Please Help to Expand Insurance Coverage for Acupuncture in Alaska

New acupuncture legislation is going before hearing committees in one week, on February 7, 2006. Many people would like to receive the benefits of acupuncture, but they are unable to because their insurance companies do not cover treatments. By emailing your support, you can help to change this situation and bring coverage to more Alaskans.

Information about the bill and email addresses are attached below. Please read the note and contact the committee members by email by Friday, February 3rd. We have also included a sample letter which you can easily cut and paste into an email to send to the committee members. Thank you for your help!

How to stay healthy in the winter

For the past several months we have been writing a shared column in the Frontiersman called "Wellness from Within". We alternate articles about every five weeks with other Valley healthcare practitioners including Body in Balance Physical Therapy, Yoga in the Valley and Bionic Chiropractic. Our next column will be published on Friday, February 10th.

If you missed our recent article on how to take care of yourself in the winter months, please click on the link below:

Eating According to the Season - Soup Stock

Soup is the perfect winter food. It's warm, nourishing and easy on the digestion. In Sally Fallon's cookbook "Nourishing Traditions" - a guide to traditional foods and cooking methods - the author talks about soup as an integral part of many of the world's cuisines:

"For many cultures, soup is a breakfast food. The Japanese begin their day with a bowl of fish broth and rice. French children traditionally consumed leftover soup before they started off to school - the very unhealthy French breakfast of coffee and white bread was adopted on a wide scale only after the Second World War." (p. 197)

Great soups start with great soup stocks. In another section, Fallon also praises the virtues of meat and fish stocks. "Properly prepared, meat stocks are extremely nutritious, containing the minerals of bone, cartilage, marrow and vegetables as electrolytes, a form that is easy to assimilate. Acidic wine or vinegar added during cooking helps to draw minerals, particularly calcium, magnesium and potassium, into the broth. Dr. Francis Pottenger, author of the famous cat studies as well as articles on the benefits of gelatin in broth, taught that the stockpot was the most important piece of equipment to have in one’s kitchen.” P.116

“In folk wisdom, rich chicken broth – the famous Jewish penicillin –is a valued remedy for the flue. The 12th-century physician Moses Maimonides prescribed chicken broth as a treatment for colds and asthma. Modern research has confirmed that broth helps prevent and mitigate infectious diseases. The wise food provider, who uses gelatin-rich broth on a daily or frequent basis, provides continuous protection from many health problems.” P.117

It's easy to make your own healthy soups and stocks. Attached is our basic stock recipe as well as Fallon's Chicken Stock recipe. To learn more about "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon, see the quick links at the bottom.

Out Beyond Ideas - A CD for Peace

Two of our favorite Singer/Songwriter musicians, Nance Pettit and David Wilcox, have produced a CD to benefit The Partners in Conflict and Partners in Peacebuilding Projects at the University of Maryland's Center for International Development and Conflict Management (CIDCM)

"Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing, there is a field; I'll meet you there." Rumi

"When this Rumi poem spoke to us from the pages of a book several years ago, we did not consider its global implications. We just knew that we could relate to the concept in our own hearts. From there emerged the music and songs in Out Beyond Ideas, which draw from the unifying words of Rumi and other ancient mystics from the world's faith traditions, such as Hafiz, Tukaram, HaLevi and St. John of the Cross, to lift the hearts of people everywhere in a powerful call for peace."

--David Wilcox and Nance Pettit

The album is full of captivating, extraordinary music set to lyrics written by mystical poets from many different traditions. Just listening to the music itself creates peace in your heart, and music is a proven method of peacebuilding that has been used in the course of the Partners projects during intense mediations in Africa.

To learn more about this project or listen to music samples, please visit the link below. We also have CD's for sale at the Alaska Center for Acupuncture for $15 each. All proceeds go directly to The Partners in Conflict and Partners in Peacebuilding Projects.

info@alaskaacupuncture.com

907-745-8688

http://www.AlaskaAcupuncture.com