By: Tracy L. Hackett, DAOM

Food sensitivities are an increasingly prevalent problem over the last twenty years as food producers take more license adding chemical additives and non-nutritive ingredients into processed foods. Singling out processed foods is relevant because our bodies have evolved to recognize certain molecules as nutrients and to absorb that ‘bio-information’ through our intestinal lining then to excrete those that are not as waste. However, if the gut lining becomes too permeable, undigested food particles, microbes, wastes, and toxins can enter the blood stream. Since these particles are haven’t been digested properly, even though something may be a nutrient source, the immune system is triggered to fight against the ‘intruder’. If this occurs over time, voila, you develop food allergies with the accompanying symptoms. The symptoms can intensify and become more complex.

How does Leaky Gut Syndrome get started in your GI tract and what are the symptoms?

The lining of your gut is a dynamic, tight mesh-like structure made of proteins has a bacteria and yeast (“flora”) lining it that adapts to the contents it’s exposed to. The normal positive flora in your intestines adapt to the types of foods you consume. If your gut microbiome or a molecule integral to the lining, zonulin, is compromised by inflammation or food additive chemicals and over processed food ingredients, a disruption of normal cell function can occur in the ability of intestinal wall to maintain tight permeability. If the disruption becomes severe or the inflammation persistent enough dysfunction and disease like colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis or worse can be the result.

If the toxic additives or improperly digested food particles pass through the lining, your immune system is further triggered leading to body and joint pain, fatigue, headaches, skin problems, sleep and mood disruption. As toxins accumulate in the tissues and joints, aggravating inflammation further to the sensitive internal tissues of the gut, the body is bombarded with ingested “information” that can trigger the immune system. Stress can also wear down the body’s defenses and normal filtration processes of waste and non-nutritive molecules. All of this combined can lead to what is called a “leaky gut”. You may infer from the previous description that your gut is leaking the wrong kinds of molecules or larger food particles into the blood stream that are not broken down to the right degree so trigger the immune system. Fissures and inflamed areas can open to allow larger particles to pass through.

Symptoms of food sensitivities show up quickly after irritants are ingested, but can gradually worsen and intensify with repeated exposure over time. Typical symptoms that can start as intermittent then become constant include:

• sneezing and runny nose
• stomach pain after eating certain foods
• gastritis, reflux, diarrhea, cramping, gas, abdominal pain
• sudden onset of patches of very itchy skin and/or hives
• sudden onset acne
• recurrent mouth sores
• genital/anal itching or irritation
• headache or migraine
• unusual or intense food cravings
• fatigue, malaise, foggy headedness
• strong body and waste odors

Other symptoms may occur as well that are not listed here. This list of symptoms may also indicate presence of or beginnings of illnesses other than food sensitivities. Oftentimes food sensitivities are precursors to severe food allergies, which can be life-threatening.

So what to do if you find yourself in a situation where you haven’t really developed a serious allergy but feel anxious over some of the nagging symptoms that things may not be going so well with your digestion?

1. Clean up your diet. Cut out the usual suspects* for a couple of weeks and see how your symptoms change. Journal any symptoms that crop up after eating to track any possible patterns of food sensitivities.
2. Drink a large glass of water in the morning that has raw apple cider vinegar or lemon juice in it. This will help clear your stomach and gently encourage your liver’s to detoxification process.
3. Get appropriate testing done. There are some great tests available to assess allergies, nutrient absorption, GI dysfunction, and gut flora composition. Set up an appointment with a qualified healthcare provider, like myself, to help you get the right tests. But more importantly understand what the tests results mean and get a practical treatment plan to help your heal. This type of healthcare and many tests are not covered by insurance, so make sure you know about costs so you can budget accordingly.
4. If going through extra testing doesn’t appeal to you, clinical assessment may be enough to yield the answers you need. An Acupuncture Physician or Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, can help you with the time-tested acupuncture and herbal medicine or supplementation solutions to encourage healing and better digestive regulation.
5. East-West Functional Medicine is available at my clinic, where I can help you with a complete holistic method. I create treatment plans that combine the best of contemporary holistic medicine and only the supplements and/or herbal formulas you absolutely need. The protocol is tailored specifically to you and your particular digestive concerns.

If you have any questions about this topic or how holistic medicine may help you, contact me directly by phone or email.

*Start with the 6 Whites: refined flour/gluten, refined sugar, sodium, dairy, alcohol, and low quality fats.

Here are some tried and true tips (that I use myself and with patients) for keeping a dewy soft complexion and avoiding surgery or chemical injections (number 1 is very important, so the best is for last):

2. Hydration – sometimes drinking water isn’t enough. Do you know what your electrolyte balance is like? Electrolytes help with water absorption, among other important vitalizing functions. The most sophisticated electrolyte mix that I offer in my clinic is sea plasma, which comes in sterile vials, and is foundational to cellular life.
3. Cleanse – Shea butter soap for cleansing is about all you need. Keeping your skin clean is foundational to a healthy appearance. Again, be careful of the chemicals in skincare products. Up to 70% of what you put on your skin gets into your bloodstream.
4. Moisturize – take a look at the label on your moisturizer and make sure you know what every ingredient is. Some of your may say, that’s simple! It’s coconut oil, which is an excellent choice, but if you would like to maximize your benefits trying Skin Blessing serum maybe for you. It is a blend of organic oils that is available at my clinic. I have been using it for 15 years. It is formulated for sensitive skin.
5. Exfoliation – is your best weapon for dealing with the signs of aging. My personal favorite is the Clear+Brilliant laser treatment. It is a natural treatment, since the tool is light itself. Clear+Brilliant is a non-oblative fractional laser which means that the treatment penetrates to only the surface layers of the skin stimulating the even sloughing of the dead surface layer of skin that sinks into wrinkles while promoting collagen production, muscle release and blood flow to the surface.
6. Heal and protect – anti-oxidant mixes that are best for your unique skin presentation are a great way to protect your skin from the inside. Your sunscreen should have natural ingredients, like Stream2Sea, that will protect your skin and the reefs.
7. Plumping – not all injections are created equal. Would you like the natural fullness and youth of your skin back? Saline, peptide, and nutrient injections can help stimulate better muscle and skin tone without chemicals for a natural look and no impediment to your beautiful expressive face.
8. Stimulate collagen production – the best is the Clear+Brilliant laser treatment since it evenly stimulates collagen production across the entire treated surface while the laser naturally tightens skin and reduces pore size.
9. Tone facial and neck muscles – a simple massage routine for your skin and jaw exercises help tone, release, and relax facial muscles. I will be posting a series techniques on my blog in the coming weeks. Tight muscles and habitual muscle movements are the underlying source of fine lines and deeper wrinkles. Acupuncture can help plump out deeper wrinkles. Fine lines are smoothed away with Clear+Brilliant laser treatments.
10. Healing acne – many times acne is a sign of an internal imbalance in your gut, but there is the fact of the bacteria present below the surface of your skin. There is a holistic way to treat acne with herbal medicine. Each case is unique so it is best to get an assessment with a qualified clinical herbalist for a tailored treatment.

The number one beauty tip is simple and easy, smile. It sounds a little corny, but in sincere practice, it yields authentic rewards. Find gratitude in your heart, feel it as a living sensation of a smile in your chest and let that energy flow up to your face. Smile for the life that you have and find joy in the simple things. For instance, if you have too many chores to do at home instead of letting it drag you down, tell yourself “I’m so fortunate to have the clothes, clean water, and machines to wash my clothes” or if your task is to make dinner “I’m blessed with so many fresh food choices, let me see how I can make meals that reflect the best.” These little morsels of gratitude will contribute to your well-being and stress reduction in ways you would not believe until you try it. It’s a little bit of magic.

Tracy L. Hackett, AP DAOM, is an acupuncture physician and doctor of acupuncture and eastern medicine in Washington DC and Jupiter, Florida. She provides all of the treatments mentioned in the above article.

By: Dr. Tracy Hackett (DAOM, AP)

People born in the nineties and aughts are quickly realizing that they must actively become stewards of the thin outer skin of the earth’s surface that is our biome, our collective home.  By protecting the environment, we protect our long-term health and our future. The medical industry is a part of that picture. The medical industry is one of the top environmental polluters with the incineration of medical waste that releases 215 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to a 2009 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.  The organization, Practice Greenhealth, found through their 2010 survey that hospitals produce about 5.9 million tons of trash per year.  According to the organization Health Care Without Harm, the incineration process releases some of the highest amounts of dioxin, mercury, lead, and other dangerous pollutants of any polluter into our air and water year after year.  These statistics do not include pharmaceutical or food waste. The problem exists, but many people are hard at work figuring out solutions for these problems. One foundational solution could be to avoid utilizing the conventional medical industry as much as possible.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), massage, chiropractic, and other forms of holistic medical care carry with them a very small footprint on the environment. If more young people adopt holistic medicine modalities as a central focus of their healthcare, then they will likely use conventional medical interventions less, thereby reducing their contribution to the pollution of the environment. Stewardship is a notion that inheres in the individual an assumption of responsible management of resources, both related to personal health and that of the larger world. The ethical use of resources may seem a lofty and unreachable goal with the pressures of daily life pushing most of us to grasp for conveniences, but many of our current convenience items are undermining a healthy future.

Over the last decade or so, a significant mind set shift has been gaining momentum. As the demand for non-drug, nature-based medicines and modalities increase with people realizing the consequences of taking pharmaceuticals for long periods of time, holistic systems-based paradigms of medicine (like TCM) make increasingly more sense to a larger and younger population who are seeing chronic and serious illness showing up earlier in their lives.

So what could this green medicine stewardship look like for the future of health care?  First of all, new and dynamic insurance policies need to be developed on the premise of true prevention (not just a few more tests earlier on) and not the expensive sick-care model of invasive and drug-oriented medicine.  That requires a concerted, vocal demand from the public. The younger generations that are entering the workforce or will be in a few years must look at the impact of all of their choices like no other generation has been willing to do previously. It is becoming a necessity to consider and create collective choices with our personal ones.

Holistic medicine has the lowest environmental impact of all types of healthcare: no toxic chemicals, minimal to zero emissions from medical waste. Additionally, your own productivity is impacted for the better. People who actively utilize the holistic medicine that I offer in my practice typically experience fewer lost workdays, take less medication, and receive fewer invasive procedures.

The reason for this (at least from the anecdotal data I have) is that the premise of the medicine I work from is to cut illness and dysfunction off at the root and coach my patients to proactively manage lifestyle issues with the help of myself and other professionals in the holistic medicine field. This is accomplished from a systems-based approach to medicine. The genesis of TCM came about through observation of the systems in nature and how they were reflected in the balanced and imbalanced function of the human body.  As TCM integrates into the contemporary healthcare landscape of the US, conventional allopathic medicine disciplines are borrowing from it. The deeper ecology of how we care for our health is integrated with how we care for the environment we live in to sustain that health.

Our collective internal health will more closely be reflected in the health of the environment under our stewardship. The advent of the nascent understanding of epigenetics underscores the salience of this relationship for future generations. Moving from the philosophical broad view to a practical picture of what I’m pointing out will likely be actualized in the generation of people who are now children.  Medicine that mimics the patterns and power of nature appears to be the path of least resistance toward for a large population in the years to come.

Tracy L. Hackett, AP, DAOM is an Acupuncture Physician and Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ACTCM at CiiS, San Francisco, CA) practicing in Jupiter, Florida.  She has found health through holistic medicine herself and brings the same to others since 2005. She specializes in the treatment of pain and GI issues. She has also developed nearly 30 new acupuncture points for the treatment of digestive issues, pain (post-concussion, jaw, neck, low back, pelvic), and neuropathy.