Why I Got Vaccinated

Here is my gratuitous pictures of getting the Moderna Covid 19 vaccinations.

Many people are surprised by this. Many people assume, that as an acupuncturist, I would be opposed to getting vaccines.

If you know me, you know that I live a very healthy lifestyle. I will fight my doctor tooth and nail to not take medication. I fight him to not get the flu shot every year. I have worked so hard to successfully lower my cholesterol without having to take statins. Many of you have followed me on that journey. Starting with juicing and drinking celery juice every morning and then gradually switching to a vegan diet.

So why get the Covid-19 Vaccine? The answer is simple. To do my part.

• I am a healthcare provider. I will do whatever it takes to protect myself and keep my patients safe.

• I am a son. I will do my part to protect my elderly parents.

• I am a partner. I will do whatever it takes to protect him.

• I am sibling. I look forward to the day that my family can all be together again.

• I am a Patriot. I am a proud American wanting to do his part to get this country back to “normal”

• Oh yeah…. I support science too.

With that being said, is this vaccine foolproof? Absolutely not. I will continue everything I do normally to keep my immune system strong. I will still practice all of the safety protocols. Just as I tell my patients… Blending your eastern or “alternative medicine with your western medicine practices will only enhance your outcome.

Here’s to kicking Covid-19 in the butt.

Finding Hidden Gems During the Pandemic

Happy New Year! Can you believe we are in 2021? 2020 was quite the year that most of us want to put behind us.

It seems like yesterday when I was announcing that I was closing my office for 2 weeks. Those 2 weeks turned into 3 months. Even after re-opening in July, my practice has never looked the same.

We all put our lives on hold, lost jobs, figured out how to work from home and become a home school teacher as well. We lost the daily interactions of seeing friends and family. We learned how to zoom, how to cook and bake, how to garden, and how to get creative in our exercise routines. Yes we all gave in to binge watching television and drinking too much. It is ok to give in to pleasures as well.

When the world as we know it comes to a halt, we are forced to stop, slow down and re-evaluate what is really is important. These are what I like to call the Hidden Gems of the Pandemic. If we did not learn any valuable life lessons during this time, to me, it is time wasted.

When I re-opened my office a Hidden Gems that I found was that it really isn’t necessary for me to see patients back to back. I slowed down my pace for proper sanitizing purposes. But as time went on, I started to realize that I actually liked the slower pace. It allows me to spend more quality time with my patients and not feel so rushed. One of the many reasons I wanted to get into Chinese Medicine was to have that quality time with them.

When we slow down, we are able to see more clearly what was there all along. I hope you have been able to discover some self realizations along the way as well. I think when life returns back to some sense of normalcy, we will all be better people.

50 Days of Celery Juice

This week marked my 50th straight day of drinking celery juice. I embarked on this health journey because I have been a follower of Anthony William. After reading his book Liver Rescue, I decided to commit to doing the Liver Rescue Morning to see how it will improve my health. Specifically, I am hoping to lower my cholesterol, which at it’s highest was 314, despite my healthy lifestyle of clean eating and much exercise.

This program is not always easy. It takes a big commitment to make the celery juice every morning. Sometimes even finding celery in the store can be difficult. I have stuck with it, even when traveling. I have been to Mexico, where I was able to use a Vita-mix to prepare my juice down there. Even on long weekends away, I have brought my juicer with me. This past weekend I was in Palm Springs and Palm Desert and was lucky to have found a local juice bar in Palm Springs, and a Whole Foods in Palm Desert that served fresh celery juice. So I can say it is getting easier to find, even when bringing your own juicer ins not so convenient.

Although I still have until July until my next blood panel, I wanted to give a progress report of how I am feeling after 50 days.

• First and foremost I can tell you my digestion has changed dramatically. This is something I was able to notice almost immediately after starting this program. I have had 50 days of bowel movements! While this may be “TMI” for some, this is huge for me. I have always had a slow transit elimination. Going to the bathroom every other day and sometimes every 3 days was normal for me. Having a daily bowel movement. Many people ask me if this type of cleanse will have you running to the bathroom, and I can safely say this is not the case.

• I suffer from mild eczema. I have seen improvements on my skin as well. It has not completely gone away but I have had improvements in most of my flare up areas. I still have some itching, but that may also be due to chlorine from swimming 4 times a week. I also feel like the skin on my face is clearer and my eyes are more fresh with less black circles and puffiness.

• I have a lost 10 pounds. Although weight loss was not on my list of reasons for doing this program, it just happened to be a secondary effect. Don’t get me wrong, I am not mad about this at all. Over the last several years, I have struggled to be in the five pound zone that I feel most comfortable in. No matter how clean my diet was or how intense my workouts were, I could not break into that zone. Since drinking the celery juice, I have been comfortably in that zone again. Even on some days I am below it, but I have never gone back above it. I definitely attribute this to my improved digestion.

Other than that, all I can say is that I just feel good. I feel energized, I do not get fatigued as easily when swimming. I feel an overall sense of wellness.

I still have until July for my next blood panel, so I will keep you up to date on those results. If you have any questions about this program, feel free to shoot me an email at antonio@bodyandsoulacupuncture.com.

Until July,

Antonio

Liver Rescue

Hello. Wow I can’t believe it has been over a year since my last blog post!

It was my New Year’s resolution to get back on track… better late than never!

Many of you may have seen from my latest Instagram post, or from talking in the office, my latest health journey. The Liver Rescue.

If you are not familiar with Anthony William, aka the “Medical Medium”, maybe you have been noticing a lot of people lately drinking celery juice. Maybe you have seen many people posting their pictures on social media drinking their celery juice. Or maybe you have gone to store and noticed it is nearly impossible to get celery anymore! Well this is the reason why. It is the latest health craze sweeping the country.

I first learned of Anthony William while watching the Documentary “HEAL” on Netflix. If you have not seen it already, I highly recommend you do. It is about people who may have been given a terminal diagnosis and then turned their health around with “radical remissions” and are alive and healthy. I found it to be such a refreshing take on “alternative” therapies because these healers were not telling people to abandon their western medicine practices, ie: oncology. They were actually emphasizing not to. It is about finding something in the “alternative” scope that will work synergistically with your western medicine protocols. I was so inspired by this! This is how I have always felt it should be!

When I first started studying and practicing acupuncture, it was still a little unknown, and lumped in a group called Alternative Medicine. Back then, it really felt the norm that you either choose one way or the other. You had to choose between Western medicine or choose your alternative ways. There was no mixing of the two. I never felt this way. I have always been a practitioner that encourages both. Now, 20+ years later, the term “alternative” is not used and much and now non-traditional practices such as acupuncture, reiki, meditation and such are called “Complimentary” medicine. You really do not have to choose anymore. If you can find something that works for you, it can only enhance your western therapies as well.

With that being said, after watching HEAL, I started to see Anthony Williams pop up everywhere, even on shows like Extra! I started to follow him on Instagram. And before you know it, all I saw were people posting their celery juice! I wonder how many people, especially here in LA, are doing the juice, but don’t really know why. Because it is the latest trend maybe? Well my curiosity got the best of me, so I ordered the book.

I want to be informed when starting a new health journey, as should anybody. I devoured the book, and yes I am fan! In Chinese Medicine, the liver is a very important organ. It stores the blood, maintains the smooth flow of Qi, controls the tendons and sinews, opens in the eyes, manifests on the nails and houses the hun (ethereal soul). It is the chief organ of all emotions but is strongly affected by stress and anger. If this sounds confusing, this is Chinese Medicine lingo. Moving on, the more I read the book, the more I got excited to try the celery juice program.

I should also mention my reasons for wanting to try this. More of which I will discuss in future blogs. In short, I have genetically high cholesterol (315 was my highest level) and I also suffer from eczema. My doctors put me on Lipitor, to which I experienced awful side effects. I currently am not taking any statins, and am looking for a way to lower my numbers. I do not want the long term use of statins to ruin my liver… isn’t that ironic? LOL… My eczema is not severe, just annoying. But eczema and psoriasis are two things that are supposed get healed through this process.

I thought it was important to document my journey. It is important to share knowledge and experiences. But it is also important not jump on the latest band wagon without educating yourself first.

Thank you for reading and stay tuned! In the meantime, check out this link:

https://www.medicalmedium.com/

Feel free to comment or send me any questions you may have:

antonio@bodyandsoulacupuncture.com

Antonio