Welcome back to Active Life Health Clinic's March  newsletter.

Clinic News: Dr. Melissa Carr will has expanded her clinic hours to now include Wednesday afternoons.  

The first days of spring start this month.  What does spring mean to you?  To me it is about renewal!  Time to clear the clutter, clear your mind, clean your body, start something new.

Congratulations to Scott Livingstone for winning the hand blender with his submission for his favourite natural healing idea:

"For a rear headache, I sometimes apply pressure to the first fleshy point at the base of the skull where it meets the spine."  There are several acupuncture points there that can be used to relieve occipital headaches.  Try it yourself if you ever have the need!

This month, email me with your idea(s) on how to renew yourself--mind, body, and/or spirit for a chance to win a bottle of Sisu chewable Ester-C vitamins.

TCM Essentials About Spring--the basics.  It's all about the poor, overworked Liver!     Detox Quickies: Detoxification made easy.  Every little bit helps.  You don't necessarily have to (or want to) go full force in detoxifying, especially if it's your first time or if it has been awhile, but helping your body to eliminate toxins IS important.     Go Green!  Traditional Chinese Medicine understands that our health ultimately depends on the health of our environment.  Here are some suggestions for healthy changes you can make that will help our environment, or at least not hurt it futher.     Helping you help yourself! My goal: To work in partnership with you to bring you to your optimal health. My focus: Ongoing health, not just temporary relief. This is active health.

TCM Essentials About Spring

Element: Wood
TCM Organ systems: Liver and Gallbladder
Colour: Green– the colour of fresh new leaves and grass
Emotion: Anger – spring clean your anger issues
Flavour: Sour – try naturally sour foods like yogurt, raw sauerkraut, fresh lemon in water
Body tissue: Tendons and ligaments – stretch!
Sense organ: Eyes – take care of your overworked peepers
Health Issues to Address: Related to the Liver—detoxification: reduce the burden by limiting your toxin exposure from processed foods, intoxicants, and chemical household products and bodycare products.

Liver-related issues that TCM can help...

• Manage stress and calm irritability

• Improve your liver's ability to detoxify your body

• Speed healing of injuries and relax tight muscles, tendons, ligaments

• Treat women's hormone imbalances causing PMS, menstrual cramps, irregular menstruation, perimenopausal symptoms, etc.

• Boost energy and lift your spirits

• And more...
  
  

Not all of us have the time, energy, resources, and stick-to-itedness needed to do a full out detoxification protocol.  Every little bit helps though.  So, besides eliminating the addition of toxins, here are some easy suggestions for spring cleaning your body.

1. Drink lots of water.  Water is necessary to move waste products out of your cells and out of your body.  For an added boost, squeeze some fresh lemon into your water (always room temperature or warmer to follow TCM principles) and drink it first thing in the morning.

2. Drink some detoxifying teas. Dandelion tea, while very bitter, can help cleanse the liver. Or, try a premade blend:  Triflora

3. Eat detoxifying foods such as:

1. Burdock root (the Japanese call it gobo) is a blood cleanser.  For more info and recipes click here (no it's not me, but I love her site!). 

2. Mung beans are often used in soups, but make sure to soak them overnight first!  You can add them to a variety of soups and stews or try this Mung Bean Casserole.

3. Beets are blood cleansers.  Pick your favourite...here are beet recipes galore.

4. Eat your greens!  Need an easier way?  Use green drink powders.  Simply mix in water or juice.  Genki Grains and Greens

4. Eat more fibre which helps scrape the intestinal walls of their waste and absorbs some waste products on the way out. Evernew Fibre or try psyllium husk (but make sure you drink it with lots of water)

5. Take vitamin C which helps the body to produce glutathione, a liver compound that drives away toxins.  Emergen C

6. Take a bath.  Can you believe it's that easy?  It can be.  Add Dr.Singha's Mustard Bath powder

7. Exercising causes you to sweat and wastes can be eliminated through your pores.  Jumping rope is a great way to stimulate your lymph circulation.

8. Want something even easier?  Place these patches on the bottoms of your feet and let them do the job while you are sleeping!  Detox Patches
    

Go Green!

TCM follows the flow of nature.  In Vancouver, we've been blessed by green year-round, but spring here still heralds new growth: new green leaves, new greener grass, new flowers, and new sprouts.  Going green can be about eating more organic greens, starting your own herb garden, and/or choosing a gas-efficient vehicle or using your own power to commute. Kermit the Frog says, "It's not easy being green", but I disagree.  I think that a few small changes can make all the difference in the world!

For your home:
Transform ordinary household ingredients into safe and inexpensive cleaners. Here are a few to try:

• Sink cleaner – Mix baking soda, salt and water into a paste.

• Toilet bowl cleaner – Flush toilet to wet the sides of the bowl. Sprinkle 1 cup of borax on the insides. Drizzle 1/2 cup of vinegar over the borax and leave overnight. Scrub with a toilet brush and flush.

• Glass cleaner – Most glass cleaners contain ammonia or alcohol whose fumes can be irritating to breathe. Plain club soda will do the same job at a fraction of the cost.

Healthy Plants:
NASA and the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA) have announced the findings of a 2-year study that suggest a sophisticated pollution-absorbing device: the common indoor plant may provide a natural way to help clean the air.

• Areca palm

• Reed palm

• Dwarf date palm

• Boston fern

• Janet Craig dracaena

• English ivy

• Australian sword fern

• Peace Lily

• Rubber plant

• Weeping fig

Although many plants like light, they do not all have to be placed near windows. Many indoor plants originated in the dense shade of tropical forests and have a high rate of photosynthesis. These are ideal for the home and can be placed in darker corners. When positioning plants, try to strike a balance between light and ventilation because the effect of plants on indoor air pollution appears to be reduced if they are set in a draft.
For more information on the plants themselves: http://www.denverplants.com
For more information on the NASA study: http://www.zone10.com/tech/NASA/Fyh.htm

For Your Body:
We've all heard about the controversy between organic versus conventional foods.  Is it really worth the price difference?  A research poll in 2004 showed that about 58% of Canadians have purchased certified organic foods.  Certified organic fruits, vegetables, and grains cannot be sprayed with herbicides, pesticides, or fungacides and cannot be genetically modified.  Certified organic livestock cannot be given steroids or unnecessary antibiotics or hormones and must be fed organic food.  Not only does this benefit our environment by not adding chemicals to our land, air, and water, but it also benefits our health.  A University of Washington study found that children who ate organic fruit had much less agricultural pesticides in their bodies than children who ate conventional fruit.  Which would you rather choose? 

If you find that going all organic is too difficult or pricey, note that these "most contaminated" fruits and veggies are the ones that you can put first on your organic list.   At the very least, make the majority of your food choices as "whole foods", i.e. foods that are not overly processed. 

Contaminated fruit and veggies:      

http://www.foodnews.org/reportcard.php -- Environmental Working Group

For More Ideas:

David Suzuki Foundation

And finally, let us know your birthday
so we can email you a birthday card and gift at the right time!