Thursday, July 28, 2011

It doesn't usually work like this

A woman who is a teacher and has worked at day-care centers was concerned about one of her twin boys, who we will call twin A.  At 18 months, his speech was delayed, and his motor function was uncoordinated compared to his twin (twin B).  While twin B would play with one toy for a while and then move on to another, twin A would just hold a box next to his face for hours.  He did not let anyone touch him, threw a lot of tantrums, and banged his head against the wall in his sleep.  His eye contact was poor and he was very afraid of strangers.  Mother suspected Autism Spectrum Disorder  Her physician arranged for testing.  Before the testing, mother decided to try acupuncture for her son.

I treat pediatrics in my practice, and most of the time we do not need to insert needles.  Acupuncture is about moving the energy of the patient- and the energy of children is a lot less stuck than that of adults.  Typically we will do a technique called "touch-needling" where we touch the back of the needle to the point for 30-60 seconds and then move on to the next point.  I used this technique on twin A.

A week later, they returned for a follow-up.  Immediately after the treatment, he became more affectionate and would let his parents touch and cuddle with him.  He bagan making the "D" sound and saying words that start with "D" (which he had not done previously).  He stopped throwing tantrums and became more engaging with strangers.  His eye contact improved to normal.  And he stopped clinging to boxes and started playing with toys.   He stopped banging his head at night and slept better. 

Mother took him for the Autism testing and the doctor could see no abnormal behaviors.  She is thrilled and so am I.  It is known in China that early intervention (before age 2 ideally) can remedy developmental problems.  But it usually takes a course of treatment.  Twin A had an amazing response just from one treatment.  I saw him a week later, and now we will wait 10 days before his third session.  I expect that we will graduate him soon. 

Sunday, July 24, 2011

important statements about dairy

"Osteoporosis is caused by a number of things, one of the most important being too much dietary protein."  {Science 1986;233, 4763}

  "Consumption of dairy products, particularly at age 20 years, were associated with an increased risk of hip fractures... metabolism of dietary protein causes increased urinary excretion of calcium.
{American Journal of Epidemiology 1994;139}

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Another blog mentions sidewalk sale acupuncture

http://homemademothering.com/2011/07/learning-alternative-medicine.html is a blog by a woman who received acupuncture from me at the Wilmette Summerfest.  She liked it.  It's mentioned in the last paragraph. 

5 tips to prevent childhood obesity

We hear many conflicting opinions on what constitutes healthy eating.  There are many "fads" and "new ideas", but no one has studied nutrition longer or more successfully than the Chinese.  If we eat like the Asians, we will look like the Asians (thin).  When they eat like us, they look like us (not thin).  The food choices we make for ourselves and our children are the greatest factor in determining our health.  An analogy is 'building a house'.  If you were to build a house, you would want the top-quality lumber and materials you could find.  As adults, we are constantly re-building our house; but for children, they are also laying the foundation.  Top quality means natural, simple, and organic. 

Once kids have their teeth, they can begin to eat a diet that is similar to how adults should eat.  I used to work in elementary schools and saw that the lunches most children take to (or buy at) school are not healthy according to the wisdom of The Asian Diet.  So here are a few things you may want to consider when deciding what to feed your kids (and yourself).   Balance and moderation are the keys.

1.  Don't give them too much raw food
Whatever you put in your body that is cold and raw, you have to heat and cook.  This steals your energy and slows your metabolism.  There is a fad idea that says we should eat only raw food; but cooking has been a part of every recorded culture.  It is a form of pre-digesting food so we can just serve as the filters- send the good stuff to the tissues, bad stuff to the tissue paper.    Of course your child will not be able to steam their veggies at school, but you can steam them ahead of time (slightly), refrigerate them, and have your child eat them at room temperature.  Pickling is another way to pre-digest and improve metabolism.  We want efficient digestion. 

2.    Limit Dairy
Dairy is intended by nature for infants.  The internal fire of an infant is sufficient to transform this rich and viscous material into usable tissue.  By the time we have our teeth, we do not need it anymore.  This is why lactation ceases around 18-36 months.  In a non-infant, the tissue it turns into is Phlegm.  Phlegm may manifest in many different ways.  It can lodge between skin and muscle as fat; clog up the sinuses, cause or exacerbate asthma, impair clear thinking; it can also congeal to form cysts, fibroids, and tumors.  (The Chinese understand cancer and these other abnormal growths to be basically phlegm-balls and noticed more in the populations that consumed dairy).  Dairy is not necessary for bone health, but vegetables are. 

3.  Increase Variety
If your child said "I like math but not other subjects" would you say that it is OK for him/her to only do his math homework?  I hope not.  Then why should we accept it when kids tell us that they like french fries but not broccoli?  It is not OK for kids to have too limited a repertoire of food.  It would be like trying to build a house using only 2x4's and no nails or insulation. 

All foods have something unique to give us and we need a little of most foods.  A good diet is like a good stock portfolio- diversified.  If you have the same thing too much, you'll be overloaded in one sector.  That makes you more prone to the dangers of that sector; and you are missing out on other good things happening in the market.  So like a good portfolio, hedge your bets.  Serving a little of more foods ensures no single one can have too great an influence.  

4.  Avoid processed foods 
The more processed a food is, the more difficult it is to un-process.  Difficult digestion=slow metabolism.  Rice and other simple grains are easier for us to handle than breads or pastas, which are easier than crackers, cookies, cakes, candy and sodas.  There is no ingredient list on an orange, but check out the label on that Orange Drink.  If your grandmother would recognize it as a food, it's probably OK.  Your grandmother probably never cooked with potassium benzoate or aspartame.  These new ingredients are not natural and confuse our bodies.  The more natural the food, the better.

5.  Soft drinks will make them soft
Soda/Pop should not be considered on OK choice as beverage with meals.  Every now and then, if you want to give your child a cola, get the real deal from the health food store.  Natural colas will have: filtered water, cola bean, pure cane sugar, and salt.  These are all ingredients our bodies can recognize.  They make natural lemon-lime, orange soda, and root beer too.  But commercial sodas have too many unnatural ingredients.  Diet drinks are NOT better.  The number-one beverage should be water, room temperature or above.

Another rule is that "the way things are outside the body is how they will act inside the body."  Sweet things are sticky, and sticky impairs proper circulation.  For this reason, things like juice and peanut butter should be kept in moderation.   Plus, juice is a concentrate; which violates the "moderation" principle.

*****
So you see, the typical lunches of: raw veggies, cream-based dips , milk, mac and cheese, string cheese, pb&j, cracker-sandwich packs, and juice boxes are not very good. 
Sandwiches should be on sprouted-grain bread and contain veggies.  Try sending them with a bowl of rice, some cooked vegetables, a little bit of meat, fruit, and water.  P.S.  Eating like this will make you healthier too. 



Jason Bussell is Author of "The Asian Diet: Simple secrets for eating right, losing weight, and being well."  He is an acupuncturist and herbalist, trained in the US and in China; is President Emeritus of the Illinois Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, serves on the State of Illinois Government's board of Acupuncture; and is a Teacher and Speaker.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

130 treatments in two days

This past Friday and Saturday, A Center for Oriental Medicine helped sponsor the Wilmette Summerfest and Sidewalk Sale.  We had a tent set up and offered free acupuncture to all who desired.  Over the two days, Lisa Alvarez and I administered over 130 treatments.  118 of them said that they felt improvement as a result of the treatment.  We treated headache, neck pain, tennis elbow, sciatica, stomachache, toothache, shoulders, knees, hips, plantar faciitis, neuropathy, tmj, trigger finger, carpal tunnel, sinusitis, post-nasal drip, cough, menstrual cramps, hamstring pain, and more.  Of the 130, about 100 had never had acupuncture before; so this was a great success in introducing folks to the safest healing system in the world. 

If you have never tried acupuncture, what are you waiting for?  It's helped Billions of people.  It can help you too. 

-Jason Bussell MSOM, L.Ac

Saturday, July 2, 2011

More acupuncture success stories

My friend Adam referred his friend to me to help his girlfriend's neck.  She has had neck pain for years.  After one treatment, the pain was gone and never returned.  So then the friend referred his father, who has a cyst on his hands from years of manual labor.  After one treatment he could close his hand further than he could in years.  After four treatments, he does not feel any problems in the hand whatsoever and the cyst has shrunk dramatically.  So he refers his wife.  Wife is in her 70's, has had pain between her shoulder blades for years, arthritic knee pain, and shoulder pain with limited range of motion.  After one treatment, her shoulder blade pain vanished and never returned.  After two treatments, she is no longer having knee pain.  After her third treatment, she reported that he shoulder is getting better.  I asked how she could tell and she said, "Well, I can fasten my bra behind my back now instead of having to twist it in front of me."  I confirmed, "And you couldn't do that before?"  She replied, "I haven't been able to do that for 12 years."

Acupuncture works and works well.  If you would like to try it and are in the Chicagoland area, come to the Wilmette Summerfest, July 8th and 9th.  I, and my associate from A Center for Oriental Medicine will be offering free treatments.  We will be across the street from the Wilmette theater.