Can acupuncture really help with weight loss?

All the right points......

Ear points - usually some combination involving shen men, sympathetic, endocrine, hunger and stomach - are the best-known acupuncture approach to weight loss. The ear in acupuncture is a microcosm of the whole body, so ear points can be effective at treating conditions that involve multiple systems. The above-mentioned points, for example, address common issues in patients who are struggling to lose weight: shen men and sympathetic reduce anxiety and calm the nervous system; endocrine addresses potential hormone imbalances and affects metabolism; the hunger point curbs food cravings; and the stomach point targets one of the primary organs involved in digestion.

The story of acupuncture and weight loss, however, does not end at the ear.

This is a topic that I get many, many questions on. As a provider my reservation is in regards to emotional and hormonal issues. Not everyone's picture looks the same, which is why ear weight-loss protocols don't always work. If a hormone imbalance is affecting appetite and metabolism or a digestive disturbance is making it difficult to excrete waste or if the patient is battling severe anxiety, depression or addictive eating, weight is unlikely to come off.

At our office we cannot stress enough the importance of a whole body and big picture approach to weight loss and this is our ultimate goal with each and every individual. It is absolutely vital to be successful.

Secrets of the Masters

Between opening a brand new practice and having 2 babies, I'll admit, I've fallen off of my reading wagon :(

I don't know why because whenever I start diving into research or articles or books I get SUPER excited.

Recently I took a visit to my previous school at NUHS and I found this fabulous article from one of the leaders in our profession.

I hope you are able to enjoy it as much as I did!

Dr. Sarah

"To read and study the following rules of life on a daily and weekly basis will without question have an impact on your family, social life and practice. Doing this will be met with incredible rewards; to ignore this advice may be one of the most foolish things you will have ever done."

The Law of Creation: Whatever we thing about and focus on, grows into reality. We create the situations we think about throughout the day. Think you will succeed, you will. Think you will fail, you will do that too. Focus on being sick, you end up creating the illness, focus on being healthy and vibrant, you create that as well. Think you are old, others will perceive you that way. Feel and think you are young, you will create that as well.

The Law of Attraction: We attract people, places, things and circumstances into our lives in direct proportion to our wants, needs and desires. People and situations come into our lives not by accident, but by our attraction and creation of the need.

The Law of Controlling our Own Life: If we are not specifically controlling our own life and creating the circumstances which are necessary to meet our desires, we will become and instrument for others who do have control of their own life. We in essence will be used by others to meet their mission and destiny.

The Law of Relaxation: With physical laws, the harder we work the more is accomplished. With mental laws, the more we relax, believe and expect to succeed with ease and confidence, the better the results.

The Law of Reciprocity: Whatever we see in the universe sees us! Whatever attitudes, feelings, thoughts and desires we put out, regardless if they are negative or positive, will always return to us.

The Law of the Universe (Karma): Like the Law of Reciprocity, which deals with mental factors, the Law of Karma deals with physical manifestations. This law is what may affect our personal belongings, physical health and financial status. This law works both negatively or positively depending upon what we have put out in the universe.

The Law of Return: Our rewards in life are in direct harmony with the value of our products, services or ideas. Very important!

The Law of Substitution: Consciously substitute all negative thoughts with positive ones immediately upon experiencing the negative thought. We can only experience one thought at any given time, therefore by substituting a positive for a negative, only positive will reach the subconscious.

The Law of Belief: Whatever we believe with strong feelings becomes our reality. We are not limited by what we thing we can do, but by what we think we can't. Self-limitations are not based upon reality; they are based on negative belief systems.

The Law of Present Time Consciousness: It is imperative that we live in the present as opposed to "tomorrow," or in the past. Preparing for tomorrow with righteous living and positive thoughts prepare us for what we will manifest, however, it is what we do today, right now (present time consciousness) which is important to achieve the rewards of life.

The Law of Personal Growth: "To become, act and feel as if." To become a successful practitioner, businessperson, parent, sports player, etc. act and feel as if you are already successful. The human spirit will act upon what it is given.

The Law of Expectation: We must know what it is we want to accomplish or obtain before the universe can manifest our desires. Most people don't know what they want due to unclear thinking and foggy mental vision.

The Law of Clarity: The clarity of our mind and thoughts are in direct proportion to the physical clutter in our lives. Take a look around you.

The Law of Cause and Effect: Within universal law, our thoughts are the cause; the conditions, either good or bad, are the effects. The outcome is totally dependent on our creation of thought. See the Law of Creation.

The Law of Perseverance: People who succeed never stop trying. People who stop trying, never succeed.

The Law of Forgiveness: Forgiving all others is a necessary and effective purgative for a successful life. The law doesn't demand that we just like the other person or situation, just that we forgive them and let go of the mental chains which entrap us.

Dr. John A. Amaro is an internationally known author, lecturer and practitioner who began his practice of acupuncture and chiropractic in 1971.

Food for Thought...Diet Soda Pop

Dr. Joe recently visited with Dr. Tilak in Highland, IN.

For those who do not know of her practice she runs TAWL (Tilak Agressive Weight Loss).

During their meeting she made a very interesting comment that Dr. Joe truly enjoyed.

They began discussing the problem of the consumption diet drinks in our country.

Everyone thinks that if it's a diet and has 0 calories then it must be healthy, correct?

WRONG!!!

Here is why that is wrong:

• Your body still has an insulin response even if your drink is diet. Increased insulin output leads to increased stress and burn out of your pancreas. And it STILL increases your chance of diabetes. Even if it is diet!



• You need to change your palate. If you decrease all of the high sugar and high fat foods, your taste buds will gradually adapt and be satisfied with less rich foods. Continuing to consume sugary tasting beverages and food, even if they are sugar free, continues that desired food signal between your brain and your taste buds.



• Artificial sweeteners are NOT healthy. As a matter of fact, Dr. Joe is so passionately against them he would rather see you consume the full calorie/sugar/fatty foods.



• Lastly, Dr. Tilak's great point is this: Would you rather clean your floor with water or diet soda? We need to remember that water is needed to cleanse and flush our digestive track. We quckly forget that we are constantly overloading our digestive system with more chemicals from all of the other beverages we consume.

"Healthy" junk food is still junk food. Don't be fooled!

Yes diet soda is calorie free and that is great from a weight loss point of view BUT you are putting MORE detrimental chemicals in your body by consuming "diet"

The point is....DRINK WATER!

Dr. Sarah's Path to Chiropractic

OK my friends....today is a very exciting day!

Let me begin by letting you know that Joe and I have been having this little debate: newsletter verses blog. I was pro blog (since I've been blogging privately lately and I follow blogging more). He was pro newsletter (which I think is out dated since I delete EVERY single one on my email). But I digress :)

Recently it came up that this would be a phenomenal way to educate the community about chiropractic and what we do. There are so many myths and legends, good and bad stories, that we virtually NEVER have the opportunity to comment on. That is until right here, right now. No holding back. This is our experience, research, opinion on common things in our profession.

On Friday afternoon we had endless ideas, but now on Monday morning I have "writers block". And then it dawned on me....why not write about how I got into this profession?

Seriously, have you ever asked your doctor or provider WHY they are doing what they do??? Well, here is my story and it is a true testament to our work. Enjoy!

Let me begin by explaining the unhealthy life style I was born and raised in. Love you Mom, Love you Dad :)

My mother was a chain smoker. Let me explain chain....I remember her having 2 cigarettes lit at the same time. Our diets consisted of soda pop for fluids, Lucky Charms for breakfast, hot dogs or Burger King Whoppers for dinner and a GIANT bowl of ice cream every night before bed. Our family activities included: watching TV. Love you Mom, Love you Dad :)

So, it's only obvious that my sister and I were chronically sick. The norm - bronchitis, ear infections, and pneumonia. So chronic that in the 7th grade I missed 2 weeks of school from pneumonia that did not respond to the antibiotics.

I had the parents who ran to the doctor for every cough, sneeze and fever and demand something (A PILL) to fix it. Now don't get me wrong, I love my parents but this life style is not conducive to raising healthy children. Love you Mom, Love you Dad :)

Now that I've laid the ground work...back to the reason of why I got into this profession.

I began suffering from migraines when I was in elementary school. My parents took me to every doctor in town who gave me a prescription and told me to take Ibuprofen. But none of it ever worked. Nothing helped with the severity of the pain, the frequency of occurance, or duration of the migraine. As a matter of fact, they kept getting worse.

By middle school I would wake up every morning to my normal dose of Ibuprofin, and throughout the day was up to 10 tablets per day. Even at that, I have memories of migraines lasting for 2 weeks at a time. Remembering back, I never felt sad or angry about this condition because I never knew anything different.

In the mean time, my sister had met and married Ray Tuck who was the son of a Chiropractor. When I was in middle school Ray moved up to the Chicago-land area to become a Chiropractor himself.

When they would come home to visit I was always glued to their side. One day Ray asked me how many Ibuprofen I took a day. Well, needless to say, his jaw hit the floor when I told him 8-10.

And that is when it all began....

The first thing he said is "you'll be lucky to have a stomach by the time your 30 at that rate", (my stomach is MUCH better) "You've got to do something different, obviously the Ibuprofen isn't working".

Do something different? That's what the doctor told me to do. You know, the all knowing doctor?!? What different thing can I do?

He started talking to me about chiropractic and he started to treat me. Between you and me, this was even a secret from my parents because they didn't think too highly of the profession. You know, chiropractors aren't "real"doctors and they didn't believe in "voodoo" work.

Well, guess what? It worked! It decreased all 3 important qualities of migraines: the duration, the severity and the frequency. No - they weren't completely gone, BUT my overall quality of life was greatly improved and I didn't have to worry about the damage of NSAID's (something we'll fill you in on later).

But for me the cherry on top of the cup-cake was this one time when Ray was visiting and I was home in bed with a temperature of 104 (with Tylenol). My father was nearly hysterical, because he had a cousin who had been severely injured from a seizure due to a high fever. So, while Ray was visiting me he quickly locked the door, took my temp (104), adjusted me, and said "re-check it in 20 minutes and watch what happens".

20 minutes later my fever had dropped to 101! That was when my strong interest in "natural" medicine began. There was no denying what that adjustment did and I was shocked.

Side note.....I don't medically advise every parent treat a high fever with an adjustment. This is just a testimonial and there are many things to take into consideration first. BUT I see it ALL THE TIME :)

Before long, Ray was back in the area practicing full time and I was being treated regularly. During this time being he also began to really "nag" me about this diet of mine. No one ever told me that my migraines and my chronic sickness could be worse because of the food I ate! That's when this whole profession really started to get me.

When I went to undergrad I decided to study nutrition. It was something I had a strong interest in and it did me well. During 3 years of my undergrad I also dedicated my time working for Ray. That was the key.

Toward the end of my undergrad studies, I started to doubt doing nutrition alone because it was clinically oriented and I would most likely end up in a hospital. And well, I hate hospitals. And well, we all know what not to eat, we just do it anyways. So, I started exploring other options. That's when Ray said "You will make a fine chiropractor".

Really? Never in a million years did I see myself becoming a doctor, but the more I thought about it the more I realized he was right.

I truly enjoyed taking care of people. The energy I got from my patient interactions was simply inspiring. And the passion I had with learning "natural" ways to get people better was exciting. Literally, every day was exciting!

So I did it. And here I am practicing what I have loved literally since I was a little girl and what has greatly improved my quality of life and who I am.

I couldn't have dreamed it better and I couldn't be happier!

My wish is that everyone would enjoy our field as much as I do!

Do you have a testimonial to chiropractic...the norm (back pain, head ache) or even something different (asthma, fertility, plantar warts)??? Please share!