weekend

This weekend was pretty lazy and relaxing, and for me, not over yet because tomorrow I have off for MLK Day! Woo!

On Friday I had my second acupuncture appointment. I felt like I was not able to relax as much as the first time, probably partly because I was anticipating the relaxation and partly because now I knew what to expect.

On Thursday evening, Dr. Jeff had emailed me some information about his preliminary assessment as well as some guidelines I can start following. I've included an excerpt below:

Based on my initial assessment, your Liver, Spleen, and Kidney meridians are slightly out of balance; with most emphasis on the Spleen energies.

Your tongue color is a little pale and the body is wide with teeth marks, slightly wet but overall the coating seems normal.

Your pulse was somewhat thin and soft. The color of the tongue and the quality of the pulse provide details as to how the internal systems are functioning.

 In Chinese medicine the Organs have several functions including:

Spleen 

·         Responsible for the transformation and transportation of the food and beverage we consume

·         Holds the blood in the vessels. When this function is impaired it will manifest in bruising easily

·         Governs the muscles

·         Opens in the mouth

  

Liver 

·         The smooth flow of Qi and Blood in the body and is related to circulation as well as fluid metabolism.

·         It is one of the primary organs related to fertility and the menstrual cycle.

When the Liver energies are stagnated it can lead to issues with menstruation including painful periods, delayed periods, clotting and breast tenderness.

·         The emotion associated with the Liver is anger. It regulates mental activity. Mental activity refers to the psychological expression of emotions including joy, anger, anxiety and contemplation.

So if the Liver energies are stagnated it will lead to undesirable emotional states. Stagnated Liver Qi can also lead to heat accumulation which will result in headaches.

·         Governs the tendons and sinews

·         Opens in the eyes

Kidneys 

·         Dominate over physical development and the reproductive system.

·         Governs the bones and teeth.

·         Opens in the ears

·         Involved in water metabolism

  

By incorporating certain lifestyle changes include acupuncture, herbal medicine, nutrition and exercises you can restore the proper flow and bring  your body back into balance! :)

Our goal is to prepare your body not only for conception but also for a healthy pregnancy. Healthy mom=healthy babies!

I will be sending you more information regarding food therapy.

Here are some suggestions to follow:

General guidelines:

The key to being healthy is by eliminating toxins and properly nourishing the body with whole foods.

·         Reduce the amount of toxins in your system by eliminating artificial and highly processed ingredients from your diet. This includes artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, and preservatives as well as refined sugars and refined grains.

·         Eat organic and hormone-free as much as possible.

·         Also eliminate genetically modified (GMOs ) ingredients like corn, canola, soy, cotton (cotton seed oil). Avoid oils made from these ingredients. Note: you can find organic corn and soy products which are not GMO based.

·         GMOs, preservatives and pesticides  have a negative effect on the hormones.

·         Avoid hydrogenated oils. These increase inflammation in the body.

·         Eliminate/Reduce alcohol and caffeine. Substitute green tea for coffee.

·         Add high quality EFA's (essential fatty acids) to your diet. Sources include flax, sunflower seeds, hemp seed, fish, borage and evening primrose oils, other nuts and seeds and, dark leafy green veggies. These sources of essential  fatty acids help to reduce inflammation in the body. Linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid are EFAs that are essential to every living cell in the body.

·         It is important to eat a diet rich in alkaline food like fresh fruits (non-citrus) and vegetables.  Valerian root and Black Cohosh  assist with promoting an alkaline environment to provide the reproductive system with the correct pH for conception and implantation. Acidic cervical mucus is hostile to sperm.  Acidic foods include meat, dairy and most grains, refined sugars.

·         When you cook vegetables, light sauté and do not overcook so as to retain the vital nutrients, vitamins and enzymes.

·         Drink plenty of water. At least half your weight in ounces. I.e. if you weigh 100 lbs drink 50 ounces of water daily.

Additional guidelines:

·         Make sure to get enough sleep. The body regenerates while the body is at rest.

·         Reduce stress by proper exercise, mediation, walks on the beach, listening to relaxing music.

Examples of exercise include, yoga, tai chi, brisk walking. Make sure not to over exercise especially during the period and ovulation.

Most of the nutrition info is stuff I already know and most of which I already do, so at least I am mostly on the right track in that department. But I have to start cutting out cheese! Boo.....

I had done a self-diagnosis using the information in The Infertility Cure book, and had also noticed that my symptoms were pointing toward deficiencies of the Spleen, Kidney, and Liver. In Chinese medicine, things work completely different that in Western medicine, so it's not like there is anything medically wrong with any of those organs. It's the energies that affect the body systems that these organs are "connected to" in reference to the Qi flow in the body.

So for right now with our sessions, we are working on the Spleen and digestive systems. My period has been MIA for about 40 days, so until my cycle becomes regulated again, that is what we will focus on. Once my period comes, there will be different treatments that we will do for different parts of my cycle.

(Update: My period showed up on Saturday, finally! So here we go!)

Anywayyyy.... during my treatment on Friday I was not able to shut my mind off even though I tried my hardest. I'll do better next time. We had talked about doing Chinese herbs during my last visit, so after my treatment was over Dr. Jeff walked me through my first few dosages of a certain liquified herb that I will take to aid in healing my digestive system. Next week we will begin other herbs that are meant to be used during specific phases of my cycle, which will coincide with my treatments as well.

Eh and the herbs do NOT taste good - I mix it with a little bit of water and hold my breath while I drink it. It's got a very antiseptic quality to it.


On Saturday morning, we enjoyed a nice little walk down to the beach, where I got some more good pictures. I've been working on a beach picture project for the past few months... I have hundreds of beautiful photos, but I've been searching forever for 4 photos that go together and complement each other for this project. I guess I haven't been very careful about camera settings and going at the same time of day each time, because I've got some pictures that I LOVE, but the colors are just slightly off and I can't get them to fit together cohesively. So I've had the frames for a while, but needed just one more good picture to complete it. But I think I finally got it! I'll post the finished product once the prints come in and I get the frames up on the wall. :)

As we were about to head back home, we ran into some people who were out walking and found a little lost dog. It was so cute and little, with a puffy little head and a completely shaved body. Haha. I could tell it was a Pomeranian but I have no idea why it had such a funny haircut. It had tags, but the phone number was disconnected, and there was no address or anything. So we went on a little adventure and walked the little cutie down to the police station about a mile up the road. I carried her the whole time (and more than once thought about just taking her home with us).

The dispatcher was able to contact her owner and one of the officers delivered her safely back home. Our good deed for the day. :)

Look at this sweet little face! Little Sashi... I wanted to keep her.

Sunday was very uneventful, but relaxing. We did book our beach house for our family vacay in HHI, so that was exciting! After church I tried out my new Restoring Fertility yoga dvd since I now know where I am in my cycle. It has 4 different dvds for each cycle phase: menstrual, follicular, ovulation, and luteal. I suck at yoga, and even though this one seems pretty tame/easy, it's still going to take me a while to get into it. I'll update more on its usefulness once I've completed this first cycle.

Ooh and I also bought a new book, It Starts with the Egg, that I've been getting some good info out of. Again, a lot of things that I already know/do/don't do. But this author has a degree in molecular biotechnology and biochemistry, so she explains a lot of the science behind poor egg quality. It's really interesting and it's amazing how many little factors are in play that can affect the egg during the most critical stages of development. More on that in a possible later post. This one's already long enough.

So I'll be done for now. I'll leave you with a pretty little beach pic that did not make the cut.

Shout out to my brother-in-law Anthony.
p.s. You're gay.