FREE HUGS!

Don't Miss This Video on You-Tube

Video Description:
Sometimes, a hug is all what we need. Free Hugs is the real life controversial story of Juan Mann, a man whose sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives. In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal. As this symbol of human hope spread across the city, police and officials ordered the Free Hugs campaign BANNED. What we then witness is the true spirit of humanity come together in what can only be described as awe inspiring.In the Spirit of the free hugs campaign, PASS THIS TO A FRIEND and HUG A STRANGER! After all, If you can reach just one person...


Love Heals! Posted by Juliette Aiyana, L.Ac.

Gratitude!

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.
--Albert Schweitzer

posted by Jessica Silver, MAOM, L.Ac.
Aiyana Acupuncture & Chinese Herbs
www.amazinghealing.com

Unconditional Self-Love

"I'm not the average girl from your video and I ain't built like a supermodel,
but I learned to love myself unconditionally, because I am a Queen".

--India.Arie in her song "Video"




posted by Juliette Aiyana, L.Ac.
www.amazingheaing.com

Listen to the Whispers

A book I read recently mentioned an important idea regarding messages in our lives. The book is The Soul Loves The Truth and the idea is "If you listen to the whispers you don't have to hear the screams."

I personally believe the idea is an important one, and it relates heavily to our health and wellness. Our bodies speak up when something isn't right. Most of the time we notice little things that seem out of balance in our bodies before we notice bigger problems that we might call symptoms, illnesses, or diseases. Those little things matter- they are the whispers!

A big part of becoming healthy and maintaining wellness is paying attention to the body's whispers that something is wrong. Many people ignore the small things to avoid interruptions in their busy lives. Others notice them, but don't know what to do or why it's happening and don't want to overreact. Still others do try to seek medical care for subtle imbalances, but are told by a medical professional that there is nothing wrong with them. The truth is, if something feels wrong, it is! An acupuncturist will be able to detect what imbalance the subtle symptoms are arising from.

Pain in the body is one sign of imbalance. A number of patients that I see in practice come in with back pain where the muscles are in such spasm they are unable to sit or move in certain ways, let alone go back to work. Most of them, when they look back to before the sudden injury, report some warning signs, such as rising stress levels or painful twinges or stiffness in the area. Instead of hearing those whispers and taking steps to correct what was wrong, they waited, and were forced to "hear the screams." Those screams caught their attention, since the back spasm powerfully stopped them in their tracks. That level of pain and interruption in life can absolutely be avoided.

Other examples of subtle signs a body is becoming out of balance include difficulty sleeping, changes in appetite or digestion, high stress, anxiety, or mood swings, painful or irregular periods, and subtle or intermittent pains or stiffness in the body.

If these cues are ignored, they may become more extreme, leading to very noticeable health problems. Preventative medicine needs to be implemented, and acupuncture and Chinese herbs is a terrific solution. Instead of worrying about the time it takes from the busy schedule, consider it a way to maintain health and ensure your body that you're listening. It's truly worth it to avoid hearing the screams!

posted by Jessica Silver, MAOM, Lic.Ac.

Aiyana Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs

www.amazinghealing.com

212-894-0767

Acupuncture Weight Loss Testimonial

Testimonial by Fran M. Female, Age 39

I’ve struggled with my weight since I was a child. For the last seven years and, for the first time in my life, I have been successful in losing and keeping off over 60 pounds. I hit plateaus every now and again, but the slow and steady progression of weight loss has been the best solution for me. It’s been a long process that involved a lot of changes in my eating habits, but I eventually found something that worked for me: acupuncture, Chinese herbs and Chinese nutritional therapy at Aiyana Acupuncture & Chinese Herbs.

Earlier in this year, I decided to take another big step, and in June 2006 I quit smoking. I was nervous about the risk of weight gain and other withdrawal symptoms, but knew it was time, so I stopped cold turkey. It was not easy and I felt horrible. I was not a heavy smoker (I averaged 2 cigarettes a day) so was very surprised at how significant the physical effects were. I was tired, cranky, constipated and suffering from congestion, sometimes severe, that would worsen after almost every meal. To make matters worse, in August I had what I believed to be an allergic reaction to something I was ate. In addition to the congestion, my feet swelled so much I was unable to get them into my shoes. Making matters worse, I couldn’t connect a specific food to the “attacks,” and the battery of allergy tests performed by my doctor all came back negative.

I was successfully treated for an inner ear problem with acupuncture years earlier so, having exhausted my options with traditional treatments and not wanting to resort to continued steroid use, I decided to try it again. I found the Aiyana Acupuncture & Chinese Herbs on the Internet and hit if off with it’s founder, Juliette Aiyana, L.Ac. on the phone when we first spoke. My first visit was on August 31, 2006. It included a very comprehensive exam and began treatment to rid my body of the remaining toxins from years of smoking and the water retention causing the congestion and swelling.

In addition to an acupuncture session and prescribing herbs, Juliette instructed me to write down everything I ate, which I did diligently for over three weeks. Juliette evaluated my dietary habits and suggested a few minor changes that were compounding my water retention problem. Since making those changes, I’ve lost weight, noticed a marked increase in my energy level and no longer suffer from congestion.

Before seeking treatment at Aiyana Acupuncture, I was unaware of Chinese medicine’s approach to nutrition. Juliette educated me about the different energetic properties of food and the effects it can have on metabolism. I can honestly say that I’ve never felt better and now find it easier to manage my diet, giving me renewed confidence in my ability to keep off the weight I’ve lost.

More articles about Weight Loss Acupuncture and Self Care;

Quit Exercising to Lose Weight!

Great Benefits of Green Tea.

New Year's Diet Resolutions

Peaceful Ends Through Peaceful Means

And the leaders of the world today talk eloquently about peace. Every time we drop our bombs in North Vietnam, President Johnson talks eloquently about peace. What is the problem? They are talking about peace as a distant goal, as an end we seek, but one day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means. All of this is saying that, in the final analysis, means and ends must cohere because the end is preexistent in the means, and ultimately destructive means cannot bring about constructive ends.

--Martin Luther King, Jr., "A CHRISTMAS SERMON" 24 December 1967

Power without compassion

We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and for justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.

--Martin Luther King, Jr., "CONSCIENCE AND THE VIETNAM WAR" in The Trumpet of Conscience (1968)

Black Pepper and Lime Oven Fries

Find this Yummy Receipe at 101CookBooks



posted by Juliette Aiyana, L.Ac.

MLK Speaks on War

I want to say one other challenge that we face is simply that we must find an alternative to war and bloodshed. Anyone who feels, and there are still a lot of people who feel that way, that war can solve the social problems facing mankind is sleeping through a great revolution. President Kennedy said on one occasion, "Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind." The world must hear this. I pray to God that America will hear this before it is too late, because today we’re fighting a war.

I am convinced that it is one of the most unjust wars that has ever been fought in the history of the world. Our involvement in the war in Vietnam has torn up the Geneva Accord. It has strengthened the military-industrial complex; it has strengthened the forces of reaction in our nation. It has put us against the self-determination of a vast majority of the Vietnamese people, and put us in the position of protecting a corrupt regime that is stacked against the poor.

It has played havoc with our domestic destinies. This day we are spending five hundred thousand dollars to kill every Vietcong soldier. Every time we kill one we spend about five hundred thousand dollars while we spend only fifty-three dollars a year for every person characterized as poverty-stricken in the so-called poverty program, which is not even a good skirmish against poverty.

Not only that, it has put us in a position of appearing to the world as an arrogant nation. And here we are ten thousand miles away from home fighting for the so-called freedom of the Vietnamese people when we have not even put our own house in order. And we force young black men and young white men to fight and kill in brutal solidarity. Yet when they come back home that can’t hardly live on the same block together.

The judgment of God is upon us today. And we could go right down the line and see that something must be done—and something must be done quickly. We have alienated ourselves from other nations so we end up morally and politically isolated in the world. There is not a single major ally of the United States of America that would dare send a troop to Vietnam, and so the only friends that we have now are a few client-nations like Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, and a few others.

This is where we are. "Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind," and the best way to start is to put an end to war in Vietnam, because if it continues, we will inevitably come to the point of confronting China which could lead the whole world to nuclear annihilation.

It is no longer a choice, my friends, between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence. And the alternative to disarmament, the alternative to a greater suspension of nuclear tests, the alternative to strengthening the United Nations and thereby disarming the whole world, may well be a civilization plunged into the abyss of annihilation, and our earthly habitat would be transformed into an inferno that even the mind of Dante could not imagine.

--Martin Luther King, Jr., Remaining Awake Through A Great Revolution

End of Racism and War

"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become reality. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word." -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.



www.amazinghealing.com

Infant Massage Classes

Karen Zuckerman, Licensed Massage Therapist in Union Square, NYC is a Certified Infant Massage Instructor (CIMI).

Baby massage deepens parent-child bonds, eases colic and other discomfort, helps relax the baby (and parents), helps with sleep, improves immune system and has many other wonderful benefits.

She is offering group classes and private sessions with moms and dads and their new bundles of joy. Group classes are 4 sessions (once a week for 75-90 min) for $100 per family and private lessons can be done in 3 sessions for $100 per session. Learn it for your baby -- she or he is worth it!

If you know a family that would benefit from this, please pass Karen's contact information to anyone you know with a little one in the mix.

http://www.karenzuckerman.com/

And if you’re looking for the perfect baby shower gift, she offers gift certificates for the sessions!

Posted by Juliette Aiyana, L.Ac.

"Tis the set of the sails"

One ship sails East,
And another West,
By the self-same winds that blow,
Tis the set of the sails
And not the gales,
That tells the way we go.

Like the winds of the sea
Are the waves of time,
As we journey along through life,
Tis the set of the soul,
That determines the goal,
And not the calm or the strife.

–Ella Wheeler Wilcox

posted by Jessica Silver, MAOM, Lic.Ac.
Aiyana Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs

Injustice

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


Posted by Juliette Aiyana, L.Ac.

Thank You, Dr. Martin Luther King!

I Have A Dream

Full Speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. given at the Civil Rights March on Washington

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check --- a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds". But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check --- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundation of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We can not walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "when will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed --- "We hold these these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, and rough places will be made plains, and the crooked places will be made straight,and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the south. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must come true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California.

But not only that --- let freedom ring from Stone Mountain in Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual,

Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Posted By: Juliette Aiyana, L.Ac.

You Can Change

"You can change your life by altering your thoughts."

-Eric Butterworth

Posted by: Juliette Aiyana, L.Ac.

Aiyana Acupuncture & Chinese Herbs NYC

Healthy Recipes

Want to eat healthy food this new year?

Click here: www.EatingWell.com

OTC Diet Pills. Magic Bullet for Weight Loss?

If you listen very carefully to Carmen Electra, spokeswoman for the over-the-counter weight loss pills, NV, she never says that she lost weight taking the pill.

She says it gives her energy and that she believes in the product. What does that mean? What does she believe about them? And what are we supposed to believe about the pill? Are we supposed to believe that if it didn’t provide her with weight loss that it will provide us with weight loss? Do the manufactures of NV want us to believe it works for weight loss just because a paid, beautiful, healthy spokeswoman takes the pills?

Carmen Electra is a very rich and famous woman who does not need to take a pill for weight loss because she is not over weight. She can afford to have a fitness professional work out with her daily, and she can even afford a personal chef!

Taking any brand of diet pill will not make any of us look like Carmen Electra. There is no magic bullet for weight loss. But creating a whole, balanced, lifestyle can lead to dramatic physical and psychological changes. If we want to transform our bodies, we must transform our inner and outer lives. The transformative process takes patience, perseverance and compassion. The compassion comes in when we shift our perception of ourself instead of thinking we are unworthy of living a happy life because of how we look. And it comes in when we try to make changes but stumble or falter. Instead of beating ourselves up, we should allow ourselves to learn from our mistake, move on and begin again.

What Does A Balanced Lifestyle Consist Of?

Eating well. Eat a balanced diet consisting of at least 5 servings of whole vegetables and whole fruit, protein and whole grain carbohydrates, all eaten daily and in every meal. Also, we must eat regularly throughout the day. Don’t skip meals. And snack on healthful foods between meals. Patients who eat regularly do not need to binge on unhealthy foods or overeat at the next meal. Try not to eat while angry, upset or sad. Chinese nutritional therapy focuses on not just how much we eat, but the energetic quality of the food. If the energetic quality of food we eat is unbalanced, then our body will remain unbalanced. A practitioner of Chinese medicine can asses where your diet is out of balance and give you simple advice on how to harmonize the energy of food in your diet, resulting in healthy, balanced weight loss. Read more about healthy eating at our website amazinghealing.com

Physical Activity and Exercise. There is just no way around the fact that physical activity burns calories and is necessary for maintaining a healthy body. Physical activity means taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking farther away from the store so you have to walk a few extra steps, playing with your children, walking your dog, taking an after lunch or dinner stroll in your neighborhood. And most of us need to step up our game by playing a sport, taking dance classes, rollerblading, biking or going to the gym. But all of these activities count toward our wellness and burn calories. Exercise also helps balance hormone levels which combat stress and depression and lower hormones which cause weight gain. Check out the article "Quit Exercising to Lose Weight."

Relaxation Time. Take time for yourself to lower stress levels by sitting quietly for 10 to 20 minutes a day, take walk by yourself, visit a botanical garden, take a long hot bath or shower or take a nap. If you can afford to treat yourself every so often, get a massage or spa treatment. Reflexology is also very balancing and relaxing. If you can’t afford it, call a local massage school because they often have reduced community rates so that the students can practice their newly learned craft. Meditation and/or prayer is very helpful for many people. Acupuncture treatments help reduce stress levels, and thus reduce stress hormones which cause weight gain.

Get Acupuncture for Weight Loss. It Works. As I said above, acupuncture reduces the level of hormone which causes weight gain, and it increases the level of hormones which help us feel satiated from eating. Not to mention that fact that acupuncture boosts the hormones that help us maintain a good, happy and balanced mood. Just like pills, there is no magic bullet or single acu-point that will magically melt the pounds away. However, regular acupuncture visits combined with Chinese herbs and diet can result in a 10% reduction of body weight in two months. Add exercise to that and you will really have a winning combination!

Chinese Herbs. Unlike the harsh acting, one-size-fits-all over-the-counter diet pills, Chinese medicine tailors its herbal treatment to the patient. We avoid use of speed-like herbs and only use diuretics on an as-needed basis and for a short period of time. Chinese herbs are gentle and are used to treat the pattern of energetic disharmony that causes weight gain and adjust the energy which disrupts weight loss. Chinese herbs, acupuncture and nutritional therapy can help maintain healthy weight loss. Learn more about the Safety of Chinese Herbs.

Our office offers acupuncture, herbal and nutritional counseling. When you schedule a visit for acupuncture, you get all three therapies integrated within the sessions. If you'd like to just try Chinese herbs and nutritional counseling, we offer that too!
Call for an appointment 212-894-0767

Posted by: Juliette Aiyana, L.Ac.

How About A Resolution?

The following is an excerpt from an opinion article from today's NY Times.

The full article can be found at the NY Times Website.

“It is never too late or too early to care for the well-being of the soul,” Epicurus said, and so we make our lives a study of ourselves.

We need a moment in the year when we look at ourselves, weigh our good and bad habits, evaluate our conduct as a doctor evaluates our health during an annual examination, so we can strive for a way of life that is wiser and more responsible.

If the end of the year brings a flood of resolutions to change, it is because we are faced with an existence that is invaded by the routine, by the rush of demands. We can’t bear it. We know that another life exists, more beautiful, more passionate, one that laziness and apathy keeps us from attaining.

I have to break with time to overcome my obstacles, to rediscover myself, to be myself in all innocence. I can change my life, at least in some small way. Making resolutions demonstrates optimism, the desire to make oneself better, a faith, naive and beautiful at once, that declarations can spontaneously become actions, that saying means doing.

Oh, the glorious day of making a resolution, the belief that starting tomorrow I will be the pilot of my existence, that I will stop being the plaything of external circumstances, that I will govern myself. I’m better than I seem to be — a person obsessed by little irritants, addicted to talking nonsense — and I’m going to prove it to the world. The certainty that soon, thanks to my willpower, I will no longer be someone who is habitually late, a slave to my cellphone, a glutton, a distracted driver... that can galvanize me, prompt me to change, tear away my imperfect personality. Real life starts now; I can immediately free myself of my neuroses, correct myself. I can rid myself of the fear of failure and of the specter of the failures of the past.

Knowing that you can change your behavior, even by an iota, is essential for holding yourself in esteem. We’re often cynical about how resolutions are never kept, but we shouldn’t be. Resolutions are perhaps lies, but they’re lies of good faith, necessary illusions. As long as we can make them, we are saved, we can control the chaos of destiny; it doesn’t matter that we break them and that others view us with skepticism. Every resolution is good simply because it is declared. It is a comedy, perhaps, but it keeps us sane.

Posted by Jessica Silver, MAOM, Lic.Ac.
Try Acupuncture, It Works!

New Year Diet Tips

• The typical Asian diet consists mainly of grains, vegetables, tofu, tempeh and/or small amounts of meat or seafood for overall balance. Try eating smaller portions of meat. American men have the highest rate of prostate cancer in the world; whereas, Asian men have an extremely low rate of prostate cancer. A study which followed Japanese men who moved to America and adopted an American diet showed that they had the same rate of prostate cancer as their American born counterparts. So, it seems that an Asian style balanced diet is advisable. By the way, Asian women also have an extremely low rate of breast cancer and rarely experience menopausal symptoms.
• Enjoy your food. Try to avoid eating when you are upset, angry, sad or overly worried; it may cause stomach aches, indigestion, acid reflux, heartburn, ulcers or other digestive disorders.
• Chew your food well. The first step to digestion takes place in the mouth where secretion of the enzyme amylase begins the breakdown of food. By properly chewing food you will avoid taxing the stomach and spleen which would otherwise work much harder to break down the food. Chewing is especially important when eating carbohydrates and tofu.
• Since tofu is not a whole protein, lacking amino acids and some vitamins, make sure to eat tofu with whole grains and vegetables. I recommended eating whole, unrefined grains and five servings of fresh organic vegetables daily. If you cannot get fresh organics, frozen are O.K.
• Do not overcook your vegetables. Overcooking kills vitamins and minerals. Lightly steam your veggies instead. Chinese bamboo steamers work great!
• If you eat meat, buy organic. This way you can avoid consuming synthetic hormones and antibiotics that non-organic farms feed to livestock to increase production. You will also avoid ingesting toxic chemicals such as sodium nitrite and MSG.
• Integrate beans into the diet slowly to avoid digestive difficulty. Cooking beans with ginger helps remove gaseous properties. Latin cultures add white vinegar to beans for the same purpose.
• Avoid processed foods such as most boxed, frozen meals and canned foods which are high in sodium and low in nutritional value.
• Read the labels on everything even if you shop at a health food store. A general rule of thumb to avoid harmful chemicals and additives is - if you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it.

At Aiyana Acupuncture & Chinese Herbs we offer
Weight Loss Acupuncture!

Don't want acupuncture? That's okay because we also offer Chinese nutritional counseling sessions. Nutritional counseling is great not just for weight loss but we can also help you eat in a more balanced manner for overall health maintenance. Call us for details: 212-894-0767 and check out our website amazinghealing.com for more information and free health & wellness articles.

Posted by: Juliette Aiyana, L.Ac.

Acupuncture Weight Loss

Yes! Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs Can Help You Lose Weight!

While there is no magic bullet or one simple acupuncture point that will melt away unwanted pounds in a single acupuncture visit, regular acupuncture treatments, Chinese herbs and simple diet changes can help you lose about 10% of body weight in about two months. Add exercise to that and you really have a winning combination!

Call our office to make an appointment. 212-894-0767

My book on Chinese Medicine and Healthy Weight Management, published by Blue Poppy Press is due out this summer. I will keep you posted as the release date nears.

Meanwhile check out my article "New Year's Diet Resolutions"


Posted by:Juliette Aiyana, L.Ac.