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What Five Star Restaurants Teach You about Healthy Snacks for Kids

ants-on-a-log4A fine meal at a good restaurant has many details. It uses fresh ingredients and interesting recipes. There is a variety of foods and the presentation is pleasing.

When food is prepared thoughtfully and beautifully, even the most basic meal becomes an experience. You can’t wait to try it. Once you start eating, you want to savor it.

But getting your kids to eat healthy snacks can feel like the opposite. Your child may balk at anything he thinks is healthy. She may be picky or prefer sweet or fatty foods.

You probably wouldn’t say that your child loves the snacks so much they can’t wait to eat them. And savoring them? Not likely.

But sometimes, the solution is easier than it seems.

Think about your snacks like a fine chef. Find ways to prepare your food beautifully. Make common foods seem unusual. Add interesting flavors or combinations.

Sometimes just changing the food a little bit can make your child dig in.

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How to Keep Your Teeth Healthy with Acupuncture

smilingWhen you think of taking care of your teeth, do you think of acupuncture?

You probably don’t and that’s not unusual. Most people believe that brushing, flossing and a trip to the dentist for a cleaning twice a year is a good dental routine. And for most, it is.

But for some people, that routine doesn’t keep their teeth in good shape. Despite good dental hygiene, they continue to have dental issues.

And for others, just going to the dentist is stressful and difficult. It’s hard to get good dental care when you dread your trip to the dentist.

Fortunately, acupuncture can support dental health and make your trip to the dentist easier. continue reading »

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Sticking to your New Year’s Resolution: The Trick is Not What You Think

new-years-resolution-1_lIt’s New Year’s again.  It’s time to make a resolution.

And you know the drill. You set goals.  You work on them for a couple of weeks.  You begin to flag.

Many times you give up by February.

Your New Year’s resolution becomes a distant memory until the next New Year’s when you feel slightly guilty and begin the whole process again.

If each year you make a resolution and each year you break it, something has to change.  The only way this year can be different is if you do something different.

The trick is not changing your resolution.  The trick to achieving your resolution is to use an entirely new plan to reach it. continue reading »

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How to Unhook Your Logical Brain and Gain New Insights on Last Year

You’ve probably heard of right-brained vs. left-brained activities.

Right-brained activities are creative, intuitive and subjective.  Left-brained activities are linear, analytical and logical.

It has been a popular myth that people prefer right-brained or left-brained activities because they have a dominant side of the brain.  It turns out that while certain activities are wired on one side of the brain (for example language tends to be on the left), people use each side of the brain equally.

So if the brain is wired for both activities, why is creative thinking so hard? continue reading »

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Acupuncture 101: Kidneys

Winter is the season for the kidneys & bladder.

In Western medicine, kidneys are the organs that filter and purify blood.  They maintain pH, mineral and electrolyte balance by removing excess water and salts to create urine.  The urine is then stored in the bladder until you pee.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the kidneys and bladder are seen as an energetic system, bigger than just the physiological function of the organs themselves.  To TCM, the kidneys govern reproduction, produce bone marrow, influence growth and development and control sexual energy.

From a TCM perspective, there are several kidney functions that differ from a Western perspective.

Like in Western medicine, the kidneys are responsible for water metabolism.  However, instead of understanding water and salts from a bio-chemical perspective, TCM describes fluid as clear or turbid.  Clear fluid is lighter and the kidneys send it upward to moisten the lungs.  Turbid fluids are heavier and they are sent downward to be released through the bladder.

One of the kidneys’ primary roles is storing the vital essence called Jing Qi.  Jing is the essence of Qi and is responsible for reproduction and regeneration. There are two types of Jing—the Jing inherited from your parents and forming your basic constitution, and the Jing acquired from the food, water and air of your daily life. The kidneys store and control Jing, and this process influences growth and development, sexual maturation, reproduction and aging.

The kidneys are also in charge of “Zhi”—mental drive and courage.  Zhi is the will to live and provides determination and focus to accomplish your goals and realize your dreams.

It’s important to provide care and nourishment to your kidneys.  Eat warming foods, and avoid raw foods and cold drinks.  While a green salad is OK now and again, winter is not the season to be salad-crazy.  Eat soups and stews.  Add extra root vegetables, squash, beans, miso and seaweed to your diet.  Use garlic and ginger for flavor.  If you want fruit, eat blueberries or blackberries.

And keep your kidneys warm.  Wear long shirts and sweaters that come down to your hips. Better yet, make a haramaki (see sidebar) and wear it every day.

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