Allendale Acupuncture & Nutrition Clinic

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Tag: health

How to Detoxify Our Bodies Fast and Easy

Posted by on in Detox Your Body

The more I research about human health issues, I am dumbfounded to realize how toxicity affects every aspects of our being.

Let’s face it: The environment we live in getting increasingly toxic, and our immune functions have deteriorated to an alarming rate.

Actually, we consume a lot of toxic food from GMO’s (genetically modified organisms) that directly impact our DNA structures, let alone high amount of preservatives and chemicals found in so many food items. We drink highly contaminated water filled with fluoride and chlorine, medical wastes, and other heavy metals.

The air we breathe contains hundreds of toxic particles. Furthermore, we have no idea how radiation from Fukushima, nearby nuclear plants, or even microwave ovens affect us. Then, every now and then, we are confronted with new epidemic scares like Zika virus, Ebola, or SARS.

I will cut to the chase and offer my personal opinions on how to defend ourselves from this crazy onslaught of toxic overload. By the way, there are three golden rules I must emphasize before I go on.

  1. Please minimize your consumption of wheat, sugar, and dairies. Most ideal will be cut them out entirely except organic butter and yogurt.
  2. Try to eat organic raw food as much as possible, even though your grocery bill will go higher.
  3. Minimize prescription drugs.

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Here are some inexpensive, effective, and powerful detox protocols designed to remove toxic materials buried in their organs, blood streams, and cellular structures. If interested, please do your own research. Expect some Herxheimer reactions (short-lived initial reactions such as nausea, headaches, and extreme fatigue) when you embark on any of these detox protocols.

  1. Bentonite Clay and Psyllium Husks—incredibly cheap and easy procedure to get rid of heavy metals, chemicals, medical wastes, hormonal debris, and radiation exposure. This procedure is refuted to be effective in dealing with IBS, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, Lyme, Lupus, chronic headaches and migraines, high triglycerides, arthritis, and high blood pressure. Bentonite clay removes old dead fecal matters (called mucoid plaque) attached to your intestines.
  2. Fulvic Acid and Humic Acid—similar to Bentonite Clay and Psyllium detox, but this one goes a little deeper. This is extremely powerful detox protocol for people who went through chemotherapy or radiation therapies. Effects are similar to Bentonite Clay, although this Acid typically provides a feeling of high energy.
  3. Parasite Removal—there are a number of cheap and highly effective ways to get rid of parasites, yeast, and harmful bacteria, and viruses that float inside our bodies. One of the most effective way dealing with hundreds of insects residing in our bodies is called Diamaterous. Bentonite clay and/or Fulvic acid must be done prior to, or concurrently with parasite removal.
  4. Liver/Gallbladder cleansing—our liver is responsible for cleansing our blood. When our blood stream is clean, there can’t be any disease, period. Please refer to Dr. Clark’s liver cleansing protocols.

It may take 3-4 months for healthy individuals, and 6 months to a year for those with health challenges. These detox protocols must be repeated at a regular interval, although Fulvic/Humid Acid can be taken permanently. If done properly, any combination of these protocols will assist you in getting off from many unnecessary medications, enjoying mental clarity, and a surge of energy.

Good luck and let me know about your experiments.

Strengthen Your Resolve

Posted by on in Self-Will

This period of reflection and renewed resolve may be challenging, but it can also be productive and rewarding. If health is a big issue, try to give a shot at acupuncture and Chinese medicine. Acupuncture and Chinese medicine can help achieve the change you seek as it assists in illness prevention, stress relief, minimize aches and pains, improve energy, and you find yourself in better balance. Seasonal acupuncture treatments serve to nurture and nourish your kidney Qi, which can greatly enhance the body’s ability to thrive in times of stress and aid in healing, preventing illness, and increasing vitality.

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Here are a few ways that acupuncture can help you achieve your goals:

Eliminate Stress

Stress reduction is always on the top 10 list for New Year’s resolutions, and for a good reason–it is often the cause of illness and deterioration of health. Numerous studies have demonstrated the substantial benefits of acupuncture in the treatment of stress, anxiety, and lowering blood pressure.

Improved Quality of Life

If pain is keeping you from living life to the fullest, acupuncture can help and can be helpful for all types of pain, regardless of the cause or where it is located. Increasingly, people are looking for more natural approaches to help relieve painful conditions instead of relying on medication. In addition to reducing pain, acupuncture also hastens the healing process by increasing circulation and attracting white blood cells to an injured area.

Get in Shape

Renewed enthusiasm to exercise in order to enhance fitness levels, train for a competition, or lose weight can come at a painful price for those who try to do too much too quickly. Recent studies show that acupuncture effectively treats sports injuries such as strains, sprains, musculoskeletal pain, swollen muscles, and shin splints.

Lose Weight

Losing weight is the most common New Year’s resolution. Acupuncture and Chinese medicine can help you reach your goal weight and maintain it by promoting better digestion, smoothing emotions, reducing appetite, improving metabolism, and eliminating food cravings–all of which can help energize the body, maximize absorption of nutrients, regulate elimination, control overeating, and reduce anxiety.

Strengthen Your Digestive Health with Acupuncture

Posted by on in Uncategorized

Our gastrointestinal tract (GI tract) starts from the mouth and ends at the anus. There are a number of diseases associated with our GI tract ranging from excessive gas build-up, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea to more serious conditions such as acid reflux (GERD), ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and Crohn’s disease. Most of these conditions are chronic, although some conditions of ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease can be life-threatening.

Early Chinese medical texts state that “The origins of any chronic disease can be traced back to compromised digestive function.” In other words, Chinese medicine views digestive health as the foundation to total health.

digestive health

According to Chinese medical theory, most digestive disorders are due to disharmony in the spleen and stomach. In fact, it’s not so much the stomach that holds the key in maintaining optimal digestive function, it’s the SPLEEN.

Unlike Western medicine that views the spleen as not-so-vital, Chinese medicine considers the spleen an extremely important organ, not only for digestive functions, but for reproductive health, immune functions, and vascular strength.

The spleen (which includes the pancreas in Chinese medical theory) takes a lead role in the assimilation of nutrients and maintenance of physical strength. It turns digested food from the stomach into usable nutrients and Qi (energy).

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The liver also plays a critical role in the digestive process. When the spleen is weak, the liver cannot move smoothly, so that the combined effects of weak spleen and liver often result in serious digestive disorders.

In addition, the large/small intestines, the gallbladder, and the kidneys are intricately involved in our digestive process. Therefore, maintaining optimal digestive heath always requires a holistic approach that takes into a whole body into account, not just the organs associated with the GI tract.

Nutrition Response Testing for Digestive Health

Posted by on in Uncategorized

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine offers extremely effective means of combating both acute and chronic digestive disorders. However, when it comes to identifying specific diet changes or eliminating pathogens from the GI tract, Nutrition Response Testing offers far more detailed, individually-tailored information.

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For instance, Nutrition Response Testing can immediately identify which food items wreak havoc on one’s digestive health, and whether or not one’s digestive system needs additional enzymes.

Typically, “wheat and sugar” are the major culprits, although eggs, dairy products, soy, rye, nuts, and other grains can cause violent reactions for some people. Once identified as “threats,” patients are advised to stay away from those food items for at least 90 days. In the mean time, various real-food-based supplements are introduced to neutralize “overly sensitized” tissues in the GI tract.

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Not only food items, Nutrition Response Testing can easily detect whether one’s digestive disorder is caused by pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, yeast, fungus, and/or parasites. Metal and/or chemical toxins embedded in the GI tract can be identified as well.

We have found that most of digestive disorders are caused by combined effects of food items, pathogens, and toxins. We HIGHLY recommend Nutrition Response Testing for anyone who experiences digestive issues.

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Is your digestive system functioning as well as it can? Call (201)760-8811 today for more information or to schedule an appointment.

Nurture Your Cardiovascular Health

Posted by on in Cardiovascular Health

February is the American Heart Association’s Heart Health Awareness Month. The cardiovascular system consists of the heart and blood vessels, and is responsible for carrying nutrients and oxygen to the tissues and removing carbon dioxide and other waste from them.

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Diseases affecting the cardiovascular system include arteriosclerosis, coronary artery disease, heart valve disease, arrhythmia, heart failure, hypertension, orthostatic hypotension, and congenital heart disease..

Cardiovascular disease is the leading health threat, with heart disease and stroke topping the list of leading causes of death worldwide. One out of every two men and one out of every three women will develop heart disease sometime in their life.

By integrating acupuncture and Oriental medicine into your heart-healthy lifestyle, you can reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease by as much as 80 percent. Let’s take a look at how acupuncture can assist your cardiovascular health.

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1. Manage High Blood Pressure
Acupuncture has been found to be particularly helpful in lowering blood pressure. By applying acupuncture needles at specific sites along the wrist, inside the forearm or in the leg, researchers at the Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, were able to stimulate the release of opioids, which decreases the heart’s activity and thus its need for oxygen. This, in turn, lowers blood pressure.

2. Maintain a Healthy Weight
Obesity is associated with diabetes, high blood pressure and coronary artery disease–all of which increase the risk of developing heart disease. Acupuncture and Oriental medicine is an excellent adjunctive tool when it comes to losing weight. They can help to energize the body, maximize the absorption of nutrients, regulate elimination, control overeating, suppress the appetite and reduce anxiety.

3. Reduce Stress
In Chinese Medicine, the Heart is the King of all of our physiological, emotional, and spiritual health. Excessive stress can easily damage the heart so that people with a high degree of stress often suffer from high blood pressure, chest pains, or irregular heartbeats. Numerous studies have demonstrated the substantial benefits of acupuncture in the treatment of stress, anxiety and mental health.

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4. Improve Sleep Quality
Poor sleep has been linked with high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, heart failure, heart attacks, stroke, diabetes and obesity. Acupuncture has shown great success treating a wide array of sleep problems without any of the side effects of prescription or over-the-counter sleep aids. The acupuncture treatments for problems sleeping focus on the root disharmony within the body that is causing the insomnia. Therefore, those who use acupuncture for insomnia achieve not only better sleep, but also an overall improvement of physical and mental health.

5. If You Smoke, Quit
Most people associate cigarette smoking with breathing problems and lung cancer. But did you know that smoking is also a major cause of coronary artery disease? In fact, about 20 percent of all deaths from heart disease are directly related to cigarette smoking.

Acupuncture has shown to be an effective treatment for smoking. Acupuncture treatments for smoking cessation focus on jitters, cravings, irritability and restlessness–symptoms that people commonly complain about when they quit. It also aids in relaxation and detoxification.

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Tips for Maximizing for Your Cardiovascular Health

Posted by on in Cardiovascular Health

There’s really no reason to take statins and suffer the damaging health effects from these dangerous drugs. Adopt a holistic approach that will benefit your overall health—which includes a healthy cardiovascular system.

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  • Optimize your vitamin D levels. Appropriate sun exposure is critical in maintaining a healthy heart.
  • Reduce grains and sugars in your diet.
  • Eat plenty of cruciferous vegetables such as kale, brussels sprouts, broccoli, radish, turnips and cabbages.
  • Eat at least three cloves of garlic a day.
  • Consume a moderate amount of high-quality animal (organic grass-fed) fats.

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  • Other heart-healthy foods include olive oil, coconut and coconut oil, organic raw dairy products, eggs, avocados, raw nuts and seeds.
  • Exercise daily. Make sure you incorporate peak fitness, which also optimizes your human growth hormone (HGH) production.
  • Address your stress level through yoga, Qi-kong, or Emotional Freedom Tapping(EFT). Daily meditation for only five minutes can dramatically reduce your stress level.
  • Avoid smoking or drinking alcohol excessively.
  • Be sure to get plenty of good, restorative sleep.

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Improve Your Endocrine Health Through Chinese Medicine

Posted by on in Endocrine Health

Endocrine glands impact every area of your health.  Responsible for hormonal functions in the body, the endocrine system produces 30 distinct hormones, each of which has a very specific job to do.

This system controls your physical growth, mood, hormone output, reproduction, mental functionality, and immune system.

Typical symptoms of the endocrine disorders include: low immunity, fatigue, weight gain, depression, digestive issues, hair loss, arthritis, and feeling chilled regardless of the temperature.

Major endocrine glands in our bodies

Adrenals –

Adrenal glands regulate the body’s response to stress. Made of two parts, the outer part produces corticosteroid hormones that regulate the balance of salt and water, stress response, metabolism, immune function, and the reproductive system; the inner part secretes adrenaline hormones that increase blood pressure and heart rate in response to stress.

Pancreas –

The pancreas produces insulin and glucagon, two hormones that work together to provide the body with a constant supply of glucose which is the source of energy.

Pineal –

The pineal gland, also known as the “third eye,” produces the serotonin derivative melatonin, a hormone that affects the wake/sleep patterns and seasonal functions.

Hypothalamus and Pituitary –

As the primary link between the endocrine and central nervous systems, the pituitary gland secrete or suppress the release of various hormone messages to the other glands. The pituitary gland is also responsible for secreting growth hormones.

Reproductive –

These glands secrete hormones that control the development of male and female characteristics. In males, these glands secrete androgen hormones, most importantly testosterone. In females, they produce estrogen, progesterone, eggs, and are involved in reproductive functions.

Thyroid –

Thyroid hormones control the growth, temperature and function of every cell in the body. The gland acts as the metabolic engine of the body — if it secretes too little hormone, the body slows and dies; if it secretes too much, the body burns out and dies.

endocrine system 1

When it comes to treating the endocrine disorders, Chinese medicine seeks the root cause of the patient’s imbalance. The endocrine system is closely tied to the internal balance of the Yin energy (quiet, supportive, feminine, and cool) and the Yang energy (outward, strong, hot, and masculine).

Although imbalance between the Yin and Yang energy is the basis of any human disease, the most important element for endocrine disorder treatment is centered on the KIDNEY meridian.

By strengthening the KIDNEY (along with other organs like the Spleen, Liver, and Heart), acupuncture can restore hormonal balance, regulate energy levels, emotional stability, and help manage sleep and menstrual problems.

For endocrine disorders, we find that an integrated approach of Eastern and Western medicine often produce most optimal results. This is especially pertinent to infertility patients, many of whom may not have any “medical” issues according to conventional blood work.

Endocrine Health from Nutrition Response Testing Perspective

Posted by on in Endocrine Health

All human diseases are the result of many imbalances affecting diverse organs and tissues over time. Our bodies are made up of many layers, organs, and tissues, all of which affect each other at all times. Anything can cause anything, literally.

endocrine health

Using a cookie-cutter approach based on previous medical studies can be dangerous and costly since each individual has a uniquely different genetic makeup, diet, and medical history. Even if two people demonstrate almost identical symptoms, what one person’s body needs can be vastly different from what the other individual needs.

Let me give an example. A few months ago, a lady in her late forties came into the office complaining about menopausal issues like hot flushes, night sweats, heart palpitations, and mood swings. She had been on synthetic estrogen pills for months, but her symptoms were getting worse.

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After a few acupuncture sessions, I decided to test her body to determine the “real” cause of her menopausal symptoms by using applied kinesiology.

Instead of hormonal/endocrine issues, the root cause of her problems turned to be MERCURY POISOINING IN HER RIGHT KIDNEY.

Immediately, we started the program designed to eliminate mercury from her body and supporting her intestines. In two or three weeks, most of her symptoms disappeared.

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Nutrition response testing system is designed to identify the root cause of any disease, regardless of its severity and length.

There are five common causes of any illnesses, including endocrine disorders.

They are: Food sensitivity, pathogens, metal toxicity, chemical toxicity, and scar tissues.

Testing is easy and simple; treatment plans based on REAL FOOD BASED supplements often produce outstanding results.

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Five Nutrients to Support Your Endocrine Health

Posted by on in Endocrine Health

Fish – Fish provides Omega-3, Omega-6, and Omega-9 oils that directly affect cognitive function, cellular function and kidney function–all of these are under the control of the endocrine system.

Garlic – Garlic boosts immunity and regulates blood sugar levels.

five nutrients for endocrine

Calcium – Calcium keeps nerves healthy and ensures their ability to communicate effectively. Milk, cottage cheese, cheese, leafy greens, dried beans and yogurt are all rich in calcium.

Vitamin B and B complex – These vitamins directly influence the nervous system’s proper functioning and health, as well as one’s physical and mental performance concerning the nervous system. Vitamin B and B complex are found in chicken, fish, eggs, whole grains, beans and nuts.

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Vitamin C – Adrenal glands have a very high content of ascorbic acid (vitamin C). This vitamin helps the adrenal glands produce more of the disease-fighting hormone. A continued stressful environment depletes vitamin C reserves and increases the tendency for infection and disease. Good sources of vitamin C include citrus fruits, melons, apricots, strawberries, berries, green vegetables, sweet peppers and tomatoes

General Tips for Optimal Endocrine Health

Posted by on in Endocrine Health

general tips

Eat Slowly – Don’t rush through your meals.

Exercise – Regular exercise boosts the immune system, improves cardiovascular health and muscle mass, and prevents bone loss.

Manage Your Stress – An important part of maintaining a healthy endocrine system is stress management.

Rest – Take a day out of the week for rest and rejuvenation, allowing your mind and body to recover.

Sleep – Get 6-8 hours of sleep per night in order to reduce stress and keep hormones balanced. Stress and a lack of sleep may cause some of the glands to malfunction.

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