The Body Owner’s Manual – An Acupuncturist’s Teachings on Health and Well-Being
I’m currently reading The Body Owner’s Manual
I’ve been seeing an acupuncturist for the past couple of months and I have always wanted to know what I can do myself to improve my health. I always ask the acupuncturist of course, but there is so much information that it’s more thorough reading it from a book.
Some tips for healing your body:
- Cut out sugar
- Eliminate stimulants like caffeine
- Do a blood sugar balancing diet if your body feels weak. Eat protein and vegetables for breakfast and eat breakfast soon after getting up. Basically, eat what you at for dinner at breakfast. Eat a whole grain snack before lunch. Eat lunch and dinner at regular times. (I’m currently doing this. It helps curb my late night snacking.)
- Eat whole, organic foods when possible.
- Eat warm/hot foods
- Reduce stress
- Relieve stress through yoga, tai chi, qigong, meditation, or a hobby
- Express how you feel and say what you mean, don’t repress anger and emotions
- Sleep by 11pm. The body replenishes your organs at night while you are sleeping.
- Exercise
She also provides a chart, Five Element Chart of Associations, that provides a guide on how to support specific organs that are weak. For instance, if you know that your kidney is weak, like you frequently need to go bathroom and not too much fluid comes out, then to help heal your kidneys, you would eat foods that are black. Black foods include black beans and black fungus.
The Body Owner’s Manual also includes a section on specific conditions such as insomnia, asthma, shoulder pain, PMS, and what you can do about it. She also talks about cleanses. Basically, the message of this book is to get in touch with your body. When you have pain, don’t medicate it, listen to it. What is your body trying to tell you.
I really enjoy this book and it would be a great Christmas gift for a loved one.
