Acupuncture Blog

(Cooking Light magazine, December 2008) 

Mayo:

1/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

1 garlic clove

Chicken:

1/4 egg substitute

3 tablespoons hot sauce (such as Tabasco)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

4 1/2 ounces baked tortilla chips (about 6 cups)

2 tablespoons olive oil

Remaining Ingredients:

4 (2 ounce) Kaiser rolls, split

12 (1/8 inch thick) red onion slices

4 lettuce leaves

1. To prepare the mayo, combine the first 4 ingredients.

2. To prepare the chicken, combine the egg substitute, hot sauce, oregano, and salt into a large zip-top plastic bag. Cut the chicken breast halves in half horizontally to form 4 cutlets. Add chicken to the bag; seal. Marinate in refrigerator 2 hours or up to 8 hours, turning the bag occasionally.

3. Place tortilla chips in a food processor; process 1 minute or until ground. Place ground chips in a shallow dish.

4. Working with one cutlet at a time, remove chicken from marinade, allowing excess to drip off. Coat chicken completely in chips. Set aside. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken and chips.

5. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned and done. Spread mayo evenly over cut sides of rolls. Layer bottom half of each roll with 3 onion slices, 1 lettuce leaf, and 1 chicken cutlet; top with top half of rolls.

Yields: 4 servings (1 sandwich).

Especially in these troubled economic times, we must keep ourselves healthy, balanced, and focused on the positive future! Massage and Acupuncture can assist with achieving that balance but what can we do on a daily basis? To slow your pulse, lower your blood pressure, and tame tension your in no time, Woodson Merrill, ma (the source: unleash your natural energy, power up your health, and feel 10 years younger; Parenting magazine, October 2008) suggests the following exercise:

1.     Sit up straight, shoulders back.

2.     Inhale slowly and deeply to the count of four, filling your belly with air.

3.     Hold for one count.

4.     Exhale slowly and completely, to the count of six. Allow your shoulders to relax (but don’t let them slump forward).

5.     Pause for one count. Repeat four times.

6.     Enjoy a moment of nirvana before jumping back into the fray.

Did you know that…

400 = number of times kids laugh each day

15 = the daily chuckle count for adults….

We need to laugh it up more often!

The season full of “fun and sun” are upon us but so are the unfortunate sunburns and bug bites! Have you wondered what natural remedies are in your home to cure the complaints? Here are a few for sunburns:

1. Apply undiluted apple cider vinegar to sunburn by cottenball..

2. Apply mayonnaise as a skin cream to sunburn.

 3. Apply peanut oil to sunburned area(s).

 4. Apply thin slices of cold cucumbers, apples, or potato directly to the skin.

 5 Apply cold, plain yogurt then rinse with cool water.

Our contemporary contribution for bug repellent is DEET (N, N-diethyl-meta-toluamide), a powerful insecticide found in over 400 repellents.  DEET can peel paint, damage rayon and spandex, and melt plastic.  Up to 56 percent of DEET applied to the skin enters the bloodstream, and reactions to it include skin rashes, lethargy, muscle spasms, nausea, and irritability. It’s hardly worth using DEET to deter insects unless you’re someplace with high rates of insect-borne disease or you experience severe allergic reactions to bites and stings. (www.naturodoc.com)

There are natural alternatives to DEET, made primarily from plant essential oils, which can protect you in less threatening circumstances.  Look for products containing any of the following: lavender, eucalyptus citriodera, litsea cubeba, geranium, rosemary, peppermint, cedar, and/or tea tree oil. For more information on properties of essential oils, go to www.crescentmooncreations.biz and click on “Learn About-Plant Oils” button.

Not only does massage make you feel great, massage is a wonderful addition to your approach to golf. Massage will help relax and tone muscles, increase flexibility, rejuvenate and increase muscle sensory mechanisms.  All of this adds up to better balance and body awareness, key factors in playing good golf.

Massage is beneficial for lots of reasons, but the most important one is circulation. Several massage strokes increase the movement of blood and lymph.  If a muscle is stiff because of a long day on the course, getting oxygenated blood to the area improves the condition rapidly. Massage can help relax muscles and return them to normal health and physical condition. With your golf muscles relaxed they will function efficiently, reducing the risk of “strain,” and producing consistently better shots. Massage can also relieve pain, due to its encouragement of endorphin release, especially if it is caused by muscle tension.

Post-round massage increases circulation in the muscle tissues, helping to prevent build-up of harmful “fatigue” products resulting from strenuous exercise and competition. So when you are ready to take your golfing performance to a new level.

Has been put on hold for a moment of time but since we are never too old to learn, please check out the Assabet Valley Center for Community Education’s Assabet After Dark program! Every season, John MacKenzie and his staff compile an amazing array of class topics and adult learning modules to interest anyone! The program is located at the located at the Assabet Valley Technical High School in Marlborough, MA and you can receive their class catalog by mail (if you don’t already) by calling 508-485-9430 or by going to their website at www.AssabetAfterDark.com to see what interests you! Guaranteed you will find something to enlighten your mind this year!

The Marlborough Wellness Center is located at 331 Boston Post Road East, Ste. 7, and provides a place for medical wellness and education.  We believe that there are two worlds: one with experts who fix people, and the other world of wellness that educates and empowers them to fix themselves. It is here where you will find professional practitioners who can meet all your health and medical needs. Jodi Eldridge, Jennifer Smith, and Joyce Clancy, our licensed massage therapists, are going strong! Julie Dalbec, a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist, continues to focus her practice in the areas of Japanese style, non-insertive pediatric acupuncture techniques and women’s health issues. Diana Fernandes, MAOM, Lic.Ac., also a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist, has written the focus article on summer heat for us! Our monthly community education series titled “Alternatively Speaking” has gone on hiatus but community education is never too far away and we are never too old to learn something new! Take a moment to look into the Center! We offer a variety of treatments that can be found on our new and improved website and active blog at www.MarlboroughWellnessCenter.com!

Acupuncture is big on the Steelers.

One night last week, I was with an NBC crew in Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison’s home north of Pittsburgh. He was talking about staying in one piece during the physical NFL season, and he said he owed a lot to acupuncture.

Specifically, 314 needles per session, twice a week. That’s how many he has stuck into his body, from his head to his feet … and they’re not pin-pricks either. “They’re put in there pretty far,” Harrison said. His story, and the story of other players in the NFL gutting out the season, will be told by Andrea Kremer on our NBC Super Bowl pregame show Sunday, between 1 and 6 p.m. ET.

Harrison said acupuncture has made a dramatic difference in his ability to play the game at a high level. He usually takes the 314 needles on Tuesday and Thursday nights and doesn’t feel the full result ’til two days after the sessions. “What it does is get me back to feeling as close as I can to how I felt at the beginning of the season, before I take the normal punishment of a season,” he said. He gets the treatment at his home, and several other Steelers show up to get poked along with him.

I know the research Kremer has done for this story, and I strongly recommend you tuning in Sunday to see it. If I find out approximately when it will air, I’ll let you know later this week on SI.com.

Taken from SportsIllustrated.com….

Treating and Preventing The Root Cause and Symptomatic Branches Naturally  

Seasonal allergies, also known as hay fever or allergic rhinitis, is a common condition that can be treated with Chinese herbal medicine.  Symptoms of allergic rhinitis include (but are not limited to): runny nose and/or nasal congestion; red, itchy eyes; sneezing; headaches; and/or dizziness.  In Traditional Chinese Medicine, seasonal allergies are considered an invasion of wind with heat or dampness.  The invasion of wind reflects that an external pathogen, such as an allergen, is affecting the body.  If the external pathogen of dampness is also invading, there will be fluid issues such as runny nose and nasal congestion.  If heat invades, symptoms such as red, itchy eyes will occur. This external invasion of wind, heat, and dampness occurs due to a weak defensive layer known as Wei Qi, somewhat similar to what we understand is our immune system. 

    The treatment of seasonal allergies with Chinese herbal medicine focuses on prevention by treating the underlying Wei Qi deficiency that allows for these symptoms to occur. During acute attacks in allergy season, treatments additionally focus on alleviating the symptoms themselves.  

    Fu Ping Feng San is a common herbal formula that is used in the prevention of seasonal allergies.  This simple formula containing Huang Qi (astragalus), Fang Feng (Saposhnikovia) and Bai Zhu (atractylodes) should be taken before allergy season starts to strengthen the body’s defensive system thereby preventing acute allergic attacks.  Huang Qi Ren Shen Tang Jia Jian (Modified Astragalus and Ginseng) is also a patent herbal formula that is used for the prevention of allergies when taken six to eight (6-8) weeks before allergy season starts.

    Once allergy symptoms have started, there are various formulas one can take with some common ingredients.  Xin Yi Hua (Magnolia flower) and Cang Er Zi (Xanthium fruit) relieve allergy symptoms of nasal discharge/obstruction and sneezing by unblocking nasal passages. Bai Zhi (Angelica root) is used to treat headaches, clear discharges, and open the nasal passages.  Other ingredients can also be combined to develop a formula that addresses the specific pattern of symptoms the patient is exhibiting.  These individualized Chinese herbal formulas are used to treat seasonal allergies effectively and safely. Please note that the patient should be monitored consistently by a licensed herbalist during the course of the herbal treatment to ensure quality of care.  

The Marlborough Wellness Center’s “Alternatively Speaking” Series is teaming up with the Northborough Chiropractic Center to sponsor Mrs. Christine Conway, a certified Feng Shui practitioner, as she introduces us to the Basics of Feng Shui! The event will be held at the Northborough Chiropractic Center on November 13^th, from 7-8:30pm .

(thank you to Farmer John Mitchell of heirloom harvest CSA for forwarding this recipe to the membership!)

3 cups of cooked white beans

2 Tbs. olive oil, plus some for garnish

1 large sprig of rosemary

1 medium onion, diced

1 Tbs. fresh chili pepper, diced

4 carrots, diced

2 stalks celery ,diced

2 potatoes, peeled and diced

1 small zucchini, diced

1 pound kale, stemmed, washed and torn into pieces

6 plum tomatoes, diced

6 cups of hot water

1 Parmesan cheese rind (optional- check out http://www.restaurantwidow.com/2006/10/so_just_what_do.html for info)

1?2 cup of FRESH green beans, cut into thirds

1 Tbs. salt, A grinding of pepper, AND 1-1?2 teaspoons of celery salt (CAN ALSO USE coarse salt mixed with ground celery seeds)

Slices of toasted bread

Puree half of the beans and set them aside.

Heat olive oil in large soup pot. Add the onion, chili pepper, carrots and celery. Cook over medium heat until the vegetables begin to soften. Stir in the all the other vegetables and the rosemary, except for the cooked white beans and green BEANS and cook for 2 minutes. Then add the whole white beans.

Stir in the water and the pureed beans. Add the cheese rind. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cover the pot and cook for 25 minutes. Uncover, stir in the green beans and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the salt and pepper. Toast bread, put in bowl and ladle soup over it.