Tips For Going Sugar-Free

Tips For Going Sugar-Free 
- Marie Hopkinson

Trying to kick Refined sugar in your life? 

1) Go cold turkey - it’s better just to quit sugar, throw away your sugary
treats and spend a few days letting your body and mind adjust. Pick a time when things aren't too stressful. After a week, the cravings will significantly subside and your body will thank you enormously.

2) Remove temptation - throw away or put the chocolates and lollies out of sight so your not visually tempted.

3) Plan your treats. Quitting sugar doesn't mean you can’t have any treats. There are tons of sugar-free recipes online. Refined sugar replacements like maple syrup, coconut sugar, dried fruits, agave syrup can be used in cooking or making raw sweet treats. I recommend getting away from the sweet flavour as much as possible but having access to some of these in the first week or 2 will make it easier.

4) Look after your Spleen. The more you nurture your Spleen Energy, the less your body will crave sugar and the better you will feel.

Why Should I quit sugar? 

Sweet is the flavour of the spleen energy in Chinese medicine. It’s a very important organ for digestive processes. A small amount of sweet helps the Spleen, but too much can overwhelm the Spleen Qi (pronounced “chee”). When we crave sweet especially after eating a meal, it indicates the Spleen Qi is weak. (You will usually get diarrhoea or loose bowel movements, and see toothmarks on the tongue as well). Since the Spleen makes energy for your body to function, when it can’t diegest well, it can be a cause of tiredness.

Refined cane sugar overwhelms the Spleen energy. In a biomedical sense, this corelates with rise and subsequent drop of blood sugar levels. This gives you an instant burst of energy or buzz, followed by a low...usually lower than you felt before you ate the chocolate or lollies.

Sweet-natured foods that can nurture the Spleen energy include root vegetables like sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkin and unrefined, cooked grains like barley, rice and millet.

In a biomedical sense, theses foods have a low gylcemic index, which means they take longer to break down and don’t require the same biochemical reaction that refined sugary-sweet natured foods do. They won’t quickly spike and lower your blood sugar level.

The golden rule of Chinese diet therapy, and longevity practices in general is EVERYTHING IN MODERATION. Balance isn’t just a  token yin-yang symbol, but it’s a guiding key principal to achieve health and longevity in life.

FREE Sugar-Free RECIPES ARE AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE

www.metrohealth.com.au 

Metro Health and Medicine

200 Whatley Crs 

Maylands, WA 6051

Beat the Heat

If you live in Australia, no doubt you know it’s summer. Where I am in Perth, it's been up to 44 degrees already! Did you know that the weather is significant in the cause of disease according to Chinese medicine? 

Heat is one of “6 Pathogens”, that can invade the body and cause disharmonies. Heat can commonly invade the channels of the neck, face and throat causing sore-throat, hayfever or seasonal allergies. Symptoms of heat include pain – usually severe or throbbing, as heat dries up fluids it can cause body fluids to congeal. For example phlegm will get thicker, yellow or sticky, urine can become more concentrated, darker and the tongue will get redder and more dry (as the moisture of the mouth can be dried up by Heat).

Heat clearing foods can be used as a preventative during the hot weather. Fruit & Veg that are watery and not too sweet like Watermelon, cucumber, lettuce are good at keeping away heat invasions. Drinking Chrysanthemum (Ju Hua) honeysuckle(Jin Yin Hua) and dandelion (Pu Gong Ying) herbs (by themselves or add to green tea) are more targeted ways to clear heat – especially from the face and throat.

Heat can invade not only via the environment but from our diet also. In Australia this weekend (26^th January) we are coming up to Australia Day – a time of national celebration where the classic Aussie thing to do is to drink alcohol. Alcohol’s nature is essentially warm-hot, so combining lots of drinking with warm weather is a perfect environment to cause Heat-invasion disharmonies. Intoxication from drinking can cause what we refer to in Chinese medicine as “toxic heat”. 

Diarrhea, vomiting, breakouts of acne are all common hangover symptoms which essentially come from the self-induced toxic heat invasion. The simplest way to avoid this is to drink less! Space drinks out with water, use some self-control, and enjoy Australia day. If you do find yourself suffering the effects of a toxic-heat hangover Chinese medicine employs more “detox” methods to clear out the toxic heat. Our Tong Kuai Hangover tea is based on the idea of clearing toxic heat from the digestive system via the bowels. Watermelon is a good hangover food as well.    

Winter

Winter

Seasons are a major aspect of Chinese medicine, they influence the ways in which we should live, and the kinds of illnesses that are prevalent in the various seasons. Winter is the season where things retreat, hibernate and rejuvenate. Just as the weather becomes cold, and nature retreats, our lifestyle should also change to suit the climate. 

I took this photo on one of my trips to the tea village in Changsha

Wearing warm clothing, avoiding the wind and protecting the lower back (which is known as the “kidneys house”) is an important way to maintain health. Kidney energy relates specifically to winter via the Water Element. Water is reflected in tranquillity, stillness, rejuvenation and gestation. It’s the Kidney energy that is directly influential in reproduction and fertility. Water energy accumulates in hibernation and rest, this should be encouraged during Winter with longer sleep time (go to bed later and get up later), resting during the day by lying down flat after lunch for about 20 minutes, and sweating less by engaging in non-sweat producing exercises like stretching and gentle walking. 

Generally winter is the season where we don’t need to do much exercise. Certainly opening the pores during sweating creates an easy-access path for External Pathogens like Wind-Cold to invade and cause colds and flu’s.

The primary focus of winter is to allow the body to rest, sleep and recover from any cold and flu’s, and avoid exposure to External pathogens. For healthy people, winter should be a season of storing up the nourishing Post-natal Kidney Essence (Jing). 

Click here for a winter recipe! 

Natures Pain Killers

Pain is a natural human experience, and it's not a pleasant one. As soon as we experience pain our next thought is "how can I stop it?"

In our search for some relief, why not turn to nature to try to alleviate some or all of the pain with natural relief? Essential oils, herbs, mental techniques, acupuncture and heat are all common and often cheap alternatives to drugs.

Before we delve into these natural solutions to treat pain, it's important to know the reason for the pain. Most of these natural alternatives are great for people who have already sought out medical help, and found there is either no "known cause" of the painful symptoms or the cause is untreatable and they are in a situation of managing the pain.

If the pain is acute (it just came on recently), it's something new, its getting worse and/or changing location to usual then it's important to seek medical advice. Visit your GP, registered professional health practitioner or go to the hospital if it's an emergency situation. In Australia we have a government health advice line you can ring and speak to a nurse who will assess if you need to go to emergency: 1800 022 222.

HEAT 

A great place to start to alleviate pain is heat. Heat makes blood vessels expand, getting more of the healing properties to the area you have heated up. Because too much blood with no movement can cause stagnation, it's best to use heat for 20 mins at a time, and follow up with some movement of the area or light massage around the area depending on the type of injury /pain you have.

MOXA

Moxa  is a type of herbal heat that is widely used in Chinese medicine. Moxa is a herb that has Blood moving properties, and is used by everyday people as well as practitioners to alleviate pain. In the clinic, you might see practitioners use moxa on acupuncture points with a stick or cones or even a moxa box. The wooden boxes are a great way to use the moxa at home for personal use. Tiger warmers - the metal stick device featured in the photo to the left, are a device designed to help people use the moxa stick on areas like the back, shoulders, limbs and abdomen to treat pain. We sell the tiger warmers and moxa boxes in our store, and our staff can assist you with help to learn how to use them.

Link to Moxa products on our Webstore just Below:
www.metrohealth.myshopify.com/moxa

ESSENTIAL OILS

Essential Oils are another favourite of mine for natural pain relief.

Frankincense, Clary Sage and Lavender is a good blend to soothe pain. Frankincense is a blood moving Chinese Herb - it's function is to move Blood stasis. Injuries will usually result in some degree of Blood stasis, so moving it will help speed up healing.

Frankincense and Clary Sage is great combination for period pain, back pain or pain from traumatic injuries. Lavender is soothing and is often used to help headaches. Apply directly or dilute and use with caution during pregnancy.

Heating Essential oils include Camphor, Menthol, Eucalyptus, Wintergreen - which are great for Arthritis or Joint pain (known or Cold/Damp Bi Zheng Syndrome in Chinese Medicine). Camphor and Menthol are common ingredients in well known "pain rubs" like tiger balm and deep heat. I once made a salt scrub using Wintergreen for a patient who suffered arthritis - in the shower they could scrub their body with the exfoliating scrub which left a soothing warming oily residue to moisturise and infuse the skin with the pain- reliving essential oils.


We have essential oils available in our Maylands Store and also online @ http://metrohealth.myshopify.com

MENTAL DISTRACTION

Finally, there is something great about mental distraction in managing chronic pain. You get what you foucs on...so if you have nothing else there but you and the pain, it will become worse due to it bieng your sole focus. Distract your mind by planning activities, watching a movie or TV, going for a walk if you can or even do a difficult puzzle or something else to take your mind off it.  Not all kinds of pain are suited to this method, but some pains, like period pain will actually benefit more from moving or standing than sitting and lying. Moving around might feel like the last thing you might feel like doing, however it's better to aid blood movement by standing and walking rather than sitting or lying down all day. Psychology, visualisation and hypnosis all contain powerful mind tools which experienced professionals can teach their clients how to better manage pain.

Of course, if pain gets worse, your symptoms change or your unsure of the cause you should see your Health Care Professional or go to the hospital in an urgent situation.

Stories from China... Inside the Chinese Medicine Hospital

My three months in Hangzhou as an intern at the Hangzhou Shi Zhong Yi Yuan was one of my most memorable life experiences.

As a teacher in TCM, I am constantly urging my students to "go to China". There is no substitute for this experience. I can't even articluate all the reasons eloquently why this is so imperative, but in this post I hope to shed some light on it.

Imagine a room, around 45m2, with about 6 desks in there. About half the size of a standard office desk. Around each desk are 3 or 4 typical Chinese wooden stools - the kind a size 14 westerner could fit half of their butt on!


The outpatients clinic is a room just like this, except it is filled with people. Each doctor has their own desk, alonside them are their intern(s) - the more they have the more popular that doctor probably is.

Walking in at 8am when the hospital is just opening, it's buzzing full of people. The doctors havent even arrived but there are people everywhere. Down the hallways and crowding around the desks. Each patient is often are accompanied by an entourage - family support for their sick mother, father or even grown up child. Often the patients would have several relatives or close friends with them.
It's apparent that when a person is sick their community is mobilised.

The system in the hospitals at that time (ten years ago) - and still is the way in many hospitals- is a no appointment, first come, first served basis. The patients would register at the administration of the hospital, recieve a ticket then go and wait at the doctors desk to be seen. They place their patient record book on the table and before long a queue of patient record books piles up. When the doctor walks in and sees the normal 15 or so books lined up on their desk they can see today is just another ordinary, incredibly busy day.


The self-ownership of the health care record was the first amazing, unique thing that stood out to me in my first weeks of studying in China. This system seemed so simple and sensical that I wondered why we don't do it in Australia? The answer to that one probably lies in the bureaucratic and popous traditions of western medicine (which developed in ways that take the power away from the patient and make the doctor look important and all-knowing)...but perhaps also in the underlying ownership of health that native Chinese inheritently have. This is a deep part of Chinese Medicine and it seemed that the Chinese have taken this into their management of their health care system at the root of it.

Basically each person is issued with a booklet, which added to that a swipe card around the mid 2000's. The card and the booklet contain all their records with doctors - both western and TCM, the card could be swiped at the computer station or doctors desk and all their MRI's, CT's etc would come up on the screen.

This is an amazing system when you consider "doctor shopping" - one doctor can see what the others have done thus far. It almost creates a bit of professional accountablity amoung herbalists - they can see what herbs and drugs have been prescribed, tests ordered and anything else inbetween.

Marie and Dermatology Doctor Luo Wei Dan

I digress from the main point but I really want to paint the picture that China is such an amazingly different place to any western country and it's health care system is definatley a unique one. I can't think of one western country that dosen't have issues with it's government issued medical services (the NHS in the UK, HMO's in the USA and Medicare etc in Australia).
Waiting lists for routine procedures, possibly unecessary health complications created by the waiting time to simply recieve a diagnosis (not even treatment), and the cost burden to patients are all common complaints.

I'm not saying that China is perfect by any means, but it was common to see a patient present with a health problem for the first time at 8am, see the doctor, have tests ordered and completed and return with MRI or CT test results by the afternoon of that same day. These weren't rich people - just normal everyday people. And this is with the enormous population (1.351 billion at last count - by the way there are 0.3 billion in the USA).

In China, low wages paid to health care workers certainly plays a part. But shouldn't health care be our greatest service to people? High population always lowers costs - supply and demand.

When you go to China as a TCM intern you have the privillage to observe so much. It's not just the hundreds of Chinese medicine (herbal), acupuncture or Tuina cases you see. I found I observed much more because of the language barrier. Your senses are awakened to what you see and feel more than what you can hear and understand in terms of language.

This amazing health care system was a massive stand out to me on my first visit to China as an intern. It's just something different. It has it's faults and flaws just as any other system but it's totally different to what we experience as "hospital medicine" in Australia.

Discover the peace zone...

Where is your peace zone? 

Where is the place where everything shuts off, where your mind can focus on a singular thing? 

Just breathe - no emails, no ideas or problems, no bills, no to do list or things to organize.

 ...just breathe in and out. Feel that life giving breath as your chest expands and oxygen fills your body. 

You can't hear or think anything else just the rhythmical breath and maybe the feeling of your heart beat. 

Five minutes in the peace zone can change your perspective, which can alter all the rest of the days decisions. 

You don't need to go to a course or do anything strange to get into the peace zone. It might seem hard in everyday life to go there but it dosen't mean it can't be done. 

If it seems impossible to find your peace zone in your world now, then go somewhere else - the beach, the forrest, a park, even get inside a wardrobe for 5 mins!

I find a simple change of position leads to a change of mental perspective that will amaze you.

Today I was going somewhere and happened to pass by an empty, silent chapel and went in. No phone on or ipad to check emails. Just sitting and allowing the silence to silence me. 

Before long 5 mins had gone by and I felt new ideas were already coming to me. The stress of the former part of the day was already passing. 

As an acupuncturist I often hear patients say they love coming in for acupuncture because it's the only time they can relax.

While it's great that acupuncture helps you to shut off your mind...and you can't exactly run off and do something when your pinned down to the bed, it's such a sad reality of our society that we don't relax well. 

Demands are always there, life will probably get more complicated and even after you die bills will still be coming in. I think we can benefit from all stealing 5 minutes in the peace zone!

If you liked this blog post, why not share the ways you relax in your peace zone below: 

Busting Winter Blues

In winter, the lack of sunshine rays makes some people more vunerable to feelings of depression, flatness and even sadness. 

 

Lithium is a natural chemical that our bodies absorb through the skin which is present in rays of sunshine. Natural sunlight has the ability to wake us up with a rejuvenation or brightness to face the day. Often our work schedules are not conducive to this “waking up with the sun” routine either. 

So how can we combat the “winter blues”? In Chinese medicine we recognise life has diferent seasons. While it’s not normal to sit around and sulk in winter, or just become a big slug on the couch, we needn’t have the same expectations of our life or body in winter that we do of summer or spring. Winter is a season of STORAGE and GATHERING of energy. Not expending or “doing” as we would in expect in the warmer seasons of spring and summer. 

Foods which nourish the Yang Qi (Energy) are slow cooked meats. Nuts like walnuts and almonds can be roasted or toasted with honey to make warming and nourishing snacks. For Vegetarians, try lots of slow cooked root vegetables, more legumes which are combined with underground vegies.

For people with stagnation, you should continue to do some exercise – most importantly to keep your body moving, rather than do strenuous Gym or aerobic type exercises. Keep active in stretching and exercise which promotes light (not heavy) sweating. Winter is also good season to cultivate yoga, tai qi and qi gong practices. Your TCM practitioner can advise you on more specific foods for your pattern of disharmony or body constitution.

NEW VIDEO BLOG via youtube. How Chinese Medicine sees a typical "healthy diet" - check it out and leave your comments welcome here!

Preventing Disease & Staying Healthy with Chinese Medicine

Prevention is one of the most important aspects of Chinese medicine. When practitioners assess their patient, they are looking for signs and symptoms of disease, and also signs that illness or health may be out of balance.

Key diagnostic areas to detect disease BEFORE it arises, are the tongue and pulse. In addition, by keeping a healthy diet and lifestyle, a greater state of health can be achieved. Chinese medicine takes into account seasonal factors, and diseases that can easily arise due to weather conditions.

A known flu-prevention treatment is Moxa on the acu-point St 36. It's name Zusanli, means “three leg mile”. This point was named when Chinese soldiers massaged the point, they found they could walk another 3 miles! In the weeks leading up to the change of season, this point can be acupunctured and warmed with Moxa (a herb which sits on the needle and warms the point). Although this is a different point, the photo opposite shows how such an acupuncture /moxibustion treatment might be done.

Chinese medicine theory observes two main causes of disease or poor-health in the body. Internal and External causes.

External Causes - known as the six pathogenic factors. Avoiding Wind, cold, damp and heat etc will help to avoid getting sick. How, you ask?

1) Wearing layers of clothing to ensure you are not too hot or cold especially when the weather changes.

2) Keep out of drafty areas/direct A/C or fans. ESPECIALLY at night! (Otherwise you may wake up with a stiff neck or sore lower back.

3) Protect the lower back/waist by making sure clothing fits around this area!

Internal causes of disease are considered by CM to be things such as emotions, inactivity, and poor lifestyle.

Emotions - over thinking (or worry) knots the spleens energy. The Spleen, in Chinese medicine, helps the Stomach to separate the pure and impure parts of food. The Spleen gets weakened by over-thinking, which can result in a low appetitte. The body can be further depleted because it can’t properly absorb nutrition from food.

Overeating is a common lifestyle factor in cause of diesaes. Not just leading to overweight or fat, but when we overeat we must exercise harder to burn the excess calories, thus making our bodies work unnecessarily harder. Two Chinese medicine quotes to consider are: "curing and nourishing come from the same source" and "when you eat, satisfy only seven-tenths of your hunger”.