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What is Holistic Medicine?

Written by Michelle Wendt on . Posted in About Us, Acupuncture, Massage, New Patients, Tools, Treatment Plan, Uncategorized. Leave a Comment

Holistic medicine is a form of healthcare that focuses on treating the whole person, rather than just the symptoms of a specific condition. It recognizes that all aspects of a person’s life, including physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and environmental factors, can have a significant impact on overall health and well-being.

Holistic medicine doctors often use a variety of therapies and approaches to care for their patients, including natural remedies, such as acupuncture and herbal medicine, as well as conventional medical treatments. They may also recommend lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise, to help improve overall health and well-being. A doctor practicing holistic medicine will perform a thorough analysis to provide a medical diagnosis and treatment strategy.

The goal of holistic medicine is to help people proactively achieve optimal health and well-being, rather than simply managing or treating specific symptoms or conditions. It is a proactive approach to healthcare that emphasizes prevention, self-care, and individual responsibility for one’s own health.

To learn more about holistic medicine at Indigo Healing Acupuncture & Massage, give us a call at 512-686-0777 or use our contact form. We look forward to answering all of your questions!

Your Body’s #1 Secret

Written by indigoacupuncture@megamad.work on . Posted in Uncategorized. Leave a Comment

I want to tell you a secret. It’s a well-guarded secret. An important secret. And it can change your life.

Before I reveal the secret, let me ask…

Do you suffer from daily headaches? Migraines? Other pain that just won’t go away?

Have you ever thought about what pain is?

Is there a message in that pain?

The answer is YES, there is a strong message hidden in that headache or migraine or stiff neck or backache or whatever is causing YOU pain.

Pain is a messenger. Pain is the only way your physical body can communicate directly with your mind. Pain is your body’s way to yell “STOP! PAY ATTENTION! LISTEN TO ME!”

The big secret is… Pain exists so your body can heal itself. Your body is engineered to heal itself. You can see it in action everytime you get a papercut!

So, are you receptive to your body’s calls for attention? Or is your pain buried under medications designed to keep it quiet and hidden?

If you’re ready to hear your body’s message and banish your daily headaches, migraines or other chronic pain, contact us to schedule a consultation at 512-686-0777 or book online by clicking the blue button below.

Healing Food: Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Written by indigoacupuncture@megamad.work on . Posted in Community, Recovery, Uncategorized, Wellness. Leave a Comment

This is one of my family’s favorite soups. It’s easy to make and every bite is packed with protein, vitamins and minerals that are soothing to the digestive system. It’s the perfect soup to eat when recovering from an illness or surgery.

I serve it blended and creamy, not chunky. It’s a meal in itself or a filling side dish.

Butternut Squash Soup
1 large organic butternut squash (Costco has pre-packaged cubes)
1 sweet onion
2 tablespoons fresh garlic, minced
Handful of baby carrots, sliced or ribboned
1 box of organic chicken bone broth
1 can of organic full-fat coconut milk
1/8th teaspoon ground nutmeg
Sea salt and pepper
Organic extra virgin olive oil.

Have all of your ingredients? Let’s do this!

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (I use a toaster oven)
  2. Place the squash cubes and carrots in a large bowl and toss to coat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Season with sea salt and pepper.
  3. Line baking dish or rimmed tray with parchment paper. Spread the squash and carrots evenly across the tray. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the veggies are soft.
  4. Coat bottom of large soup pot with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and place on medium heat.
  5. Slice onion and add to soup pot. Saute onion until soft and season with salt and pepper.
  6. At medium heat, add garlic to onions and stir until the garlic is light brown.
  7. Dump in your tray of roasted squash and carrots.
  8. Add about 2 cups of the bone broth, stir everything, and bring to simmer (medium-high heat).
  9. Allow to simmer for about 5 minutes. Add more broth if the vegetables are not coated.
  10. Remove pot from heat and blend the soup in the pot using an immersion blender or transfer the (Caution: Hot!) soup to a heavy-duty blender (Vitamix, Ninja, etc).
  11. Once blended and smooth, bring the soup pot back to simmering heat.
  12. Add a pinch of ground nutmeg (about 1/8th teaspoon) to the soup and stir it in.
  13. Slowly stir in coconut milk to your desired soup consistency. We like our soups to be more hearty, less watery, so I typically add about 1/4 cup of coconut milk or less.
  14. Turn off the heat, take a taste and season with more sea salt and pepper if needed.

That’s it! You’ve made a delicious, healthy soup that nourishes the Lungs, Kidneys, and Stomach! It keeps in the refrigerator for about 3 days in an airtight container.

Another tip: To make an easy one-pot dinner, add chunks of rotisserie chicken to the finished soup.

Fertility on a Budget: $10 a week

Written by indigoacupuncture@megamad.work on . Posted in Uncategorized. Leave a Comment

Getting pregnant doesn’t have to break your budget! If you have $10 per week, here’s how you can use it to increase your odds of a healthy pregnancy within three months.

Here are 8 fertility tools that cost less than $10 a week over the course of three months:

1. Basal Body Temperature Thermometer: The first step to accurately tracking your fertility cycle is to record your waking body temperature under your tongue at the same time every morning before getting out of bed.  This special type of thermometer records temperature to the 10th of a degree, which is extremely important when trying to conceive.
​
2. High-Quality Prenatal Vitamins: Prenatal vitamins are important because so much happens magic occurs inside an embryo before a positive pregnancy test (typically around 4-5 weeks pregnant).  Within the first 3 weeks of pregnancy, the embryo is busy building a spinal cord, brain, eyes, heart, digestive tract, liver and face!  Your little baby will draw upon mama’s stores of vitamins and minerals, but needs more!  When selecting a prenatal vitamin, talk to a health care professional (doctor or acupuncturist) to make sure you’re buying the best available for your specific needs.  My favorite professional-quality brands are Thorne and Innate Response. Contact Michelle to order online.

3. Fertility-Friendly Lubricant: If you use a lubricant, make sure it’s fertility-friendly and sperm-safe. I usually recommend BabyDance because it’s available at most major retailers including Amazon.

4. Fertile Living Library: Follow this link to access free fertility resources from fertility acupuncturist Heidi Brockmyre:

  •  Fertility Supplement Guide
  • Fertility Quiz + Solutions Guide
  • Top 5 IVF Tips
  • Top 5 Tips to Boost Fertility over 40
  • Top 5 Fertility Food
  • Top 5 Tips to Support Pregnancy
  • Natural Prep for IVF Success E-Book
  • Guided Audio Relaxations, including Call in Your Baby
  • Videos, including Introductory Fertility Self-Acupressure

6. BBT Chart: A Google search will reveal lots of free printable BBT Chart templates or there are several fertility apps that can capture temps to produce a chart. Choose what works for you! Here’s a printable PDF from BabyCenter to get you started.

7. Warm Socks: Simply put, Warm Feet = Warm Uterus. Wear socks in every season!

​8.  Reference Books: Learn all about fertility with these two tomes of knowledge:

At only $10 a week, these tools can help you achieve a healthy pregnancy! Sending you lots of baby dust!

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Chinese Medicine for Diaper Rash

Written by indigoacupuncture@megamad.work on . Posted in Pediatrics, Uncategorized. Leave a Comment

Earlier this week, my toddler came home from preschool with a terrible, angry diaper rash that made her waddle like she had just climbed off a horse. Her skin was bright red & swollen from her groin to her upper inner thighs.

After comforting her, my Acupuncturist brain took over to start treatment:

Step 1: Bath
Lukewarm bath with baking soda and oatmeal – I added 1/2 cup of baking soda and 1/2 cup of oatmeal to a filled bathtub. The alkaline nature of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) neutralized any remaining acidic residue and helped rebalance the pH of her skin. The natural phenols in oatmeal worked their anti-inflammatory magic to soothe her irritated skin. After her bath, the diaper rash was about 10% better.

Step 2: Salve
I gently patted her dry and applied a generous layer of Emily Hot Skin Soother* over the rash. This salve is all natural & cruelty free. It has an organic sunflower & beeswax base and several therapeutic Chinese herbs. Within minutes of applying, redness and pain had decreased by 70%.  
*Tip: Only purchase Emily Hot Skin Soother from a trusted source, like your healthcare provider. The jars are not sealed to prevent contamination from unscrupulous beings.

Step 3: Laser Acupuncture
I used a red Qi Pulse laser to activate specific acupuncture points along her Liver meridian and Large Intestine meridian to clear out the heat in her groin. I used the blue Qi Calm laser directly on the remaining red, rashy areas. The laser acupuncture visibly reduced the swelling and redness. The rash was about 90% gone at this point.

Step 4: Chinese Herbs
At bedtime I gave her a dose of Kan Gentle Warriors Fire Fighter, which is a Chinese herbal tincture formulated to treat heat conditions in the skin (such as rashes, eczema, psoriasis). This brand is only available from licensed health care practitioners and is a great addition to your at-home herbal apothecary. 

By the next morning, the diaper rash was 99% gone with only one very light pink area on her inner thigh.
​It’s now 2 days later and the rash has not returned. 

Want to learn more about how Chinese Medicine treats pediatric conditions? Contact Michelle!

3 Foods You Won’t Find in My Kitchen

Written by indigoacupuncture@megamad.work on . Posted in Uncategorized. Leave a Comment

​Thanksgiving is less than a week away and my kitchen will soon be a hot spot for baking & cooking.

Every year without fail, someone in my family will ask me where I keep the granulated sugar. When I tell them we don’t have any, a look of alarm will appear on their face:

“Whaaat?! How in the world can we make these cookies/muffins/pie/cinnamon rolls/biscuits without sugar?”

Before I answer, let’s back up for a minute.

As a practitioner of Chinese Medicine, I’ve had years of masters-level education on dietary nutrition. In my clinic, I educate patients on how what they eat affects their body, both good and bad. Have you heard the Hippocrates quote, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”? It’s 100% true and the fundamental basis for why you won’t find these 3 foods in my kitchen:

  1. Granulated Sugar or Brown Sugar
  2. Vegetable oil (canola/rapeseed, corn, soy, vegetable, peanut, sunflower, safflower, cottonseed, vegetable shortening, and margarine)
  3. Conventional corn products

I would bet you’d find these three foods in at least 95% of America’s kitchens. Without diving too deep into biochemistry or nutritional theory, here’s the down & dirty on each one:

  • Sugar: Sugar literally feeds disease & chronic illness in the human body.  Read this blog to understand the tip of the sugar iceberg: http://blogs.plos.org/publichealth/2014/01/13/worst-sugar/
  • Vegetable Oil: Most vegetable oils are genetically-modified, rancid, over-processed (aka hydrogenated) and nearly impossible for the body to process.
  • Conventional Corn: 88% of the corn grown in the US is genetically modified (aka not actually corn anymore). A herbicide commonly used on GMO corn called glyphosate (Monsanto’s Roundup) was linked to Celiac disease in a 2013 published research study. Read the study here.

So what WILL you find in my kitchen to replace these common foods?

  • Instead of sugar replacements, I use local raw honey, coconut crystals, or organic grade A maple syrup
  • Instead of vegetable oil, I use organic cold-pressed unrefined coconut oil, cold-pressed olive oil, grass-fed organic butter and grass-fed organic ghee
  • Corn: I use organic corn sparingly because there is a risk of cross-contamination from GMO crops.

I hope you take the opportunity to banish sugar, vegetable oil, and GMO corn from your kitchen this holiday season! It certainly leads to some interesting conversations!

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