Welcome back to Active Life Health Clinic's October newsletter.
This week I had to fly out to Vernon to do a lecture. It had been a
very hectic couple of weeks and I had a lot of "need to remember"
and "things to do" on my mind when I boarded the plane. Luckily I
looked out the window as we took off and was rewarded by a beatiful
view of the sun setting over the water. The sky was an incredible
glow of pink and orange
(who said those colours clash? certainly not in nature!) that was twice
as glorious because of its reflection in the water. Then, because
we were headed to the interior of B.C., of course the plane had to turn
around and...wow! The next view was as wonderful as the
first. The mountains were magnificently mysterious in their
silhouttes of blue. And as we flew over the mountains, that blue turned to the deep rich green
of the trees that covered them. Finally, before it became too
dark to see, the mountains turned jagged and sharp, but just as
beautiful and topped by ice and snow.
The reason why I'm telling you about this is that sometimes we get so
busy with the everyday stuff that we forget to look around. We
forget how we are fortunate. We take things for granted.
They will always be there, we think. Maybe. But, just maybe one
of the "need to remember" things we should take into account is that we
have an impact on the world around us. If you have ever had a
moment like I just described--whether it was catching a glimpse of a
fawn just before it ran away, seeing a rare creature or plant in a
faraway land, admiring the incredible architecture of a spider web, or
even just being amazed at how a flower can grow in a crack in the
cement--then you might want to consider what you can do to make it
possible that these things won't disappear.
In celebration of my 1st year in my own clinic,
as I did last year, I will be hosting a fundraiser at my clinic for the
David Suzuki Foundation. If you don't know what the David Suzuki
Foundation is and what they do, check them out here...
I would love to see you, so here are the details...
Date: Monday, October 23, 2006
Time: 12-7 p.m.
Place: My clinic in the Regent Medical Building, #410-2184 West Broadway, Vancouver
What: Part 1 - I will be offering 30 minute health consultations
and all proceeds will go to the David Suzuki Foundation. I am
suggesting a minimum donation of $20, but you are certainly welcome to
donate more if you wish. If you would like to make a donation of
$100 or more, you can fill out the donation form at the clinic and you
will receive a tax receipt. Otherwise, I will send all the money
in one mass sum to the David Suzuki Foundation on behalf of Active Life
Health Clinic. Please bring either a cash or cheque if your
donation is less than $100. Your health consulation can be a
brief Traditional Chinese Medicine consultation and diagnosis (as the
time is brief, I may not be able to do a complete diagnosis,
particularly if your case is complicated, but I can certainly get you
started and make some recommendations), chance to ask me some specific
health questions, learn more about what supplements or dietary changes
you should make, learn some heatlhy lifestyle suggestions, or simply
learn more about TCM.
Part 2 - You are also welcome to just drop in to say hello,
ask some quick questions, check out the clinic, and enjoy some healthy
snacks and tea. You are also certainly welcome to drop in just to
place your donation to the David Suzuki Foundation.
How: If you would like a consultation, please call 604-783-2846 or email office@activetcm.com to book your appointment. Otherwise, you are welcome to drop in anytime during the open house hours.
Please contact us if you have any questions at all. I hope to see you soon!
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Our Environment and Traditional Chinese Medicine
What do the weather, water, air, and soil have to do with TCM? Lots! |
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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.
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Our Environment and TCM
Last year, for my first open house and David Suzuki Foundation
fundraiser, I mentioned that the inspiration for me was going to the
Amazon rainforest and the Galapagos Islands. This year I realized
that I can find inspiration all around me, everyday.
Traditional Chinese Medicine's foundation is nature. The principles of
TCM are based on observations of natural occurrences. For example, wind
moves things, moves from place to place, and tends to affect the higher areas of the
trees more than the base, so in TCM, if we see symptoms of shaking or vibrating, or symptoms that move from
place to place and tend to affect the upper body, head, and face, then
we say that "Wind" is involved.
The next couple of paragraphs may be
review for some of you who have already talked to me, but a bit of
review is never bad, right?
TCM believes that everything is a
balance of opposing forces. In order to have light you must have
dark; sun needs moon; hot cannot be felt without cold; and so on.
This very important, but basic principle is represented by the
tai ji symbol below. Yin energy is represented by dark, moon,
cold, night, storing, female, nourishing. Yang energy is
characterized by light, sun, hot, day, moving, male, energizing.
Without one you cannot have the other. Each supports and
counters the other, so you must have a seed of Yin within Yang and Yang
within Yin.
TCM considers 5 elements from nature.
Each of them produces another element. Thus, on metal you
can condense water, water grows wood, wood burns as fire, fire burns
down to ash (earth), in earth you will find metal. Each of the
elements also controls another. So, metal chops wood, wood blocks
earth (like a fallen tree on a dirt path), earth dams water, water puts
out fire, and fire melts metal.
How beautiful a system is that?
From those
fundamental principles you can see how interconnected TCM believes we
are to our environment. If any of those elements are thrown into
imbalance, we will be affected. Too much Yang energy--e.g. too
many vehicles, over-consumption, over-crowding--and not enough
Yin energy--nourishing the land, caring for trees and water,
conservation--have led us to an imbalance. Think global warming.
What is that essentially? It is a worldwide rise in
temperature--a Yang consequence.
From a
purely health-oriented viewpoint, I do wonder if it is entirely
coincidental that the number one killer in our society is heart
disease. The heart and cardiovascular system is, in TCM, related
to the natural element of Fire. Has our excess of Fire
contributed to this? I don't know, but certainly stress,
overstimulation, and a "hot temper" do play a part in heart disease.
If you are
dedicated to wanting to improve your health or the health of your loved
ones, you cannot forget about the air that we breathe,the trees that hold the soil together,
the soil that grows the food that we eat, the land that the animals we
eat live on and feed on, and the water that we drink and that feeds or
houses everything we consume.
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Mediterranean Squash Salad
You won't find spaghetti in a spaghetti squash, but you will find
flesh that
separates into thin, tender strands. Toss them with orange juice,
currants, and pine nuts
for an unusual pasta salad.
Ingredients:
1
medium-size spaghetti squash (about 3 pounds)
1/3 cup currants
2 tablespoons each white wine vinegar, orange juice, and firmly packed
brown sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/4 cup pine nuts
Salt and pepper
Instructions:
Preparation time: About 45 minutes
Chilling time: At least 2 hours
Cut squash in half lengthwise; scoop out and discard seeds. Place
squash halves, cut side down, on a rack in a 5- to 6-quart pan (halves can overlap). Fill pan
with no more than 2 inches water (enough to come to just below rack). Bring to a boil. Cover pan
and boil steadily until squash pulp is tender when pierced (about 25 minutes); add more boiling water to
pan as needed. Let squash cool, then scoop out pulp and separate strands with two
forks. Mix squash with currants, vinegar, orange juice, sugar, and orange peel. Cover and
refrigerate until cold (at least 2 hours), or until next day. Stir pine nuts into squash mixture. Season to
taste with salt and pepper.
Nutrition information:
Per serving: 95 calories (26% fat, 66% carbohydrates, 8% protein),
3 grams total fat, 0.5 grams saturated fat, 0 milligrams cholesterol, 17 grams carbohydrates, 2
grams protein, 22 milligrams sodium.
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Active Life Health Clinic
Dr. Melissa Carr, B.Sc., Dr.TCM, R.Ac.
Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Activetcm.com
melissa@activetcm.com
office: 604-783-2846
fax: 604-736-3466
Regent Medical Building
#410-2184 West Broadway
Vancouver, B.C., V6K 2E1
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Thank you!
In appreciation of each of your referrals, Dr. Melissa Carr will offer you 10% off of
your health product purchase, so don't forget to tell your friends,
family, colleagues, and acquaintances to give us your name when they
book an appointment.
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