Happy Memorial Day

Hope you all had a happy Memorial Day weekend. We'd like to send out our love and appreciation to all the people who have given their lives to defend our way of life, and to their families. We know a lot of our Birch Center family and friends have been touched by war and we extend our love and appreciation to you and your loved ones.

*****

Thank you all who joined us for our Wild Edibles Walk yesterday! In case you haven't seen it, we posted a recap of the walk and all the plants we saw on Food Under Foot. Please make sure you check it out! We'll schedule our next walks soon, so please stay tuned!

******

Stay tuned for posts later this week! You'll hear about

• powerful medicinal mushrooms growing wild all around us (even right here in Western PA!)
• Ways to greatly increase your vitamin D intake, like by drying shiitake mushrooms gills-up in the sun
• A serious caution about protein powders and drinks: Consumer Reports has found they contain high levels of heavy metals including arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury.

We'll get these and other stories to you soon!

Thanks again.

Peace,

Melissa and David Sokulski

Licensed Acupuncturists
The Birch Center for Health
(412) 381-0116

Please sign up for our monthly newsletter! We have raw recipes, information about Acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and overall wellness information. Sign up today and receive your free gift: 10 Ways to Improve Your Health Right Now. We'd love to stay in touch. Thank you!

Welcome to the Birch Center!

Slideshow of The Birch Center! Enjoy!

We hope you'll come visit soon.

We're available Monday through Thursday, 8 am - 9 pm, by appointment.

(412) 381-0116

Or email: BirchCenter@gmail.com

In Health,

Melissa and David Sokulski

Licensed Acupuncturists
The Birch Center for Health
(412) 381-0116

Please sign up for our monthly newsletter! We have raw recipes, information about Acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and overall wellness information. Sign up today and receive your free gift: 10 Ways to Improve Your Health Right Now. We'd love to stay in touch. Thank you!

What Can Acupuncture Treat?

Hello lovely readers!

I just set up a blog page of the list of conditions that acupuncture treats (which is also below). BUT, on the blog page, I have also begun to link the articles and blog posts I've written explaining what acupuncture can do for you in relation to the specific conditions. It's a work in progress...I'm adding more links daily, but I hope you will check it out!

What Can Acupuncture Treat?

At the Birch Center for Health, we treat the person, not the disease, so really there is no limit to what acupuncture can treat.

Acupuncture helps the body regain balance thus alleviating symptoms and disease processes.

However, the World Health Organization has issued a comprehensive list of diseases and conditions which are treatable by acupuncture. Some of the more common conditions are:

Infections

• colds and flus
• bronchitis
• hepatitis

Eyes-Ears-Nose-Throat

• deafness
• ringing in the ear (tinnitus)
• menier's disease
• earaches
• poor eyesight
• dizziness
• sinus infections
• sore throat
• hay fever

Internal

• hypoglycemia
• asthma
• high blood pressure
• ulcers
• colitis
• indigestion
• hemorrhoids
• diarrhea
• constipation
• diabetes

Dermatological

• eczema
• acne
• herpes

Musculo-Skeletal and Neurological

• arthritis
• neuralgia
• sciatica
• frozen shoulder
• tennis elbow
• back pain
• bursitis
• tendonitis
• stiff neck
• Bell’s palsy
• trigeminal neuralgia
• headache
• stroke
• cerebral palsy
• polio
• menier’s disease
• dizziness
• sprains

Genito-Urinary and Reproductive

• impotence
• infertility
• pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS)
• pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)
• vaginitis
• irregular period or cramps
• morning sickness
• Babies in breech presentation
• List of conditions for Women's Health

Mental-Emotional

• anxiety
• depression
• stress
• insomnia

This is only a partial list. And remember, if you want to see the article links in relation to the conditions, you'll have to visit the conditions page. If you have any questions about what acupuncture can do for you, please give us a call at: (412) 381-0116, or email us at: BirchCenter@gmail.com.

We hope to hear from you!

In Health,

Melissa and David Sokulski

Licensed Acupuncturists
The Birch Center for Health
(412) 381-0116

Please sign up for our monthly newsletter! We have raw recipes, information about Acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and overall wellness information. Sign up today and receive your free gift: 10 Ways to Improve Your Health Right Now. We'd love to stay in touch. Thank you!

Many Weeds Are Potent Chinese Herbs

Many wild plants - which we consider weeds - are actually very useful as food and medicine!

The weeds above were found right here in Pittsburgh, and they are all in the Chinese Materia Medica and considered very powerful herbs.

Why buy expensive supplements from overseas with questionable ingredients, when you can find your medicine (and food) at your doorstep?

In Health,

Melissa and David Sokulski

Licensed Acupuncturists
The Birch Center for Health
(412) 381-0116

Please sign up for our monthly newsletter! We have raw recipes, information about Acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and overall wellness information. Sign up today and receive your free gift: 10 Ways to Improve Your Health Right Now. We'd love to stay in touch. Thank you!

Mushrooms and Health

Western Cultures are just catching on to what Eastern traditions have known for thousands of years: that mushrooms are beneficial to health.

Mushrooms have been proven to increase immunity, boost heart health, and are now being used to fight cancer. Mushrooms such as Reishi, Maitaki and Shiitake are well known, but did you know that both Reishi and Maitaki grow wild right here in Western Pennsylvania? Maitaki is known as Hen of the Woods, grows in the fall at the base of oak trees and is a very popular edible mushroom.

Right now we are on the tail end of morel mushroom season. (The yellow morel is pictured above.) Like other mushrooms, morels are endowed with healing properties as well as being a choice mushroom to eat. We were fortunate this year after joining the Western PA Mushroom Club and attending Morel Madness, that we have been able to recognize and find mushrooms all around Western PA this spring.

Most wild mushrooms must be cooked or else they are toxic, and morels are no exception. We have been documenting our morel adventures and finds, as well as posting recipes on our sister site Food Under Foot, and also on our Food Under Foot facebook page.

Here are a sampling of morel posts on the Food Under Foot blog:

Morel Madness - a recount of the great weekend put on by the Western PA mushroom club in Mingo Creek County Park, showing us all how to recognize, find and use morel mushrooms.

Morel Frittata - a recipe (with pictures) of a delicious frittata I made using morel mushrooms (pictured below)


Morel Potato Kugel - another recipe with pictures using the delicious morel mushroom.



Enjoy!

Melissa and David Sokulski

Licensed Acupuncturists
The Birch Center for Health
(412) 381-0116

Please sign up for our monthly newsletter! We have raw recipes, information about Acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and overall wellness information. Sign up today and receive your free gift: 10 Ways to Improve Your Health Right Now. We'd love to stay in touch. Thank you!