Armchair Traveler Spring 2011

Teresa is scheduled to talk in Spring 2011 at Delta College as part of the Armchair Traveler Program. The date is set on May 17, 2011. The schedule is not yet posted on their website. Just reserve the date and register.

A Word of Caution for Cleansing

During Dorel's talk this Fall regarding weight loss and weight control, he referred to the Dr. Hulda Clark's Liver Flush. He did caution the audience that the flush would make them feel weak and it should be done under a doctor's supervision.


Click Here for detailed directions

Facial Massage for Smooth Skin

Dr Loh taught us his patients how to combat rough skin the gentle way. The diagram below shows a number of points on the face to massage.

Follow up to Nov 15 post

Our earlier post on Nov. 15 regarding the Ju Family Restauranteurs was published in the Winter 2010 issue of Flavors and Fortune 17 (4). All these restaurants will skip the MSG and reduce the amount of salt at your request. In Stockton, Peking (209)957-0617 and New Yen Ching (209)957-0913 will also deliver.

A Family of Restauranteurs and Chefs in Our Area

Do you know that the owners of the following restaurants are all related?

Teresa, our food writer, just reported on the Ju family in Stockton and Lodi. Here is an excerpt from her article

For the full articles, please see Flavor and Fortune, 17(4), pp. 12-14

Click Here for more information!

Soup is On

When the air chills and the leaves fall, it is time for a hot pot of soup.

Teresa M. Chen's cookbook, A Tradition of Soup - Flavors from China's Pearl River Delta, makes a great holiday gift that celebrates tradition, health, and cuisine.

Please see Lindsay McSweeney's Review! Click Here

Pain and the Elderly

It pains me to think of the great number of elderly people suffering from pain. It pains me even more to learn that, thirty-eight years after acupuncture was introduced to Americans and after numerous studies confirming the efficiency of acupuncture to reduce pain, acupuncture is not a covered benefit for Medicare.

A recent information session of SCAN Health Plan on Oct. 28, 2010 confirmed the charging of monthly premium, office visit co-pays, and share of cost for prescription drugs. Just like Medicare Part A, and Part B, SCAN (Part C) did not recognize acupuncture as an option.


This is really adding insult to injury, piling financial pain upon physical pain, for the senior population who need a viable alternative to pain-killing drugs.

TMC

Pain Management at PCMC

As early as 1982, when Dr. Wu was in training in Massachusetts, he was already involved in pain management research using acupuncture, TENS unit, and trigger point injection.

In Stockton, Dr Wu started Pacific Pain Clinic in 1987, which evolved into the establishment of Pacific Complementary Medicine Center in 1993 providing holistic treatment for pain and other chronic conditions.

It has been established by NIH funded research projects that the use of acupuncture helps with neurological damages caused by strokes or accidents, and with musculo-skeletal pain. PCMC's team of trained and state licensed acupuncturists are here to help you recover and reduce pain.

In conjunction with the Eastern and Western treatment modalities available to them, PCMC's health education and health maintenance program aim to enpower our patients to better manage their pain with understanding, positive attitude, relaxation techniques, excercise and healthy eating habits.

Self-Help for Headaches

In Western medicine, aspirin is a ‘one-size-fits-all’ drug for pain and headaches. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) however, there are fine distinctions amongst frontal headache, occipital headache, sinus headache, allergy headache, and tension headache. In terms of TCM, different kinds of headaches correspond to different diagnosis and call for different treatment points and herbal formulas.

During his 2010 presentations, Dr Loh showed us six points that we can massage to ease headaches. Here are two pictures to show the location of these points, thanks to Shirley Fong for her graphic rendition.

For those who missed PCMC's Autumn Health Workshops, the presenters have agreed to put up a synopsis on the web. with health tips and illustrations. We are starting with Dr. Brian Loh's talk.

What to know about Phosphorus

Phosphorus (P)

Next to calcium, phosphorus is the second most abundant macro-mineral nutrient in the body. It is present in every cell for normal function. Phosphorus plays an important role in metabolization of carbohydrates and fats, synthesis of protein, and delivery of fat and fatty acid among tissues and organs for the growth, maintenance, and repair in the human body. About 85% of phosphorus in the body is found in the bones and teeth. Phosphorus makes up 1% of the human body weight.

Daily Requirement of Phosphorus

Institute of Medicine recommendations:

· 0 to 6 months: 100 mg/day

· 7 to 12 months: 275 mg/day

· 1 to 3 years: 460 mg/day

· 4 to 8 years: 500 mg/day

· 9 to 18 years: 1,250 mg

· Adults: 700 mg/day

Food Sources

The main food sources are the protein food groups of meat, fish, egg, and milk. Chocolate, cocoa, and ovaltine drinks are also phosphorus rich. Fruits and vegetables contain only small amounts of phosphorus.

Although whole-grain breads and cereals are known to contain more phosphorus than cereals and breads made from refined flour, this is a storage form of phosphorus called phytin, which is not absorbed by humans.

Excess and Deficiency

In general, there is very low possibility of phosphorus deficiency because it is available in most of the food sources. However, deficiency of phosphorus can lead to conditions like bone problems, skin sensitivity, irregular breathing, numbness, tremors, restricted growth, tooth decay, rickets, fatigue, anxiety and stress.

Never take phosphorus in high doses because it can turn toxic. It can cause damage to the kidney.

A human body needs both calcium and phosphorus to maximize its bone and teeth strengthening benefits.

Taking a lot of calcium from supplements can interfere with phosphorus absorption. That's because the calcium carbonate in calcium supplements might block the absorption of phosphorus. Thus, a calcium supplement that contains phosphorus is more preferable.

Calcium

In terms of the quantities of mineral that should be taken daily, mineral are classified into two groups, macrominerals and trace minerals. "Macro" means large in Greek. That means we need a larger amount of macro minerals to sustain our normal and healthy cells.

Calcium (Ca)

Calcium, the most common macro-mineral in the human body. It takes up 1 to 2 percent of adult human body weight. Up to 99% of calcium is stored in bones and teeth. The mineral component of bone consists mainly of hydroxyapatite [Ca₁₀(PO₄)₆(OH)₂] crystals, which contain large amounts of calcium and phosphate. With hydroxyapatite crystals, bone is remodeled throughout life, going through two processes, bone formation and bone resorption. When bone formation exceeds bone resorption, a human has a normal growth. Conversely, when bone resorption chronically exceeds bone formation, a human is likely to suffer from osteoporosis.

In addition, about 1% of calcium is stored in the bloodstream and soft tissue, where the calcium plays a role in mediating vascular contraction and vasodilation, muscle contraction, nerve transmission, and glandular secretion. In order to preserve normal physiological function, the level of calcium in the blood must be maintained within a very narrow concentration range. When the amount of calcium intake becomes inadequate, the body will demineralize bone to keep up the level of normal blood calcium.

Daily Calcium Intake for Population

According to the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences, kids who are 1 to 3 years old should intake calcium 500mg/day; kids who are 4 to 8 years old should intake calcium 800mg/day; kids who are 9 to 18 years old should intake 1,300 calcium mg/day; both men and women who are 19 to 50 years old should intake calcium 1200mg/day; pregnant and breast-feeding women who are 18 years old and younger should intake calcium 1300mg/day; pregnant and breast-feeding women who are 19 years old and older should intake calcium 1000mg/day.

List of Calcium Rich Foods

Food with Calcium	Serving size	Calcium per serving (mg)*
Dairy products
Milk	1 cup	290-300
Swiss cheese	1 oz (slice)	250-270
Yogurt	1 cup	240-400
American cheese	1 oz (slice)	165-200
Ice cream or frozen dessert	1/2 cup	90-100
Cottage cheese	1/2 cup	80-100
Parmesan cheese	1 Tbs	70
Powdered nonfat milk	1 tsp	50
Other
Sardines in oil (with bones)	3 oz	370
Canned salmon (with bones)	3 oz	170-210
Cabbage/ bok choy	1/2 cup	190
Broccoli	1 cup	160-180
Soybean curd (tofu)	4 oz	145-155
Turnip greens	1/2 cup, cooked	100-125
Kale	1/2 cup, cooked	90-100
Corn bread	2 1/2-in. square	80-90
Egg	1 medium	55
Orange	1/2 cup	52

Recently, multiple studies found that taking too much calcium supplements raises the risk of heart attack up to 30%. Do not rely on tablets to get calcium. Getting calcium from food sources is recommended.

Calcium Deficiency

Inadequate calcium intake or poor intestinal absorption leads to reduced bone mass and osteoporosis. Circulating ionized calcium has an interrelationship with parathyroid hormone synthesis and release. Once the blood calcium concentration goes below normal, parathyroid hormone fails to promote the reabsorption of calcium in the distal tubule at the kidneys. Thereupon, parathyroid hormone stimulates vitamin D to its active form (1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D) so that the absorption of calcium increases from the small intestine. Parathyroid hormone induces bone resorption and releases calcium into the bloodstream. Normal circulating calcium concentration is maintained by parathyroid hormone, which is done at the expense of skeletal mass.

Healthy Facts about Vegetarian Diets

In vegetarian diets, high contents of oxalate and phytate reduce calcium bioavailablity. This situation is balanced out by metabolizable anions which lower urinary calcium excretion. In comparison to omnivore diets containing animal protein, vegetarian diets have fairly similar dietary calcium intakes and similar amount of urinary calcium excretion.

Calcium Excess

A study found that higher doses of calcium supplements (1200mg/day in addition to 900mg/day from dietary sources) did cause constipation in 13% of the blinded trials.

Oxalate is a major component of kidney stone. Calcium can inhibit oxalate absorption from the intestines, so calcium has a protective effect. However, if the dose of calcium intake is too high, over 2,000mg/day, then the risk of nephrolithiasis (kidney stone formation) might increase.

Gastritis occasionally happens in some cases, which might be caused by taking calcium carbonate between meals. As a result, rebound acid production is stimulated.

Dr. Hui Visits PCMC

Dr. Ka-Kit Hui, founding director of the Center for East-West Medicine at UCLA medical school visited Stockton on June 25, 2010 to give a talk at Dameron Hospital. His topic was “Integrative East-West Medicine: From Pain Management to Patient Outcomes.”

Dr. Hui focused on the mechanism and efficacy of acupuncture in pain management, including but not limited to the treatment of:

l Fibromyalgia

l Headache

l Neck pain

l Shoulder pain

l Low back pain

l Osteoarthritis pain

l Myofascial pain

as well as for treating post-operative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting, and for stroke rehabilitation.

After the talk, Dr. Hui visited Pacific Complementary Medicine Center and exchanged ideas with Dr. Wu about the future of health care and the integration of Eastern and Western medicine.

Nutrition Talk at ACTCM (American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine)

Teresa did a presentation in San Francisco on "Nutrition - East and West" on July 14, 2010. Her talk is based on neo-classical TCM theory of Pi Wei Lun (A Treatise on Spleen and Stomach)

The interaction with TCM students, a new generation of TCM practitioners is great. Her talk is followed by a book signing of A Tradition of Soup: Flavors from China's Pearl River Delta.

2010 Spring Health Seminars

Dr. Brian C. Loh gave an interesting and useful presentation on acupuncture points which can be used for self-massage. Here he demonstrated these points on the wrist, the foot, and the head to alleviate pain and discomfort.

Dr. Brian Loh reviewing Acupuncture theory and practice

Pressing on neiguan point to stop nausea

Pressing on taicong point for channeling liver qi

The blood presssure point

Pressing on feng chi point on the back to improve vision

Massaging the tianzhu point should relieve shoulder pain

Walking for Cancer Awareness!

Dr. Susan Wang and Dr. Brian Loh walked on June 26 in Union City to raise funds for the American Cancer Society. under the banner of MCPCM (United California Practitioners of Chinese Medicine), there were three teams of walkers. With them was Dr. Eileen Chiang, chairperson of the American Cancer Society Chinese chapter of Northern California.

Dr Wang at Relay for Health

Dr Susan Wang, active in the Stockton community

Dr Susan Wang has been very active in the Stockton community. Through her involvement with the Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation, she taught cupping for self-care, visited nursing homes at Christmas, and distributed blankets and supplies at the Homeless Shelter.

Dr. Wang (second from right) and husband Tony Giani at Stockton's Tzu Chi office with other volunteers.

Cupping, a TCM technique

A Nursing Home Visit

At the Homeless Shelter

The 10 Best Foods for Your Heart

Art Bray has provided the following link for those of us interested in heart health. Go to it to check out the 10 Best Foods for Your Heart with delicious recipes.

http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20307113_1,00.html

Cooking up a Storm in Oakland

The Oakland Asian Community Center (OACC) presented a series of three cooking classes featuring Tibetan, Filipino and Chinese cuisine. On June 5, Teresa made three different pots of soup and three dishes assisted by fifteen pairs of helping hands.

Teresa attempted a double take on the Fuzzy Melon Soup, making one with a vegetarian stock and the other with a chicken stock prepared from scratch. She also did a double take on a stir-fry, one with meat and the other meatless.

Registered dietitian, Jing Liu, easily provided a Universal sauce for her two dishes and Teresa's microwaved eggplant.

Rice, Tea, and a sweet soup made of purple yam and tapioca rounded off a midday feast for the participants.

Asian Pacific Heritage in Locke, CA

Tom Herzog (l), owner of a bookstore in historical Locke, is carrying Teresa's cookbook: A Tradition of Soup: Flavors from China's Pearl River Delta in his store. With them are Liz Wong from Sacramento and Dr. Wu

At the Locke Foundation event on Saturday May 22, Teresa caught up with old writer friends Jeff Gillenkirk (center) and James Motlow (l.), co-authors of Bitter Melon - Stories from the Last Rural Town of America, which is Locke. With them is Lani Ah Tye Farkas, author of Bury My Bones in America, about the Ah Tye family saga.

Dietary Fat

(Source:POS Pilot Plant Corporation)

Ever wonder if your cooking oil is good for your health? A chart comparing the content of different kinds of dietary fat in terms of 1. saturated fat 2. Linoleic acid (polyunsaturated , an omega-6 fatty acid) 3. alpha-linolenic acid (polyunstaturated , an omega-3 fatty acid) and 4. oleic acid (monounsaturated, an omega-9 fatty acid) should give us a general idea of which oil contains the least saturated fat and which ones contains the most by percentage.

The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 intake should be less than 4:1 to avoid deleterious immune/inflammatory-system response triggering arthritis, lupus, and asthma. Excessive amount of omega-6 also "cancels out" the benefits of omega-3 for cardiovascular health, brain health, and cancer protection.

Fats are not assigned recommended daily allowances (RDA's). Instead, acceptable intake (AI) is given. Based on a 2000 calorie diet) AI for total fat intake is 65 grams, with AI for saturated fat to be less than 20 grams. AI for omega-3 fatty acid, according to one source, is 1.6 grams/day fro men and 1.1 grams/day for women.

Please visit Canolainfo.org for more information.

Food and Health - 2010 IACP Conference (April 21-24, 2010)

The IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) conference in Portland, Oregon introduced me to many chefs, cookbook writers and nutritionists working in the healthcare or food industries. I even met the Chef MD, Dr. John La Puma.

Within the new culinary order, I'd like to claim Food and Health to be my niche at PCMC.

TMC

Teresa's Booksigning on April 10th Chinese American Council of Sacramento

Teresa did an AUTHOR LECTURE followed by booksigning. The photographs are complimentary of Kingman Louie. They show Brenda Fong, President of CACS and Teresa at the podium facing an attentive audience interested in Cantonese roots and soups.

As always, Teresa was assisted by Winnie Wong at the book sale.

Stockton California, the Most Obese City?

I was flipping through the local newspaper and found this interesting article from the local newspaper. I read the headline "Come on Stockton, let's ditch the Most Obese City " written by Michael Fitzgerald. Continue on to read article:

Stockton Record

Is there anything we can do about this problem? Let me hear your thoughts on this!

Pictures from United California Practitioners of Chinese Medicine speaking engagement at Marriott Hotel Union Square