This week I would like to explore another alternative practice for treatment of disease and discomfort. While I have experience with chiropractic (discussed last week), I have no experience with acupuncture. Now that I am living in an area where acupuncture is common, I decided to start investigating.

Acupuncture has a long history in Chinese medicine, dating back nearly 5000 years by some accounts. Like most ancient treatments, much of the process that went in to developing it has been lost over the years. What we do know is that many, many people share anecdotal stories about the effectiveness of the treatments.

The basic premise behind acupuncture (and its relatives, acupressure and cupping) is that qi (pronounced roughly ‘chee’, translates roughly to ‘vital energy’) flows throughout the body, much like blood or nerve impulses. This energy travels through the inside and outsides of our bodies constantly, and the free flow of qi is essential to overall wellness. Sometimes, however, qi becomes ‘blocked’, and disease is the result. The desire, then, is to ‘unblock’ qi so that it can flow again.

Acupuncture attempts to unblock qi through the use of needles, heat, pressure, and other mechanism. Practitioners apply stimuli of various sorts to and through the skin, including needles (several different sizes), heat pads, and their hands and elbows. Once qi is unblocked, health is quickly restored in the patient.

Does qi exist? I think the current consensus is that it is more of a metaphor than a measurable or tangible thing. If it doesn’t exist, then what’s going on? Theories include boosting the immune system, endorphin levels, circulation, and neurotransmitter efficiency. No one really knows.

Is acupuncture effective? It’s hard to tell. Unfortunately, traditional medicinal practices are inherently difficult to assess authoritatively. While many people swear by it, there may be just as many people who have seen little or no benefit. Acupuncture is basically safe when performed by a trained professional, so it might be best for you to try it for yourself and be your own judge.

While I question the ancient explanations, I believe acupuncture is effective for many people. I am looking for results at the moment. Who knows: maybe I’ll be seeing an acupuncturist soon. I’m certainly curious.

Resources:

• Acupuncture [en.wikipedia.org]
• Acupuncture, A Brief Introduction [www.acupuncture.com]

Other news

• Don’t forget to X-ray the apples: A Happy Halloween Means Safety First [healthday.com]
• The further we stray from raw and organic foods… Allergy-Induced Asthma More Common in Affluent Countries [healthday.com]
• When snack foods fight back: Popcorns workers stuck with painful legacy [www.msnbc.msn.com]

From the editor

Winter is rapidly approaching in northern South Korea. Today I collected leaves from a tree, and they ranged from bright green through yellow and orange all the way to deep crimson and purple. That was all on the same tree.

The hills are a rainbow of fall colors. It looks just like an oil painting in the afternoon sun. It is beautiful here right now.

I have the feedback link working again. Please send me your ideas for upcoming issues. Or just drop me a line… I’d love to hear from you!

Healthy thoughts,
Jeff

I am quite limber, and the muscles in my back are loose and relaxed. This is good: I don’t store tension there the way I used to and the way most people do. However, it also means that my spine is more free than most to do it’s own thing.

Some people swear by accupuncture. For others, it’s massage. For me, chiropractic is the doorway to more energy and less discomfort. I have seen a chiropractor somewhat regularly for years. I have a few spots that are always out of alignment, and a few others that generally need maintenance every month or so. I haven’t yet found a chiropractor in my new home, and I’m starting to feel the effects.

When vertebrae are misaligned, they pinch against the nerves passing between and through them. In severe cases, the nerve function is entirely cut off, and we lose body function (paralysis from a broken back is a clear example). In less severe cases, nerve function remains but is diminished to some extent. This might manifest as numbness in some part of the body, or slower reflexes in localized areas, or inefficient digestion, or reduced sexual function. Additionally, when the body has to work harder to send signals everywhere, fatigue becomes an issue… the brain simply has to work harder to do the same job.

Chiropractors have a seemingly simple task: keep the vertebrae aligned. They are fighting an enormous battle, however, because we all intentionally do things that misalign our backs. We slouch, we hunch, and we fall asleep in strange places (recliner, couch, airplane seat, office desk… who’s not guilty of at least one?). Add to that all the stress we put ourselves under and it’s amazing our backs are able to function at all.

Proper stretching and strength training will help the back stay aligned in the first place. Even then, sometimes it just pops a little out of whack. Whether it’s an accident (falling, a fender-bender, over-reaching for that tennis shot) or unconscious choices (bad posture, poor sleeping location), the back just needs the occasional check-up. A good chiropractor will spend a few minutes checking out your back, checking the muscles for tension and the spine for alignment. Then he or she will apply pressure in a few places, and after a little relaxing stretching, you’re done.

It only takes a few minutes, and you’ll feel your energy increase and your attitude sweeten. Think of it like an oil-change for your car: it’s a quick, regular maintenance that can save you a lot of trouble in the long run. If you haven’t seen your chiropractor lately, do yourself a favor and get a quick adjustment.

And if anyone knows where to find a chiropractor in Sachang-li, South Korea, drop me a line.

Other news

• I’m shocked… Shocked, I tell you! Fast food salt levels ’shocking’ [news.bbc.co.uk]
• More shocks: Sandwiches ‘rival crisps on salt’ [news.bbc.co.uk]
• And a salty aftertaste: Warning over hidden salt in foods [news.bbc.co.uk]

From the editor

Ugh. I still haven’t gotten my feedback form fixed. It’s a simple thing, and I have just been so swamped with ‘important’ items that I haven’t been able to attend to it.

Sorry last week’s issue went out so late. A problem at my maillist server led to a delay of almost a day. I think many of you received two copies of the issue, too. My apologies for the wasted bandwidth.

Things are returning to normal, and hopefully the glitches will be a thing of the past soon.

Here’s hoping your life isn’t quite as discombobulated as mine…

Healthy thoughts,
Jeff

Recently, I spent a week in Seoul, South Korea. It’s a fantastic city, with an intriguing combination of ancient history and modern urban living. There are approximately 23 million people in the greater Seoul metropolitan area, making it the second largest city in the world.

One of the only things I didn’t like about Seoul was the smog. I went to the top of Seoul Tower, which is roughly in the center of the urban buildup to see the city and surrounding country. The population is very dense, and therefore doesn’t extend all that far in any direction; still, you can’t see the transition from city to country from the tower. The haze was thick enough that the sky was white on a sunny day, not blue.

And I had to breathe all that.

It’s been said that breathing the air in Los Angeles is like smoking two packs of cigarettes per day. While statistics like that one are generally over-simplistic and biased, it is true that breathing air in modern cities is hazardous.

Smog can cause respiratory problems, short term and long term. It is especially problematic for asthmatics. It makes it difficult to breathe, as it reduces the amount of oxygen that makes it into the bloodstream. It also brings particulate and pollution into the lungs and blood, which can damage lung tissue and increase toxins throughout the body. For a good breakdown of all the damage polluted air can do to your lungs, check out Easy Breathers.

The worst pollution in the world currently is in the city of Beijing, China. This is one of the largest cities in the world, sure, but the pollution is far worse than other cities that are the same size or larger. Why? Quite simply, because not enough people in power have made a point of restricting emissions from vehicles and factories. The city is an environmental nightmare simply because nobody made clean air important in the past.

With the coming of the Olympics, China has decided to clean up the air in Beijing. Granted, some of the ’solutions’ are superficial fixes, such as moving heavily polluting factories out of the city and into the surrounding country, but some of the changes are real steps in the right direction, like retiring aging busses and bringing in newer, alternative-fuel replacements.

It will be interesting to see how much of a change can be made in a year in Beijing. The most important lesson, if the air is cleaned up, will be that it can be done in the first place. I firmly believe we have not yet passed the point of no return. All we have to do is make clean air as important as production.

That’s a big demand, though. As the world competes more and more to squeeze every last bit of waste out of every manufacturing and transport dollar, the demands of the world market directly contradict the needs of our biological and ecological systems.

There isn’t an easy solution. Asking a country like China to change its ways is one thing, but we’re in effect asking them to put thousands (or even millions) of people out of work if they can’t compete for manufacturing with other countries… their very economic existence depends at the moment on being one of the least expensive places in the world to mass-produce consumer goods. How do we bring about that shift?

Beijing has decided to make clean air a priority, at least for the short term. Only time will tell if the changes will last. Still, we should celebrate their efforts and encourage the Chinese government to bring about more changes like these moving forward.

I know in my lifetime I won’t see clean air over any major city the way I remember when I was young. However, perhaps my son will. I’m just happy to see that people are starting to wake up to the problem. I’ll call that a win… it’s a first step to great changes.

Resources:

• Easy Breathers [www.easybreathers.org]
• Will the 2008 Olympics in Beijing Showcase Pollution as Well as World-class Athletes? [knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu]

Other news

• News flash! Eat your veggies! What to eat and what to avoid to cut cancer risk [www.msnbc.msn.com]
• Put… the knife… down: Jewish ‘intactivists’ stop circumcising [www.msnbc.msn.com]
• Running your way to the grave…: Popular big-city marathons run health risks [www.msnbc.msn.com]

From the editor

I have finally settled in and am starting to figure out life in Korea. Like many places, the people are extremely friendly once they figure out you are trying your hardest in making the effort to communicate. We may not understand each other, but at least we can be confused happily.

For some reason, my feedback form is broken at the moment. I should have that fixed soon (I hope!). As always, however, you can leave comments at the end of every article on the website.

Healthy thoughts,
Jeff

Garlic is good for you. There’s no doubt about it, eating garlic makes you healthier. Or does it?

There are many claims made about the wonders of garlic in your diet. However, most of these claims come from hand-me-down folklore and not from rigorous analysis. Now that many herbal remedies are being studied in detail, it has become apparent that garlic is not the wonder-food many have believed it to be.

Claims about garlic’s power range from fighting cancer to lowering cholesterol, from relieving headaches to stopping foot odor. While many claims are obviously silly, people tend to believe the cholesterol and anti-cancer aspects. It is these claims that are now being questioned.

Garlic does contain antioxidants, so there are cancer-fighting aspects to its consumption. Additionally, garlic has antibiotic effects, so it will kill many potential sources of illness in your diet. It is also a natural blood thinner, which may or may not be beneficial depending on your current state of health.

Garlic does not, however, decrease cholesterol levels. In fact, it may cause an increase of plaque in the bloodstream. This would actually increase heart-attack risk if it is verified.

Also, consumption of moderate or large quantities of garlic are associated with an increase in susceptibility to the common cold. Yes, eating garlic can cause you to get sick.

As for its cancer-fighting abilities, there are questions as to whether the chemicals in garlic are really anti-carcinogenic. Further study is needed to determine if they are.

About the only things we know for sure about garlic is that it has a strong taste, causes the breath to change odor, and that it makes everything taste better. And even that last point is contentious.

Resources:

• Garlic [en.wikipedia.org]
• Herb World News Online - Garlic [www.herbs.org]
• Alternative Medicine: The Powers of Garlic [www.uihealthcare.com]

Other news

• Interesting justification for wanting special treatment: Breast-feeding mom wins appeals court victory [www.msnbc.msn.com]
• Excuses, excuses: ‘Unwalkable’ neighborhoods thwart exercisers [www.msnbc.msn.com]
• Speaking of garlic breath… ‘Fitness Phone’ helps users stay healthy, avoid bad breath [www.msnbc.msn.com]

From the editor

One thing I like about Asian food is the simplicity of the dishes. I’ve always been a fan of sushi, stir-fry, teriyaki, pad-thai, and a million other soups and dishes from this region. A new favorite is a form of Korean BBQ which I’ve had several times in the last week.

Basically, there is a hot pan in which beef or chicken is being cooked with cabbage, onions, mushrooms, rice dough, sweet potato, and whatever else is available. To the side, raw, are bowls of vegetables such as peppers, garlic, onion, sprouts, and the like, and sauces for dipping. There is also a tray with lettuce and mint leaves.

In general, the way you eat this all is by either taking cooked items directly out of the pan with your chopsticks and eating it, or placing a mint leaf and lettuce leaf in your bowl, placing some meat and whatever combination of cooked and raw vegetables on it, wrapping it up and eating it by hand. It’s simple, fast to prepare, and extremely healthy. What more could you want?

I have no doubt I’ll be eating well while I’m here.

Healthy thoughts,
Jeff

Last week I discussed jealousy and envy, and how examining our desires can give us insight into our fears and dreams. This week, I’d like to look at another emotion that causes problems for many people: guilt.

Guilt, like the emotions of last week, is telling us something. But what?

Most people would say that if you feel guilty, it means you did something wrong. But what does that mean? Wrong by what standard? In the eyes of whom?

Your first response is probably to say ‘wrong by public standards’, but is this really true? Have you ever felt guilty for speeding, even though everybody does it? The public standard is that it is acceptable, even though it is technically illegal. No, public standards have little to do with guilt, though there may be correlations between the two in some cases.

What guilt is really telling you is that you have committed an act that is in violation of one or more of your own values. This begs the question, ‘what are my values?’. Most people don’t know the answer to that question.

Let’s look at speeding again. You feel guilty because you’re in a rush and trying to get somewhere quickly. At the same time, you feel guilty because someone is waiting for you at your destination. You are breaking the law, which violates one value, and at the same time you are keeping someone waiting past an agreed meeting time, which violates another value. Each of these adds to the guilt felt.

Any time you feel guilt, you have given yourself a window into your values and beliefs. You may claim to be honest, but if you lie to someone without feeling guilty, you don’t truly value honesty as strongly as you thought. You may claim to have self control over food, but if you wolf down sugary dessert even when you are full, then you don’t really value food discipline. You may claim to believe in a political or religious doctrine, but if you can act out of accordance with it without feeling guilty, then you don’t really believe in it. These are both examples of ‘actions speak louder than words’.

Guilt tells us that we’ve broken our own internal code of honor. That’s fine sometimes. Most of us don’t know what our code of honor is, and one of the easiest ways to find out is to examine what makes us feel guilt in the first place. If you are doing something you believe is right and yet you feel guilty, ask yourself ‘Why? What is it about my choice or action that is wrong? What value have I undermined?’

Once you’ve recognized guilt and started probing yourself for the source, the emotion has served its purpose. At that point, it is time to let it go. You can’t undo the past (life is a one-way journey), but you can learn from your experiences and prevent making the same mistake twice. Continuing to feel guilt is wasting time and energy.

That doesn’t mean you should never feel guilty. It just means that once you do, figure out the cause, then choose to let go of the emotion.

After you figure out the cause, then you have some hard choices to make. Do you choose to change your behavior? This can be tough, habits formed over years take some work to override. Maybe you’d like to change your values system? That, too, is difficult. Both, however, are possible.

The only irrational choice is to continue to operate with the same values and beliefs and the same habits and behaviors. At that point, you are choosing to continue to act from a lack of integrity to yourself.

It’s OK to feel guilt. It’s not OK to dwell on it. Learn from it, always. Then let it go. It doesn’t serve any purpose to hold on to it past the initial recognition.

Other news

• You CAN teach an old dog new tricks: Adults’ new brain cells may revive old neurons [www.msnbc.msn.com]
• It’s all in how you look at it:Eye exam may spot dementia risk in elderly [www.msnbc.msn.com]
• Even the rich are eating like the poor: Poor do not have worse nutrition [news.bbc.co.uk]

From the editor

As you read this, I am adjusting to another life change. I just arrived the other day in South Korea, where I will be teaching English in the public schools. My wife and I are both here for a year doing this.

While we are here, I expect to continue publishing newsletters. Because this is a large cultural change, I hope my perspective on the world changes, and that I can offer new insights and different viewpoints moving forward.

As always, if there are any topics you want to know more about, use the feedback form on the website and let me know!

Healthy thoughts,
Jeff