with you all a great website on consumer protection: Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org). There is a particular section on cellphones and cellphone radiation. They have a list of all the cellphones and radiation exposure levels of each phone.

Check it out and see how safe your cellphone is:

http://www.ewg.org/cellphone-radiation

Swine Flu season - what to do about vaccines

Swine flu season is coming upon us. There is a lot of fear out there for this particular flu, much of it being hyped by the media. I am attaching two views on flu vaccines, one pro vaccine, the other opposing the vaccine. The possible problem with this vaccine is that the vaccine may not even being available when the flu is expected to hits its peak - mid to late October.

Because this is your body, I always tell my patients to make an informed decision - thus my two articles. But my view, and that of Traditional Chinese Medicine, is that if you are healthy with a strong immune system, you can a) prevent getting infected and b) even if you do get the swine flu (or regular flu), your symptoms will be milder because your immune system is strong enough to fight off the flu from getting worse. So the bottom line is to start now to prevent getting sick, i.e. start taking care of yourself and your family to be as healthy as possible. The 5 following steps can help you stay ahead of the flu bug:

1. Eat a well balanced diet, but particularly load up on vegetables and vary it everyday. Make it a goal to have 50% of your plate be vegetables at least once a day, ideally twice a day. Vegetables keep the blood healthy and circulating well throughout the body, which improves the bacterial and viral fighting agents in your body to swarm throughout your body to protect from invasion. Easy on starches, carbs and sugars, as well as deep fried and greasy foods. Easy on alcohol and caffeine as they mask how you're really feeling.
2. Get a good night sleep every night . A good night's sleep is still one of the best weapons we have to keep our mind and body healthy. When you're rested, it not only means you have the energy and mental stamina to be productive throughout the day with balanced emotions, but it also means your body went through all its repairs during the night so that you're starting at a positive balance - instead of a minus. When good sleep is not had, you're working from a deficit. Your energy is down and so is your immune, which will make you susceptible to catching infections.
3. Exercise a minimum of 3 times a week for a minimum of 30 minutes each time. Exercising allows our bodies to sweat, which is not only a temperature-lowering mechanism as our bodies heat up while exercising, but also a detoxifying mechanism. If we can keep expelling build ups and toxins throughout the week, we are less likely to catch the flu bug. It will also help you sleep better through the night, which emphasizes Point 2.
4. Wash your hands frequently and keep your hands away from your nose, mouth, and eyes. And if you sneeze, as a general rule - please - sneeze into a tissue or your elbow to prevent spreading any pathogens!
5. Come in for regular acupuncture treatments. Acupuncture helps to improve circulation, relax the mind and body and activate the innate healing mechanism of your body. When the body is relaxed and healthy, it is better able to focus on any external attacks coming its way - in this case the flu, instead of working to repair imbalanced organ systems, overworked nerves, or reducing inflammatory responses coming from stress and pain. If coming in for a full acupuncture treatment is too time consuming, doesn't work with your schedule, or costly, consider the Iyashi Wellness Happy Hour ocurring every Wednesday nights in Culver City. It's quick, easy and blissful - and most importantly, can help prevent you from catching the bug by keeping your body well balanced.

If you decide to get vaccinated - or your children vaccinated, it is still important to consider daily prevention as the most important step to staying healthy. So following the five steps are still a good idea. Consider having both - the power of modern medicine and holistic medicine - in addition to daily prevention habits, as your flu fighting defense.