Preventive Health & Root-Cause Medicine

 If spending more money on healthcare actually made us healthier, the United States should be leading the world in life expectancy. 

See the United States out there in front? That’s not a good thing at all. 

 Note that the data has been adjusted for inflation and differences in costs between countries. 

No other country is even close. 

Now, take a look at life expectancy….. you’d think, that with all that spending we do on “health care” there would be the added benefit of a longer life. ….. you’d think. 

Reality: The United States spends outrageously on health care for a very mediocre lifespan. 

Health expenditures here do not include 

• gym memberships 
• eating quality whole foods 
• using herbs, essential oils, tinctures, and homeopathy to support optimal health 

and yet, so many people say they can’t because these items are out of their budget. 

The reality is that you can pay for prevention or you can pay for outcome “repairs”. Either way, there is a cost. 

I choose to pay the farmer, not the pharmacist. 

PS: It’s interesting that Costa Rica’s lifespan is slightly longer than the United States, and yet their medical costs are a fraction of ours (even adjusted for cost of goods ($1,565 vs $12,023) 

https://ourworldindata.org/…/life-expectancy-vs-health…

If you are interested in spending less time and money at the doctor’s office….. let’s talk! 

xoxo~ Liz 

Working my way through Pharmacist CE’s this month for licensing renewal. It tests me…. not because of difficulty, but because of industry bias and study references that have pharma ties, and quiz questions must be answered as they want them answered, not because of the full truth. 

Not all CE’s are like this, but the vast majority are. It’s pharma after all. 

Thankfully, I subscribe to a CE and pharmacist education program (NatMed Pro) which focuses on “natural med”…. their words, not mine. Tho I do agree wholeheartedly. I don’t always agree with some of what is said even in these CE’s because there is still some pharma industry bias that shines thru. You’ll never see them cite “Adaptogens in Medical Herbalism” by Yance, “Herbal Medicine, Healing and Cancer” by Yance and Valentine, “Botanical Medicine for Women’s Health” by Romm…. because if they did, there would be more truth in the CE’s than what is portrayed in the watered down version we get in NatMed Pro. Doing this type of CE in between the hardcore pharma CE’s at least lowers my pulse rate and blood pressure and lessens my desire to yell at the screen . 

All this to say…. It’s good to stay abreast of all things. To learn what is being said about a product, to parse out the pieces of truth as well as the pieces of fluff or even outright gaslighting (which I see in CE’s quite often. Heavy sigh . ) 

I’m reading back through this post now, and you can probably see how my brain ping pongs between the two worlds of pharma and herbalism/ natural healing. 

I took a couple of screenshots (shared here) of one of these CE’s that I DID actually learn something in. It was quite good…. covering turmeric, elderberry, cranberry, ashwagandha, and a few other herbals. For the most part, I’d give it 4 out of 5 stars (high rating in the pharma CE world when you’re a pharmacist with strong leanings towards the natural! ) 

Thought you might appreciate this info on turmeric. We tend to think about turmeric as fantastic for supporting proper inflammatory response. I did not know it held some pretty amazing properties benefitting those with NAFLD (non alcoholic fatty liver disease), so bonus points for this particular CE . 

Not all turmeric is equal. Do your research…. deeply. Know your sources and understand how THEY (the people you follow) learn what they know. Know your product too….. the supplement world is a tricky one…. just as tricky as pharma in many cases. 

I’m here for you if you’ve got questions. xoxo~ Liz 

Such an interesting journal article….. Did you know that this particular journal (Oncotarget) was the target of massive cyberattacks last week after it released a really interesting (and revealing) article/study? 

This is what happens when you are over the target and “they” don’t want the general public to know the truth. 

Glad to see it’s back up. This isn’t the article that caused the attack, but if you are a fan of lemongrass as I am, you might find it interesting too! 

xoxo~ Liz 

 I know most tea and coffee people like theirs year round. I’m not that person. I love a good cup of hot tea on a cool day (not so much on a hot Texas day), so this is the time of year I lean into my herbals on the steamy side. 

Even better…. give me a cup of tea with more purpose than just to make ya perky! 

Hot beverage “with purpose” suggestions: 

• Warm milk (I use raw milk, but coconut is also amazing!) with Golden Turmeric (Did you know that turmeric activates an enzyme called AMPK? AMPK signaling is a crucial regulator of healthspan and lifespan. Yes please!) Turmeric also encourages the “browning” of white fat (we want that… that’s good fat!), and supports healthy liver detoxing activity. Bonus points for Golden Turmeric…. it’s got ginger and frankincense in it too! 

• Just a cup of hot water with a drop of Thieves and a dab of honey for immune system support (bonus points… the cinnamon in Thieves also helps support healthy blood sugar levels/insulin sensitivity and supports fat burning potential. ) 

• Needing a little cup of respiratory opening warmth? Try a drop (ONE drop will do ya!) of peppermint in hot water. Add a drizzle of honey if needed (tho I just like hot water and peppermint!) 

• If you’d like to do a little DIY to help convert white fat (the not so healthy kind of fat) to brown fat (the much healthier version), I included a recipe for that too. I bet you could play with the recipe a little bit if you are so inclined and make an “on the go” essential oil version (I am going to try to do this over the weekend!). 

Do you have a multipurpose hot drink you enjoy? 

xoxo~ Liz 

Personal experience is often a driver of passion. If you’ve read my personal story (My Journey, Part 1), you’ll already know that it included a very early diagnosis of endometriosis. I was diagnosed as a teen way back in the ’80s, when endometriosis wasn’t yet a common women’s health concern. At that time, it was considered more of an anomaly. It took digging and even traveling to find doctors who knew how to identify and treat it as best as they could.

Fast forward 35+ years, and so much has changed. Today, it’s estimated that about 11% of women live with this chronic inflammatory disorder, and it’s responsible for up to one-third of fertility challenges. Endometriosis Overview  While there’s still much debate over how endometriosis develops, one thing is clear: its destructiveness is magnified by something called estrogen dominance. The Ovarian-Adrenal-Thyroid Symphony

Estrogen is a valuable and necessary hormone in our female bodies, but unlike our foremothers—who only managed the estrogen their bodies naturally produced (and a small amount from phytoestrogens in plants)—we now face a modern world where excess estrogen has become a major women’s health issue.

While estrogen is a valuable and necessary hormone within our female bodies…. “back in the day”, our fore’mothers’ only had to concern themselves with the estrogen their own body produced and perhaps, to a much lesser extent, something called phytoestrogens (a small select group of plants that could add estrogen to what the body already had on board).  Finding Clues in the Pill
​
Roughly 70 years ago, a subset of synthetic chemicals began popping up in foods, personal care products, packaging (lining of cans and plastics), medications, household cleaners (and dryer sheets!), and…… heavens!!… even disposable menstrual products (Talk about feeding the beast!). For many years, there appeared to be little cause for alarm…. until unusual goings on began showing up in the wild world of amphibians…. and male frogs began turning into female frogs inexplicably in the wild. The first people to sit up and take notice were wildlife biologists. It was the canary in the coal mine revisited (Spoiler Alert: It didn’t end well for the canary in that scenario either).  

Scientists slowly began sitting up and taking notice as endocrine disruption expanded from wildlife to humans. 170+ of these chemicals are now known as “Xenoestrogens”, and they are the harbingers of hormone imbalance in both men and women. They mimic the function of natural estrogen, thus creating biological hormonal mayhem the likes of which include PMS, heavy periods, PCOS, breast cancer, fibroids, ‘man boobs’, etc….. and endometriosis. Estrogen dominance is of epidemic proportions in developed, ‘advanced’, industrialized countries: Does Everyone Need Hormone Support?

Too much of a good thing, can be…well, too much.

All that factory farm raised meat and dairy tainted with growth hormones? yep
(go local, and find your hormone free, grass fed, humanely raised animals… ie: support your local farmer and rancher)

Pesticide containing food products? yep
(eat organic whenever possible)

Tap water? yep
(drink filtered water!)

Shampoos, lotions, soaps, toothpaste, cosmetics… other personal care products containing ingredients like parabens and phenoxyethanol chemical compounds widely used with abandon by the cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies? yep
(please… for the love of your children and yourself… use natural products!)

Heating plastics or plastic wrap in the microwave, or simply storing food in soft plastic or plastic wrap? Or use bottled water or canned food that incorporates BPA into the packaging process? yep yep yep!
(use glass or stainless whenever possible. aside from the obvious landfill issues, plastic contains phthalates, a pretty nasty one on the ‘no no’ list)

See the verbiage ‘artificial color or flavor’ on a favorite packaged food ingredient list? Back away from the item. Seriously.
(Approximately 31 substances may be added to processed foods for the purpose of artificially sweetening, preserving, coloring, or enhancing texture and/or flavor and are guilty offenders)

Dryer Sheets? Totally loaded. Obscenely so.
(wool dryer balls…. message me, I’ll score you some, teach you how to make them simply, or use 1/2 cup of baking soda in your rinse cycle!)

​​Ahhhhh! Veering back on the bunny trail we started on. Endometriosis. I suspect you are starting to get my drift here. No wonder it’s become a common problem, right?

Endometriosis is very estrogen dependent… it doesn’t grow and thrive in an estrogen poor environment. Conversely, it can spread like bunnies on fertility drugs when exposed to bountiful amounts of estrogen regardless of the source. Common western medicine more often than not will use chemical means to suppress naturally occurring estrogen in our bodies to slow the dragon’s path. Ovaries in Trouble  Rarely do they sit down and talk to the woman (or girl child) about the ramifications of xenoestrogen’s effects on their body and how to minimize exposure to them. 

While endometriosis (or something like it) was identified in the late 1800’s, it was a rare creature…. not unlike dragons. In fact, the incidence of endometriosis in less developed countries today is significantly less than in those countries where plastic water bottle toting, microwaved plastic wrapped food noshing, dryer sheet-using people live. People like myself… who, as a kiddo and young adult, did the same thing… before I knew better.

Endometriosis is technically not an autoimmune disease, but having it creates a hospitable environment for autoimmune disorders to set up housekeeping alongside it. Chronic inflammation within the body will do that. Misery loves company.

Energy and Sleep in 3 Simple Steps

Friends, please don’t wait until something goes wrong to clean up your life. Truly. Life is too short, and it’s so much easier to minimize risk factors than it is to mediate and do damage control.

Life is short! Keep it clean ;)! 

Love and hugs, Liz