Winter Newsletter 2019

INTEGRATIVE MED SOLUTIONS

Winter Newsletter 2019

“Snow falling soundlessly in the middle of the night will always fill my heart with sweet clarity.” ~Novala Takemoto

Welcome to your winter 2019. A time you can take all for yourself to solemnly enjoy. Whether immersing yourself in the frigid beauty of it all to hibernating in the glow of your safe haven, this winter brings with it subtle opportunity. What you decide to do with this season can mean the difference between struggling into spring or moving throughout with optimal health. During summer and most of the fall, your yang energy flourishes. This energy is often at your fingertips meshed with a warm, easy weather pattern that keeps you on your toes.

However, you cannot forget about your yin energy. This is the dark, cold, slow, inward life force prominent during such a cold quiet season.

This winter, learn to recognize and tap into your yin energy as well as your constitution and winter associations for essential balance and optimal health.

Constitution and Association

Paying attention to your physical, physiological and psychological functions is paying attention to your constitution. This is what your naturopathic doctor would investigate to determine a course of treatment. The full spectrum of your health rather than just acute or chronic symptoms are considered. Your constitution offers clues to which part of you may be imbalanced due to a number of reasons.

Often, treatments are coincided with seasonal influence. For winter, there are particular constitutional associations that can be addressed.

Common winter associates include:

• Element – Metal
• Climate – Cold
• Direction – North
• Emotion – Fear
• Sound – Groaning
• Color – Black
• Taste – Salty
• Yin Organ – Kidney
• Yang Organ – Urinary Bladder
• Orifices – Ears
• Tissues – Bones
• Fluids – Urine

Using winter friendly botanical, homeopathic and nutraceutical supplements along with dietary changes through clinical nutrition, a naturopathic doctor attempts to build up your immune system and overall vibration. In addition, acupuncture can work peripherally with naturopathic medicine remedies offering an effective winter formula to keep you on your feet and out of harm’s way.

Winter Tune-Up: Naturopathic Medicine and Acupuncture

Your constitution is your prenatal wiring combined with your postnatal experience right up into adulthood. Some call this the ‘nature / nurture’ influence. Conventional medicine uses this model to mostly focus on gene influence and attempts to fix rather than find the root cause outside of gene triggers and the like.

In many cases, naturopathic medicine and acupuncture has been reported as beneficially affecting deep seated, chronic health compromises that have stopped responding to conventional treatments.

Some naturopathic remedies to support your immune system during the winter months might include: black elderberry, oregano oil, olive leaf extract, bromelain, zinc, vitamin D3, probiotics, and many more botanical, vitamin, mineral, and a whole host of other individualized, hand-picked treatments.

Bringing acupuncture into the mix has shown to increase healing beyond conventional attempts. Recent studies of acupuncture continue scientific validation of this ancient practice that has been addressing a variety of ailments, from minor pain to cancer, and so much in-between.

A study posted by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), U.S. National Library of Medicine on how acupuncture affects chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) published in the Annals of Translational Medicine (3/19) concluded that,

“There appears to be dose-response relationship between acupuncture sessions and CP/CPPS outcome. Prolonged acupuncture sessions were associated with less NIH-CPSI [National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index] score. According to current evidence, six acupuncture sessions might be the minimal required ‘dose’ to reach its clinical effects.”

Another study of acupuncture also posted by the NCBI titled, ‘Acupuncture therapy for fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials’ found that,

“Acupuncture therapy is an effective and safe treatment for patients with FM [fibromyalgia], and this treatment can be recommended for the management of FM.”

Overall, physical traits, psychological character, emotional status, lifestyle habits, diet and living environment all play a role in the most minor (often undetectable by conventional medicine) to major health compromises. Embrace a winter tune-up of naturopathic medicine and acupuncture to possibly give you a new health platform which just may have you avoiding synthetic, side-effect inducing drugs that never address the real issues in the first place.

Calm Your Gym

If you are a person that works hard at your gym or other exercise routine, the season of winter offers you a reprieve. Yes, it is essential to keep your body in shape, yet harnessing your energy during these hibernating months could recharge your batteries more than you realize.

Think of switching gears this season and consider yoga, tai chi, meditation, walking, or any other low impact, steady energy mindfulness activity in place of an aggressive workout. Combine this change with seasonal eating to strengthen, rebalance and rejuvenate your associated organs.

Recharge Your Hibernating Batteries

Incorporating seasonal foods allows your body to correlate with nature. We all know that mangoes and strawberries are available year round in most cold weather climates but what you may not realize is the subtle energy compromises you may experience when eating out of season. This can manifest in various ways which may include: under eye dark circles and puffiness, skin rashes, digestive and elimination difficulty, fatigue, or joint pain, to name a few.

During winter, eating less food is recommended. This could balance winter inactivity. However, when you do eat this winter season, your digestion should be exposed to warming foods instead of raw cold choices which cool digestion.

This is a good list of winter friendly foods that just may boost your constitution, benefit your immune system and recharge your hibernating batteries.

• Stews, soups, chili, especially with rich stocks and bone broths
• Root vegetables, squashes, winter greens, mushrooms
• Barley, brown rice, quinoa
• Apples, pears, citrus fruit
• Beans, lentils, peas
• Miso and seaweed
• Garlic, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamon
• Nuts especially walnut

You may naturally be attracted to these foods especially if you live in a temperate cold winter climate. However, your qi (“chee” – life force) recognizes the moon and tide energy as well as light and temperature change. So if you live in a yearlong warm climate you may still benefit by adhering to a winter energy diet.

Pilaf Barley with Mushrooms, Thyme, Parsley, and Pine Nuts

Mushrooms have been linked to helping purge the body of toxins and phlegm two major compromises that can happen more so during the winter months. In addition, mushrooms have been known to reduce fatigue by boosting energy.

Barley can increase energy and help relieve gastrointestinal compromise such as diarrhea or indigestion. Thyme works to decrease cold symptoms that include: coughing spells, throat soreness, muscle aches, and headache. Parsley helps your body expel mucous and improves digestive health while pine nuts can ease a dry cough by increasing needed internal moisture to the lungs.

Ingredients:

• Gather a mix (about 1 lb.) of fresh mushrooms. Porcini, shiitake, button, etc.
• 1 ½ cups of boiling water
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 cup of barley
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• Bunch of fresh parsley
• Half a cup of pine nuts (if dislike or allergic, ok to skip)
• Salt and pepper

Preparation:

Place mushrooms in a glass bowl. Pour boiling water over until submerged. Cover for half an hour.

Remove mushrooms. Keep water (this is the mushroom broth).

Over medium setting heat olive oil and onion in a pot for 3-4 minutes. Add barley and garlic. Stir for one minute.

Mix into pot with barley the mushroom broth, vegetable broth, fresh mushrooms, thyme, bay leaf, parsley, salt and pepper to taste. Place on on low heat and let simmer for 45 minutes remembering to stir throughout.

Place pine nuts in a pan and toast over low heat.

Uncover mushroom barley mix, plate, and cover with a pinch of pine nuts.

Serves 4

News and Noteworthy

Naturopathic and acupuncture remedies are often reported on but rarely make it to the top of mainstream news. Here are a few news and noteworthy mentions happening now.

Acupuncture for Dry Eye Syndrome

Dry Eye Syndrome (DES or DED, Dry Eye Disease) afflicts more than 16 million Americans-including twice as many women than men as reported by the American Optometric Association (AOA)

Conventional treatment for DES involves drops, gels, pills, plugs, injections and even surgery. Recently, a study reported by Healthcare Medicine Institute,

“Acupuncture outperforms drug therapy for the treatment of dry eye syndrome. Researchers from the Affiliated Eye Hospital of Nanjing Medical University compared the efficaciousness of acupuncture with sodium hyaluronate eye drops for the treatment of dry eye syndrome. Sodium hyaluronate achieved a 30.0% total effective rate and acupuncture achieved a 68.3% total effective rate. Acupuncture outperformed drug therapy for the improvement of lacrimal gland secretion and tear film (liquid layer covering the corneal surface) stability.”

Plant-Based Diet For Rheumatoid Arthritis

Vegan and vegetarian eating is all the rage. From fast-food chains to mainstream products, more people are incorporating plant-based choices into their diet for good reason.

Naturopathic Doctor News & Review (ndnr) cites a combination of studies that show how a plant-based diet may alleviate rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. According to recent research there are four ways this diet can be effective which include:

• Plant-based diets reduce inflammation – A 2015 study found that participants randomized to a two-month plant-based dietary intervention experienced reductions in inflammatory scores, when compared to those eating diets higher in fat and animal products. Other studies have found that diets high in fat and processed meat are associated with inflammatory markers, including C-reactive protein (CRP). Plant-based diets and high-fiber diets have been associated with lower CRP levels.
• Plant-based diets reduce RA pain and swelling – A randomized clinical trial that looked at the effects of a low-fat vegan diet on people with moderate-to-severe RA found that after just four weeks on the diet, participants experienced significant improvements in morning stiffness, RA pain, joint tenderness, and joint swelling. The review authors suggest that plant-based diets are typically low in fat and high in fiber, which can reduce inflammation and decrease pain and swelling.
• Plant-based diets are associated with a lower BMI (body mass index) – Studies show that excess body weight increases the risk for developing RA and decreases the likelihood of remission if RA is already present. A 2018 analysis found that RA patients who lost more than 5 kilograms of body weight were three times more likely to experience improvements than those who lost less than 5 kilograms. Plant-based diets have consistently proven to be effective for weight loss.
• Plant-based diets promote healthy gut bacteria – Some studies suggest that the microbiome may play a key role in RA and inflammation. The authors note that high-fiber plant-based diets can alter the composition of gut bacteria and increase bacterial diversity, which is often lacking in RA patients.

Homeopathy on the Rise

Harvard Health recently reported on the uptick of laypeople using homeopathy. This hundreds year old practice that incorporates the ‘vibrational healing’ of plant, mineral, or animal preparations works on the ‘like-cures-like’ principal. For example, if you contract poison ivy, you ingest poison ivy to counteract symptoms. This ingestion is in the form of a highly diluted formula far from the original, raw plant making it completely safe, yet effective.

Due to the low cost and easy preparation of homeopathy, it has been deemed by Big Pharma and institutionalized medicine as quackery. This is mostly due to the inability to charge upwards of five hundred to one thousand percent per remedy for an obscene profit these corporations call ‘health care’. Most accept this ‘white coat’ label and steer clear, yet those that use homeopathy, especially under a trained homeopath, report beneficial results.

According to Harvard Health,

“…homeopathic medicine, while still only used by a small fraction of the U.S. population, has jumped 15% in use. In addition, most users put homeopathy among the top 3 complementary and integrative strategies they use in their health care. The teams notes that prior studies of homeopathy suggest potential public health benefits such as reductions in unnecessary antibiotic usage, reductions in costs to treat certain respiratory diseases, improvements in peri-menopausal depression, improved health outcomes in chronically ill individuals, and control of a Leptospirosis epidemic in Cuba.”

At Integrative Med Solutions, we will design an acupuncture and naturopathic treatment program that works for you. In many cases, insurance covers portions of the acupuncture treatment. Allow us to support you to achieve optimal health. To make an appointment or find out more about how acupuncture and naturopathic medicine can benefit you, please call our office at 914-337-2980 or Click Here to schedule an online appointment.

*Please Click Here to see a current list of insurance companies that commonly carry acupuncture benefits for its members. For more info, please call 914-337-2980 or securely email us at info@intmedsolutions.com.