Can Acupuncture Increase Success Rate of IVF Treatment?

At the October 2004 meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) another study was presented that confirms the value of acupuncture to the success of IVF treatment. The research, done at Reproductive Medicine and Fertility Centre in Colorado Springs, studied 114 women undergoing IVF. Half of the women received acupuncture and the control group did not. The acupuncture group showed improved outcome in the following ways:

1. Acupuncture group 51% pregnancy rate compared to 36% in control group

2. Acupuncture group 08% miscarriage rate compared to 20% in control group

Acupuncture also was found to reduce the risk of tubal pregnancy and increase the live birth rate. The live birth rate for each IVF cycle was 23 % higher than the cycles for the control group.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Food Therapy

I'm back! After taking a long break, I finally set some time aside for posting health related tips and pointers for all the natural healing fans!


Throughout my practice, I got questions from my patients from time to time. The most popular questions are all about food, especially TCM Food Therapy. Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners categorize all food in 5 main characters.

NEUTRAL
Black Bean
Soya Bean
Green Bean
Carrot
Cauliflower
Spinach
Cherry
Chicken
Egg
Peach
Plum
Apple
Orange
Pumpkin
Tomato
Sweet Potato
Raisin
Rice
Milk
Cheese


COLD
Banana
Pear
Cabbage
Kelp
Hawthorn
Peppermint
Cucumber
Tofu
Shrimp


COOL
Barley
Coconut
Grapes
Watermelon
Corn
Eggplant
Duck
Eel
Oyster


HOT
Chilli
Chocolate
Clove
Coffee
Curry
Mustard
Onion
Black Pepper
Roasted Peanut
Lichee
Mango
Passion Fruit
Liquor


WARM
Aniseed
Leek
Garlic
Ginger
Chive
Coriander
Shallot
Tangerine
Potato
Chestnut
Walnut
Wine
Turkey
Beef

Women’s Health &Traditional Chinese Medicine Workshop Saturday, September 25, 2010

Topic: Put Your Health Back in Your Hands - Natural Detoxification & Stress Management

In this workshop, you will learn:

Ø Definition and Characteristics Traditional Chinese Medicine (TMC)

Ø History of Basics of TMC

Ø Concept and definition of health and sub-health

Ø Facts about stress

Ø Stress management from TMC perspective

Ø Concept of body waste

Ø Detoxification in a natural way

For Registration, Please call

NYWC: 416-781-0479

Skin Food Therapy - Bulgarian Rose and Geranium Mask Recipe

To protect your skin from aging, simple foods can be nutritious to your skin.

Ingredients:

2 oz of green clay

3 tsp of cornflour

1 egg yolk
1 tsp of water
2 drops of geranium
1 drop of white Bulgarian rose

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients together

Apply mask on face and neck

Big success on certificate course at Medlink of Canada ~ 30+ students showed up!

Functional Food Therapy - Red Dates Tea recipe

This serves as a tonic for spleen deficiency, which is good for children who wet the bed and have a poor appetite.

Ingredients:

5g of pitted dried red dates

5g of Chinese loose red tea

Instructions:

Put Chinese red loose tea in boiling water for 3 minutes

Boil dried red dates in red tea for 10 minutes

Functional Food Therapy - Fresh Plum Tea recipe

This tea clears heat, drainsdampness, benefits the liver and relieves stress. It will be a very good summer drink.

Ingredients:

100 - 150g of fresh plums

1.5 cup of water

2g of green tea loose tea

25g of honey to taste

Instructions:

Boil plums in water for 3 minutes

Add green tea and honey

Bring all ingredients to boil This tea clears heat, drains dampness, benefits the liver and relieves stress. It will be a very good summer drink

Functional Food Therapy - Chrysanthemum Tea recipe

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This tea cleanses the liver and benefits the eyes. It is good for individuals with hypertension, blurred vision and headache.

Ingredients:

1 cup of green tea

10g of dried white chrysanthemum

Instructions:

Add dried white chrysanthemum into 1 cup of hot green tea

Functional Food Therapy - Lotus Seed Tea recipe

This dessert tea invigorates the spleen and kidneys, which is recommended for individuals with nephritis and edema.

Ingredients:

30g of dried lotus seeds

3 cups of water

2 tbsp of loose tea

10g brown sugar or honey to taste

Instructions:

Soak lotus seeds in warm water for 2 hours

Boil soaked lotus seeds with water and brown sugar until the seeds become soft

Add loose tea prior to serving

Christine will be teaching a certificate course at Medlink Academy of Canada for 4 weeks in August (see details below)

Weight Loss Juicing Series - Cabbage

Recent research has discovered in cabbage a valuable content called tartronic acid which inhibits the conversion of sugar and other carbohydrates into fat.

Cabbage is found to posses the maximum biological value with minimum calorific value (1 cup of cabbage contains only around 15 calories) - great food for weight loss! Moreover, it gives a lasting feeling of fullness in the stomach and is easily digestible.

Mango Cabbage Yogurt Drink

Ingredients:

3 pieces of Cabbage Leaves

1 Mango

1/2 Lemon

1 cup of Yogurt drink (Yoplait)

4 Ice cubes

1 tsp of Honey

Instructions:

Squeeze lemon

Cut up, mix and blend all other ingredients in a juice blender

Watermelon Cabbage Juice

Ingredients:

500g Watermelon

150g Cabbage

1/2 Lemon

4 Ice cubes

Instructions:

Squeeze lemon

Cut up, mix and blend all other ingredients in a juice blender

Great Success on today's workshop at North York Community House - featuring stress management

Thanks for joining me today. I hope the participants enjoyed the session and the prizes!

Put Your Health Back in Your Hands – Kick that Stress Away Workshop

Are you experiencing excessive stress in your daily life?

Feeling weak, painful and lack of coherence in your body?

Christine will be speaking

at North York Community House

On Thursday July 15 at 1:00pm

Self Relaxation Technique -- De-stress your tension now!

The word 'stress' is such a common term that we can hear it everywhere. In fact, everyone has a certain level of stress they have to deal with everyday. Stress from career, finance, relationship, study, and health etc. I would like to share with you a self relaxation technique or exercise that is beneficial to all of us. This exercise will relax your entire body and mind and is very easy to follow.

1. Sit comfortably and close your eyes
2. Take 3 slow, deep breaths
3. Clench your right fist and tighten your forearm and bicep
4. Technique - notice the tension in your arm as you keep your arm tense
5. Relax all the tension
6. Technique - feel the difference between your relaxed right arm and your left arm
7. Repeat the above with your left arm
8. Wrinkle your forehead as tight as possible and tense your facial muscles
9. Tightly close your eyes. Tense your cheeks and press your lips into an "O" shape
10. Relax and let go the tension
11. Technique - notice the tension in your cheeks, forehead, eyes, jaw, tongue and lips
12. Repeat the above with your throat, neck, shoulders, stomach, buttocks, thighs, calves, ankles and feet

Treat Eczema Itch with Acupuncture

Acupuncture at specific points showed a significant reduction in type I hypersensitivity itch in patients with atopic eczema.

German researchers from the Technical University of Munich had conducted the following clinical test: Thirty people with eczema were treated right after being exposed to an allergen such as dust mites or pollen. All patients went through three different test conditions. The first treatment condition was "point-specific" acupuncture targeted at areas designed to treat itchy skin (Quchi and Xuehai points). The second treatment condition was "placebo-point" acupuncture treatment where the points selected were not those used to treat itchy skin. The third test condition was no treatment following allergen exposure.

It turned out that the subjects all reported lower levels of itchiness after receiving the point-specific acupuncture compared to either placebo acupuncture or no treatment. Even more interesting, when they got a second exposure to the allergen after the point-specific acupuncture, their flare-ups were less severe.

Healthy drink for diabetes and hypertension sufferers - TOMATO & CUCUMBER JUICE

Ingredients:

1 English cucumber

1 Big tomato

Instructions:

Cut up all ingredients

Blend all ingredients in a juice blender

Health Benefits of Tomatoes:

Tomatoes contain a factor that inhibits platelets in blood from clumping together and forming blood clot. It's beneficial to diabetes and hypertension sufferers. It also contains the antioxidant lycopene. Scientific studies have suggested that lycopene consumption may protect against prostate cancer and breast cancer.

Health Benefits of Cucumbers:

Cucumbers contain potassium which makes it highly useful for conditions of high and low blood pressure. It also contains erepsin, the enzyme that helps to digest protein.

Turn your fan on!

Frying foods is the essence of Chinese or Cantonese cooking. Do you know that frying foods at high temperatures releases fumes that the International Agency for Research on Cancer describes as “probably carcinogenic,” and using non-stick cookware on high heat might also release cancer-causing chemicals.

Research from Norway has found that cooking on a gas stove produces more potentially harmful fumes than cooking at the same temperature on an electric range. The worst combo they concocted? Margarine on a gas stove. It is suggested using a fan, running it on high and letting it run for 15 more minutes after you’re done.

Great Success on Saturday's workshop at Medlink Academy of Canada

Great success on TCM and Acupuncture in pain managment and weight loss Workshop. 11 people signed up for the HOLISTIC HEALTH CHECK. 4 of them have already booked an appointment.

Functional foods - unique concepts of TCM

•One of the unique concepts of TCM is that food and medicine come from the same source.

•Functional foods are a milder course of treatment and can be used either to treat disease, or to help healthy people to prevent disease.

Here's some recipes you can try:

• Lotus seed tea: lotus seeds (30g) are first soaked in warm water for 5 hours then boiled with water and brown sugar (10g) until the seeds become soft. Tea is added just prior to serving. This dessert invigorates the spleen and kidneys, which is recommended for individuals with edema.

Christine will be speaking in MedLink Academy of Canada (Yonge/Eglinton) on April 30

Christine will be the speaker of Weekend Cafe Socials organized by P.O.I.N.T. Inc. on Friday April 30.

Subject: TCM and Acupuncture in pain managment and weight loss.

Details: What is Traditional Chinsese Medicine and acupuncture? What does acupuncture treat? What does an acupuncturist do? How can acupuncture help in pain management and weight loss?

Audience: Caregivers and Personal Support Workers