Is acupuncture safe in pregnancy?
Acupuncture can be very helpful in treating pregnancy-related conditions but is it safe? There are a few acupuncture points which are contraindicated in pregnancy but
Acupuncture for anxiety and insomnia
I had a client suffering from anxiety and insomnia. The anxiety was overwhelming, hindering contacts with people and her thoughts were going in circles around
Borscht
Borscht is a necessary, traditional element of the Christmas Eve dinner in Poland. But it is so tasty and healthy that we can have it
Beetroot salad
I really don’t like wasting food. Here you have a receipe for a salad made from the beetroot used to make a kvas: Ingredients: Beetroot
Beetroot kvas
Beetroot has a power of nourishing blood, helps with the circulation and has a little warming quality. It supports heart and liver. I got the
Chronic pain, lower back pain
Researches show… In this paper [1] 46 patients from three NHS hospitals had been given a survey to find out if the acupuncture was helpful
Acupuncture for Migraines and Headaches
I came across an article about the acupunture working better on preventing the migraines than propranolol. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00415-019-09510-x?fbclid=IwAR2j_inlSXUvmy86cnnMgL4lsWHgIlF5pfOUQi4wjyZFtBFMiFIabY__7Fc I remembered that when I was pregnant I
Rhubarb and Ginger Jam
Chinese Medicine traditionally recommends eating according to the season. At the moment we are in the late summer season, harvest time. This is the time
Borscht
author
Agnieszka Kwiecień
Borscht is a necessary, traditional element of the Christmas Eve dinner in Poland. But it is so tasty and healthy that we can have it all year round.
This recipe is slightly different to the traditional borscht with dumplings.
Ingredients:
about 1l of beetroot kvas
2 beetroots
half a carrot
half a parsnip
a piece of a celeriac
an onion or a leek
1-3 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of caraway seeds
a few allspice
a stock cube
pepper
a tablespoon of flour
Method:
Beetroot and the rest of vegetables grate on a grater with large meshes, fry with an onion and the spices. Add to 2l of water and boil until soft, add the stock cube and garlic. Add pepper and flour mixed with a bit of water. After 3 minutes add the beetroot kvas – try when there is enough. Simmer for 10 minutes but not get it boil.
You can add sour cream. You can also add mashed potatoes or dumplings.
Enjoy!
Beetroot salad
author
Agnieszka Kwiecień
I really don’t like wasting food. Here you have a receipe for a salad made from the beetroot used to make a kvas:
Ingredients:
Beetroot from the kvas,
3-4 apples,
1 onion fried to golden,
Salt, pepper,
Mayonaise or olive oil.
Method:
Beetroot and apples grate on a grater with large meshes. Add fried onion, season, and voila!
The salad is very easy to make and very tasty. There is a lot of it, for a big family or 2 dinners at least. Or for 2 dinners for a big family 🙂 And neighbours…
Enjoy!
Beetroot kvas
author
Agnieszka Kwiecień
Beetroot has a power of nourishing blood, helps with the circulation and has a little warming quality. It supports heart and liver.
I got the receipe for the beetroot kvas from my sister in law. This kvas doesn’t get mouldy and it’s delicious. Kvas has also got the good bacteria which benefit our digestion.
Beetroot kvas
Ingredients:
1 big jar (5l), clean
1 pair of rubber/silicon gloves to not get dirty 🙂
2 kg of raw beetroot
Boiled, warm, salted water,
Garlic – as much as you like. I give the whole bulb, peel cloves, cut in halves,
Black peppercorns – a few
allspice – a few
1-2 bay leaves
Mustard seeds – a few
Horseradish root if you like
Method:
Peel the beetroots, cut in quarters, put in the jar. Pour the warm water, add the garlic, horseradish, pepper, allspice, mustard seeds, bay leaves and cover with a plate. The beetroots must be covered with water. Stir every day and try if it’s how you want it to be. After 5-7 days it should be ready. Then we pour it into the bottles and keep in the fridge. We can drink it at this stage. We can also make a beetroot soup – borscht. I will add a post with the receipe but first will be the post about how to use the beetroot from the kvas.
Enjoy!
Chronic pain, lower back pain
author
Agnieszka Kwiecień
Researches show…
In this paper [1] 46 patients from three NHS hospitals had been given a survey to find out if the acupuncture was helpful for their chronic back pain. After the treatments around half of the patients showed improvement in their physical and mental health.
There was a study done in Germany [2] were 454,920 patients with chronic conditions: headache, low back pain and osteoarthritis were treated with acupuncture. In 76% of cases the effectiveness was rated as marked or moderate.
Lower back pain is almost epidemic in our society. In my practice, I use acupuncture, cupping, gua sha and moxibustion to help people with chronic pain. Some patients also like the heating lamp warming the painful area. The choice of the technique depends on the cause of the pain.
NATUROPATHIC ADVICE
Maintain healthy weight,
Avoid exposure to cold,
Exercise regularly and gently.
(Swimming is great to strenghten the muscles being gentle to the joints at the same time, I can also recommend Qi Gong and Tai Chi)
[1] Wanki Lai, A., Zhao, K. (2011) A Survey on Management of Chronic Back Pain with Acupuncture in NHS Hospitals – The Patient Perception ATCM, vol. 18, no. 2
[2] Weidenhammer W, Streng A, Linde K, Hoppe A, Melchart D. (2007 )Acupuncture for chronic pain within the research program of 10 German Health Insurance Funds–basic results from an observational study. Complementary therapies in medicine.15(4):238-46
Acupuncture for Migraines and Headaches
author
Agnieszka Kwiecień
I came across an article about the acupunture working better on preventing the migraines than propranolol.
I remembered that when I was pregnant I had headaches twice a week. Because a pregnant woman usually stays away from drugs, to not harm the baby, I was looking for other solutions and I decided to had acupuncture treatment for that. After just 2 sessions my headaches dropped to once every fortnight. I also had a sore foot because of loosening of the ligaments in pregnancy (and because my weight was getting up…). After those 2 sessions the pain in the foot had gone completely.
Rhubarb and Ginger Jam
author
Agnieszka Kwiecień
Chinese Medicine traditionally recommends eating according to the season. At the moment we are in the late summer season, harvest time. This is the time when we should take particular care of our digestive system. The best is to have the food cooked, especially yellow and orange food, like pumpkin, carrot and apples. The “Spleen” is how our digestive system is called in Chinese Medicine (at least this is the translation), likes a bit of sweet taste but this kind which we can find in vegetables and fruit. Refined sugar and carbohydrates (white flour) are bad for it. I will come back to it in future posts and now I have for you a recipe for a rhubarb-ginger jam, because this is also a time to make the winter supplies. In winter the jam will warm us up perfectly. I got the recipe from a man who was hosting me one winter during the Christmas.
Ingredients
1 kg rhubarb cut into 2-3cm pieces
1 kg pectin sugar
zest + juice 1 lemon
50 g stem ginger, finely chopped
about 4 cm root ginger, grated
Preparing:
1. Wash rhubarb, shake off excess water.
2. Put in pan and add sugar, lemon, ginger (stem and root).
3. Cover and leave for about 2 hrs – stir occasionally.
4. Boil over medium heat about 30 min.
5. Test on cold saucer (in freezer), consistency.
6. 1/2 teaspoon on cold saucer, leave 30 secs.
7. Push with finger wrinkles when set.
- 07472 312 683
- cedar.acu@gmail.com
-
The Kingswood Estate
20 Old School House
Britannia Road
Bristol BS15 8DB
- Free carpark
- Access for the disabled
All right reserved © Agnieszka Kwiecień | Cedar Acupuncture Bristol
