Spring is here and most people are thinking this is the time of detox.  In Chinese medicine, we do not think of only detoxing once or twice a year.  We use food throughout the year to nourish, build and detox. Below I've given a family recipe for a (delicious) detoxifying broth which you can include in your diet regularly.

As you know I am all about prevention so it is best to do a little bit of something every day or rather than once or twice a year.  Growing up, my mom would make this great broth couple times a week to cleans the body during Spring time (sometimes just because!).


Pork Bone Broth Soup
This soup detoxifies and provides nutrition to the body.

• 1 pound of pork bone (it is neutral in temperature)  For example, lamb is hot, beef is warm and pork is neutral so it is best for making soup.
  
• 1 bunch of watercress
  
• 2-3 carrots
  
• 2-3 green diakon
  
• 10 cups of water
  

Bring to boil and simmer for a hour. Enjoy the broth either before dinner or anytime you like!
Yup, you may have a great bowel movement :)


Keep in mind, detoxing once or twice a year may be too harsh for some individuals, especially if one has health issues. If you are planning to go through a serious cleanse, please find a practitioner to guide you through the process. Many people miss the step of filling the body with nutritious food after the elimination process, but this very important step is how our bodies can heal. After a cleanse, slowly build the body with nutritious dense food. Our body can't run on an empty tank and that's why, without proper post cleanse nutrition, elimination can be harmful.

Stay tune for the Summer time recipe for clearing Summer heat in June.

As you very well know, I have been advising my patients to eliminate gluten, sugar and caffeine to help with allergy symptoms and food sensitivity.  I also suggest to my patients to consume more alkaline foods rather than load up with acidic foods (gluten, sugar and caffeine are each acidic). Acidic food can cause a host of ailments; inflammation in the body causing muscle pain, joint pain, stomach pain, among other things.

I found a few charts on the internet that are very useful.  Print the chart below, or one from the links provided, and keep it with your recipes as a guideline in consuming more alkaline foods. 
http://www.pkdiet.com/pages/diet/dietalkalinelist.htm
http://www.rense.com/1.mpicons/acidalka.htm

You may be very familiar with the saying..."An apple a day, keeps the doctor away".  We usually never put much thought into it except that it is good for us because of the fiber content.  Well, apple is an alkaline food.  Maybe that's how this saying came about! 

Consuming more alkaline food keeps the pH balanced in our body, a more balanced body creates an environment for better health. These charts are not intended to cure your diseases but as a guideline to inform you the property of certain foods that can be more acidic or more alkaline. Please consult a licensed practitioner to guide you through the process if you are looking to treat any ailments.

During the Winter months, it is best to eat and dress for the season.  This is the time to eat nutritious dense food.  Winter is the time to nourish, build and fill our body with nourishment. It is not the time to eliminate or cleanse. One of the most nutritious foods is bone broth soup.  It is loaded with minerals and very it is nourishing.  

Here is a recipe for bone broth from Three Stone Hearth in Berkeley. If you don't have time to make it you can pick it up from them at 1581 University in Berkeley, they provide nutritious dense food from their kitchen. And this bone broth is amazing.

Ingredients:

• 6 quarter-sized slices of fresh ginger root
  
• 1 large clove of garlic
  
• 1 qt. Three Stone Hearth beef bone broth
  
• 1 Tbsp. tamari (or other soy sauce)
  
• 1 Tbsp. mirin (rice cooking wine) or cooking sherry
  
• ¾ lb. grass-fed flank steak
  
• 8 oz. buckwheat soba noodles
  
• salt and pepper
  
• 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
  
• 1/3 (or more) cups Three Stone Hearth Spicy Kimchi
  

Procedure:

1. In a small pot, combine the ginger, garlic, beef broth, tamari, and mirin. Bring to a simmer, covered, and cook over low heat while continuing to prepare the soup.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for the soba noodles.
3. Sprinkle the steak with salt and pepper on both sides.
4. Heat a cast iron or stainless steel skillet over medium-high heat. Add a bit of olive oil or other oil to the pan, and when the oil is hot, add the steak.
5. Sear until the underside is just browned (about 3 minutes) and then turn over and cook on the other side another 3 minutes. The idea is to sear and brown the outside of the steak while keeping it pink (rare) in the middle, as grass-fed meat becomes tough when overcooked (it will cook a bit more when you pour the hot broth over it). You can also grill or broil the steak if you prefer-just don’t overcook it!
6. Remove the steak to a cutting board and allow it to rest while you finish cooking.
7. Add the soba noodles to the salted boiling water and cook, stirring occasionally, until just al dente, about 7 minutes.
8. When the soba noodles are cooked, pour them through a colander and rinse with cool water to remove excess starch. Toss the noodles with the toasted sesame oil.
9. Remove the ginger slices from the ginger-garlic broth and taste it. Add salt and pepper to taste.
10. Slice the steak across the grain into thin strips, about 1/8 inch thick and 2-4 inches long.
11. In a large bowl, put a generous portion of soba noodles, then put strips of steak over the noodles, and ladle plenty of hot broth over it.
12. I like to put my Kimchi right in the soup, my partner prefers to eat the Kimchi on the side.
13. Serve with chopsticks and a large spoon.

Thank you Stone Hearth! 
http://www.threestonehearth.com/news/nutrient-spotlight-bone-broth/

Ingredients:
2 -1/2 cup filtered water
1/3 cup dried elderberries
½ cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
½ cup gelatin (Note: If you like firmer gummy like the ones you get from the store, you can add more gelatin)

Directions:
1. Make a tea out of the elderberries: Bring water to boil, then add elderberries and simmer for 5 minutes, or until dark in color
2. Drain, reserving the liquid. You should have about 2 cups
3. Add in honey and vanilla and allow to cool
4. Stir in gelatin (it’s easier to stir into room temp liquid) until all clumps are out and mixture is uniform
5. Heat in a saucepan over medium-low until gelatin is all dissolved
6. Pour into a glass container to set
7. Allow to set in the fridge
8. Cut into approx. ½ inch by 1 inch cubes, or as desired
9. Take one or more daily, as desired
10. Store in the fridge

Experience with the amount of honey and gelatin for taste and texture.  I personally like it with less honey than what the recipe calls for.  It provides a touch of sweet without being too sweet.  Enjoy!!!

body recharge.  Don’t have 5 minutes? just imagine being out of commission for at least 2 weeks. You won’t be good for the loved ones around you or to yourself.  So yes, you can squeeze in 5 minutes for yourself. Tough love :)

Take a moment to breathe deeply when you are in a stressful situation.  This simple step can reset your stress hormone to calm you down.  Managing your stress can assist your immune system to keep you healthy. 

One more thing, keep your hands off your face to avoid germ transfer from your hands to your open orifices (eyes, nose, mouth).  I know I sound like a broken record but I can’t stress how important this is. I know you heard of all these tips before but that’s because they work.  I am not trying to reinvent the wheel but keeping these tips in mind will keep you healthy so you can have a more pleasant holiday with friends and family. 

What if you are already sick with the flu!

First things first, do not go to work and get other people sick.  You already know this may come back to you at some point if you contaminate someone else. Unfortunately, once you are sick you will have to ride out the illness but you have the power to reduce the time and the severity of the illness by getting plenty of rest, stay hydrated (drink warm or hot liquid only, cold beverages makes the flu last longer) and take herbs. These tips will help shorten the duration and severity of the flu. If need to, seek help from your practitioner.

Winter is here and the holidays have begun. Here are some tips on staying healthy. 

If you contracted a cold immediately take some Yin Qiao San or Gan Mao Ling every couple of hours for at least 12-24 hours to fight off the cold. You can continue to take it until the cold is completely gone. 

Sweating method:Another thing you can do which it very effective is bundle up with many layers of clothing and wear gloves and thick socks to sweat out the cold along with taking the above cold remedies. Tip: There is only a very small window of opportunity (within a few hours of realizing you have a cold) to sweat out the cold. So when you feel it coming on bundle up and drink lots of hot liquid. If you miss this window of opportunity, unfortunately you will have to ride out the cold, but taking these remedies will help shorten the cold and help you feel better.

There is a lot to know about tea such as varieties of tea, the region where it is grown, and how it was
processed.  This will determine the quality and the taste among other things.  Today let’s just talk about the types of tea we consumed most and the benefits of tea.

The most consumed teas are green, white, and black such as oolong and Pu-Er.  My personal favorite is chrysanthemum herbal tea.  Tea not only has a ton of antioxidants that are good for you but it has a good amount of caffeine and does not cause you to crash like coffee.

The level of oxidation of the leaves determines the type of tea such as black, white, and green which comes from the Camellia Sinensis bush.

Black tea such as oolong is fully fermented. Pu-Er is partially fermented and green is unfermented or less oxidized, therefore, it retains a higher level of antioxidants and beneficial polyphenols.

Did you know that tea is cooling for the body? I don’t mean the temperature, but the property of the tea. In TCM, properties of herbs and food are often mentioned and tea is also considered an herbal remedy. Most of us tend to have heat due to lifestyle, stress, and the types of food we eat.  Consuming tea is very beneficial to cool down the over-heated organs.  For example, a UTI, insomnia, and nightmares means you have heat either in your stomach, heart, and/or gallbladder, or possibly other organs. 

Or third, the Kidneys can be nourished by massaging the soles of your feet, where K1 [Kidney channel] begins, pictured below. Read more here!