Author: Ann Zimmerman

Lower Your Internal Thermostat

Written by Ann Zimmerman on August 6, 2013. Posted in Chinese Medicine, Immune Health and Balance.

It seems that everyone is talking about the weather these days. We all know that summer is the season of heat. This is great if you want to go swimming or play in the river, but it can be quite distracting if you are doing most other outdoor activities. Chinese medicine focuses a lot of attention on the internal body temperature. Unlike the western approach of using a thermometer to determine the body temperature, Chinese medicine pays greater attention to how a person feels subjectively about their temperature. In other words, does a patient feel hot or cold, or are they generally comfortable. Temperature is such an important subject in Chinese medical treatment that it is one of the primary 8 principles used to diagnose and treat any illness.

On hot days, it is natural to feel warmer in response to the temperature of our surroundings. It is also expected that when the weather turns cooler our bodies would feel cooler as well. But these tendencies can be influenced by our internal balance. If we are cold internally, then colder weather can exacerbate cold symptoms, leading to a feeling of chilliness, nasal discharge, frequent colds, diarrhea, frequent urination, or digestive problems. If we have “internal heat” in the body, then the warm days may effect us more intensely, leading to symptoms of headaches, increased sweating, red eyes, irritability, dryness, skin rashes/itchiness, constipation, urinary difficulty, digestive complaints, or bleeding problems.

Work and Play by Ann Zimmerman, LAc.

Written by Ann Zimmerman on August 5, 2013. Posted in Immune Health and Balance, Mental and Emotional Health.

Work and play is the balancing act of summer. This time of year the beautiful weather, blooming flowers, fresh cherries, long days, etc are truly a joy, one that most can recognize and feel deep in their being.

Free time often includes spending time outside and packing the schedule with all the things you can do in this time of year. People tend to be more social and eager to gather and our lives get really busy, the weekend warrior awakens in full force.

So there tends to be a buzz about having fun, new experiences, expansion, yet we still have to “chop wood and carry water.” This saying refers to maintaing the basic mundane aspects of life…..working your job, balancing the check book, cleaning the toilets, keeping a budget, tending to your low back pain, etc.

Constipation: Whats the hold up?

Written by Ann Zimmerman on May 21, 2013. Posted in Digestion/Diet.

by Clark Zimmerman, LAc.

One of our teachers used to explain bowel function by comparing it to a sailboat traveling down a river. The boat is the stool, the colon is the riverbed, the water is the moisture in the colon, and the wind is the smooth muscle movement, or qi that propels the boat. In order to have healthy bowel movements, you need each of these factors to be functioning properly. If one or more factors is unhealthy, it can result in constipation.

The “boat” or the stool is mostly made from the food that we eat. Depending on our diet, our boats can resemble a sleek speedboat or a crude log raft. If we mostly consume a diet that is low in fiber and high in foods that are cloying and mucous producing, such as dairy products, sugars and gluten foods, we produce sticky stools that are difficult to move through the colon. (Did you ever notice the word gluten contains the word “glu”?) If we eat a diet that is high in fiber and low in foods that cause sticky stools, we are more likely to create well formed stools that move through the colon with ease.