Cravings are a strange thing. Other than a uncomfortable point in pregnancy, who would otherwise ever eat pickles and ice cream together? There’s no explanation for this other than pregnancy hormones right? Cravings go so much deeper than a common want by creating this unsatiable need that can seem so illogical. We cannot explain why we have some of these cravings or where they even came from most of the time and yet they exist. They fill our thoughts, take over our body and it simply seem insane. Somewhere along the way something we discovered and enjoyed became a want and eventually turned into this thing we cannot stop thinking about. They can even become mashed together to create weird combinations that no one can explain but they are deeply satisfying to us when the need arises. What is a craving? Cravings can seem like mysterious alien invasions for how they take over our body. In a way this is not far off but the alien is actually something already existing in our body. When you are not in alignment of your mind-body-spirit, hearing the voice of a craving is alien to you for you one thing. For another, it is beacon sending a message which is also alien if you are not used to it. Consider a lighthouse on the shore. At night when ships cannot see or it is very foggy, the lighthouse shines a light to help guide. The same thing is happening in your body when there is a craving. It is telling you what it needs and where to go. Sometimes loudly, sometimes softly but it is a message that is asking for response. Ignoring it causes a crash or in most cases irritability, depletion of energy and other things that could be called a crash. So do we just give in to the constant cravings because its what our alien lighthouse is telling us to do? Sometimes yes. Until you get to the bottom of the craving, they will continue to come up. Giving in to them is sometimes necessary to keep our sanity, solve a physical problem or simply keep going. Just like an alien invasion, ignoring a craving just makes them louder, more invasive and more demanding. More importantly, is understanding why we are getting the cravings we are and fulfilling that larger need. Underneath every craving is a specific need that is actually what needs to be supported. The craving is just the body’s way to telling you that need exist. This is where cravings get tricky. If you crave cookies and you give in and eat cookies, the craving goes away. You go about your day until the craving comes up again. It can seem logical to think cookies is what you needed. However, the cookies were just the beacon. Under that craving for cookies is actually what your body or emotional being is really needing. In this case with cookies, it can be an emotional need for comfort and depending on type of cookie it can have other meanings as well. It can be associated with anger if the cookies you want are crunchy. Physically, your body could be craving sugar which is an addictive chemical. So that simple cookie, can have a myriad of meaning. Cravings are simply codes to decipher. In doing so, we unlock their true meaning and fill the deeper need allowing us to rebalance in mind-body-spirit. – Amy Kramer, Dragonspit Apothecary Until you unlock the code to your craving, it is necessary to give yourself grace and forgiveness. This may mean it is alright to give yourself permission to have a craving fulfilled with what is calling your name. Depending on why you are having this craving it could be a vitamin deficiency, emotional trauma or other severe situation. Cravings help us soothe in these situations. Restricting and depriving yourself may make things worse. Now, there are cravings that are part of our habits and routines. These are equally hard to break up with and understand. Behaviorally we may not realize what we are doing or how much ice cream we are actually eating. It is easy to underplay these types of cravings as normal routine. From my own experience working with others, these types of cravings are associated with behavior certainly as well as mood and energy. Since these are part of our routine our energy is usually lower at these times and we can turn to cravings such as that afternoon coffee or evening ice cream as part of our body’s response to stress. Realistically improving cravings takes time The one thing that will absolutely not work in breaking free of a craving for good is restriction and deprivation. First this is diet thinking that has been proven time and again to not offer long term health results for weight or cravings. Secondly, it disconnects your mind from your body introducing the possibility of negative self-talk. Instead I prefer a more balanced and aligned approach that involves all of your being. It is a much more loving approach that not only helps with craving resolution but they also help with long term goals we set in our health. It is not fast or glamours but effective at long term changes that leave us healthier, happier and free of cravings cryptic messages. The approach I coach clients to use when breaking up with cravings includes these strategies: Journal what you are thinking, feeling, where you are and all the details about the situation you are in when a craving strikes. This provides clues as to what is triggering in your emotions, body and environment so it can be addressed Honor your body’s needs. By working with a natural health practitioner you can identify vitamin and mineral deficiencies that can trigger cravings. Supporting these needs with natural whole food and plant based supplements gains us nutritional improvements that can change what types of cravings we experience. Have grace & forgiveness for yourself. It is ok to give in to a craving. As you work through changes to improve your health and well-being to address the underlying cause it is alright to indulge when needed. Now that doesn’t mean go wild but you don’t have to completely swear off what it is you are craving. Use this approach to monitor how your craving changes, how often it comes up and how you responded. You may even realize you want less of it because it is not forbidden. Apply stress management techniques such as tapping, exercise, meditation and etc. A lot of cravings can be the result of stress responses occurring in our body. When stressed, we quickly deplete energy and vitamin levels as our body tries to respond, support and help us through those times. Once depleted, the craving will trigger. Recognizing and responding to stress and its impact to our body will help reduce the craving Notice what is not on this list that you may have typically heard to try. Things like ignoring the craving and find an alternative or distraction. Drink tons of water, which you should drink lots of water every day, but not just for the purpose of working through deprivation of a craving. Depriving yourself of the very thing that is ringing loudly in your body and mind. These approaches are cruel and unusual punishment to yourself. By doing them, we disconnect our mind-body-spirit where we feel like any part of ourself is working against us. Any health change works best when approached with a desire to learn how to love ourselves where we are in that moment. Sometimes that is a strong, disciplined and controlled being and other times it is sobbing and blubbery in a bag of chips. Both are real and both deserve to be understood. – Amy Kramer, Dragonspit Apothecary There is also no magic timetable for when cravings go away. We are each unique in our design and that means we have individual personal needs for our health. Building solutions around that design is where we see changes in how we approach all of our health going forward. It also helps us make progress on desired changes in our health, making them faster and longer lasting. It is possible to curb cravings when we understand what they are truly cravings for in our diet, environment or something else. There are a vast amount of cravings that are about low energy, depleted emotional states and even boredom. Decoding these messages empowers us to make changes that not only get rid of the craving but help us live our best life every day. When we think we can just ignore it we are essential blocking our own power and creating our own limitation in health and living. To work with me on supporting your cravings, setup a consultation with me at dragonspitapothecary.com

This was a serious question I was scolding myself over as I stood in front of the mirror fresh from the shower. In this moment, I was once again beating myself up for not losing any weight that week as I mentally went through what I had eaten. Seriously, did I need seconds the other night at dinner? It didn’t matter now because the scale was not working in my favor. How about water, did I drink enough? Maybe that was it. Sometimes there isn’t a thing to point to, it’s just the numbers not in your favor, again. Stepping on that scale whether in my bathroom or in the doctor’s office is one of the most humiliating things I can think of doing in my day. We have one of those digital scales that I always stand in front of well after I step off it to be sure the number doesn’t keep blinking for someone to see. At the doctor’s office I make some corny joke to the nurse and look away in horror as she writes down the number. The scale is one of the worst inventions ever on those days. There is a number in my head of what I think I should weigh. There are charts and infographs that tell me another number I should weigh. It all comes down to a number that I personally hold against myself as a bargaining chip dangling like a gold carrot, beating tool when it isn’t even close and ultimate goal of one day. Some days it feels like spinning a roulette wheel in a casino and just like Las Vegas, the house always wins in the end. I walk away from the scale broke, defeated and wondering where the waitress with the free drinks went. The scale number is a big deal. There is enough known about weight that we understand it can have ramifications on our health long term. The irony of it all is we know that number by the way our clothes fit without even stepping on it. No matter if we weigh ourselves or not there are subtle ways that number haunts us with the pinch of the waistband that is snug or the gap in the blouse between the buttons. It’s always there. While this number is important, it is of course not all there is to our health or weight. Sometimes it feels like we are told there is so much more to weight only in those times the scale is not cooperating. Like, this all time favorite of being told to consider that muscle weighs more than fat. Of course that’s true but at what point do we just say we didn’t make any progress? Honestly, sometimes that is case as much as we don’t want to admit it. I’m all for positive thinking but a healthy dose of honesty is also important especially when talking about if real progress was achieved or not. The truth is the diet industry has lied to us for so long that we are used to candy coating truths to make ourselves feel better because the hard facts are depressing. The other side of the situation is that you may have done EVERYTHING right and just didn’t lose any weight that week. It does happen and while it is the most frustrating thing about weight loss, it too can weigh heavily (pun intended) on your mind about being what you are doing. There have been many times, like today when I stood glaring at the scale, that I did do it all right and still nothing budged. Literally. Is our worth based on weight? From a young age we are engrained with this idea that our weight defines our worth. As a result of this diet mentality every single woman and girl on this planet is at risk and likely has developed a disconnected relationship with her body because of the number it shows on a scale. This influences our entire life until we choose to break free from it. We will always have to fight this demon however because it never fully goes away. Here too, we are often told things like beauty is on the inside and it doesn’t matter what size we are. These are wonderfully true statements but it doesn’t negate the impact of seeing some numbers on a scale or how you are treated publicly, by clothes manufacturers, friends and even family. How many loves are lost because weight is an issue for one of the partners? Yes it is shallow and cold but it happens more than we would like to admit. If you’re not the perfect weight and able to maintain that then it is possible your entire life can be turned upside down as a result. Am I being dramatic? True love surely is not based on a number such as weight and yet… I do believe we can work to overcome these limited views about weight that comes from the diet and beauty industries. Real people do love you regardless of size too. It does not however change the fact this this sort of thing happens and we are made to feel less than our worth as a result. Anyone who has gone shopping in the plus section of a department store or lost a boyfriend due to a muffin top can attest it is a real pain that happens. How then do we overcome the weight limitations? If you align in the society way of thinking about weight, you are either obese and disgusting or rail thin and beautiful. It is an unfortunate aspect that I don’t think will ever change. It is necessary we teach our daughters to not fall for this as much as possible but understand the exposure to it will exist. The best way to deal with any of this garbage that defines us by weight is by loving who we are so strongly that negativity cannot penetrate. – Amy Kramer, Dragonspit Apothecary Learning to love yourself in this way does not mean you stop trying to improve yourself. In fact it is the opposite. Through the process of learning to love who you are, there is an acceptance that we can love where we are now and where we are going. We see ourselves as part of an evolving journey where we learn who we are and who we want to become and we never stop learning, growing, evolving and emerging. We are so focused on this work that any outside noise from the beauty, diet or society about weight falls on our deafened ears. All that matters is the work we are personally doing. The work is not always easy. It is messy business learning to love yourself and not become wound up about weight thinking again. There is no diet out there that I have found that addresses the mental aspects of losing weight. The burden of feeling it is all about the number on the scale and we must sacrifice, restrict, limit and beat ourselves into submitting to a specific way of eating for the sake of losing weight. The negative self-talk that happens when you “cheat” from your meal plan or don’t make it to the gym. The personal angst that comes from trying on an outfit and having it not fit then having to go to the plus department to find something in black. This is at the core of where all these other negative and brutal weight related things come from. If we didn’t eat so much we wouldn’t be fat right? When in reality, most obesity is a form of starvation because we are lacking the nutrients from food as well as love. Our food system is so insanely stripped of valuable nutrients that anyone struggling to lose weight should stop questioning themselves and start demanding better of food manufacturing. Then if we pile on diet foods this only further disconnects from real nutrients needed to fuel the body and support a healthy metabolism that leads to a weight management. So to truly lose weight it takes more than just determination and willpower. It takes a different approach than just another diet or stringent workout plan. It requires us to change the entire environment in which we are trying to lose weight within. Internally and externally so many things need to be shifted and eliminated to provide the conditions where we can be vulnerable and open about what weight makes us feel like physically and emotionally. Where weight loss should begin is not in the pantry or fridge Instead of diets immediately tackling our pantry and fridge, what if we approached it differently? What if instead of starting out with some number on a scale we looked at a different start gate? The work of losing weight is most possible when we are in alignment in mind-body-spirit. This involves us getting past the looking good in a smaller size rationale for wanting to lose weight. It is the work of getting real for why weight loss is the answer. Of course we want to look good. Yes, we want to be healthier but defining what that means for each of us is where we get the real answer behind the motivation to address our weight. Once we have that really deep reason that maybe we don’t even share with anyone, we can assess what we need to have in place, do and create to support that vision. It is here we find what truly we need, not some pre-canned diet prescribing to us how to conform. We get to listen to our own body for those answers and design the process that forms our own path. This is where working with a natural health professional is a blessing because they help you define this based on you individually and personally. From this point, you see the journey of losing weight as a healing process. Weight dropped is a blooming experience where you step into your real self that was always there but just covered in mental outlooks of how you physically looked compared to what you should look like. We get to be our real self throughout and that is the real beauty of the journey. Our confidence rebuilds and we learn to trust ourselves. Again, no diet I’ve ever found does that for us. To work with me, schedule your consultation at dragonspitapothecary.com

Our son is like most kids. He loves soccer, being outside, video games, and chicken nuggets. When we first adopted him, I nicknamed him my little chicken nugget because that’s what he liked to eat. At the time, I didn’t think anything about it. Yes, I wanted him to eat healthy but it was after all chicken so it was ok, right? Plus every kid eats nuggets. As our family has worked to improve our nutrition, through what was going into our pantry and fridge I saw our son start to get picky with what he was wanting to eat. I was reducing the packaged snacks, frozen pizzas and other things he was used to eating and he was really giving us a hard time at meals. He didn’t like this new food. It was technically the same type of meals only improved ingredients and less packaged staples. He questioned why the milk said raw milk now and the peanut butter wasn’t Jif any longer. I had quietly made these changes in the interest of improving our nutrition but it was creating disruption on my child’s plate. Now his beloved chicken nuggets were coming under scrutiny. Kids love the standard American kid diet because it taste consistent. A chicken nugget is always the same shape, consistency and taste. When you give them fresh blueberries compared to blueberry gummy snacks, a child will time and again go for the gummies. The taste and texture appeals to them for the consistency and fun shape. Sometimes it’s just easier to give in and let them have the nuggets too. I admit I don’t always have the stamina to try to convince him it is better for him and all the reasons why. Seriously, child just eat something. I know this is wrong and it only adds to the mom guilt of how I am not qualified for this role. – Amy Kramer, Dragonspit Apothecary It’s not just our kids though, it’s us too! We have all fallen for this idea that convenience equals easy and good enough. Is it really though? The truth is at an early age our children are given these staples of chicken nuggets, Goldfish crackers, and mac-n-cheese. In school lunches they get horrible quality foods that contain even more preservatives, sugar and salt as well as low-fat options that further strip nutrients and vitamins. The entire childhood diet in America is filled with packaged foods, fake flavored drinks and dyed things sold as food. It is not food though. It is nutritionally imbalanced that is causing harm to their growing phase and long term health. What we are seeing in pediatric health are the ramifications of the convenience we have bestowed in our children’s diet. ADHD, behavior and sleep problems all stem from the diet they are eating. Sugar has been traced as the root cause of the majority of ADHD problems. Meals not eaten as a family with sufficient vegetables, fruits and proteins are influencing manners and relationships. I get the stress, responsibility and guilt of it all and feel it deeply just like every mom. We have to do better though. We owe it to our children to set the example of good nutrition and what that looks like for ourselves and them. I believe the reason we are struggling to constantly lose weight stems from this type of eating behavior we have developed since our own childhoods. It’s what we know so it gets passed on to our children. There’s no shame in it but it is time we owned up to the need to do better by our own health and that of our family. When it comes to getting our children to kick the nugget habit, that is the battle we are fighting in our own home currently. It is not easy for anyone in our home but we’re continuing to try. It starts with what goes in the grocery cart and being committed to improving our meals prepared at home. There is also the change of what makes a snack in our home. This is the hardest. Before it was so easy to just open the pantry door and grab a package of something. Now, we have to have conversations and sometimes there are tears and frustration… from all of us. It is hard breaking up with sugar, salt, and most of all convenience. I’ve really had to work to redefine what convenience looks like and means in my family’s health. We as a family have also had to reconnect with real food. The tastes, textures, flavors, colors are different and inconsistent and yet they are what food should taste like. Our family struggled with that change but worked through it with a variety of ways like: Trying different brands Being curious and open minded Shopping the farmer’s markets where we could smell, touch and sample Buying smaller amounts so it didn’t get wasted Being honest about what we liked and didn’t Getting creative with recipes to remake family favorites with improved ingredients Talking about nutrition as a family and what that looks like Eating meals together Preparing and cleaning up the meal together Planting and caring for a family garden When I hear people say their kids won’t eat something so they don’t bother trying, that used to be me too. However, because we are taking things down a new path, we are doing it as a family. All of us are trying new things and working together to find good nutritional foods that help us. When I used to say my kid wouldn’t eat something or was picky, I knew it was because I too wouldn’t eat something. I wasn’t setting the example, serving it on the table and making it a family meal. In our family, there are not separate meals made for each member of the family. We eat the same thing. If our son chooses not to eat what’s served, he doesn’t eat. Simple. No it wasn’t easy and there are days I so just want to reach for a frozen pizza and chicken nuggets and be done with it all. I know though that we have made good progress and it is a journey. We will always be in this situation of being surrounded by foods that are not nutritious or fall into old patterns. That doesn’t go away so we will strike that balance where we are mostly eating good nutritionally and leave some room for those other things. Swapping the scale though to let those other things be the exception has been a great improvement in our pantry and meals. So, yes if you open my freezer you will still find a bag of chicken nuggets. I don’t believe there is a way to entirely eat organic, high nutrition 100% of the time. We can sure get closer than we are now but it has to be a family effort. We have to talk nutrition with our children and not leave it to the school system. We have to be engaged in the process with our family for defining what that looks like in our homes and building consistency to doing it as much as possible. These changes, I believe, are what will change the health outlook of our own future and that our of our family. As a mom, that means a lot and gives me hope that lessens the mom guilt and shame of chicken nuggets. To work with me, setup your consultation at dragonspitapothecary.com

Health is usually thought of in terms of the number on the scale or what our latest blood draw shows the doctor. But what about the non-numbered health indicators like how we feel, what our skin feels like and even what our mind is focused on. Many indicators of health can be seen very early on and well before we ever step on a scale or see a needle. You know when your arm hurts that something is wrong. It may be the kind of pain that needs urgent medical care or a casual bump on the elbow. You can however also tell longer term issues like regular pain that shows up and runs up and down your arm that could indicate inflammation or even the beginning stages of arthritis. All pain, symptoms and sensations of our body, including cravings are indicators of health. We can use them to tap into health concerns before they become large enough to warrant a doctor’s office bill. What if you can’t read the messages from your body? There are several reasons we cannot decode our body’s messages. In working with clients who present in this way I typically find it is the result of a high toxic load that is blocking the receptors of their body. Quite literally there are medications, every day products and toxic exposure that numbs and blocks what our body can tell us. Reducing these first then creates the ability to feel again. While no one wants to feel discomfort or pain, understanding the root case and eliminating it prevents it from coming back and creates a healthier long term outcome. You may not like what you feel. We have become accustomed to thinking we can just take a pill and get rid of things that don’t feel good. That can work for awhile but when we stop understanding what that discomfort is telling us we disconnect ourselves from our health. – Amy, Dragonspit Apothecary It may be necessary to reconnect our mind, body and heart to feel what is happening in our body before we can start to effectively heal it. It certainly does not mean we need to be in excessive pain but there could be some discomfort involved. I equate it to going on a diet and working through those first few weeks of withdrawals from the cookies and snacks that you are working hard to cut out of your regular eating habits. Every symptom, pain, craving and sensation we feel is a message worthy of us noticing to understand our own health. The wonderful design of our bodies also gives us other clues about our health. For example, we can look at our eyes, nails, hair, skin, reflexes, and basic urine and salvia to get clues. This can support deeper assessment into specific areas of the body to begin to piece together the string of clues. It is always connected and can be worked out. Sometimes the symptom we are feeling as physical discomfort is emotional based. This is where Western medicine fails us consistently. In the quest to create specialties of care, the human being has been dissected into parts that are individually treated by specialist who only work in a specific section of the human body. More often than not the individual doctors do not talk to one another either so this leaves us being treated in parts and not as a whole. When this occurs we miss out on not only understanding how a presentation of pain is realized across the body but also the emotional and spiritual aspects of our health that are also directly impacted. My favorite example of this is a broken arm. The doctor is great at resetting the bone, getting a cast on it and monitoring the bone’s healing process. Where treatment is not provided is in the mental aspects of what that healing process needs to also include. Our feelings and mind have an incredible influence over the body’s well-being and healing progress. In the majority of situations the feelings and mindset we have can influence the outcome we see as well. If we ignore these aspects then we are at risk for depression, anxiety, incomplete physical healing, long term limitation and even disease. There are numerous stories where we can see the power of belief, faith and even mindset when it comes to our health. It is very relevant in the necessity of healing whether that is from a broken bone, a mental health issue or even disease. Natural Health Indictors I often do recommend a urine, salvia and blood panel for numbers when working with a client. Numbers are helpful and can support findings the client and I discover on our journey to identify root causes to problems they are experiencing. However, the numbers only tell one side of the story. Assessing the eyes, skin, nails, hair, reflexes and what the person actually says about their health is where the majority of clues present. There are several methods by which I can get an idea of someone’s source of problem including, kinesiology, iridology, RBTI, magnetic response and other techniques we can triangulate cause. This is then backed up by what the person says and doesn’t say about their health. The ability to assess someone starts with an in-depth form to collect all kinds of information the person provides. From diet, sleep habits, stress levels and movement they regularly take in their day we can see how things link together to support their lifestyle. Then with clinical reasoning and conversation about their health the client and I can arrive at some reasonable conclusions about what is going on and why they feel they way they do. Results from a natural health consultation give us an opportunity to ask questions, find natural support methods for the problem and broaden the options for healing. We do not have to be limited to Western medicine restrictions of prescriptions and treatments that block, hinder and don’t offer long term results of improvement. How to work with me. To book a consultation to see if I am able to help you find root cause and decode the messages from your body, visit dragonspitapothecary.com

Ingredients in our personal care products is much like getting my son to try a new vegetable. You know it’s good for you but you fear the taste, texture or some element of it will not be to your liking. Does it really matter? The ingredients in things that we use so commonly every day. The packaging of them, shape, color, scent and style of it. I mean it is just toothpaste or deodorant and who has time to worry of such trivial things anyway. We just want clean teeth and not to stink right? Well in all honesty it does matter and for several reasons. Manufacturers want to make something as cheap as possible to increase the profit from that product Ingredients that give a longer shelf life can be very dangerous to our health When we use plastic filled items, we also absorb the plastic in our body so we’re not just creating environment waste but toxic waste in both the environment and ourselves Blocking sweat is one of the best ways to impact the health of your glands which in turn impacts your lymph Ingesting chemicals through oral use creates cellular damage to our digestive system lining and in turn impacts our cellular ability to absorb nutrients The ingredients in question when it comes toxic personal care products and why Toothpaste. Seemingly innocent tubes of paste meant to clean and protect our pearly whites. Well, most off the shelf toothpaste has way more than we need in the quest for whiter, brighter, and healthy teeth and gums. It is not just our toothpaste that is a victim to these situations either but our mouthwash and even dental floss! Here are 5 of the most common ingredients you will find: Alcohol – used because of antibacterial properties but it kills all the bacteria… good and bad. We need the good bacteria to help with digestive enzyme production that helps break down food when eating. It is also very drying to the mouth that further inhibits healthy enzyme production and may contribute to thrush, split and cracked lips and gum disease. Artificial coloring and flavoring – if there were 2 ingredients no food or personal care items needs it would be these two. Titanium dioxide is used commonly in kids toothpastes to make it more visually appealing. It has been linked to ADHD and have been scientifically proven to cause overactivity, inattention and impulsiveness. Aspartame – known as a carcinogen that is lined to cancer. When broken down in the body, it converts to formaldehyde that can cause headaches, memory loss, gastrointestinal issues. Formaldehyde is a poison. Fluoride – long debated as a good thing for protecting teeth especially in children. Fluoride is actually a poison that causes headaches, nausea, and digestive problems. Public water already contains more fluoride than we need daily so adding it to our toothpaste is further poisoning us instead of helping. SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate) – you may recognize this from your gardening bench. It is in fat a popular insecticide ingredient. Also used widely in detergents and soaps this is the equivalent of applying insect killer to your mouth and body every day. It is the ingredient that makes toothpaste foam. There are several other ingredients but these 5 in my mind are the ones that do the most damage to our health and that of our children. None of these ingredients are necessary when it comes to cleaning your teeth or helping prevent gum disease. Now let’s talk about deodorant. I get it you don’t want to sweat through your expensive blouse and smell bad. Nor do I but given what is in bulk of major brand deodorants sold I’m not sure it’s worth my health. There are ways to control sweating too that still support healthy skin and gland function without the necessity to plug off the all important armpit area of your body. Ingredients we need to be aware of and avoid include these: Aluminum – plugs the sweat glands and prevents them from surfacing into the pores. Promotes cell genomic instability though which means it promotes cell maturation which can lead to tumor growth. It also impacts your kidney function because they cannot filter out the aluminum that is absorbed into your body from your deodorant Tricolosan – kills germs that cause body odor supposedly. It however interrupts the endocrine system by interfering with hormone signals. It also has been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer. So if you have hormone imbalances this is one ingredient to check for you in your personal care products. It can also be found in hand soaps. Diethanolamine (DEA) – linked to cancer. To make DEA, the product undergoes a process to release a byproduct called dioxane which is a known carcinogen. Artificial Fragrances – just like artificial anything it means it is laboratory made from chemicals. Because these formulas can be proprietary you often have no idea what is in them to know the impact to your health. So the bottom line is, yes ingredients matter. The every day common items we use need to be things that help us do what we need while honoring our body and health. But does natural deodorant and toothpaste work? I have tried a lot of natural products in my own home to see what we liked better and gave good results. The surprising thing is most natural products do not cost more than regular stuff and the results are fantastic. To level set about deodorant, you were meant to sweat. That is your body’s way of eliminating waste and cooling. I get that sometimes that can be too much and not in the right situations. What I found from my own experience is a lot of times when I was over sweating I was actually experiencing other things that were causing it like hormone imbalance, menopause symptoms and even illness. Understanding why you are sweating is key to getting to the root cause of controlling how much you sweat and supporting solutions that work. Once these symptoms are addressed you can comfortably wear natural deodorant confidently without worrying about going through every blouse and shirt you put on. From my own family’s experience and my opinion we found the best results with these products: doTERRA OnGuard Toothpaste Burt’s Bees Kid’s Toothpaste Peach Refillable Deodorant doTERRA OnGuard Mouthwash Fresh Monster Kids Body Wash & Shampoo Fresh Monster Deodorant for Kids & Teens Reducing chemicals in the products we use every day makes good sense and empowers us to improve health with simple swaps. These changes are not only good for us but they help improve the environment by reducing waste. Very few good natural products use plastic containers and strive to find packaging that is eco-friendly. For help finding products that are right for you or natural health care support, book a consultation with me at dragonspitapothecary.com

Ok so it’s more like a couple thousand words but I feel like this isn’t something we talk enough about. Oh sure we talk a lot of what diet everyone is trying these days and looking at excited before and after pictures. We even talk about what we should not eat or can’t eat because we are on one of these diets. Yet despite what we are talking about we’re not losing weight and keeping it off. We’re not getting healthier either. So are diets working? The classic answer is no but I believe it bears a deeper look at what is causing that. Are they too hard? Do they not truly not work? Why do so many people gain back their weight plus some after losing it? There are lots of things we can blame but here too I think blame is the wrong perspective. Dieting is not the problem. Our approach to it is. Any diet that helps us to improve nutrition, eat more real food and reprograms our taste buds to no longer crave preservatives is a positive in my opinion. The trouble is the bulk of the food in the grocery stores is the opposite of what aligns with nutrition, real food and free of preservatives. The other side of this story is marketing and manufacturers spend billions telling us their food is healthy and chemically made ingredients are good for us. That cows and animals are contributing to pollution and crops can be mass produced safely. It’s all baloney. The cheap, slimy baloney that is injected with fake coloring and you’re afraid to read the ingredients kind of baloney. We have been taken so far away from the actual word diet that it has lost its meaning. The real meaning. It is buried under artificial sweeteners of diet drinks, and low-fat bags of rice cakes. Who seriously eats those cardboard things anyway? They are much akin to Twinkies that will never mold and be the last food on Earth after everything else is destroyed. Sigh. That’s not much to look forward to when it comes to food in that case. In all seriousness, the problem with dieting is we don’t use it to our benefit anymore. We believe it is a program we follow of restrictive eating and limited quantities that leaves us hangry for the sake of losing weight. That’s a very narrow view of dieting in fact. It doesn’t address how we emotionally crave food, what food does to our cells nutritionally or how we rebuild our destroyed mitochondria from years of toxic chemicals. Yes our very energy and reason we have cravings can be traced to physical intake of chemical based products. Oreos are addictive for a reason. There is also the emotional side of cravings from the dopamine rush they provide because our own brain has been reprogrammed to want certain foods for certain situations. Boyfriend just broke up with you? Eat ice cream. Bad day at work? Grab the chips and the remote. This is not to say we should never eat ice cream and chips again but it is how we are made to believe we deal with life situations and emotions, by eating them down, pushing them deeper. Then what is dieting? Dieting is simply what we eat every day. It is the individual choices we make each time we put food in our mouth. It is the deep rooted why we eat and what we choose to do about hunger. Somewhere in the mess of the diet industry we have disconnected our body from our emotions and recognition of signals they provide to tell us when something is needed. Food, rest, sunlight, water. Basic life things that we under-estimate the importance of and have distorted the meaning within. Dieting is how we support our body, mind and heart’s needs to support it doing what it was designed to do every day. In case you don’t know what that is… it is support to our very life itself. In all the complexity of the human body it comes down to supporting our needs with food, air, water, shelter, love and knowledge. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs was important work that still stands today. I don’t however think when it came up with that he was thinking of cookies and chips as the answer. How do you diet? Cleaning up your diet to lose weight is great but our reasons for doing it and longer vision of what that means makes the difference in what approach we take. That means really digging into what the weight on your body represents. We each gain weight for a variety of reasons and knowing what that reason is for you makes the next step more powerful. The trap of the diet world is that if we lose weight our life will be great! Problems won’t stand in our way and relationships will be golden. That simply isn’t true. To avoid toxic dieting we have to clean up the toxicity in our life, emotionally and physically. Until we really understand how toxic our body terrain has become then dieting simply adds more toxins. It is in our very cells, brain waves and energetic fields. All of it needs to be detoxed and reset to enable our body to work as it was designed. Your body knows how to heal itself. It was made to function at top level performance too. Our job in dieting is to find the formula that supports that growth and performance through optimal metabolic support. The hardest part of it I found was the emotional side of dieting. We have to learn to process our feelings in a healthy way. We have to express how we feel in a world where we are told not to cry, but to hold it all in and take it. That starts at such an early age in our lives that we may not even remember when we were first told not to cry or let our emotions lead us. I specifically remember being told to develop thicker skin and let bad things that happened roll off my back. After a while I figured out how to do that to succeed in the workplace. It left me depressed, overweight, stressed and burned out. Nothing in my life felt alive including myself but I was successful, or so I was told and paid. A good diet is one that honors how we feel as much as it honors what we need physically. If either is limiting, restrictive or makes us feel bad then it’s not a healthy diet. There is no moving wagon to fall off of when you are dieting in a way that respects yourself. This also means things like ice cream and dessert have a place in the wagon and we can enjoy these without the guilt that we cheated ourselves. It is a wagon we want to be on and it going safely down the road that we don’t fall off it. How to begin a new diet It can seem counterintuitive because of how we are taught to think about dieting but I recommend to clients they first start with a list of food they like to eat. What appeals to you and why? What food gives you pleasure and you enjoy eating? What do you look forward to eating the most? What’s your favorite dishes? A diet built around these elements makes the diet livable and able to be navigated in the real world. From there we look at day-to-day eating choices. What does your workdays and weekends look like for food? What do you drink and how much? These elements show us areas where we can incorporate things like habit stacking or swaps that don’t disrupt your life and bring in the nutritional value. Speaking of nutrition, I also muscle test all my clients to see where they may be vitamin deficient. Balancing vitamins is essential to ensuring we are getting nutrients in our body. Without them we encounter cravings, hormonal imbalances and stress that can lead to illness. It is important to incorporate the fruits, veggies, starches, proteins and fats in our diet. However, if you are not a fan of brussels sprouts it doesn’t matter how nutritious they are because you’re not going to eat them. We need to build in foods that work for us individually. This is where the diet industry fails us every time because it is an approach of conformity rather than individualization. To work with me on your nutritional framework and improve what it means to diet in your life, book at consultation at dragonspitapothecary.com/book-online

There’s very little that cannot be solved with a cup of tea. I don’t recall where I read or heard that saying but it is certainly applicable to many situations in life. The saying reminds me of the need to think things over, take a moment and just breathe. How appropriate for matters of health. Herbal bathing is a bit like meditation. I find people either really love it, find ways to make it work best for them or it is the most excruciating way to spend 30 minutes in their life. Ironically, I find the response usually aligns with the individual’s stress responses and energy vibrations. We are all capable of herbal bathing and yet depending on where we are in our mind-heart-body health and well-being will not only influence the outcomes of the experience but our perspective about doing it at all. When we are under high stress for instance, the last thing we can think about is self-care or stepping away from a situation. Yet it is in those very moments, we often need to do exactly that! The process of healing includes our own ability to strengthen ourselves while in the middle of a crisis or stressful time. Developing a Like for Herbal Bathing Sitting still, being quiet and alone sounds awful to a lot of people. We can be uncomfortable and not like the experience. Developing a comfort with being by ourself is healthy and helps us check in with ourselves. We can discern our own thoughts, reflect on what’s happening, dream of what’s next, solve complex problems and simply connect with God. Herbal bathing creates that space for alone time while also benefiting our mind-body-heart being. If this is new to you, I recommend starting out with 10 minutes. In that time, shut off your phone, step away from your desk, shut your eyes and just breathe. If a thought arises in your mind, hear it and let it float by. I promise it will still be there when you open your eyes. Get in a space that is quiet and just breathe. It doesn’t matter if it is the bathroom or a closet, find that little spot where you step away for a few minutes and just breathe. Build on that time to make it longer. No pressure applied to yourself of labeling it meditation or anything at all. Just breathe. When it becomes more natural to you, try meditative guided sessions like those on Insight Timer (free app). Develop a routine of stepping away to breathe during your week. I like to add a diffuser of essential oils in these experiences to provide an aromatic support. Try using lavender, ylang ylang, geranium, or your favorite aroma that invokes quiet peaceful feelings for you. Once you feel ready, expand your breathing practice to a herbal bath. Here you will soak for about 20 to 30 minutes in an aromatic tub of water that is warm, quiet, maybe dimly lit or bright and sunny, depending on your preference. Replicate the setting as much as possible to what you used in your breathing practice for lighting, temperature, quiet and aroma characteristics. Preparation the Tea for a Herbal Bath The process is as simple as making a cup of tea. Essentially you need a tub to soak in, some herbs, flowers, essential oils and water. Everything else can be customized to your liking and needs. There are three methods of making an herbal bath: Option 1 – Steep and Strain – you can make a tea with your ingredients, steep for about 15 minutes in very hot water then strain the mix in a covered bowl so the liquid remains and then pour it into your tub. This is great for premade mixes you do in advance and have ready to use. Option 2 – Direct Steep – this method is where you take your tea elements wrapped in a tea cloth (cheesecloth, t-shirt material or muslin) and hang it off the side of the tub. The best place is over the faucet where the hot water coming into the tub hits it. Use very hot water and let it cool to comfortably get in it. Option 3 – Free Float – if you don’t mind cleaning the tub of the pieces, this option provides a beautiful array of elements in the water that add to the experience and ambiance. You simply add your elements to the water to hot water, let it cool to comfortably get in it. Herbal Bathing Ingredients When it comes to what to use for your herbal bath tea the sky is literally the limit. It comes down to what your needs are, what aromas you like and what type of tea method you’re using. I don’t recommend for instance using the free float method with powdered milk and oatmeal because the mess in the tub is a sure way to ruin the de-stress you just achieved in your herbal bathing. Base ingredients are what you find commonly across herbal tea recipes. These ingredients compliment and support the herbs and provide support to the body depending again on your specific needs. Epsom Salt – use a non-scented natural Epsom salt. This provides magnesium to support pain relief and is helpful in balancing the emotions. It works well with all herbal bathing. Add directly to your water and let dissolve. Use approximately 1- 2 cups Pink Himalayan or Dead Sea Salt – this salt is a skin softener and supports blood pressure. It is helpful to scrubbing and expanding the benefits of the herbs for absorption. Use approximately 1/2 to 1 cup or as directed by recipe Baking Soda – opens the body to clear away impurities, relieves muscles. Use approximately 1/2 cup Citric Acid – this ingredient is option but gives the baking soda the bubbling action that can add to the experience. It feels wonderful against the skin and can add to the support of relaxing. Use approximately 1/2 cup. Fractionated Coconut Oil – aids in expanding the properties of dried herbs and essential oils using in directly in the bath through free float or direct steep methods. Use 3-4 tablespoons For herbs and aromatics the list is endless of possibilities. The guidance though is to use a high quality ingredient. You don’t want a manufactured ingredient that can cause skin sensitivity, respiratory concerns or other health implications because of being chemically produced. Herbal bathing is a natural health remedy that requires natural high quality pure ingredients. If you wildcraft your own ingredients from nature and your own backyard, be sure they are free of pesticides, chemical sprays and insects. Clean them well before using. Ingredients to consider: doTERRA Essential oils including Lavender, Chamomile, Frankincense, Eucalyptus, Geranium, Ylang Ylang, Dried herbs including chamomile, comfrey, chickweed, plantains, red clover, echinacea/coneflowers, rosemary, yarrow, peppermint leaves, ginger shavings Fruits including orange slices, pears, apples Flower petals like roses, daisy Finding the Right Herbal Bathing Ingredients Part of the fun is finding a tea mix that you love and works well with your body and needs. Get creative and try a variety of ingredients to see what you like and feel the best afterwards from using. For specific help consider these blends: Inflammation support – ginger, birch bark, yarrow Mental comfort – Melissa essential oil, lavender (oil or herbal form), rose petals Dry skin – powdered milk, oatmeal, salts, rose petals, geranium, chamomile Skin sensitive – calendula petals, plantain leaves, chamomile petals Herbal Bathing Gifts If you increase the mixture to make more than you need for 1 session, you can package them in jars for gift giving or ease of use in your next bath. Preserving your own herbs and fruits for bathing is also easy with a dehydrator. For natural health support schedule a consultation with me at dragonspitapothecary.com

There are times we need healthcare facilities, like hospitals. They have a role and purpose. Many of us rely on healthcare and are thankful for the advances they have made to save the life of a loved one. There is good with healthcare and many a good intended heart works in this space. However, they also have a great deal of shortcomings that hinder rather than promote health and well-being. It is with these in mind I find myself compelled to speak as I think it is preventing many of us from realizing how much of our health we are putting into the hands of others unnecessarily. Healthcare is the one of the largest industry businesses in our country, followed by pharmaceutical of course. It is not that we do not need these businesses or their profits are evil, but rather what we think we need them for and how they have come to dominate our health that there is a cause for concern. I believe the reason healthcare costs so much and has barriers for some accessing care is because we have afforded them that right by giving them our health. They can choose who receives care, what types of care and what it costs. We have given them our power in food, medicine and health – the very essence of vitality in life. When we get sick, most of us turn to a doctor’s advice and prescription pad to find relief quickly. We do not have time to be sick and it is not a comfortable situation even though most common illnesses are mere inconveniences. We are a people who dislike inconveniences and anything that is not instantaneous. The truth is though a lot of factors led to that event of being ill in the first place long before we started sniffling. Our lifestyle, diet, stress level, sleep patterns and care for ourselves indicate more than any other factor our state of health and where it is headed. Simply look at what you drink in a given day as a simple example. Most Americans start their day with a coffee, sweetened or not, and then switch to a soda or tea for the rest of the day. They finish their day with a glass of wine or two to wind down. Little to no water is actually consumed. Air and water are the basis of life every day. Yet we tell ourselves we need to boost to get through the day with caffeine and the alcohol in the evening to relax. On top of not taking care of ourselves there is another lie that impacts our health. Namely that getting healthy is expensive and is time consuming. Inflation certainly has driven up costs of food, services and goods and many families are struggling. Adding in extra food to accommodate a special diet or eating plan just does not fit into the budget it seems. Gym memberships, trainers, equipment, clothing also add to already stretched dollars. Here’s the truth though, eating real food, simple fruits, vegetables, proteins and cutting out the processed foods saves significantly. It saves on the grocery bill and it definitely saves on health care costs. Kicking sugary drinks and diet drinks, to drinking water saves hundreds of dollars a year! The truth here is most families struggle with letting go of convenience foods and drinks. It is a great time saver, the kids will eat it and we don’t have to think about it, just grab and go. Yet those types of foods are not only filled with ingredients that don’t fuel our bodies but they lead to physical and mental health problems, including ADD/ADHD, diabetes, obesity and more. Yes, it takes more time to cook a meal, prepare foods and have things ready but the savings and health influences far outweigh a little time spent in the kitchen. When food prices started to rise, our family stopped eating out. It was not something we did all the time before, but it was a treat about once a week for us. I started making freezer meals that could be cooked in the crockpot or Instapot. We planted some veggies in the backyard and made a competition of who could drink the most water each day. Not only did our nutrition improve but we saved a great deal in our grocery budget. Or rather we were not seeing our grocery budget expand significantly in response to the inflated prices and shortages on the shelves. It not only made a difference in our budget but in our health. The other change we made was we stopped buying a lot of packaged snacks, quick fix foods and sodas. If there is one place in your grocery list to save money it is these right here. Now, some will say but we have kids and they like these things or its convenient. I agree they are very handy but they are also filled with ingredients that are not healthy. Making a lot of these at home not only saves money but allows you to put in healthy ingredients. Seriously, making fruit snacks is one of the easiest and cheapest snacks ever! Our family loves snacks and we still have them but they look different. It’s non-microwave popcorn, homemade baked goods and even fruit like grapes and strawberries. When we find there are foods and drinks, we cannot live without, it is a craving. Cravings are emotional in nature. When we crave something like chocolate or a specific snack, it is an emotional response most of the time. Our body craves what we regularly feed it so if you feed it fruit and popcorn, it’s going to crave those things more than the chocolate bars and ice cream. This also points out the necessity of us to own our emotional health and understand it is part of our overall health state. Where doctors and the healthcare systems have failed us is in compartmentalizing our health and not treating us as whole beings of mind-body-spirit. We have fell for this lie that if we are not living a stressed out busy life we are not succeeding in life. If we are not in debt over our eyeballs then we are not doing things right. Whew those are big heavy things that not only make us unhappy but they impact our health. Stress is real and the impact to our mental and physical health are also real. Adrenal fatigue is real. Financial and lifestyle stress are some of the biggest causes of illness and disease. We can control all of it too and reverse the impacts. It is not some hippy bullshit to own your own health. I do believe living, eating and using nature as much as possible is vital but I also appreciate the modern conveniences and technologies that make that easier. There’s a balance but the non-negotiable is eliminating the toxic foods, stress and dependence we have placed on healthcare systems to know what is best for us. The more we own our own health upfront the less reliant we are on pharmacy prescriptions that cost hundreds of dollars a month to manage the impacts of stress and diet in our life. Walking the dog is free. Drinking water is pennies. Feeling happy and being healthy is priceless and affordable. If the last couple years has shown us anything it is just how much we need to reclaim our own lives. It is not just in the way we work by demanding more flexibility in location and work-life balance but in all of it. From the very foods we eat every day to how we spend our time and with who. Reclaiming our health means looking at things differently so we can live in a way that feeds our health. Most of the time, people are going to find that means returning to nature, the very air and water we need every day to thrive. The basic foundations of health are breathing clean air, removing toxins from our lifestyle and diet, eating real foods, moving our body, resting, and connecting our souls to others and nature. It is a very basic formula that still works, is uncomplicated and when practiced well gives us the best chance at the happy healthy life we are all seeking from prescriptions, vitamins and 30 minute workouts. Recognizing the signs in our life that are signaling where there are health risks is the best place to start making the changes that lead to better health and reduced dependency on the healthcare systems. Shifting our money to support and build health rather than continue to band-aid it is where we start to see transformations in what it means to live well too. It makes using the healthcare systems a matter of emergency rather than routine. If you are ready to live more naturally, let’s talk. I offer a variety of services to help you define a path of natural health for you and your family. Visit dragonspitapothecary.com to schedule a consultation. Citations: Joyce, Ashley. KFF. (2019 February 19) The Real Cost of Health Care. Retrieved, February 22, 2022 from: https://www.kff.org/health-costs/press-release/interactive-calculator-estimates-both-direct-and-hidden-household-spending/embed/#?secret=C0B9OohcOC#?secret=l0BOABPdsj Bloom, Ester. CNBC. (2017 June 23). Here’s How Much the Average American Spends on Health Care. Retrieved, February 22, 2022 from: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/23/heres-how-much-the-average-american-spends-on-health-care.html

When it comes to losing weight we want to hear the fast, winning stories that actually work. We want that fix to this problem that is preventing our jeans from zipping smoothly and being able to breathe afterwards. We want to not look at the scale and see the number go up after a week of starving ourselves silly. Despite all the diet plans, meal programs and trendy diet lifestyle products we still struggle to win against the bulge. Giving up carbs, limiting portions and depriving ourselves hasn’t equated to reaching that magical goal weight much less keeping it off long term. The sad fact is we are getting fatter and sicker as a society. Even children are now experiencing obesity, thyroid problems, nervous health and digestive problems at a young age. So what exactly is the secret to losing weight? It won’t be popular what I’m about to share because it is neither glamourous or fast. It is also not likely to make you much money which as a natural health practitioner means I’m sharing with you information freely and without profit. Yet it is the formula of success many simply have tuned out. First of all the calories in/calories out thinking is antiquated and does not work either. We need calories and burning out more than you take in falls in line with the diet mentality. It also is not sustainable long term. I do not subscribe to the deprivation mentality to losing weight. In my own struggles with dieting and weight management I know how hard it can be to shed pounds. When I became a holistic health practitioner I learned where the dots connected on losing weight and just how drastically different it is from all the lies we are told commercially for how to lose weight from the manufacturers and marketers of diet programs. Before I share this rather boring tale of how to achieve weight loss it bears setting the ground rules that make it all work. You have to break up with diet thinking for good. If it deprives you, limits you and makes you feel bad or guilty for cheating on it, that is diet thinking. The problem with this mentality is not only do we not lose weight but it sets up our mental health for depression, anxiety and guilt that wears on our being able to love who we are where we are The goal of weight loss has to be bigger than a number. If you’re only focused on losing weight because you think it will get you a job, relationship or make problems go away. Think again. The reason to lose weight is to be good to you. To love the journey you are on in this life and what that means to you. Problems will always be there no matter what size you are. Do not spend one more hot dime on a health coach that is not professionally trained in nutrition and health. “Coach” is a very trendy label these days so you have to beware as a consumer what you are getting. Many coaches are simply trying to sell you products or they are trained in only one type of program that is aligned in traditional diet thinking. That’s not for you… anymore. If food comes in a package with ingredients you cannot pronounce its likely manufactured and will not result in helping you long term lose weight or maintain it. You have to change how you think about food in terms of where it comes from, how it is made and what you are going to do with it in your body. Your taste will change. We have been overwhelmed with flavors and ingredients that are not natural. This has transformed our taste buds to not only have cravings but it is single handedly responsible for breaking us up from nature and how we were designed to eat. You may need to do some pre-work to detox your body, mind and heart so you can adequately absorb nutrients. Amazingly, we can be overweight and starved for vitamins, minerals and nutrients we need to function well. When you embark on a weight loss journey, it is about your physical body AND your heart and mind. All of you has to be ready for this experience and understand what that means to you as a whole being. If you only treat it as a physical problem you will experience just another diet. It’s important to implement these ground rules before going any further. Without the commitment to yourself on these elements you’ll find the rest of the steps challenging. To me, these ground rules represent more than just a quick ok too. Giving them the time to intentional shape and form in your mind and heart are highly recommended. Now, with that covered here’s what I tell clients. Please note that each client is individual and their needs are unique. Yours are too. That is why I cannot give you specific personal guidance in this format. What I am providing is general and good basic information to help you start. I recommend working with a professional holistic health practitioner like myself for customization that aligns to your specific health needs and goals. Drink good quality water every single day. I recommend distilled or reverse osmosis. Build up to consistently drink 50% of your body weight in water daily Reduce plastic. The toxins from plastic end up in your body. All forms of plastic. This contributes to toxic load in the body and prevents optimal health from emerging. Organic is more than fancy labeling. Real nutrition from food comes from foods that is minimally processed, has not been exposed to chemicals, pesticides, antibiotics or any of the numerous toxic waste that gets applied to foods. This changes how we shop, where we get food and what it comes in. This takes times to implement too so I advise clients to pick some foods to start with and gradually over time swap over to as much organic as you can get. Look at farmer’s markets, direct farm relationships and locally owned butcher shops for best deals and quality. Raw vegetables are essential. Every day have a raw vegetable. It doesn’t matter what kind but aim for at least one every day. Eliminate canned foods. Even cans that are BPA friendly contain chemicals that make that BPA possible. This contaminates foods and puts toxins in your body. Opt for fresh or frozen varieties. Change your salt. Table salt is a manmade product. We need salt in our diet so opt for pink Himalayan or Celtic Fat, fiber, protein, carbs, vitamins, minerals are all vital in your diet. This is where breaking up with the diet mentality will be demonstrated (and challenged). The American Heart Diet, Low-Fat Diet and more are not good diets for your health. Mitigate stress. It is amazing what a little stress reduction does to the waistline. Sleep. If you are getting less than 7 hours of sleep per night you are sleep deprived and your body is not getting adequate time to do necessary repairs. Apple cider vinegar. A tablespoon before each meal is very helpful in managing glucose spikes and supporting digestive functions Digestive enzymes and probiotics are essential. Due to the lack of food quality and how we eat our digestive system is often lacking in necessary enzymes to break down food and absorb nutrients Movement. Exercise does not need to be brutal to be effective. Several small movements during the day is best. Stretching and walking are the two best movements everyone can benefit from Beyond this list I recommend personalization of a plan that is specific to your health needs and goals. Again, working with a professional is where you will see the difference and avoid falling into diet mentality. To work with me, schedule a consultation at dragonspitapothecary.com

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) it is believed there are energy pathways running throughout our body carrying life vitality known as qi or chi. When a pathway becomes damaged or is blocked our vitality is impacted. This is where illness, disease and other health concerns arise that bring us pain and discomfort. Re-establishing and maintaining open pathways is the key to vitality and long life. It is the ultimate goal within the TCM modality. Given that TCM is one of our oldest known medicines and still actively in use today the pathways deserve respect in how we manage our health. One of these pathways runs along the center of the body from the tailbone, up the spine and neck over the center of the head and into the top lip. It is called the Governing Meridian because it is this unique pathway that accesses the body’s energy most directly as it connects to every other pathway in our body. I like to tell clients this is your life line within your body. This particular pathway is often focused on in natural health support because of its connection to everything else and because it is central to healing. When our body is out of balance providing support through the Governing Pathway can ease pain and provide the outlet for blockages to exit. It is also one of the best ways to release emotions that are trapped in the body that are causing discomfort. How Pathways Become Blocked in the Body There are several ways a pathway can become blocked, including from toxic exposure, environmental factors, and emotions. Balancing and encouraging good energy flow is vital for our overall well-being. Methods for repairing and re-establishing this flow is supported by TCM practices centered on mind-body-heart principles. When using the Emotion Code and Body Code, practitioners will clear energetic blockages, imbalances, and trapped emotions from the Governing Meridian. This is typically done by first identifying the specific energy that is causing an issue, then swiping a magnet along the Governing Meridian. Since the body is made of electromagnetic energy, the use of a magnet can attract the energy of the imbalance, essentially pulling the blockage from the body. It is simply a beautiful process. Having felt trapped emotions leave my own body, the release that can be felt is unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced. Most of won’t know one of our pathways are blocked. We may not feel our best or see our energy lower than normal and think nothing of it. Over time this lower mode of operation becomes our norm and we may attribute it to slowing down due to aging. The ability to decode messages in the body and work with them proactively is one of the best reasons to rely on natural health services as it can help prevent and restore the body earlier in the process. How do You Know which Pathway to Follow The great thing about TCM is the amount of knowledge that has been passed down generationally. It is a medicine still in very active use today by many natural health professionals. Their knowledge and skill will help you identify the blocked pathway and work to support healing. There are times when it can be difficult to pinpoint the exact situation so the Governing Meridian can be used as an overall start point for deep analysis. It is through this specific meridian we experience our emotions about how supported we feel in life. It is also where we carry burdens, distrust, and embarrassment. Sometimes we need to release these emotions first before we can see what else is behind them. The Governing Meridian nourishes the spine and brain and is aligned with mental well-being. In my opinion, too much of our health in the Western world is segregated from our whole being. If we break our leg, the primary concern is for the repair of the bone. Little to no focus is placed on the emotional aspects of that fracture. Yet there are very intentional feelings, emotions, and influences that also cause pain and slow healing. Separating our mind and heart from the physical body does not long term promote health of the individual. Connecting back into our Governing Meridian we find that with its connection to all the other pathways in the body, it is impossible to simply address a physical complaint without also addressing mind and heart. Healing Your Body Through the Governing Meridian A physical, mental and emotional experience can block the qi. Understanding and navigating the feelings of that experience is not something we are typically to do well so most of us stuff down our feelings. Yet the Governing Meridian invites us to reverse and let them out. Intentionally and specifically to release them before they become stuck in our body. The emotional pain of embarrassment can cause digestive issues. Embarrassment can also lead to anger impacting the liver. We often thing of a symptom as physical ailments only but in doing so we miss the reason those symptoms presented in the first place. This places an unnecessary burden on our overall health that prevents healing and the ability to thrive. I am particularly fond of the Emotion and Body Code work leveraging TCM principles to release these emotions. The process though requires us to believe our feelings and give credence to the fact it doesn’t serve us to continue to cram down feelings. This is particularly true when we attempt to lose weight. In this very sensitive health issue, emotions are at the center. We are frustrated, overwhelmed, sad, depressed, uncomfortable because of the weight but we are equally those things that led to this point. Something happened that, feelings were felt and maybe even eaten to hold in what we were not letting go of in the moment. Feelings literally get stuck in our fat cells as a way to protect us from pain we experienced. Maybe that was falling short of expectations, hurt from others or ourself, grief, loss, or something else entirely but there are feelings under that weight. Weight is never really just about weight. -Amy Kramer, Dragonspit Apothecary Releasing weight by being brave enough to assess and work through our feelings empowers us to no only pursue different numbers on the scale but to pursue living our best life in mind-body-heart. We become our whole being again in a way that honors and uplifts who we truly are. In doing so, the process of losing weight becomes less focused on the weight loss and more about overall health and well-being. I call this the real reason we want to lose weight. If you are looking for natural health support in your health and well-being, including losing weight, I am accepting new clients. You can book a consultation with me at dragonspitapothecary.com

We often think of weight gain as the culmination of poor eating choices and overindulgence. If only that was the real culprit then it would be logical that eating better would lead to weight loss. This is not to say we generally could not do better in our food choices but I blame this limited theory on the diet and medical industries who have separated us from understanding how the human being works in its wholeness. When we see a health problem as an isolated situation, such as physical body weight that is in excess, we diminish ourselves into individual parts. We lack the clarity to see the situation and ourselves as a whole. For example, if we break our arm, in the medical and pharmacy setting the arm is isolated from the rest of the health of the body, mind and heart. No mention of what is happening elsewhere in the body is addressed or what it is doing to us mentally. Certainly no mention of our feelings about it are discussed either as all attention is directly placed on that fracture only. We are more than bones, muscles, tendons and organs. Our elemental design is not something that can be treated successfully if we isolate parts of ourselves. It is not how healing occurs in our body. By discounting our emotions and spiritual needs in health we disconnect ourselves from ourselves. Even when it is seemingly “just a broken arm.” Using that approach we immediately see the gaps and fail points in the diet, medical and pharmacy space when it comes to weight loss and weight management. We have been marketed to and told by doctors and pharmacies, the diet industry of companies and nutritional advisors that all it takes to lose weight is restriction of foods, using diet foods, and increasing exercise. The old adage calories in equates to calories out and if you can’t get them all out, eat less. Less is not more when it comes to weight loss. This is why dieting fails every single time. The truth is weight is never just about weight on our body because we are more than our physical weight. We are human beings in a human body that has complex and individual needs that are not always easily aligned to restrictive dieting and harsh workouts. It also is not a matter of lacking willpower and motivation. Anyone who has tried to lose weight knows very well, how emotionally frustrating it is to see no pounds lost after restricting yourself all week and busting your butt in a stinky gym. Worst yet, a gain of weight after all that effort is the most demoralizing experience of weight loss. The secret is not further food restriction and punishing workouts. Often it is bigger and yet simpler than what we have been led to believe. It starts with understanding our emotions. Emotionally we are each complex and unique. We can have similar experiences with completely different emotions and perspectives about it. These experiences not only shape how we see the world but how they are experienced in our body and spirit. All experiences are energy just like we ourselves are energetically designed. This vibrational energy that makes all that we do and how we do it from the smallest movement of our toe to the growth of our hair is an energetic sensation. Feelings, emotions, thoughts and opinions are also energetically derived. They can also be very different for each of us. When we have an emotional experience we also have a bodily and spiritual experience too because we cannot separate our body and spirit from that of our mind. All three parts of our being leverage our senses, experience things together and carry that forward to shape who we become next. It not only shapes how we think, but what we feel and how our body responds to it. For example, if we have the experience of being chased by something that is a physical experience and a mind and heart experience. We perceive a danger, take action to keep ourselves safe and maybe say a prayer we are kept safe. It is not just our body that moves in the face of danger. Our mind is going over what to do, where to do that is safe. Our heart is pounding with excitement and feelings of fear, worry and concern for our safety. This is all while our arms and legs are pumping as fast as they can carry us away from that danger. We are one being with all these parts of our self being together in all things of who we are all the time. When it comes to our health it is illogical to carve out just the physical pain in the area it is coming from. – Amy Kramer, Dragonspit Apothecary Understanding how we work as beings and the energy we vibrate to make it all possible we can now explore how our feelings and emotions contribute to our physical health. It also resonates logically with why we can struggle to lose weight. If we are ignoring how we feel or are full of disgust about our weight than it creates a negative effect in our being that further buries weight. We hide ourselves. We cover ourselves up in black clothing. We avoid shopping for clothing. We stop feeling good about ourselves inside and out. All the feelings and emotions we feel about ourselves are strong indicators of just how easy or hard it can be to lose weight. It is also a predicator of how long we can keep it off. Lacking a healthy relationship with yourself doesn’t just change if you are a small size. Those feelings manifest into physical sensations in our body. They change how our cells respond and rebuild. It is common knowledge if we suffer things like depression we are more likely to have a weakened immunity that makes us susceptible to illness. The same occurs when we’re talking about weight gain and weight loss. Sometimes weight gain, and struggles to lose weight, are our body’s way of protecting us from physical and emotional pain. Fear, trauma, negativity, negative energy, outlook, experiences, perspective, worldview – all have 1 thing in common: All of these things can get caught in our body and stored in our fat cells. When this happens, Our cravings increase Our energy decreases Our organ systems convert more to saving energy in the even it may need it for an emergency Our stress responses trigger and stay triggered in an “on guard” state This describes the class stress response of our body. It happens because of the experience and our body is forming protection to help us. Even if there is no active threat! If we have not dealt with the emotions of it and processed them our body does not know that threat went away. Since we are not taught to process our feelings and often are instead taught to be stoic, hold them in and not let pain show, it ends up impacting our mental and physical health. We lack the structure and safe places to express feelings so we wait until there are pain, symptoms, breakdowns, depression and emotional eating that’s out of control before we hopefully get help. Unfortunately for most of us that means a trip to the doctor for a prescription of anti-depressants which do not support healing, processing feelings or dealing with the root causes of what’s happening. What also happens is big and little things get built up over time. We think we’re over it … or rather we tell ourselves it doesn’t bother us anymore and we push on with daily life. Yet do we really? No. In honesty, we’re trudging through our day looking forward to going home, putting on our stretchy pants and going mind-numb in front of the electronics. We beat ourselves up for not wanting to do more, knowing we need to do better but we don’t. It’s just easier. We have a lot going on right now so we’ll get to it once things get calmer. Sigh. We insist we’re over whatever hurt happened too but this couch stationary, mind-numbness shows: Our body didn’t get the memo Our heart still hurts about it Our mind still overthinks it Releasing emotional weight takes work but when its done on love to yourself, grace of forgiveness you find it’s freeing, like a literal weight has been taken off your body. We begin to work with our whole self and not just the physical aspects of cellulite and eating a proper diet. Without our mind and heart also aligned any diet attempts also usually fail miserably as we commonly see with the amount of people who attempt to start and restart dieting every week. The work of releasing emotional weight is not a five minute fix! The element of instant that is so prevalent in our society prevents most of us from putting in the work and sticking to something that can help us. Once we see progress or not, after a while we give up on it for not being fast enough. If there is anything I learned in natural health medicine, it is that we have to burn this type of thinking. Our beings are so unique that the time it takes to heal and change is what our beings need it to be. Once we’re ready to take on the work and commit to being on our own time schedule and journey for it, we can feel a little lost. We are so used to having a prescribed formula for success to follow that seeing our own path in front of us can be intimidating. Part of this process includes building our own self identify and confidence but I understand the intimidation factor that can present if you have always followed instead. This though is a great way to use that opportunity to explore who you are and what you want in your life. Here I thought we were just talking about eating less chips but it is really about knowing yourself in the most loving way. – Amy Kramer, Dragonspit Apothecary Developing a way to process emotions in the process is key. Along the way though we need to release what we have not processed. This is one of the ways Flower Essence therapy and Emotion Energy work can help. These two natural health modalities support our whole being in what is blocking us from feeling like ourselves. They help stimulate our body to do what it needs for healing in physical, mental and spiritual areas together. When emotions get stuck in our body as a result of an experience we can use these modalities to free the pathway and allow natural energy to flow again. Think of it like a short in a power cord where the lamp works some of the time but the other times its flickering and you have to wiggle the cord just right to get it to work. Or we can fix the short and our lamp works well when we pull the cord on it. Flower essences and emotion energy work re-establish our body’s balance to stimulate the ability to process emotions as we were designed to do. Weight loss is less about the loss of weight and is more a healing journey of a lot of different experiences. It is food, movement and rest but it is also emotional and hormonal balancing, re-establishing a relationship with ourselves and improving how we see ourselves. The aspects of a physical diet and changes also impact us emotionally and spiritually. Finding the balance between mind-body-spirit is where we realize healing on all levels, true health and weight loss but most important a way to accomplish those things that is right for us individually. We were designed to enjoy food, eat nutritiously and savor life. We were made to be happy, fulfilled, content, satisfied and inspiring in body, mind and heart. This is exactly why we cannot isolate the weight loss experience to simply what the scale and our pant size metrics. Our body knows how to lose weight and be healthy. We may need to support it through decisions we make, like taking a supplement for example, but we do these things to stimulate our body’s ability to naturally heal. Weight loss is about healing physically, emotionally and spiritually. In the process we are releasing what we have held close to our mind-body-spirit and emerging as our true self. It is also about releasing the standards by which beauty and health are defined. When we strike out to discover ourself we realize the standards by which others define both beauty and health are not only irrelevant but ill-intended. They block our ability to be ourself so therefore they create barriers to our own health. Releasing emotional weight comes down to our own desire to be ourself now and in the future. It is letting go of the expectations and influence of the outside and focusing inward for healing, renewal, strength and love. By changing our energy inside we radiate healthy positive energy on the outside. That influences how we think, what we feel and what our body looks like. It literally changes our cellular makeup! For help with your nutritional needs to support health and weight, check out my Natural Weight Management Program at dragonspitapothecary.com You can also book an individual consultation with me at dragonspitapothecary.com/book-online

There are several thoughts when it comes to natural medicine, how we use it and what is an individual’s perspective about safe. The amazing thing is though it’s been around for thousands of years, and is man’s first medicine, the question of safety still comes up. Granted over time people have done and used some unsafe things in their time but yet natural medicine has been consistently in use through it all with little adaption. So why then do we continually find it necessary to ask if it is safe? At one point I too have asked the question about natural medicine being safe. You hear so many things it’s hard not to wonder some times. I’ve had potential customers even tell me they won’t use a natural product because it’s not governed and protected under the FDA. This always seemed strange to me too so I actually looked it up one time. Who Oversees Natural Medicine? The FDA does actually monitor and in some cases approves natural medicine in addition to numerous other products, pharmaceuticals and items people consume. Since natural health products, including herbs, homeopathies, essential oils, and more are not pharmaceuticals but rather based from nature itself, they are considered food. The FDA actually stands for Food and Drug Administration. Natural products therefore fall into the food side of their operation and are listed as safe. The exception is homeopathy. The FDA monitors homeopathy remedies but does not regulate them. There is a current push by big pharma and medical associations to remove homeopathy access. This appears to be mostly monetarily driven as most homeopathic remedies are inexpensive and rely on nature rather than expensive labs. The United States is one of the few nations that does not actively support homeopathy. It is practiced worldwide commonly. In fact, it is known that Britain’s Royal Family and Mother Theresa used homeopathy for their health needs. Now, here’s the catch. There’s always one right? Let’s consider for a moment the number of drugs on the pharmacy side of the FDA’s operations. There are over 100 approved medicines on their list that are considered unsafe and dangerous by other countries, including Great Britain. Yet we here in the United States have them on our list as safe and approved for human consumption. There are many more with side effects and potential dangers listed in very small print that you get when you pick up one of these medicines at your local pharmacy counter. We often don’t think twice of asking about the safety of these medicines because they were prescribed to us by a guy in a white lab coat who is seen as trustworthy. On the other side of the aisle there are numerous food and natural products that also go through extensive scrutiny to be on this magical list. If you consider that some of the foods such as potato chips and Fruit Loops are considered edible and safe, next to ginseng and zinc supplements that are naturally derived from the Earth, therein lies the true question we should be asking about safety efficacy and the management by this organization. If you are truly concerned with safety, the FDA is most likely not the best source of judgement for any form of natural or other product, in my humble opinion. What I advise my clients on is to use common sense in all things. If it comes from nature and you would eat it in a forest, apply it to your body or use it in some way to help you, then the natural form is most likely safe in a natural health product. Quality and bioavailability greatly matters. This is why I also recommend they work with a professional practitioner like myself to help obtain the best available to ensure safety. How to know if your natural product is safe It really comes down to consumer awareness in finding and using natural products, or any product for that matter, safely. When it comes to natural products, there are easy ways to discern safety and use so you know if you’re getting value as well as quality. Here’s some things to look for: Product brand. Many manufacturers are jumping on the organic, simple, and natural bandwagon because of consumer demand. Unfortunately the brand label is not always going to be able to be a good source of determine quality or safety. Know the company you’re buying from and if it is owned by a major brand. That is often a tell-tale how natural the product may actually be or if it contains cheap synthetics to be able to be mass produced. Ingredients. You need to be a label reader. Understand the difference between toxic and natural ingredients, synthetic fragrances and other key words on the label that tell you if it is a pure natural product or not. Bioavailability. The ingredients will also tell you the quality of bioavailability. This is where specifically with vitamins and supplements, you know how well that product will absorb into your cells and deliver benefits or simple be a placebo or troublemaker in your body. Normally, getting products from a holistic and natural practitioner is your best source for vitamins and supplements because they have access to good quality natural products that you cannot otherwise get off the grocery shelf. Source. Your place of purchase often tells you if the product is good natural based or not. Most natural products, including good organic foods, are not going to be found in your major big box grocery stores. When pursuing a more natural lifestyle you often find yourself in cool vitamin shops, natural health care clinics, farmer markets and where nature is grown. Testing. Pure natural products go through extensive testing for purity and quality. This is often done by the company at their own expense to demonstrate the quality of the product and adhere to standards they have set for themselves that go above and beyond government guidelines. A web search will provide this information to you openly at trusted companies. (This is specifically why I use doTERRA essential oils by the way because their test data is readily available and traceable to the farm the product was derived from.) Working with Professionals When it comes to finding natural medicines you can trust, a little homework is required. Working with a professional naturopathic doctor or holistic health practitioner is also a great way to learn which products are best. The good news is most practitioners have online resources to help you as well. I, for example, have an online dispensary where clients can get access to natural products of companies I am associated with that carry only top quality, high bio-available natural products. I can also pre-load recommendations from your consultation into your dispensary cart for ease in ordering. This is convenient to give you the right products from a variety of companies that carry good products while offering you direct access to special pricing. Unfortunately, in most cases you will not find the quality in big box stores that you can by working with a natural health professional. To work with me To book a consultation to work with me, please visit dragonspitapothecary.com/book-online