Having your period seems like a natural time to exercise heightened self-care, making sure you have ample time for sleep and to decompress, maybe even treating yourself to a special snack you’ve been craving. Since a big part of menstrual care is accommodating bleeding in one of the most permeable and delicate areas of the body, it’s important to consider the quality of the feminine care products you are using.
Read MoreMany of our patients work for so long to get pregnant, that they become experts on what to eat, how to exercise, and how to take their basal body temperatures. Then when they get that positive pregnancy test, they sometimes seem at a loss as to what to do next. Here are a few tips until you can get in to see your midwife or OB:
Read MoreIt’s a question that I get asked on a weekly basis - “What days should we be trying on?” A recent study from Yale University researchers found that about 60 percent of women thought that they were most fertile in the two days after ovulation. Unfortunately, those women were wrong. So, as it turns out, there’s also a lot of misinformation about when women are at their fertile peak.
Women are most fertile during a 6 day window that ends the day after ovulation. Outside that relatively short window, your chances of falling pregnant are generally lower than 5%.
For the past 5 or so years, I’ve seen the garnish I avoided like the plague on the plates of chicken tenders I ordered at restaurants as a child gaining immense popularity. It seems like nowadays you can’t browse a menu or get out of Whole Foods without encountering at least some form of kale. In the health food industry, kale is everywhere! You’ll find it in green smoothies, juices, salads, and any number of recipes in a modern cookbook. It’s arguably currently the nation’s most popular vegetable and has definitely won me over since the days I was ignoring it on my plate at Red Lobster. But recently, I’ve seen a darker trend growing in kale—and I’m not talking about leaf color.
Essentially, what needs to happen is that you commit to four or five days of working on this. Clear your schedule, hide your to-do list, and take a little breastfeeding vacation. Take your baby, a snack, a bottle of water, and some toys and books into your bed and stay there, all day if possible. Do pretty much nothing but eat, drink, rest, and nurse. If your baby doesn’t sleep well, get someone else to take care of the baby so that you can conk out for a few hours (beg or pay someone if you have to!).
Read MoreCongee is traditionally a rice porridge popular in Asian countries and goes back thousands of years to the first recorded congee (made of millet) eaten by Emperor Huang Di. It is more about the process of cooking rather than the grain that is used. Long cooking times break down the grain until it is literally mush. This renders it almost completely pre-digested so your body doesn’t have to work in order to absorb the nutrients from it. This is ideal for those with digestive problems who lack the ability to break down foods enough to get the nutrients they need from it.
Read MoreFor anyone actively trying to conceive or anyone who already has, I wanted to pass on and reiterate how important sleep and sleep cycles in general are to ensuring your success in the fertility realm.
Read MoreAccording to TCM, during fall we are most susceptible to dryness, which can affect the lungs, skin, and digestion. Common signs of disharmony in the fall are thirst, dry nose and skin, itching, and sore throat. There are a number of things we can do to combat dryness and fortify our bodies for the coming winter months.
Read MoreSomething that we rarely talk about at the clinic is the use of feminine hygiene products. I think we get so caught up in everything else that our patients are putting in their bodies, that we frequently don't talk about the possible problems with feminine hygiene products.
Read MoreIn Traditional Chinese Medicine it’s not uncommon to use food that has medicinal qualities to help treat various conditions. In the summer months we are more prone to conditions of toxic heat. In the Chinese herbal pharmacopoeia there is a whole subsection of herbs that treat “Summer Heat.”
Read MoreAlthough some of these suggestions may be old hat to some readers, they are worth another try to maintain that acupuncture "buzz" between visits:
1. Pet a puppy. Or full grown dog, either will work. Owning a dog has been proven to reduce stress levels and keep high blood pressure in check.
If you love coffee like I do, then you may want to pay attention...
I love the stuff! The smell, the taste, everything. I used to watch my parents and grandparents wake sleepily, pad toward the kitchen to grind the beans and fill the pot with water, and flip the switch; the house would fill with a earthy, familiar aroma. It was a morning ritual that, as I grew up, I continued.