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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 2017)
5 MINUTES A DAY KEEPS THE DOCTOR AWAY Traditional Chinese medicine practitioner offers tips for healthy living By Rylan Boggs Blue Mountain Eagle F ive minutes is all Kyle Cline asks. Extensively trained in traditional Chinese medicine, Cline said habit- ually taking five minutes a day to do something you love that is healthy can lead to better overall health. The most important thing to do is to make time to take care of yourself, he said. “Being too busy is actually probably the biggest issue,” he said. Cline helps people manage their health on a day-to-day basis, which can help pa- tients avoid invasive and extreme proce- dures. He has a range of tools including body massage, exercise, stretching rou- tines and combinations of herbs he uses to treat patients. He works with about 50 patients each week by phone, by email or in person. “We’re in a really wonderful time in healthcare because there’s so many differ- ent things that we can bring to a case,” he said. His traditional medicine can often complement Western-style medicine. “We’ve been brought up to think they are antagonistic to each other, and they are not,” Cline said. “To me, it’s exciting be- cause we are able to blend things in a way that we’ve never been able to.” When seeing a patient, Cline listens to their health history, what kind of treatment they are receiving and what they need. 20 || Family Health Guide 2017 The Eagle/Rylan Boggs Kyle Cline stands in his pharmacy at his John Day home on Wednesday, Dec. 14. A practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, Cline says being mindful of day- to-day activities to keep the body healthy can prevent the need for serious medical intervention. Many times solutions are fairly simple, and people just need to be encouraged to do what they already know to do. Former John Day Fossil Beds National Monument Park Ranger Dave Sandersfeld was diagnosed with cancer in Novem- ber 2015. Sandersfeld worked with Cline while undergoing chemotherapy and, according to his doctor, has a chance at beating the cancer. Sandersfeld described Cline’s treatments as “innovative” and said he would recommend it. Cline encourages people to take care of themselves and maintain their health to avoid problems by increasing healthy parts of their life, such as a good diet and regular exercise, and removing unhealthy habits, such as overeating and neglecting physical activity. Each person is unique, Cline said, and no single diet or workout routine will work for everyone. Instead, each individu- al must find a lifestyle that works for them, he said. Most people know what they eat af- fects their health, but Cline asserts how you eat is just as important as what you eat. He warns against multitasking while eating and urges people to slow down, to be mindful of what they are doing and to not be distracted. “If you and I are in a really intense ar- gument and we’re eating at the same time, the body doesn’t process the food as well,” he said. He said to be mindful of the five W’s when eating: who you’re eating with, when you’re eating, why you’re eating, where you’re eating and, of course, what you’re eating. Many people eat based on convenience, Cline said, and more often than not, con- venient food isn’t healthy. He compared eating junk food to putting water in your gas tank. It just won’t get the job done, he said. Ultimately, Cline said, being mindful of day-to-day activities to keep the body healthy can prevent the need for serious medical intervention.
