|
Join Our List
|
 |
The Acacia Integrative Health Clinic
is a team of talented health care professionals
who provide individualized, complementary and alternative health care in a team setting.
The clinic is located in Victoria, BC.
WE ARE:
Dr. Pamela Hutchison, Naturopathic Physician
Clinic Director
Dr. Amy Gilchrist, Naturopathic Physician
Director of The Family Medicine Clinic
Graham Robertson, Registered Massage Therapist
Christine Selder,
Registered Clinical Counsellor
Celeste Ford,
Registered Massage Therapist
Dr. Jaime de Melo, Naturopathic Physician
Victoria Spaurel
Registered Acupuncturist
Dr. Justin Robinson
Chiropractic Physician
Laura Warmington
Registered Nurse
IV therapy provider
Meaghan Mounce
Registered Massage Therapist
Staff
Melissa Coles
Kalee Geurts
WE OFFER:
Naturopathic Medicine,
Massage Therapy,
Acupuncture,
Chiropractic,
Counselling,
Homeopathic Medicine,
Allergy and Sensitivity testing,
Salivary Hormone testing,
Pap smears,
HPV testing,
Hair Mineral Analysis and Heavy Metal Analysis,
Comprehensive Digestive Stool analysis,
Detoxification,
Botanical Medicine,
Vitamin B12 injections
B Vitamin Complex injections,
Homeopathic injections,
Screening Physical Exams,
Sublingual Immunotherapy
IV Therapy
Infrared Sauna
And more...
|
|
Seasonal
allergies?
|  |
Sublingual Immunotherapy can help:
It is an allergy desensitization treatment that gradually trains your body to no longer react to pollens, dander or dust mites.
Recommended by the World Health Organization as a safe and effective alternative to allergy shots, sublingual immunotherapy is a cost-effective way to win the battle against hayfever.
Now is the time to start treatment. Here is how:
1. Book an appointment for scratch testing with your ND.
2. At the end of the test, determine with your ND what allergens you would like to be desensitized to.
3. Take a test dose of the allergen, orally, at Acacia and wait 20 minutes.
4. Take home your allergy drops and take them daily as directed.
Book your appointment before April 30th and receive 5 dollars off the cost of the visit.
And if you bring a family member in for testing at the same time, you each get 5 dollars off your testing visit.
Call us!
250.475.1522
|
|
Money doesn't grow on trees!
|  |
Did you know that most of our health care services are covered by extended health benefits?
Your employer knows that it saves them money for you to be healthy. Check your benefit booklet to see if you can be doing more, while paying less, for your health
|
|
A reminder that might help you get a bigger tax refund
|  |
All services provided by our care professionals, including our Registered Nurse, qualify as a Medical Expense and can be used to reduce your taxable income.
More information is available
HERE
on the the Canada Revenue Agency Website.
If you have lost your receipts for 2010, we can provide a copy for you - just give us a call.
|
|
|
 Greetings!
The news these days has been full of strife and disaster. It may seem harsh, at times like this, to think of celebrating spring -- to think of all the hope and life that spring represents when just across the ocean people face such grave devastation. Perhaps the beautiful spring we are having could serve as a counterweight to all that bad news, and inspire us to send hope across the ocean to those in Japan, Libya, Yemen, and Bahrain, in whatever way we feel fit.
The nuclear crisis in Japan is garnering a fair bit of attention on the use of iodine (potassium iodide) as protection from the radioactive iodine being released from the damaged nuclear reactors at the Daiichi plant in Fukushima. At this point, there is no immenent health risk to the population of Victoria or Vancouver Island, even with the very small amounts of radioactive iodine isolated in water in our area. The risk of taking iodine outweighs that related to this minor increase in radiation exposure. To read more about the issue, click here for a review by Dr. de Melo. We will update this info on our website as the situation progresses in Japan.
A bit of news: Meaghan Mounce RMT Joins Acacia: We are pleased to announce yet another member of the Acacia Team, Registered Massage Therapist Meaghan Mounce! See the article below to find out more about the newest member of our team. Meaghan starts April 1st, and is in the clinic three days a week.
Also: Our April discount on seasonal allergy scratch testing has started. Get 5 dollars off a visit for seasonal allergy scratch testing if you book before April 30th - simply mention that you read it in the clinic newsletter. We can now test for mold and dog dander allergy, with more allergens coming soon! This testing allows us to determine if you are a candidate for sublingual immunotherapy - a safe and effective alternative to allergy shots.
I hope you enjoy our newsletter. Dr Jaime de Melo writes about getting back to the basics of detoxification - a good reminder for us all. And I offer my version of a famous (at least around Acacia) de Melo family recipe for cilantro chutney while waxing poetic about the health benefits of this humble herb. (I'm am painfully aware that it isn't as delicious as the original, but given it is a closely guarded family secret, I imagine this is as good as it gets for me, and now you).
Be Well,
Dr. E. Pamela Hutchison ND
Clinic Director
|
| HIV/AIDs outreach by Dr. Jaime de Melo ND | |
Our own Dr. Jaime de Melo volunteers at the Health for Life program. This program supports the health and well being of marginalized communities such as:
--Members of the illicit drug using community
--Those who currently live with HIV/AIDS, and or Hepatitis C
--Those who are at risk of contacting either
Health for Life offers a hot and nutritious meal to the program participants, as well as working collaboratively with Cool Aid's Health Clinic to provide expert health care from Cool Aid's highly skilled and experienced nursing staff. Additionally, they offer the service of a certified acupuncturist to assist participants with managing withdrawal symptoms, anxiety, and sleeping problems.
Dr. de Melo provides naturopathic care to this community free of charge and as a volunteer. We wanted our community to know about this important work Jaime does to support those in need.
|
Back to Basics
Dr. Jaime de Melo, Naturopathic Physician
| |
With the arrival of spring many people begin to think about making positive changes to their health. We get an abundance of questions about cleanses and detoxes at the clinic. Patients wonder about what kind of detox they should do and how long they should do it for.
Before beginning any cleanse or detoxification it is important to think about three fundamental needs of a healthy body.
Our bodies are made up of 75 to 100 trillion cells! A phenomenal number any way you look at it. Each one of those cells - whether they be skin cells, heart cells, liver cells or immune system cells - needs oxygen, food and water to function optimally.
Air
Our lungs can hold about 5 litres of air, yet most of the time we only use about 10% of our total lung volume. Passively - when resting, sitting at our desks, eating, sleeping we use only about 500 mL of our total lung volume. About 2.5 litres of air remains in our lungs if we don't forcefully exhale. Getting regular physical exercise causes us to use a larger portion of our total lung volume. This will allow us to get more oxygen into our lungs and to our blood for transport to all of our 100 trillion cells.
There is about 5 litres of blood in our circulatory system. The heart does an amazing job of pumping the entire 5 litres through its chambers in about 1 minute. That's your entire blood volume moving through your heart each minute. With exercise you strengthen the heart muscle. This allows it to beat more efficiently even when you're at rest - each beat is stronger, so it doesn't need to beat as often. That's less wear and tear on the heart. Consider this. If your heart rate is 60 beats per minute, your heart will beat 86,400 times per day. That's 604,800 beats per week or 31,449,600 beats per year. - undoubtedly the hardest working muscle in your body. Regular cardiovascular exercise will allow all of this to happen with less stress.
So how much aerobic exercise should you do? Well it's different for everybody but a good starting point is 15 to 20 minutes of aerobic exercise per week. Increase your heart rate, increase your respiration rate and break a sweat! For some this might be a brisk walk. For others it might mean running a few kilometers. Whatever form of exercise you choose the key is to sustain it - keep your heart rate up for 15 - 20 minutes.
Food
Each one of your cells needs a regular supply of fuel. Skipping meals and eating too little are common mistakes that people make when trying to improve their health. While it is important to not overeat, under-eating can be just as detrimental.
Inadequate nutrition will prevent any of your cells from doing the jobs they were designed to do. Skin cells won't be as healthy as they could be, nor will your liver cells be able to detoxify all the toxins that they should be able to help remove from the body.
Making sure that you are eating unprocessed whole foods regularly throughout the day is extremely important for your cells and for any detoxification. For a fantastic website full of healthy food recipes check out http://www.whfoods.com/
Water
The average adult needs to drink about 2 litres of water a day for optimal health. There are many factors that might influence whether you should drink slightly more or less, but in general 2 litres per day is what we need. Why? Well again, we have approximately 100 Trillion cells in your body. Each one of those cells has at the very least thousands of chemical reactions occuring in them every second. All of those chemical reactions have evolved to occur in a water environment. Some of those reactions produce energy, some use it. Some produce wastes, others detoxify and help excrete waste. Water is THE medium in which our biochemistry functions. If each cell is even a little dehydrated it won't function optimally.
Detoxification requires optimal hydration.
So, your challenge this spring....should you accept it is to
1) do some form of aerobic exercise - 3 times per week
2) eat healthily - lots of whole foods, no skipping meals.
3) drink adequate amounts of water.
A tall order, but all of us at the clinic are stepping up to the challenge too. If you have any questions about what's right for you talk to us - we're here to help.
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jaime de Melo ND
|
Meaghan Mounce, BSc, RMT, CPT
Acacia's new massage therapist!
|  Meaghan graduated from the Registered Massage Therapy program at the West Coast College of Massage Therapy in 2010. She is excited to be a part of the team at Acacia Integrative Health Clinic, and we are thrilled to have a new, highly qualified professional on board.
After completing her Bachelor of Science, (Major in Biology) Meaghan became a BCRPA certified personal trainer and fitness instructor. She then spent several years at a local Victoria gym, training a variety of people, from those new to fitness or with injuries, to highly trained athletes. Realizing she wanted to play an active role in her client's health beyond their fitness goals, she decided to pursue massage therapy in order to treat pain, promote relaxation, and provide pre-habilitation and post-surgery rehabilitation.
Meaghan's treatments focus on myofascial release, deep tissue and trigger point therapy, as well as therapeutic exercise. Meaghan enjoys her work with any client including athletes, women and pregnant women, and her treatments can help with reducing stress, improving pain, promoting injury repair, and enhancing circulation.
Meaghan has been active her entire life, playing many sports as a youth and became passionate about weight training and fitness as a teenager.
She is a fitness class instructor, from boot camp to spinning, and has completed several half marathons. Meaghan is a personal trainer at Victoria Wellness Professionals and leads classes at several facilities in Victoria. She also teaches anatomy and physiology to future fitness instructors and trainers in the Fitness Theory program with Body Blueprint Fitness Education.
Meaghan is excited to meet the wonderful clients at Acacia Integrative Health and provide treatments to help them reach their health and wellness goals!
|
Celeste's Sabbatical
Celeste Ford, Registered Massage Therapist
| |
 Since there is no greater time than now, and just because she can, Celeste is choosing to follow her heart on a journey south toward Arizona so she can deeply connect with nature, family, friends and her own healing journey. By allowing herself the freedom to step away from day to day life in Victoria, Celeste is very excited to be returning home in late May fully replenished and overflowing with new energy to share with all those who wish to create more peace, comfort and abundance in their life and bodies.
If you are curious about her activating and nourishing style of massage therapy, please visit our website for information on her Bio page and on her Craniosacral Therapy services. If you are interested in receiving her support to further your health goals, call Acacia to book an appointment for late May or early June and get your name on her waiting list so you can be informed when she is back in service.
Celeste is a very popular care provider here at Acacia, and we look forward to her return, as do her many dedicated clients.
~ What can you do to support your wellness goals today? ...with ease, grace and a little fun too! ~ Celeste
|
Cilantro Chutney
| |
 Are you looking for a detox super food that tastes great? Cilantro certainly fits the bill. It binds heavy metals, such as mercury, so that they can be excreted safely. In this recipe, cilantro in combination with garlic and lemon creates a detoxification triad (lemon stimulates liver bile flow while garlic provides nutritional sulfur used in detox processes in the liver).
I must give credit to Dr. de Melo and a long line of women in his family who mastered this recipe. What I offer here is my humble, yet still tasty, attempt at their culinary masterpiece!
This chutney goes great with mexican and indian food alike, and can be used to zest up a salad dressing or as a spread on a sandwich. And if you are like me you will eat it right off the spoon!
ingredients:
2 bunches of cilantro, washed and de-stemmed
4-5 medium sized cloves of garlic
Juice of one fresh lemon
2-3 tablespoons of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
directions:
Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Blend well. Store in an airtight glass container in the fridge. Eat quickly (it won't be hard), as it will last only 7-10 days.
Enjoy!
- Dr. Pam
|
Upcoming Events and Special Offers
| |
Massage for a Cause
Support the Cycle of Life Tour. Have a massage on the following Sundays and all proceeds go towards the Cycle of Life Tour -- Our own Graham Robertson (your massage therapist) is cycling from Victoria to Anchorage Alaska to raise funds for Victoria Hospice.
The dates for the Sunday Massage are:
April 10
May 8
June 12
July 10
To find our more about the Cycle of Life Tour - click HERE
To save your spot -email Graham at graham@acaciahealth.ca
Did you know? We are on Twitter and Facebook
Sauna Saturdays: Come in for a sauna on the following Saturdays for 25% off (that's 15 dollars instead of the regular 20). Bring a towel, bathing suit, and water bottle. We have a shower for freshening up afterward. April 2nd April 16th April 30th Call ahead, space is limited - you need to book your spot! |
|
|
|
|
