What You NEED to Know About Blood Sugar and Insulin: Scottsdale Acupuncture Specialist

In the last 300 years, the American diet has gone through a lot of changes.  Our foods used to be nutrient dense, home-grown and organic.  We used to have a much higher intake of fats and a much lower intake of sugar and carbohydrates.  People were stronger and chronic, degenerative diseases occurred much more rarely than they do today.   But soil depletion, conventional farming methods, rampant dietary misinformation and other factors have changed all that.  Our state of health, as a nation, is rapidly declining- despite all of our modern medical interventions and wonder drugs.  Of course there are numerous reasons for this, but I’d like to shed some light on one of the leading causes of disease and how it is likely effecting YOU.

• In 1700, the average yearly intake of dietary sugar was 4lbs.
• In 1800, the average yearly intake of dietary sugar increased to 18lbs.
• In 1900, the average yearly intake of dietary sugar increased to 90lbs.
• In 2010, 50% of Americans consume A HALF A POUND OF SUGAR PER DAY, which equals 180lbs. per year

Of course, I’m not just talking about lollypops and gummy worms.  I’m talking about CARBS, which are all ultimately are broken down by your body into sugars- namely glucose and fructose. (See chart at the end of this article that lists “What counts as a Carbohydrate?”)

Moving on… It is now becoming apparent that blood sugar and insulin problems are a common factor in almost every modern disease and one of the most damaging things you can do to your body would be to ignore the situation which, in all likelihood, IS affecting you.

The long-term physical problems caused by blood sugar and insulin damage are system-wide and severe.  They can include:

Blood sugar and insulin imbalances fall on a relative scale of graduating severity:

Reactive Hypoglycemia –> Insulin Resistance –> Metabolic Syndrome –> Diabetes II

Stage 1: Hypoglycemia (Reactive)

This is extremely common!  In my clinical experience, the vast majority of people I see are experiencing some degree of blood sugar imbalances and most of them have never noticed or considered that the vague symptoms that it can present with have anything to do with blood sugar levels.  Reactive Hypoglycemia is not itself a disease, but rather a condition (meaning it IS reversible!) which is defined as “too little blood glucose.”  Although it seems as if too little blood sugar is the problem, in truth, that’s merely the after-effect of having a history of too much sugar/carbs in the diet.

Symptoms include:

• Getting shaky, headaches and/or irritable without food
• Feeling better after eating
• Tired without food
• Overall fatigue
• Blurry vision
• Waking up at night (usually around 1-3am, but could be anytime throughout the night)
• Tired in the afternoons
• Difficulty concentrating or poor mental focus
• Acid Reflux, sour stomach, or nausea
• Sugar/Carb cravings
• Craves a small “Sweet” after meal

Reactive Hypoglycemia is most common in people who currently have or have a history of:

• High sugar/carbohydrate intake
• High stress levels
• Skipping meals or long periods between eating
• Trans-Fats make this worse!

So here’s what happens:

In a normal, healthy person with a low dietary intake of carbohydrates and healthy eating habits, blood glucose levels are appropriately maintained by insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas.

Whenever they eat sugary foods or foods containing carbohydrates, their body breaks those carbs down into sugar which eventually gets dumped into their bloodstream.  Because the body can only tolerate a small amount of sugar in the bloodstream, the pancreas releases insulin which stimulates the cells to sponge up the excess sugar, therefore regulating blood sugar levels. Once inside the cells, sugar is used for energy, with any excess amount being converted to fat tissue.  Then, after all the insulin has been used up and all the sugar has been burned for energy, you go into fat-burning mode until your next meal.

That’s under normal, healthy circumstances.  The problem, which applies to over 80% of the population right now, is that when a person has a long history of eating a diet too high in carbs/sugar, their body begins anticipating that each meal will be a high carbohydrate meal and then “overcompensates” by surging too much insulin.  This surging effect causes insulin levels in the blood to become too high, resulting in a dramatic drop in blood glucose levels and preventing any fat-burning since as long as there’s insulin still floating around, your body can NOT go into fat-burning mode.  (Hence, the “I work out all the time but still can’t seem to lose weight” scenario)

To recap, too much sugar/carbs in the diet causes a roller-coaster ride of blood glucose and insulin levels, resulting eventually in low blood sugar.  Ultimately, the problem isn’t that your blood sugar is too low- that’s just the side effect.  The problem is that insulin levels are too high as a result of too much sugar/carbs in your diet.

People can be hypoglycemic for years with few symptoms, but over time the cells become irritated by being constantly bathed in insulin.  Eventually, the constant exposure to insulin irritates the cells enough that the insulin receptor sites on the cells begin to shut down and become resistant to insulin.  At this point, what was Reactive Hypoglycemia has now progressed to Insulin Resistance- the next major step towards diabetes.

Step 2: Insulin Resistance

Insulin Resistance is defined as the condition in which the body’s cells have a reduced sensitivity to insulin, as a result of being exposed to too much insulin for too long (in cases of years of high sugar or carb intake).  If the cells are not as responsive to insulin, it means that they won’t receive as strong a signal to sponge up excess sugar out of your blood. This will lead to excess sugar floating around your bloodstream and all the health problems that come with this scenario.

If you have too much sugar floating around in your blood vessels, it is likely that you also have too much insulin traveling through your system as well.  This is because the pancreas tries to compensate for the insulin resistance by releasing even more insulin, in a futile attempt to maintain normal blood sugar levels.  The problem with this is that having a too-high insulin level has it’s own set of nasty effects above and beyond the effects of high blood sugar.

Symptoms of Insulin Resistance include any of the symptoms of Hypoglycemia listed above PLUS:

• Abdominal weight gain
• Difficulty losing weight
• Sleepiness after meals
• Mental fogginess and fatigue
• Intestinal bloating and gas
• Increased blood pressure
• Increased blood triglycerides
• Depression
• Thinning hair in women

This insulin/blood sugar roller-coaster specifically involves the sugar glucose.  But what about fructose, you might be asking?  Although it’s true that fructose doesn’t trigger insulin directly (only glucose does), it does still cause lots of problems.  Fructose turns into FAT faster than any other sugar, and in high amounts, it begins damaging the liver.  Basically, the only organ in your body that can take up fructose is the liver…

…Once there, the fructose:

• Increases uric acid which in turn increases blood pressure and causes gout.
• Increases fat production in the liver which can eventually result in Fatty Liver Disease.
• Fructose is metabolized via the same pathway as alcohol and is actually damaging your liver in the the same way as alcohol.
• Increases inflammation which in turn stops the insulin receptors in your liver from working, resulting in higher insulin levels in the body.  The pancreas responds to this situation by pumping out even more insulin in the attempt to get the insulin working, which further increases insulin levels and eventually results in the same Insulin Resistance that glucose causes.

The bottom line is that even though fructose doesn’t directly raise your insulin levels in the short term, in the long term fructose will still lead to Insulin Resistance due to the effects of inflammation in the liver.

Step 3: Metabolic Syndrome

The next stop on the diabetes train after Insulin Resistance is progression to Metabolic Syndrome.  It is currently estimated that 75 million Americans (that’s 1 in 4 people!) have blood sugar imbalances that have already progressed into Metabolic Syndrome.

Metabolic Syndrome is characterized by any of the symptoms of Reactive Hypoglycemia and Insulin Resistance PLUS:

• Severe hormonal imbalances
• Immunological disorders
• More abdominal weight gain
• Elevated triglycerides
• Increased cortisol (with it’s associated adrenal symptoms and diseases)
• High risk for Diabetes Type II

The final progression of this disorder, if it continues to go ignored and untreated, is Type 2 Diabetes.

Step 4: Type 2 Diabetes

• 7^th leading cause of death in the US
• All-cause mortality (death from any official cause) is more than double in diabetics
• Medical expenses are more than double in diabetics
• #1 cause of blindness in adults
• #1 cause of Kidney failure
• #1 cause of limb amputations
• One of the top reasons for Erectile Dysfunction
• By the age of 65, 77% of people are diabetic or pre-diabetic

Basically….

It might help to think of blood sugar imbalances like this:

We all start out with a certain amount of allowable insulin/sugar activity in our cells for our lifetime- a set number of lifetime ”carb points,” if you will.  The problem is that most people have used up  all of their carb points in their first 30 or 40 years and after that, the continued exposure to high carb/sugar/insulin levels begins to create serious damage.  This is why people always say, “I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted without gaining weight, now my metabolism has slowed down and I gain weight if I eat a cracker!”  It’s not as simple as a slowing metabolism, it’s actually the result of using up all of your carb points too early!

In order to avoid serious health problems as you get older, it is vital that your dietary carbohydrates/sugar be drastically reduced or eliminated.  Yes- you CAN eliminate carbs!  Contrary to popular belief, they are NOT necessary in the diet- fat is a very efficient and sustainable energy source!  Consider the Eskimos… their diet consists almost exclusively of animal fat and protein.  They are some of the longest-lived, healthiest people on the planet with some of the lowest rates of chronic, degenerative diseases.

So what do we do about it?

Well, for starters, STOP TRIGGERING INSULIN!

1)  Drastically reduce or eliminate carbs from your diet and ESPECIALLY AVOID REFINED CARBS AND SUGAR.  Continue at least to the point where you don’t crave sugar/carbs anymore.

• Ideally, you’ll aim for 60-80 grams of carbohydrates per day (check labels and keep track!). For others, it will take more extreme measures than that – a near-Atkins diet. Th 60g/day target isn’t necessarily for forever, but at least until the sugar cravings disappear and even after that point, the inclusion of carbs/sugar in the diet should always be kept to a minimum.

• Yes, there carbohydrates in vegetables, but veggies are nutritional powerhouses that deliver enough nutrient value to outweigh the blood sugar level  effects of the carbohydrates they contain.  For the purposes of improving your health by reducing carbs, you do NOT have to count green vegetables, carrots, beets, or healthy veggies like that in your daily carb budget!  You also do not need to keep track of total daily calories or grams of fat.  JUST CARBS.
  

So what DO we count as a carb in the daily budget?  Basically, anything that ultimately breaks down into sugar (glucose or fructose):

2) Eat at least every 3 hours- do NOT skip meals

3) Avoid fructose like the plague!!! i.e. – too much fruit (a little bit of fresh fruit is ok but make sure to count it in the budget), fruit juices, dried fruits, products made with high fructose corn syrup, processed foods of any kind.

4) Increase your intake of healthy FATS and protein and eat a fat with everything!

What is a healthy fat?

• All meats and fish
• Butter
• Cheese
• Avocado
• Whole dairy (don’t use skim or reduced fat dairy products)
• Coconut oil (use for low-medium heat cooking or add to smoothies)
• Avocado oil (good for medium-high heat cooking)
• Olive oil (good for dressings, and cold use- do not heat)
• Supplemental oils such as Fish/Krill/Flax
• Flax seeds
• Whole eggs (don’t skip the yolk, it’s the best part!  And fresh, pastured eggs are far superior to battery-farmed eggs or “egg products” like egg beaters, etc.)
• Olives
• Nuts and nut butters (especially walnuts, almonds)
• Seeds (especially flax and chia seeds)

Healthy fats should be consumed with every meal- especially vegetables. Failure to include these fats in a meal will result in many of the nutrients consumed during the meal not being absorbed by the body. That’s because many nutrients are fat-soluble nutrients. Vitamins A, D, E and K are nutrients that require fat in order to be absorbed and used by the human body, but there are many other nutrients that also need fats for human metabolism. These healthy fats will also help keep you satisfied after meals (so you don’t get hungry) and provide a huge number of other health benefits.

5) Get some exercise!

• Exercise is still a great thing that a person can do themselves to help reduce insulin resistance and improve blood sugar metabolism. It doesn’t have to be much, but it has to be consistent – a minimum of 30 minutes, 4-5 times a week.
• Walking, swimming, etc. are all great options. Keep it light in the beginning.  Later, you can switch to forms of exercise that are less frequent for shorter amounts of time, but higher intensity (strength training and high-intensity interval training are especially helpful to repair insulin damage).
• Each 10% increase in muscle mass corollated with 11% less insulin resistance and 12% less diabetes

NOTE: Be aware that once a person is in a state of Insulin Resistance or beyond, it is not enough to simply follow the “Stop Triggering Insulin” guidelines above – they will help, and are necessary, but adherence to those guidelines must ALSO be accompanied by specific treatments, such as Acupuncture and specific nutrient/supplemental support, to reverse the cells’ resistance to insulin and repair the damage that has been done.  Additionally, it is probable that the individual will need to maintain a low carbohydrate intake indefinitely to avoid the same process that burned out their cells to begin with.

Once your blood sugar and insulin levels have become more stable, you will notice that your energy level is much better, your adrenals start to recover, your immune system improves, food sensitivities go away, you sleep better, your moods are better, joint pain improves, digestion improves, etc. – the list goes on and on!

This information brought to you by your friendly, neighborhood Scottsdale Acupuncturist, Melanie Miller, L.Ac., MAOM, owner Turning Point Wellness.  For more info about how Acupuncture, Oriental Medicine, and natural nutrition can help you achieve vibrant health and well-being, contact Melanie directly at 480-219-1237.  My office is located at 8591 E. Bell Rd., Suite 103, Scottsdale, AZ. 85260

Sources:

Johnson RJ and Gower T. (2009) The Sugar Fix: The High-Fructose Fallout That is Making You Sick and Fat

USDA Agricultural Factbook, Profiling Food Consumption in America, www.usda.gov/factbook/chapter2.pdf

U.S. Centers For Disease Control, “2011 Diabetes Fact Sheet,” http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/diabetes-statistics/

Preethi Srikanthan and Arun S. Karlamangla. “Relative Muscle Mass Is Inversely Associated with Insulin Resistance and PreDiabetes.” Findings from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, July 21, 2011

For the clearest explanation you’ve seen or heard on blood sugar, check out the youtube videos by Dr. Marlene Merritt at http://www.youtube.com/merrittwellnessz

Acupuncture For IBS And Other Digestive Disorders : Scottsdale Acupuncture Specialist

Happy National IBS Awareness Month!!!  Yup, that’s right, April is not only the time for beautiful weather, spring flower blooms, and Easter celebration, it is also the time to reconsider your bowel health- YAY!  It also happens to be National Humor Month, which makes reading this article a little more entertaining.

Currently, one in five adults in the US has one form or another of IBS, otherwise known as Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  That’s somewhere around 43 million people!  And that number doesn’t even come close to describing the untold millions of people experiencing the other increasingly common digestive disorders- Chron’s Disease, GERD (severe heartburn or acid reflux), Ulcerative Colitis, or dietary sensitivities (gluten or dairy intolerance, food allergies, etc).

These digestive disorders can present with a range of obvious digestive problems such as upper or lower abdominal pain or cramping, bloating or intestinal gas, nausea or vomiting, a feeling of fullness, chronic constipation or diarrhea, blood in the stool, a feeling of “incompletion” or difficulty to pass stool, acid reflux (also known as heartburn), food sensitivities or allergies, etc.  But they can also lead to systemic imbalances that begin to show up with signs like fatigue, joint pain and systemic inflammation, anemia, frequent colds and flus, allergies, skin problems such as eczema,  psoriasis or other dermatitis, and more.

Unfortunately, most people suffering with IBS or other digestive disorders assume that their digestive problem is “incurable” and they’re doomed to either suffer or take meds for the rest of their lives- usually because that’s what their doctors have told them…SIGH.  Well, I’m happy to announce that that’s just plain ol’ not true!  In my experience and the experience of many other Acupuncturists out there, the vast majority of digestive disorders are absolutely treatable and in many cases, curable- and it can be done without prescription medications.

So how in the world can acupuncture help digestion?  Well, first we’ve got to clear up a little confusion: digestive disorders are usually not just digestive disorders.  They usually indicate an overall health imbalance.  Frequently the result of chronically high stress levels or years of improper dietary habits- such as the use of soy products, highly processed industrial seed oils (canola, safflower, etc.), refined sugar and grains, etc.-  that put a strain on the digestive system and, over the years, eventually develop into full-blown digestive disorders… and the beginning of a vicious cycle.

This vicious cycle occurs when a chronic digestive disorder results in a inflammation and a reduction in digestive efficacy and efficiency- which they virtually always do.  If you’re showing any signs of digestive problems, it’s an indication that there’s probably intestinal inflammation and likely some degree of what’s called “Leaky-gut syndrome,” where large food particles and foreign material leaks through the intestinal lining and your body is forced to mount an immune reaction which leads to more inflammation and more food sensitivities.

Another vicious cycle begins when all of that irritation in your gut results in a reduced ability to properly break down food, which in turn means your body isn’t as able to absorb and utilize nutrients properly, which eventually leads to some degree of malnutrition.  And that was just a description of the lower half, we havn’t even begun to touch on breakdowns in the upper half of the digestive process!

So what happens after all that inflammation and mal-absorption of nutrients gets rollin’?  Well, the nutrients that your body is supposed to be able to get from the food you eat are critical for supporting every aspect of your health.  Nutrients are the building blocks for what your body converts into strength, repair, defense, and maintenance of the whole system.  If you’re either not giving your body the right sources of nutrients (check out Top 10 Dietary Guidelines for more info on THAT), or your body cannot properly absorb nutrients because of a digestive disorder, the eventual malnutrition (and let’s not forget the rampant inflammation and over-stressed immune system) leads to a whole host of other problems system-wide, including the inability to repair and defend itself, keep you happy and healthy, and least of all- regulate digestive function…aaaaand we’re back to square one with that vicious cycle.

This is where Acupuncture comes in.

Specific acupuncture points on the body are well-known to reduce abdominal pain, bloating and intestinal inflammation, increase gastrointestinal strength, regulate stomach acid secretion, stop chronic diarrhea, or increase bowel movements in the case of chronic constipation.  It basically regulates overall digestive function- and it does so with zero negative side effects.  A good acupuncturist will also be highly-educated in regards to any supplemental support that may be helpful for you and will be able to guide your towards the necessary dietary and lifestyle changes that are critical in stopping the vicious cycle.  Over time, the acupuncture treatments combined with your body’s increased ability to receive and absorb nutrients, will assist your system in re-balancing itself and repairing the damage in your gut.

Acupuncture is highly effective in treating most digestive disorders including: IBS, Chron’s Disease, food allergies and sensitivities, chronic constipation/diarrhea, ulcers, heartburn, GERD, lactose intolerance and more.  In fact, the NIH (National Institute of Health) and the WHO (World Health Organization) have recognized Acupuncture as being effective for treating over 56 common health complaints!

They also recognized that, “One of the advantages of Acupuncture is that the incidence of adverse effects is substantially lower than that of many drugs or other accepted medical procedures used for the same conditions…such as anti-inflammatory medications and steriod injections [for pain], and the evidence supporting these conventional therapies is no better than that for Acupuncture.”

All in all, Acupuncture provides an extremely safe, highly effective and a completely natural approach to regaining and maintaining optimum digestive health and restoring strength and harmony to your body.

This information brought to you by your friendly, neighborhood Scottsdale Acupuncturist, Melanie Miller, L.Ac., MAOM, owner Turning Point Wellness.  For more info about how Acupuncture, Oriental Medicine, and natural nutrition can help you achieve vibrant health and well-being, contact Melanie directly at 480-219-1237.  My office is located at 8591 E. Bell Rd., Suite 103, Scottsdale, AZ. 85260

Five Reasons to Consider Acupuncture

Written by Chris Titus and re-posted with permission from ChrisMartenson.com

In recent years, Oriental medicine has been growing in popularity, forcing many in the Western medical community to sit up and take notice. Fifteen years ago, if you asked your primary care physician about acupuncture, he or she might have laughed you out of their office. Today, their responses have changed to something more accepting. While most will readily admit they don’t understand this ancient practice, there is a growing body of research that indicates it works for many conditions.

How Does Acupuncture Work?

The practice of acupuncture originated thousands of years ago in China with the use of stones. It operates on the theory that energy, known as “chi” in the East — similar to bio-electricity in the West — must flow freely in the body. If there is a blockage, organs will not receive enough energy to function properly, leading to disease. Acupuncture seeks to open these blockages, allowing the body to heal itself. This is done by inserting very thin needles into combinations of points along fourteen energy pathways that cover the body. These pathways are called meridians.

Why Should You Use It?

The following five points offer compelling reasons to consider using acupuncture.

Reason 1: Efficacy

The most obvious reasons you should add a new treatment to your health care arsenal is that it works equally well as, if not better than, your current regimen, while causing fewer side-effects. Does acupuncture meet either of those criteria? According to a 1996 review of controlled clinical trials conducted around the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that acupuncture successfully treats 28 conditions, including the number one affliction plaguing Americans — hypertension. The WHO also stated that acupuncture shows promise for treating 52 other conditions.

Since the WHO’s review was conducted, numerous clinical studies have been launched in the West, yielding mixed results. Many have concluded that acupuncture is no better than “sham” acupuncture — when patients are needled in non-acupuncture points. Critics of these studies cite their poor study design, as well as sample sizes that are too small to reach any meaningful conclusions. Based upon the inconclusive results, more funding needs to be allocated to research a health care modality that Americans are pursuing in record numbers. In 2007, there were 17.5 million acupuncture visits in the U.S., for an estimated out-of-pocket expense of $1.1 billion.

Before conducting more studies, researchers need to answer two questions. First, why are so many people looking outside of Western medicine for their answers? Each year there are roughly one billion doctor visits in the United States. In an overburdened system, where the average doctor appointment lasts only seventeen minutes, it would seem logical that thousands, if not millions, of patients could slip through the cracks. With so little time to render an accurate diagnosis, it’s no wonder that one in five patient visits results in a psychosomatic diagnosis.

From the patient’s point of view, a psychosomatic diagnosis often leaves them feeling as if their doctor has marginalized their physical complaints, if not outright dismissed them. Despite classifying symptoms as having a psychological (or mental) origin, doctors are reaching increasingly for their script pads. According to the CDC, 74% of doctor visits result in some form of drug therapy. Often, these drugs only mask the symptoms without making a dent in curing the underlying imbalance. Patients feel frustrated by the side effects and prospect of a life dependent upon chemicals. Soon, they see their only option for finding a lasting cure is to look outside of the current system.

The second, and more important question is, which style of acupuncture should the medical community be testing? Similar to the many styles of martial arts that exist, there are also many styles of acupuncture. When you consider the diversity of styles, it doesn’t seem appropriate to perform clinical trials on one style and make generalizations about an entire medical practice. Studies should first seek out the most effective styles for each condition. Then these styles should be tested against “sham” acupuncture as well as current mainstream therapies. Otherwise, there will never be accurate data with which to stem the growing rift between Eastern and Western medicine.

Recently, AcupunctureSurvey.com conducted a national survey of acupuncturists in the United States. Comments made by practitioners with more established practices had a common recommendation: Learn one of a handful of styles that are not currently taught in schools. Many attributed their success in part due to learning these other styles, asserting that the superior results they yielded were responsible for the strong word-of-mouth following they enjoyed with patients.

Having been one of the many patients who slipped through the cracks of Western medicine, my own journey led me through yoga, ayerveda, chiropractic, muscle testing, naturopathy, and eventually Chinese medicine. I landed on this path after being bounced around virtually every Western specialty. In total, I visited with more than 140 physicians over a fifteen-year period. Living in Boston afforded me access to many of the world’s leading hospitals and physicians. After hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical expenses, my cure was not found in Western medicine, it was found in acupuncture … a medical practice ridiculed by many of my Western physicians.

So, is acupuncture effective? ABSOLUTELY. Is all acupuncture created equal? No. In the absence of proper medical studies, it’s up to you to do your own research through trial and error. For me, the fourth style of acupuncture I tried was the one that brought about lasting relief.

One final point I would like to make on this topic is related to the safety of acupuncture when administered by trained professionals. The risk of injury or death is infinitesimally low — well below 1%. Compare this with the fact that the third leading cause of death in the United States is the Western medical system (given as “iatrogenic causes”).

Reason 2: Economy

There are two economic reasons to consider acupuncture. The first reason relates to your personal economic situation. For many conditions, acupuncture is a viable economic alternative to drug therapy. If you average the total cost of obtaining a prescription for chronic conditions (including routine doctor visits, blood tests for liver and kidney damage, and the prescription) the average weekly expense is often higher than that of acupuncture. Factor in acupuncture’s goal of curing many conditions that Western medicine merely aims to contain, and acupuncture begins looking very appealing.

[One viable solution is acupuncture. The average cost per appointment ranges from $15-35 in community clinic settings to $65-90 in private clinic settings. At these prices, acupuncture easily beats out the cost of most drug therapies and individual hospital or doctor's office visits.]

To understand the second economic reason for using acupuncture, you need to take a macroeconomic view of the US. During 2011, the first of the Baby Boomers began retiring. Over the next ten years, the number of retirees is expected to grow by 80% to 72 million people. With people living longer and the cost of health care skyrocketing, it appears unlikely that we will be able to pay for the services needed to care for the elderly.

To put this in perspective, some economists estimate that the U.S. entitlement liabilities add to $115 trillion — Social Security ($15T), Medicare Part D ($20T), and Medicare ($80T). By comparison, the much- debated national debt appears rather frivolous at $15 trillion.

Entitlement liabilities are calculated using a net present value calculation. As such, the expenses for current and near-term retirees (Baby Boomers) have the largest weight in the calculation. Depending upon the interest rate, cost of living, and health care inflation assumptions used to calculate NPV, the net result is an additional cost of $1 trillion to $3.5 trillion per year over the next 30 years.

So, why should you begin using acupuncture? Consider how the increase in entitlement spending will affect the money supply. The average spending required for Baby Boomers ($2.25T) will expand the money supply at a rate of 25% per year. Keep in mind that this does not include the current $1.7 trillion deficit. At our Greece-like debt-levels, it’s unlikely investors will want to lend us money to pay for our entitlements in the future. To pay for it, the US. will have to print money, which sets the stage for hyper-inflation. Businesses will find it difficult to survive, and millions more people will lose their jobs and benefits. This is the reason gold has risen to $1,700/oz.

One way the government may decide to combat this scenario is to ration health care spending. If you are a retiree, you are faced with not receiving care. This will lead to higher prices. Inflation will not only increase the cost of care, but you may see your saving erode so fast that you cannot afford care. Since most companies view doctors as their end customer, patients are left without a voice. With so many patients and fewer doctors expected in the future, how likely is it that your doctor will accommodate your circumstances when there are so many other paying customers they can treat?

As previously discussed, acupuncture offers an affordable solution to your needs. Additionally, acupuncturists who are not beholden to insurance companies or group practices may find it easier to barter patients’ goods and services for their services. Lastly, acupuncture is a service that offers immediate healing. Writing a prescription for a drug you cannot afford is not a service that offers any healing.

Reason 3: Environment

Whether or not you believe in drug therapy, you may not have a choice if you are one of the 40 million Americans exposed to pharmaceuticals through your drinking water. This is a testament to how prevalent pharmaceuticals have become in our daily life. While these exposures only exist in trace amounts, they are on the rise. There’s no telling how high they will be in twenty years.

Replacing drugs with non-toxic acupuncture will reduce the amount of stress you place on your internal and external ‘environments’. The body was not designed to consume so many chemicals day in and day out. As the waistlines of America have grown, so too has the storage space for these chemicals. Many toxins find homes in fat cells, only to poison the body over lengthy periods as they are released back into the bloodstream. This can lead to a variety of diseases.

I believe the Chinese medical pharmacy offers a viable solution for many of our maladies. While it may not offer a cure to the ‘super bugs’ we’ve seen as of late, antibiotics are not exactly the blockbuster category that drug companies have been pushing through direct-to-consumer advertising to earn billions of dollars in profits. For these indications–heart disease, sexual dysfunction, incontinence, cancer, and so on–Chinese herbal remedies do offer alternatives.

It’s important to note that roughly a quarter of all pharmaceuticals on the market are actually derived from herbs. However, rather than use the entire plant, science extracts what it thinks are the active ingredients without giving thought to how these chemicals interact with the discarded parts of the plant once inside the body. The East takes a ‘holistic’ approach to health, whereas the West takes a reductionistic approach. If you are reading this article from the confines of a cubicle in a large corporation, you know how well the compartmentalized organizational structure works when departments don’t talk with each other or even know what’s happening two rows away. This is the same reason the reductionistic, modern medical system is failing so many people.

Lastly, herbal medicine is a sustainable resource that adds to the environment. It needs to be cultivated, not replaced by a process that destroys our drinking water and food supply.

Reason 4: Energy

As described by Chris Martenson in his video series, The Crash Course, there is a strong argument to be made that the world has already put peak oil in its rear view mirror. What does this mean? In the future, each barrel of oil will become increasingly expensive as it becomes more difficult to extract and refine. We are already seeing this reflected in oil prices, which politicians are conveniently attributing to speculators. The scary scenario comes when output dwindles to the point where supply equals demand. Countries that produce oil will begin to hoard their resources, which will dramatically reduce the available supply of oil on the market and further increase prices. If new energy sources are not discovered and made available on a mass scale, the world could see devastating disruptions to the food supply, not to mention health care.

Consider how much the health care system depends upon energy. Every diagnostic test, drug, medical supply, and device requires substantial amounts of energy and petroleum to run, produce, and ship. Now, compare that to acupuncture. Simply put, you can administer acupuncture by candle light. Similarly, Chinese medical diagnostic testing relies on something Western doctors have lost touch with … the patient. The primary diagnosis is performed by palpitating the pulse, along with other body parts, and an examination of the tongue. In addition to the patient’s history, acupuncturists take into account the patient’s body odor, appearance, and other physical and vocal observations. Chinese medicine creates a full medical system built around the patient and what you readily have available at your disposal.

If the next crisis we encounter is an energy crisis, acupuncture could be a valuable option for solving your health care needs.

Reason 5: Experience

Transitioning from a position in marketing or accounting to become an acupuncturist is more than a simple career change, it’s a calling. Many of the people I’ve met who made this leap did so at the end of their own journey through a health care crisis. It’s these types of experiences that build compassion in a practitioner, which brings us back to the first question asked in Reason 1–why are so many people looking outside of Western medicine? In addition to seeking answers to their problems, patients are looking for a level of compassion not found in Western medicine.

Another aspect of experience is ‘age’. When someone decides to go to medical school, it’s typically within a year or two after graduating from their undergraduate studies, if not immediately after. They’ve hardly worked or had any real world experience, yet they choose to make an enormous investment in a career at an age when they hardly know themselves. If they don’t like their job or interacting with people, too bad. Once you go down a path with such an large debt burden, it’s difficult to get off. Now, fast forward ten years into their career. If they feel stuck in the wrong career, pressured by hospital administrators to squeeze in more appointments, or have grown tired of a never ending stream of “whining patients”, then the result will be compassion-less care.

Compare that to someone who is thirty-five years old, knows him or herself very well, has worked for a number of years in various positions and companies, and endured their own health care issues. It would appear the latter person is making a more informed decision that could lead to a happier career choice, and possibly more compassionate care.

Conclusion

Acupuncture offers an effective alternative for people who need help during these difficult economic times, as well as people who are interested in protecting the environment and conserving energy. It’s important to remember that there are many different styles of acupuncture that have developed over thousands of years. For Western science to accurately test acupuncture’s efficacy against “sham” acupuncture or current Western treatments, researchers first need to find the best styles of acupuncture for a given condition.

Chris Titus is a native of Boston, Massachusetts. Over the past fifteen years, he has held various investment research positions with a focus on the health care sector. His first novel, The God Complex, aims to make traditional Chinese medicine more accessible by giving it a mainstream story line. The resulting work offers readers an exciting and painless introduction to acupuncture, martial arts, and herbology. The novel draws upon his own experiences as both a patient in search of a cure and as a health care analyst. He hopes his novel will reach out to patients struggling to find a diagnosis, the families trying to understand their plight, and health care professionals. Chris plans to use the proceeds of his book to return to school and train as an acupuncturist.

The Top 3 Supplements To Support Long-Term Health: Scottsdale Acupuncture Specialist

Americans are now spending more than $17 billion a year on supplements for health and wellness.  Many people have no idea if they should be taking something, what they should be taking, why the should taking it, or whether or not those supplements are actually doing anything for them.  It’s total pill-popping confusion out there!

Many people who are perhaps taking the right basic categories of supplements, often are still not getting much out of them due to poor quality.  So what’s a forward-thinking, health-minded individual, or health-minded-wanna-be to do?  In this article, I hope to shed a little light on the topic so that if you’re one of the people currently experiencing “supplement overwhelm,” you can get a better idea of where to start…

The supplements that will be the most important for you will ultimately depend on your gender, your overall state of health, your typical diet and lifestyle habits, and your age.  That said, there are still several foundational nutritional supplements that can be considered to be the most important and that would be highly supportive for most people when taken on a daily basis.

The Top 3 Most Important Daily Supplements

• Whole food form Multi-vitamin
• Whole food form Trace Minerals
• High quality Omega 3 Fatty Acids

High Quality Multi-Vitamins

Most vitamins cannot be made by the body.  They must be taken in as food. In an ideal world, our best sources would obviously be fresh, organic, in-season whole foods rich in vitamins and minerals.  But let’s be honest, accessing and eating nothing but pristine quality whole foods can be a bit of a challenge. Your busy schedule and financial concerns may make it difficult to commit to cooking high quality organic, healthy foods as often as you know you should.

Over farming has depleted the US soil of valuable nutrients

Even for those of you who are able to eat only the most pristine, natural diet, another factor involves the actual food supply itself.  As a result of conventional farming methods, soil depletion, pesticides, air pollution, and erosion, the foods now grown in American soil have only a fraction of the nutrient value that they did 50 years ago.  That means a fraction of the vitamins and minerals necessary for normal human cell function.  Some sources say even up to 50% less!

And as if that’s not enough, the common cooking methods used in the US also deplete the nutrients in your food and seriously impair its nutritional value.

So, realizing that you cannot always obtain the organic, whole, unprocessed foods you need, and knowing how easy it is for valuable nutrients to be reduced and destroyed, you now know why I believe adding a high-quality multivitamin to complement your diet is a sound move.

Hint #1: Not all vitamins are created equal! The best vitamin supplements out there are referred to as whole-food vitamins.  This means that they are created from real plant or animal sources, not synthetically manufactured in a lab.

Hint #2:  If the suggested daily dose is one pill/capsule/tablet per day, odds are you’re wasting your time and money.  It’s virtually impossible to get all the necessary nutrients in a high quality form from a single unit vitamin, if that’s the dose they’re recommending, you can bet they’re using cheap, synthetic forms of the vitamins.

For the complete low-down on how to choose the right high quality brand for you, check out “Are You Taking The Right Vitamin Supplements?“

High Quality Trace Minerals

Trace minerals are the same as elements—the very same elements that grace the periodic table inside a high school chemistry text book like chromium, magnesium, iron, zinc, and so on. They are the elements that comprise the entire universe, the earth, and your very own body.

Chemical and electrical processes are occurring within your body at every moment. These processes can only function correctly if the proper balance of minerals is continually being supplied to your system. Traditionally, you’d get all the minerals you needed by eating fresh fruits and vegetables grown in nutrient-rich soil, but as I’ve already mentioned, modern farming techniques and erosion have left our soil nutritionally bankrupt.

Some sources claim that 90 percent of Americans suffer from trace mineral deficiency. If you are one of these folks—whether because of frequent exercise or stress and a diet of overly refined or nutrient-poor foods—your body will attempt inform you of the dire situation by creating food cravings, muscle cramps, and general fatigue.  You might be able to find a good quality multi vitamin that also supplies adequate trace minerals, or you might need to take them separately.

See The Truth About Salt, to find out how natural sea salt (vs chemically stripped white table salt) can support healthy  mineral levels.

High Quality Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acids

Fat is a critical component of the membranes of every cell in your body.  It also makes up 60-70% of your brain, is the precursor to many of your major hormones and is required for the proper absorption of many vitamins and minerals.  The list of reasons why low-fat diets are bad and why you absolutely need healthy fats in your diet is a long one.

Obviously, fats are not all created equal.  There are certain fats that are detrimental to your body and others that are essential to every cell in your body.  The essential fats are literally known as “essential fatty acids (EFA’s).”  Your body cannot manufacture these fats. In other words, you have to get them in our diet.  The best sources of the Omega 3 Fatty Acids (EPA and DHA) are healthy oils like extra virgin olive oil and virgin coconut oil, chia and flax seeds, avacados, walnuts, and especially lots of fresh, organic wild-caught fish and grass-fed, free-range meats and eggs.

However, because most people’s diets are not as rich in these healthy fat sources as they should be and because much of what they do get get’s damaged during typical cooking methods, it’s still advisable to take a supplemental form of Omega 3′s such as a high quality fish or krill oil.  Personally, I recommend Krill oil over fish oil.  Krill oil is similar to fish oil but compared to fish oil, offers better absorbability, lower toxicity, and a more concentrated dose of EPA and DHA.

For the full skinny on the truth about fats and how fat got an undeserved bad rap, check out Still Think Low Fat Is Healthy? (Part 1) and Still Think Low Fat Is Healthy? (Part 2).

Other Important Nutrients

Probiotics

Optimal digestion is the first critical step for your body to absorb – and thus, subsequently utilize – all vital nutrition. The act of digestion requires that your body has the proper balance of quality food, enzymes and a healthy population of beneficial microorganisms that live in your gut, known as Probiotics or “the friendly bacteria.”

Our ancestors never had to take probiotics supplements because during ancient times, these little bacteria were plentiful in the soils and we easily got what we needed from eating natural, whole foods.  In today’s world, however, antibiotic drugs, chlorinated and fluoridated water, antibacterial soaps and gels, alcohol and pollutants have dramatically reduced the population of not just the dangerous microbes, but also the beneficial microbes that we rely on in order to maintain healthy digestive and immune systems.

For everything you need to know to pick out the best quality probiotics, check out Probiotics- Essential For Optimal Health.

Vitamin D3

A flood of scientific research has emerged over the last four years revealing that vitamin D is far more important than was previously thought.  It is now known that Vit D deficiency can lead to cancer, osteoporosis, depression, diabetes, heart disease, kidney disorders, suppressed immune function (leading to frequent colds, Flu’s, infections, etc) and depression…and that many Americans are significantly Vit D deficient.

Currently, the U.S. RDA for vitamin D is 400 IU (international units) for the majority of the population.  This dose was recommended to prevent rickets, which works well, but does nothing to give the far more important protection from cancer, heart disease and infections and still leaves most people pitifully vitamin D deficient.

The best way to optimize your vitamin D levels is through safe sun exposure.   Your body has the ability to transforms sunshine into all the vitamin D it needs.  You will need to carefully determine your own sunlight needs and tolerances, and learn what kind of exposure you need to tan without burning. To be very general, think exposing 40% of your skin, without sunblock, to sunlight anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours at a time, at least 3 times per week, depending on your skin type and environmental factors. Use your skin as a guide- If you have light-colored skin, you can use the color of your skin to tell you when you’ve had enough sun and it’s time to get in the shade (or cover up using a long-sleeved shirt, pants, and a hat).  Stay out just long enough so that your skin turns the very lightest shade of pink.

There are times, however, when seasonal or geographical factors make it nearly impossible to get enough sun and supplementation is recommended.   When choosing an oral vitamin D supplement, be aware that there are two types – one is natural and one is synthetic.  The natural one is D3 (cholecalciferol), which is the same vitamin D your body makes when exposed to sunshine.  The synthetic one is vitamin D2, which is sometimes called ergocalciferol.  Vitamin D3 is converted 500 percent faster than vitamin D2, and is clearly a better alternative.

Based on the most recent research, the current recommendation is around 35 IU’s of vitamin D per pound of body weight.  That means for a child weighing 40 pounds, the recommended average dose would be 1,400 IU’s daily, and for a 170-pound adult, the dose would be nearly 6,000 IU’s.  Take a dose of 35 IUs per pound of body weight of a high quality Vitamin D3 supplement per day.  This ends up being between 2,000-6,000 IU for most people.  Elderly and darker skinned people will need higher doses.  Just remember that vitamin D requirements are highly individual, so although these recommendations may put you closer to the ballpark of what you likely need, it is simply impossible to make a blanket recommendation without blood testing.

You’ll notice that the headline of each section of this article read, “High Quality…”  Folks, this is really important- don’t be fooled by very low-priced, or even by very high-priced supplements! Many supplements claim to provide great benefits at very low prices, but when you dig deeper you often find out that cheap, synthetic ingredients were used.  At the other end of the spectrum, the producers of more expensive supplements try to convince you a special process or hard-to-find ingredient is needed to justify the higher cost.  In my opinion, often times this is simply a marketing ploy.  My best suggestion is to contact a qualified healthcare provider to recommend a formula with proven results.

This information brought to you by your friendly, neighborhood Scottsdale Acupuncturist, Melanie Miller, L.Ac., MAOM, owner Turning Point Wellness.  For more info about how Acupuncture, Oriental Medicine, and natural nutrition can help you achieve vibrant health and well-being, contact Melanie directly at 480-219-1237.  My office is located at 8591 E. Bell Rd., Suite 103, Scottsdale, AZ. 85260

Natural Ways To Boost Your Immune System During The Cold And Flu Season, Scottsdale Acupuncture Specialist

Yup, it’s that time of year my friends- the time for holiday shopping, over eating and, in case you haven’t noticed, the return of the Cold and Flu season.  Before you go pumping a bunch of unnecessary, largely ineffective and potentially dangerous vaccinations into your body, it’s time to remind yourself of the things you can do to support your immune system naturally.  By now, you’re probably aware that getting plenty of water, rest and exercise are the basics of prevention, but there are a few more things you can do that can dramatically increase your odd of staying happy and healthy through this season.  

1)  Get a targeted, immune-boosting Acupuncture treatment and Herbal support.

Fun Fact:  In Ancient China, doctors were only paid as long as their patients were well.  As soon as a patient fell ill, payment to the doctor was stopped!  As I’m sure you can imagine, the medicine was largely created with a primary focus on PREVENTION- and obviously, that’s really the BEST medicine.

Acupuncture has been used to support immune function and treat the common cold and Flu since the early 17th century.  Modern research has now proven that Acupuncture and  Chinese Herbal Medicine can significantly enhance the functioning of the immune system, helping to dramatically speed up your recovery time if you’re already sick or prevent you from getting sick in the first place.

Always call your Acupuncturist at the first signs of getting sick!

Early signs include chills, fever, fatigue, sore throat, headache or body aches.  Getting an acupuncture treatment or a prescription for herbal medicine as soon as possible can prevent you from getting the full-blown illness/infection, shorten the duration of the illness if it’s already started, resolve those pesky lingering symptoms (“the ick!”), and help repair immunity so you don’t get sick again.

For those of you who get colds/flu’s frequently, preventative Acupuncture treatments and prescribed herbal formulas will literally change your life!

2)  Take a high-quality, Wild Oil of Oregano

This very special herb is finally coming into the modern-day spotlight and is quickly becoming known as a potent antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiparasitic oil that can effectively fight off many different types of infections.  For treatment and prevention of illness, adults can dilute two drops wild oil of oregano in four ounces (120 ml) of water, and take 1-2 times daily. For children, dilute one drop in four ounces (120 ml) of water, and take 1-2 times daily.  Heads up! The liquid extracts are PUNGENT! Juice or any other natural liquid can be used in place of water, if it tastes too strong for you.  Personally, I prefer taking my Oregano oil in capsules, if you want to go that route, just be sure to take it according to the manufacturer’s directions. (Don’t use oregano oil internally if you are pregnant or nursing. Anyone with a very serious medical condition of any kind should always consult an Licensed Herbalist or professional medical practitioner before taking oregano oil.)

3) Eat a nutrient-dense, toxin-free diet.

You’ve heard it said a thousand times- you are what you eat!  You want to have a strong immune system? Then avoid the foods that will weaken weaken it!  These include sugar, refined carbohydrates, and processed foods and oils.  Sugar is a big one: sugar, whether from a Snickers bar or from refined carbs, acts as ‘fertilizer’ for pathogenic bacteria, yeast, and fungi that can set your immune system up for an assault by a respiratory virus.  Check out Top 10 Dietary Guidelines To Live By for the complete run-down of the optimum diet for supporting your best health.

4) Get your Vitamins!

There’s good reason to be taking a high-quality multi-vitamin all year round.  During the cold and flu season, though, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting plenty of Vitamin D in particular.  The research is quite clear, the higher your vitamin D level, the lower your risk of contracting colds, flu, and other respiratory tract infections.  It’s even possible that you could avoid colds and flu’s entirely by maintaining your vitamin D level in the optimal range.  The average adult dose Vitamin D required to reach healthy levels is 8,000 IU’s of vitamin D per day, if you’re taking an oral supplement. For children, many experts agree they need about 35 IU’s of vitamin D per pound of body weight. However, keep in mind that vitamin D requirements are highly individual, as your vitamin D status is dependent on numerous factors, so while these recommendations may put you closer to the ballpark of what most people likely need, it is impossible to make a blanket recommendation that will cover everyone’s needs.

The best source of Vitamin D, though, is through safe sun exposure.  When you expose your skin to sunshine, your skin synthesizes vitamin D3 sulfate. This form of vitamin D is water soluble, unlike oral vitamin D3 supplements, which are unsulfated. The water soluble form can travel freely in your blood stream, whereas the unsulfated form needs LDL (the so-called “bad” cholesterol) as a vehicle of transport.  The sun exposure option may not always be feasible for everybody, though, and certainly an oral vitamin D3 supplement will be much better than nothing at all.

This information brought to you by your friendly, neighborhood Scottsdale Acupuncturist, Melanie Miller, L.Ac., MAOM, owner Turning Point Wellness.  For more info about how Acupuncture, Oriental Medicine, and natural nutrition can help you achieve vibrant health and well-being, contact Melanie directly at 480-219-1237.  My office is located at 8591 E. Bell Rd., Suite 103, Scottsdale, AZ. 85260

Are You Taking The Right Vitamin Supplements?, Scottsdale Acupuncture Specialist

Americans are now spending more than $17 billion a year on supplements for health and wellness.  Strangely enough, the rates of many forms of chronic disease have not changed, while the rates of many others have actually increased.  Why is that?  Well, of course there are many factors involved, but a major contributing factor is that despite daily vitamin supplementation, most people are still seriously deficient in the critical vitamins and minerals that their bodies require on a daily basis and one thing is fairly clear, their supplements aren’t helping very much.

Here’s the basic problem: all vitamin supplements are NOT created equal.  Don’t be fooled by nutrient claims on the labels or inflated costs- this information is often totally misleading.  You could not only be wasting your time and hard-earned money, but despite your best intentions, you may not be effectively supporting your health either.

Oxymorons: Airline food, rap music, synthetic vitamins.

The vast majority of vitamin supplements, yes- even the expensive brands- typically use synthetic vitamin isolates rather than the vitamin in it’s whole, natural state.  Real, complete vitamin complexes are derived from whole-food sources; i.e.- something living, and as such, impart life to your body.  The synthetic, fractionated chemical copies of vitamins which are used in most supplements are manufactured in a lab.  They never grew in the ground, never saw the light of day, were never alive or part of anything living.  In your body they’re basically just another drug.

If that’s not compelling enough for you, it’s important to understand the real problem with this scenario.  Synthetic isolates are only a fraction of the whole vitamin complex.  They’re a cheap copy of a part of the dynamic nutrient complex that your body actually requires in order to support your health.

Unfortunately, the marketing geniuses of vitamin supplement companies have successfully created the myth that we can still derive total benefit from taking synthetic isolated vitamins.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  To fully understand this, you’ve got to understand what a vitamin actually is.

What Is A Vitamin?

“A vitamin is a working process consisting of essential nutrients, enzymes, co-enzymes, antioxidants, and essential trace mineral activators.” – Royal Lee, pioneer researcher in whole-food nutrition, 1956

In other words, natural vitamins are not simply solitary molecular compounds.  Vitamins, minerals, enzymes and other natural biochemicals are meant to come as a package deal, then work closely together to achieve nutritional efficacy in your body.  If one part is missing, or in the wrong form or the wrong amount, entire chains of metabolic processes can’t proceed normally.  This is almost always the case with synthetic isolate vitamins.  The result? A gradual downward spiraling of your health despite your best intentions.

The bottom line is that vitamins can’t be isolated from their complexes and still effectively perform their specific functions within the cells of your body.

For Example…

Ascorbic acid is not the same as vitamin C.  The Ascorbic acid in the vast majority of vitamin supplements is just a laboratory-synthesized copy of naturally occurring ascorbic acid, which itself is merely the “antioxidant wrapper” portion of natural vitamin C that acts as a natural preservative.  It basically just serves to protect the functional parts of the vitamin from breaking down.  To say that Vitamin C is the same as Ascorbic Acid is like saying that a wheel is the same as an automobile, where obviously it is just a small part of the automobile.

Whole Vitamin C, on the other hand, includes ascorbic acid plus the P factors rutin and bioflavonoids which maintain vascular integrity; K factors which promote healthy clotting; J factors which help transport oxygen to the tissues; important enzymes such as Tyrosinase; and a host of other components.

If any of these parts are missing, vitamin C activity becomes limited and your body cannot utilize most of what you’ve tried to give it.  Odds are you might as well just flush the ‘vitamin C’ supplement in your medicine cabinet down the toilet, since that’s where it’s going to end up in the long run anyways.

The same story applies to Alpha tocopherol not being the same as vitamin E. Retinoic acid not being the same as vitamin A, and so on.

Why is it important to take quality Multivitamins?

Most vitamins cannot be made by the body.  They must be taken in as food. In an ideal world, our best sources would obviously be fresh, organic, whole foods, rich in vitamins and minerals.  However, accessing and eating high quality whole foods regularly may be a personal challenge for you and your family. Your busy schedule and financial concerns may make it difficult to commit to cooking high-quality organic, healthy foods as often as you know you should.

For those of you who are able to eat only the most pristine diet, another factor involves the actual food supply itself.  As a result of conventional farming methods, soil depletion, pesticides, air pollution, and erosion, the foods now grown in American soil have only a fraction of the nutrient value that they did 50 years ago.  That means a fraction of the vitamins and minerals necessary for normal human cell function.  Some sources say even up to 50% less!  So even if you’re eating a really healthy diet with all the right foods, the nutritional bankruptcy of those foods usually means that it’s still necessary to take high-quality supplements.

As if that’s not enough, most cooking methods also deplete the nutrients in your food and seriously impair its nutritional value.

So, realizing that you cannot always obtain the organic, whole, unprocessed foods you need, and knowing how easy it is for valuable nutrients to be destroyed, you now know why I believe adding a good multivitamin to complement your diet is a sound move.

What Are The Best Supplements?

Many people have no idea if they should be taking something, what they should be taking, why the should taking it, or whether or not those supplements are actually doing anything for them.  It’s total pill-popping confusion out there!  Check out my Top 5 Recommended  Supplements for info on the most important things most people should be taking.

Regarding quality, the best vitamin supplements out there are called whole-food supplements.  Of the over 110 companies who sell vitamins in the US, only a handful of them use whole-food vitamins.  The reason is simple: whole food vitamins are expensive to make.  Instead of paying to produce quality, whole-food vitamins, a handful of the largest pharmaceutical firms in the world are paid to mass produce synthetic vitamins for the majority of these 110 vitamin companies, who then slap their own label on them and claim theirs is the best.  Clever…

Quality whole-food vitamins, on the other hand, are obtained by taking a vitamin-rich plant, removing the water and the fiber in a cold vacuum process, free of chemicals, and then packaging for stability. The entire vitamin complex in this way can be captured intact, retaining its functional and nutritional integrity, and upon ingestion, the body is not required to draw on its own reserves in order to complete any missing elements from the vitamin complex.

Most of these whole-food supplements will have nutrient facts on the labels that might look unfamiliar to you.  You’re used to seeing labels with lots of big, pharmaceutical-sounding words that don’t resemble foods that you recognize.  Whole food supplements will list the food the vitamin was extracted from either on other labels next to each nutrient included or in the “Ingredients” section you’ll see a list of the dozens of vegetables and fruits that the vitamins came from.

Red Flags To Watch Out For…

What is the marketing philosophy behind the synthetic vitamins available in the supermarket and chain vitamin stores?  Profit, of course!  Marketing is the art of persuading by suspending logic and twisting data into junk science. For example, do you know the actual difference between Wheaties and Total, two cereals put out by the same company?  Total is advertised as being more nutrient-rich than Wheaties.  Look at the labels.  What justifies the extra $1.30 for a box of Total?  Answer: 1.5¢ worth of synthetic vitamins sprayed over the Wheaties.  That’s it!  That’s what “vitamin enriched” always means.  The other trick word is “fortified.”  Generally, if you see either of those terms, it means that the food itself is basically devoid of nutrients value, so they tried to pump it up with a few “vitamins.”  Cheap, fake, dead vitamins.

Another thing to watch out for is the recommended daily dosage.  If you’re currently taking a multivitamin with a recommended serving size of one pill a day, you’re pretty much wasting your time.  It’s very unlikely that any single pill can pack enough vitamins and minerals to truly make any real impact on your health.  There are a few legitimate ways to compress natural nutrients, but not to the extreme that a single tablet provides you all the vitamin and mineral levels you need.

It’s also vitally important to know when to take your multivitamins.  You should take a few multi tablets first thing in the morning and with lunch, or with an early dinner to help optimize your nutrient absorption, the better chance you’ll have of truly fortifying your diet.

In addition to adhering to a smart lifestyle with a healthy diet, exercise, adequate sunshine and good sleep, adding whole-food multivitamins to your routine can help maintain and boost your overall health and is one of the best things you can do for your body.  For more information on my personal favorite brands, feel free to contact me personally.

This information brought to you by your friendly,neighborhood Scottsdale Acupuncturist, Melanie Miller, L.Ac., MAOM, owner Turning Point Wellness.  For more info about how Acupuncture, Oriental Medicine, and natural nutrition can help you achieve vibrant health and well-being, contact Melanie directly at 480-219-1237.  My office is located at 8591 E. Bell Rd., Suite 103, Scottsdale, AZ. 85260

Sources & References:

The Doctor Within, “Natural Whole Food Vitamins: Ascorbic Acid Is Not Vitamin C,” http://www.thedoctorwithin.com/vitaminc/ascorbic-acid-is-not-vitamin-c/

Somer, The Nutrition Report, “Vitamin C: A Lesson in Keeping An Open Mind,” p. 58

Price, Weston — Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Keats Publ. 1997

CDC –National Vital Statistics Report, Vol. 47, no.19, June 1999.

Somer, Elizabeth— “Vitamin C: A Lesson in Keeping An Open Mind” The Nutrition Report

Top 10 Dietary Guidelines To Live By : Scottsdale Acupuncture Specialist

Hands up if you’ve had it up to [---HERE---] with the mass dietary confusion that exists these days!  Many people have become so confused with what’s good, what’s bad, superfood this and cancer-causing that, that they’ve virtually given up on pursuing a healthy diet at all.

Here’s a few facts:

1. Nutritional science, as it stands today, in the Western World is comparatively young (i.e. they don’t know it all) when compared to the traditional knowledge (nutritional wisdom passed down through generations in indigenous cultures around the world) of what is health-supporting or not.
2. Also, keep in mind that the press loves a good health controversy because it SELLS.

The combination of these facts is a recipe for the confusion that so many people experience in regards to the “appropriate diet.”

My target, as a natural healthcare provider, is to stay on top of the latest, science-based dietary information available and combine that information with what has been proven through generations of pristine health in the traditional cultures to be the optimum human diet.  By combining science with practical wisdom, I am able to help steer you towards the natural, un-processed diet of nutrient-dense whole foods that your body needs.

Let’s just think about this for a second, folks.  Doesn’t it make good logical sense that your body would thrive on foods that it is designed by nature to consume and utilize, and deteriorate on un-natural, toxin-laden foods that were no where in sight during the human body’s evolution?

The following top 10 guidelines are based on a general nutritional truths that include a return to the natural diet that our bodies were biologically designed to thrive on.

#10:  Use only purified/filtered water for cooking and drinking, never tap water.

And don’t drink those “enhanced” or flavored waters and sports drinks!  They may be advertised as healthy, but if you take a closer look at the labels, you’ll discover they’re spiking your water with a lot of unsavory ingredients, many capable of wreaking havoc on your metabolism, hormones, and other physiological processes—and some of which are outright carcinogenic (cancer-causing).

#9:  DON’T use refined, white, iodized salt but DO use natural sea salt.

Only use natural, unrefined sea salts, such as Celtic Grey Sea Salt or Pink Himalayan Sea Salts in your cooking and seasoning of foods.

White table salt has been bleached and chemically stripped of the 84 essential natural trace minerals which are present in unprocessed sea salt.  (they actually strip out the natural iodine, then add synthetic iodine back in after all the processing and sell it to you as “new and improved iodized salt!”  Unbelievable…)

A good rule of thumb is the “dirtier” the salt looks, the higher the mineral content is and the healthier it is for you.  If it’s stark white, even if it’s labeled as “sea salt,” it’s refined and bleached and should be avoided.

Salt doesn’t deserve the bad rap it’s gotten these days.  Check out “The Truth About Salt” to unravel the myths.

#8:  Keep your caffeine consumption to a minimum and eliminate energy drinks and soft drinks from your diet.

A relatively small amount of caffeine-containing beverages is fine, such as a cup of coffee in the morning and a cup of green tea later in the day.  Once you start getting to 3+ caffeinated drinks throughout in the day, though, it’s becoming excessive.  Try switching to non-caffeinated herbal teas for daytime use.

Absolutely avoid all energy drinks and soft drinks!  I have 2 words for you: LIQUID POISON.

Check out “Why Soft Drinks Are Hazardous To Your Health” for more information.

#7:  Regarding Dairy: Include in your diet organic, whole, RAW (not pasteurized), naturally-produced milk products collected from pasture-fed animals.

This includes whole, raw, grass-fed milks, cheeses, butter, fresh and sour creams, yogurts and other milk products.

Limit pasteurized milk if possible and do NOT consume low-fat milk, skim milk, powdered milk or imitation milk products.

Whole, raw, naturally-raised milk products are far superior sources of nutrition and the necessary, beneficial dietary fats than that from pasteurized, processed milk products.  The only bad new is that, as of now, raw dairy is pretty difficult to find.  You’ll have to go directly to the local, organic dairies themselves to get your milk.  Raw cheeses are available at places like Whole Foods and you can get grass-fed, organic milks, creams and butters – although they usually are pasteurized.  If you can’t find raw dairy near you, then ideally you would start using whole dairy that is grass-fed and organic.

If you have a known dairy sensitivity, you may choose to use yummy dairy alternatives such as Almond or Coconut milk products (The brand ‘So Delicious’ makes coconut milk, coffee creamer, ice cream and yogurt- and they really are delicious!).

Free Range Chickens = Happy Chickens!

#6:  Regarding meats: Eat only naturally-raised (hormone and antibiotic-free, organic, free-range, grass-fed, wild-caught) meats.

Natural meats should comprise 1/3 of your daily diet.  This includes fish, seafood, poultry, beef, lamb, wild game, whole eggs, and organ meats.

Avoid meat products processed with nitrates/nitrites, MSG and large amounts of refined salt.  These include most commercially packed luncheon meats, bacon, ham, sausage and pates’.  If you can find these products processed naturally, without added nitrates/nitrites, MSG and salt, then go for it!  Often you can find really delicious nitrate/nitrite-free, uncured (low salt), hormone and antibiotic-free bacon at health food stores, for example.

Avoid factory-farmed eggs and meats since these animals are given high doses of artificial hormones, antibiotics, tranquilizers, stimulants and up to 100 other drugs- many of which are directly transferable to you!  These animals are generally malnourished, chronically ill and fed an unnatural diet which does not contribute to a good source of nutrition for you. This also applies to farmed fish (including most Atlantic Salmon) which are likewise given antibiotics and fed unnatural diets lacking in the nutrients found in the wild food chain of the ocean.  Scavenger fish such as carp and catfish should be especially limited since they tend to accumulate pesticides and other toxins.

Often the freshest, healthiest, most cost effective source for naturally raised meats is your local farmers market.

Coconut Oil, a great source of healthy fats, is solid at room temperature.

#5:  Get plenty of healthy fats in your diet and avoid all hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats.

Fat doesn’t make you fat- carbohydrates make you fat!  In fact, our bodies NEED certain healthy fats that we can’t make ourselves- they must come from a combination of animal and plant-based sources.

The human brain is around 75% fat.  Fat is also a critical component for maintaining the integrity of the cell wall of every cell of your body as well as a major building block for hormones that control immune function, reproduction, blood clotting, and cell growth. Fat is also a very efficient source of sustainable energy.

Good sources of healthy, Omega 3 fatty acids include:

•  Meats and fish, butter, cheese, whole dairy, coconut oil (use for cooking or add to smoothies), avacados and avacado oil (also good for cooking), olive oil (do not heat), supplemental oils such as fish/krill/flax oils, flax seeds, whole eggs, olives, nuts and nut butters, seeds, etc…

By now, you’ve hopefully heard that you should have more Omega 3′s fatty acids than Omega 6′s.  The ratio is supposed to be 5:1, but in most people’s cases, their current intake ratio is a very unhealthy 1:25 because they’re eating so many over-processed, unhealthy oils that have only Omega 6′s, such as vegetable and canola oils.

It is critical to avoid all hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats (trans fats) found in industrial seed oils, shortening, margarine, and many processed and fast foods! Do NOT use vegetable oils made from soy, corn, safflower, canola or cottonseed.  In most cases, they have been heat-treated, exposed to pesticides, bleached, filtered and deodorized so that you can’t tell that they’re usually rancid by the time you pick them up off the supermarket shelves. Instead, use the nutritional oils virgin or extra-virgin olive oil, virgin coconut oil, or sesame-seed oil.  These should be rotated and varied to avoid nutritional imbalances

Most people eating a typical American diet are not nearly eating enough of the healthy fats!  Fat is critical for the optimum functioning of your body!  For more info on WHY you need healthy fats, check out “Still think “low-fat” is healthy? Part 1″ and “Still think “low-fat” is healthy? Part 2″

#4:  Eat plenty of fresh, organic produce- preferably local and in-season.

Vegetables should comprise 2/3 of your daily diet.  Balance your vegetable intake between raw (provides valuable enzymes and nutrients lost during cooking, but requires large amounts of energy to digest) and cooked (enzymes are lost, but veggies are more easily digested and certain other nutrients may be unlocked).

Spinach, chard and cruciferous vegetables like cauliflour, broccoli, cabbage and brussel sprouts, although highly nutritious, should be at least lightly-cooked to neutralize certain anti-nutrients.

Vegetables should always be consumed with a healthy fat (put butter on it!!!)  Many of the nutrients provided by vegetables are “fat-soluble nutrients” like Vitamins A, D, E and K to name a few.  Fat soluble nutrients require fat in order to be absorbed and used by the human body.  Failure to include a fat with veggie meals will restrict your absorption of these vital nutrients.

Organic fruit and melons should only be eaten in small quantities and always by themselves or as part of a light meal.  Avoid eating fruit (or any other sweets, or deserts for that matter) after a large meal.

Check out your local farmer’s market for the best pickin’s.

#3:  Eat whole, natural-raised, organic foods and avoid processed foods as much as possible.

A good rule of thumb is that if it comes in a box, a bag, a can or cannot be found out in nature, it’s probably highly processed.

Avoid all commercially processed cookies, cakes, crackers, TV dinners, soft drinks, packaged sauces and mixes, commercially produced soups, broths, condiments, jams and jellies, etc.  Most of these processed foods contain chemical additives, preservatives and other neurotoxic ingredients.  Of course, if you’re shopping at a health food store, you may be able to find these items made by reliable brands that use minimal processing and no chemical preservatives, etc. Just read the labels thoroughly.

#2: Reduce or eliminate refined sugar in your diet!

While mainstream health authorities continue to insist that sugar is fine “in moderation,” and that grains, which are converted by your body into sugar, are an essential part of a healthy diet, they fail to take into consideration that sugar is the #1 source of calories in the US, meaning that it’s far from “moderate” -not that surprising when you consider that sugar, primarily in the form of cheap high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and refined carbohydrates, are added to just about everything.

Here’s an abbreviated version of what all that sugar is doing to your body:

• Triggers weight gain by turning off your body’s appetite-control system, which screws up your metabolism, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels and leads to obesity and virtually every other chronic, degenerative disease.

• Contributes to chronic inflammation and significantly lowers your immune function

• Directly interferes with vitamin and mineral absorption as well as weakens your digestive function which leads to even greater malabsorption of nutrients and eventually a massive nutrient deficiency and the resulting degeneration of the body!

• Triggers a massive spikes in your insulin levels, which over time and with chronic use WILL lead to Reactive Hypoglycemia, then Insulin Resistance, then Metabolic Disease, then Type 2 Diabetes.  This chain of events is THE top factor for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, chronic inflammation, reduced immune function, hormonal disorders, liver disease, weight gain, premature aging and nearly every chronic disease we know about.

So, avoid all refined sugars and artificial sweeteners.  This includes white, brown and powdered sugar, Aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet), Neotame, Sucralose (Splenda), and Saccharin (SugarTwin, Sweet’N Low), Acesulfame potassium (Sunett, Sweet One) and ESPECIALLY high fructose corn syrup. NOTE: Stevia and Xylitol are natural sweeteners that do not trigger insulin- they are safe to use.

And the #1 dietary recommendation: Eliminate grain-based carbohydrates from your diet!   I can’t stress this one enough!!!

Avoid all foods made with grain-based carbohydrates. These carbohydrates are converted to sugar as soon as they are consumed and long-term consumption of these products leads to a laundry list of physical disorders and diseases- especially including the ones listed in the previous section!

Why? Besides the sugar/insulin imbalances that eventually result from frequent consumption of carbs, grains themselves are naturally toxic to human digestion!

Grains such as wheat are the seed of the plant.  Over the millennia, the “cereal grain plants” evolved alongside mammals in such a way as to use mammals to distribute their seeds.  It was not in the plant’s best interest to have their seeds fully-digested by mammals- the plant just wants the seed relocated!  To accomplish this, these plants evolved seeds (the grain) laced with potent phyto-toxins in order to deliberately sabotage mammalian digestion!  Grazing animals like cows evolved huuuuge digestive tracts capable of handling and neutralizing most of these toxins.  Humans, however, who were hunter-gatherers, not grazers, did not and therefore are highly susceptible to systemic damage from long-term ingestion of grains.

The one exception to this is rice since the cooking process neutralizes most of the toxins- so rice is fine.

Be aware that seeds, legumes and nuts also contain high levels of enzyme inhibitors, phytates (which block mineral absorption), intestinal irritants (toxins) and other indigestible substances, and ideally should be eaten in small quantities or soaked, fermented or sprouted in order to neutralize toxins and make them safe for ingestion.

Other highly toxic plant and food groups to avoid:

• Corn- naturally toxic and the #1 most genetically modified thing on the planet

• Soybeans and any Soy products- Soy is NOT a health food!  It is naturally toxic and the #2 most genetically modified thing on the planet.   Soy is loaded with toxins, systemic irritants and can block your body’s ability to absorb nutrients.  The only exception to this is when soy products are fermented, which neutralizes the toxins.  Fermented soy products include Tamari Soy Sauce, Miso and Tempeh.  Check out “Unravelling The Soy Myth” for more information.

So what does a good diet look like?

Basically think, “If a caveman couldn’t find it, you shouldn’t be eating it.”  On average, the typical American diet is about…

• 33% fat (19% saturated/monounsaturated, 14% polyunsaturated)
• 52% carbs (mostly from grain)
• 15% protein.

From the evolutionary evidence showing what our bodies were biologically designed to thrive on, the optimal diet, by CALORIES, should be more like…

• 50-70% fat (95% saturated/monounsaturated, 5% polyunsaturated from healthy oils, eggs, butter, meats, fish, whole dairy, etc.)
• 20-30% carbs (from lots n lots of veggies)
• 10-20% protein

Keep in mind that meats and fats are more calorie dense than veggie carbs, so BY WEIGHT on your plate, it looks like 2/3 plant foods and 1/3 animal foods and fats.

PS- Many organizations and publications are now available to inform the public about contents of various products.  See the links below.

This information brought to you by your friendly,neighborhood Scottsdale Acupuncturist, Melanie Miller, L.Ac., MAOM, owner Turning Point Wellness.  For more info about how Acupuncture, Oriental Medicine, and natural nutrition can help you achieve vibrant health and well-being, contact Melanie directly at 480-219-1237.  My office is located at 8591 E. Bell Rd., Suite 103, Scottsdale, AZ. 85260

IMPORTANT LINKS:

www.WestonAPrice.org

The Weston A. Price Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt charity founded in 1999 to disseminate the research of nutrition pioneer Dr. Weston Price, whose studies of traditional, nonindustrialized peoples around the world established the parameters of human health and determined the optimum characteristics of human diets

www.PerfectHealthDiet.com

www.OrganicAuthority.com

The Environmental Working Group’s “Skin Deep” Database of Cosmetic Ingredients

Acupuncture Safe When In The Right Hands: Scottsdale Acupuncture Specialist

When Westerners first saw Chinese physicians inserting small needles into their patients’ skin, they assumed that some form of Eastern voodoo medicine was being performed. They didn’t understand that they were witnessing a two-thousand year old, clinically proven, complex medical therapy: Acupuncture.

Since then, the perception of Acupuncture in the Western world has changed dramatically and has become far more mainstream than most people realize. Many medical doctors and respected scientists no longer dismiss Acupuncture as folk medicine and are now recognizing the rapidly growing body of scientific evidence and clinical success that supports it as a scientifically valid form of medical therapy.

Due to numerous scientific findings supporting the effectiveness of acupuncture, the World Health Organization (WHO) has published a list of over 40 common diseases, symptoms, and conditions that acupuncture has been proven, through controlled trials, to be effective in treating- and this is just the list of disorders they’ve actually studied.  As acupuncturists, we know that we very frequently see clinical success in treating many other disorders that have yet to make the WHO’s list.

Although scientific evidence regarding the efficacy of acupuncture abound, the ancient Chinese therapy has not yet freed itself from criticisms. Although adverse side-effects from Acupuncture treatment are extremely rare, when they do occur, they are most often the result of Acupuncture being performed by under-qualified practitioners.

Patients should avoid seeking acupuncture treatments from non-licensed medical acupuncture practitioners such as medical doctors or chiropractors who, in many cases, only have 300 credit hours of training. These non-licensed practitioners of acupuncture, often called “certified acupuncturists,” may not have enough experience to ensure the safety of patients.

In other words, not all Acupuncturists are created equal.  There is an very big and very important difference between a “Licensed Acupuncturist” (L.Ac.) and a physician or other health care provider who is a “Certified Acupuncturist” or some equivalent.

Acupuncture in the hands of a qualified practitioner with a hard-earned license has a long and proven history of being extremely safe. It’s a therapy which is totally natural, drug-free, and yielding virtually no side-effects except for the feeling of relaxation and well-being.  In order to eliminate the risk of disease transmission or infection, and to ensure the safety of their patients, Licensed Acupuncturists use only sterile, single-use, disposable needles and are required to be certified in Clean Needle Technique protocols.

Before an Acupuncturist can become licensed, most states require that they graduate from a state accredited school of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, including between 3 and 5 years of graduate level education in both Western and Traditional Chinese Medicine, and have achieved at least a Master’s Degree in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (MAOM or equivalent).  This includes approximately 3000 classroom hours and 1000-2000 hours of supervised clinical internship.  They are also required to successfully pass a number of difficult written and practical examinations including National Board Exams (NCCAOM) and continue to fulfill rigorous requirements, including many hours of continuing education, to maintain licensure.

“Certification,” on the other hand, is significantly less rigorous in terms of its requirements to insert needles. It is basically an easier way for some health  care providers to call themselves Acupuncturists. In many cases, they become “certified acupuncturists” with only 300 hours of classroom training, much of which consists of watching videos.  There are usually no certification exams, and in many cases, 0 hours of clinical experience.

This level of training is simply not adequate for understanding an extremely complex science that is literally thousands of years old, and with over a thousand herbs and over 361 Acupuncture points.  Understanding the philosophy of the medicine and how to use the tools safely and effectively takes years of dedication and experience.

I’m sure that you would agree that every form of medicine should be done by a specialist. Western Medicine would not be considered safe if it was performed by non-licensed doctors.  Likewise, acupuncture should only be performed by Licensed Acupuncturists who can offer maximum safety and treatment efficacy to patients.

Check out How To Choose An Acupuncturist for more information.

This information brought to you by your friendly,neighborhood Scottsdale Acupuncturist, Melanie Miller, L.Ac., MAOM, owner Turning Point Wellness.  For more info about how Acupuncture, Oriental Medicine, and natural nutrition can help you achieve vibrant health and well-being, contact Melanie directly at 480-219-1237.  My office is located at 8591 E. Bell Rd., Suite 103, Scottsdale, AZ. 85260

What Are Acupuncture Needles Like? Scottsdale Acupuncture Specialist

By far, the most common question I hear when chatting with people about Acupuncture is “Does Acupuncture hurt?”  With, “what do the needles feel like?” as a close second.  Not surprisingly, when most people think of needles, they think back to all of their experiences since childhood of vaccinations and having blood drawn. Yeah- those shots hurt!  Rest assured, though, that Acupuncture needles, are nothing like hypodermic needles.

Acupuncture needles are designed for one purpose- comfort.  Their unique shape allows them to glide very easily through tissue with little disruption and thus little to no ‘pointy needle sensation’.  This is vastly different from the effect of hypodermic needles, which are primarily designed to be good fluid delivery systems and not necessarily to be comfortable.

The needles that Acupuncturists use these days are pre-packed, sterile, single-use, and disposable. They are extremely thin and smooth, and only slightly thicker than the width of a human eyelash. They are so thin, in fact, that they can literally be curled like a ribbon with just your fingertips- my personal favorite parlor trick to ease the minds of nervous new patients.

SHOWN AT LEFT, UP TO 5 ACUPUNCTURE NEEDLES CAN FIT INTO THE HOLE OF A HYPODERMIC NEEDLE!

What does Acupuncture feel like?

During treatment, the Acupuncture needles will be placed at precise points on your body, limbs, scalp, ears or anywhere else appropriate to your condition being treated.

At the moment the needle is first “tapped” in, most people feel only a very slight pinch or nothing at all.  An ant bite is much worse than an acupuncture needle insertion.  If you do feel any sharpness, it typically only lasts fractions of a second.  After that, most people feel nothing as the needle is being manipulated to the proper depth, at which point you might feel some additional sensations.  These sensations could range between numbness, tingling, heat, pressure, a very mild, dull ache, and in some cases, an electrical sensation, affectionately referred to in my practice as “the ZING,” which sometimes travels to another part of your body.

Did’ja notice that “pain” is not on that list? All of the aforementioned sensations are generally very tolerable by even the most sensitive people and are considered totally normal and good signs, prognostically, that your body is responding well to the treatment.

Once the needles are all in place, they will be retained for a period of time- usually 25-35 minutes, in order for your body to fully integrate the treatment.  During that time, you might feel mild, strange (but not painful) sensations at and around the needles as well as in parts of your body that do not have needles in them.  Many people feel nothing at all.  Note: this is not the appropriate time to work on your dance moves.  As impressive as I’m sure they are, if you start moving around on the table, you might feel the needles.  So just don’t move.  Use the time to take a nice power-nap, do some meditation, or otherwise just relax and enjoy the good-quality you time.

On that note, I’d like to reiterate something that I emphasize with my own patients.  While the needles are being retained, it’s a good time for you to take a moment from your busy life to actually allow yourself relax!  Seriously, take a nap!  Most of us are so far removed from what it’s like to actually be 100% mentally and physically relaxed that we don’t even recognize it anymore.  I’ve had patients tell me after their treatment that they feel, “so tired…” When I ask them, “Really?  Are you tired or are you relaxed?”  They inevitably realize that they’re actually totally relaxed for the first time in a long time!

Most patients report that acupuncture treatments are not only relatively painless, but also extremely relaxing and it is very common for even the high-anxiety patients to fall asleep during treatments.  This is because Acupuncture treatments have a dramatic affect on regulating your nervous system.  By stimulating your brain to release massive amounts of endorphins, your body’s natural “feel-good” chemicals, Acupuncture helps to calm your overactive Sympathetic Nervous System- that insidious, high-stress “fight-or-flight” mode- and returns you to a nice, peaceful, Parasympathetic Nervous System- that mysterious and otherwise hard to achieve “rest-and-heal” mode.  This often occurs within minutes of starting the acupuncture treatment.

Feel free to check out my recent article What To Expect At Your First Acupuncture Treatment for a full run-down of what will happen from the moment you walk in the door.  If you have any other questions, you’re invited to contact me at my Scottsdale, AZ office by calling 480-219-1237, emailing me at melanie@turningpointacupuncture.net, or visiting my website www.TurningPointAcupuncture.net

Your friendly, neighborhood Scottsdale Acupuncturist, Melanie Miller, L.Ac., MAOM, owner Turning Point Wellness.

The Primary Dietary Keys To Weight Loss: Scottsdale Acupuncture Specialist

This information brought to you by your friendly, neighborhood Scottsdale Acupuncturist, Melanie Miller, L.Ac., MAOM, owner Turning Point Wellness.  For more info about how Acupuncture, Oriental Medicine, and natural nutrition can help you achieve vibrant health and well-being, contact Melanie directly at 480-219-1237.  My office is located at 8591 E. Bell Rd., Suite 103, Scottsdale, AZ. 85260

According to the 2011 annual Obesity Report issued by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundations, over the past year, not one US state has seen a reduction in obesity rates.  The results, which are sobering to say the least, show instead that the incidence of obesity has actually risen in 16 states in the last year, and that since 1980, childhood obesity rates have more than tripled.

While many people consider obesity and being overweight to be simply an aesthetic problem, the truth is that rising obesity rates have significant health consequences, contributing to increased rates of more than 30 serious diseases.

“It should be quite clear to everyone that the agricultural policies, public health policies, and dietary recommendations we’ve employed in the US so far have been and still are severely flawed, because they’re not making even the slightest dent in this epidemic.” Direct quote from the 2011 Obesity Report

Fat doesn’t make you fat; carbohydrates make you fat.

So there are obviously common public misconceptions that need to be changed in order to begin to make a dent in our country’s weight issues.  One major misconception is that contrary to popular belief, fat doesn’t make you fat; carbohydrates make you fat.

If we can divorce ourselves from the prejudice about dietary fat, it’s really quite simple. Your body controls fat building, and hormones are used to set the controls. The hormone that controls fat is insulin; and how much insulin do you secrete in response to a fat-laden meal? ZERO.

Insulin is secreted in response to sugar, i.e. carbohydrates, NOT fat.  Eat more carbohydrates, in particular refined carbohydrates, and your body will quickly convert them into sugar, which will then trigger an insulin surge, and your body will store more fat (not to mention set the stage for a slew of other health problems).

Two primary keys for supporting weight-loss.

Myself and many health care providers committed to staying on the cutting-edge of nutritional research believe that there are, at minimum, two primary dietary recommendations that could make all the difference in the world in transforming the obesity epidemic, as well as dramatically transforming virtually everybody’s overall health and well-being.

These two primary keys are:

1. Significantly restricting the intake of sugar and carbohydrates, especially refined, white carbohydrates (vegetable carbs are ok)) and
2. Increasing our consumption of high-quality, healthy fats

Note: Obviously, exercise is a critical component of overall health and weight reduction.  However, all the exercise in the world won’t undo or prevent the detrimental effects of long-term over-consumption of sugar.  So, for the purposes of this article, we’ll be discussing dietary methods of reducing weight, and leave the exercise stuff for another day.

The problem is, they put it in everything.

While mainstream health authorities continue to insist that sugar is fine “in moderation,” and that grains, which are converted by your body into sugar, are an essential part of a healthy diet, they fail to take into consideration that sugar, including that which is converted by your body from carbohydrates, is the #1 source of calories in the US.

This means that it’s far from “moderate” -not that surprising when you consider that sugar, primarily in the form of cheap high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and refined carbohydrates, are added to just about everything—even food items you’d never expect to contain them, including diet foods and ‘enhanced’ water products.  Even ketchup!  Betcha didn’t think ketchup had HFCS in it, did ya?!?!

Here’s what all that sugar is doing to your body:

• Triggers weight gain by turning off your body’s appetite-control system, which screws up your metabolism.  Fructose, in particular, inappropriately stimulates insulin, which does not suppress ghrelin (the “hunger hormone”) and doesn’t stimulate leptin (the “satiety hormone”), which together result in your eating more and developing insulin resistance.
• Rapidly leads to weight gain and abdominal obesity (“beer belly”), decreased HDL, increased LDL, elevated triglycerides, elevated blood sugar, and high blood pressure—i.e., classic metabolic syndrome.
• Contributes to chronic inflammation and lowers your immune function by reducing the ability of white blood cells to ingest and destroy bacteria.
• When consumed, trigger a massive spike in your insulin levels, which over time and with chronic use can lead to ‘insuline resistance,’ which is one of the top underlying factors for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, chronic inflammation, reduced immune function, liver disease, weight gain, premature aging and nearly every chronic disease we know about.

So with all of this information, why are fats still widely assumed to be the pinnacle of dietary villains?  If you want to know why, check out Still Think Low-Fat Is Healthy?  Till then, what’s more important is that saturated fats, particularly from animal and vegetable sources (such as naturally-raised meat and whole, raw dairy, certain oils, and tropical plants like coconut) are actually good for you!  They provide the building blocks for the creation of healthy cell membranes; they’re the precursors for a many of your hormones and hormone like substances that are essential to and your health.

Healthy fats also provide a concentrated source of energy—a source of energy that is far more ideal than carbohydrates.  So, if you’re wanting to lower your insulin levels and reduce body fat accumulation, consider cutting the amount of carbs and sugars you eat, but don’t forget that you DO need energy, and this is where the fat comes in.  Saturated fat is actually the preferred fuel for your heart, and it’s also used as a source of fuel during energy expenditure. Fats also slows down absorption of your meal so that you feel satiated longer, which in and of itself, can help you shed some pounds.

Not all fats are created equal.

The Atkins Diet is one popular example of the theory that you can lose weight on a low-carb, high-fat diet. Unfortunately, Dr. Atkins did not pay much attention to the QUALITY of the fats so, although his recommendations worked, they had long-term problems.  The quality of the fats absolutely matters.

Good sources of high-quality, healthy fats include:

Coconut oil is solid at cool room temperature

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Virgin Coconut Oil, Palm Oil and unheated, organic nut oils
• High-quality, supplemental Krill Oil (my favorite) or Fish Oil
• Butter made from raw, grass-fed, organic milk
• Raw nuts such as almonds and pecans (use nuts in moderation- about a handful only)
• Egg yolk, from free-range hens (with all those egg-white omelets your throwing away the best part!)
• Avacados
• Grass-fed, naturally-raised meats

Don’t use common, low-quality vegetable oils.

Like other processed foods, the more processed a fat is, the more dangerous it is to the body.  The problem with the common vegetable oils like corn, soy, safflower, canola, etc. is that they’re heavily processed. They are NOT fresh oils. Basically, to produce them, they have to heat the ingredients to such a high temperature it causes the oil to go rancid. The problem for the manufacturers, though, is that you’d smell that rancidity, so they further process the oils using chemical deodorizers which, once ingested, introduce an enormous amount of free radicals into your system, causing massive amounts of damage over time.

So fat is crucial to your body, but the types/quality of the fats you eat are very important.  Fat is what is used to create your cell membranes — if you eat a lot of unstable, damaged oils like vegetable oils, your cells are more prone to damage and faster aging.

So here is a simplified plan for healthy eating.

• Make quality protein the centerpiece of most meals. This should include non-contaminated sources of fish such as wild salmon, sardines, or young tuna, as well as grass-fed and naturally-raised sources of meats, poultry, eggs, nuts, and beans.
• Eat a wide variety of organic herbs, leafy greens, and vegetables every day, and a small amount of organic fruit.
• Eat plenty of healthy fats and avoid over-processed vegetable oils.
• Avoid processed, refined carbohydrates and sugar!  Avoid all processed food for that matter- if it comes in a box or a bag, it’s probably processed.  A good rule of thumb is that if a caveman couldn’t find it, you shouldn’t be eating it.

Your friendly, neighborhood Scottsdale Acupuncturist, Melanie Miller, L.Ac., MAOM, owner Turning Point Wellness.

Sources:

2009 study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

HealthyAmericans.org 2011 report (PDF)