David Foster Acupuncture

Proper plating is of utmost importance in 2 settings: Fine dining & Toddler breakfast. Here we have roasted carrots with garlic & flax, finished with a pat of butter, chopped to perfection, aside a medium-boiled egg.

From a Chinese Medical perspective a warm breakfast with plenty of fat and protein is of utmost importance to best utilize our insulin hormone, maximize absorption, and conversion of nutrients into healthy hormones and neurotransmitters. This particular meal was followed by such engaged independent play that the forced transition to pre-school incited one of the worst tantrums of the week. It was a miserable experience, but I like to think that degree of anger and resistance necessitates a quantity of Qi that must indicate fundamental good health. Either that or she’s just a monster.

It's green, so it must be, right?! As per Chinese medicine's usual, the answer might surprise you...

Is Green Tea Healthy (for you)? » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC   In the western world we are often guilty of over-polarizing and labeling. This political viewpoint is good, that one is bad, this diet is healthy,

“Zhi Mu,” or Anemarrhenae root, can be used for everything from (red/hot) joint pain to night sweats, excessive thirst, heel or Achilles pain, or sacral pain (when warm to the touch. The diagnostic pattern and dosing must be correct, and the patient’s digestion should be relatively strong, as it is considered a “cold herb,” colder even then mint, chrysanthemum, or green tea leaves.

This is why in Chinese medicine we write customized complex formulas, as opposed to prescribing single herbs, supplements, or medications, all of which will potentially cause harm, especially when taken in perpetuity.

Anemarrhenae is composed of timosaponin, mangiferin, sarsasapogenin, markogenin, neogitogenin, and anemarns ABC & D. It has anti diabetic, antipyretic, and antibiotic properties, none of which mean a damn thing if your herbalist has not diagnosed your pattern accurately :)

Million dollar question! Ironically, we, of the most minimally compensated medical paradigm, are the only ones with an answer.

How Much S*x is Healthy? » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC     Not a frequently addressed subject in western medicine, most likely mostly because they don’t have a strong point of view, possibly also due

Big fun next week... maybe... Maybe not.

Total Solar Eclipse, 2024! » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC     Astrology is a bit like politics, in that I try to feel out the room before bringing it up to risking being alienated as the kooky, New Agey

"Shao Yang," or Lesser Yang, since summer of course is the height of Yang, but how does this all translate physiologically. Shao Yang pathologies result from imbalances in the gallbladder meridian and/or fluid pathways of our three microbiomes, but what is at their root? And how do they relate to the spring months? Thanks!

Spring is "Shao Yang" Season! » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC As I made my way this Monday through my ten-block, 2 ½ avenue walk from Penn Station to the office, the 41-degree winds whipping into my face,

So, first of all it's never "just stress" when you have an ailment! At most it's multi-factorial and maybe stress is one of those factors. Secondly, before lazy, short-sighted clinicians draw the broad stroke that something is exclusively stress-induced they should understand how stress works in the body, in order to better discern where and when it is the culprit.

Don't get me wrong. Stress management is imperative. It's just not the one size fits all many would prefer to believe.

When is Stress Actually to Blame? » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC     I feel like in the 20th century no one was talking about stress as an etiology for disease. Possibly I am guilty of generational

Not just for those who have struggled with fertility, but for anyone seeking to optimize their health and the health of the baby within them, not by modern American standards, but actually super healthy, please take this class!

An Integrative Approach to Fertility & Trying to Conceive - Trimester 0 The preconception period can be an exciting time accompanied by significant physical and emotional transitions. This unique stage of life offers an opportunity to optimize your health and prepare for your future baby! At Integrative Health and Wellbeing, we have cultivated a series of sessions begin...

In a society that deprioritizes the mom, the baby, and most of the process, it is helpful to have caring, knowledgeable support on our side. Highly recommend this class at NYP, taught by my wife on how to navigate "Trimester 4" as best you can, to optimize mom and baby's health and happiness... and Dad too I guess.

Trimester 4 - An Integrative Approach to Postpartum The postpartum period can present a significant physical and emotional transition for both you and your baby. This time of life offers a unique opportunity to revisit and optimize your health. At Integrative Health and Wellbeing, we have cultivated a series of shared medical appointments beginning f...

Welcoming in the Yang Wood Dragon! Expect a lot of action this year, for better or worse! For this reason I like to think years like these kind of favor New Yorkers.

Happy Lunar New Year! » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC     Happy Lunar New Year of the Yang Wood Dragon! Although I enjoy the psychological aspects of astrology very much, the forecasts and

This is a great article illustrating just one of the many ways acupuncture and Chinese medicine has been diluted into an often less effective version of itself in the modern west.

The Demise and Subsequent Renaissance of Classical Acupuncture: A Polemical Essay by Chen Xiaohui | ASBM in Clinic Get more from ASBM in Clinic on Patreon

Medicine does not alway achieve its goal. Designing an effective herbal formula requires infinitely more thought and analysis than writing a pharmaceutical script. If any of these ingredients were omitted or altered in dosage, it likely would not have had the success it did on this occasion.

Diagnosis: Insomnia

Chinese Medicine Diagnosis: Shao Yang Disharmony with severe blood depletion, Qi deficiency, with Damp Heat at the external layer.

Prescription: Da Chai Hu Tang + Dang Gui Shao Yao San -dang gui +shi gao + zhi mu +Huang lian.

This combination will not work for most cases of insomnia. What’s more interesting, this combination can work for many other conditions that have nothing to do with insomnia. And that my friends, is by far the most important concept of holistic medicine.

As an aside, I’m very proud that my daughter is growing up recognizing this beautiful display as “Medicine, Daddy!” as opposed to the ominously white, compact, and dull appearance of pills.

My most recently published article and first of the year! On a topic only I can cover, but is relatively useless beyond simply writing about it: Paralleling my experience as an acupuncturist with that of my 15 years prior as a stand-up comedian in NY & LA.

Why does everyone put link in bio? Am I an idiot for not getting this? Here’s the link, right here: https://hekint.org/2024/02/05/laughter-is-not-the-best-medicine/

To summate, both professions, like most professions, boast groups of great elitism who are frequently guilty of great judgment of those lesser than.

Both professions revolve around an important exchange, not just of services, but a relationship of shared goals and responsibilities. Blame is cast, often rightfully so, and confidence and credibility come constantly under question.

Thank you for publishing,

Weighing in, per usual, on the old parasympathetic and enteric nervous systems, our understanding of it in Chinese medicine, and how to use meals to our benefit instead of detriment, thank you!

Tips for Resting & Digesting (food) » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC     It’s nice to eat nice foods—expensive and high quality foods—organic foods, locally grown, homemade, etc. But it isn’t just about what we

https://www.davidfosteracupuncture.com/breathing-exercises-for-insomnia/

Breathing Exercises for Insomnia » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC     Everyone has their achilles’ heel—even the most successful or effective clinicians—and one of mine, as I’ve discussed before, is insomnia.

Don’t get me wrong. Any healthy intervention, whether acupuncture, exercise, or meditation, can act as “preventative medicine.” What’s more, we do use modalities such as to enhance immunity or fertility.

However, there are times where the categorization of “preventative” feels minimizing, as if we are simple wellness—not internal medicine that can effectively react to already existing diagnoses.

Where we excel is identifying disease before they become as such. For example:

A lack of thirst for water indicates excess fluid retention in the gut, which impairs digestion, and can lead to a whole host of GI or autoimmune illnesses. We use herbs like poria, atractylodes, pinellia, when appropriately indicated.

Excessive thirst for water indicates a lack of healthy fluids in the gut, which ALSO impairs digestion and can lead to a whole host of GI or autoimmune illness. We use herbs like ginseng, licorice, or gypsum, when appropriately indicated.

An excessively dry scalp, even dandruff, indicates dryness, obviously, but specifically in the head region. This might foreshadow chronic fatigue or worse, neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s or MS. How? Why?! If fluids are not getting to the scalp who is to say they’re adequately getting to the brain?? You can use lotions and dandruff shampoos, but important to treat the root cause. We use herbs like puerariae, trichoasanthis, gypsum, or pearl barley, when appropriately indicated.

A million more similar examples…

So it’s not so much that we are preventative medicine, as much as we consider everything to be disease, and we have a treatment for it.

Hot foods, early bed times, and minimizing activity is the summation, but read on for more detail, thanks!

Balancing the Bitter Cold with Chinese Medicine » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC   Welcome to the “Bitter Cold.” Holidays are over, New Year’s has passed, viral plagues have not, and single digit temperatures have arrived.

One of the first and most important lessons I learned in Chinese Medical school is that you must regularly eat home cooked meals, lest suffer the consequences. If it were up to me I'd never cook again. But I've learned to enjoy and appreciate it.

Sweet Potato Congee for Winter » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC Happy New Year, all! As we continue through one of the worst cold and flu seasons in recent memory, 2020 notwithstanding, I'll begin with a recipe. Sweet

In Chinese Medicine, our cravings, the times they come on strongest within each day and within each month, are all diagnostically significant. It's sweet and adorable when fools advise: Listen to your body. Whatsoever it is craving is probably what it needs in this moment. This platitude is kind and emotionally supportive, but rarely scientifically accurate or physiological supportive. More here:

What are We Actually Craving, in Our Cravings? » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC   Why do many women crave chocolate or dairy more while on their me**es? Why do men generally crave beer more than women? Why do some people crave

Whenever possible, in a society that never stops or modifies for the climate or calendar, Eastern Medicines recommend the obvious for winter: More rest, more animal protein, less uncooked foods, and less vigorous exercise. Read more here, thanks!

3 Tips for Winter Self-Care » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC   With the shorter days and longer, colder nights of winter upon us, it is in our best interest to follow nature to best support well-being. Of

Disclaimer: Do not eat cinnamon donuts if you have a cold! This title is my amateur version of click bait, nevertheless applicable in partial jest if you click and read on. Almost no one knows how uniquely adept Chinese Medicine is at treating colds, flus, covid's, etc. so here's some sweet info on the subject. Thanks!

Cinnamon (Donuts?!) for Common Cold » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC Last week my daughter was sick—it feels almost bi-weekly since starting pre-school, which I understand is relatively par for the course. Sometimes my wife

https://www.davidfosteracupuncture.com/gimmick-diets-strengths-weaknesses/

Gimmick Diets, Strengths & Weaknesses » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC     It’s not that gimmick diets don’t work. There couldn’t not be science behind them, just as there is in anything intentional in food or

In response to some of the great responses and logical inquiries to my own self-healing, magical musculoskeletal overnight-fix last month. Plus a few diet tips for Fall while I've got you here... Enjoy!

Sprained Ankle Remedy: The Follow-Up » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC I want to begin this week’s newsletter by clarifying and/or elaborating on the previous. This is just part of the reason I appreciate and enjoy replies

This essay is now just one week old and my severely sprained ankle feels like ancient history! And not just because I have a 2-year old at home who induces a whole host of other, more chaotic issues.

Healing my Acute Ankle Sprain Overnight! » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC     Every once in a while I am reminded, by way of my own personal suffering, of the incredible power of our medicine when we “nail it,” usually

There is a typo in the title here - sub Sour for Sweet - although sweet has its place - just not the sweet we think of as in cookies or cake. Different flavors incite different healing mechanisms in targeted areas of our bodies, almost like, say... medications do.

It is important as Americans that we familiarize ourselves and find ways to make peace with, this wonderful trifecta flavors that was all too void in our generic diets growing up. Learn their primary representatives and how to make them yummy. You need them.

The Importance of Bland, Sweet, & Bitter Foods » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC   There are three flavors that are resoundingly unrepresented in the typical, daily, western diet, whose void is arguably part of the cause of our

Conventional medicine would say to the former, "unknown," to the latter, "non-existent." With all due respect to their strengths, this is false and worse, lazy.

Arthritis: What is the Cause & Cure? » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC I can’t tell you how many times patients have either inquired to me about a cure for arthritis or informed me that there is no cure, that the cause is

One of my favorite things about Chinese Medicine is the impressive logic and consistency in its paradigm of thought. We are not reliant on reductionist testing or "proof" to necessarily explain any one pathology, as we have instead a system that explains every one pathology. Within that system are rationale that tie symptoms together into presentations that easily reveal their own etiology, when we are smart enough to properly interpret.

Welcome to Mercury Retrograde 2023, the Fall Covid Edition. Don't say I didn't warn/educate ("warnducate?") you... dually! Be patient, everyone. Be mindful, be healthy, and kind.

Mercury Retrograde: The Covid Edition » David Foster Acupuncture | Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, NYC   But isn’t it just like Mercury Retrograde to bring with it a wave of coronavirus to add to its usual technology issues, transportation delays, and