Welcome Back!

We are open as of June 2nd for more urgent or severe complaints and open for everyone June 15th! 

Due to Covid 19 we will have to practice extensive disinfection protocols to keep everyone safe.  Because of this, as you arrive for your appointment, things will look a bit different.  Don’t worry, you will still have the same wonderful treatments you are used to, we just will have to hide our smiles behind masks for a while!

• If you have a fever of 99 degrees or more, sore throat, cough, body aches or any signs of illness, please reschedule your appointment and call your primary doctor.  We can help you with a phone appointment and herbs, but not in person at this time. Please do not come if you have been in close contact with someone with respiratory symptoms or have been in any contact with a known positive COVID patient within the last 14 days. Our office is not equipped to handle COVID patients.

• Our office will send you a reminder notice with a few pre screening questions.  Please respond BEFORE your appointment.

• We will take your temperature and re-ask those same screening questions before you enter the office.  Ring the doorbell when you are here!

• Please wear a mask at all times in the office and during your treatment.  You will be required to wear a mask to enter our building. 450 Sutter building has limited the elevator capacity to up to 4 people, please expect longer waiting time for the elevator. (find out more about building polices)

• We will take your temperature using a non-touch forehead thermometer.

• Please use hand sanitizer upon entering the office.

• Do not arrive early or bring anyone with you to your appointment, our waiting room will be closed right now. If you are early, give us a call to see if we can take you early.

• As we abide by social distancing requirements, we will have fewer appointment times available.  Please email, text or call us if you need help finding a time that works.

In order to abide by our regulations, we will be wearing a mask and gloves during treatment, but we are very happy to see you!  

For new patients, please contact us first, we will schedule a video appointment first.

If you would like to know more about how we are working hard to protect our patients in the uncertain time, please let us know. 

For those of you who are not ready to come back to our clinic, we are still offering phone/Facetime appointments, please call or go on our booking website to make an appointment.

https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=18021808

Besides supporting patients with telemedicine, we have been reinforcing our knowledge about epidemic treatments, the history of Chinese medicine has a rich knowledge base on treating epidemic diseases. Acupuncturists/herbalists from all over the world have gathered and been sharing information/treatment experience in treating Covid-19 on professional platforms. We have learned so much and look forward to serving our knowledge to help more patients.

Fathers-to-be should avoid alcohol six months before conception

According the newest research, parental alcohol consumption linked to raised risk of congenital heart disease

“Aspiring parents should both avoid drinking alcohol prior to conception to protect against congenital heart defects, according to research published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).”

Link below to read the full article:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191003074846.htm

Immunity Soup

I was recently asked “do you have any suggestions for how can I get rid of a cold or flu if I feel onset symptoms?” Yes!!! It turns out as acupuncturists we know a lot about treating viruses big and small.  We have many tools that you can add to your home emergency kit.  Just ask!

In Chinese medicine, food is medicine.  We can tweak basic recipes to help heal current complaints.  This recipe is the great example of how your food intake can turn around an imminent cold or flu.  As a practitioner as the cold and flu season rolls around, we are exposed to hundreds of virus.  This is one of my favorite recipes when I feel like I am loosing the battle.   

IMMUNITY CHICKEN SOUP

The medicinal step of this recipe is to simmer a lot of fresh ginger and green onions for a short amount of time, 5-15 mins.  You can make this recipe with almost any soup base, but the best way to make this healing recipe is to make a chicken soup. In the future if you get caught in this situation and don’t have a way to make chicken soup, just simmering those two in water will work.  There are many times that I have made this recipe with only water, fresh ginger and fresh green onions, adding salt or soy sauce at the end.  Just these few ingredients are enough to make a light tasty broth and most importantly, boost your immunity.

INGREDIENTS

Ingredients for 1-2 bowls of soup

5 generous slices of fresh ginger

1 large bunch of green onions

1 piece of chicken. Thigh with the bone and skin will give the best flavor, but any cut will do

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

Add the olive oil and warm in the pan.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper.

Add the chicken and pan fry the chicken until brown on each side. A chicken thigh with bone and skin will give best flavor but is not necessary, any cut will do.

Once the chicken is browned on each side, add chicken to to the water. Add a little more salt, 5 slices fresh ginger. Bring to a simmer and then turn down the heat to a low simmer and continue to cook for 15-30 mins. The length of time will depend on how much longer the chicken will need to cook all the way through. If you are using a thick piece, it might take a little longer.

In the last 5 minutes add the sliced green onions and continue to simmer.

season to taste.  You can add a little soy sauce or toasted sesame oil to give an Asian twist to the recipe.

INSTRUCTION FOR DRINKING

Since we are using food as medicine, the instructions for how to take the soup (or herbal prescription) is the most important part. Without this step, it is just soup!

After drinking the soup, take a hot bath or shower and cover up. After warming yourself up, hopefully you will start to sweat just a little.  It is not a good idea to over heat yourself or sweat a lot, that will cause another problem. The purpose of this step is what we call in Chinese Medicine as “Opening the pores.” After this step it is a great idea to go to bed!

Quite often if you enjoy this soup in the evening, your cold will be much better in the morning. If you have caught a stubborn virus you can repeat this recipe as needed at each meal.

In coming days it is very important to avoid cold weather. If you have to go out in the cold, always cover well, wearing a scarf and paying extra attention to the back of your neck.  Its a good idea to get in the habit of carrying a scarf so that if you get caught in cold or windy weather, you can make sure to cover up well. This simple habit will prevent colds and flus. I know this sounds old fashioned, but even a medical study proved that any drop in body temperature decreases immune activity.  antiviral cell activity is triggered by a warm body.  It’s nice when modern medicine proves our old advice correct!

Check out the article here

Important!

This recipes isn’t good if you have a a lot of yellow or green phlegm - I would reduce the ginger.  

Body Temperature and the Immune System: Western Medicine Proves Chinese Medicine Right Again!

Scientists have found more evidence that elevated body temperature helps certain types of immune cells to work better. This research is reported in the November 2011 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology.

"Having a fever might be uncomfortable," said John Wherry, Ph.D., Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, "but this research report and several others are showing that having a fever is part of an effective immune response. 

Read more in this article:
Elevated body temperature helps certain types of immune cells to work better, evidence suggests

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111101130200.htm

Eight Reasons Sleep Is The Key To Your New Year's Resolutions

Sleep is important for our health. Better sleep can improve your health, helps you make better decisions and have higher better.

“One of the problems with insufficient sleep is that people are not very good at predicting how poorly they are doing when they are under-slept. Your subjective sense of how you are doing is a miserable predictor of how objectively how you are doing,” Dr. Matthew Walker, director of the Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab at the University of California at Berkeley.

You will be more likely to stick to your diet. 
You will be less likely to get sick or die early.
You will make better financial decisions. 
You will perform at higher levels. 
You will be less likely to suffer an accident during the commute.
You will be more aware of how those around you are feeling.
You will be calmer. 
You will be happier. 

Read more in this article:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/roddwagner/2019/01/03/eight-reasons-sleep-is-the-key-to-your-new-years-resolutions/?fbclid=IwAR25F96_KFfQmyq0xAU5IrFwTcx28edLr8qxDB3g8EJd8mij8pV_yC_SRnE

Antibiotics Can Increase The Risk Of Obesity

Antibiotics are life saving, it kills bacteria that can make us sick, however, it also kills good bacteria that plays an important role in our digestion and immune system. A research from Harvard University discovered that children who were given antibiotics more frequently has higher chance of getting obesity as adults.

Besides obesity, “giving antibiotics and antacids early in life increases the risk of food allergies and other allergic disease like asthma.”

Therefore we need to be really careful about using antibiotics. The research suggested:

“Since doctors write the prescriptions, it’s mostly doctors that need to make the change. But parents can play an important role, by asking if a prescription for antibiotics (or antacids) is truly necessary. If the answer is yes, parents should give it — but they should also ask about giving the shortest course possible.”

Read the original article:

Giving babies and toddlers antibiotics can increase the risk of obesity

Health Alert : Preventing Damage from Wildfire Smoke

Unfortunatley the nearby wild fire is only partially contained. Our hearts go out to the families that have been devastated by the recent fires. As we gather our energy to help those in need at this time, we are faced daily in our clinic with patients that are experiencing symptoms from the severe smoke in the bay area.

What you can do at home to help mitigate the effects of current wild fires and alleviate symptoms such as a sore throat, stuffy/runny nose, cough, wheezing and irritated eyes.

1. Eat pears and asian pears. Pears nourish the fluids of the lungs and help them function properly thus alleviating cough and dry throats.

2. Steam Asian pears. If you have a cough or are particularly dry, you can add honey to the center of a pear once you have cored it.

3. Enjoy some almonds. Almonds help to nourish the fluids, stop a cough and help to resolve phlegm.

4. Add some mushrooms to your dishes. Mushrooms that are white are particularly good, but any kind will do.

5. Honey helps to soothe the throat, ease a cough and nourish the fluids thus combating dryness.

6. Pick some local Loquat. I have noticed loquat starting to ripen around my neighborhood. that small round fruit may seem unfamiliar, but it is famously used for cough syrup and especially liked by children. Loquat helps to alleviate dryness and stop a cough.

7. Traditional medicinal “throat coat tea” is a pleasant sweet tea that can help to soothe mucous membranes.

Try to avoid spicy food, alcohol, too much dairy, too much coffee as it can cause your symptoms to become worse. its like adding heat to the fire!

Environmental toxins cause infertility and other health issues.

Environmental toxins are known to cause infertility and many other health issues.
While treating patients who struggle with getting pregnant or experience miscarriages, we help patients reviewing their lifestyle, diet and personal care products to reduce potential risks including environmental toxins. It is important for both male and female.
One thing that many people neglected is personal care products that might contain a lot chemicals such as artificial fragrances, phthalates, leads, bha, bhe, parabens and many others, these chemicals can also increase risk of getting cancers and cause other health issues. Skin is the largest organ and can actually absorb toxins if we are not careful enough.

Useful website to check if the products and foods are safer:
https://www.ewg.org/

References:
http://www.arhp.org/publications-and-resources/clinical-proceedings/RHE/Environmental-Exposures

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/substances