Spring liver cleansing is a part of restoring vitality in medical practices all around the world. Cultures in South America, Egypt, and China incorporate liver detoxification into their traditions. Why is this so? To answer this question let's peruse a list of liver functions:

• Filtering all of the body's blood 20 times a day
• Chemical, hormone, digestive enzyme, and bile manufacturing
• Breaking down fats
• Converting glucose to glycogen
• Converting amino acids in the blood to urea and sending it on to the kidneys
• Vitamin storage

This list is impressive, but not exhaustive. Consider this liver fact: Even if 75% of the liver is cut away, it can completely regenerate! All these details seem to paint a portrait of the liver as a wonder organ. However, the liver's unbelievable resilience is a sign of its importance.

"The General" in Classical Chinese Medical
Spring is ruled by the Wood Element. The Wood Element symbolizes our bodies' need to be flexible, yet strong, like wood. The spring season is the time to focus on liver health, as we prepare to emerge from months of semi-hibernation and move into an active time of the year.

The liver and gallbladder are associated with the Wood Element in CCM. The liver is described as "The General" in Classical Chinese Medicine (CCM), because of all it does and oversees. A clean liver is advantageous for healthy regulation of your vital life force (qi) and blood as they flow through your body. The Western medical model of the liver sees it as both chemical factory and filter. This view is not in conflict with the CCM approach, and one may supplement the other.

Is Your Liver in Need of Some TLC?
Whether you're feeling well or exhibiting some of the signs in the questionnaire below, a spring liver cleanse is a brilliant way to support optimal health!

- - Do you have any of the following:

• Less than one bowl movement per day, mucus in or on your stool, loose stools or diarrhea, narrow stools, stinky stool, excessive gas, abdominal bloating, heartburn/indigestion/reflux, recurring nausea, abdominal pain or cramping, undigested food in your stools?

- - Have you been experiencing ongoing stress, PMS, allergies, and/or poor digestion?

- - Do you feel indecisive or stuck?

- - Are you affected by hormonal imbalance?

- - Is your level of anger in excess in its expression or repression?

- - Have you engaged in the use of drugs and/or alcohol?

- - Do you feel emotionally frustrated, resentful, or irritable?

- - Is your immunity weak?

- - Are you afflicted by tension headaches and migraines?

Most of us will check one or several of these indicators as we review the list. Especially after a winter season spent consuming fatty foods to warm our bodies and celebrating the holidays with heavy eating and drinking. Physiological, psychological, and spiritual function is hampered by bogged down liver.

THE CLEANSE
There are many ways to approach cleansing the liver. Avenues include temporary dietary shifts, drinking herbal teas or tinctures, acupuncture, and the application, bathing, or breathing in of essential oils.

The recommended duration for people trying a liver cleanse for the first time is three days. Experienced liver cleansers may continue for up to two to three weeks. The ideal time to start is just before the first day of spring, March 20th. So, if you're planning to cleanse for four days that means you should begin on March 16th.

Cleansing Foods
Diet is essential for a deep liver cleanse. If you are an experienced liver cleanser, you may be able to withstand an exclusive juice fast. However, first and second timers can support health by maintaining a diet of the following foods:

• Organic juices from fruits and vegetables
• Artichokes, chicory root, beets, and carrots
• Wild greens like dandelion leaves, mustard greens, and kale
• Herbs to break up stagnant qi - bulpleurum, cyperus, fennel
• Spices suited to liver cleansing like turmeric, garlic, ginger, saffron, and rosemary
• Fresh parsley, lemon, bitter melon
• Mugwort, wahoo, and fringetree to trigger the secretion of bile from the gallbladder
• Brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and other cruciferous veggies
• Detoxifying herbs including burdock, stinging nettle, and milk thistle
• Gentian, centaury, angelica, orange peel, and yarrow to increase flow and secretion of liver enzymes
• Deep cleaners - Yellow dock, blue flag, Oregon grape
  

Foods to Avoid while Cleaning

• Fast foods
• Junk foods
• Processed foods
• Alcohol

Cleansing Oils
Cleansing oils may be incorporated into massage oils, a bath, or one or two drops may be diluted in teas.

• Anise, basil, bergamot, cardamom, fennel, juniper, lemon verbena, majoram, black pepper, peppermint, and/or rose oil.

Cleansing Teas
Many teas for liver cleansing are available pre-packaged at health food stores. Creating your own blend can be both fun and spiritually fulfilling, adding an additional benefit to your program. You find various combinations of the following ingredients in stores or create your own blend. I'll share a recommended tea recipe below.

• 2 tablespoons of Stinging Nettle Leaves
• 2 tablespoons of Dandelion Leaves
• 1 tablespoon of Spearmint
• 1 tablespoon of Burdock Root

First, add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix gently. Store the mixture in an air-tight container away from sunlight. When you're ready to drink, steep a tablespoon an a half of the tea in one cup of boiling water. Enjoy 3-4 times daily during your cleanse for best results!

Results: What to Expect
A good liver cleanse can bring about various response ranging from physical to spiritual instantiations. Most people will notice physical changes such as increased energy, weight loss, or the spontaneous healing of an ailment. Others will obtain a sense of clarity and stress relief. Still others will fell renewed in their spiritual passions and visions.

Before beginning any health regimen, it is wise to consult your physician or ND to consult on how certain avenues for cleansing may benefit your unique system over another. Please, contact Integrative Med Solutions with your questions on liver cleansing by phone, email, or by responding to this post.
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Seasonal affective disorder or SAD affects over 10 million Americans annually when long, sunny summer days dwindle into cold, dark winters. Those living furthest from the equator are most affected. Imagine Alaska's 30 days of night! In coming weeks, the hours of daylight will grow less and less, until our hemisphere leans so far from the sun that we experience the darkest day of the year-the Winter Solstice (December 21st this year).

Western medicine often sites lack of exposure to sunlight as the root cause of SAD, the symptoms of which include extreme lethargy, headaches, depression, negative thoughts, difficulty concentrating, increased appetite, weight gain, decreased libido, and increased desire to be alone. Light therapy is often used as a treatment for such symptoms to increase melatonin and vitamin D levels. In some cases, antidepressant medications are prescribed. Other factors that may contribute to SAD include genetics, hormones, and/or stress.

In Classical Chinese Medicine, yin and yang are used to symbolically represent opposites that we see and experiences in natural cycles of the environment. The first writings and observations of the yin/yang principle are illustrated by the sight of a hill upon which sunlight falls. The yang side of the hill is struck by the sun, while the yin side remains shaded. The yin is inextricably linked to the yang, and vice versa. One requires the other to give it definition. Yang characteristics are masculine, active, warm, and bright. Yang's are characteristics of summer. Yin's characteristics are feminine, passive, nourishing, cold, and dark in nature. Yin's are characteristics of the winter months.

Yielding to Yin
The cold and darkness of winter provide a space for all of nature to rest, look inward, and store. It's a time when our ancestors would retreat to caves to keep warm, sleep long hours, and eat hardy root vegetables and salted meats.

Yielding to yin in modern times can be difficult. Rather than slowing, the pace of our daily routine increases to breakneck speed with the holiday season. Meanwhile, the cold air continues to blow and our bodies crave rest and energy-packed foods, like carbohydrates, to fend off illness. Excess physical, mental, or emotional stress during winter (especially for people who are more yin in constitution due to gender, genetics, environment, and lifestyle) can lead to depressed moods and a depressed immune system.

Treating SAD from a Classical Chinese Medicine Perspective
From a CCM perspective, it is important to respect the Yin of winter and to treat any imbalance resulting from its overabundance by focusing key elements, organs, emotions, and foods that maintain balance during wintertime.

Water is the element of winter. Water represents Qi energy in its "seed" state. That is, water is like a seed filled with potential energy that must be channeled to good use. When treating SAD, this principle is applied to the idea that slowing down to store seeds of energy in winter is natural. However, storing should not inhibit free-flow. Acupuncture it an excellent option for treating SAD with CCM. It is most effective when performed two times a week beginning in the fall to avoid blockages all together. However, treatment can begin at any time to stimulate yang energies and decrease SAD symptoms.

The Kidneys and their paired organ the Urinary Bladder are the organs of winter. Not only are they physiologically connected to the body's processing of Winter Water, they also house the emotion of fear and Zhi energy or the will. When the kidneys are weak, an inordinate lack of willpower or increased anxiety/fear result. Acupuncture stimulates points along meridians that restore flow of Qi to the kidneys, while Chinese Herbs, like mustard flower essences, rejuvenate them.

Helpful Practices for Stimulating Yang:

• Exercise regularly. Morning walks are excellent way enhance your mood. Try walking 20 minutes at a brisk pace each morning to increase the flow of endorphins and so that have access to sunshine time each day.
• Plan outdoor activities on the weekends. Though most of us nine-to-fivers must spend the majority of daylight hours indoors in winter, we still have the weekends! Make a plan to bundle up and fly a kite, go skiing, hiking, window shopping, or dare to practice yoga in the park on a winter's day.
• Avoid overeating. Cravings for carbs hit hard in the winter, but weight gain only adds to the tensions of Seasonal Affective Disorder. If you do have a craving, go for whole grain pastas, breads, and oatmeal. Eat lots of protein like roasted nuts or lean meats and baked root vegetables such as yams and baked potatoes
• Sleep! It is okay submit a bit to that lazy feeling. Your body's clock is tied to the rising and setting of the sun. Try sleeping earlier and waking with the sun to maximize winter daylight.
• Wanting more time to yourself is typical in winter but always remember to keep the warmth of loved ones around you. Take time to keep in touch, and share meals with family and friends.

At Integrative Med Solutions, applications of Classical Chinese Medical for Seasonal Affective Disorder may include talk consultations, nutritional counseling, botanical medicine, supplementation, and/or acupuncture, among other treatments. Unique modalities are designed for each individual with respect for patients' mental, physical, and emotional constitution.

It is important to remember that treatment discussed here often prove effective but are never a substitute for psychological or psychiatric treatments. Please feel free to contact our office to arrange a consultation or to inquire how we may help you with symptoms relating to Seasonal Affective Disorder.
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