Germ Warfare

Flu Virus Image via Wikipedia

You never have to wonder when the “cold and flu season” is around the corner.  Big Pharma will be sure that you are reminded of its impending arrival no matter where you turn.

When the dreaded season of doom drapes its black curtain over us, whatever you do, don’t come within sneezing distance of anybody, don’t even think about shaking anyone’s hand or otherwise engaging in bodily contact, and NEVER, EVER touch a doorknob, shopping cart, or any other object that might have possibly come into contact with any human at any point during its existence. [Read more →]

Take Aim at a New Life

January is the time when most of us start to ponder what we want to accomplish in the new year.  What are you going to do in 2012?  Do you have a health, fitness or other personal goal?  Will you be running a marathon? Getting back in shape or going to eat better this year?  Set yourself up for success and write down a specific goal and this could be the year you will achieve it. [Read more →]

Get the Scoop on Treating Croup

Sometime last week around 3 a.m. I woke up to the sound of a seal barking.  It to a few minutes for me to

Croupy Cough

realize that it was my son coughing.  My next thought was, “Oh boy, here we go again with the croup.”  My husband and I are no strangers to croup since my oldest son typically gets it once or twice a year.   The first time he had croup he was about 18 months old and I was just finishing my advanced classes in acupuncture pediatrics.   [Read more →]

Acupuncture has been safely used to treat a wide variety health problems in babies, toddlers and children for

Child having Acupuncture

thousands of years.   It is a safe, natural and effective treatment that works with the body and has very few adverse effects.  As a pediatric acupuncturist I can assure you acupuncture is completely safe for kids and now there is current research to support this assertion!  The first systematic review study of pediatric acupuncture safety was published in the December 2011 issue of the journal Pediatrics. It confirms that acupuncture is safe for kids when performed by a qualified practitioner.

I believe acupuncture for kids is even safer than the study findings [Read more →]

Me & My Son

The subject of skin conditions is one that hits close to home for me. My oldest son, now age 7, started to develop eczema when he was about 3 months old. By 9 months the eczema had spread from the back of his arms to most of his body, except his trunk and scalp. I tried all the conventional medical treatments which included hydrocortisone creams, other prescription eczema creams, baths with a small amount of bleach (can you believe the dermatologist recommended that) and nothing worked. I was reluctant to continue such harsh ineffective treatment, so I took it upon myself to become on expert in Traditional Chinese Medical (TCM) Treatments for treating eczema and other skin conditions.

How Can Acupuncture Help Skin Conditions? [Read more →]

Children having Acupuncture

You’ve decided to bring your child in for acupuncture treatment and now you’re wondering what you’re going to tell them about their initial visit.  In order to help explain to your child what is involved with an acupuncture treatment we’ve got a few pointers to help you out.

Be honest with your child about what the visit is for
If your child is old enough to understand what is going on with their body, explain to them why they are coming in for an acupuncture visit.  Let them know you’ll be discussing their problem with the acupuncturist. [Read more →]

The last few weeks I’ve been experimenting to make the perfect GFCF banana muffins.  I also wanted to try using different flours than rice flour since it seems like every pre-packaged mix on the market has rice four in it and I want to eat a variety of grains, not just substitute one for the other.  After half a dozen attempts, I finally found the perfect combination to make delicious banana muffins with millet and sorghum flours. Here is the recipe. [Read more →]

New research has just been released which shows that acupuncture can help children who have autism spectrum disorder.  The study found that after 12 weekly treatments of acupuncture the children showed improvement in the following areas:

• social initiation
• receptive language
• motor skills
• attention span
• coordination (including better writing ability)

Healthy Halloween Ideas

Make a Peace Offering the the Goblins and Ghouls

As Halloween approaches and excitement builds for the big day, its time to bring out the parent’s bag of

Strawberry Ghosts

tricks for making Halloween healthy and fun!  Start by taking the focus off the candy and redirecting it to other fun activities.  Make a family trip to the local pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins.  Look for other family Halloween activities.  Include your children as you pull out the Halloween decorations or select new ones.  Create a unique costume for your child or brainstorm what they are going to wear.  Carving pumpkins is messy and fun!  Explore “Halloween foods” that are orange such as yams and carrots.  We like to make Halloween fries from sweet potatoes. Click here for more healthy ideas.

One great way to get rid of all that Halloween candy comes from one of my patients.   Every year she tells the kids that they must make a peace offering to the goblins and ghouls to spare their house from the fiendish foolery Halloween night.  They leave their peace offering, all the candy they collected, on the front doorstep.  When the kids wake in the morning they run downstairs to see what the Goblins and Ghouls have left them in return.  The candy magically disappears and is forgotten and is replaced by a present for each kid!

Do you have an inspired way to keep Halloween Healthy?  Please leave a comment and share your ideas.

A – Abdominal Pains, Achilles Tendonitis, Allergies, Anxiety, Arthritis, Asthma

B – Back Aches, Bladder or Bowel Problems, Blood Pressure, Bronchitis

C – Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Cataract, Catarrh, Circulation, Colds, Colitis, Conjunctivitis, Coughs, Cystitis

D – Depression, Dermatitis, Diarrhea, Digestive Complaints, Dizziness

E – Earaches, Eczema, Endometriosis, Energy [Read more →]