Good morning dear readers,

Today our text is dedicated to talk a little about Diet Therapy and Phytotherapy and their importance in the practice of Chinese Medicine.

In Chinese Medicine, diseases are classified as Excess or Deficiency, and what does that mean?

Excess Diseases are those in which there is stagnation of Qi and/or Blood or the presence of Pathogenic Factors (heat, dampness, dryness, cold, wind or phlegm). In many cases, stagnation occurs due to the presence of one of these pathogenic factors. From this definition, we can say that to treat a patient who is suffering from an excess condition, all the therapist has to do is move the stagnations and remove the pathogenic factors when they exist.

For this, there are acupuncture points with these energetic actions:

• Remove Heat, Damp, Wind and Phlegm
• Move the Qi
• Move the Blood

The points must be chosen according to the blocks and existing pathogenic factors and the patient’s improvement is very fast, and can be noticed even in the first acupuncture session.

Deficiency Diseases are characterized by deficient production of Qi, Blood and/or Body Fluids. The body, for some internal and chronic reason, is no longer able to carry out the necessary transformations to obtain these vital substances.

There are also acupuncture points to treat these issues, with the following energetic actions:

• Tonify the Qi
• Tonify the Blood
• Tonify Body Fluids

However, Deficiency Diseases are considered more difficult to treat, because just using the points, without giving the body the raw material for the production of vital substances, will not bring the expected results in the treatment.

It is, at this moment, that Diet Therapy and Phytotherapy become extremely important for the Chinese Medicine professional. Only through the correctly indicated Foods and Herbs used as medicine we will have the opportunity to provide the body with what it needs, to produce what it needs and the acupuncture points will only organize its production.

In some literatures we find phrases such as: “It is impossible to treat Deficiency Diseases only with Acupuncture” or even “Diet Therapy and Phytotherapy are the main forms of treatment of Deficiency Diseases”.

For this reason, if you are a Chinese Medicine therapist and do not have the knowledge to apply Chinese Therapeutic Food or Phytotherapy, know that having this knowledge is essential, and when applied, it will beneficially affect the results in your office.

The following are very common Diseases / Deficiency Syndromes that appear in our office:

• Infertility – Liver or Spleen Blood Deficiency or Kidney Yin Deficiency
• Anemia – Deficiency of Spleen Blood.
• Amenorrhea – Deficiency of Blood in the Spleen or Liver.
• Chronic Fatigue – Deficiency of Yin or Kidney Qi or Spleen Qi
• Body weight problems/Water retention: Deficient Spleen Qi
• Chronic Cough / Dry Skin – Lung Yin Deficiency

And many other examples could be given.

Thus, we can conclude that each food and each herb can and should be indicated to the patient according to the existing Deficiency, until, together with the acupuncture points, the body is able to resume the production of the deficient vital substance, restoring the health of the patient. As soon as the patient is no longer in the state of Deficiency, the therapist must reassess the need to maintain the treatment with diet therapy and phytotherapy.

I hope you enjoyed it and that you are encouraged to study the areas that are still deficient for you!
A big hug.

Fernanda Mara

Good morning Dear Readers,

Today we are going to talk a little about Chinese Therapeutic Food and its variations in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Also known as Chinese Diet Therapy, this treatment resource is widely used within eastern therapies to promote the patient’s energy balance.  As we are talking about energy, its indications and contraindications are very different from western diet therapy.

So be aware, reader: Therapeutic Food/Chinese Diet Therapy is NOT the same thing as a Western diet, recommended by a nutritionist, so every professional trained in Chinese Medicine can prescribe this type of treatment.

But let’s go by parts.

Food can be indicated in several ways, namely:

1) Food Color

Foods have colors that are associated with the energy balance frequency of specific organs and viscera. When there is a deficiency in the functioning of these organs and viscera, the patient should be asked to consume foods that have the color corresponding to their energy frequency:

• Red – Heart and Small Intestine.
• Yellow – Spleen and Stomach
• Whites – Lung
• Dark purples, blacks – Kidney and Bladder
• Greens – Liver and Gallbladder

This technique is the easiest to use and we use it most of the time for toning the organs and viscera. It can also be applied according to the 5 Elements rules, indicating and against indicating the colors according to the patient’s need.

2) Taste of Food

Just like the colors, each flavor has an energetic connection with each organ and viscera. When there is a malfunction of one of them, the corresponding flavor can be indicated:

• Sour – Heart and Small Intestine.
• Sweet – Spleen and Stomach
• Spicy – Lungs and Large Intestine
• Salty – Kidney and Bladder
• Acid – Liver and Gallbladder.

It is very important for the therapist to know that often what we feel in the mouth is not always the classification of food by flavors. For example, rice, which we tend to think of as salty, has a sweet essence. Milk, which we tend to think of as something neutral, is acid. Therefore, the therapist must follow tables so as not to make a mistake when prescribing.

Still following the same technique of colors, flavors can be indicated directly to organs and viscera when they are in deficiency and have the potential to rebalance energy when using the laws of the 5 Elements.

3) Thermic Essence of Food

The Thermal Essence of Food is the best way to indicate and contraindicate foods when the therapist works, in Chinese Medicine, with evaluation through Syndromes.

Food is divided into Cold, Fresh, Neutral, Warm and Hot and for each of the Elements there is a table with these subdivisions.

As a rule:

• Cold foods – solve heat illness
• Fresh Food – cools the heat and produces fluids (including Blood)
• Neutral Foods – balances Qi and Blood
• Warm foods – move Qi and Blood and warm the cold.
• Hot Foods – solve cold diseases.

Thus, the therapist, knowing which syndrome the patient is suffering from, will be able to properly indicate the food according to its thermal essence in the amount and number of days that is necessary.

In summary, there are many ways to treat the patient using Therapeutic Food. All of them bring many benefits to patients and are often the best resource that can be indicated in the cure and prevention of some energy imbalances.

I hope you liked the text.

A big hug.

Fernanda Mara

Dear readers,

Today let’s talk a bit about breastfeeding and some consequences the women might suffer during such a special period.

In Chinese Medicine, we say that mother milk isn’t just a food for the physical body, but also for the psychic and spiritual body of the baby. That is because the mother milk, from Oriental point of view, is made from Body Fluids, Blood and mother’s Essence.

Fluids are those that give the milk viscosity and allow it to circulate. Blood is the vital fluid which carries spirits that really give life encouragement and life to a new being, it is said that blood possesses celestial energy. The essences however, are the energy that rule the base, we can compare them to human genetics, being transmitted from parents to child.

With this in mind, we can observe the nobility in mother milk composition, according to Chinese Medicine. But, does such nobility and care on production consume the mother’s energy? Leading to energetic and lately physical unbalances?

The answer: Yes.

When the mother is on breastfeeding period, the bigger amount of energy absorbed from food, will be designated to blood and mother milk formation. As well as, mother’s essences and the fluids consumed, which are still being used. Thus, the mother will feel more hungry, and will need high quality aliments, many times in more quantity due to the fact that she is nourishing not only her body but the baby’s too.

If there is not adequate or sufficient alimentation, the mother might use her own vital fluids to compensate in the milk production, that is, may suffer from Spleen Blood Deficiency and the excessive spent will lead to Deficiency in Kidney’s Yin.

In case we add that up with emotional stress and overwork, the mother may develop these syndromes even more easily.

In order to avoid that such syndromes occur, we can as prevention, recommend:

1. Diet Therapy:

Recommend to the mother, consumption of fresh foods for the Elements Earth, Wood and Water, thus making Blood and Yin formation easier, improving Spleen, Liver and Kidney functions.

Besides that, roots are always welcome, to improve blood production.

2. Acupuncture Points:

It’s important that, with the diet improvement, the body is able to use the aliments to produce more Blood and dispatch more energy. The acupuncture points can help those functions. I suggest:

• SP6 and SP8: tone Spleen blood
• LV8: tone Liver blood
• KI6 and CV4: tone Kidney’s Yin energy

Avoiding the Deficiency Syndromes, the mother will be able to breastfeed the baby for a longer time, with good and health milk volume. The milk will always be rich and give the baby the opportunity to grow and develop healthier and with improved immunity.

Remember: we must be even more careful about we women who choose for free demand. 

I hope that you liked it.

My warmest regards.

Fernanda Mara

*** Visit us on Youtube Channel: youtube.com/facilitatingacupuncture

Are you feeling stressed and angry? This video can help you 🙂

Hello dear readers!

Today I’m going to talk a little bit about the effect dairy products have, during Autumn/Winter, in particular for those who suffer from repetitive sinus inflammation.

The Autumn and Winter on the view of Tradicional Chinese Medicine, are seasons characterized by coldness and dryness. Therefore, those are the seasons where we usually feel the skin, hair, mucous of our body more dry. The skin may suffer scaling and get itchy, the hair loses it’s brightness, brittle, and the drier mucous, creating eyes and nose inflammations, mainly.

In Chinese Medicine, we know that dryness is a pathological factor. Owning the potential to consume body fluids and create inner heat symptoms, such as inflammations.

Given the mucous dryness, breathing becomes harder, the air filtering process loses efficacy, thus making the body prone to respiratory diseases, such as sinus inflammation.

During this year period, the body, trying to balance itself, gives his owner the will to consume foods considered wet (or humid), in special, milk and dairy products. Those are even a recommendation, in small quantities, for people who suffer from inner dryness, however, there is trouble once we exaggerate in these kind of food.

Milk and dairy products are hard to digest, according to the Chinese Medicine. Due to their humid nature, they block Spleen’s ability of removing the excess of humid and for the remains of this incomplete digestion, we call Phlegm.

The Phlegm, is a pathological factor, resulting from the inner humidity kept in the body without proper circulation nor elimination, for a long period of time. Is a mass creator, cysts, polyps, located fat, secretion (including the one that clogs the sinuses).

In addition to milk and dairy products having a humidity essence, predisposing to the situation described above, during autumn/winter, external dryness will cause the body, for protection reasons, to retain the humidity it obtains from outside. Therefore, these foods become even more the villains in the cause and worsening of sinusitis.

Thus, Chinese Medicine professionals must go against the consumption of milk and dairy products during all winter for patients that usually suffer from Sinus inflammation.

And, what should we recommend?

Foods considered fresh for the Earth Element are recommended to make the body promotes a bigger Jin Ye (body fluids) production, those basically are, healthy to the body. We usually say that Jin Ye are cleany, while Humidity and Phlegm are uncleany.

These are fresh foods for the Earth Element: cucumber, tomato, tangerine, apple and other, found on the link below: https://www.facilitatingacupuncture.com/therapeutic-food-tables/

Is also important that during the Autumn and Winter period, the patient keep Spleen and Lung strong, once that our body’s defense energy, the immunity, is dependent on the good functioning of these two organs.

Thus, I recommend the acupuncture points: SP3, SP6, LU7 and LU9. They can be treated with needles and also worked with moxibustion or acupressure.

Keeping the body hydrated with healthy foods, removing foods that worsen the perpetuation of Phlegm, leaving the immune system strong, without a doubt, the patient will spend many, many months without suffering from sinusitis.

I hope to have helped, and I hope that you liked it.

Big tight hug.

Profa. Fernanda Mara

** Don’t forget to subscribe us on Youtube Channel: youtube.com/facilitatingacupuncture

Take a look at the video:

Hello dear readers,

Many people ask me if there is any treatment for striae (stretch marks), through Acupuncture and other Traditional Chinese Medicine resources.

According to the Brazilian Dermatology Society, stretch marks are defined as cutaneous atrophies acquired when the collagenous elastic fibers (responsible for skin firmness) break and create “scars”.

These fibers may break due to big distension on the skin, such as growth spurt in children and teenagers, weight gain or pregnancy.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the organ responsible by the skin strength and resistance is the Lung. Therefore, we may say that we can’t treat stretch marks without strengthening this organ. Thus, first of all, we suggest the use of Systemic points LU7 and LU9 combined with Lung point in auriculotherapy.

However, there are also treatments done with needles directly on the stretch mark spot. In order to stimulate collagen production on the affected place, the needles are introduced through the stretch mark inner part, being a young striae (pink-ish) or an already structurated striae (white). The needles must remain on the spot for at least 20 minutes. Also, sometimes may be necessary to use many needles in the same stretch mark. Where the needle ends, the practitioner needs to introduce another, this way covering all problem’s extension.

Acupuncture needles deliver blood, oxygen and nutrients to the treatment spot, thus having the ability of easing striae appearance.

To make the treatment even stronger, the acupuncturist may add stimulus to the needles that are inside, such as moxibustion in order to heat them up, or using electroacupuncture. Moxibustion may be done with a stick, heating up the needle body or the region where it’s introduced. Everytime the patient say “it’s hot” we must change the application point. However in electroacupuncture, stimulus should be pulsed, within patient limit, keeping in mind that the patient must never feel pain or uncomfortable..

It’s also important that the patient is aware of everything that affects skin or Lung, everything that may create an energy imbalance that generates striae such as: excessive sun without sunscreen and smoking habit.

Therapy diet is also very important, in this instance, as a matter of avoiding that new striae show up. Neutral aliments from the Metal Element chart must be consumed frequently in order to let Lung strong and fulfil it’s objective of protecting and strengthening the skin. Such foods are found in the tables at the link below:

https://www.facilitatingacupuncture.com/therapeutic-food-tables/

What we should expect, in the majority of cases, is that the stretch marks become thinner, clearer and less apparent. Pink-ish striae frequently disappears. White striae just have a improvement on it’s appearance, with lines slightly thinned and clearer. But, with no doubt, the treatment will leave your patient extremely satisfied.

Hope that you liked it, and that this helped you develop the best treatment.

My warmest regards.

Profa. Fernanda Mara

Good morning readers!

Today let’s talk about therapy with Gua Sha, known and practiced in the orient for thousands of years.

The words: gua sha mean respectively shave and pathological factor. Therefore, the technique consists in shaving through the skin and to out of the body, the things that are bad for health. How it’s a very ancient technique, in its beginning, even rocks or animal horns were used to shave the skin, until the polish jade stone became the main resource to realize it.

It’s believed that besides the healing power of shaving, the jade is a stone associated with health, prosperity, strengthening friendships, raising spirituality and thoughts in those who use it.

But, what are the objectives and benefits from this technique

• Remove dead skin from surface, promoting skin renewal
• Realize vasodilation, to improve blood circulation and nourish tissues
• Improve lymphatic circulation, diminishing the liquid accumulation (drainage)
• Movements Qi and Blood, improving inner organ functioning
• When done over the point line Shu Dorsais(Dorsal Shu) and Shen Shu it causes energetic rebalance
• Realiave pain on the spot it’s applied

How is it done?

The procedure may be done with or without oil for sliding. On the beginning it was done without oil, causing marks on the patient skin and described as a painful technique. Nowadays it’s done with a little bit of oil, for sliding, that may be chosen according to the patient’s needs, associating the aromatherapy technique to gua-sha.

The therapist must then spread a little bit of oil through the desired surface, and then slide the jade stone over the surface, starting with easy and slow movements, slowly going up according to the patient’s sensibility.

There isn’t an exact number of times that the jade stone must be slid, however the therapist must keep in mind that the more marks it leaves, the longer it will take to recover. It’s normal that some blood capillaries break during the procedure, creating then, redness and even hematoma. The technique may only be done with this vigor in more resistant areas, such as the back.

When there are marks, it’s normal that they remain there for 7 to 10 days. The patient must avoid sun exposition on the spot.

Gua Sha is frequently done in the face, in order to do lymphatic drainage and nourishing the tissues thus increasing skin beauty. The movements must be done always from the middle to the lateral, never the other way, to avoid skin “wrinkling”.

We may say then, that Gua Sha is nothing more than a technique that uses micro injuries through skin shaving that forces the body to renew the superficial layer and nourish tissues for cicatrization, bringing all already mentioned benefits.

Practice and see the results. 

My warmest regards.

Profa. Fernanda Mara