Health Articles

Written by Cofe Fiakpui, MTCM, L.Ac., 2003

My vision for the next five to ten years and beyond for the growing field of acupuncturists and other complimentary health care providers is a multifaceted and multi-disciplined approach towards creating a universal framework for treating diseases and restoring wellness in our patients and clients. This new system of integrative healthcare will utilize all the best aspects of the major fields of complimentary medicine as well as the best aspects of Western biomedicine in order to create integrated teams of healthcare practitioners from all the various disciplines working together from various locations as a unified whole greater in its scope of diagnosis and treatment than any of its individual parts. Just as the immune system consists of various integrated specialists such as the B cells, T cells, macrophages, and natural killer cells each performing their particular function as an essential part of the whole, so do I envision acupuncturists, massage therapists, homeopaths, chiropractors, Ayurvedic practitioners, and other complimentary healthcare providers working hand in hand with all the various specialists within Western medicine.

Read more...

Osteoporosis prevention is one of the greatest concerns for women over 35, as the estrogen and progesterone levels begin gradually dropping. Besides weight-bearing exercise such as incline walking or hiking, diet is the best way to fortify your bones and prevent bone loss naturally without any medical intervention.

Calcium supplements are expensive and are generally not absorbed as well as the calcium available in foods. Other essentials to bone health are eating plenty of magnesium, phosphorus, chlorophyll, and silicon rich foods as well as exposing at least 20% of your skin to the sun for at least a half hour per day, to receive enough Vitamin D from the suns rays. Avoiding coffee is also very important as it is a calcium inhibitor.

Read more...

Try to include as many of these foods into your diet as possible as they have all been proven to remove arterial residues of fat and cholesterol and renew the heart and blood vessels. They are rich in lecithin, vitamins E and C, niacin, and omega-3 fatty acids.

Read more...

50% of all men and 33% of all women in the United States will develop some form of cancer at some point in their lives, and one in three people in the United States will die of cancer.

Cancer occurs in bodily tissues when damage to the DNA of a particular cell (liver, bone, lung, etc.) causes a mutation of the genetic code of reproduction causing a mutant line of cells to replicate rapidly without apoptosis or natural cell death, forming a mass of tissue growth known as a tumor. This malignant tumor interferes with the normal functioning of the particular organ and seeks to spread through the lymphatic system and bloodstream to the rest of the body. Abnormal cells with genetic damage to their DNA are normally identified by immune cells and destroyed before they can replicate out of control. However, if the immune system, due to factors such as depression and stress, does not function adequately these original cancer cells have the chance to grow into a tumor and metastasize.

Read more...

As calcium is essential to the bones, magnesium is vital to all of the muscles in the body because it has the greatest ability to relax them. Due to the myriad of stress inducers in our modern lives, we tend to hold on to tension in the muscles of our jaw, neck, shoulders, and back which accumulates the point that our muscles become chronically contracted and spasmodic. This can manifest as lack of flexibility, muscle tics, foot, calve, and leg cramps and generalized muscle tension. While yoga, qigong, pilates, deep tissue massage, deep breathing, and relaxation exercises all help, if there is a magnesium deficiency, the muscles will not be able to relax sufficiently. Magnesium is also beneficial to the immune system and assists the absorption of calcium in the bones and teeth.

Read more...

I have treated many patients with dysentery from just about every bug under the sun and I have found that the number one, most important advice I can give is this:

DO NOT EAT SALADS OR ANYTHING NOT SERVED HOT IN RESTAURANTS.

This unfortunately includes salsas, which often sit out for days. I have found that about 90% of the dysentery patients I have treated have gotten sick this way. It does not matter how fancy the restaurant is, or how many foreigners are eating there, or how many times you have eaten there before. The bottom line is that anything that is not hot must be disinfected for at least 15 minutes to kill all the microbes and the restaurants very often do not have time to wait with a full house during la hora de comida. Many restaurants do take the time to disinfect well, but if there is a new cook on the day you happen to eat there, you could still be unlucky. It is best to peel or disinfect anything you plan to eat raw with your own washed hands.

Read more...

Aging is the process of gradual degeneration of all of the tissues of the body through an insufficiency of new cell production to replace the old, worn-out cells, which end up dying at a faster rate than the body can generate adequate replacements. The good news is that this process does not take place by time alone, but is facilitated by various environmental factors, which can either accelerate the aging process or halt it indefinitely.

The most important of these environmental factors is the effect of free radicals on the body, which on a cellular level cause damage to the genetic material (nucleic acids, DNA, and RNA) and the cell's protective membranes leading to malfunction and degeneration. These free radicals are oxygen-based, which is why antioxidants have the effect to neutralize these aging factors.

Read more...

White clouds gather in the sky turning dark gray and glowing from within, with luminous flashes, before pouring down the elixir of the earth that casts a green blanket over the land, nurturing the abundant growth of all life. We can observe a perfect harmony in the cycles of nature that parallels the functions of the organ systems in our body. The heat of the sun evaporates the ocean's surface into clouds which move over the land, distributing water to mountain springs and rivers which eventually return to the ocean to begin the cycle again.

The woman's menstrual cycle is a perfect example of the influence of nature in the waxing and waning of the moon on the microcosm of the body's endocrine and reproductive systems. During ovulation, a woman is naturally more magnetic, extroverted, and radiant like the full moon and during menstruation more introverted and contemplative like the new moon.

Read more...

Article originally posted on:

The Yin Hai Jing Wei or "Essential Subtleties On The Silver Sea" is a classical Chinese text on ophthalmology that has traditionally been ascribed to Sun si Miao (581-682). However, recent evidence shows that this text was probably compiled in the 14th or 15th century and thus could not have been written by Dr. Sun, but rather comes from the Ni family lineage. The eye being the window into the Shen is also the main window through which one's Shen perceives the outer world and comes to describe and categorize his or her environment. Although the eye is most closely connected in TCM theory with the liver, heart and kidney, all of the organs are connected with the eye and thus various pathologies of the internal organs are manifested in the eyes.

Read more...