Nutritional Deficiencies and Practicing Tai Chi

by Toni DeMoulin from previous 'Toni's Note'

 Tai Chi will keep your energy system balanced and give you lots of energy. One of the main symptoms of amino acid deficiency is loss of energy. Tai Chi will give you energy even tho there is a deficiency that would normally cause loss of energy. Tai Chi can actually mask symptoms of nutritional deficiency because you can be nutritionally deficient and still have energy and a feeling of well being. I know this personally. I worked for a while at the Health and Longevity Center in Santa Barbara (father of my kids is the doc there) and noticed patients that came into the office who tested low in amino acids were very, very tired. Really low tested patients could barely walk into the waiting room. Fortunately there is a treatment for this if the deficiency is diagnosed. You can get IV Infusions of Amino Acids. I'm sure the acupuncturists have some herbs to help replace these amino acids also. But anyway, I thought it would be fun to know what my amino acid levels were and I took the test. As some of you know, I had stomach surgery many years ago and still have abnormal nutrient absorption. Well, my tests came back low, seriously low, lower than anyone that came into the clinic low. All but two amino acids of the 30 something that were tested were very low. I teach and practice Tai Chi and I had plenty of energy and very definitely had a since of well being. I took the treatment anyway, my skin and hair quality improved but I don't notice any change in my energy. It was still fine. So I was clinically deficient and couldn't tell because of my Tai Chi. We must be mindful of nutritional deficiencies, we should try to eat organic, at least try to eat pesticide free food, and I think we need to supplement as well as practice Tai Chi.

   Toni DeMoulin