Why Cold Foods May Be Wrecking Your Health

I have a post for you today with some information that pretty much blew my mind when I first learned it. Eating and drinking too many cold/frozen things can seriously impact your health in a negative way. Yes, too many salads, cold smoothies, cold juices, and iced beverages can actually be bad for you. I'm not just talking about digestive disorders, I'm talking about your entire body on a systemic level. Here are some things that can be affected:

Digestion
Pain levels
Inability to lose weight
All things uterus related (cramps, endometriosis, fibroids, cysts, fertility, etc.)

Obviously, what I'm saying is based on Eastern Medicine. Please do not walk into your doctor's office tomorrow and tell her that the cold salad and iced tea you had last night for dinner are the cause of all your ailments. However, please hear me out. Thousands of years of Chinese Medicine observation, theory, and treatment have to count for something, right?

Why Is Coldness A Potential Problem?

Coldness slows things down and it also constricts. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) we find that if the too much internal coldness impacts the circulation of blood and fluids *think slow moving iceberg or imagine trying to drink a frozen slushie through a straw*. Things just aren't moving as fast or as smoothly as they should. In TCM we often talk about 'blood stasis' resulting from too much coldness in the body. This simply means that your blood is not circulating at its optimal potential. Again, this is from an Eastern perspective. This does not mean that you are losing all blood flow to your body parts. However, too much stagnation in women can manifest as endometriosis, fibroids, cysts, menstrual clots/cramps, fertility issues, etc.

Posted on January 23, 2018 by JoAnna Montoya, L.Ac., Dipl.O.M. and filed under digestion, nutrition, women's health.

Half Of A Whole 30 Journey & Tips To Help You

As promised, I'm bringing you an update now that I've reached the halfway point of my Whole 30 program. I also want to share some little gems (healthy items and recipes) I've picked up along the way. For those who didn't read my previous post on the what/why of the program, be sure to check it out 'Whole 30: An Acupuncturist's Journey'. Just to summarize, this program removes the following things from the diet for a 30 day period:

Grains: Yes, that means breads, muffins, pasta, pancakes, tortillas, and even rice
Legumes ( including soy)
Corn
Sugar (but of course I can have fruit)
Dairy
Alcohol
Additives such as MSG

Yes, for the past 15 days I have removed all of these things, and guess what? I'm still alive. I haven't withered away from lack of nourishment or from food boredom :-) But seriously, while this has been challenging in certain regards, it's actually not as impossible as it sounds. Plus, it's not meant to last at this extreme level forever. At the end of the 30 days, foods will be reintroduced back into my diet bit by bit. The idea is that by removing these things for at least 30 days, then reintroducing them (one at a time), you begin to see the impact certain foods have on your overall health.

Trust me when I say that if you are thinking of making changes to your diet in order to improve your health, you can do it, and your meals don't have to be boring.

Posted on January 18, 2016 by JoAnna Montoya, L.Ac., Dipl.O.M. and filed under nutrition.

Whole 30: An Acupuncturist's Journey

Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine are all about balance. So, it may seem a little odd that I have embarked on a Whole 30 Journey due to the fact that this program takes a pretty extreme stance on the do's and don'ts of eating. For those of you not familiar with Whole 30, it's a program based on the Paleo Diet. The following things are removed from the diet for 30 days:

Grains: Yes, that means breads, muffins, pasta, pancakes, tortillas, and even rice
Legumes ( including soy)
Corn
Sugar (but of course you can have fruit)
Dairy
Alcohol
Additives such as MSG

Posted on January 7, 2016 by JoAnna Montoya, L.Ac., Dipl.O.M. and filed under nutrition.

Is Your 'Healthy' Salad Doing More Harm Than Good?

Vegetables are healthy, but eating them in their raw state is not necessarily the healthiest way to consume them. Raw vegetables can actually be very hard on the digestive system, and for certain body types, can really impact overall health in a negative way. Ironically, many people eat an abundance of salads because they want to lose weight, but for certain body types too many damp foods actually cause the body to retain dampness which make it MORE difficult to lose weight.

Posted on July 14, 2015 by JoAnna Montoya, L.Ac., Dipl.O.M. and filed under digestion, nutrition.

Back To The Basics (part 2)....NUTRITION

While I love the effectiveness of acupuncture and herbal medicine, I know that if you're truly trying to create significant change in your health, you simply CANNOT IGNORE the fundamentals. The food choices we make truly do set the foundation for our health, and while most people make the connection between food and their digestive issues (acid reflux, gas, bloating, constipation), it can sometimes be difficult to make the connection between dietary choices and other health issues. Beyond digestive disorder, poor food choices can set the stage for issues such as chronic inflammation and pain, hormone imbalances, allergies, skin conditions, and much more.

Posted on February 8, 2015 by JoAnna Montoya, L.Ac., Dipl.O.M. and filed under nutrition, digestion.

Back to Basics...with Big Health Benefits (part 1)

Happy 2015!! Many people are extremely motivated to get healthy this time of year, and if you are one of those people, I say strike while the iron is hot. However, you don't necessarily need to look at this shift in health as a 'resolution'. As most of us know from previous years (ummm...my younger self included) people come charging out the gate ready to change EVERYTHING about their health come January 1st, and a few months (or weeks) later they are tapped out.

Posted on January 8, 2015 by JoAnna Montoya, L.Ac., Dipl.O.M. and filed under nutrition, excercise, sleep.