It's Summer Harvest Time!
It's time to enjoy the fruits (and bounty) of Summer! ☀️⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
***Here is a yummy way to enjoy with all those yummy tomatoes, peaches and fruit at the farmers markets***
😋from @lyssandra_nativepalms
breakfast • snack • lunch
☁️COTTAGE CHEESE☁️
...nutritionally... 15 g of protein per 1/2 cup (muscles, repair + recovery, skin, hair)
High in B12 (brain health + energy)
High phosphorous helps repair tissues and cells, especially to prevent sore and tired muscles
✨energetically✨
cottage cheese can help to ground you to the earth, as its deep minerals and proteins help to stabilize your adrenals and blood sugar levels— much needed for staying focused and calm (all the work and all the play can throw the body and mind for a loop)
>>> eat cottage cheese with fruit, savorize it with cracked black pepper and olive oil, you can even use instead of ricotta in lasagna...play around with it.
If you are lactose intolerant, maybe steer clear or take enzymes... 😋 #healthydigestion #protein #groundingfood #mentalfocus #clarity #healthyeating #summerfood #tomatoes #cottagecheese #adrenalsupport #bloodsugarstabilizer #summer #august #veggies #nourishyourself #rootandstem #oaklandacupuncture #oakland #acupuncture #bestofbay #oaklandacu #rootandstem #functionalmedicine #eastmeetswest #topratedacupuncture #feelbetter #eatwell #naturalglow
Spotlight on Chamomile
We absolutely LOVE Chamomile (and this gorgeous photo from @homesteadapothecary) --- especially on those days when you feel stressed out and agitated!
🌼
TIP: combine chamomile and peppermint with almond milk and a bit of honey for a soothing and oh so yummy drink. 🍵🧡
#chamomile #herb #herbalism #herbaltea #calming #stressrelief #rootandstem #everydayremedies #healthtips #eastmeetswest #balanced #calm #relaxed #oakland #bestofoakland #oaklandacupuncture
Let's talk about my "trying to drink less coffee" journey
I thought I would share an update on my "trying to drink less coffee" journey. Well....I'm falling miserably! 🙀
A while back I had my hormone and cortisol tests run and found that my cortisol "stress hormone" totally tanks in the afternoon (probably after the caffeine has spiked and then crashed). Not only that but I also have higher levels of estrogen effecting my progesterone levels. I suspected that my excess caffeine (2-3 cups of coffee😬) intake in the morning was messing with my cortisol, thus causing my other steroid hormones to go a bit bonkers throughout the month. Estrogen needs to be able to detox through the liver during your cycle, and if it builds up, it can suppress your progesterone production. The Liver in Eastern Medicine is responsible for detoxing stress, and if there are high levels of stress it will "attack" other organ systems effecting things like mood, digestion, weight gain, breast tenderness, etc. 😡
Low progesterone can cause an increase in PMS symptoms, insomnia-especially right before your period, irritability, and anxiety. All of which I was having!
After a good 3 months of limited coffee and focusing on green tea or just no caffeine in the morning, I felt amazing! I wasn't getting breast tenderness (excess estrogen) and my PMS was very minimal (increased/balanced progesterone). 🌈
In this past month, I've been back on 2 cups a day. I'm around day 13 and having the WORST breast tenderness, moodiness, bloating, blah! Caffeine effects everyone so differently, but I'm really noticing how quickly it changes my body. "Everything in moderation, including moderation" right??? 🌟
#rootandstem #functionalmedicine#easternmedicine #acupuncture#acupunctureworks #labanalysis#eastmeetswest #labwork#topratedacupuncture#womenshealth #chineseherbs#herbalmedicine #6weekstoglow#health #wellness #eatwell#feelbetter #naturalglow #healthtips#bestofoakland
Community Acupuncture : Wednesdays and Fridays at Harborside
Our lovely Brooke McClelland is at @shopharborside today! Her new Community Acupuncture hours are Wednesdays and Fridays from 2:30-7:30. Walk ins available for sliding scale acupuncture $45-60!! 💃🏻💪🏾🌟🌈
#acupuncture #community #communityacupuncture #acupuncture #acupunctureforeveryone #communityacupuncture #rootandstem #dispensary #wellness #functionalmedicine #treatyourself #selfcare
Spotlight on Echinaea
Spotlight on #Echinaea 🌸 from our friends at @homesteadapothecary
Processing Echinacea flower and so many other plants these last two days! These beauties will make their way into our Kick that Cold formula in a month!
#echinacea #purpurea #plants #flowers #plantmedicine #plantpower #herbalism #handcrafted #herbs #eatyourmedicine #eastmeetswest #rootandstem #oaklandproud #bestofoakland #plantlove
The Water Season : Fall
We are slowly entering into Water Season 🌊as summer wanes...
Loving this reminder from @lyssandra_nativepalms
Cold Water can help your nervous system — stress response, circulation, produces endorphins and snaps you back to life.
#watertherapy #coldwater #coldplunge #nervoussystem #health #coldwater #bathingrituals #skinhealth #healthyglow #wakeup #rootandstem #oakland #bestofoakland #bestofbay #oaklandacupuncture #oakland #acupuncture #bestofbay #oaklandacu #eastmeetswest #topratedacupuncture #feelbetter #naturalglow
The Fifth Vital Sign
The Fifth Vital Sign: a grassroots movement toward menstrual cycle literacy. "Their mission is to use education as preventative care, encouraging individuals to make informed choices about their health. They hope that by spreading free, reproductive health information in a fair, non-judgmental manner, we will all feel more secure, safe, and alive in our bodies."
Chinese medicine has been focusing on our menstrual cycles as a major piece to the health puzzle for centuries. Coined by a dear friend of mine that was struggling with an irregular cycle, I like to call all acupuncturists and Eastern Medicine docs "womb wizards". We have so many tools to help support a natural, healthy cycle. Even if you want to stay on a birth control method that suppresses or changes your natural cycle, there is so much that we can do to help your body regulate as much as it can so that you can have a connection to this vital sign regardless of your method.
It's so great to see a movement like this getting the attention it deserves! Check out their website for more information! #MenstruationMatters
The Benefits of Watermelon!
I just LOVE summer ☀️and I LOVE watermelon🍉! This juicy fruit is not only delicious but has been used as a Chinese herbal remedy for centuries. It's used to treat what we call "Summer heat" 😓and has also been getting some attention in several studies in the Western paradigm. Its cooling and hydrating effects are used to detoxify the body, heal sores, moisten dry mouth, quench thirst, and relieve the irritability caused by summer heat. Watermelon contains an array of important vitamins and minerals including vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B-6, potassium, and beta-carotene. Current research shows that citrulline in watermelons has beneficial effects on the heart, dilating the blood vessels and improving blood flow, treating high blood pressure, erectile dysfunction, and supporting the immune system! ❤️🍉
#rootandstem #functionalmedicine #easternmedicine #acupuncture #acupunctureworks #labanalysis #eastmeetswest #labwork #topratedacupuncture #womenshealth #chineseherbs #herbalmedicine #6weekstoglow #health #wellness #eatwell #feelbetter #naturalglow #healthtips #bestofoakland
Are you absorbing all your vitamins?
Does it ever feel like you are just taking handfuls of pills aka vitamins 💊?
Do they even really do anything? Wouldn't it be so awesome if we could just get all of our nutrients from food🍕?
If you are asking yourself these questions, there IS a way to really maximize the absorption of macro and micro nutrients and take less "pills"! Macronutrients are things like fats, carbs, proteins that help us produce energy and we need them in larger quantities. Micronutrients are the vitamins, digestive enzymes, electrolytes, and minerals that help our body function best and they are key to how our bodies digest the macronutrients.
A really, REALLY simple blood test can show all of this info! The CBC (complete blood count) , CMP (comprehensive metabolic panel), and Lipid panel (all of these taken in one blood draw💉) can show us if our body is absorbing fat and protein correctly, if we are getting enough minerals, Vit Bs, or if our digestive system has enough enzymatic support to break food down in the first place! These tests can help people scale down the handfuls of pills so that we focus on the yummy food we love to support our bodies. ⭐️
Facial Acupuncture Special Ends Soon!
Tomorrow is the last day of our July special for Facial Rejuvenation Packages!! Don't miss out!
🌞Summer Special 📍 💥Starting July 1st take an additional 10% off our Facial Rejuvenation Acupuncture 6 or 12 pack💥 💆🏾♀️💆🏼♀️💆🏻♀️
Facial Rejuvenation Acupuncture is a non-surgical method of reducing the signs of the aging process and is suitable for those with deep wrinkles, fine lines, bags under the eyes, sagging, puffiness, drooping eyelids, double chin, large pores, dry skin or acne.📑
A study in 1996 in the International Journal of Clinical Acupuncture reported that 90% of the 300 cases treated with Cosmetic Acupuncture had marked effects including the leveling of wrinkles, improved facial muscle elasticity and overall rejuvenation. ✔️Email us info@oaklandrootandstem.com or message us to get started ↖️
Reframing : Are the symptoms all in your head?
I just wanted to send out a PSA that if you are worried that your symptoms are "just in your head" please remember that your head is a part of your body! "Just in your head" symptoms are important to pay attention to and don't let anyone, including yourself, discredit your intuition on how you feel. With that being said, please avoid WebMD 😉
Inflammation is not always a bad thing!
Inflammation is not always a bad thing 🔥
There’s a lot of talk about how to lower and suppress inflammation whether it's from an acute injury or from chronic disease like rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. Inflammation is your body's natural healing response and is designed to send the B and T cells via blood to repair damaged tissue. Chronic inflammation is not great, but we can harness this energy with acupuncture and herbs to treat the disease, reduce the unnecessary inflammation, and use it to support areas of the body that are deficient. 💪🏼
Acupuncture uses a balancing system by moving the "heat" from an area of concentration. This "heat" may need to be moved to another part of the body to support its energy or it may need to be cleared all together.
Your tongue 👅 and pulse💓 are like built in MRI machines and provide important lab results for us to use!
Intuitive Eating
This book has been coming up again and a lot in my clinic lately. I just can't recommend it enough! "Make Peace with Food, Free Yourself from Chronic Dieting Forever, Rediscover the Pleasures of Eating"...that really says it all! Maybe "food" isn't your area of guilt, but the concepts in this book can translate to whatever feels like a weakness to you. Highly, highly recommended! 💝
Learn more + get this book here: https://www.intuitiveeating.org/our-books/
#rootandstem #functionalmedicine #easternmedicine #acupuncture #acupunctureworks #labanalysis #eastmeetswest #labwork #topratedacupuncture #womenshealth #chineseherbs #herbalmedicine #6weekstoglow #health #wellness #eatwell #feelbetter #naturalglow #healthtips #bestofoakland #intuitiveeating #peace
Your Health + Cannabis/Hemp
The medicinal benefits of Cannabis and hemp is quickly finding it's way into the mainstream these days which is great for a variety of health benefits! Cannabis use in Eastern Herbal Medicine goes back thousands of years. Here are some of the medical uses of Hua Ma Ren (the name for hemp seed in Chinese pinyin):
pain relief, chronic constipation, severe spasms and convulsions, gout, insomnia, headache, menstrual irregularities, itching, anemia, dry cough, just to name a few! My current favorite topical for my aches and pains: @liquidflower 🍃 I swear by this stuff!
#rootandstem #cbd #cannabis #medicinal #painrelief #cannabistopicals #plantsnotpills #functionalmedicine #easternmedicine #acupuncture #acupunctureworks #labanalysis #eastmeetswest #labwork #topratedacupuncture #womenshealth #chineseherbs #herbalmedicine #health #wellness #eatwell #feelbetter #naturalglow #healthtips #bestofoakland
Red Cabbage + Your Health
I'm very proud of our first cabbage harvest! ☀️ This is the first year we've grown cabbage and it did not disappoint! Not only is cabbage a fave for many of my summertime recipes, but I'm definitely going to turn this baby into some juicy kraut! So please prepare yourself for spamming of kraut updates as the process continues. Oh and did I mention the amazing health benefits of the glorious purple cabbage?
💜 Packed with nutrients! Vit B6 and Folate to help with energy metabolism; Antioxidants and Vit C to fight free radicals; The rich deep color of this vegetable is due to a high concentration of anthocyanin polyphenols (strong dietary antioxidants, possessing anti-inflammatory properties).
💜Red cabbage contains powerful compounds called anthocyanins. In a study including 93,600 women, researchers found that those with a higher intake of anthocyanin-rich foods had a much lower risk of a heart attack.
💜High in Potassium which helps excrete excess sodium through urine. It also relaxes blood vessel walls, which lowers blood pressure.
💜Cabbage and other brassicas help your liver flush toxins and in Chinese Medicine the Liver LOVES the sour taste which makes sauerkraut a perfect side dish on your BBQ plate!
⭐️☀️🌻
#rootandstem #functionalmedicine #easternmedicine #acupuncture #acupunctureworks #labanalysis #foodasmedicine #harvest #summertime #food #garden #grow #eastmeetswest #labwork #topratedacupuncture #womenshealth #chineseherbs #herbalmedicine #6weekstoglow #health #wellness #eatwell #feelbetter #naturalglow #healthtips #bestofoakland
We <3 These Facial Acupuncture Products!
I'm so excited to interrupt my social media vacation hiatus by announcing our new Facial Rejuvenation products! 🌟 We are now featuring @pinklightbotanicals 🌸 in our Grand Avenue location! Our July special is still up and running, adding an additional 10% off of all Facial Rejuvenation packages. 🌞 There are a few slots available with Marya so ping us if you have any questions! Direct book under “appointments” ↖️
"THE BEAUTY:
At Pink Light, beauty is synonymous with health and it’s our intention to endow the skin with both, naturally, from the inside-out. Each herbal luxury is 100% natural and handcrafted with the highest quality organic botanicals, essential oils and specific ingredients that nourish and support the skin’s own reparative, youth-giving abilities.
THE MAGIC:
A special touch of magic comes from a careful alchemy of healing gemstones and aromatic flower essences infused into each skin elixir. See each product page for descriptions of each essence used.
THE GLOW:
We use high quality ingredients to nourish the skin and provide excellent results."
Why Get Community Acupuncture?
I just love this description about #communityacupuncture from the POCA (Peoples Organization of Community Acupuncture) website.
"Community Acupuncture is not just a description of acupuncture in a group setting, but also describes who is served by acupuncture: our communities. Community Acupuncture is not a one-way relationship of acupuncturists to their communities but the relationship of communities to acupuncture, the clinic, practitioners, and other staff. Community Acupuncture represents the connection and the contract between Acupuncture and Communities. A community acupuncture clinic is committed to keeping its doors open during hours that the community needs and it receives the presence of those who come. The community gives its endorsement of acupuncture’s effectiveness, to the affordable sliding scale, to the comfort and accessibility of a community acupuncture clinic, and it receives a reliable resource to maintain or improve the health of its members."
Check out our fabulous Brooke McClelland at our @shopharborside location on Embarcadero! 🌈
Pelvic Floor Therapy!
I really want to give a big shout out to Pelvic Floor Therapy. If you haven't tried it, I can't recommend it enough! Pelvic floor physical therapy involves pelvic massage, biofeedback and exercises to encourage relaxation and strengthening of the muscles of the lower pelvis. A physical therapist will use a massage-like technique called myofascial release to help stretch and release the connective tissue between the skin and the muscles and bones in your pelvic region.
Pelvic floor physical therapy can help address sexual problems by improving chronic vaginal or pelvic pain and urinary incontinence. Typically several months of pelvic floor physical therapy are needed to achieve satisfactory results. While we don't practice this in our office, we all have some incredible referrals that we will gladly share. 💪🏾🙏🏼🌸
#rootandstem #functionalmedicine #easternmedicine #acupuncture #acupunctureworks #pelvicfloortherapy #pt
#massage #support #labanalysis #eastmeetswest #labwork #topratedacupuncture #womenshealth #chineseherbs #herbalmedicine #6weekstoglow #health #wellness #eatwell #feelbetter #naturalglow #healthtips #bestofoakland
Arthritis, Inflammation + Acupuncture
Arthritis hurts‼️It can be a real challenge to find relief from joint pain especially when you want to continue to have a healthy and active life. Osteoarthitis is the most common type of arthritis, and occurs when the cartilage between the joints breaks down, typically effecting the hips, hands, knees, low back, or neck. I have #arthritis in my fingers ✌🏽and it can get really bad when my body is out of balance. I can feel the inflammation increasing when I'm eating less clean and over working my body and mind.
Rheumatoid arthitis is another common type and has the added symptoms of fatigue, flu-like symptoms, muscle pain, and weakness. 😱Not fun at all!
Most conventional treatment options focus on relieving pain with anti-inflammatory drugs. While this may help temporarily relieve the pain, it is certainly not heating or actually treating the pain. What's worse is that when the pain is masked, we continue to use injured joints when that pain mechanism is our alarm to stop! 🚫
We have to go deep to get to the root cause. Both #easternmedicine and #functionalmedicine aim to find the underlying issue behind the inflammation. While it isn't a #quickfix to treat this way, it is key to healing that damaged tissue. We can look at how your body is digesting and absorbing nutrients, if there are irritants fueling the inflammation fire, or energetic imbalances that block you bodies ability to function correctly. By working closely with your acupuncturist you will be taking charge of your arthritis and taking a stop toward a healthier life! 🙏🏼
Dandelion Herbal Spotlight
Dandelion herbal spotlight! ☀️Pu Gong Yin is the pinyin name for the dandelion herb that we use a ton in Chinese herbal formulas. Dandelion is truly one of my faves and we use the whole plant (dried and/or fresh) to treat and support the Liver. Dandelion is great for expelling heat and clearing fire toxicity, which can commonly manifest as clogged milk ducts, hepatitis, jaundice, sore throat, and even lung abscesses. This also is such a great herb for treating overall inflammation. Since gluten sometimes makes me feel a little inflamed after I eat it, I love to add the fresh dandelion leaves to pasta sauce for a little pasta digestion support. 🌾☀️🌱