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...

Using Chinese herbs doesn’t have to be confusing.  You can tap into their incredible healing powers just by pushing your cart through the grocery store because many Chinese herbs are also foods. Here are twenty that are awesome, accessible, and effective: -Ginger.  Yum!  This warm herb is incredibly effective for nausea and vomiting. It’s frequently used by people undergoing chemotherapy to control nausea. Ginger can also stop a cough, and can fight off a cold in its early stages.  The papery skin of the ginger root is used in Chinese medicine to drain edema (water swelling) and induce...

Your gut is an emotional organ. Don’t think so? You’ve heard people talk about having butterflies in their stomach, a gut feeling, a nervous stomach, or a visceral reaction—all of which allude to the idea that our emotions are strongly related to your gut and digestion. One of the most common patterns of imbalance that I see in the clinic is something called a Liver and Spleen disharmony. This just means that strong emotions are interfering with the digestive process. The example I use is when my high school boyfriend dumped me, I couldn’t eat for the better part of a month. A Liver and Spleen...

Sometimes when I’m buying vitamins or supplements, I think about Mary, a woman I knew many years ago. At the time, I was working in the non-profit world at an agency that attracted many volunteers. Mary was one of those volunteers. Her reason for volunteering a few hours each week was that she had become disabled from a mysterious illness caused by taking a dietary supplement called tryptophan. L-Tryptophan is an amino acid found in foods. It’s found in turkey in high concentrations, and is partially responsible for that drowsy feeling you get after Thanksgiving dinner. Tryptophan can be taken...