August 2003

This newsletter is not to be used as a substitute for medical advice

• Welcome Back Joanna!
• Update from Maggie-Jeanne Desmond RMT
• Congratulations Victor and Diaa!
• Acupunture vs. Pain Medication
• New Staff at The Pacific Wellness Institute
• Important Notice about our Fees
• Have you visited our website: PacificWellness.ca?
• Is a Migraine Part of a Healing Reaction?
• Healthy Japanese Cooking
   

The Pacific Wellness Institute
80 Bloor Street West, Suite 1100
Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2V1
Tel: 416-929-6958
Fax: 416-929-6365
e-mail: info@pacificwellness.ca
website: www.pacificwellness.ca

PacificWellness.ca Newsletter promotes health and wellness by providing the latest health and nutrition news, healthy Japanese cooking recipes and important insurance and office information. Please pass this newsletter along to your friends and associates so that they can enjoy the information on good health, as well.
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Pacific Wellness News
Welcome Back Joanna!

The Pacific Wellness Institute would like to extend a warm welcome back to Joanna! Joanna Rogowska, our massage therapist has been away on maternity leave since May 3, 2003 and will be returning as of September 3, 2003. She will be working Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

A message from Maggie-Jeanne Desmond RMT

Please note that our massage therapist Maggie-Jeanne Desmond will no longer be accepting new patients for massage treatments. She is, however, available as a Craniosacral therapist, which is her specialty. Please enquire about the benefits of craniosacral therapy for more information.
 

Congratulations!

We would like to congratulate our former assistants, Victor Chan and Diaa Osman for their successful completion and graduation from studying Naturopathic Medicine, and for finishing their board exams recently. We wish them the best in their future endeavors as Naturopathic Doctors!

New Staff at The Pacific Wellness Institute
Welcome to our new therapists!

The Pacific Wellness Institute has welcomed 2 new additions to its team of outstanding therapists: Omer Lifshitz RMT and Nadra Chapman RMT. Both are very well trained and experienced massage therapists providing quality care. Omer has been practicing massage therapy since 2001 and also has additional training in myofascial release and trigenics. Nadra has been practicing since 1991 and has extensive experience in both therapeutic and relaxation massage.

Welcome to our new therapists!

The Pacific Wellness Institute has brought in 2 new clinic assistants. We extend a warm welcome to Charlene Chan and Amy Tung. Both Charlene and Amy are 4th year intern students at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. They will be working here as assistants for acupuncture and at the front desk reception.

An Important Notice About a Change in our Fee Schedule

We would like to inform you that as of September 22, 2003, we are going to have a new treatment fee schedule, which is available at the reception. We, here at The Pacific Wellness Institute, are committed to continuously provide you with the highest quality of care and we thank you for your understanding and cooperation..

Pacific Wellness.ca
Have you visited our website: www.pacificwellness.ca? 

As many of you have noticed, we have been continuously updating our website, www.pacificwellness.ca on a regular basis to provide you with easy access to information about our clinic and any health concerns you may have. Under the 'Health Concerns and Solutions' section, we have added information on conditions such as headaches, migraine, low back pain/sciatica and infertility. There is also a section on 'Success Stories' with testimonials from patients suffering from severe foot pain and headaches. In addition, there are also case studies on lumbar herniation, infertility and weight problems that are posted on the website for you to learn about.

We will be constantly updating our site to make it more informative for you. Please visit us periodically and encourage your family and friends to visit our site as well. Thank you!

Is a Migraine Part of the Healing Reaction? 

This might be a hard idea to accept for sufferers whose lives are severely affected by unpredictable migraine headache attacks but here is a brief explanation:

Stress results in the constriction of most blood vessels (including those carrying blood to the head) which minimizes circulation to internal organs. If this situation is prolonged, the body enters into a sudden emergency state due to the deprivation of oxygen and nutrients to the internal organs (especially the brain). As a result, the body seeks to compensate for this by creating a rebound response. This is a natural innate recovery response and scientists have begun to view migraine as a part of the healing process.

The theory explains many unique characteristics of migraine attacks which often develop when one is relieved from a situation of prolonged stress (when elevated sympathetic tone state changes to rebound parasympathetic elevation state). For example, many migraine sufferers often develop migraines on weekends, the first day of vacation, following a relaxing dinner at the end of a stressful day, or after sleeping-in on Sunday mornings. Many sufferers also experience some of their most intense migraine episodes following massage treatment. This is not surprising considering that massage and other natural therapies (such as acupuncture) trigger the healing reaction by eliciting a relaxation response and enhancing circulation. Find out how our approach is helpful for permanently ending this devastating condition by visiting our website www.pacificwellness.ca and going to the Health Concerns & Solutions/ Headache section.

Healthy Japanese Cooking 
Haruko Ishihara, RNCP, CNP, CR.

Rice with assorted mushrooms and vegetables

The fall is the harvesting season of rice. There is nothing to compare to the delicious taste of new crop rice, which Japanese people look forward to every year. Japanese word for rice is Gohan, and it also means meal. So rice is to Japanese people what wheat is to western people. Rice is suitable to eat on an every day basis because of its nutritional value and health benefits.

Rice helps in increasing energy and promoting good digestion. It is very nutritious and a great source of carbohydrate with no gluten. When it is eaten as a whole, ie: brown rice, it provides good amount of B-vitamins, vitamin E, iron and calcium as well as abundant fibre. Since brown rice is chewier and takes longer time to digest it is essential to soak and cook longer and chew well for better digestion. In turn, white rice is less nutritious but easier to digest and some people think it is tastier. Partially milled rice is somewhat in-between, which provides more nutrients than white rice as germ and some bran still remain in the grain, and is easier to digest than brown rice. Partially milled rice is available at some Japanese food stores in Toronto. Rice has properties such as strengthening spleen -pancreas and the stomach so it has soothing effect on the body when you are sick or have digestive difficulties.

New rice is tasty as it is yet cooking with some seasonally mushrooms and vegetables provides you even richer flavour and aroma. For this recipe, you can use any type of rice, brown, partially milled or white, depending on your preference. The type of grain should be short or medium grain rice. If you would like to increase protein value of the dish you may want to add chicken or fried tofu.

How to Prepare the Rice with assorted mushrooms and vegetables: serves 6-8

• 3 cups rice (2cups-short grain brown rice, 1 cup -sticky rice), ------Wash and soak in water 1 -2 hours before cooking
• 3 dried Shiitake mushroom, -----Soak in water, slice (fresh ones can be used instead)
• Half pack of Enoki mushroom, Wash and cut the bottom
• 1 long burdock, Slice thin, soak in water
• 1/2 carrot, Cut into julienne strips
• Ginko nuts, Shelled, toast, peeled and cut in half vertically
  **(Boiled and julienne strip snow peas can be used instead)
• 2 tablespoon tamari
• 2 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 2 table spoon sake
• 1/4 teaspoon maple syrup