Good Healthy Habits

Everyone wishes to be healthy without sickness. Here are some general suggestions.

Acupuncture and Herbs for the Four Seasons

We all know that there are four seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter. We also know summer is hot and winter is cold. Breezy wind is in the spring. Fall is dry. We can prepare our health before seasons change. For example, we can get an acupuncture treatment to make a cool body before summer. Even though summer is hot, we are able to confront hotness more easily. We can get a treatment to make our body warm before winter, so it’s easier when we encounter the cold winter.  Here are my suggestions to prepare for the changing seasons.

Acupuncture treatments before each change of seasons

Everyone should get four treatments a year minimum before each change of seasons. This applies until your forties. When you get into your fifties, you should get five treatments a year. In your sixties, get acupuncture treatments six times a year. Now you have the idea. The reason is when we get older, our metabolism gets slower, so more treatments are needed.

Oriental Herbs to support your body

Our body and mind work as the result of the intersection of certain vital substances, which are Qi, blood, body fluids and essence. This theory sounds very complicated to someone who has not studied Oriental Medicine, so I will try to make it easy to understand.

• Qi is an energy which manifests simultaneously on the physical and spiritual level. This is the result of Qi of heaven and earth. What exists between heaven and earth? The answer is air. Air is absolutely necessary for human body. Therefore my interpretation is the ability to breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide in our body.

• Blood is a pretty similar concept with western medicine.

• Body fluids are tears, snivel, saliva and etc.

• Essence is hormone and bone marrow.

Taking herbs is a good way to supply all these necessary ingredients. We suggest taking herbs once a year until your forties and two times a year from your fifties on. You can read about Oriental herbal medicine for more details.

If you follow our suggestions, you will live healthily and look young. You will also maintain better health than a person who never heard of these ideas.
 

Any food eaten on the same date must be out on the following date.

Some eat 2 meals a day or 3 meals a day. Some eat small amounts but 5 to 6 times a day. It might be a good idea to know the relationship between times and organs. There are many ideas how often we go to the bathroom for stools. Some claims depending on how many meals a day. This theory says 3 meals per day means 3 times of bathroom. Understandable theory, but feels too often and too much.

It might be desirable to go to the bathroom between 5:00 and 7:00 in the morning every day as the most active time of large intestine is between 5:00 and 7:00 in the morning. Whatever we eat today, we must excrete next morning. Let us figure out how long it takes food digestion to a stool. After foods are taken from the mouth, food moves to the stomach and stays there for 3-4 hours. From stomach to small intestine to large intestine and to the rectum. This procedure takes about 12 hours. Let us assume to eat dinner at 6 pm and finish it at 6:30 pm. All food taken as a dinner will be ready for excretion at 6:30 in the morning. If you go to the bathroom at 8:00 in the morning, you must finish dinner before 8:00 in the evening. After dinner, we don’t eat any food. 

This is normal and it must be in this way. When excreting all stools from the body, all toxics are removed. We don’t have to carry all toxics to the next day. Do you have any good reasons to carry stool for next day? If anyone excretes every other day or longer, it might be constipation and should be taken care of.

I believe the body needs all tastes

Tongues are able to taste sour, bitter, sweet, pungent or spicy, and salty. Why? I believe body needs all tastes. However we choose what we like and try to avoid bitter taste, for instance. Let me give you one example. Bile is absolutely necessary to take care of fatty food. Without bile, fat will be absorbed into body and accumulated in the body causing over weight.

Where does bile come from? My point of view is for bile is made from bitter taste foods and accumulated at gallbladder. When foods are digested and move to duodenum, bile excretes and mixes with food from stomach. Bile looks green and very bitter. Without eating bitter taste foods, how can our body produce bile? Therefore we must eat well balanced foods with a mixture of all 5 tastes mentioned above. Depending on personal conditions and seasons, these amounts might be changed. You should consult with a knowledgeable acupuncturist.
 

Exercise

Exercise for a continuous 40 minutes a day every day. It is not 4 times of 10 minutes. I don’t agree that you should exercise at least 5 times per week. It must be every day. If you don’t exercise, your body is supposed to be achey. Then you have to exercise. And you are all set to be healthy. I don’t recommend excessive exercise, but enough to sweat a little bit. Sweating a little bit means Qi and blood are circulating whole body already. Many people say that they know exercise is good, but have no time to do it. This is my suggestion and also what I do. Everyone, rich or poor, young or old has only 24 hours a day. I do exercise while I watch news or daily drama, catching two birds with one stone.