“I’m so stuffed. I can’t believe I ate all of that. I’ll never do it again.”
Sound familiar?
It starts out innocently enough. Your friend, who’s a great cook, invites you to a dinner party. You arrive on time, start with a tall glass of red wine, enjoy the camaraderie and conversation, and try to ignore them but finally give in to a few shrimp appetizers laced in butter and wrapped in bacon. You figure one or two won’t do much damage.
Later, you sit down with another glass of wine to enjoy a delicious meal consisting of a Caprese salad with slices of ripe tomato paired with mozzarella cheese and drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette and chicken Fettuccine Alfredo. You don’t finish it all because you’re feeling like you might have to sneak out to the restroom and open up the top button on your pants so you can breathe.
But then the pièce de résistance – a sinful homemade 7-layer carrot cake decorated with fluffy layers of cream cheese frosting - is presented. It’s rude to refuse dessert, so you decide to eat only one bite, but once caught up in the delightful sugar frenzy, you omit that decision and savor every last morsel.
Later you end up at home, unable to sleep because you’re bloated and miserable, nauseated and your stomach hurts like crazy.
Everyone experiences digestive upset at some time and many people experience it regularly. In America, it’s easiest to point our finger at a combination of a high-sugar and high-fat diet, stress, and large portion sizes. It’s not easy to eat healthy and control portions, especially when you have friends who are great cooks, you really enjoy food, and you have a lot of stress in your life.
We’re taught at a very young age to reward ourselves with sugary treats when we do something good and to satiate ourselves with tasty high-fat foods when we feel bad.
But , if you eat this way repeatedly, more serious conditions develop other than just an over-full or indigestion feeling. Chronic heartburn and acid reflux, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome and food allergies are very common symptoms. These digestive symptoms can make you miserable and completely deprive you of the previous enjoyment eating provided. It exemplifies the concept that you can have too much of a good thing and reinforces the Taoist proverb, “moderation is the key to longevity.”
You have many choices of over-the-counter medications to treat uncomfortable digestive symptoms, but there are often more serious underlying mechanisms causing the continued distress. A stomach can consistently produce too much acid resulting in acid reflux or indigestion, the motility of the digestive tract can become chronically hyper or lazy resulting in diarrhea, irritable bowel, or constipation and pain from unidentifiable sources can be difficult to alleviate.
Certain acupuncture points have been shown to alter acid secretion, stimulate GI muscle contraction, cause GI muscle relaxation and inhibit gastric acid secretion via the somatosympathetic pathway making acupuncture beneficial in treating GERD, functional dyspepsia, IBS and general GI symptoms. In other words, acupuncture not only treats the symptoms, it treats the underlying problems so everything works properly, thus making you feel a lot better.
In clinical practice, digestive disorders respond very well to acupuncture and when combined with diet and lifestyle modifications you can experience permanent, medication-free relief of your symptoms. Chinese herbal medicine is sometimes used for a short period of time to alleviate certain conditions.
If you’re experiencing digestive upset, gas, bloating after meals, food stagnation or even having problems losing weight, you may benefit from using acupuncture and Chinese medicine.
We’d be happy to discuss your condition and answer any questions you may have. Call today to schedule your FREE consultation - tel: 561-819-0530.
In addition to your free consultation, we'll put you on our mailing list and check with your insurance company to see if your plan covers acupuncture treatment. Plus we’ll give you 20% off your first treatment if you decide to let us help you.
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