Now that your period is over…

It is the ideal time to nourish yourself as your body is now preparing a new follicle for your next cycle.  Specifically, we need to boost yin during your follicular phase from cycle day 3 to ovulation, which is ideally between cycle day 13 and 15.

So what is Yin anyway?

Well, It’s probably a term that you’ve heard before in close correlation with Yang. In Chinese medicine, Yin is the physical substance of the body and Yang is the physiological function. For example, Yang moves the blood through the heart which is Yin and causes the contraction of the muscle.

More importantly, Yin is the general term to include all bodily fluids including blood. And for those of you working on a cycle with Intra-Uterine Insemination (IUI) or In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) or trigger shots this is even more important for you as your body maybe trying to mature multiple follicles at once. This is a big job and we need to honor our bodies and support...

As we enter the hottest months of the year, something that tends to be at the forefront of the mind is how to keep cool.

Obviously, we want to enjoy these warm months of abundant sunshine, but we need to make a conscious effort to stay hydrated and healthy so we aren’t quick to succumb to Fall and Winter illness. One thing I recommend to patients is easy to incorporate, as we all need to eat- food therapy.

Even Hippocrates was aware of diet’s importance in healthy living: “Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food”. Proper nutritional intake combined with lifestyle recommendations will keep you and your family on the right track for a happy and healthy summer.

Not surprisingly, in Chinese medicine, summertime is governed by the element of Fire (and its associated organs: the Heart, Pericardium, Small Intestine, and Triple Burner). We learn that because of this, the Fire energy is abundant in the summertime. Therefore, it is recommended that...