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Family Acupuncture Log
with Kay Madsen, Licensed Acupuncturist
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Enjoying the Family Acupuncture Log?
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Goodness, how time flies. Last I wrote a newsletter it was summer and here we are now heading into winter. I took something of a writing sabbatical for the past few months. Sometimes it isn't possible to tend to everything that shows up without kicking something to the sideline. For me, I spent much of the year juggling the duties of being in the so-called "sandwich" generation. It's been about embracing the ups and downs of normal life cycle tasks. I routinely counsel my patients to not let self-care be the aspect that is neglected when life gets very full. In order to keep up, it was the writing that had to go.
I am very grateful to have matters on an even keel and excited to get back to writing. During this month of December, I will be sharing a series of articles to kick things off. It's good to be back!
Enjoy
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The Twelve Days of Quirky Christmas
As we head into the holiday season, I am reminded of a revamped Christmas carol my husband penned some twenty years ago. He used The Twelve Days of Christmas and the song was a tribute to my, shall we say, slightly off beat habits. Granted, a few of the twelve days were devoted to his adjusting to life with my cats. As I recall, day five was an homage to hair ball barfs. Mostly, the verses were about my ventures into alternative medicine and the odd practices I unabashedly embraced. Some have endured. Others have been replaced, particularly as I have honed my lifestyle more toward the prescriptions of Chinese medicine.
My husband recently remarked that a reprise seems fitting, given the ever evolving nature of my ways. I am proud to say that I can still evoke a "Now what are you doing?" from time to time. I like to think that it keeps things fresh in a relationship working on its third decade.
I am now inspired to confess my quirkiness with my own version of the song. I realize that I often ask my patients to make changes that veer away from the American lifestyle. Because they aren't in sync with the mainstream, these adjustments can be uncomfortable. I get that. As I have always told my own daughter, I would never suggest anything I myself wouldn't do. Same goes with my patients. This offering is meant as an inspiration that if I can go against the flow for better health, then so can you, for whatever quirky habits you choose to adopt.
Without further ado: On the first day of quirky Christmas I will give to thee . . .
"A grass fed bison burger in an organic pear tree"
From a Chinese medical perspective, proper eating habits create the primary foundation for good health. There's a technical explanation for this principle. The short version is basically, you are what you eat. My awareness and efforts toward better nutrition started in my late teens, predating my exposure to Chinese medicine. Over the years, I have banished many foods from my diet. Refined flour, sugar, dairy, saturated fats, artificial food additives. I even gave up meat for quite a few years. Indeed, my husband's original lyrics were "a ball of tofu in an organic pear tree."
Since the original song, my food preferences have undergone many changes. The specifics of what is in and what is out of my diet will surely be fodder for another song verse. What has remained constant is my quest for high quality. I center my diet on organic produce and meat and other products from animals raised, not only organically, but in accordance with their natural diet.
Why organic? First, I believe that the nutritional content is higher than in conventionally raised food. Industrialized farming practices have poisoned the crops and the soil they grow in, depleting them of crucial nutrients. As to animal products, we feed corn and soy to our food source animals that would normally eat grass or seeds. This virtually eliminates the omega 3 fats and vitamin content that would naturally be in the meat, eggs and milk. Farm raised fish (even salmon) also have very little omega 3 because they have to actually swim in deep, cold water and eat their natural diet to develop it.
Secondly, I have concerns over exposure to toxins, in my food or otherwise. Mainstream food production embraces the idea of better living through chemistry. We are told it is all safe. And seriously, who wouldn't trust the studies funded by the companies that produce the chemicals? As for me, I would rather err on the side of caution. So, I do care about whether I eat pesticides, chemical fertilizers, antibiotics, growth hormones, and genetically modified food. FDA complicity notwithstanding, I choose to opt out.
But isn't fresh, organic whole food expensive? Yes. Yes, it is. Going organic involves sticker shock. There are good reasons for that. The economy of scale favors non-organic agribusiness. Big companies can offer their products cheaper at lower profit margins. Think Walmart. Additionally, crop yield is lower for organics, forcing higher prices. Lastly, direct cost comparison at the grocery store isn't very accurate. Some of the cost of conventional food is hidden through government subsidies, which we pay indirectly with our taxes.
Now for some fun facts about subsidies and how they shape our behavior. After the Great Depression, when some Americans literally starved to death, the government made decisions to subsidize select agricultural crops - like corn, wheat and soybeans. It wasn't only to "save the American farmer" and "put a chicken in every pot." This policy was a conscious decision to manipulate the economy by making food cheap. The theory was that if Americans spent a smaller percentage of their income on food, that would free more money to fuel growth in other economic sectors. Suddenly, the dollar bought larger quantities of food, albeit of lower quality. Our generation is now accustomed to cheap food with money left over for the Xbox. We like it that way. But we are blinded to the whole picture. Because of the subsidies, we aren't paying the true cost of conventional food at the grocery store. So when we look at the full price of real, whole, organic food, the differential seems staggering and we clutch our chests in shock.
I hear you. "Thanks for the civics lesson, Kay, but I am not prepared to mortgage my home to buy food." Years ago, the cost of my high quality food shopping also caught my husband's attention. Once he figured out I was hitting us in the pocket book, my proclivities didn't seem so quaint! I was asked to buy "regular food at a regular store." So I did. "What's the matter with these apples? Why are the eggs so pale and tasteless? Is this broccoli or green colored wood? There is no banana flavor in the bananas." Yup. He asked for it. You see, the unexpected bonus of eating organic is that these foods also taste better. That might seem trivial, but I know from years of experience the only way to stick to eating healthfully is if the food is yummy.
They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. To my husband, I'm pretty sure that my lectures about health, nutrients and chemicals sound like Charlie Brown's teacher. As it turns out, he is addicted to the taste of the good eats I have provided through the years. He has never asked me to change my food shopping habits again.
Of course, I felt vindicated. But I also justify my food costs on economic terms. I have given up other expense items. Spending more of my budget on food might not be the choice others would gladly make. And I guess I've sort of poked my finger in the eye of the economists that count on me buying mascara and hundred dollar face serum. But then again, as I said, I am kind of quirky.
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ABOUT ME
After leaving behind a decade of practicing as an attorney, I received my Masters of Acupuncture in 2002 from the Traditional Acupuncture Institute in Columbia, Maryland. It certainly was an interesting career shift! Every day I am increasingly grateful to do this amazing work. I guess I still use some of my old attorney skills to piece together every patient's experiences to create a new picture of their health concerns from a Chinese medical perspective. From there we fashion a strategy toward healing together. It never gets old to watch a person's sufferings unravel. Sure beats interpreting government regulations for a living!
I keep balance in my own life by sharing my love of outdoor experiences with my husband and daughter. Camping, hiking and critter watching are much loved family activities. It's important to me to see that my daughter learns to attune herself to the movement of the seasons and the many lessons they offer, so that she can appreciate balance from an early age.
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Suite 204
Silver Spring, MD 20906
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Kay Madsen, M.Ac., L.Ac., Dipl.Ac. (NCCAOM)
Licensed Acupuncturist
13415 Connecticut Ave.
Suite 204
Silver Spring, MD 20906
(240) 393-5420
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Copyright � 2013. All Rights Reserved.
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