toxins

Power of “Letting Go”

What is it about all this “stuff” in our lives? Maybe we accumulate things because they hold precious memories, or they remind us of our parents, past romances or childhood. To part with these possessions seems out of the question. But there’s a saying that I’ve always liked, “You have to get rid of the old to make way for the new.” And if you’re feeling stagnant in your life, it may be time to let a few things go and welcome the new energy that’s just waiting to come into your life.

We actually have two “homes” that need to be cleaned regularly: our physical homes and our physical bodies. Just as we accumulate “stuff” around our homes, so do our bodies accumulate food residues and toxins. And, although our bodies are equipped with a wide variety of organs designed to rid harmful toxins, these organs are most efficient when we provide the right nutrients to do this arduous job.

To fully clean your body, it’s important to give our organs a break from rich and complicated foods by either cleansing or fasting for a short period of time. Cleansing means paring down your food to just simple fruits and vegetables, lots of water and select whole grains. Fasting means the limitation of most foods and replacing them with lots of water, fresh vegetable and fruit juices, teas and soups. By limiting the energy going toward digestion, more energy is available to the rest of your body and mind, helping you sharpen your concentration improve your immune function and enhance digestion.

While you’re cleaning out your body and home, don’t forget to clean your heart. Throw away negative thoughts and habits you’ve been harboring that no longer serve you. A clean, open heart will allow you to receive all the good that awaits you each and every day. If your heart and mind are cluttered, there is no room for life’s gifts and surprises to enter.

Deborah Farley is a licensed acupuncturist, naturopath and owner of the Acupuncture Clinic of Richmond, in Richmond, Virginia. She’s a leading authority on using nutrition and Chinese medicine for treating symptoms and root causes of illness. For additional resources to improve your health and wellness, visit www.debifarley.com or call 804.288.3927.

Autumn Health: Lungs and Large Intestine

Autumn is the season to nourish and detoxify the lungs and large intestine. Your lungs are your first line of defense against unhealthy air. When you’re relaxed, you breathe in oxygen approximately fifteen times per minute. In order for your lungs to be able to eliminate carbon dioxide, it’s essential that your lungs are functioning properly. When your lungs aren’t functioning properly, your body accumulates heat, which can perpetuate all sorts of health issues, including allergies, frequent colds, neck pain, reduced immunity, sinusitis, excessive perspiration- even melancholy.

Equally important to your health this time of year is the large intestine. It is divided into three parts: The caecum, where your appendix is attached; colons—ascending, transverse, descending and sigmoid; and the rectum. When the large intestine is constipated you may experience skin rashes, acne, dry skin and eczema. When constipated, waste creates a toxic state that shows up as bloating, gas, headaches and irritability. Autumn is a particularly good time of year to focus on caring for your large intestine. Pay attention to your diet and eliminate foods that are rich in sugar, flour, dairy products, alcohol, and caffeine – all of these can aggravate your gut and large intestine. Instead, build your meals around foods to support the health and function of both your lung and large intestines.

Here are a few items to regularly keep on your Autumn shopping list:

FRUITS: apple, blackberry, fig, pear, plum, date

VEGETABLES: bell pepper, broccoli, garlic, leeks, onions, pumpkin, red cabbage, shallot, squash, sweet potato, turnip, yam

GRAINS: amaranth, barley, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, rye

NUTS: almond, brazil, cashew, pecan, pistachio, walnut

BEANS: adzuki, black, carob, garbanzo, kidney, lentil, lima

SEEDS: flax, pumpkin, sesame, sunflower

If you want to learn about eating the right combination of foods to best support your individual health needs and goals, schedule time with Debi by calling 804.288.3927 or email debi@debifarley.com.

Declutter Your Health

I’m often asked the question how often one should detox to clear out the “junk” that accumulates in our body. Sure, our bodies are equipped to regularly detox and eliminate toxins, but I believe there’s considerable value in refueling and replenishing our bodies with a nutritional cleanse that will best support our ability to do this efficiently. But deciding how often you should do a detox should be based on your individual choice and lifestyle. It should also be based on what your health goals are and whether you do a “mini detox” at various other times throughout the year.

Many people choose to detox once or twice a year for a lengthy period of time, while others choose to do short cleanses such as one to three days several times a year. A short detox tends to include activities like juicing, water fasting, or the popular master cleanse. A short detox usually occurs once a week, once a month, or once every couple of months. Some also choose a more structured program if they’ve recently undergone a major change to their body or are trying to heal or reverse a medical condition.

My personal belief is that it is good to do a detoxification program at least twice per year. It doesn’t matter what length of time or how often you decide to do a detoxification program; you are still reaping great benefits from doing so. The bottom line is to simply listen to your body and remember to get the expertise and support to guide you along the way.

If you’re interested in learning more about the detox programs that serve as the basis for my RESET to Wellness programs, check out these upcoming opportunities:
If you live in the Richmond, Virginia area – register to attend a FREE one-hour talk/overview on September 6 at the Acupuncture Clinic of Richmond.

If you live outside of this area, send me an email at debi@debifarley.com and schedule a free 10-minute consult by phone to review the different programs that we have available, and what would make the most sense for you.

Metabolic Syndrome: What’s Happening in our Bodies?

I want to talk about a couple of the organs that are involved in metabolic syndrome and diabetes so that you can better understand treatment options and prevention. I’ll start with the liver…

The liver has a lot of functions in the body and is involved in nearly every process that is occurring. The first thing that the liver does it that it filters the blood coming from the digestive tract before it gets passed through to the rest of the body. This means that everything that you put into your mouth and everything that you breathe and absorb through your skin passes through the liver.

The liver takes the nutrients from the food that we eat and turns it into nutrients the body can use. Part of this process involves turning all the sugars into glycogen to be used when we need energy. Other uses for our food is building the foundation for endocrine and hormone protection through the use of cholesterol, the liver is also responsible in the making and processing of this pre-cursor to hormones. Cholesterol is also produced as protection in the body. When triglycerides are increased and can not be used they get stored in the body as fat. The liver produces cholesterol to help contain the triglycerides in the blood stream this is the very low density (vldl) cholesterol.

Filters out the Toxins

The liver is also filtering out any metabolic toxins as well as toxins in our body that our bodies either do not know how to process or have become so overburdened that they can not process it any more. These other toxins can come from:

soap
shampoo
preservatives
chemicals in food
outgases from new cars
furniture
cleaning products
cosmetic products
gas fumes….

And this is the short list!! A build up of these toxins can cause inflammation, obesity, and disease in the body. Finally, the liver is involved in assisting our immune systems to handle the daily environmental assaults.

Another critical organ involved in metabolic syndrome is the pancreas…

The pancreas secretes insulin when ever our blood sugar levels get to high. This secretion of insulin helps lower the blood sugar to levels that are not dangerous to the body. When the pancreas can no longer efficiently secrete insulin to control blood sugar in the body then you have diabetes.

Some symptoms that you may be having blood sugar problems are cravings for sugar and carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, and cereal; fatigue, especially if it is relieved by eating; poor concentration, poor memory, trouble losing weight, gas and bloating, tired in the afternoon, blurred vision, sleepy after meals, waking up at night, and if you get shaky or irritable without food.

For more information on the relationship between carbohydrates, blood sugar, insulin and the impacts on the body, check out www.youtube/merrittwellness.

Tune in to my next article to find out more about symptoms and the criteria to determine if you or a loved one has Metabolic Syndrome.

Debi Farley is a licensed acupuncturists, Certified Holistic Health Practitioner and the owner of Acupuncture Clinic of Richmond, Virginia. Find out more about Debi Farley at www.debifarely.com.

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