During the holiday season, many of us overeat, get bloated, constipated, and are inundated with temptations from those cookies at work to that eggnog at the Christmas party. Luckily, acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine herbal therapy can increase blood circulation and encourage regular bowel movements. Read on if your New Year’s resolution is to detox!
Holidays are often a time of overindulgence for food and alcohol with all of the social activities that are planned. It’s pretty common at some point to experience digestive disorders to a degree throughout this time, whether it’s from overeating, bloating, general discomfort, or being hung-over.
While it’s impossible to have perfect digestive health all the time, the signs and symptoms of Food Stagnation according to the Chinese Medicine pathology include:
- Abdominal Fullness
- Pain and Distension of the Epigastrium (this is the area of your abdomen underneath your breastbone and between your lower ribs) -which can be relieved by vomiting or bowel movement
- Nausea
- Vomiting of Sour Fluids
- Foul Breath
- Belching
- Insomnia
- Loose Stools or Constipation
- Poor Appetite
These symptoms are typical when there is too much overindulgence and our body struggles to keep up with digestion and elimination, leading to food retention. And while this is common over the holidays, for some people this can be a very typical pattern due to our everyday diet and lifestyle.
The Standard American Diet (SAD) and Lifestyle:
The SAD diet and lifestyle that most people tend to follow can be summed up as eating a high quantity of low quality food and eating on the go, while maintaining an overscheduled, high stress life. Often we don’t even realize how much harm we are really doing to our bodies until issues start showing up and those issues start becoming chronic. Changing these habits can make a big difference in our health and how we feel but habits can be really difficult to break.
Our gut health has a major impact on our daily quality of life. When the guts are not absorbing nutrients efficiently to supply
our body with what it needs to function properly, the body may respond with:
- Pain
- Brain Fog
- Fatigue
- Poor Sleep
- Skin Problems, and more
Traditional Chinese Medicine / Acupuncture Treatment:
Herbal therapy can help improve the quality of digestion and nutrient assimilation and can be taken proactively in addition to being used as a treatment. Acupuncture is also great for helping to increase circulation to the intestines and regulating bowel function. In addition to improving the gut health, acupuncture and herbal therapy can be used to decrease stress levels which can severely alter how our digestive systems function.
Most importantly, dietary therapy must become a priority – if overindulgence and eating foods that don’t jive with your system is the root of your problem, then you must adapt. Cooking meals at home with good quality foods can make a world of difference, without this change, problems are likely to keep reoccurring long term.
If you have any questions regarding food stagnation or how TCM/acupuncture can help your digestion, feel free to book a free 15 min meet and greet with Dr. Cheryl Lee by calling (403) 452-0029 or by booking online.