Cleansing and Detoxification can change people’s lives for the better. I have supervised hundreds of clients over the past two decades through deep-cleansing programs for a variety of conditions, to increase vitality and decrease “medical” conditions. Cleansing and detoxification encompass a variety of techniques and philosophies from the East, as well as the West. In general, detoxification refers to removal of specific items from the body (such as heavy metals requiring chelation), whereas cleansing refers to the removal of excess mucus and phlegm from the body while normalizing the pH (or acid/base balance) within the blood and tissues.
When exploring detoxification and cleansing options, one can find themself at a fork in the road: one path has the very popular “Pills, Powders, and Potions,”(3P) approach and another is the Whole Foods/lifestyle approach. Although both can be effective in the short run, I prefer to inspire my patients through the most natural options available for cleansing the body and mind thus creating a sustainable approach. This method aids in the improvement of medical conditions, as well as providing for the development of lifelong habits for wellness and longevity. The problem with “diets” (including “detox diets”) is that they end with no developed habits for sustaining health in the future.
The goal of any detoxification and cleansing program should always be a long-term lifestyle change, as opposed to an “event” every now and again. The main problem with the 3P approach is that one cannot take pills, powders and potions forever. However, eating whole foods is sustainable. Eating in a way that balances the body’s internal functions sets a foundation for health today as well as in the future.
The purpose of any program is to encourage the body’s tendency for an acidic (and phlegmy) state to balance towards a more alkaline state; the acid/base balance in the blood is dynamic and not static. Your body’s pH levels are affected by many internal and external factors. It is important to take a holistic approach when seeking balance. No single act (3P) will restore the pH permanently. Only sustained efforts towards balance will set the stage for the body’s natural corrective mechanisms to do their job efficiently.
Researchers will tell you that the pH is always taking care of itself and therefore needs no specialized approach to balance it. This, however philosophically compelling, is untrue in the clinical setting. EVERY filter in the world needs cleaning. So, in turn, internal bodily filters and organs of elimination do too.
Clinically, organs need to be addressed in a full-body detoxification in the following order:
Many people often consider cleaning the bowels to be a complete detoxification, but however helpful it may be, moving the bowels barely scratches the surface. Your body requires a deep tissue cleansing, so it is vital to address all of the above listed organs to successfully accomplish detoxification and cleansing for the purpose of health and vitality.
Timing is also a very important factor to consider when beginning a program. Both your body and mind must be prepared to handle the change. Beginning a program when you are feeling sick, or under a lot of stress, may very well make things worse. When properly scheduled and fully executed, a detoxification and cleansing program can bring unprecedented health benefits that go beyond a patient’s expectations. Below are some real-life examples from past program participants:
• Dropped 53 points in Triglyceride levels in three weeks.
• A previous migraines sufferer successfully eliminated migraines (symptoms and medicines).
• A patient who suffered from osteoarthritis claims that the only “medicine” that was effective for ridding the pain from her body was cleansing with whole foods.
• A hypoglycemic patient reverted back to normal sugar levels after four cycles (two years) of detoxification.
• Several allergy sufferers eliminated their allergies altogether and have sustained that status over the ensuing years.
I do what I teach. I have been cleansing and detoxifying since I was a child growing up with open-minded parents. There is very little in this field that I have not personally tried myself over the decades. Truth in health transcends cultural beliefs, barriers and biases. The techniques used in cleansing are tried and true from years of testing on humans throughout the world. Be wary of “new” findings as they have not been tested for safety over the test of time. As Hippocrates (the Father of Western medicine) says “let food be thy medicine.” By the way, the Chinese and East Indians agree on this statement.
At the Advanced Wellness Center, we create treatment programs to address each individual’s needs for cleansing and detoxification. We offer complementary approaches with Western medicine for the patient who wishes to combine philosophies. We also offer “alternative” approaches for the patient who wants a completely natural method for the restoration and management of health, vitality and longevity.
We invite you to come in for a free 15-minute consultation so that we can discuss what we can do for you.
How many people move through each day in some type of pain? More than I’m sure we could imagine. One common type of pain is known as myofascial pain - myo, meaning muscle, and fascia, meaning connective tissue. Combine the two words and create myofascia, which forms the surface area of what we know as our musculoskeletal system or muscles. Myofascial pain generally arises from repetitive movements, which we perform during jobs, hobbies, sports, or recurring stressful events.
Most people, to some extent, experience some muscle ache after a long day of work or work out. There are different ways to address this common condition to experience fewer and less occurrences. Acupuncture, an ancient healing part of Chinese medicine, has been practiced for thousands of years. Combined with massage, cupping, and gua sha techniques, acupuncture can provide great relief to our modern day accumulation of this muscle tension.
Compared to Chinese medicine, medicinal injections are a part of an extremely popular Western model known as pain management therapy. With depths of research to back each pharmaceutical, it can sometimes relieve pain down to zero within no time. However, the understanding of where the pain came from is lost and never addressed.
“Acupuncture, when compared with trigger point injection, provided similar pain relief and improvement in quality of life measures at 4 weeks,” according to the Pain Practice journal article, Comparison of Acupuncture to Injection for Myofascial Trigger Point Pain.
Acupuncture and injections are approaching pain and healing from completely different starting points. Acupuncture dives into the causes rather than simply blocking the pain. Understanding the individual in pain in relation to daily lifestyle, amount or type of exercise, and mental-emotional factors become a large part of acupuncture treatment. The ancient Chinese believed that pain is often an obstruction of blood flow and the vital energy, known as qi. Hence, treatment is designed around removing this obstruction.
The medicinal injections regulate the nervous system, aiding our immune system and producing pain-killing biochemicals, such as endorphins. The difference is that acupuncture increases the circulation of natural chemicals to remove inflammation, while injections block our body’s ability to recognize inflammatory responses.
Take Epsom or mineral salt baths to relieve minor aches and pains.
Practice yoga, tai chi, walking outside or other gentle aerobic exercises. These exercises do not outpace the body’s ability to supply oxygen to the heart and muscles, which creates less waste products like lactic acid.
There are lots of articles on the Web and in magazines that provide lots of information about fertility and acupuncture. There are conflicts regarding whether acupuncture really does help increase pregnancy rates. Specializing in acupuncture for fertility, I am constantly asked if ‘it’ really works. My answer is always, “Yes.” Here’s the rub. Acupuncture works! But, how it works for you is going to be different than how it works for everyone else. And, it may not work exactly when or how you expect or want it to. You are unique. Your lifestyle is unique. Your exercise and nutrition habits are unique. Your fertility circumstances are unique. As your acupuncturist, I need to take all of your unique characteristics, current and historical, into account, and develop a treatment plan specific to you.
That being said, there are some general acupuncture techniques that have worked for countless women during the past 3,000 years or so. To keep things simple, I’m going to provide a list of statistics and thoughts on acupuncture and fertility that you may find helpful:
Acupuncture can boost fertility by helping your body function more efficiently. It boosts your immune system and your circulation. When your body functions more efficiently, it allows other treatments, like IVF, to work more efficiently.
In a study published in April 2002 in the reproductive journal, Fertility and Sterility, researchers found that acupuncture with IVF significantly increased pregnancy success. Of 160 women, 80 received two, 25-minute acupuncture treatments – one 25 minutes prior to having fertilized embryos transferred into their uterus and one directly afterwards. The other 80 received no acupuncture treatment with the transfers. In the acupuncture group, there were 34 pregnancies, while only 21 pregnancies in the IVF alone group.
Acupuncture can help stimulate egg production in women who don’t wish to use fertility medications. However, it generally only stimulates the body’s natural process of the growth and release of one egg, while IVF allows for the production of multiple eggs.
Also noted in the 2002 study, acupuncture increases the production of endorphins, the body’s natural “feel good” chemical, which also plays a role in regulating the menstrual cycle.
Acupuncture may also help when the lining of the uterus is too weak to maintain a pregnancy.
The bottom line is that acupuncture (sometimes with the help of Chinese medicinal herbs) helps the body function as efficiently as possible within your unique lifestyle. I often suggest modifications to some of those lifestyle habits to further increase your chances of success. I recommend regular acupuncture treatments for a minimum of three months prior to starting an IVF protocol. Remember, the more efficient your body is functioning, the more efficient fertility treatments may work. And, the more efficient your body is functioning, the greater chance of pregnancy without other medicinal intervention.
Source: WebMD, “The Ancient Art of Infertility Treatment”
Healing Tip of the Week
If you’ve been struggling with fertility, please call the Advanced Wellness Center today, and set up an appointment for a Complimentary 15-Minute Consultation. Find out how acupuncture can help you with a natural or medically assisted pregnancy.
It’s a question many of us are asking. You hear olive oil is a good fat, but is it the best oil to cook with? You hear coconut oil is a bad fat, but many people are shouting from the highest mountain top that coconut oil is an awesome fat! What do you believe? These questions sent me on a hunt. I found a couple articles online that offer some insight. From www.livingpaleo.com and www.sixwise.com, here are some facts about the most common cooking oils:
Some oils are better to cook with, and other oils are better to eat without heating. Oils that are highly processed and very perishable easily become rancid when heated. Rancid oils may contribute to oxidative stress and damaging free radicals in your body. Vegetable oils, including soybean oil, canola oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, sunflower oil and corn oil, amongst others, fall in this category. Thus, they’re not generally the best choice for eating or heating.
Sesame oil, on the other hand, is stable and filled with antioxidants. It can be heated to a fairly high temperature without damaging the oil. Extra virgin olive oil, like sesame oil, is mostly monounsaturated fats, and it’s been shown to increase good (HDL) cholesterol. However, olive oil is extremely perishable, so it’s not good for cooking. Instead, it’s best when drizzled on salads, cold dishes and for dipping. One school of thought says it’s OK to cook with basic olive oil, but not extra virgin olive oil. Personally, I prefer to avoid cooking with olive oil at all, since there are other readily available and delicious oils to cook with. I stick to keeping my olive oil in a glass container in a cool, dry place, and I eat it when it’s cool.
So, what about coconut oil? Coconut oil is a saturated fat, which is why it has a bad rep. However, it’s very stable, and it contains a type of saturated fat called medium-chain triglycerides. These medium chain fats are great for the immune system, intestinal health and may support weight management. And, it won’t get damaged during the heating process. Some fat is actually good for us.
Those are the main oils generally in question. If there are others you’re concerned about, do a little research or comment on this blog, and I’ll check it out for you.
Healing Tip of the Week
Here is a quick list of cooking oils from www.livingpaleo.com: High heat/frying/browning: Coconut oil, palm oil, ghee (clarified butter) Medium heat/light sautéing: Olive oil (not extra virgin), sesame seed oil, hazelnut nut oil, pistachio nut oil Low heat/baking: Pumpkin oil, sunflower oil No heat: Fish oil, flax seed oil, cod liver oil, hemp seed oil, oils mentioned above
For many years, I suffered with horrible menstrual cramps and irregular periods. When that time of the month came around, there were days of writhing in pain, flowing like Niagara Falls, breaking out in cold sweats, vomiting and being very close to blacking out. It had me in tears, wishing for better days!
Where hormones, emotional mood swings, cramps and the menstrual cycle are involved, acupuncture and herbal medicine helped balance my emotional and physical health. There was a noticeable difference the first month after receiving acupuncture treatments and being on herbs. My cramps and menstrual issues were completely gone, and I’ve never had another bad period since. It’s been 15 years!
Dysmenorrhea (menstrual pain), PMS, PMDD (Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder), irregular cycles, endometriosis, and other gynecological conditions and their associated symptoms are characterized by different patterns of imbalances and energetic pathologies in traditional Chinese medicine. A few needles, which are relatively painless, are placed in strategic locations to balance these disharmonies. It can make a world of difference in how you feel and may positively affect the quality of your life. In my practice, many women have had the same benefits I experienced through the treatments without any side effects.
Healing Tip of the Week
If you are experiencing abdominal cramping during your periods, avoid drinking or eating cold or icy foods (iced cold drinks, etc.). This may cause more cramping and pain. Instead, try sipping some hot tea, which will help to relax the muscles and ease the pain.
Your gut hosts upwards of 100 trillion bacteria, yeast and other microbes with over 500 strains of the microflora. There are only about 75 trillion of your own cells in the human body.
Take a moment to let that sink in. There is an entire living ecosystem within your body that has a population greater than yourself! Much like our own planet’s ecosystem, the gut’s ecosystem works in a very balanced and symbiotic manner if left unfettered. In fact, these organisms are vital in affecting blood-sugar balance, cholesterol metabolism, making vitamins and many other functions. And, between 50-75% of your body’s immune system is associated with your gut.
Most Americans do not have a healthy gut. The 2nd and 5th most prescribed medications in 2008 were the heartburn drugs Nexium and Prevacid.
There are many reasons why you may be having gut issues. These can include food allergies, abnormal amounts of certain bacteria, parasites, antibiotic use, low amounts of acid or enzymes, or damage caused by many factors. Gut health is crucial for overall health. If your body is unable to digest and absorb the nutrients in your food, your whole body suffers. Taking an antacid for your heartburn or a laxative, unfortunately, doesn’t fix the underlying causes.
Healing Tip of the Week
Try making homemade sauerkraut (fermented cabbage). Cabbage, which is the starting material for sauerkraut, is high in glutamine, which is essential for gut repair. Homemade sauerkraut also contains large amounts of bacteria known to be good for gut health. Not to mention it tastes great on a bratwurst!
> In a recent study,“Manipulation or Microdiskectomy for Sciatica?” from the October 2010 Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, researchers concluded that spinal manipulation (as performed by a chiropractor) was just as effective as microdiskectomy for patients struggling with sciatica (pain, numbness, or weakness in one or both legs), secondary to lumber disk herniation.
Overall, 60 percent of patients who received chiropractic care benefited to the same degree as those who underwent surgery. Further the 40 percent who could not be helped by chiropractic care, did go on to benefit to the same degree from the subsequent surgery as those who underwent surgery initially. “There was no detrimental effect cause by delaying their surgical treatment.”
The medical researchers concluded “our research supports spinal manipulation performed by a doctor of chiropractic is a valuable and safe treatment option for those experiencing symptomatic lumber disk herniation, failing traditional medical management. These individuals should consider spinal manipulation as a primary treatment, followed by surgery if unsuccessful.”
Separate studies that I’ve reviewed have additionally proven that cold laser, traction, core rehabilitation, and acupuncture are also effective in treating disk herniations. The Advanced Wellness Center uniquely provides expertise in, and can combine for even greater efficacy, all of these treatments, thus providing our patients the best possible results in overcoming the agony of many debilitating conditions such as disk herniation and sciatica. I’ve personally experienced this very condition and am thankful to the doctors of the Advanced Wellness Center for helping me to overcome it.
Dr. Mark deDubovay, DC, CTN
Healthy Tip: Always consider alternative medicine options first, as many of our patients do. Tell your friends that each and every one of our practitioners offers complementary consultations. During these appointments, all questions can be thoughtfully answered and appropriate care
One question I get asked a great deal is, “Should I stretch before or after I exercise?” Many of us have been taught (since Little League) that you always need to stretch before you do heavy physical activity to avoid injuries. To most of us, this means the type of stretching where you reach down to touch your toes and hold for 15 to 30 seconds.
However, most exercise experts now agree that this type of stretching should be saved for after your workout. When performing stretches that involve long holding times and no movement, also known as static stretches, you are actually temporarily weakening the muscles that you’re stretching. This isn’t good if you’re preparing to play a sport or do exercise where strength and coordination of these muscles is crucial for performance and safety. Instead I recommend what’s called a dynamic warm-up. This involves explosive movements, such as jump squats or lunges, where muscles are being activated rather than turned off. It’s kind of like telling them “wake up, its time to work.”
The static stretching is crucial after your workout. This is where we’re trying to condition your muscles to be “long and strong;” a great recipe for performance and safety.
Healing Tip of the Week Try a dynamic warm-up instead of your static stretches before a workout. I personally like the one demonstrated at the link listed below.
Here is a cooking tip from a Spaniard. Growing up in Spain made me appreciate the simplicity of many of the tasty foods from Spain.
One of the secrets of such cuisine is the liberal use of garlic in combination with parsley. It’s simple and affordable. It gives food a zest it would otherwise lack, and it’s very healthy. Garlic contains hundreds of nutrients and minerals. And, it has powerful antibiotic, antiviral and antifungal properties.
And the best part is that when you handle garlic and find it difficult to get rid of its smell on your hands or your utensils, you just rub parsley on them and voila! The smell disappears.
I had been going to the Advanced Wellness Center for about ten years for Chiropractic adjustments so was very familiar with the center and everything it offered. Usually, I would just go in whenever I felt the need to be adjusted.
A case of a really sore thumb made me look into Acupuncture. It had really gotten to a point where I couldn’t even use my left hand, and the cortisone shots that my primary doctor prescribed were only temporary cures. After the second cortisone shot failed to relieve my pain, I decided to pursue another cure for my thumb.
I took the time to educate myself about Acupuncture and I was convinced that it would help me. I was a little apprehensive. I wasn’t sure if I really wanted a bunch of needles being pierced into my skin. But I knew it was the right move to make and after meeting Dhannel I decided to just go for it!
She was very professional, friendly and extremely knowledgeable. I was definitely impressed!
I began going in for treatment two days a week for the first month. After those first 30 days, the pain was 50 percent improved. I felt so much better. After the second month, I began to go in weekly, bi-weekly and now monthly. Even now that I am only going in on a monthly basis, I feel like 90 percent of the pain in my thumb is completely gone.
I have also noticed another astonishing effect of the treatment. Since I began going in, I no longer get hot flashes. Its great!
Acupuncture heals. It is completely worth giving it a try, no matter what type of pain you suffer. Go see the practitioners at the Advanced Wellness Center.
