Yi-Po Anthony Wu, MD, M.P.H.
Medical Director and founder of PCMC

• Western medical training at National Taiwan University, Worcester City Hospital, University of Massachusetts Medical Center
• Masters degree in Public Health, University of Hawaii
• Diplomate, American Board of Internal Medicine
• Acupuncture training in Taiwan and at New York University
• Director of Pacific Pain Clinic 1988-93
• Director of Pacific Complementary Medicine Center since 1999
  

          Yi-Po Anthony Wu, MD

Invest In Your Health

-Teresa M. Chen, Ph.D.

We buy health insurance to “protect” ourselves. What exactly are we protecting? Is it our health? It is more like gambling with our health. In this game, we are always the loser. How so? If you stay healthy, you lose your insurance premium. In case you get very sick and the insurance company pays big sums of money for your medical expenses, you are still a loser because you have lost your health.

Is there a health insurance policy that guarantees good health? There is one, but it is not one you can buy with money. We can insure good health only with proper diet, appropriate exercise, adequate sleep, balanced emotions, positive attitude, and a relaxed mind. This way we can nurture our life, prevent disease and slow down aging, thus obtaining optimal health. Some may complain that this proposal, involving our whole lifestyle, is too broad and that we don’t know where to begin. Why can’t we just buy some vitamin pills, calcium pills, nutrition supplements and tonics and take them all? The question is: Will it work?

I recently come across some notes taken by Mr. K. J. Guan of Stockton in 2003 of a talk entitled “Health Advice,” presented by Dr. Hong Zhao-Guang, a famous cardiovascular specialist in Beijing. It is the one health insurance policy that I would recommend. Regrettably, Dr. Hong’s humor and witty puns are mostly lost in my English translation, excerpted below:

I. Focus on health. Without health, we have nothing.
II. Don’t sweat the little things. Take it easy.
III. Be happy all the time, by helping others, by being contented, and by enjoying the things we do.
IV. The cornerstones of health are:

(1) reasonable diet;
(2) adequate and appropriate exercise;
(3) no smoking, limited alcohol intake, and;
(4) mental stability.

V. The best doctor is yourself; the best medicine is prevention; the best feeling is calmness; the best exercise is walking; and the best health investment is time.

In conclusion, prevention is always better than treatment. By investing some time, you can get the best health insurance policy. Happiness goes hand in hand with a peaceful mind.  Health is the foundation of a blessed long life.

DIET AND EXCERCISE - A NOTE ABOUT THIS ISSUE:

This issue of PCMC Newsletter focuses on diet and exercise. So does our Spring Health Seminar. We all know that we have to exercise and watch our diet. And yet, it is so difficult. Not only is it difficult, it is also very confusing. Take diet, for instance. People are bombarded with fashions and fads. In the last twenty years, we have seen the introduction of Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, LA Weight Loss Plan, the Hollywood Diet, the Atkins Diet, The GI (Glycemic Index) Diet, the Mayo Clinic Plan, the South Beach Diet, and the Zone Diet, to name just a few. A patient friend, who claimed to be a Diet Plan gourmet, watched his weight going up and down like a yo-yo for more than two decades. And this is a very intelligent person. Even an intelligent person needs a helping hand. Acupuncture can help curb appetite and reduce cravings. Cognitively speaking, we understand the test scores. We may even understand the numbers associated with blood sugar, blood pressure, LDL, HDL, and Body Mass Index, etc., etc. Yet, when it comes to improving a score, we need help. At Pacific Complementary Medicine Center, Dr. Wu and his associates are helping through education and action. Besides the annual health seminars, Dr. Wu is conducting group sessions for patients with metabolic problems. Patients in the group monitor their own test scores and set up action plans. Individual diet counseling is also available with a nutritionist from the Hill Physicians Medical Group. At PCMC, low-impact health exercises classes are offered to transition couch potatoes to physically fit people. Even people on wheelchairs or crutches can do breathing exercises with good outcome. Exercise also helps reduce stress. PCMC is a very unique clinic. We sincerely hope that our patients will take full advantage of what we have to offer. Together we aim at optimizing our health for a happy long life.

Maintaining A Healthy Lifestyle In A Fast-paced World

by Melissa Machado Cheney,
Health Educator, Hill Physicians Medical Group

“Eat more yogurt; it will help you burn more fat!”
“Eat more dairy, because it will help you lose weight.”
“Lose those carbs, because they make you gain weight!”

These are but a few of the innumerable marketing campaigns from different companies, all of them trying to persuade us into purchasing their various products. Are they really telling the truth? What should we believe? What do we believe?

There are many gimmicks on the food and nutrition market, created with the sole purpose of making a profit rather than improving our health. It is difficult to decipher what is actually good for us; but for the most part, 95% of the marketing campaigns are not telling the truth. As a Health Educator, my interest and passion lies in improving people’s health, educating them so they can maintain a healthy lifestyle and distinguish true nutritional facts from fiction. At Hill Physicians, we educate people on how to make the necessary changes to lead a healthier life and how to self-manage their chronic condition or illness. My personal focus is on exercise and nutrition, the two necessary components of making a positive lifestyle change.

With today’s fast-paced world, it is hard to maintain a healthy diet and get enough exercise. Most of us work and have a family, making it anywhere from difficult to impossible to fit anything else into our already-packed schedules. But, what about scheduling a time to exercise? Have you thought of making an appointment with yourself?

An easy way to incorporate exercise into your daily routine is to take two, 15-minute brisk-walking breaks, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. By taking your two breaks, you get a total of 30 minutes of exercise per day, and you can exercise 5 days a week, without rearranging your schedule. Another fun tool that I use is a pedometer, which allows you to track the number of steps you take each day. Put your pedometer on your hip, aligning it with your knee as soon as you wake up in the morning in order to start tracking your steps. Just by walking around the house you might be surprised by how many steps you take! The daily recommended steps are 10,000, which equals 5 miles. If you take 10,000 steps each day for 5 days a week, you will have walked 25 miles, which might help to lose some weight, too.

Exercise is a good start to making a change for a healthier lifestyle, but adding the proper nutrition will pave the way for a significant life-long change. By focusing on eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day –having at least one serving with each meal– and eating whole grains instead of refined white flour and sugars, we can help our bodies achieve the change we have been looking for. For people with chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, the focus should be on eating whole foods: fresh produce, whole grains, non-processed foods which contain a lot of sugar. Divide your fruit servings, for example, eat half of an apple in the morning and save the other half for an afternoon snack.

With all the latest nutrition and physical fitness news and information in the media, don’t get trapped in a gimmick, thinking it is the answer to your nutrition and weight needs. Be careful in distinguishing what is actually good for you from what isn’t by checking with your doctor before starting a new dietary or exercise regimen. Just remember, the tried-and-true method of eating healthy and exercising is the number one way to making a lifestyle change that you can stick with!

Liu-Tong Excercise: A Testimonial
by Sandra Exelby

“You have peripheral neuropathy,” the doctor said after the neurological exam. “Not much can be done for it. You’ll probably be in a wheelchair in ten years.”

For several years after that dire prediction I continued to have difficulty walking, slowing down to a painful quarter mile in a half hour. I had trouble climbing stairs, and increased difficulty balancing. I began using a cane regularly, thinking the doctor’s prediction was coming true even sooner than ten years.

That was two years and four months ago. I had retired and had returned to Stockton. Partly out of curiosity, I attended several health and alternative medicine lectures sponsored by my church where I met an old friend, Dr. Teresa Chen. She invited me to her class in Liu-Tong exercise.

I was intrigued and encouraged. Maybe there was hope for me yet! The class had been meeting for over a year when I joined, and how inept I felt, especially when I realized I was among the youngest students. Two of my classmates were in their nineties! It seemed to take a long time to get each motion correct. Dr. Chen would just tell me to modify until I could.

Dr. Chen patiently taught us the 36 forms of Liu-Tong, but she did more than that. She introduced us to acupuncture points and places on our bodies to increase our chi, our energy. She discussed various complementary and alternative exercises as well as foods, medicines and teas, that we could use to improve our health, and she invited us to attend the educational lectures put on by Dr.Wu and the other staff of Pacific Complementary Medicine.

Liu-Tong exercise is not difficult, though I know I have done some work after an hour. Through the breathing exercises, I have learned to savor a full breath from my dan tien (two inches below the navel).

The exercises engage my mind, and thus release the tension I often carry of “too much thinking”. It is a memory practice, doing the motions of each form in a particular way, and in a particular sequence.

Although I practice at home by myself, I especially enjoy our class sessions. There is a wonderful spirit as we do forms together in unison, a sense of companionship and friendship, and a wonderful chance to just laugh together. In fact we often end our sessions with that – a big belly laugh!
Now I stand alone, without a cane. I can walk naturally, if not quite as fast as I could when I was younger. I stand straighter, and have better energy. My blood pressure is normal; my weight is gradually decreasing; my cholesterol and blood sugar levels are normal. While I expect to keep on practicing Liu-Tong and the other exercises I have learned for a long time, I do not see that wheelchair in my future any longer.

-For more information about Liu-Tong excercise, click here.

Aryuvedic Diet Lifestyle
by Dorel Rotar, L.Ac., MTOM

Ayurveda is a natural system of medicine using diet, herbs, yoga, astrology, gemstones, and cleansing and purification practices to bring about healing. This article focuses on dietary principles of Ayurveda and how an ayurvedic diet can both prevent and heal disease.

Ayurveda is from India, at least 5,000 years old, and still as effective as when it was created by ancient sages known as Rishis. The Rishis, masters of meditation and observation, developed a remarkable system of healing based on the five basic elements of the universe - ether, air, fire, water and earth - and their combinations, Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, known as the doshas.

Your dosha is your constitutional type. There are three main types and four combination types. By discovering your type, you gain immediate access to useful information on what to eat, how to exercise, what to wear, how to cleanse and purify your body, and how to prevent disease, as well as much, much more.

Contrary to most Western approaches to nutrition, Ayurveda does not prescribe one diet as suitable for everyone, but instead seeks to individualize and optimize nutrition for the individual, based on their constitutional type and the personal imbalances that need correction. Food is selected based on its elemental balance, its taste, its effects on the body, and qualities of the foods, such as hot or cold, moist or dry, light or heavy, oily, rough, subtle, and others.

The main intention of diet in the Ayurvedic system is to nourish the body’s tissues, known as the seven dhatus - lymph, blood, flesh, muscle, fat, marrow, bone and sexual fluid. Each of these tissues, when fed, nourishes and forms the next in succession. In order to nourish the tissues, food must first be digested, which is the job of the digestive fire, or agni, which is seated in the stomach and small intestines.

Food that is not properly digested, due to overeating, poor food combinations, imbalance of the elements, or toxins in the food, creates a sticky, toxic substance known as ama, which coats the digestive tract and the tongue and which may also be deposited in the tissues, forming a breeding ground for chronic disease. Proper food nourishes without making toxic ama.

Allowing the accumulation of toxins in the body predictably results in disease. Ayurveda prescribes an individualized approach to the dietary and lifestyle practices which help keep people healthy and promote longevity. Ayurvedic dietary and cleansing practices are among the simplest, but most profoundly effective in the world.

The three main doshas and their dietary principles are given below. A complete Ayurvedic examination includes pulse and tongue reading, your physical characteristics, your mental qualities and emotional temperament, and whatever symptoms you may be suffering from. Although the guidelines given below will probably be helpful for self-care, they are not intended to treat disease or replace the services of an Ayurvedic practitioner.

Vata

Vata is the principle of motion, and is responsible for everything in the body which moves. It is the combination of the elements air and ether (or space.) Vata is said to be mobile, light, dry, cool, rough, subtle, and clear. An excess of these qualities will aggravate Vata. Vata people tend to be thin, dark haired, wirey, fearful and nervous, with very active minds and bodies. They are often on the go (or on the phone!) Vata has its seat in the colon, and one of its main symptoms of aggravation is excess lower bowel gas. Vata is also prominent in the hair, nails, skin and joints and excess Vata will cause dry skin and hair, wrinkles, and cracking joints, and as you might guess, people become more Vata as they age.

The diet which balances Vata includes foods which are warm, moist, oily, heavy, mostly cooked, and emphasizing the sweet, sour and salty taste. Spicy foods are good for Vata people, because they increase the digestive fire. Dairy products help Vata in general unless there is an allergy to them. Although Vata is helped by the sweet taste, white sugar should be avoided. Yeasted products also may aggravate Vata. Many of the symptoms of Candida albicans infection are similar to a Vata imbalance in the colon. Vata people should avoid cabbage, broccoli and nightshade (tomato, eggplant, and green pepper) families of vegetables, and only eat raw vegetables if they are marinated or with salad dressing. Most beans aggravate Vata, but soy products like tofu or soymilk are okay. Regular meals are important.

Pitta

Pitta is the principle of heat. Pitta is composed of the elements fire and water, which may seem incompatible until you think of digestive juices like hydrochloric acid which is liquid, but also firey. Pitta people have a medium, often muscular build, ruddy complexion and often blonde or red hair. They tend emotionally toward anger, impatience and aggressiveness. They are the classic Type A’s.

The seat of Pitta is in the small intestine, and it is responsible for digestion and assimilation. Pitta qualities are light (as in bright), oily, hot, mobile and liquid. Common Pitta conditions include skin rashes, ulcers, heart disease, fevers, inflammation and irritation.

The diet for pitta emphasizes foods which are cool, raw, green, soothing and emphasize the sweet, bitter and astringent tastes. Hot, spicy and acidic foods aggravate Pitta. Fruits, vegetables, grains and low fat dairy products are generally good for Pitta, if they aren’t too spicy or sour. Too much oil, salt, alcohol and red meat should be avoided. Pittas do well as vegetarians if they get enough protein.

Kapha

Kapha is the principle of groundedness and stability and is composed of the water and earth elements. Kapha qualities are cold, dense, oily, heavy, slow, slimey and static. Kapha people tend to be overweight, retain fluid, and are sluggish in general. They have a calm, jovial disposition, but can also be possessive or greedy. Kapha people need to lighten up and let go. The seat of Kapha is in lungs, and Kapha people often get lung congestion and excess mucus. They also are prone to diabetes, water retention, constipation, and depression.

The diet for Kapha emphasizes warm, light, dry foods, plenty of fresh, raw vegetables and fruits and foods with a spicy, bitter or astringent taste. Heavy, oily, creamy foods should be avoided. Wheat, rice and oats may create excess mucus, and fried foods and too much nuts and seeds are detrimental to Kapha people.

Sweets (except raw honey), salty and sour foods will aggravate a Kapha person and make them gain weight. Citrus fruits, red meat and dairy products ahould also be avoided. Spicy foods are good for Kapha because they stimulate metabolism.


Try applying the dietary principles for your constitutional type. They are sure to make a difference in how you feel. I recommend Ayurveda, The Science of Self-Healing by Dr. Vasant Lad, The Ayurvedic Cookbook by Amadea Morningstar and Urmila Desai, and Prakruti, by Dr. Robert Swoboda as helpful references.

 

Daoist Yoga
Fridays, Noon – 1 p.m.
Instructor: Dorel Rotar, L.Ac., MTOM

This course intends to combine traditional Indian Yoga with Chinese Daoist Yoga concepts and practices. The Yin aspect of yoga practice focuses on connective tissues while the Yang quality of yoga practice places emphasis on muscles. Both methods are inseparable, and they complement each other, like the moon and the sun.

Daoist methods manipulate the acupuncture meridians and involve the opening up and an energetic enhancement of the body. Many of the exercises in this category involve standing up routines that will optimize body alignment and balance. These methods form the foundation of Tai Chi, Qi Gong and other Nei Jia Chinese Martial arts including the “Eight Brocade.” They are very relaxing and calming.

My own clinical experience showed me that many people live mostly in the upper levels of existence (thoughts and emotions) with little or no connectedness to their bodies. Missing this vital link with our planet and themselves, these people would feel disconnected, anxious, restless, and devitalized like uprooted trees. It is the intention and the objective of this course to facilitate the mind-body, Sky-Earth reconnection.

-For more information Hatha yoga, click here.

A comprehensive and representative survey found that about 12.5 million adult Americans were vegetarians in 1992. Another recent study found that about 1 million Americans each year are adopting the vegetarian choice. If this trend persists, it is conceivable that some 26 million adults will be trumpeting themselves as vegetarians by the year 2006.

People are often surprised to find out how old I am, commenting that I look a lot younger than my age. Perhaps it is because I have been a vegetarian for more than fifteen years.

During my ten-year practice, I often advised patients with ailments such as skin problems, digestive disorders, weight problems, gout, heart disease, and cancer to eat vegetarian for one week or longer, depending on their symptoms. Those who were serious enough to follow my advice made remarkable improvement.

Many scientists are investigating how antioxidants (including beta carotene, vitamins C and E, among others), which are abundant in certain vegetables and grains, may reduce cancer risk and even may reverse the disease of osteoporosis and diabetes.

Many physicians promote the vegetarian choice in their practices and have seen successful results. For example, the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in San Francisco provided dietary therapy in which patients followed a very low-fat vegetarian diet, stress management, meditation and exercise. The program cost about $4,000 per patient, less than one-tenth the cost of a typical bypass operation. In a peer-reviewed clinical study, it was shown that a high percentage of patients receiving dietary therapy got better and stayed better, in stark contrast to half of all people undergoing bypass surgery, which often needs to be repeated after five years.

For most vegetarians in the western world who choose the vegetarian diet, health is the number-one reason. In the east, however, it’s a conscious way of living in harmony with the natural order of the universe - balancing Yin and Yang.

An ideal healthy balance is a diet in which whole grains make up about one half of the day’s food with vegetables making up 25 to 30 percent and the remainder being fruit, legumes, nuts, seeds, sea vegetable, mild Chinese herbs and natural beverages.

There are many more reasons to go vegetarian. Raising animals for food is the principle cause of topsoil loss. America is losing about 4 million acres of cropland each year due to soil erosion, and 85 percent of the topsoil loss is directly related to raising livestock. Supporting the environment is a win-win proposition. You feel better when you take action to help our earth, and the planet benefits too.

OTHER HEALTHY DIET CHOICES:

The Macrobiotic Diet Introduced by Michio Kushi, the macrobiotic diet unites the Western notion of acid and alkaline with the Eastern concept of Yin and Yang. Well-planned menus include whole grain, vegetables, and soy bean, while avoiding eggs, dairy foods refined sugar and flour. This diet emphasizes cancer prevention. Recommended Reading: Pocket Guide to Macrobiotics by Carl Ferre Basic Macrobiotics by Herman Aihara

The Mediterranean Diet As the U.S. and Great Britain shifted their nutritional focus toward meat and milk after WWII, a Rockefeller Foundation study found that the diets of those living in the Mediterranean region allowed them to live longer lives with lower rates of coronary heart disease. The Mediterranean -- specifically, Cretan -- diet derives approximately 61 percent of its calories from plant foods and 38 percent from fat, primarily from olives and Omega -3 rich fish. Recommended Reading: The Mediterranean Diet by Marissa Cloutier and Eve Adamson (available at the PCMC Herb Store)

Breathing Class Helps Participants Learn How To Inhale Properly
by Jennifer Snyder
News-Sentinel Panorama Editor

Sandra Exelby inhaled deeply as she stood in a circle with ten other people. Their stomachs filled with air. Then slowly and steadily, they exhaled, letting the air seep out from their nostrils as their stomachs flattened. Exelby, of Stockton, has been part of a liu-tong breathing exercise class for more than a year at the Pacific Complementary Medicine Center in Stockton, where traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine come together. When she started, she could hardly walk without the use of a cane. She now stands straight, her eyes shining brightly as a look of peace crosses her face.

“Suddenly, the world doesn’t have to go as fast as you thought it did,” Exelby said. An art print on the wall reminds the class: “Things to do today... Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.”

“Breathing is the most basic human function. It is the first thing a baby does when born. Therefore, it is important to breathe properly because the way people breathe is related to energy, the incidence of disease and stress,” said Dorel Rotar, who teaches hatha yoga with breathing at the center.

Teresa Chen, health educator at the center, leads breathing classes that integrate slow movements, self-applied massage, guided imagery and meditation to enhance breathing. She says all of these work together to help the body heal itself. “Natural healing resources are within you,” she said.
Most people only use one-third of their lungs when they breathe through their chest, Rotar said. When they breathe through their stomach, they expand their diaphragm and lungs vertically, using their whole lungs. “People keep a lot of stale air in their lungs,” Chen said.

Rotar says that people can look to babies for the example of a proper breath. Start with exhalation, pushing out the stale air, and then inhale through the nose, filling the dantien the body’s center two inches below the belly button with air. Then exhale through the nose again. “Exhale slowly to retain as much energy as possible. Inhalation should be dynamic and strong,” he said.
The breathing exercise class not only helps participants to breathe better, but may help with organ functions. Deep breathing massages the internal organs, Chen said. Other benefits are that it slows down the mind and brings the mind to its center, helping with focus. It also increases the capacity of the lungs.

“The more oxygen you have, the more energy you have, and the healthier and stronger you are,” Rotar said.

Integration of movements, breathing The slow movements work to enhance breathing, and breathing is the base of all things we do, Chen said. With downward movements, people squeeze out air as they exhale. As they move upward, they inhale. Opening the arms expands the chest, which enhances inhalation. Certain postures go with inhalation and exhalation in a natural way.

“It’s a very significant and productive way of exercising,” said Albert Adulky, of Stockton, another participant. “When we become involved in breathing, we come back to ourselves.”

Class participants kicked their legs forward slowly with each breath in one exercise. They put their hands side by side, bent down and “scooped” air while exhaling in another exercise called “tilling the soil.” When they came up, they inhaled. Some of the movements are accompanied by guided imagery. During one, Chen asked the class members to imagine they were flowers, with their feet rooted to the ground. They moved their heads in six different directions, representing a flower blooming. Stretching their arms in the air, they “gathered sunlight,” bringing energy into themselves.
One class participant used visualization to help herself recover from a stroke. Laura Sun’s right side was paralyzed. She couldn’t talk, and she was seeing double. But she kept thinking about moving. She told her hand to move. “I thought of this class,” she said, which had helped her become more aware of herself. In about a month a speedy recovery she was able to walk, and other class participants said they didn’t even know she had a stroke.

“You wake up the healer within,” Chen said. “Every exercise seems to lubricate the joints,” said another participant, Susan Mow, who came to the class with bursitis in her shoulder. She could hardly move her arm, but she now has full range of motion. Breathing helps her in another way as well. When she comes to the class during the afternoon, she’s often tired. “But I take in all that clean oxygen, so I go home and have more energy,” she said.

The class did a refreshing facial massage. They rubbed their hands together to create energy, then cupped their hands over their eyes. They “washed” their faces by rubbing their hands in a circular motion around their cheeks.

Exelby, a retired United Methodist pastor, staved off the possibility of using a wheelchair, something her doctors had predicted she would need in 10 years. She had been diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy, a condition where a lack of circulation in the limbs causes numbness. She can now walk with ease. “In my older years, I want to be comfortable, and (to be that way), I want to move,” she said.

At the end of the class, she started to laugh. And everyone laughed with her. Laughter too is an exercise. As Chen said, people don’t just need to exercise what’s on the outside, but what’s on the inside as well. And as people go through their daily lives, they should remember:
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.