When it comes to cooking for a Chinese New Year celebration there are a few things you might want to keep in mind. The foods that are prepared each have their very own meaning and a definite reason for being prepared.

Dumplings are believed to bring wealth in the New Year to those who eat them on this special day. Of course wealth is something that many people wish to accumulate so there are many paths to doing so. Other foods that are symbolic of wealth on the Chinese New Year are bamboo shoots, black moss seaweed, egg rolls, and oranges. Wow, this is just the beginning of the symbolic nature of food for the Chinese New Year so be sure to bring your appetite if you choose to celebrate.

Longevity or long life is something else that the Chinese are quite famous for. Eternal youth is what some may call it though these days it is far less eternal than may have been the case in centuries past. The secret however, to that long life was in consuming the proper foods as part of the New Year festivities. Those foods include: noodles, Chinese garlic chives, and peanuts (circus elephants everywhere rejoice at this news).

Prosperity is attributed to foods such as lettuce, whole fish, and pomelo. IN addition to prosperity whole fish and pomelo are believed to bring abundance and togetherness (as in marriage or romance) during the coming year.

Chicken is the main course when happiness is the goal. In addition chicken is associated with marriage, particularly when served with foods such as lobster that are considered to be dragon foods).

For those planning for children in the near future you might want to add eggs, seeds (such as watermelon seeds), and pomelo—the last two especially if you want several children.

Finally, if luck is what you are most in need of try to add a tangerine or some seaweed to your plate on this special day. If your run of luck has been really bad you may want to double up on your servings of both.

The Internet is filled with wonderful recipes for to help you celebrate the Chinese New Year in as traditional a setting as possible. Foods such as Jiaozi (Chinese noodles) and egg rolls are commonly found online and will go a long way towards creating the proper atmosphere for all good things to come your way in the coming year. Add a few lettuce wraps and longevity noodles and you have a good grasp on the good things that most of us hope will come our way in the coming year.

If you can’t manage to eat all of the foods that are believed to be symbolic of good things to come in the coming year be sure to pick those you feel are most important and focus on eating those. This is, after all, quite a bit of food to take in during the course of one day unless you are barely getting a bite in of any of them and that would most likely defeat the purpose. Take time and make sure that you manage to enjoy cooking and preparing the dishes that make a Chinese New Year so special as well as you enjoy eating them.

The 12 animals are further flavored by the pervading element of that particular year (elements also revolve as a separate cycle). It is said that Buddha is responsible for the 12 animals as they were the only ones who came to bid him farewell into the next life.

Chinese Astrology is concerned with nature and its traits, the signs progress year by year, whereas Western Astrology cycles monthly. The consideration of Yin and Yang is a very great influence upon this subject, Yin being passive, female and receptive while Yang is aggressive, male and exploratory. The various permutations of these 2 essential forces in nature, places, organizations, events and humanity and the quest to achieve balance so that both operate together in harmony rather than opposing or canceling each other out are an essentially Oriental viewpoint and quest, they form the basis of many Far Eastern traditions and other influences in Chinese Society such as Feng Shui.

The 12 Animal Signs are : Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit (or Cat), Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat (or Sheep), Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. The animal ruling year in which you were born has a profound influence on your life.

As the Chinese say, This is the animal that hides in your heart.
There are 5 elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water, each adding a nuance of almost tactile character to the animal sign.Chinese0Astrology is based on the Chinese0calendar year of your birth or the year of an event. There are also many more nuances involving the month and day.

All the twelve animals gathered at the river bank and jumped in. Unknown to the ox, the rat had jumped upon his back. As the ox was about to jump ashore, the rat jumped off the ox’s back, and won the race. The pig, who was very lazy, ended up last. That is why the rat is the first year of the animal cycle, the ox second, and the pig last.

The Chinese animal signs are a 12-year cycle used for dating the years. They represent a cyclical concept of time, rather than the Western linear concept of time. In the Chinese calendar, the beginning of the year falls somewhere between late January and early February. The Chinese have adopted the Western calendar since 1911, but the lunar calendar is still used for festive occasions such as the Chinese New Year. Many Chinese calendars will print both the solar dates and the Chinese lunar dates.

A cultural sidelight of the animal signs in Chinese folklore is that horoscopes have developed around the animal signs, much like monthly horoscopes in the West have been developed for the different moon signs, Pisces, Aries, etc. For example, a Chinese horoscope may predict that a person born in the Year of the Horse would be, cheerful, popular, and loves to compliment others. These horoscopes are amusing, but not regarded seriously by the Chinese people.

That’s the question that chief medical officer of Intemedica, John Diamond, is answering.  Dr. Diamond, a physician trained as a pathologist, got into alternative healing almost twenty years ago as a result of his own health crises.  “As far as I’m concerned, complementary and alternative medicine takes care of 80% of health issues in the general population.”

Diamond believes the medical field is about to undergo an amazing transformation in the way it operates and delivers healing to patients.  He believes primary care physicians will become obsolete by the year 2015 and in their place will spring alternative healing concepts such as chiropractors, Chinese medicine practitioners, acupuncturists and naturopaths.  This is in reaction to the insurance crises going on in our country today.  “The way medicine is going right now we’re moving away from the disease model.  We’re moving to what we call the stress and coping model.”  Diamond believes that alternative and natural healing methods will best complement these changing models.

Dr. Diamond, working with other individuals, has come up with a new and fascinating way to utilize this stress and coping model with what he calls GSR biofeedback, a process similar to electro acupuncture.  By simply placing a hand in an electrical cradle, the machine interrogates the patient’s body and provides a wealth of information about where the stresses are occurring in the body.  Connected to a computer program, information is also compiled regarding which specific formulas of Chinese herbs would best be suited to help the patient with whatever their specific needs are – and all in about three and a half minutes.

How can chiropractors utilize this technology in their offices and how can it help them not only increase value for their patients but also increase their bottom line?  According to Diamond it’s simple.  “We have a whole system that is very easily put into anybody’s office with minimal outlay,” says Diamond.

Once doctors have this equipment and stock in their offices, it takes only about thirty minutes to learn how to use it.  All it takes is the ability to point and click the mouse.  All updates to the software are done via the internet, as well as anything that’s added to the program.

But can this program really add value to the chiropractic practice?  Do alternative healing methods really work?  According to Diamond the answer to both questions is a resounding yes.  Any staff member, such as a chiropractic assistant, can operate the equipment, which leaves the chiropractor free to do adjustments.  Also, Diamond has had independent data taken on the effectiveness of his healing methods and found that out of 100,000 patient visits over the last eighteen years, the average efficacy of his formulas was 86% – some formulas were as high as 97%.  He’s also found that with the minimum outlay of investment, the average practice can see anywhere between $5-8000 a month in extra income while providing added value for their patients.

Concerning any negative side effects, Diamond also has found there are fairly few.  With sensitive patients the Chinese herbs can cause gastric irritation and in some patients there may be a problem with over detoxification, but these negatives are easily resolved.  Says Diamond, “Traditional Chinese medicine is easily adapted to our physiology because it’s plant based.  Anything plant based we’re very used to responding to.  It’s not really an issue.”

For more information about this program, contact Intemedica at http://www.intemedica.com.   Says Diamond, “Right now 50 million of the U.S. population is without any kind of health care.  You have to keep yourself healthy to survive in this stressful and toxic world.”

A lunar month is determined by the period required for the moon to complete its full cycle of 29 and a half days, a standard that makes the lunar year a full 11 days shorter than its solar counterpart. This difference is made up every 19 years by the addition of seven lunar months. The 12 lunar months are further divided into 24 solar divisions distinguished by the four seasons and times of heat and cold, all bearing close relationship to the yearly cycle of agricultural work.

The Chinese calendar – like the Hebrew – is a combined solar/lunar calendar in that it strives to have its years coincide with the tropical year and its months coincide with the synodic months. It is not surprising that a few similarities exist between the Chinese and the Hebrew calendar: An ordinary year has 12 months, a leap year has 13 months. An ordinary year has 353, 354, or 355 days, a leap year has 383, 384, or 385 days.

When determining what a Chinese year looks like, one must make a number of astronomical calculations:

First, determine the dates for the new moons. Here, a new moon is the completely black moon (that is, when the moon is in conjunction with the sun), not the first visible crescent used in the Islamic and Hebrew calendars. The date of a new moon is the first day of a new month.