Category: Nutrition + Food

Young, Vital and on the Move: The Vascular System

It would not be an exaggeration to say that young vessels equate to young age and that a healthy, vital flow in the blood vessels makes every other part of your body shine and function well. Open yourself up to discovering the universal flow and connections that are inherent in your arteries, veins and lymph glands.

Our Vascular System is one of the most amazing elements of our body. As a teacher’s assistant during medical school, I was able to see firsthand the incredible complexity of our network of vessels, the arteries, veins and lymphatics. A few years ago, the German medical artist Gunther von Hagens toured Europe and the United States with an exhibition called “Body Worlds,” where, through a medical education process called plastination that turned the liquid within vessels into an acrylic compound, he was able to show whole segments of just vessels, with no other structures. Smaller and smaller tubes that ultimately became thin as hairs, spreading in shapes that made out the exact body of each organ—a sight to behold! A true community where every single corner is linked to the 3 main attributes of the system:

  1.  Each cell receives oxygen and nutrients through an artery
  2. Each cell delivers CO2 and toxins through a vein
  3. Each space between cells drains leftover excretions and debris through a lymph vessel

In Eastern thought and martial arts practice, the term vessels was the original description to what later was translated in the West as meridians, or channels. It was the observation of circulation by the ancient physicians and healers which gave them an understanding of how to move information and resources—energy, throughout the human body.

In shamanistic principles, as I learnt them from my teacher, Carlos Castaneda, the body can revitalize by means of a process that he called energy reallocation. The circulation in this case occurs through a network of vessels carrying a vital force called tendon energy. During the practice of physical movements, which we call Energy Passes, we deliver jolts or strikes to a certain count, stimulating the flow of tendon energy along vessels from the feet to the head.

Learning how to feel our vascular system, and how to activate each of its three parts, can bring lots of benefits and it can also be fun to do. Join our last class of the year this coming Saturday, November 12 to learn more!

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Miles Reid, L.Ac. National Board Certified
in Acupuncture and Chinese Herbology
Medical Doctor (AR)
Founder Energy Life Sciences
Clinical Director
Dr.Reid@energylifesciences.com
info@energylifesciences.com
elsi.wpengine.com
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Turn off to Stay on Top of Your Game

As a doctor in a busy clinic, I often find myself in a similar predicament as my own patients, that is, how to stay focused and stay present, without feeling that there is not enough time to take care of all that is on my plate. From early morning professional meetings to a lively stream of patients throughout the day, to important time with family, it’s key for me to be vital in every moment—to be physically, mentally and emotionally present.

I need to engage in active listening, critical thinking, business planning and fine motor skills and deliver medical interventions at the same time. As I do all of this, I need my heart to be open and connected, and my spirit to be grateful and joyful. I need my memory to be clear, my muscles to be relaxed yet springy, my body functions to perform in balance, and in general to generate the necessary energy to sustain my day. This is just the basic demand, without any additional emotional or relationship experiences that might be playing out in my mind at any time. Welcome to modern life! And hold on to your seat because this ride is just going to get more intense over the next few years. Time is accelerating.

No matter what is happening in my life, I am sustained by the practices that I learned from my teacher Carlos Castaneda. In particular, he taught me various series of movements to revitalize the body and mind. One of his favorites was a very simple yet powerful one he called Turning on the Body. A practical, descriptive name (quintessentially Castaneda).

To “turn on the body” means to first completely relax the body and then, in a split second upon a sudden command, engage the totality of ones muscles, joints and even internal organs, followed by turning everything off again. The effect of this on the nervous system is to trigger a state of readiness and ease at the same time—much in the same way as taking a short cold shower and then drying the skin briskly to warm it up again creates a circulatory flush from the blood shunting, which is very invigorating. The idea of turning on is alluring, but the real gem lies in the corresponding opposite state: turning off. Our capacity to be on wears off unless there is an equal and opposite capacity to turn off.

Radiant Health2016“You have to turn off to turn on,” Carlos Castaneda told me. The longer the distance between the off muscle state and the on muscle state, the stronger the activation of the body awareness. When we apply this to the heart muscle, we call it Heart Rate Variability (HRV), and the longer the variability, i.e., the more distance between the heart beats, the healthier the long term outcome of not only the heart, but of health markers across the board in all bodily systems.

Biologically, turning off is a given. Though we may have forgotten how, we are naturally designed to be able to turn off with no effort of our part. That is our nature. That is what I saw with my very own eyes while on safari once in the Serengeti plains. A pack of female lions chased a group of Impala. The gazelles seemed to freak out and run everywhere. The lions finally caught one of them, rounded up to eat it, and then, right beside this, the rest of the Impala returned to grazing, as if nothing had happened. So why is it then that when, for example, we feel betrayed by what someone said to us, we stay contracted and anxious for days or months or even years?

Peak performers know that the ability to turn off is as important as that moment when they turn on. Elite tennis players are a great example of this. How does a player sustain energy throughout a match that lasts hours? They cycle through being on and being off from moment to moment. With some players, it can seem like they have all the time in the world to return a serve across the net.

We, too, can have all the time in the world and operate at our highest level.

In our September Radiant Energy + Radiant Health Los Angeles Retreat, we will show you how to retrain your body to turn off when it doesn’t need to be on so that you can get deep rest, tap into your well of energy and move with suppleness. You’ll learn how to identify holding patterns held in your fascia, the fascinating network of soft tissue that turns on to help us do all the things we need to do in life, and release these patterns so that they no longer interfere with the on-off cycle that is required for you to perform at your best.

 

Times have changed, and in our world today, learning how to better adapt to the growing demands that life places on us is vital. It’s also of great help to receive specialized treatments to help your body restore and investing time in seeking neurological balance. These things are not luxuries. They are now, more than ever, necessities.

In health, joy and energy,

Dr. Miles Reid

A Recipe to Kindle Your Digestive Fire

It’s undeniable. The holidays are on the way! How can you keep yourself healthy during this busy season? One key is to strengthen your digestive fire.

Holiday celebrations almost always include rich foods. While we all know that it’s important to eat well, we can get a little derailed this time of year. Also, if you aren’t digesting properly, then you might not be absorbing the nutrients you need from your food.

Good digestion is absolutely a pillar of good health. To feel your best, you’ll want to make that pillar strong. With that in mind, here are some vital things to know about food and digestion:

Today, let’s focus on absorption. To aid your absorption of nutrients:

  • Chew fully
  • Take digestive enzymes*
  • Supplement with HCL*
  • Add probiotics and prebiotics to your diet*
  • Enjoy warm water with fresh lemon first thing in the morning
  • Add fresh ginger to your meals

This supplemental suggestion does not constitute medical advice. Please consult with your medical doctor before taking any nutritional supplements. 

With the holidays just around the corner, the last tip of adding ginger to your meals is especially useful. It’s a simple, tasty way to kindle your digestive fire. So, when indulging in the season’s rich fare leaves you feeling sluggish, turn to fresh ginger.

sri_lanka_gingerOne of our favorite ways to incorporate ginger into our meals this time of year is with this yummy, comforting and warming recipe: Carrot Ginger Soup.

Carrot Ginger Soup
Serves 4 to 5

Ingredients

  • 3 Tbsp olive oil (or you may substitute ghee or unsalted butter)
  • 1 ½ lbs carrots (6 – 8 large carrots), peeled and thinly sliced
  • 2 cups chopped white or yellow onion
  • 1 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • 2 cups water
  • 3 large strips of zest from an orange (organic is best)
  • Chopped chives, parsley, dill or fennel for garnish 

Directions

Warm the oil in a soup pot over medium heat, add onions, carrots and sea salt and cook until the onions soften, stirring occasionally (about 10 minutes). Do not let the vegetables brown.

Add the vegetable stock, water, ginger and strips of orange zest. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook until the carrots are soft (about 20 minutes).

Remove the strips of orange zest and discard. Working in small batches, pour the soup into a blender and puree until completely smooth. Only fill the blender bowl a third full with the hot liquid and keep one hand pressing down on the lid of the blender to keep it secure. Add more sea salt to taste.

Ladle into serving bowls and garnish with the chopped chives, parsley, dill or fennel fronds.

We hope you enjoy this as much as we do, and that you’ll join me for ELSI’s next Feed Your Body + Soul class—all about the heart. The class will include some useful tips for navigating through for your emotions during the holidays.

Why Happiness Matters

The science is in: Happiness matters!

It turns out that happiness and a strong social network are key components in your health and longevity. As the poet W. H. Auden put it, “We must love one another or die.”

This statement is borne out by research showing that social relationships can both extend your life and improve its quality. Studies prove that social connections—family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, churches and clubs—reduce risk of death by 50 percent. A stunning statistic!

Conversely, loneliness poses a very serious health risk. Comparable to smoking and twice as dangerous as obesity, loneliness can:

  • Impair immune function
  • Increase inflammation
  • Raise blood pressure
  • Increase cortisol (the stress hormone)
  • Increase depression
  • Disrupt sleep

Scientists have found that people are happier and feel safer when they are with other people than when they are alone, and that happiness is contagious.

Conducted over 20 years, the Framingham Heart Study, published in the British Medical Journal, concluded: “People’s happiness depends on the happiness of others with whom they are connected. This provides further justification for seeing happiness, like health, as a collective phenomenon.”

Interestingly, being happy also influences our health at the level of our genes. Researchers at UCLA studying the human genome learned that people with a deep sense of happiness and sense of purpose in life had lower levels of inflammatory gene expression and stronger immune systems. The opposite was true for the type of happiness that is momentary and based in self-gratification (enjoying an ice cream cone for example).

The head of the research team, Steven Cole, said that one of the things this 10-year study shows “is that doing good and feeling good have very different effects on the human genome, even though they generate similar levels of positive emotion… Apparently, the human genome is much more sensitive to different ways of achieving happiness than are conscious minds.”

joy-jumpTrue happiness is as much a state of mind as it is an emotional and physical (and genetic!) expression. Experiencing gratitude and looking for the good in life is an important part of it. As the fictional Pollyanna said “… there is something about everything that you can be glad about, if you keep hunting long enough to find it.”

There is even more reason to be glad if you can share your happiness with friends and family.

Happiness, and how your emotions affect your biochemistry, is one of the things that we’ve addressed in ELSI’s Feed Your Body + Soul classes. Join us for our next class to gain tools and information to start the New Year filled with happiness, hope and abundance.

5 Steps to Feeling Good

Feelings. The senses. Our emotions. Being aware of your feelings can have a directly positive influence on your health and well-being. I’ll share a couple of exercises with you here, visual and physical, to help you hone that influential connection between feelings and health.

For more detailed information about this and other topics, consider subscribing to our Nutrition + Health video library, which gives you access to all of the videos of classes I’ve presented on nutrition and health.

For now, let’s look at connecting to your feelings. Here is a very effective visualization exercise for you to try.  To prepare, begin by writing any physical symptoms that cause you discomfort. Also write down a few things that symbolize your ideal of wellbeing (for example, clear thinking).

Now, look at the first item on your symptoms list. With that in mind:

  1. Connect to the symptom. Close your eyes, breathe easily and allow any feelings, emotions and/or images related to this symptom and this part of your body to rise up, without judgment.
  2. Connect with the feeling or image. Clearly identify what’s coming up for you. What are you feeling? (For example, “My knee gives me pain when I walk; it makes me feel unworthy, and incapable of moving forward.”)
    Stay with the feeling. Resist avoiding it and instead just be there with it, allowing it to exist for what it is. Be open to what it has to teach you. Then open your eyes slowly and write down the feelings that came up for you.
  3. Track the feeling to its origin. Close your eyes again and return to the feeling or image. Once it’s clear in your mind, ask yourself: Where is this coming from? When have I felt this before? Does it relate to a past experience?
  4. Learn from the feeling. How is this feeling or image preventing you from enjoying optimal health? What past experience or belief is standing in the way of you feeling your best? What is the payoff for you holding onto this feeling? What can you learn from it? What will it take for you to resolve this feeling, or dissolve this image? What do you have to let go of in order to change?
  5. Take action. You have the power to decide to let go of this feeling.

Repeat these steps with something from your list that symbolizes wellbeing, shifting the focus in step 4 to what is preventing you from having the sense of wellbeing that the image or feeling gives you. What barriers are in the way? And what is the payoff to staying within those boundaries?

You may want to repeat this for other symptoms of disease and symbols of vitality on different days, focusing in on one pairing at a time.

This also relates to a physical exercise I want to share with you. The exercise is part of the body of our work. The following video takes you through this simple exercise, called “recapitulation”. This word in our work means to look back to the past to the root experiences of behaviors and beliefs that are blocking you in the present. Recapitulate, as defined in Merriam-Webster and how we use here, means: “To give new form or expression to.”

6 Windows to Perception: Overcome Sensory Overload and Optimize Your Awareness

The senses are our windows to the world. They give us information that we use to stay safe, interact with others, experience our world and understand life (the hallmark of our species).

The challenge is that we’re so constantly bombarded with a stunning array of input, that most of us suffer from sensory overload. What we register consciously at any given moment is but a fraction of what is coming at us. So what should we pay attention to? How do we prioritize? How can we focus on what is important and ignore the rest?

The art of developing our attention is perhaps more important than ever before in human history because we are faced with more sensory information than ever before.

We do have a natural filter, the reticular activating system (RAS), that enables us to sort out what information to pay attention to and what to prune so that we don’t go crazy. Moreover, it is a filter that is trainable. We can consciously engage our awareness to manage our sensory perceptions.

An important thing to understand is that our beliefs and past experiences shape how we filter sensory input. The great news about this is that we can focus on the senses to quiet the mind (and vice versa) to affect our interpretation of what we are sensing. We can free ourselves from belief systems that don’t serve our overall wellness to activate a greater awareness of what is both seeable and un-seeable around us.

The eyes are especially important. They are often more fatigued by overstimulation than any other sense organ. We make countless decisions each day based on what our eyes are telling us. There is a voluminous amount of information to process. Computers, smart phones and TVs vie for our attention and cloud our visual sensibilities.

Relaxing is a key thing for all of our senses, in fact. When we can quiet down the way we normally use our senses, we make way for opening to a more expansive way of interpreting sensory data. When you relax your eyes, for example, you’re able to see other aspects of the world. When your eyes become silent, you can see silence. This is true of all five senses. It is also a key for waking up the 6th sense.

When we activate our 6th sense, we have the capacity to apprehend what isn’t commonly available to us—something that we sometimes feel in our gut or our heart.Nutrition 2015_Featured_2

I’ll talk more about the 6th sense and how to cultivate it on Saturday. I hope you can join me!

Cool It Down! Foods to Eat for Summer Vitality

We’re thinking about longevity lately, and sustainability.

Can what you eat really make a difference to your longevity? Yes! In fact, your daily food choices affect your mood and health both in the moment and well down the road.

First and foremost, aim to eat according to the season. This is a key for aging with vitality. It gives your body the necessary nutrients to function at its best at any given time.

In the summer heat, it’s smart to focus on cooling foods. In fact, in both the spring and summer, you want to nourish your yang energy and eat foods that are cooling by nature. Whereas the fall and winter are the yin-predominant seasons—so when we move into the fall season (just around the corner!), it will be time to nourish your yin energy with warming foods. 

Spring and Summer Diet

For those of you in the southern hemisphere, or when the season turns for us here in the north, keep these recommendations in mind.

Springtime is a perfect time to nourish the liver, and do our Detox Program!

Also, you’ll want to eat pungent foods to help your liver—ginger, onion, garlic and chives are good. But avoid excessively spicy, hot, greasy, fried and sour foods throughout the spring and summer.

Though you want to eat cooling foods during the spring and summer months, note that it’s best to avoid ice water (ice water damages the stomach energy). Instead focus on foods with cooling energy, like cucumber, watermelon, celery, tomatoes, strawberries and mung beans.

Recommended Foods for the Season                      
  • Vitamin C
  • Cucumber
  • Melons
  • Squash
  • Celery (juice is great)
  • Jicama
  • Zucchini
  • Corn
  • Water chestnuts
  • Aloe vera
  • Beets
  • Watercress
  • Clam or oyster shell soup
 Foods to Avoid
  • Barbecued, toasted, baked foods
  • greasy and/or fried foods
  • hot spices
  • alcohol
  • coffee (replace with green tea)

Fall and Winter Diet    

As we move into the cooler months, it will be time to focus on warming our bodies. A simple and enjoyable way to do this is to eat more soups and stews. Walnuts and lamb are also excellent foods for the season (lamb is the most warming of all red meats).

Especially during the fall, favor sour foods and avoid spicy foods. Incorporate more pears, yams, aloe vera, soy and honey into your diet.

Recommended Foods for the Season                                        
  • Baked or roasted foods
  • Meats–game meats and lamb are best
  • Ginger, cardamom, fennel, clove, scallions, anise, pepper
  • Cherries
  • Walnuts
  • Seeds (any kind)
  • Green beans
  • Chinese chives
  • Horseradish
  • Azuki beans
  • Supplement with green algae or chlorophyll powder (2 spoonfuls)
Foods to Avoid
  • cold, raw foods
  • dairy products

800px-Celery_1We think these tips will help keep you balanced throughout the seasons, which is a key to a long and healthy life.

For more in-depth nutrition and health information, we invite you to participate in our Nutrition + Health classes—these classes are taught live online about once a month.

Our next class airs live on September 19 at 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time, and will be all about the senses.

Yours in health,
Dr. Miles Reid

 

The Truth about Detoxification

Are you thinking about doing a cleanse? Everywhere we turn these days, we see cleanses and detox programs being promoted. The truth is that not all programs are created equal. A proper detoxification program can be greatly beneficial. But some cleanses actually do more harm than good.

Why Detoxify?

A good detox program is energizing and rejuvenating.

We’re exposed to toxins every day—in our food and water (pesticides, heavy metals, microbes), in the air we breathe, from things we come into contact with through our skin (soaps, cosmetics, cleaning supplies, lead paint) and from our body’s own natural metabolic process. This toxic load can become a toxic overload.

Given this, I believe that periodic detoxification is important. Our organs are constantly trying to repair and regenerate, and we can help them do this by removing toxic obstructions. Any excess toxicity that you can shed can make a difference in your life. But therein lies the difference between a proper detoxification regime and one that is harmful. Some cleanses actually impair your body’s ability to eliminate toxins.

What to Avoid

Avoid juice-only cleanses. Why? A juice cleanse may seem like a good idea, but the truth is that doing such a cleanse without proper nutritional support can make you very ill. This is because when you fast or consume fruits and vegetables only, you diminish your body’s ability to rid itself of toxins. Amino acids are essential for liver detoxification. If you are consuming only juice, you may flush out toxins in your system that it then has inadequate ability to eliminate. It will pull amino acids from your muscles in order to deal with this, which can cause loss of muscle mass.

Other problems that can arise from some cleansing programs include blood sugar imbalances and fatigue.

Benefits of a Good Program

A good detoxification program will suggest you avoid foods and beverages that cause inflammation. It will also include proper nutritional support. Having physician support, as with our Detox Program, is also highly recommended.

The benefits of a good program include:

  • Greater energy
  • Clearer mind
  • Improved circulation
  • Glowing skin
  • Good sleep
  • Healthy weight loss

You can also purchase our 21-Day Detox Program to do at home.

Sweet Summer Slumber: 7 Foods for Better Sleep

Sleeping well is a struggle for some of us throughout the year, but the summer season can really turn up the heat on nighttime tossing and turning. To help, we have some recommendations for what to eat and what not to eat to invite blissful slumber any time of year.

Let’s focus here on food. Food plays a key role in how well (or not) you sleep. The first thing is to avoid eating a heavy meal too close to bed time—say within three hours of going to bed.  Eating too much late at night puts a strain on your liver, and you might find yourself waking up between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. and having difficulty falling back to sleep.

That said, it is good to include some quality protein in your evening meal, especially if you tend toward low blood sugar. So what other foods can help and hinder sleep?

We’ve found that these seven foods encourage better sleep:

  • Banana
  • Cherries
  • Oatmeal
  • Whole grain cereal
  • Almond milk or soymilk
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Lean turkey

A yummy, sleep-promoting evening dessert, for example, would be to blend a banana with some almond milk into a thick and frothy drink; you could even throw in some cherries and/or a date or two for extra sweetness. If it’s an especially hot evening, you might even want to make this with a frozen banana for a satisfying ice-creamlike dessert.

Just as there are foods that promote good sleep, there are also foods that prevent it. These are:

  • Alcohol (which can lead to fragmented sleep)
  • Nicotine prior to bedtime
  • Potatoes
  • Tomatoes
  • Onions
  • Salt

In addition to the foods to eat and to avoid, you might try giving yourself that extra push toward a restful sleep with a cup of warm chamomile tea. Chamomile, valerian, linden and passionflower all act as natural sleep aids.

Speaking of herbs, one of our favorite sleep inducers is lavender essential oil. You can put a few drops of lavender on your pillow or into a warm bath, or put just a drop on your temples. Not only does it smell wonderful, but you just might find that it relaxes and eases you into a peaceful sleep.

Wishing you sweet dreams,
Dr. Miles Reid

How to Be Flexible to Stay Strong

Movement. Energy. Health. Vitality. It’s all tied together. We think it’s important to take the whole into consideration. But to understand the whole, you must look at the parts, and vice versa.

Movement is a key part of what we teach in our classes and workshops because movement, in one way or another, is a fundamental part of life, and a key for staying healthy and happy.

We want to cultivate flexible movement. To be flexible is also to be strong.

In a presentation during one of our Nutrition + Health classes this year, our colleague Jordan Hoffman shared some philosophy and simple exercises of Aikido. Jordan is a longtime Aikido practitioner, and 2nd Degree black belt, in addition to being an outstanding acupuncturist. He shared some valuable insights.

Because the class theme was bones, tendons and muscles, Jordan spoke about keeping the tendons and ligaments nice and open, and how this enables energy to flow throughout the body.  In every healthy joint there is space. That space allows for comfortable, easy movement. When we’re stressed, tight or tense, we tend to contract, reducing that space, which results in more tightness and tension. This also slows us down, and creates an environment ripe for injury. But if we’re supple, we can move faster with more fluidly and grace. When presented with an obstacle, the more supple we are, the better we can navigate in the situation.

Think about the branch of a young tree. You can bend it and it won’t break; it remains flexible; but an old branch can snap. Just so, we want to keep our bones and joints supple. We want to be able to move easily with the winds of change and challenge.

An inspiring example of flexibility and grace at any age is Aikido’s founder, Morihei Ueshiba (December 14, 1883 – April 26, 1969). In this video from 1935, these qualities, and more, are made clear.

Here, you can see his last public demonstration, in 1969, at the age of 85 (it’s a little fuzzy, but nonetheless worth watching).

So how can we embody this? What can we do to meet the challenges of life with power and grace? We can start with awareness.

At the end of every day, you might notice that you feel shorter, tighter, contracted, more compressed. Cultivating awareness is an important step in remaining strong yet flexible. Hold the image in your mind of spaciousness in your joints. Think of elongating your spine. If you’re standing and notice that your knees are locked, soften them, letting the energy flow through the joint and through your body.

To your health, strength and suppleness,
Dr. Miles Reid