Intro to the Elemental Detox

We take the idea of cleansing and reinterpret it through the lens of East Asian medicine. It’s called Elemental because it’s basic yet essential. Change your diet and your eating habits and enjoy better health. This 3 week, food based cleanse, is an opportunity to transform your body, habits and health. It supports your needs for individualized, optimal wellness.

Why Detox?

Traditional Medicine has a history of cleansing as a path toward greater health. Our environment and diets have become more and more polluted and un-natural. Processed foods, environmental toxins, and hormones in our meats are just a few things that place a heavy burden on our body. Our pathways of elimination including our digestion, liver, skin, and urination can become sluggish and less efficient in ridding our bodies of toxins. This can in turn affect a variety of things including hormones, reproductive health, mental health, allergies, digestion, skin and musculoskeletal (pain) complaints. A cleanse gives the body a break from additional stressors coming in and allows it to process and eliminate stored up toxins. The results can be incredible.

The beauty of East Asian medicine is that it is always evolving. It’s a system that can adapt to new information, adjust, and add value. When this medicine was first created there was not the level of toxicity and stress that we face every day in modern society. But now there is. Looking at the modern client it is easy to see that their systems are overwhelmed. They also often have combination patterns from an East Asian Medical view. Meaning, for example, they may be deficient (frequently cold, pale, and low energy) but also excessive (sluggish digestion, irritable, with headaches.) This situation lends itself well to treatment though the Elemental Detox.

Habitual Choices vs. Conscious Choices

This program allows you to get down to basics and align your body, mind, and spirit. It takes 3 weeks to begin a new habit. The goal is to give the body and mind a reset button. It can provide a fresh start and a clean slate that can make other aspects of treatment with acupuncture and herbs more effective. It takes commitment, but countless patients have done it and succeeded with great results.

The plan includes coaching  with Lindsey Lawson MS EAMP (billable to insurance for those with acupuncture coverage), supplements, recipe packet, and daily health recommendations.

Lindsey Lawson MS EAMP is an Acupuncturist, Chinese Herbalist and Clinic Director at Glow Natural Health and Seattle Fertility Acupuncturist. She is passionate about healthy , happy living and a regular blogger. For an appointment call Glow at 206 568 7545.

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(you could) Break A Leg! (if you’re on an acid blocker and you smoke)

By Candace McNaughton, ND

Acid blockers are one of the most prescribed medicines in the world. An article in the British Medical Journal reports on the risk of hip fracture in women who take acid blockers and who smoke. The risk of hip fracture increased by a whopping 50%! This was a survey of almost 80,000 patients over 10 years (from the Nurses Health Study), so the numbers are very likely to reflect the general population. The authors say that the reason is likely because acid blockers and smoking both interfere with calcium absorption. They also showed that taking calcium didn’t seem to help.

If you add on the risk factor of being small-framed, I bet the risk of fracture would be even higher. Acid blockers interfere with the absorption of a number of nutrients such as iron, B12, magnesium, and calcium. This is because the food doesn’t break down completely and because some nutrients (like calcium) are better absorbed in an acidic environment. Yes, that means that milk is a very poor way to get calcium (not to mention it’s not a food group and, and, arrgh!). To protect bone density, you need to start with weight-bearing exercise and take a comprehensive mineral supplement plus vitamin D.

Now the FDA has warned that acid blockers might increase the risk of C difficile-associated diarrhea. C diff is a bug that is usually picked up when people take a lot of antibiotics or from staying in a hospital. Sometimes after treatment, the diarrhea just won’t go away. If you take acid blockers and get C diff (which is on the rise), you are more likely to have chronic recurrent diarrhea that is very difficult to treat.

We need our stomach acid! Acid blockers are most often prescribed for ulcers and acid reflux. Why not make your ulcer go away instead of blocking acid so you don’t notice it’s there? One very important thing that I use for these conditions is chewable licorice extract, or DGL. It not only soothes on contact and is anti-inflammatory, but it also helps the tissue to actually heal. No worries if you’ve heard that licorice can aggravate high blood pressure. The chewable has that component taken out. At Glow we have a really yummy chocolate licorice extract chew. Please let me know if you have any questions.

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