“The Inner Classic of the Yellow Emperor” also states that winter is a time for lower metabolism and energy storage. It is best to go to bed early and rise with the Sun. As the kidneys represent the reservoir of willpower, we should let our minds enter a state of dormancy and refrain from focusing on the outside world. Avoiding the cold and keeping warm is recommended. As to which parts of the body especially need safeguarding from the cold, it is crucial to pay attention to the back and feet. According to TCM, one’s winter diet should focus on nourishing the yin and tonifying the yang to enhance the body’s resistance and immune system. Black-colored vegan foods are thought to be good for the kidneys and thus should grace our dining table in the cold season.

When you hear the word "compassion," what do you associate it with? In multiple studies over the past 25 years, researchers have determined that this characteristic is an inborn tendency of all humans. In the fifth book of the New Testament, it is recorded that Lord Jesus Christ said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35) If performing acts of compassion make us happy, how does happiness translate into better health? In other words, when we are focused more on others than on ourselves, our life is rich in compassion and our wellness is enhanced. When the people around us are joyful and at ease, we become more cheerful ourselves.

The forest is an ecosystem full of lives. Therefore, forest therapy is a method that uses lives to heal and guide other lives. A forest is like a mother who accepts us without saying a word. To put it another way, forests have a secret power, an invisible power. Dr. Lin has been working on adding a spiritual dimension to this therapy. May forest therapy continue to grow in popularity so that many more people can benefit from nature’s blessings and elevate their health.

Dr. Lin is currently an adjunct professor at National Yang-Ming University in Taipei, Formosa and supervisor of the Taiwan Forest Therapy Society. She has done extensive research on how the forest environment benefits human health. Dr. Lin often integrates psychological consultation with forest therapy through group activities, teaching people to appreciate the beauty of the woodlands and thus facilitating psychological healing. She is also the author of a book entitled, “The Healing Power of Forests,” in which she shares her ideas and research findings on how trees improve our well-being.

Growing research reveals that the food we eat can also significantly influence how we feel emotionally and socially. Even a small, positive dietary change may thus improve a child’s cognitive functions and prevent or reduce behavioral health issues. The UK’s Mental Health Foundation refers to diet as an“underestimated” determinant of mental wellness. A healthy diet is significantly related to better emotional health, such as higher self-worth and fewer temperament issues. The findings further revealed that good relationships with parents and peers are associated with eating fruits and vegetables every day.

Dr. Glatt shows great kindness to his patients, and especially feels for those who have drug addiction issues. He sincerely wants all those he sees to make the maximum possible improvements in their health and lead high-quality lives. My heart goes out to those people because they get trapped; they get trapped biochemically. My colleagues sometimes say to me, “How can you take care of those people?” meaning alcoholics and addicts. And I say they’re all wonderful people. Those that get into recovery, and I take care of, they love me, and I love them.

We are privileged to have Dr. William Glatt, an esteemed internal and addiction medicine specialist, share with us his expert knowledge on opioids, pain treatment, and the nature of drug addiction. Opioids are morphine-like chemicals primarily used as analgesics to relieve severe pain. However, employing opioids for pain management has its inherent risks. Pain management need not be drug-based as there are many options available. Nowadays, more people are using meditation for pain issues. Inner contemplation is also another way to prevent, control, or resolve certain long-term conditions.

The key to any healthy diet is going to be incorporating a lot of fresh whole foods. So, fruits and vegetables being the cornerstone of your diet. I mean, ideally, if you're looking at grains, those grains should be whole, unprocessed grains - things like oatmeal, like quinoa, like brown rice. And then your proteins, ideally, being non-animal proteins that are unprocessed. And then, there are a lots of online resources and cookbooks in this day and age for good plant-based recipes. Changing your diet gradually.

I have seen some wonderful things happen to my patients who’ve adopted plant-based diets. Of patients who have had heart issues, of those who have gone plant-based in the course of my 11-year career, I have not seen a single one of them have another heart attack, or stroke, or need bypass surgery, or need any further stents. But around that same time I also learned about the work of Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, who demonstrated in their research that a plant-based diet can actually reverse even the most severe of heart disease.

Dr. Heather Shenkman, A vegan American interventional cardiologist, who specializes in the catheter- based treatment of structural heart diseases. While Dr. Shenkman helps her patients by clearing blocked arteries via angioplasty surgery and stenting, she also encourages them to adopt healthy lifestyles. She has even written a book for the public on the topic called, “The Vegan Heart Doctor’s Guide to Reversing Heart Disease, Losing Weight, and Reclaiming Your Life.” So, one interesting fact is that places in the world where people eat more vegetables, they have less heart disease and less cancer.

I think that plant-based eating helps what we call the endothelium - the lining of the artery helping blood flow smoothly through the arteries. I make it a point at each patient visit, unless there’s somebody who is critically ill, I make it a point to incorporate something about lifestyle, and also to find out what their eating style is. And I think if you really talk to people, and you give them the information, you’d be surprised. People who have knowledge and know that doing something is going to be good for their health and help them to feel better and live longer.

I don’t trust the fact that they want to genetically engineer livestock so that it genetically engineers out the mothering instinct, so you can separate a mother from its child, and it won’t feel any sadness. So instead of organizing our agriculture industry around nature, they’re trying to organize nature around the agricultural industry, and they want to genetically engineer livestock and insects, and fish and trees, and algae, and bacteria, and fungus. They want to replace nature. So we urge people to go organic, organic is number one, non-GMO is number two.

There are many countries that don't allow the planting of GMOs, but very few that say you shouldn’t eat GMOs. Taiwan (Formosa) passed a law saying you can’t serve GMOs in school meals. If GMO foods have been grown in our soil, can that soil eventually be cleaned so that it becomes completely GMO-free? You have the GMO problem, you have the Bt toxin problem, and you have the Roundup or herbicide problem. So have GMOs entered the oceans? Are they affecting sea creatures? And so yes, they’ve certainly entered the ocean. So you have the chemical pollution and you have the GMO pollution.

There are several principles for a healthy vegan diet. The first one is to eat whole foods. Some foods are advertised as vegan but they may be heavily processed. For example, sugary drinks and some vegan snacks may be vegan, but they are not healthy. So, on a regular basis, we encourage everyone to eat more whole grains, fresh vegetables, and fruit, nuts, seeds, and the like. In general, we should eat real food instead of those processed products. The second principle is to pay attention to several nutrients that vegans need. It is necessary to be exposed to the Sun for 10 to 15 minutes a day.

And so we decided to survey our list at the Institute for Responsible Technology. And 3,256 people reported getting better from 28 different conditions when they switched to non GMO and largely organic diets. That the number one condition was digestive problems, and number two was fatigue, number three was overweight or obesity, and number four was clouding of consciousness. Number five was mood problems, such as anxiety or depression, and then there’s food allergies and sensitivity, and every one of those is 50% or above.

Dr. Chiu explains. The hospital’s meal system has several major therapeutic dietary plans - for example, meals for diabetes, meals for kidney disease, and high and low-protein meals. The hospital has several established meals, which means doctors can choose the meal that is best for each patient. Plant proteins are actually very good. Aside from their protein content, plants also provide a lot of antioxidants and anti-cancer phytochemicals that meat does not have.

These experts will discuss the relationship between diet and health and ways to elevate the wellness of the community through education and preventive medicine. The Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation, was started by the Venerable Dharma Master Cheng Yen in 1966. Opinion on Dalin Tzu Chi General Hospital's 10-year study that found that by giving up a meat diet and changing to vegetarianism, people can avoid chronic diseases. But you really need to improve the level of health in a country, an individual, or a whole district. Speaking out about how to make an impact on policy, on education, conveying the right concept on health.

In addition to considering the results gathered from the four diagnostic methods of TCM, that of visual inspection, listening and smelling, verbal inquiry and physical palpation, when assessing a patient’s condition, a traditional Chinese medical doctor will use the Eight Principles of TCM to further investigate and discover the cause of a disease. The “Eight Principles” refer to “yin and yang,” “exterior and interior,” “cold and heat,” and “deficiency and excess.” However, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners believe that the vegetarian diet is good for health, because in the “Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic,” a lot of emphasis is placed on meat-eating being a potential cause of various kinds of diseases.

The third diagnostic tool, the “inquiring diagnosis.”It helps us to confirm his physical situation. The fourth diagnostic method. Just by placing three fingers on the artery located on the wrist of the patient, a Chinese medicine doctor can detect signs of illness and certain changes inside the body. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, pulse-talking of the left hand would gain information about the person’s heart, liver, and kidney, whereas that of the right hand, the lung, spleen, and stomach. Traditional Chinese Medicine, whereas TCM examines the invisible aspect of the person. Traditional Chinese Medicine uses pulse-taking to observe the formless qi.

We are honored to feature the insightful perspectives of Dr. Lee Yu-Ming, a vegan TCM physician in Hong Kong, that will provide us with an introduction to the age-old Chinese healing art that he practices. Traditional Chinese Medicine’s origin dates back thousands of years, and this science emphasizes health maintenance and prevention of illness. This healing system relies on four diagnostic methods and is based on eight key principles. The diagnostic procedures are used to observe the signs and symptoms of an illness, while the principles are employed to summarize and analyze the observations to help the doctor find out the cause of the disease.