powersacupuncture.com » Nutrition

Foods to Add for a Winter Diet

Gillian — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:09:44 +0000

As a general rule, it is best to eat foods that grow during the current season and/or have a warming affect. In the winter time, or when we are trying to strengthen the kidneys and bladder energy, the following foods can be added:

Vegetables – bok choy, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, chard, chives, cinnamon bark, clove, cranberries, dulse, fennel, ginger, green beans, hijiki, horseradish, kale, kelp, kidney beans, leeks, lentils, mung beans, onions, parsnips, peanuts, potatoes, seaweed, sesame seeds, soybeans (black), spinach, squash, sweet potato, tempeh, turnip, yam, wakame, water chestnuts

Grains – amaranth, barley, buckwheat, corn, kasha, millet, quinoa, rye

Meat/Proteins – beef kidney, egg yolk, lamb, smoked tofu

AVOID salting your food to excess, pungent foods, alcohol, artificial sweeteners, stimulants, and salty processed foods like potato chips, bacon, sausage and canned soups.

Eating In Winter

Gillian — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 02:39:05 +0000

Catherine Varchaver, Nutrition Counselor at Body and Soul Nutrition, has great wisdom about eating with the seasons. Her article Season to Season: Ode to Eating and Living with Winter, is a lovely piece echoing the energetics of winter I treat through acupuncture, by using foods appropriate to the season. I know that by eating stews, root vegetables and other warming foods during the winter, I feel stronger and more grounded than when I eat the raw and cooling foods more appropriate to summer. Food is one of the main ways we gain qi/energy, and it serves us best when we eat with intention – both in what we eat and how we eat it.

I love that there are different ways to nourish our bodies and spirits. I often recommend foods to my clients to nourish a particular energy. For example, I just saw a client the other day who injured his foot while running a 10k race. He has several other symptoms that point to a kidney deficiency, like sore back and knees, fatigue, hair loss and urinary problems. His chronic underlying deficiency laid the groundwork for this acute injury to occur. During his appointment, I treated points to strengthen his kidney energy, as well as points to nourish his spirit so he could be more resilient and healthy in general. I also recommended kidney strengthening foods such as miso, kelp, barley, kale, horseradish, parsnips, and sweet potatoes. That way he’s giving himself mini-treatments whenever he eats!

Diet and Lifestyle Are Key to Health

Gillian — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:59:32 +0000

There was a very simple and powerful piece in The Wall Street Journal the other day that I thought useful. Written by Deepak Chopra, Dean Ornish, Rustum Roy and Andrew Weil, it stated that diet and lifestyle changes are often more successful and cost effective healthcare than medicines and procedures currently paid for by insurance. Click here to read the full text.

A Recipe for Autumn

Gillian — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 04:00:10 +0000

Try this simple but delicious recipe for Carrot Ginger Soup which blends the nourishing, soothing qualities of late summer’s Earth energy, according to Chinese medicine, with Autumn’s pungent clearing energy found in ginger. Cooked carrots are very gentle on the digestive system and the nervous system, too. Serve this in a soup plate with a side of crusty whole grain bread and arugula salad made with roasted walnuts, apples and balsamic mustard vinaigrette. Or have it in a small bowl as a first course, followed by blackened cod and your favorite cooked greens and garlic– another pungent gem of Autumn’s healing energy. Learn more at Body and Soul Nutrition.

CATHERINE’S CARROT GINGER SOUP
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil or 1 Tbsp organic butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
6 cups water or vegetable/chicken stock
3 pounds organic carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 small potato, quartered
3 Tbsp lime juice
Sea salt and black pepper
Handful fresh cilantro, chopped

Add olive oil to (or melt butter) in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and ginger and saute until the onion is translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the water or stock and carrots and potato. Cover and simmer until the carrots and potato are tender, about 35 minutes. Working in batches, puree the mixture in a blender. Stir in the lime juice. Season to taste. Thin the soup with about 3/4 cup warm water if necessary. Sprinkle cilantro over each bowl of soup when serving.

The Pungent Power of Ginger

Gillian — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 03:36:59 +0000

As we head into cold and flu season, take advantage of one of Nature’s most powerful medicines for the lungs: ginger. It’s pungent, spicy quality is associated with Autumn and the Metal Element in Chinese Medicine and it is considered to be warming and clearing. Drink it as a tea with a spoonful of honey and a squeeze of lemon– it’ll make you sweat and help loosen any phlegm so that your body can move it out. Ginger is also great for soothing a queasy stomach, so enjoy!

FRESH GINGER TEA
Take an inch-long piece of fresh ginger and slice it up thinly, peel and all. Simmer in 4 cups of water for 15 minutes. Drain the pieces out (or not) and drink as hot as you can stand it for the greatest healing effect.

Ginger is peppery, so if the tea tastes too spicy for you, mix in a spoonful of local honey and a squeeze of lemon. Enjoy this anytime you feel chilled or have a cold or respiratory illness. This flavorful, old-fashioned remedy has been used by East and West alike for centuries!

For more in-depth nutritional consultations, contact Catherine Varchaver at Body and Soul Nutrition.

Foods for Springtime

Gillian — Thu, 17 May 2007 20:51:32 +0000

To support your health this season, add a few of these foods into your diet.

Beans (Sprouted): Adzuki, Garbanzo, Fava, Lentil, Mung

Fruit: Avocado, Blackberry, Date, Grapes, Grapefruit, Jicama, Lemon, Lime, Loquat, Olive, Orange, Strawberry, Tangelo, Tangerine

Grains (Sprouted): Barley, Buckwheat, Corn, Rice, Rye, Wheat

Herbs: Anise, Basil, Bay leaf, Cardamom, Chickweed, Chicory, Chives, Cilantro, Cumin, Dandelion root, Dill, Fennel, Green tea, Hawthorn berry, Marjoram, Milk Thistle, Mint, Nettle, Parsley, Peppermint, Raspberry, Rosemary, Rosehip, Sassafras

Seeds (Sprouted): Alfalfa, Clover, Radish, Sunflower

Vegetables: Alfalfa, Artichoke, Asparagus, Beets & Beet greens, Bok choy, Brussels sprouts, Cauliflower, Celery, Chard, Collard greens, Comfrey, Dandelion, Garlic, Green onion, Green peas, Kale, Leeks, Lettuce, Mushroom, Mustard greens, Olives, Parsley, Pickles, Radish, Rhubarb, Sorrel greens, Sauerkraut, Spinach, Sugar peas, Watercress

The Scoop on Water

Gillian — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 15:28:51 +0000

There’s a good bit of controversy over water intake and dehydration. For a while there was an email going around claiming pretty impressive powers of water. It appears to have some research to support it, though I haven’t been able to nail down the original article.

In general, the ‘right’ amount of water per day is different for each individual. We lose water through our breath, sweat, and urine. We take in fluids through our food and drink. Generally, if ingoing fluids are equal or greater to outgoing fluids, you’re not dehydrated.

And yet, our bodies tend to flow more smoothly with a relative excess of water — digestion, excretion of wastes, connective tissue, muscles and joints. I notice that my skin is clearer and softer, my digestion easier, my joints and muscles move with less crackling and aching. So aim for 8-10 glasses of non-alcoholic fluids per day. See what that feels like for a couple of weeks. Then try drinking less and see if you notice a difference in your mental clarity, skin health, digestive regularity, hunger, general ease of movement. You’re the best judge of what feels right in your body.