May 18
Matcha contains antioxidant compounds which can be helpful in combating aging and help you attain a more youthful body and mind.
Matcha is the Rolls-Royce of green teas. This neon-green powder houses a gobsmacking amount of protective catechins. Health scientists get indecently excited about these compounds.
The whole tea leaf is ground into a powder, as opposed to diluted in a teabag, which helps explain why matcha has significantly more antioxidants and pomposity than regular green tea. Be careful not to fall for all the hype of 137 antioxidants per sip, bottomless libido and eternal life. Spring always brings a frenzy of food fads and preposterous promises.
Despite all this, matcha is easy to introduce into your daily regime, it requires no cooking, and it provides excellent ammunition for those awkward silences in the office canteen. You can buy it from an Irish website, www.koyumatcha.com. And, if you’re in Dublin, you can even order matcha in La Stampa — I’ve heard that overworked cabinet ministers and underworked models love it. Or is it the other way around?
Tagged with: Matcha
May 17
Chinese culture has been using food as medicine for over thousands of years, here are some examples.
One of the most common foods touted for their health benefits is soy. Soy has been used in China for centuries. It was introduced to Britain in the 1790s and cultivated in Kew Gardens. It is believed to have been taken to the United States by Thomas Jefferson. Today, it is eaten worldwide – green, dried or processed.
As tofu, it is used in a variety of dishes and, in Jamaica, it is a primary source of protein for many vegetarians and vegans.
popular products
Soy milk is also used by many and is ideal for persons who are lactose intolerant. Other popular soy products include, bean paste, soy sauce, miso, tempeh and soy sheets (fu jzu).
May 16
Acupuncture is effective in reliving pain for many.
Acupuncture works for me.
That seemingly strange treatment where a trained and licensed practitioner sticks needles about my body has been practiced for centuries in Asia. It is used to treat most pain conditions – including lower back pain, shingles and other nerve pain, hand and knee pain, headaches, fibromyalgia and menstrual pain.
Official research on the effectiveness of acupuncture produces mixed results, according to the Harvard Healthbeat newsletter.
Tagged with: Pain
May 15
Researchers in Australia are unlocking the secrets of traditional Chinese medicine and how it could better integrate it with Western medicine.
The work will be the focus of a new Australian-Chinese research centre, which is being announced in Beijing today and worth millions of dollars to the university.
It is a unique partnership bringing together an Australian university, the Shanxi College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and direct investment from the Zhendong Pharmaceutical Company.
Professor David Adelson, the director of the Zhendong Australia-China Centre for Molecular Traditional Chinese Medicine, said this research would provide an insight into how traditional Chinese medicine acts.
Prof Adelson said research had not been conducted to look at whether the thousands of herbs used actually changed the way cells behaved.
May 14
According to Chinese Medicine, your tongue can provide clues to your inner health.
Albert Einstein famously stuck out his tongue and Chinese medicine practitioners read it for clues to inner health. The tongue — that undulating muscle covered with pointy papillae and 10,000 taste buds that sense sweet, salty, sour and bitter — has on its surface thousands of bacteria, some pro (as in “probiotics”) and some con (as in “make your breath so bad you can’t have a CONversation”).
When everything is OK, the tongue is pinkish and sits comfortably in your mouth. Chances are you rarely think about it unless you’re cleaning it (you do, don’t you?) when you brush your teeth. Use a tongue scraper or toothbrush to remove plaque and bacteria and keep breath fresh.
Sometimes, however, the tongue changes. Three disorders — with no serious health consequences but lots of ick factor — include black-hairy, yellow and geographic tongue. (Geographic tongue causes smooth red patches with raised edges.) These conditions may be from bacterial overgrowth, an immune system glitch or an allergy.
Tagged with: Tongue
May 13
Here are some good questions and answers on the topic of acupuncture.
Official research on the effectiveness of acupuncture produces mixed results, according to the Harvard Healthbeat newsletter.
But my experience has been positive, although I would caution that results might take as many as 12 treatments.
Traditional Chinese acupuncture involves the insertion of extremely fine needles into the skin at specific “acupoints” along the body’s meridians. This action can result in pain relief by releasing endorphins, the body’s natural painkilling chemicals, and might affect the part of the brain that governs serotonin levels, the brain transmitter involved with mood, the Harvard newsletter says.
May 12
If you suffer from arthritis pain, tai chi and yoga maybe able to help.
One out of five people in the United States has been diagnosed with one of more than 100 diseases and conditions referred to as arthritis.
Joint pain, inflammation and stiffness are the most common symptoms of arthritis, which can be caused by a number of factors, including genetics, lifestyle, autoimmune disorders and the environment.
As with most every disease, the best way to treat arthritis depends on the person. Because there are so many different causes, types and symptoms –– and because everyone’s body reacts differently to treatments –– the best treatment is what works for you.
Tagged with: Tai Chi • Yoga
May 11
If you want to quit smoking, you may want to try acupuncture and hypnosis.
Acupuncture and hypnosis have been promoted as drug-free ways to help smokers kick the habit, and there is some evidence that they work, according to a research review that looked at 14 international studies.
Researchers, whose findings appeared in the American Journal of Medicine, said that there are still plenty of questions, including exactly how effective alternative therapies might be and how they measure up against conventional methods to quit smoking.
But the alternatives should still stand as options for smokers determined to break the habit, said researchers led by Mehdi Tahiri of McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
In general, smokers who want to quit should first try the standard approaches, w hich include nicotine-replacement therapy, medications and behavioral counseling, Tahiri said.
Tagged with: Smoking
May 10
Traditional Chinese Medicine can be integrated seamlessly into contemporary medicine and have great effect on one’s health.
Traditional Chinese medicine can be integrated with Western medicine to reduce medication requirements, lessen side effects and make biomedicine more effective, Chinese medicine practitioner George Y.C. Wong said at the second Colloquium on Globalization of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Class of 1978 Life Sciences Center on Thursday. Wong was the keynote speaker at the event that focused on interactions between health care practices of different countries.
May 09
A session with an acupuncturist inspires the author to search for more subtle needs than physical and emotional needs.
After an acupuncture treatment, I was reminded that we have more subtle needs than just our physical and emotional.
The way my acupuncturist put it was “being mindful of your deeper needs.”
When she said it, it made sense on some level, but it wasn’t until later that I really thought about it.
The wisdom in the statement speaks to more than physical self-care, but to all levels that need care.
For example, on the surface it’s easy to think about what your body needs, or even what your relationships need, but what do you really want?
If you could wake up every day and do exactly what you want, what would it be?
What are your long-term dreams or goals?
Tagged with: Subtle Needs • Zen
