Exercise

Equipped and Called

Liz James · June 18, 2018 ·

Have you ever felt like you were at a crossroads in your life? I’m not talking about a midlife crisis, but rather something bigger and more profound.

About 3 years ago, we took a pretty long road trip to pick up a bull in a remote (VERY REMOTE) area in West Texas. I mean…… drive to the very edge of civilization and then head 3 hours further…..the kind of remote that requires a physical map instead of cell phone/ GPS service. Without a map or good navigational tools, you’re sunk kind of remote. As you might guess, we confidently drove down the road….. in the wrong direction because we thought we knew where we were going. It cost us about 3 extra hours that day. We were reminded the value of an old school map and a dose of intuition!

This kind of parallels the last 15+ years of my life. I have been a pharmacist since 1991. I graduated, and like most health professionals…. upon graduation…… was pretty sure I had a really good grasp of the profession. I’m not saying I was God’s gift to pharmacy (hardly!), but I certainly thought I knew enough to make a difference in people’s lives. I toodled along in pharmacy doing the absolute best job I could do (because that’s my nature….. never tackle anything halfway).

When I was in my 30’s I thought we were living the dream. Charlie and I both had good jobs, had bought our farm, and had begun building our home (by hand, ourselves…. because that’s how we do things…. with all our heart and soul). We worked super hard…. 40-60 hrs a week at our respective jobs and then swung hammers and wielded paint brushes on nights and weekends for about 3 years before completing our home. It was somewhere during that time that I broke my wrist, was subsequently diagnosed with osteopenia , and both Charlie and I were diagnosed with high cholesterol. In hindsight, that broken wrist was probably the best thing that could have ever happened to me. I won’t go into great detail (you can read more about that journey here and the second half here), but it was a big fat hairy road sign to stop and assess what I thought I knew.

That broken wrist reopened a different avenue of education for me…. only this time, it was not subsidized by the pharmaceutical industry and there was some skin in the game…. my own. When you are a pharmacist, you’re in the business of knowing side effects of meds. The good news is…. you know the potential side effects. The bad news is…. you know the potential side effects. I wasn’t willing to go down that road given the med options they were dangling in front of me. My gut said no way, and once my research started it changed my life forever. It all began with raw milk. From there, my research extended into finding access to truly healthy and healing foods. Each time I thought I knew enough, I found that more pieces to health puzzles were MIA…. not just my puzzle, but everyone else’s too.

About the same time, I went to work at a pharmacy that specialized in rare diseases, oncology, auto-immune disorders, and infertility (which frequently has an auto-immune component). Sadly, this pharmacy represented the outcome of people living in toxin filled environments. Silly me. I still thought I was helping people. I guess I was. Kindness matters, especially when you are dealing with life altering body dysfunctions….. but kindness and pharmaceuticals don’t dissolve the problems these patients face every day.

Another personal puzzle piece fell into place after I was diagnosed with something called interstitial cystitis and discovered (after 9 years of no REM sleep and frequent trips to the bathroom), that it could be managed well with a fresh and healthy, but limited, diet. Expensive medication and daily catheterization are the common treatments. Ummm, no thank you. I would later learn that IC is part of the autoimmune disorder family. Not surprisingly, approximately 1 in 5 adults in the USA are card carrying autoimmune disorder patients. I had been given my card.

Eight years ago, my dad was diagnosed with dementia. It made no sense to me and we had no family history of dementia. I backtracked the onset to a statin drug (commonly prescribed for high cholesterol). In the finest of the fine print of this class of drugs you will find information alluding to possible memory loss with these drugs. Dig deeply and you’ll find it. I thank God for leading me to raw milk to lower my cholesterol instead of that which stole my dad’s memory. I don’t blame the pharmaceutical industry for burying the whole ‘memory loss’ side effect in the fine print. I mean, would you want to take a drug that could potentially rob you of your memory as a side effect? Ummmm, no thank you.

By now, I’ve truly begun second guessing pharmaceuticals. I began educating myself on everything I could get my hands on that gave honest and documented proof that maybe what I knew wasn’t EVERYTHING…… that perhaps there were some gaps in my education and knowledge base. I dug deep deep deep into gut health and discovered the link to most autoimmune disorders. I studied sleep patterns, herbs, thyroid and hormones. I picked up yoga and began healing my posture and my stress level. That led to my recent certification (7 years later) as a Christian yoga instructor.

I had a life changing accident 3 years ago this week, and (eventually… after a 3 month recovery) walked out of it when I should have been an amputee. Last week I walked a 37 minute 5K with many close friends. Thank God. Despite the severity of my injury, I have no pain day to day and am not on any medication. I’ve got oils, supplements and a little thing called Dolphin MPS that rocked my recovery world so much so that I decided to begin taking classes so that I could help others as I was helped…. another tool in my toolbox that wasn’t related to pharmacy.

The last 18 years, by serendipity or Divine design (I believe the latter), I have been gathering tools to help people (myself included) heal physically and emotionally. What had started out as a mission to care for myself and my family gradually extended to include friends and strangers who have become dear friends. The more truth in healing I gleaned, the more uncomfortable I became in my white lab coat. Back in the day, we took an oath to do no harm (that oath has been changed and no longer includes that phrase).

Once you know something, you can’t unknow it.

I have grown uncomfortable in my pharmacist skin (and coat)….. able to speak only truths that are approved talking points regulated by the pharmaceutical industry.

Once I found that there are better, safer, more life sustainable ways to heal, it became harder and harder to deny people access to these opportunities in wellness……. because they exist for the taking.

Every day, people make unconscious choices that affect their health….. making poor food choices, drinking chemically treated water, watching too much media and not exercising enough…. taking meds without researching them thoroughly first. They think a pill will solve their ills. I’m here to tell you that medications are simply adding to the already hefty toxin load within all of us. The heavier the load, the sicker the individual.

I’ve had several people in the last many months call me a healer. I don’t claim that moniker. I feel more like a shepherd, leading those who are thirsty to a safe place to drink, eat, and rest. It gives me great peace, and it makes my heart sing a song it’s never sung before.

I have straddled both worlds now for many years, and being true to myself is becoming increasingly difficult despite the six figure income that comes with the white coat. I fill prescriptions for people I have grown to love in the community, knowing that they can be helped in other ways that actually heal. I respect my duty as a pharmacist and do not step outside that boundary……but I feel God’s hand firmly on my back telling me to Go. Do. Become. Shepherd those I send your way.

Really God?

Yes. Really.

And so I prayed. “Lord, if it is your will, send me those who need me.” I began praying this daily about 5 months ago. God has a sense of humor. I’m sure of it. About a month ago, I had to alter my prayer a tiny bit. ” Lord, if it is your will, can I have a little breather so I can adequately help those you sent so far? ” God is so very good.

I would have never in a million years guessed that I would step away from pharmacy more than halfway thru my career. Pharmacy has taught me so much. Perhaps most importantly, it has given me the gift of scientific discernment: the ability to understand fact from fiction or skewed data.

When I was a young pup out of pharmacy school, I thought my life was set on auto pilot. I couldn’t have been more wrong. God took me down a completely different path, guiding me and giving me tools along the way: pharmacy, nutrition, exercise, yoga, health coaching, scientific based knowledge of essential oils, supplements, and herbs, Dolphin MPS, and most importantly the empathy acquired from personal experiences.

God doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called.

Here’s to the journey! I can’t wait to see what the second half of my life holds.

Hugs and love, Liz

PS: I am not completely stepping away from the pharmacy just yet. You will still see me in a white coat one or two days a week.

“The Best Offense Is a Great Defense—Flu Edition”

Liz James · January 30, 2018 ·

It’s Tuesday January 30th. Tomorrow is Elsa’s one month birthday, and I feel the concern about her living (or not) washing off of me. She is a normal calf in all ways barring her cleft palate. Scratch that… well, maybe not exactly normal. She plays with the dogs, loves human attention, and follows me around like a toddler when I’m outside. Her feeding schedule is now on official every 8 hours (whew!). In my book, that makes her better than normal, right?

As in all other aspects of my life, when the major stress is over, that’s usually when my body lets down its guard and my immune system fails me. No better time for that than smack dab in the middle of flu season. I have been praying that my body does not succumb. It’s particularly nasty this year if you haven’t heard. In our area of Texas alone, entire school districts have been shut down for days at a time, and the lingering effects include a hacking barky cough that lasts for weeks on end. I’ve got no time for that nonsense.

Last Friday evening, Charlie wanted to go see the movie 12 Strong (a fantastic patriot inspired true story) after work and chores. As we were headed home, he said “I think I need an Inner Defense“. UGH!!!! We had just shared a bottle of water throughout the movie. By Saturday morning, it was clear that my sweet husband had fallen to the flu, and I knew I was (and still am) in the direct line of fire.

This is the moment that I take no prisoners when it comes time to caring for myself, and I immediately went in to full throttle defense mode. We don’t do Tamiflu or any other pharmaceutical ‘remedies’ around here unless an emergency warrants it (although I would personally never touch Tamiflu), and my farm guy is already on the mend. I imagine that he will be 100% again before the week is out.

I am still standing strong, but my body has given me clues that if I let my guard down, the situation will likely escalate. I know many of you are worried about this season of illness, but I’m here to tell you that the best offense is a great defense…… Here is what I am doing (in addition to prayer):

Avoid sugar (it only hampers the immune system).
Get plenty of sleep. I am not a napper, but I’m taking this seriously, and napping when I can. I am also allowing my body plenty of sleep between 8hr feedings with Elsa.
Diffusing immune supportive oils (only the purest will do, especially in situations such as these). At the moment, we are diffusing Thieves, Lemon, Mountain Savory, and Frankincense on a rotating basis. I’m not gonna lie…. that Mountain Savory is not my favorite scent, but it has a very specific function.
Thieves on the bottom of our feet… twice a day for me right now!
Life 9. If you are not on a probiotic daily and/or do not eat probiotic rich foods regularly, you are doing your health a disservice. Beneficial bacteria are absolutely essential for optimum immune system function. Be warned…. not all probiotics are created equally, and many on the market are not worth the $$. While the normal daily dosage is one capsule daily, I’ve been taking these little friends of mine at least 3-4 times a day, and will continue to do so for at least another week before resuming my normal schedule
Inner Defense. This is my immediate ‘go to’ when things look like they may go south in the health department. It is also great for those of us who are working hard to avoid immune system distress. I’m taking it twice a day right now. A word to the wise….. don’t wait until you need it to have it in your arsenal. Every home should have at least two bottles on hand. I normally keep about 5 bottles on hand, but I’ve already loaned out 3 bottles in the last 3 weeks….. If you wait til you need it to order it…. you’ve missed your window of opportunity.
Elderberry Syrup. HUGE fan of this stuff. This particular brand is Gaia, but you can actually make your own if you can find the elderberries to do so. Just pick a reputable company if you are buying it….. lots of greenwashing going on in this industry. Like our oils, Elderberry syrup is not cheap if you are getting the good stuff. Otherwise, you may not receive the health benefits you are looking for and will assume it doesn’t work. (It does).
Colloidal Silver. Yes, I know…. you can turn blue from taking too much of it. But you can also die from drinking too much water….. so be prudent, use common sense, and follow the guidelines. We’ve been using it for years (we actually make our own now), and I’ve got nothing but good things to say about it. Do your research!
(Not Pictured) Immupro. I had added this to my NIGHTLY regimen once flu season hit our neck of the woods…. like since November. Immupro is taken at night and does a tremendous job of supporting the immune system. It is a chewable tablet and is generally taken right before bedtime.
My ‘All Purpose Nasal Spray’. This recipe includes micro amounts of immune supportive essential oils (literally 12 drops total in the whole bottle). The recipe is as follows: 3 drops of each….. Frankincense, Copaiba, Lavender (all vitality), and Tea Tree. A pinch of true sea salt or himalayan salt. Fill bottle with distilled or filtered water. Shake well before use and use as needed. (you can buy the bottles here .
(Also not pictured) Lots of water and lots of herbal immune supportive tea.

Y’all, I went for about 2 weeks with only taking catnaps in early January…. stressing about Elsa, and still working at the pharmacy in a flu ridden environment. Knock on wood….. I am still standing strong.

My goal is and always will be to empower people to take charge of their own health. You alone are the only one who can read your body’s signs and know what it feels like when you are about to be knocked down a notch or two in the wellness department. It is in that moment that you act quickly. The first line of defense is to not fall below that wellness line!

Hugs and love, liz

Taking the Red Pill: Why I Left Traditional Healthcare Behind

Liz James · January 9, 2018 ·

Many many sermons ago, our pastor talked about the movie, The Matrix. I’ve never seen it…. not a huge fan of science fiction…..but the allegory intrigued me. Hollywood does tend to mirror real life, even in science fiction.

Lately, I’ve heard the term ‘Red Pilled‘ bandied around. It didn’t even occur to me that this phraseology was again a nod in reference to The Matrix. Silly me, I thought it meant which side of the political aisle you prefer! (Don’t leave…. I’m not going to talk politics. That’s not my ‘thing’.) I must have seen the phrase more than a handful of times before I felt compelled to look it up.

Red pill vs Blue pill…… it’s about choices. Nothing more.

The Blue Pill, by my estimation, is for those who are passive, and content with their lot in life. They prefer to be spoon fed information and lifestyles. Perhaps, they don’t like what they are being fed. They may grumble a bit, but they eat it anyway and do not look elsewhere for fodder. That puts the holder(s) of the spoon in a tremendous position of power, and fiction, untruths or half truths may look like fact. The rose colored glasses are, in fact, blue lenses.

The Red Pill is for the inquisitive. It’s definitely easier to be spoon fed than it is go out and forage for your own food (or grow your own garden & milk your own cow). The Matrix makes mention of going down the rabbit hole when you take the Red Pill. Lots of twists and turns that reveal important (and previously hidden) information along the way. The hand(s) that feeds the Blue Pilled peeps does not generally smile upon those of us who have become independent foragers of information. Their power is lost on us.

Ya’ll, I may get some flack for writing this…… but ‘the system’ that educates our healthcare professionals (myself included) AND the insurance companies that dictate how healthcare is to be provided are holding the spoon. We healthcare providers were indoctrinated and taught that the way of the Blue Pill was good. We were then taught how to administer the Blue Pill to others. They (I’m removing myself, because I now know better) know no differently… so don’t get mad at them. They believe 100% what they were taught, and if questions arise…. well…. return to the hand(s) that holds the spoon for answers. Remember tho… the hand that holds the spoon has the power to filter what you are fed.

You can take the Blue Pills all your life, but you can only take the Red Pill once. You have to look long and hard to find a good medical professional who is willing to look at and recommend all aspects of health and well care. I’m starting to see more functional medicine doctors…. praise God…. who have taken a stand and have Red Pilled themselves. They understand that you can’t just pharmaceutically treat symptoms of a body system dysfunction…. you have to address the core issue at hand or healing will never occur. They are open to recommending nutrition, holistic care methods, and wellness options. They only use medication as a last resort.

Each one of us has a choice. I took my Red Pill (before I even knew of such a thing) about 15 years ago. It’s the reason we drink raw milk , garden, avoid toxins (ie: standard household chemicals, processed food, toxin laden skincare products), manage our stress and sleep holistically, and make an effort to be physically fit. Like many people who have adopted the Red Pill mentality, my hand was forced when a couple of health conditions demanded that I make a decision on which pill to take.

Ignorance may provide short term bliss, but it will cost you plenty in the long term. Those of us who have taken the Red Pill stand to spend 16X less on healthcare than those who choose to take the Blue Pill….. Blue Pilled people are big business in the health care industry….. BIG (16X) Business. No wonder they feed you so well.

If you are like me and waited until a health situation surfaced, do not be frustrated…. you can still take the Red Pill. Better late than never!

If life seem to be going really well for you, but your intuition has kicked in and your gut tells you that you need to learn more, do more, and be more responsible for you and your family’s health….. let me symbolically hand a Red Pill to you (it’s free)….. message me, and I’ll help you unwind the fiction from fact and half truths.

The truth can be hard to stomach, but it can also set you free.

Would you like some kombucha to wash that Red Pill down?

Hugs and Love, liz

PS: The internet is a wonderful thing. If I learned nothing else in college and in pharmacy school, it’s the power of research. Two incredible sources to find accurate information and studies include:

Pubmed.gov ( a repository of all studies from all over the world)

Google.scholar (another repository of information)

Sleep Week – day 7

Liz James · July 11, 2017 ·

OK ya’ll….. I’m coming clean here… Sleep is important to me. I’ve researched sleep for several months now, and the more I researched, the more I appreciated its value. These last few days have been ginormously busy for me…. so much so, that I have not had a moment to catch my breath except when it’s time to head to bed.

By 9:30 each night, I had to make some decisions…. what was more important? Sleeping or blogging. I know that many of you have hung out and reached out to me during sleep week, but I also knew that none of you would lose sleep if I missed a blog posting day.

So….. I chose to make a good example of myself, and picked respecting my bedtime hour over blogging and sharing with you all.

There is much more to sleep than I could cram into 7 days anyway, and I’d love to share more. If you’d like a more in depth class I’m happy to schedule one at some point.

In the meantime, I leave you with this video about simple habits you can either break or create to gift yourself quality sleep.

If I’ve piqued your interest in any products that have helped me and thousands of other people sleep please let me know, and I’ll show you the most economical way to own your own stash. Everyone deserves healthy restorative sleep!

Enjoy!

Staying In The Game

Liz James · June 2, 2017 ·

I got back from my boot camp workout this morning, and although I’m feeling a bit sore, it’s a good kind of pain….. the kind that lets you know you’ve accomplished something…. not the other kind… the one that is your warning signal of something gone awry. Like me, I’m sure you’ve experienced both kinds of pain, so you know what I’m talking about. Our bodies certainly do speak to us.

Being a ‘gym rat’ is a fairly new concept for me… a late in life one at that. I always felt like I got my workouts in simply by working on the farm and ‘doing life’. And up until the age of 48, I felt like that was enough. Midway thru that monumental year, I had a very significant run in with our bull, and ended up in the hospital. I’ll give you the cliff notes version …. I very nearly lost my left foot, and spent about 6 months in intensive recovery. The experience taught me a great deal, not the least of which is this….. Regardless of your health situation, it is important to keep moving. My injury involved broken and dislocated bones, severed tendons, and soft tissue & nerve damage. I now have hardware in my leg that is a permanent part of my recovery. And yet, I do not walk with a limp. I give credit where credit is due, and in this case, the EMT’s, a great surgeon, and our wonderful God all blessed me with great care and healing. But I had to do my part too. That part involved working hard to get past the initial discomfort of intensive physical therapy after having to be mostly sedentary for nearly 4 months. It also meant that my ‘new normal’ necessitates that I move certain joints regularly, or like the tin man, I simply won’t be able to move easily. This is where my new ‘gym rat’ moniker comes in…. (although my workout buddies and I typically meet in a parking lot!). What I’ve found is this:

If you don’t move it, you WILL lose it
if you don’t use it regularly, you’ll have to ‘work the rusty parts’ loose or they will get so rusty they won’t function at all (painful and annoying)
If you’ve significantly damaged some part of your body in your life, you will have to work extra to keep those parts in good working order
Unless your doctor tells you differently, you’ve got to push thru the pain to get thru to the other side of recovery.

Whether you’re like me, and have to occasionally push thru discomfort in order to make ‘it’ (whatever ‘it’ is for you) happen or you are a weekend warrior, I’d encourage you to give Cool Azul a try. Just as it sounds…. this blend provides cool relief. Young Living has given us 3 oil infused options in the Cool Azul Family to help us with our daily locomotion.

Cool Azul Pain Relief Cream : Oh. My. Goodness. Young Living rolled out the red carpet for our achy joints and muscles… and enlisted the help of wintergreen, chamomile, peppermint, sage, oregano, copaiba, tea tree, lavender, blue cypress, elemi, dorado azul, and more…..a little goes a VERY long way. It is the first oil infused FDA approved OTC product of its kind. You can watch a short video that explains how Cool Azul works: Cool Azul Pain Relief Cream Video
Cool Azul Sports Gel : This is the original gym bag version. Some like cream… some like gel. You pick.
Cool Azul Essential Oil Blend: Feeling the urge to make your own topical roller bottle blend but not sure where to start? No worry… just get this instead, add the carrier oil of your choice, and you’ll be good to go!

I don’t need to use my Cool Azul every day, but on the days that I do need it….. I’m thankful I’ve got it on hand. I use it to augment the benefits I reap from Agilease and Sulfurzyme(supplements I take daily).

A quick reminder: one of the active constituents of wintergreen oil is methyl salicylate. It has amazing pain relieving properties, but like another salicylate (Aspirin), it should not be used without a doctor’s approval if you are currently on prescription blood thinners. As with all oil products, be sure to avoid eyes and mucous membranes.

Make today a great one for yourself, and get to moving! Your body will thank you

If you’re ever interested in learning more about these or other products you’ve seen mentioned on my blog, feel free to message me! I’d love to have you join me in health.