With the early spring weather fluctuations, many people are experiencing seasonal allergies already. One of the ways to help your body fight back is to eat more bitter green vegetables. They are in season in the spring and help clean out the toxins that have become stagnant in your body over the winter. Bitter greens include artichoke, arugula, asparagus, baby greens, bok choy, celery, chard, collard greens, dandelion leaf, endive, kale, mustard greens, spinach, and watercress. You can also boost your immune system to resist these allergies with acupuncture and herbs.

Is your energy still struggling to keep up, even though there is more sunshine? If so, don’t be too worried. Your body is just starting to come out of its hibernation stage from winter, and there weren’t as many quiet snowy evenings for your body to catch up from all of last year’s activities. Take things slower than usual and try not to overdo things. It looks like summer outside, but your body is still adjusting. If you want to kickstart your system, give us a call and come in for some acupuncture.

As we move into spring, we tend to eat more summer foods like salads and sandwiches. Be conscious of making sure you’re eating enough cooked foods as well, though, so your digestion doesn’t have to work too hard just when its strength is coming back. Incorporating broth-based soups, rice (we love basmati!), and fish into your meals now will help your digestive system ease into summer so you can enjoy magnificent garden salads in the months coming up. We’ve been eating fish from Coastal Seafoods and it is delicious!

Ready to shed that winter weight? Now is the perfect time to get some more motivation to look and feel your best. We’ve spent the last few months trying out some new lifestyle support websites and found that we love them when paired with acupuncture to reduce emotional eating, increase metabolism, and get the body back on track. We also came across our new favorite quote:

“A year from now you’ll wish you had started today.”

Beautiful Ama’s St. Paul acupuncture clinic will be closed from Saturday, December 24th through Sunday, January 1st in order to do some self reflection. We plan on doing intense ashtanga yoga classes, grounding yin yoga classes, guided meditation through yoga nidra, and our own combination of reflection, stretching, qigong, and meditation. We look forward to balancing our own body and mind so we can start the new year off with glowing brightness and joy!

We will be seeing patients on Tuesday, December 20th and Wednesday, December 21st before finishing up our year-end duties behind the scenes. If you’d like to get in one last treatment on our last 2 clinic days of the year, give us a call to get on our busy schedule as soon as possible!

Do you have a flexible spending account (FSA) that needs to be used up by the end of this year? We can help! Acupuncture is a covered medical expense for flex spending plans as well as Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). And don’t forget your benefits card because we can run those through for immediate payment instead of going through all the paperwork for reimbursement.

Here at Beautiful Ama, we are so excited that our clinic has now been open for a little more than 2 years. Can you believe it? The time has gone so fast and we’re so excited! There have been quite a few updates to our practice in that time, so if you haven’t been in for an acupuncture treatment in a while, come check out our booming practice. We’d love to catch up!

Below is the article about our clinic that was published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper on 17th July 2011.

Below is the article about our clinic that was published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper on 3rd January 2010.

Below is the article about our clinic that was published in the St. Paul Voice newspaper in January 2010.

We are offering a new referral bonus for the months of August and September.  When you give our name out to a new patient and they come in for their first treatment between August 1st and September 30th, 2011, you will receive $10 off your next treatment and they will receive $10 off their first treatment.  Since we know you love us and are telling people about us already, we figured you could use a small gift as a thank you for helping others feel better and helping our business grow.

Print this message and give it to a friend who would benefit from Beautiful Ama’s acupuncture treatments.  You will each receive $10 off a treatment, subject to the guidelines above.  And tell them they can save even more by using pre-tax dollars since acupuncture is a covered expense when they use their Flex Spending Account (FSA) or Health Savings Account (HSA) benefits account!

The Pioneer Press article featuring our business came out this past Sunday and we’ve been so busy that we haven’t had a chance to post a link. So if you didn’t get to see our article in the newspaper, check it out online now! The response has been amazing and we’re really enjoying getting to know the steady stream of new patients coming into our clinic.

http://www.twincities.com/business/ci_18485917

Are you curious about what the new patients come in for? The main things we’ve been treating are insomnia, depression, anxiety, headaches, tobacco cessation, stress and PTSD related to grief and loss, back pain, neck pain, and weight loss. It has already been a really full week and there are many more fun weeks to come! So if you’ve been thinking about acupuncture for awhile and wondering if it might help you, give us a call!

Did you know that choosing your dentist is just as important as choosing your acupuncturist? I see a dentist who believes in the same holistic principles as the acupuncture community, which is why I will not even consider switching dentists. The funny thing is that I found him by accident and had no idea how great he was until I went in. He has all the latest tools and treats the mouth as part of the whole body. He explained to me at my first appointment that flossing is not only important to prevent gingivitis, but also because the bacteria between the teeth can get into your bloodstream and that means your body has to constantly deal with the influx of bacteria that can be completely prevented by flossing daily. And with that knowledge, I came home with a renewed commitment to flossing.

Another thing that I loved about this dentist is that he doesn’t believe in metal fillings. While the acupuncture community has known for a long time that even trace amounts of heavy metals in the body compromise its optimal functioning, the dental community took awhile to catch up. Not my dentist – he hasn’t used metal fillings for over a decade! Since I had 3 cavities at my first visit (I hadn’t been to the dentist in many years), I had to get them filled. I’m not thrilled about using novacaine and when I had my only other cavity many years before, I had my previous dentist drill with no anesthesia and then fought to have them use white filling material, which I had to pay for as a “cosmetic” choice. My holistic dentist told me right away that he wouldn’t have to use novacaine because my cavities were on the surface and he would be using air abrasion (a sandblasting technique) that is not painful and is more natural. I was super happy. And I became a patient for life!

I had an appointment for another cleaning today. I have been nervous for weeks because my wisdom teeth are finally coming in. Yes, I know they are about 15 years later than what’s usually considered normal, but I figure my body knows what it’s doing. So I’ve been really worried that my dentist would tell me that I have to finally get my wisdom teeth taken out because I’ve been told my whole life that they have to come out due to issues with crowding, cysts developing, and cavities that can’t be filled when they develop. Guess what? That’s totally not true! He explained that the wisdom teeth do not crowd the other teeth (so my previous orthodontic work will not be compromised). He said that the mouth typically has plenty of room for the wisdom teeth, so there’s no need to take them out. And it turns out that only about 1 in 10,000 teeth develops a cyst that requires removal, so as long as it’s being monitored, there’s no need to take it out unless a cyst develops. And finally, he explained that he is proficient at filling cavities in the wisdom teeth, so that’s also not an issue. Wow! I was so thrilled!

I have always been told by the dental community that annual x-rays are necessary and not much of a risk. So I have always had to fight with my dentists to allow me to only have the x-rays every 2 years. When I explained that to my hygienist today and told him that my mom had 3 types of cancer and I always try to limit my exposure to radiation, he said that I am in charge of my body. Then he told me that since I am considered a high-risk patient in regard to x-rays, he would put me on their program of x-rays every 2 years. No harassment. Just notes in my chart so I never have to fight this again. I was amazed.

By the time I left, I was just about skipping out the door. At 33 years old, I am teething alongside my 6-month-old twin nephews, and I’ve never been happier! I swear I’m going to floss every single day.

If you are interested in seeing my dentist, he charges really affordable rates (only $75 for a cleaning). So check him out and go see a dentist who treats your mouth as a holistic part of your body and really cares about your wellbeing.

Advance Family Dental

Dr. Paul Zollinger

651.482.1122

925 E. County Road E, Suite 185

Vadnais Heights, MN 55127

www.advancefamilydental.net