Winter is Coming

Or winter is here rather, and I have found myself in a quandary.  What do I eat in the morning?  I don't want to eat bread, and I tend to steer clear of dairy and eggs, so what to eat?  My lovely roommate Charli makes green smoothies for herself every morning, and while I was loving them in the summer, I found that it is too cold for me in the morning in the winter.  This would make sense from a Chinese Medicine standpoint.  Summer is the Yang season, and is fire, so cooling foods would serve the body well.  However, winter is Yin, and our bodies need warming foods to  keep our internal yang strong and for our bodies to function properly.  So, I have been having a hard time with this, until my friend Rachel suggested I add some warming spices to my smoothie such as ginger or cardamom.   I thought this sounded like a good idea, and so I tried it, and low and behold I felt much better.  I was feeling pretty proud of myself, then I went to theory........ According to Chinese medicine theory, your body does not like raw in winter, and over time eating a bunch of raw food will cause Phlegm, which no one wants.  SO, again I was stumped.  I decided this rule sounded a little stringent, and honestly felt a little offended for my beloved green smoothie, I felt that I needed to defend it's virtue and get to the bottom of this, could my green smoothie really cause Phlegm?  I should add physical manifestations of Phlegm are no fun, they include cysts, goiters, sluggishness, lethargy, weight retention to name a few.  Well I have consulted some admirable sources (one of my professors and my acupuncturist, both of whom are brilliant) and this is what I have come up with.

During winter we want to avoid raw food. We want to feed ourselves warm nourishing meals, including warming spices into our diets such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, garlic and I would throw tumeric in there because I think it is a magical root.  However, the everything in moderation rule will apply, so if you have one raw green smoothie in the am, it is not going to give you goiters :) It is however, a good idea to amend your smoothie for the winter weather. It makes sense that the same smoothie that serves you in the summer, would not be the best in the winter.  Fortify your green smoothie with warming spices and add some fat to it, such as coconut milk in order to help and feed your body in the winter.  Other than that, drink ginger tea to help your stomach fire, and have the rest of your meals be cooked, nourishing meals.   :)

The End...... For Now.

Bad Medicine Talk

I have, in my life, run into many people that think some of my faith in holistic health, is unfounded.  I even once had someone tell me that acupuncture is a sham, and that it can all be explained by the placebo effect.  I appreciate other peoples skepticism, and input.  However, I would like to remind people that all the studies out there are not always totally truthful, and that when considering a claim, one must also consider the source, who funded the writing that is making this claim etc. This statement goes for both holistic claims as well as western medicinal claims and or refutes.  In essence I would like to remind people to keep an open mind about everything, even those ideas that seem foreign to them.  I recently watched a ted talks that talks about bad medicine, and I have to say Ben Goldacre MD. can speak to the flaws of publications better than I can.
Enjoy:
http://www.ted.com/talks/ben_goldacre_battling_bad_science.html

Hypochondria

I took a week off of blog posts.  I have been rather busy, and just couldn't seem to take the time to post.  However, I am back! Lately in school I have observed that I am feeling like every symptom mentioned pertains to me.  Theory class is especially bad for this, as we are talking about the Organs of the human body, and how they can cause pathology when out of balance, the Zhang Fu organ theory.  I am now convinced that all of my Organs are out of balance and I am a big mess, while still maintaining decent health from an outward perspective.  And my teachers say the imbalance will only get worse in school because I am going to be working so hard, and not be able to pay attention to the rhythms my body wants.  But, at least in the end, I will know how to heal myself a bit better! :)

Though the study of Traditional Chinese Medicine Theory (TCM Theory), I have been feeling reaffirmed in why I chose this medicine to study.  I like the holistic nature of it.  I like the idea that a pathology in one area affects all other areas of the body in one way or another.  I like the notion that this medicine derived from centuries of observation, and trial and error.  This medicine has a very scientific approach even if it wasn't always written down in the jargon of "double blind study", or "case study". Ancient Chinese philosophers organized data from doctors, found patterns, and compiled them in huge texts such as the Huang di Nei Jing for future practitioners to use and study. It is funny to me that people in this modern age disregard this medicine just because they can't understand the theory of it, and most of those people that I have met, have never taken the time to try and read about or understand the theory themselves.  This makes me want to understand the theory well, so that I may be able to bridge the gap for people as a practitioner.

A few things I have noticed my first term at OCOM are:
 1. I feel a tremendous pressure to understand all of my classes well because they are all so relevant, the western medicine classes just as much as the eastern medicine classes. In undergrad I was pretty sure some of the classes I was being forced to take as pre-req's were total B.S. and I just needed to pass a test then I could forget it.
2. Whenever I have free time, or even when I am at work, I think to myself, "I should really be studying right now", I didn't so much feel that way in undergrad.
3. Getting used to being in a college that is pass, fail, it is still hard to detach my ego from the concept of a high GPA. :)

More to come later.....

School so far

As the weeks progress I am getting back into the swing of being a student.  It is a different feeling having to take my work home with me, and have it consume my every day life again.  Well, the hotel industry can be very consuming as well, but being a student is consuming in a different way.  Learning all about living Anatomy has been fascinating, and I am happy to report that I got a 92 on my first mid term! Grades don't matter very much at OCOM as it is a pass or fail program, but I still have my ego attachment to getting good grades :) It will be no surprise to anyone that I am loving the more practical classes, although there is a lot of memorization.  The one class I seem to be struggling with is Qi Gong. I don't love it, I get much more out of Yoga than I do Qi Gong.  To me Qi Gong seems so esoteric, and as you all know, I am very fidgety.  I have a hard time being still, I don't like slapping myself in the self massage Qi Gong, I don't like sitting there with my hands in still motion for 1000 hands Buddha. I feel annoyed and bored all class, and I am admittedly no good at meditation.  I don't want to Practice Qi Gong outside of class, and I resent that I feel badly about not practicing.  I want to love it, because I do believe it is good for you, I believe that people feel better after doing it, I just personally don't.  I guess this all means that I should be practicing it, and that through the discomfort and "suffering" of it I could gain something.  We will see how the next 3 years goes. 
                                                       OAAOM
In other news I did just join the Oregon Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine as a student member. I think this will be a good way to network within the pretty saturated Oregon market, and become a part of this community.  This will also help to keep me informed as to new legislation regarding the Acupuncture scope of practice in Oregon etc.   With my membership I will also be able to audit conferences open to licensed practitioners, which I will be sure to be writing about when I do attend :)

That is all for now.......

Dealing with Food Allergies

As most everyone who has any experience can tell you, I have many food allergies and sensitivities, that I sometimes neglect to pay attention to, but that I am very aware of, and are a great source of discomfort for me.  I believe they are a main source of my hormonal fluctuations, and acne.  I have tried everything, I do yoga, I do cleanses, I wash my face, I use moisturizer, I try to eat foods that are good for my gut etc, etc. It has always seemed to me that my sensitive system has just gotten worse with all my efforts. 

Well my friends I am happy to report I am trying something new to heal my gut, and heal my food sensitivities, and hopefully, vanquish acne to some extent.  What is it I am doing.... well acupuncture of course.  I was introduced to a woman named Shelley Laurey.  She works part time in Hawaii, and part time in Oregon.  I thought this was a nice touch, as she knows about the environment I am coming from.  She is also an OCOM graduate! So, she knows about the environment I am now in.  She has been an Acupuncturist for 35 years, and she deals specifically with food allergies! I am very excited about this new prospect, and optimistic for a positive outcome.  Here is how it works: Shelly listened to what I had to say, then looked over my body for tell tale signs.  She did some muscle reflexology as was able to determine that I have leaky gut syndrome, and parasites.  This is causing me to build up food sensitivities that become increasingly aggressive as my leaky gut persists.  We determined that I have a sensitivity to Gluten, and Corn, and an allergy to Eggs, and Dairy ( which I already knew from my last allergy test). She has me on an herbal supplement for the parasites which she says many girls in Hawaii have, from all the sushi we eat there.  We are working on fixing me all up with a few acupuncture sessions.  As many of you can imagine, this sounds much better than just never eating dairy, eggs, gluten, etc. again.  Of course once I have done all this healing I have to be proactive and not mess up my gut again, but I am a pretty healthy person anyway so that should not be such a problem.  I will report back in a few months with my progress!

As far as school goes, I am learning a lot.  Traditional Chinese Medicine Theory is kicking my butt, and living anatomy is a lot of memorization, but I am loving every minute of it.  I am so happy I have made this investment in myself, and I really feel this is a wonderful fit for me. :) 

Nutrition Plug

                                                           Wedding Yay!
I took last week off as I was attending my friend Merlyn's wedding in Colorado.  It was a wonderful trip, but I did miss a few classes and had to play some catch up upon return.  However I am happy to report that I did well on my first two quizzes, and now have 5 more staring me down for next week.  Despite the stress of trying to cram everything quickly into my brain, as well as working and trying to maintain a small semblance of a social life, I am still feeling really good about school, and thinking I made the right decision in coming here.  The more that I begin to delve into the theory of this medicine, as well as the history of it, I realize how much it really does have baring here in the west.  Many of the basic principles apply when thinking of Homeopathic medicine as well as Naturpathic medicine.  As I have said before, I do believe that people in the west are beginning to have a stronger urge to pursue more holistic forms of health care, as it is becoming increasingly more clear that our current strategies for health care are not fixing the problems with the degenerative diseases of aging and of course the obesity problem as well. 

                           Basic Nutrition from the Anatomy and Physiology Lecture
On the topic of obesity, we did talk a bit about nutrition, here are some things we spoke of in the anatomy and phsyiology lecture yesterday. 

Lipids: Fat, important for vitamin absorbtion, and brain function.  We as humans can only synthesize 5 of the 10 must have fats that we need in life.  Anything that is listed as an essential fat, or essential fatty acids are those of which we must consume to acquire.  This means eat avocados and nuts and fish.  This does not mean eat fried food etc. and or starve your body of fat altogether.  Learn about what are good fats and eat those, don't be afraid of them, and moderate the "bad" fats.  As you all know I am a waitress, I had a woman the other day chomping on fried calamari who asked me to hold the avocado from her salad as she thought it was too fattening.  That is a perfect example of nutrition ignorance, and I found it sad.  So here is my educational plug on fats :)

Carbohydrates: Important because they are the bodies #1 preferred method of energy.  If your body does not have this energy source, it will pull energy from protein, however protein has other functions it needs to be doing in and building in your body, if you are using up all your protein as energy, your body will be deficient in other ways.  However, if you eat too many carbs, they will indeed be stored as fat.  So, eat carbs, they are good.  Eat sustainable carbs such as brown rice and wheat bread.  Avoid white refined and processed carbs.  Also, try to do at least 20 minutes of aerobic exercise a day, and you will use up those excess carbs and they will not be stored as fat.  In other words, go for a run, it's good for you :)

Protein: essential for life, however not in the quantities that we as Americans are eating it. We now eat protein in major excess of what our forefathers did.  Protein gets broken down and distributed by the liver and Kidneys.  We never store protein in our body, all the protein we ingest either goes to some use in our body, or gets expelled in our urine.  If we have excess protein our kidneys have to work over time to process and expel extra.  This is why kidney failure patients can't eat protein and are on very low protein diets.  You can actually cause your body to go into a state of ketosis or ketoacidosis, (acid kidney) which leads to kidney failure and death by eating too much protein (ie. atkins diet is bad). So eat protein, but not too much, and try to eat forms that don't have a crap ton of antibiotics and hormones in them (ie. stay away from factory farmed meat). 

So that was my nutritional plug. This is all from my western medicine anatomy and physiology class for those of you who that means something to.   Hope you enjoyed it.  Stay tuned next week :)

First Week Down

The first week of school is behind me, and already I feel like I have made a wonderful choice in my school selection.  OCOM (Oregon College of Oriental Medicine) was just rated The Best Acupuncture College in The U.S. by thebestschools.org, which is pretty fantastic.  However despite all of the notoriety the overall feeling I have when I am in class, and at the school, is one of belonging and awe.  Learning about the human body is fascinating, and learning to heal the human body is magical. 

Sadly, my first day was not the best for me.  While I was very excited about the classes I was going to have that day, Point Location and Qi Gong, I was sick with a head cold and it was extremely difficult to be present.  My first day of class was Wednesday, and I had woken up on Tuesday with a fever.  My fever broke Tuesday night, but by Wednesday morning I really had no business being out of bed, so I made it to my first four hour class, then skipped my second class and went home back to bed. 

I wish I had had an opportunity this week to do a little more reading, and have more interesting information to give out, but most of the week I was just trying to keep my head above water.  I am now feeling much better due to multiple acupuncture sessions, and some Chinese herbs I am taking. Next week will prove much more lively for me. 

One idea I can close with, is a little perspective given to my class by my wonderful anatomy and physiology teacher Regina Dehen ND, LAc.  When speaking to the relationship between western medicine and eastern medicine she took us back to the foundations, when western medicine was in its infancy. She explained to us, that back then, ideas were less black and white than they are today.  We have all heard the term Melancholy, which for a long time was the term for what today would be called sadness or depression. Melancholy literally means black bile, and it was thought that people with this condition had a liver disorder that produced a black bile into their system.  However, no black bile was ever found so the idea was, after some time, dismissed.  The example was kind of a light bulb to me, how similar ideas once were, and I feel that modern thinking is coming back to these concepts.  More and more people are looking to alternative medicine for help, The Economist just published and article about the human microbiome entitled Me, Myself and Us, and the U.S. Military is beginning to hire Acupuncturists to help with PTSD.  It is an exciting time to be in my field indeed!

                                             Here is a Picture of my entire incoming class!

HI!

As many of my friends and family know, I have begun the journey through acupuncture school with the Oregon College Of Oriental Medicine.  I am going to try and post a weekly reflection, and thought this would be a fun way to keep everyone informed as to my progress, as well as being a good tool for me to look back on.  So here it goes, my experience up to this point:

School officially begins on the 19th of September. I am very excited, and am looking forward to getting this much anticipated ball rolling.  I was able to meet the entire incoming class this week at our new student orientation at Menucha in the Columbia Gorge.  This was an overnight retreat stay in which we listened to many people talk about "how hard" OCOM is going to be.  By the end of the first day I felt a little weary of hearing about how hard it all is, and how tired I am going to be, but I was encouraged by the idea of it being an over all transformative and uplifiting experience. 

In conjunction with all the information that was given to us, we also got to participate in some fun practices.  We had a small hands on shiatsu demonstration where we got to pair up and practice a little Shiatsu massage.  This reminded me that part of my experience at OCOM will be giving and receiving an array of wonderful treatments. We also had a brief lesson on Qi Gong.  It was fun to be able to partner up with a complete stranger, and play with each others energy.  During the practice I could feel the magnetic pull of her energy on my palm,  and it will be fun to expand my knowledge of this practice. At the end of the day we got to receive a little auricular acupuncture after which I took in the amazing sunset, and finally retired to my bed.  

Menucha was such a beautiful atmosphere to begin this new journey, and I was impressed that OCOM invested in this retreat style experience for us to begin with.  I am nervous to begin this new chapter in my life, as it is so different from the world of restaurants and corporate ladders that I have up to now been engrossed in, but I am also so excited and optimistic.  I feel that my future is so bright.  I just have to send a little gratitude out to my father Perry Dominic Reghi, who passed away in 2007.  He was at times a hard man to know, but he helped to teach me one of the greatest lessons in life: that life is a precious gift and we are really the only ones who can dictate our own happiness regardless of all the external factors.  And that compassion is not always easy, but always necessary for peace.

So here are some pictures:
                                               This is what I ended my day with:

and this: 

                       And this is what I began my second day with, as I held hot tea in hand: