Weight loss is a popular topic and a multi-billion dollar industry for a reason. I have found that it is the rare person who is perfectly happy with their weight.  Most people are either trying to drop a few pounds, lose a lot of weight, or trying hard simply to maintain their current weight.  Why are so many people struggling with the numbers on their bathroom scale?  There are so many answers—we live in a land of abundance, we eat the wrong foods, we eat too much food, we exercise too little, and the way our food is produced is a nightmare. So how then, can you successfully jettison that excess...

Baby, it’s hot outside, and some of my patients are starting to show the strain.  Hot flashes are worse, people are hot and thirsty, and tempers are flaring. Much of Chinese medicine is based on the idea that we humans are part of the natural world, and as such, we’re greatly affected by our environment. Seasonal changes and extreme weather can by physically stressful and wreak havoc with our health. Therefore, when it’s dry outside we get dry conditions, such as a scratchy sore throat, dehydration, and dry skin.  When it’s cold and damp, achy joints and phlegm conditions flare.  Windy...

The Chinese view food as medicine that you get to eat three times a day.  Food can nourish, heal, and give you energy. Simple, right?  Well, maybe not so simple if you are trying to lose weight, maintain your weight, cut out carbs, ditch the fats, or restrict your diet in ways that are unhealthy.  If this is the case, then for you food may feel a little bit like the enemy. My initial topic for this post was truths about weight loss.  However, as I began writing, I realized that the greatest truth is this:  How you approach food and eating is a mirror to how you approach life. In the clinic, I see...

I have certain articles of clothing in my closet that shrink every winter.  They fit me when I wore them the previous summer, but after a long winter, during that first whiff of spring when the sun beckons me to wear something other than corduroy or fleece, every pair of shorts I own have betrayed me by not getting past my hips. Okay, I admit that I have a hand in this, and while it seems unlikely to have happened to me (!) the answer to this mystery is that obviously I’ve eaten a few too many acorns over the winter.  And, rather than buy a whole new wardrobe, I need to drop a few pounds.  While...

Mindy is an athletic woman who has been coming to me for wellness acupuncture for years.  In her mid-fifties, Mindy is concerned about eating well and getting enough exercise to maintain her health.  Unfortunately, Mindy’s diet could use some help.  Despite my repeated urgings, Mindy has the notion that all fats are bad and should be avoided at all costs.  This black and white idea that a food is all good or all bad has its consequences, and for Mindy, the result is readily apparent in her skin.  Without the moisturizing effects of dietary oils and fats, Mindy’s skin is so dried out, that she...