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Taking the Red Pill: Why I Left Traditional Healthcare Behind

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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)

(Some of) The Science Behind Essential Oils

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The inner science nerd comes out in me on a fairly regular basis. While I am most at home on our farm, I have said for decades that I could have been a professional full time student (if finances were no object). I think that is one of the things that initially drew me to pharmacy…. there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t learn something new at work.  It is also one of the things I find so attractive about health and wellness in general. Every pebble you turn over reveals a boulder of information just waiting to be learned and absorbed. If you are a life science junkie (like me), you can lose yourself for hours (if not days) reading studies in Pubmed.gov. Finding this website several years ago was the game changer and light bulb moment for me. It was almost as if I had tumbled down a rabbit hole like Alice,  and discovered a whole world that I had vaguely heard about  but assumed must be inferior to ‘what I knew‘ from pharmacy school.

​Big Pharma subsidizes the education of health professionals in the United States. They take the little fledgling professionals and give them their kool-aid and pat their egos. Well done young Dr/ Pharmacist/ Nurse/ ___________ (fill in the blank). Even today, when I read pharmacy continuing education courses on Natural Medicine, I can barely bear to read them. (Again, subsidized). I can earn 1-2 CE credit hours to learn that alternative medicine really is ‘minimally effective’ at best and/or ‘sham medicine’ at worst. It took me about 15 years post pharmacy school to deprogram my mind and begin thinking for myself. Now, with every new drug or new class of drugs, I listen to what Big Pharma says, and then I dig a little deeper to find the whole truth… not the sugar coated version. Ever wonder why those advertisements speak nice and slowly about the unicorns and puppies the drugs promise, and then speak auctioneer fast (or use 4pt font) to reveal some (but definitely not all) of the possible side effects? Me too.

After I quit drinking the kool-aid (now realizing that said kool-aid is full of high fructose corn syrup and red dye #3), and came to my senses, I simply can’t get enough of what alternative health options has to offer. Yes, there is and always will be a time and a place for modern medicine….. but there is also a time and a place for alternative health options. It behooves us all to be open to both.

If you venture in to Pubmed.gov and begin researching, take note of how many studies revealing the benefits of alternative therapies come from outside the United States. University scholars and scientists from all over the world are digging deeply into holistic care and coming up with astounding truths (with far far far fewer side effects than their pharmaceutical counterparts). The United States is slow on the uptake here. Why? Big Pharma doesn’t benefit from holistic care. Repair and restoration does not always have to come with a pharmaceutical pricetag or health consequence. Frequently, repair and restoration comes in the form of self care and simply understanding how we tick and why we do what we do or our bodies do what they do. Learning how to support our bodies instead of propping them up with pharmaceuticals. It’s a learning curve for sure… and the first step is to look at who is offering up those kool-aid cocktails.

Which brings me back to the original topic of this post. Elizabeth Erickson is a neuroscientist with a focus on applied cognition. Our brains can be our best friend, but they can also be our worst enemy.  Tonight (Monday, Oct 30th), Elizabeth will discuss some very basic concepts for you to wrap your mind around. This is a free event, and even if you cannot attend the live class due to a scheduling conflict, I’d encourage you to make some time to watch it in the 24 hours it will be available for viewing. Come with an open mind and be prepared to learn. I will be there too…. learning and gleaning… one of my favorite things to do!

Sleep Week – day 3

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Deficiencies. Sometimes our bodies don’t produce enough, and other times, we just don’t consume enough. The only way (aside from supplementation) we can receive minerals like Magnesium or Potassium is thru the plants we consume, and to a much lesser extent, meat from animals who have eaten plants. Additionally, our bodies give us the ability to synthesize D, but D can come from a non-vegan diet as well.

Current farming practices have overworked the soil and synthetic fertilizers bind minerals. Both practices prevent the transfer of minerals to the plants. Since the 1970’s, the mineral content of plants we eat has diminished greatly (50-70%). Growing your own food with organic (ex: cow poop!) fertilizer will help, but supplementation has become a growing necessity. This is exactly why we’ve chosen to garden and use our own compost….. and choose very specific seeds.

Not all Magnesium is created equal. Some forms are not absorbed well. Highly absorbable forms of magnesium include citrate & glycinate ( Thankfully YL uses both forms).

Not all vitamin D is created equal either …..D2 (ergocalciferol) and D3 (cholecalciferol). Studies indicate that vitamin D2 is much less potent and has a shorter duration of action than D3. Young Living uses D3 in their formulations.

Thank goodness they know this and incorporate the good stuff into their formulations. (Believe me, I see what’s available out there in pharmacy land!)

What are the chances you are deficient in any (or all) of these? Deficiencies abound in the good ol’ US of A. Despite the wealth of our nation, we are sorely lacking in many nutrients.

80% of us are lacking in Magnesium

75% of us are lacking in Vitamin D

98% of us are lacking in Potassium

Give yourself a high five if you thought you might be deficient. Now go do something about it !… and work towards that 7 hours of golden sleep.

Supplementing is so helpful to keep us above that wellness line. All three deficiencies can cause many more body system dysfunctions than just missed sleep. God made a finely tuned machine when He designed us. If someone finds they are significantly deficient, there are prescription strength D, Pot, (and non prescription, but high strength Mag) available…if you need concentrated help with magnesium, make sure you opt for glycinate and/or malate forms (higher doses can cause diarrhea, and these are less apt to do that, while still being highly bioavailable).

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Say What? The Role The FDA & FTC Play

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You may have seen by now that I have a passion for sharing and educating. I can’t help it… and at times I am unapologetic about my passion. I love sustainable wellness and sustainable living… the methods, the practice, the fact that it is available to everyone who is willing to work for it. I don’t think I would be this way if I hadn’t spent 25+ years in the trenches of the pharmaceutical industry, and seen the carnage that results from loosely prescribing ‘bandaid medication’ instead of getting to the root of what is actually malfunctioning and working to correct what has gone awry holistically. Don’t get me wrong (I feel like a broken record player saying this), there is a time and a place for medications, but why is the consumption of 80% of ALL medications worldwide occurring in the United States by Americans? We’ve been suckered into thinking that a little pill will solve everything.

I post occasionally about Young Living products because it is a company I believe in as a sustainable wellness tool……. they provide me, my family, and my farm-ily with what we need to support our various body systems (in addition to eating properly, exercising daily, nurturing our faith and deep friendships & maintaining emotional life-work-stress balance) so that we can function optimally, despite the abuse our bodies have taken over the years. YL is one of the most ethically sound companies I have ever come across…..far more so than any drug company I’ve found in my pharmacy career, or any traditional mega-corporate food company where profit is king.

As I dive deeper into supplements and all things Young Living on occasional posts, you might think I am speaking a little vaguely on some topics. In fact, you might wonder why I say something like “please Google Frankincense or one of its constituents, alpha-pinene using https://scholar.google.com/ for more specific information”. It’s not because I don’t know. Frankly, it’s the opposite…. it’s because I DO know but cannot legally relay ALL of the information to you.

There are two organizations that will prevent me from providing you with concise and precise information for the following reasons:

The FDA: You can read about the scope of the FDA here . Per FDA guidelines, “we” cannot make definitive health claims on products that are deemed supplements and that haven’t gone thru the vetting process that is dictated by the FDA (this is both good and bad)….despite the fact that there are literally thousands upon thousands of studies on essential oils and their role and place in healthcare. I invite you to begin your personal research on both pubmed.gov and on Google Scholar . Both of these resources are a wealth of information, so bookmark this page. You may want to come back to both links later after we’ve talked more.

A couple of years ago, the FDA & FTC really cracked down on supplement and nutritional companies, and so it became a bit more tricky to share valuable information. Please take some time to read this article from Health Impact News for details.

The FTC: You can read about the FTC here . The long and the short of it is this: While I work independently, I am representing products that I use from Young Living. Having done the research, from a pharmacists perspective, I believe you would not find a more superior health/wellness product line anywhere. However, I cannot make claims to diagnose, treat, or attempt to cure…. I can only lead you as much as possible down the information path so that you can reach your own educated conclusions.

So, sometimes, my words may seem a little vague or “fluffy”. You likely want hard cold facts. I understand that, and I want to help you navigate “what to do when, where, why, and how” with ease so that you too can have optimal wellness. Young Living has created a document called ” Sharing Young Living the Right Way” and in order to remain compliant and in the good graces of the FDA and FTC, I do my best to abide by that document.  Please feel free to refer to that link when needed in our discussions. That way, we will speak the same language and you will better understand the path I am trying to guide you down.

Education is important, and so is learning to navigate information. Learning to be the CEO of your own health is a skill that requires honing and development, and too many people assume it’s somebody else’s job to do it for them. That’s a risky proposition if you ask me….. the business of letting someone else (who may have more interest in your ill health than they do in keeping you well) be the manager of you. Everyone has choices. Do not be afraid to take the plunge and do a little research yourself….. and if you have questions along the way….. GREAT! That’s what I’m here for. I’m happy to be your bloodhound, tour guide, and navigator here to help! ​

Is Your Home Sick?

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As a prepper, we need to think of ourselves as a well oiled machine. We would not leave our guns, tools, and food supply in an environment that would ruin them…. so why do we neglect our bodies and purposefully expose ourselves to toxic agents?… especially knowing that we need to be in prime health to survive and thrive.

Chances are that your house is sick, and that means that you are affected too. Household cleaning products are responsible for over 10% of all toxin exposure calls to the Poison Control Centers in the United States. But what about the more insidious silent illnesses caused by seemingly harmless household chemical exposure?

Of the over 2000 chemicals on the market, more than 1/2 of them are known to ACTIVELY cause or promote allergies, asthma, cancer, birth defects, nervous system disruptions, and/or endocrine disruption. 

In our preparations for what is to come, we will need to be healthy! …. scratch that…. we need to be healthy no matter what!

Think about the products YOU use around your home, your children, and your pets.

What’s in them? If you are curious, check out the  Environmental Working Group website to find out.

Personally, I don’t like to wonder…so I found out,  and then I made some serious changes many years ago in our house and on our farm.

This is one of the reasons I love essential oils.

They’re safe.  They’re natural. They’re non-toxic…. And they can kick some serious booty when it comes to cleaning. Their presence in your home “creates an inhospitable environment” for bacteria to grow.

Thieves® oil blend and the entire Thieves Cleaner family are miracle-workers…. and giant killers. This blend truly is a David vs Goliath story when it comes to germs.

You’ll see what I mean here.

So, get your house in order! We are told to do that, right?….Both Biblically and in preparedness. Our “house” isn’t just our home… it is also a reference to our body. Let’s clean house!

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