Ms. Postolov encourages all of her patients who are fighting obesity to follow a nutritional program that is designed specifically for them.

Nutrition is much more than vitamins and minerals. It includes every aspect of your diet and how the foods you consume, impact your body’s health. Nutritional counseling is often needed when you find yourself facing a healing crisis and must make substantial lifestyle changes to bring your body back into balance. Regaining your health can be a lengthy process if you have allowed yourself to become complacent when it comes to both diet and exercise. For the body to begin to resume adequate levels of exercise or maintain sufficient healing and recovery, proper nutrition is essential.

The Right Foods

In the United States, many people are overweight due to poor diet and lack of exercise. While their lack of exercise is often blamed on not having enough time, their poor diet is often the result of eating too much of the wrong foods. Misleading information on the part of food manufacturers is also a large part of the problem. The over processing of many natural foods leaves them lacking in nutrition and heavy in calories. The Chinese have figured out that keeping fat content to a minimum and increasing the amount of natural fiber in the diet are just two ways of maintaining a healthy weight.

With the American diet, however, eating enough of the right foods can be a chore forcing a person to eat more than they should just to get a fraction of the nutrition they need. Nutritional counseling can help you eat the right foods, in the right amounts and determine sufficient ways to supplement the diet so that the body has everything it needs to function effectively and efficiently. It is important to remember that many of the food preservatives and additives that included in highly processed foods greatly contribute to the blockages that restrict the flow of Qi within the body.

Supporting the Digestive Process

In traditional Chinese medicine, the stomach and spleen are the two most important aspects of the digestive system. In their philosophy, foods that enter the stomach are processed through heat that is produced by the spleen (when read ‘spleen’ think as pancreas from a Western point of view). As the foods are broken down, their nutrients are released and dispersed throughout the body. Every food, herb or spice offers something to the body in the way of nutritive support. Spicy foods, for example, work to keep the lungs functioning properly.

When the spleen becomes over worked or is not functioning at its best, the Chinese considered it to be “damp” or lacking in heat. This prevents the stomach from performing correctly and can actually limit the amount of nutrients that are released. As the food passes through the intestines many nutrients are lost, leaving only the calories behind and adding to the problem of excess weight. In order to prevent the spleen from losing its fire, nutritional support along with other healing therapies may be needed. Acupuncture and cupping can stimulate the spleen into functioning more efficiently if the right nutrients are added to the diet. Nutritional support and the use of Chinese herbs can offer the spleen and other organs in the digestive system what they need to regain balance and begin to perform more efficiently.

Maintaining Balance

Proper nutrition is essential when maintaining balance within the body. To function at its best, the body needs the right amount of fiber, fat, protein and carbohydrates to maintain homeostasis. With sufficient nutrition, the body begins to function in a natural fashion. The body has more energy which, in turn, encourages more activity. The more active a person becomes, the more rest they will require. When an illness occurs, any one of the factors that help to keep the body balanced may be affected. As a licensed acupuncturist, Ms. Postolov can interpret signs within the body that indicate imbalances. By using acupuncture and other traditional Chinese healing methods, she can help restore the flow of Qi and offer nutritional counseling to her patients that can help to resolve the issue. By using multiple healing methods, she is able to produce a holistic healing response that nurtures mind, body and spirit.

Avoiding the Diet Drama

With obesity being a primary concern for most Americans, it is important to avoid the “diet drama”. There are numerous diet programs available to help people lose weight. The problem with choosing one to follow is that they are not meant for everyone. One diet works well for individuals who need more protein, while others must have more carbohydrates. Sorting through the numerous diet plans leaves many people discouraged and frustrated.

Ms. Postolov encourages all of her patients who are fighting obesity to follow a nutritional program that is designed specifically for them. An individualized diet plan takes into account the patient’s current state of health, their weight, gender, past medical history as well as their current lifestyle. She can create a nutritional plan that works within their personal parameters to promote weight loss and establish a healing process that will eventually lead the body back to optimum health. By using traditional Chinese healing methods, she can enhance their treatment plan making it more effective and able to offer long lasting results.