Ladies, it’s time to talk about your personal rejuvenation, and that’s why EmpowHER’s 38th generation doctor of Chinese medicine, Dr. Maoshing Ni, is here. Hi, Dr. Mao!
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
Hi, Todd.
Todd:
Dr. Mao, in your latest book, which I have been lucky enough to share with my wife, you go into detail on how women can revitalize their own bodies. Now let’s start at the very beginning. How can women activate their body’s rejuvenating power? How does that happen?
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
Well, first of all, you have to understand “Second Spring” is not a new concept. It’s an ancient Chinese concept. We don’t have, in China, we don’t have words for a menopause; we don’t have words for really, old age. We have second spring because we recognize that life itself renews and that if you know what to do for your body, your body will regenerate at any age.
So second spring is really about this change, this ability to be empowered and take charge of your health and therefore your life, and when you are able to do so, then you can, you know, pursue your dreams and live your life to your full potential and in a way, reinvent your life anytime you want.
Todd:
Ok, well let’s start off with like the menopause period, and I know we are going to jump around and cover a lot of territory. Your book covers an enormous amount of territory, couple of hundred of like ancient wisdom secrets to helping women rejuvenate. Let’s start off with hot flashes.
Dr. Mao, what’s the hidden meaning behind hot flashes?
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
Well, you know, hot flashes is basically suppressed creative power within women. So, women have so much to give and of course, in the first half of their life, many women choose to give to their family. They are raising their children, and that’s absolutely, you know, nature’s way of intending this energy to be passed on.
But as the time goes on, a lot of women feel very frustrated. They feel stuck; they feel like they are not able to be creative because of the constraints in their life. And so hot flashes is essentially people, women sitting on this creative energy unable to really channel it, and so that’s what second spring is about – really time to bring it out to direct it at what it is you want.
Todd:
Yeah, I know in your book you spend a great deal of time helping women on finding out what the ideal weight is for each woman, so how does a woman know what her ideal weight is?
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
Well, you know, obviously as you get older, every decade after the age of 20, your metabolism will slow down by about ten percent. So it’s important to actually maintain health and vitality and metabolism so that you can maintain a healthy weight.
Now, there’s of course the BMI chart, which measures the body weight and body in terms of fat and relative to one’s height as well as age. However, that is only a general range. My experience over the last 25 years working in a clinical setting is that the ideal weight for each woman differs depending on her need and her own condition.
So for example, if you are very underweight, at age 50 you are going to have more symptoms, more problems like hot flashes and sweats, and more trouble with menopause because the fat store in your body is needed to produce hormones, all right. So in other words, so you need to see and adjust your expectations according to what age you are at.
Of course, you don’t want to be overweight at any age because, you know, yes, you have fat reserve for your hormones, but at the same time it puts stress on your heart, increase the likelihood of developing diabetes and other kinds of problems. So, ideal weight is, if you feel good or optimal, if you have energy, if you can climb three flights of stairs without getting out of breath, and so that’s really sort of the gauge by which we look at ideal weight.
Todd:
Weight and insomnia have so much in common and the proper rest that a woman gets each day. Do you have a good Chinese medicine cure for women who are struggling with insomnia?
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
Yes, I tell them to soak their feet in hot water before bedtime. I know that sounds funny.
Todd:
I know it does; it gives them time to settle down without any outside interference.
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
Yeah, of course, because what happen is there are all these thoughts and energies in their head. By soaking your feet, and you can add some Epsom salt, for example, in the bath, you can allow your whole body to relax and you can do a very simple meditation just as you are soaking. You allow all the tension and stress to leave your body and dump it into that water, just allow to release, and very magically within 10-15 minutes you unwind, you relax, you will be able to go to sleep.
Of course, there are many different herbs that I recommend ranging from jujube date seeds to the passionflower or valerian root, all of which can be bought at the health store.
Todd:
Dr. Mao, what is it about Epsom salt? It seems like it provides so many wonderful healing elements. Is it just salt in general or Epsom salt?
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
No, Epsom salt is actually magnesium sulfate. So it’s not, when it’s salt is because any kind of mineral is considered salt in the old days, but magnesium, as we all know, helps to pull out lactic acid in the muscles which causes cramping and fatigue of the muscles and allow the magnesium balances, it counter-balances the calcium. So it really helps to relax.
You can actually take magnesium to calm down too.
Todd:
How do you remember all this stuff?
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
Well, let’s see – 25 years of clinical practice. I enjoy what I do with working with patients every single day.
Todd:
Well, Dr. Mao’s book is out. It’s his latest. It’s “Second Spring”. It’s a wonderful opportunity for any woman out there to find and reconnect with the power that helps her revitalize. Dr. Mao, let’s talk now about perimenopause and menopause, and how does vitamin B12 decrease a woman’s brain fog, and we are all struggling with brain fog, what can they do?
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
Well, again, in “Second Spring” you will find that every single system of your body can be rejuvenated and revitalized. So brain is one of the systems that women will find, as they get older, they start to develop brain fog and lowered concentration and focus and memory. And vitamin B12 of all the B-vitamins, it’s a very critical vitamin for neurological function and actually important also for blood building.
So, if you are B12 deficient, you are most likely to be anemic, and not having the blood delivering nutrients and oxygen in your brain is a big factor in why women feel brain fog as well.
Todd:
In your book “Second Spring”, I notice that you talked about, is it L-carnitine? And how it assists memory. Can you talk about that?
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
Yeah, L-carnitine is amino acid, that is a precursor for some of the neurochemicals and that is why when someone is deficient in L-carnitine, they will find that their memory is just not as good.
Todd:
So where do you get that?
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
Well, you can get that at health store, or better yet, I always advise getting it from food. And as most amino acid goes, you know, the eggs and the animal protein, as well as some vegetable protein, will provide a good source of L-carnitine.
Todd:
Something that is interesting. My wife and I, we had this conversation just this morning. Why should women trade their morning cup of coffee, Dr. Mao, for green tea?
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
Well, if you are going to drink something, all right, then you might as well drink something that’s going to be good for you. And green tea has all the benefits such as it being filled with antioxidants, all right? The polyphenols are rich in green tea, which has been shown to help to reduce your risk for certain cancers and lower your cholesterol level, and at the same time, the theanine in green tea will also give you a boost in your brain functions.
So there’s many absolutely beneficial properties for green tea. Now coffee, on the other hand, has some antioxidants as well. So we have to give, you know, some credit to coffee, but the problem with coffee is that it’s much higher in caffeine, so it’s going to interfere with someone’s neurological system. If they have trouble sleeping at night, that’s going to interfere it, and it will increase blood pressure if drunk in excess amounts. And at the same time, it may also leech calcium from your bones because as its diuretic function it can take the calcium out of the system, and we are talking about people who are drinking more than two or three cups a day.
Todd:
You know, as I was reading your book, my wife Wendy and I spend a lot of time just having conversations, and she’ll say, “Oh, make sure you ask Dr. Mao this question…” which is like, stuff right out of your book is just so deep with information, “Second Spring”. Dr. Mao, how does the health of your kidneys and heart contribute to a healthy brain?
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
Excellent question. Well, first of all, if you look at the heart, the circulation, so that’s it’s main function is to pump all the oxygen nutrients into the brain and waste product out of the brain – very important, so that’s obvious. It’s not so obvious to people when we talk about kidney and its relationship to the brain.
In Chinese medicine, the kidney system actually is not just a kidney organ itself, but it encompasses the adrenal gland, encompasses actually the reproductive glands of ovaries and testicles. And so the hormone that’s produced by these glands are critical for brain function, and we know that. Estrogen and progesterone as well as testosterone, they all have impact on your brain function.
Todd:
So fascinating. So it helps the kidneys and heart contribute to hormonal and reproductive, even hair I would imagine, circulation, sure. Digestion is a big problem for a lot of women. In your book, you talk about apple cider vinegar and its help for digestion and even skin tone. I found that fascinating. Can you talk about that?
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
Oh yes, apple cider vinegar, one of these old, old remedy and certainly not exclusively to the Chinese medical tradition, but certainly when you drink it on the inside, it can help to stimulate gastric juice production. So, if you have indigestion and problems, you can actually dilute a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in 12-ounce glass of warm water and drink it on empty stomach. You can add a little maple syrup or honey if the taste is too strong, and that will help to also stimulate your liver to start to detoxify and clean out your system.
So that’s one benefit. The other benefit is that you can take diluted apple cider vinegar and just put it on a piece of cotton, and then you can just pretty much sort of swab your face and then leave it on for ten minutes and then wash it off. What that will do is the malic acid in vinegar will act like a natural alpha hydroxy acid, which is what they use to peel the skin, right, so do the skin peel.
But it’s gentle enough that you are not going to get that effect, that strong peel effect. So it’s very gentle. So if you do that every day for a week, you actually begin to see that your face will be, the tone will improve and you also find that the blotches and the texture will also improve.
Todd:
And women that deal with dark rings under their eyes, I heard you mention Asian pears. Are you kidding me?
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
No, this is actually one of the secrets of Asian women – Asian pear. The traditional remedy for getting rid of dark circles under your eyes. I have an excellent recipe for that, you just peel it, de-core it, take a tablespoon of honey, put in the middle, and steam it for 15 minutes. Not only does it make a delicious dessert, but you’ll be happy to see that in the morning, your dark circles will go away.
Todd:
Dr. Mao, a lot of people are now getting wise to the health benefits that come from flax seed. Can you talk about flax oil versus flax seed and what women should know?
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
Well there’s two different components to this flax seed, right? There’s the flax oil, which people will take for its rich omega-3 fatty acids, and those omega fatty acids are really good for the good cholesterol. It prevents plaque from building up and hardening of the arteries; it reduces inflammation. So, it’s just a wonderful supplement that everybody should have benefit from. So I recommend highly flax seed oil.
But the lignin that is contained in the hull of the flax seed often doesn’t make it into the flax oil. So you have to take the raw flax seed, grind it in a coffee grinder, all right, that will take about 30 seconds or so, and then sprinkle it over your cereal or your shake or whatever it is, and then the hull is where the vital sterile of these plant hormones are contained, and this will actually balance your DHT as well as your regular testosterone leading to good, healthy hair because we all know that if DHT, which is the sort of so-called bad testosterone that cause you to lose your hair, if that’s excessive, it can create hair loss, hair thinning.
So many women might find this to be good news, but furthermore, flax seeds because of this property where the plant hormone can balance the testosterone, and therefore, it increases your sexual energy and so it would actually improve your sex life.
Todd:
So the lignins found in flax seeds that you grind fresh are helpful in supporting or improving a woman’s libido?
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
Yes, that is true, and it’s hard to believe, but try it, Todd.
Todd:
Oh, you bet I will. You bet I will. Let’s talk about, now that we are on seeds, what should women know for their own rejuvenation when considering nuts and seeds?
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
Well, the nuts and seeds are your really best friends because they contain so many beneficial fatty acids, and that it’s really considered highly rejuvenating and longevity foods. And these nuts and seeds that I am talking about are like walnuts, sesame seeds in particular, but other nuts and seeds will also do too, like almonds and cashews and pine nuts and sunflower seeds.
And so, all nuts and seeds contain really beneficial properties to strengthen the kidney, adrenal system. In Chinese medicine, it helps to balance blood sugar, and so they make a great snack in the middle of the day in between meals so that you don’t find your energy waning.
Todd:
Dr. Mao, while you are here with us on EmpowHER, is it too late for women to start their rejuvenation, start their second spring?
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
Todd, my message is it’s never too late to live and start your second spring. And if you want it, you can have it, and you can start today, just by learning the knowledge and the wisdom that’s contained in “Second Spring”, I assure you that you will be able to start living your dream.
Todd:
Well, he is Dr. Maoshing Ni, and his latest book “Second Spring”, which is now available. Dr. Mao has collected hundreds of natural secrets for female rejuvenation. These are secrets that, quite frankly, you absolutely need to know, and you can start practicing them today by picking up Dr. Mao’s “Second Spring”.
Dr. Mao, thank you so much for joining us on EmpowHER.
Dr. Maoshing Ni:
Thank you.