Caloric science is inherently flawed

This is a topic I cover in my book, The Asian Diet: Simple secrets for eating right, losing weight, and being well (theasiandiet.com).

Caloric science in inherently flawed, and I can't believe no one else has pointed this out yet. The way that they measure calories is: they set it on fire in a device called a Calorimeter. They rationalize that the amount of energy liberated by combustion in the lab is the same amount of energy that would be released when the food is broken down enzymatically in the stomach. Now, those are two very different processes and environment, so I'm not sure that this assumption is correct. But,even if it is true...let's assume a muffin has 200 calories of energy in it. When I eat that, I put 200 calories into my body, but I don't absorb all of it. Some of it passes through. Our true caloric gain or loss is determined by: how much we put in, minus how much we burn, minus how much we excrete. If you have dysentery, it doesn't matter how many calories you consume, you will not absorb much of them. Now I'm not suggesting that we all start burning our feces and measuring their caloric value, I am just saying that the number of calories ingested is not the whole story. The average person in China consumes between 25-40% more calories than the average American on a daily basis. Even the sedentary office workers eat more calories and have less obesity than do we.

It is not the number of calories that is important. It is the kinds of foods and how they are prepared and ingested that matter. What you want is efficient digestion of good quality, natural food.

Calorie-free just means that it is a substance that we cannot absorb. This does not mean that it is benign. There are things that we could eat that we would not absorb but that could still be harmful. Take for example a razor blade, or a marble made of plutonium. I am not saying that Aspartame, Splenda, Saccharine, etc will cut you or give you radiation poisoning. My point is that just because something is not absorbed as it passes through our bodies does not mean that it does not interact with and affect the other cells and molecules with which it comes into contact. I would rather have a snack with calories made with a natural sweetener rather than a calorie-free option made with unnatural ingredients.

Today, between patients, my buddy Graeme helped me (via instant messaging) insert an .ico file to my new website, TheAsianDiet.com so now when you view it, there is a little picture of a rice bowl and chopsticks in the address bar. So i used my newly acquired skill to spiff up acfom.com with a yin yang symbol.

I am giving a lecture at the Wilmette Library on April 22nd, at 7pm called "Chinese Secrets for Health and Longevity" where I will be offering free acupuncture to those in attendance at the end of the lecture. Next week, I am speaking at the Rocky Mountain Medical Conference in Wyoming with my brother, the ENT. There I will be speaking about the use of acupuncture in comprehensive cancer care. If you know anyone undergoing chemo or radiation, they should definitely add acupuncture to their regimen. It reduces or eliminated ALL the side effects, some of which cause discomfort (nausea, fatigue) and some of which can be dangerous (lowered immunity, anemia). I had the unfortunate experience of watching my mother fall victim to cancer when I was 9 and she was 40. I remember how she suffered with the side effects. Now I am grateful to be able to help people go through these treatments without suffering.

Don't have much time to blognow, so that's all.

Revising the website

Thank you to all who have sent feedback on my new website www.theasiandiet.com . Based on comments recieved, I have altered the color scheme and some of the text. At some point, I hope to add some video and possibly a forum. I have listed it with google, but it will take a while before it comes up on searches, which is why I posted the website two months prior to the book's release.

I am told by my publisher that they are going to start printing on March 9th, and that I will be receiving advance copies a few days after that, so I am excited. It took me three months to write the book, but years in researching; so it is gratifying to see it actually in print and available. I looked online, and you can order it from websites in Germany, India, China, Belgium, Brittan, and possibly more. Right now, amazon.com has it for 30% off as an advance order.

I am now looking for a PR agent to help me promote the book. I am open to suggestions, and if anyone knows of a venue where I could speak, I would appreciate knowing about that. I want to get on Good Morning America, Oprah, and The Daily Show, but would settle for the local bookstore and library.

I am now at work at the Tiffani Kim Institute in Chicago www.tiffanikiminstitute.com and have to go pull needles from a patient, so bye for now.

my new website is up and running. Theasiandiet.com is the official website for my new book The Asian Diet: simple secrets for eating right, losing weight, and being well published by Findhorn Press. Everyone please go there, surf to all the pages, order the book, read the book, give it to your friends, and start living in balance. Asian medicine has so much to teach us. We need never be sick if we just pay attention to what our bodies are telling us. And as always, go to acfom.com to see what's new in our world.
Jason Bussell
President - Illinois Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine

Well, I guess I'm not a very good blogger, having taken 2 weeks off since my last post. Right now I am between patients in my Wilmette office, A Center for Oriental Medicine, www.acfom.com. I am re-reading The Web that has no Weaver, by Ted Kaptchuk. It was the first book I read on acupuncture some 12 years ago. Ted wrote it as he returned from China and had just learned all about chinese medicine. He updated the book after practicing for 20 years. I am interested to see how his insights have changed. I also have to get re-familiar with it since it is the textbook that I will be teaching from when I teach my intro to Oriental medicine class in May.

I am also thinking about what I will tell the medical staff when I present Grand Rounds at UIC medical center. I have an hour to present, am and not sure what is best to tell the docs. Maybe about the theory, the research, the integration. I have a month to prepare the power point.

And I'm starting to think about how I am going to promote my book when it comes out. "The Asian Diet: Simple secrets for eating right, losing weight, and being well" is due to be in stores April 13th. I need to hire a press agent and start promoting it in the next month or so. I don't know anything about selecting a press agent, so I will have to learn.

Well, I have to go pull needles from a patient. Stay tuned. The excitement never ends.
Jason

Welcome to the blog

Hello, my name is Jason Bussell and I am an acupuncturist. My wife, Jeanie Lee Bussell, and I founded and practice at A Center for Oriental Medicine in Wilmette, IL. (website:www.acfom.com). We also practice at the Tiffani Kim Institute (www.tiffanikiminstitute.com) in Chicago; where Jeanie is the director of Oriental Medical Services. Jeanie and I hold our Master's of Science in Oriental Medicine and completed an advanced course of training and a clinical internship at the Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China. I am also the President of the Illinois Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (www.ILaaom.org). I have written a book called The Asian Diet: simple secrets for eating right, losing weight, and being well that will be in bookstores this spring. you can pre-order at Amazon.com. Even if you don't need to lose weight, you should read it.

All acupuncturists are trained as generalists; and we enjoy treating a wide variety of conditions and populations. Jeanie's area of expertise in in Women's health in general and Fertility specifially. She is one of the top fertility acupuncturists in the Midwest. She has trained with all the masters on the subject, she teaches other acupuncturists how to address it, has writeen articles that have been published in Western fertility journals, and has co-authored a book called Fully Fertile: a 12-week program to optimal fertility, available at amazon.com, borders.com, and findhornpress.com. If you know anyone around Chicago who is having trouble conceiving, they should definitely see Jeanie Lee Bussell. You can read about all the aspects that fertilty can help with at http://acfom.com/images/Winter2006.pdf.

My areas of special interest are Oncology, Pediatrics, and Orthopedics. Oncology is because my mother fell victim to breast cancer when she was only 40, and I remember how she suffered with the side-effects of the chemo and radiation. Acupuncture treats all the side-effects of Western therapies including nausea, immuno-suppression, fatigue, pain, swelling, problems with breating, swallowing, salivating and eliminating. Patients who have acupuncture with chemo and radiation experience fewer side effects, have a greater quality of life, and live longer. It should be a part of everyone's comprehensive cancer care. They should also connect with Gilda's Club and Imerman's Angels; two groups with which I am affiliated who provide great support ot those battling, and supporting the battle against, cancer.

Pediatrics is fun because kids are easy. Acupuncture is about moving the energy (at risk of sounding too esoteric), and the energy of children is much less stuck than that of adults. Most of the time with kids under 13 years old, we do not even need to insert the needles; but we can just touch the point with the back of the needle in a technique called "touch-needling". They tend to respond very well.

And orthopedics is fun because pain is easy to treat. I used to work in inpatient psychiatry with a population that had very little potential for progress. With acupucnture, 90% of my patients see progress. And with pain, we can see that progress immediately. (of course, not always)

So this is my blog. I will keep you all up to date on happenings at acfom, tiffani kim, and Jeanie and myself. This spring, I am presenting Grand Rounds at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center, the Wilmette Library, and will surely be speaking more to promote my book. You can also check acfom.com/new for updates and events.

Be Well,
Jason