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Go Green Salad Recipe

3/15/2017

Go Green Salad Recipe
Love this salad that I've slightly tweaked from Sprouted Kitchen - its easy to make and will last in the fridge for the work week.

Ingredients

3 cups ribbed and chopped kale
handful of chopped parsley
1-2 tbsp of lemon juice
1 cup cooked black lentils or garbanzo beans
1 green apple, diced
1/2 diced avocado
half an english cucumber, diced
Dressing
one clove garlic
1 Tbsp of dry white wine
1 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. dijon
juice of one lemon
salt and pepper

In a large salad bowl, combine the (massaged) kale, parsley, lentils or garbanzo beans, apples, cucumber, avocado

For the dressing, blend everything in a food processor or blender, with salt and pepper to taste, until the garlic is smooth.

Pour the dressing on the salad and toss well to coat.The salad will keep in the fridge for a full day and slowly lose it's crunch from there.

Secrets and Tips
Buying and Types of Kale
Kale should have a fresh green color with moist, crisp, un-wilted leaves. There are normally 2 types of kale you'll find at the supermarket

Dino Kale or Tuscan Kale - best for salads
Curly Kale - great for soups, stews, and in warm meals

Storing
Keep kale in a plastic bag with 1 paper towel (to absorb any extra moisture) in the fridge. Kale becomes increasingly bitter and strongly flavored the longer it is kept and so is best eaten soon after buying.

Preparing
For all types of kale its good to give it a nice wash in water to remove any dirt clinging to the inside of the leaves.

Always cut the ribs from the leaves, especially if you're not cooking the kale. The stalks are fibrous, slightly bitter, and take forever to chew
If using your kale for a salad, make sure to cut the kale into thin ribbon like pieces.
For salads MASSAGE, MASSAGE, MASSAGE! Once you've sliced your kale, add a splash of extra virgin olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, and a pinch of salt and massage the leaves through your hands for about 3-5mins. After a quick rubdown you'll notice the green leaves transforming from being bitter and tough to silky and slightly sweet with a darker hue. Massaging helps to breakdown kale's natural waxy coating.
When cooking kale, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to large, heated skillet. Heat oil; add strips of kale. Cook and stir over medium-high heat 2 to 3 minutes until wilted and tender (older leaves may take slightly longer). Or just toss rinsed leaves into a soup or stew.

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Endometriosis - All The Wrong Places

3/14/2017

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Endometriosis is F***ing terrible and there is no better way to say it. Its painful, affects your fertility, digestion, causes pelvic inflammation, painful sex, and urinary issues. Its also the most common cause for pelvic pain that we see here at SFIM. Lena Dunham did a fantastic job detailing how having endometriosis can affect every aspect of a woman's life in The Sickest Girl.

March is Endometriosis Awareness and I thought it would be a good time to let woman who are suffering with ednometriosis know that Chinese medicine and acupuncture can help.

Just The Facts ...
Endometriosis generally occurs when uterine tissue migrates outside the uterus and attaches itself to organs in the abdominal cavity. It is typically seen as pigmented or non-pigmented lesions, cysts, nodules or masses. The lesions can be found on the colon, bladder, ovary, fallopian tubes, uterine ligaments or abdominal wall. The lesions can be problematic in that they are stimulated by the same hormonal cues as the uterine lining. This stimulation can lead to growth and microscopic bleeding of the lesions, which can result in scar tissue formation (adhesions), severe pain and inflammation.

The only way endometriosis can be confirmed is through laparoscopy. Western medicine does have treatment for the symptoms; however a cure has been elusive. If endometriosis is found, it will usually be removed surgically. While surgery may be helpful at removing the some of the lesions or masses, it does little to stop the formation of new lesions or calm the body’s immune response to the endometriosis.

The Benefits Of Chinese Medicine For Endometriosis

Chinese herbal medicine can play an important role in helping women with endometriosis achieve pregnancy with its ability to treat the root and the symptoms aggravating the uterine environment.* There are many herbs to treat some of the symptoms associated with endometriosis, having effects such as:

decreasing prostaglandins (especially PGE2), which play a role in creating pain
dissolving mucus accumulations and loosening of adhesions in the pelvic cavity
encouraging flexibility and reducing mucus obstructions around the fallopian tubes
settling the body’s immune response and calming the uterus

Other helpful suggestions to help calm an overactive immune system include:

reducing consumption of dairy, wheat and animal products;
supplementing with omega-3 rich sources like flax seed or fish oil; and
adding super-antioxidants such as pycnogenol or OPC.

To Summarize...

Chinese medicine is a great help when it comes to relieving the uncomfortable symptoms associated with endometriosis.
Chinese medicine can help limit the proliferation of endometriosis
Chinese medicine does not make current endometriosis disappear (although it may be able to reduce it).

What is most important from a Chinese medical standpoint is to identify the root of the imbalance and treat that accordingly. If the root is treated along with the symptoms, then the likelihood of achieving a nurturing uterine environment and healthy pregnancy increases dramatically.

Interested in getting involved? San Francisco is hosting the Worldwide Endometriosis March on March 25th! More info here --> http://www.endomarch.org/

photo credit www.swoosh.com

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Transitioning From Winter to Spring

3/14/2017

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Normally California winters are pretty mild. The concept that it’s actually springtime usually comes upon me gradually then suddenly. The last few weeks seem to be and exception to that. Here in the Bay Area we've had record breaking rain and some pretty darn cold days and nights. As I look back over the past couple weeks, I realized that I had been feeling slightly more tense, the days were getting longer, and I’m favoring mint over green as my daily tea.

For me personally, spring can be an exciting but difficult time. It’s a time of new beginnings, new growth, purification, and for clearing out the old. All this new growth is electrifying and wonderful but it can come with difficulties too. On these cold (to this Californian) mornings, I sometimes feel like seed that is still deciding if it wants to stay safe in the ground or take the leap and emerge from under the soil – or in my case, the covers of my warm bed.

Depending on where you live, you may not have yet seen evidence of new life bursting forth; it might be a little more subtle (like that blizzard the East Coast is getting right now). But you many have noticed a shift in your body’s energy and changes in how you feel physically and emotionally as the hours of daylight increase.

What gives me that extra push forward is that I fully believe that by following the rhythms and cycles of nature, we can also create balance within our own lives. In Chinese Medicine spring is associated with the Wood element, which governs the liver and gall bladder organs and maintains the smooth of Qi in our bodies. Strong winds are typical during spring (especially here in Windy Wellington). The blowing of wind in spring can offset the equilibrium of these organs, which in turn can affect other organ systems causing congestion and imbalance. When this happens, I see the most common symptoms of spring walk into my clinic:

   5 Signs That Acupuncture Can Help You This Spring

1.    Feeling a little extra tense or angry
In TCM, the Liver is responsible for smooth flow of Qi throughout the body. When the Liver is not functioning optimally, things like emotional and situational stress tend to aggravate us more.

2.    Experiencing more than the usually sore muscle or headache
When the Qi isn’t flowing smoothly, we start to experience what acupuncturists think of as congestion or stagnation-type symptoms. These include pain, tension, tightness, or restriction of our muscles and body. Headaches and menstrual cramps are commonly worse this time of year as well.

3.    Digestion feels a bit off balance
Good digestion is dependent on consistent and smooth movement of Qi throughout the whole body. When the Liver fails to control the flow, digestive problems are most likely to occur. Don’t forget the brain-gut connection, as we know, when our emotional stress is higher than usual, our digestive system takes a hit.

4.    Springtime allergies (especially bad after all this awesome rain we've had)
If the liver is not healthy, it could affect other organs like the spleen and the lungs. Symptoms of this disharmony between these organs include: chest congestion, sneezing, running nose, itching eyes and other symptoms that are associated with allergy problems.

5.    Difficulty sleeping through the night
A weakened Liver can also affect your sleep. When the Liver is not controlling the smooth flow of QI, you might notice you’re up thinking all night or still upset about something that happened at work. The time of the Liver is also between the hours of 1am-3am and this is when most people wake and have a hard time falling back to sleep.

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Go Green Salad Recipe

Endometriosis - All The Wrong Places

Transitioning From Winter to Spring

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