Turmeric: Sunshine for Your Soul

When we look at the history of herbal medicine, we see a set of healing tools passed down from generation to generation, through observations and stories. Now, in our modern world, we elevate science above all other ways of knowing and the double-blind, placebo controlled studies have become our holy grail. People say, “Prove it to me. Show me the study that that herb does that.” The truth is that ALL of these perspectives matter.

As one of my mentors Paul Bergner said at a recent lecture I attended, “Show me the science of delight!”

Well, I can’t, but I can tell you about a delightful experience I had this week with Curcuma longa - what you may know as turmeric.

For the last few months, the inflammation in my body has been increasing. Inflammation is going to mean different things to different folks, so let me tell you what it means in my body:

~I have been waking up feeling heavy in my limbs with swollen eyes. Far from ready to start my day.

~Global puffiness in my body. Just the sense that I’m holding onto water (water puts out fire, you know).

~Unusual abdominal bloating, along with a heavy, anxious feeling in my chest.

~Dark thoughts and a loss of motivation. Life became effortful.

~Mental fog.

~Feeling like everything is an emergency, unable to prioritize tasks.

~Weepy, with feelings of overwhelm.

~Lots of sneezing and mucus.

~Cravings for stimulants, like coffee.

~Just an overall feeling of sludging along. Surviving each day, but not really enjoying it.

After a consultation with one of my clients who had benefited from turmeric, I thought, well, maybe I should try it. I was skeptical because historically this herb gave me diarrhea and the entire herbal industry worships it, somehow making it less appealing when there are so many herbs available to us.

In the spirit of learning something new, I took a dose last Friday night. I used MediHerb’s Turmeric 1:1 liquid extract. I took a 5 milliliter dose, which is one teaspoon (I am now taking 2 teaspoons per day) with dinner, and I woke up Saturday morning and felt so different:

~My eyes were open.

~My steps and spirit felt lighter.

~I was thinking clearly again.

~My abdominal bloat was gone, and so was the feeling of heaviness in my chest, which I have learned is a very specific indication for turmeric in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

~I felt optimistic, calm and centered.

~Oh, my glorious bowel movements! They are masterpieces.

~And I’m peeing again. Water is moving out of my body!

~My wedding ring fits.

And the improvements didn’t stop with my own personal observations.

~My mom came over that next day, and she said, “You’re eyes sure do look better today. I didn’t want to say anything, but the other morning when I came over for breakfast, you looked like you had gone out and partied the night before!”

~In a phone meeting with a number of people, the consensus was: Charlotte, your voice sounds different.

~I went to my 20-minute Slow Burn strength-training workout on Wednesday, and my trainer said, “Good lord. You’re a super woman today. Last time you did that particular exercise you lasted 1 minute and 43 seconds. You just made it to 2:18!”

Behold the power of this amazing culinary herb. We aren’t talking about a drug here people. We are talking about a cooking spice in the ginger family that offers gentle yet profound liver, immune, digestive, and detoxification support. I am in awe.

And we think of coffee as a performance enhancer? How short-sighted is that?

Speaking of coffee, I haven’t had any for four days. I have been wanting to drink it less, and preferred to have it more as a treat than a daily beverage, but I just couldn’t muster the strength. After a few days of turmeric coursing through my blood stream and feeling so full of life, giving it up has been absolutely effortless. No withdrawals. Just a sustained sense of wellbeing. Now, I am back to enjoying my green tea.

You won’t find this information is a scientific study. The right herb at the right time for the right person can facilitate major changes in your life, elevating your consciousness, and helping you take those next steps, whatever they may be.

While turmeric is a potent anti-inflammatory, I now know that it is also sunshine for your soul.

Thank you, dear turmeric, for lifting my spirits when I needed you most. May you help many, many more people find their light in times of darkness.

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If You're Not Weird, You're Screwed

This last weekend, I had the pleasure of attending a seminar by Dr. Michael Gaeta, titled All Disease Becomes Autoimmune. While I learned a lot, Dr. Gaeta made a statement that moved me. He said, “If you’re not weird, you’re screwed.”

I’m going to tell you why. There’s an interesting thing that happens when you start healing. You will feel weird as you make new decisions, and in that, you will begin to see things differently. Your very existence will begin to challenge the status quo. In essence, you become more sensitive to life.

This concerns people. They whine, “But I can’t do the things I used to do! I don’t want to be the weird one!”

This is true. You can’t do as you please anymore because when you wake up to wellness, you start to pay attention to things you weren’t aware of before.

I spent decades numbing myself with sugar and excessive exercise. When I stopped using food and exercise as drugs, I started to FEEL.

It wasn’t always pretty, and still isn’t.

Feeling fully alive isn’t all “happy, happy, joy, joy.” Real healing is hard, it’s weird and it involves recreating yourself over and over and over again. Healing is work! As you expand in consciousness, the things that no longer serve you fall away.

From my perspective, here are 10 signs that your vitality is coming forth and that your weirdness is saving you:

#1 You start to annoy people (a lot).

In general, people know what they need to do to feel good. Eat more vegetables. Drink water. Move your body. Eliminate gluten. Etc. So when you start to actually DO these things, you become a reflection of their failures. They act irritated with you, but they are really irritated with themselves.

You’re not trying to be annoying. It just comes naturally!

These people might try to sabotage your diet and healthy lifestyle choices by saying things like, “Come on…you can have just a little pizza. Don’t be so uptight!” or my favorite, “Do you have a real allergy to that food or is this, you know, just a diet?”

Your job: Keep doing what you know is right for you. Don’t argue and don’t try to convince anyone of anything. Just do the next right thing for yourself with as little explanation as possible. Actions speak louder than words.

#2 You get new friends.

All change is a form of loss. Grieve the good times you had with your sugar-eating, beer-drinking buddies. It’s sad to say good-bye.

But you’re worth it.

Your job: Allow new people to come into your life. If you’re living in a model of wellness, then like-minded people will find you.

#3 Staying up late makes you feel sick.

The other day, I talked to a parent who explains their teenager’s curfew like this, “Nothing GOOD happens after 11PM.” It’s true when you’re a teenager and it’s true now.

Your job: Continue to go to bed as close to 9PM as possible. This is an exercise in discipline that will make you stronger in every other area of your life.

#4 You quit your job.

Toxicity can come in many forms. Sometimes it is your immediate environment; other times there is toxic energy. When your vitality starts bubbling up, don’t be surprised if your current job starts to make you spiritually or physically sick. It’s ok.

Your job: Find a new job that honors who you are becoming. You are a co-creator in your life. Follow your hunches and curiosity. Those little feelings are Spirit talking to you. As you heal, those messages will become much clearer and louder. You don’t have to have it all figured out. Just keep paying attention.

#5 You become intolerant to horror movies, violence, television, and soap operas.

I grew up watching movies and television shows that mirrored the physiological stress that I was putting my body through with my poor food and lifestyle choices. This type of entertainment literally makes me nauseous now, and that’s a good thing!

Your job: Seek out feel-good stories. Sweet stories about life that may make you cry healing tears. And just get rid of your television. The media does not portray reality.

#6 You realize that malls suck.

Once again, I grew up where going to the mall was a BIG treat. A special day. Not anymore, now going to the mall is a nightmare. I have to chew a Kava Forte just to pull into the parking lot. The chemical smells, the fluorescent lights, the processed foods, and the people working at the kiosks that assault you with their latest deal – all of it makes me want to vomit. Malls symbolize the misguided part of our culture that tells us that buying more shit will make you happy. It won’t. It’s a lie.

Your job: You are starting to learn that happiness is an inside job. It comes from eating real food, using herbal medicine, sleeping, and moving – not too much and not too little. Happiness is a result of hormonal harmony because you’re making the decision to support your vitality. You also realize that shopping at local businesses, like farmer’s markets and one-of-a-kind stores, is the way to go. Money is an exchange of energy, you pay attention to this now.

#7 Sugar tastes too sweet.

You go to a party and you eat the ice cream and cake and you realize that it’s way too sweet. This is a monumental occasion because you no longer have to live on will power. You now make dietary decisions based on the wisdom coming deep from within you. How liberating.

Your job: Consume bitter herbs, like dandelion root and artichoke leaf. Bitter is the antidote to sweet. Bitter educates your taste buds and the more that bitter becomes a part of your diet, the less you will want sugar.

#8 You get sick and love it!

Now, maybe love is an overstatement, but really, your relationship to your body changes when you start to cultivate your vitality. You understand that getting sick is healing. You understand that a fever is a therapeutic event that rarely, if ever, needs to be interrupted. You celebrate your snot and mucosal excretions, thinking to yourself, “Look how amazing my body is! I am an incredible self-cleansing organism!”

Your job: Be defiant. When you are sick, be sick. Stay at home. Rest. Fast. Take hot baths. And when you feel better? Don’t go back to work. Take 2 more days off to honor the convalescent period of healing. You know you will be stronger if you do this right and weaker if you don’t. You know in your soul that the world WILL go on without you. You know that being sick is a time to set aside your ego and let the body’s wisdom take over. You allow acute illness to transform you on all levels.

#9 You use the medical system for emergency care.

Unless you are dying or need immediate medical attention due to an accident, you don’t go to the doctor. You understand that the only person who has any business birthing a baby is a midwife. Being pregnant and giving birth are NOT medical events. They are sacred events and the body is best left alone during this time.

Your job: Develop your natural medicine cabinet. We don’t have drugs in our house. We have natural tools available from Standard Process and MediHerb. As you learn to trust your body, you will learn to trust all of life. The medical system is there if you need it, but it is a last resort, not the first line of defense.

#10 You get angry.

Vital people get mad and then go do something about it.

It’s hard to give a shit about anything while you lounge around the house on your couch like a zombie watching movies, drinking Coke and eating Cheetos.

But when you enliven yourself with real food, good sleep, and appropriate exercise, you have sustainable energy and can see the injustices in this world. What moves you and what moves me are likely to be two different things.

Your job: Trust that voice within you and go take care of that corner of the world.

God isn’t going to save us.

You are.

God isn’t outside of us, somewhere out there, pulling strings. God is life-giving energy that is in you and me and everything in between. It manifests as vitality in the human form.

As Dr. Gaeta said, during his seminar this weekend, “The primary function of a conscious person is to interfere with the status quo.”

So this is it, my friends, be weird or be screwed. It’s your choice. I know what mine is….

Be weird in peace!

Love,

Charlotte

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Let Your Light Shine with Cigarettes, Alcohol and Sugar

Cigarettes, alcohol and sugar have something in common: they all make us feel more alive. I knew that I was deep into my healing process when I started to develop compassion for my so-called bad habits. I actually started to thank sugar for the role it played in my life!

The truth is, we don’t engage in any activity that doesn’t benefit us in some way, so please, please, please, ease up on your self.

Wellness doesn’t always look like yoga with green drinks and giggles.

Sometimes it looks like working in the trenches, just trying to survive…with blood, sweat, and tears.

Make a decision right now to stop comparing your journey to someone else’s. We are all fighting invisible battles with advantages and disadvantages on all sides.

And we give up our vices when we are good and ready. So if you are going to continue to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, and eat sugar, I am going to show you how you can help protect yourself.

You can think of what I am about to teach you as things that you can add to your life that will make your light shine brighter, effectively pushing out the dark riders. This is distinct from pulling the rug out from under your self with nothing to stand on.

I wish I had known about these things 14 years ago when I gave up sugar. I gave up my drug of choice when I was sick with an acute mononucleosis infection. My vitality was at an all-time low, and I eliminated the very thing that was giving me life. I ended up with panic attacks and unimaginable fatigue. I couldn’t hold down a job. Everything was a big fat mess.

Yes, there are other ways to do this! That said, my journey took me where I needed to go and so will yours. I can only hope that these tips will help!

The number one herb I turn to for this type of support is Cynara scolymus, commonly known as globe artichoke. Many people are familiar with the food called artichoke, which is part of the plant called the bract that we dip into butter, lemon, and garlic sauce (yum!). What I am specifically referring to here are the leaves of globe artichoke. That is the medicine…

Very bitter medicine. It kind of reminds me of burnt popcorn that, well, just came out of the ground.

While that may sound unappealing, it’s a very good thing. The bitter taste is missing from our diet, and we need it now more than ever, so pucker up and go for it!

Globe artichoke leaves are profoundly good for your liver. Many people are familiar with milk thistle for liver support. Globe artichoke is like milk thistle on crack.

It has a protective effect on the liver and exhibits cleansing properties. It maintains healthy bile production and flow, which is a key component to good digestion, particularly when it comes to breaking down fats and having amazing bowel movements.

There are two ways that I like to take globe artichoke:

1. You can buy dried leaves in bulk from vendors like Pacific Botanicals and Mountain Rose Herbs to make a bitter tea. Steep a heaping tablespoon in a quart of hot water with a dash of peppermint leaves to round out the flavor for 20 minutes. Strain and drink throughout the day.

2. I also like Globe Artichoke 1:2 liquid extract from MediHerb, available through health professionals. Take 2.5 mLs diluted in an ounce of water before each meal.

***If you have gallstones, please be aware that bile-enhancing herbs may not be your best option. It is best to consult with your holistic health professional.

Curcuma longa, also known as turmeric, is another winner when it comes to offering your body a layer of protection.

I’ve also been enjoying the Golden Child almond milk from Dulcis Milks. She nailed the flavor profile – amazing!

Remember, we can limit our thinking to the organ we call the liver OR we can expand our perspective to include every single cell in our bodies. The latter option seems much more exciting, right? So think of each cell as a mini version of you, and when you turn on liver function with bitter herbs, then you just improved the function and detoxification capacity of ALL of your cells.

Besides supporting the liver energy in your body, there is another thing you can do: support your microvascular circulation.

Insulin, the hormone secreted from your pancreas to regulate your blood sugar in the face of smoking, alcohol, and sugar...constricts blood flow in the peripheral parts of your body, like your fingers, hands, toes, feet, brain, (and yes, men, your penises) and in tissues like the retina, long nerves, bones, joints, liver and kidney.

This is where much of the damage comes from with nicotine and refined carbohydrates and where many of our age-related diseases manifest, but there is something you can do...

The final piece of guidance I have for you comes from my mentor Kerry Bone, herbalist, teacher, biochemist and founder of MediHerb. He calls it his 5-Point Dietary Plan for Healthy Microvascular Circulation. It is brilliant and effective.

#1 Boost dietary nitrate.

Beets accumulate nitrates, which promote nitric oxide in the body. Nitric oxide will support healthy microvascular circulation and blood pressure. Nitric oxide is water soluble, so it is best to bake or juice your beets, not steam them, for the most benefit.

#2 Increase cocoa intake.

There are 30 grams in one ounce, so this is not a lot of chocolate. Cocoa has been shown to stabilize endothelial function of the blood vessels when stressed by high blood sugar.

#3 Increase berry anthocyanin intake.

This would include blueberries (considered less active than bilberry), strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, even pomegranate. Berries improve the integrity of connective tissue, which as a part of blood vessels is essential to healthy circulation.

#4 Raw crushed garlic: ½ to 1 clove per day.

Garlic demonstrates blood-thinning activity. It also dilates the microvascular system: specific compounds in garlic interact with the red blood cells to produce hydrogen sulfide, which is a gas involved in cellular communication that relaxes the blood vessels. You can easily add fresh, raw garlic to your salad dressing and meals.

One suggestion is to chop a garlic clove and add it to a shot glass. Cover it with honey and stir. Use a spoon to scoop it out of the shot glass and place the garlic honey mixture at the back of your throat and then swallow with a drink of water (no need to chew). The honey helps to mitigate any excess heat from the garlic that can irritate some people.

#5 Increase herbs and spices: green tea, turmeric, and ginger.

It is important to note that while any single one of these things is good for you, the synergy of all five is what creates meaningful, physiological change in the body.

I just heard someone say the other day that an overnight success is really ten years of work. So it goes with the healing process. Start where you start. Guilt and shame are not healing emotions. They only point to the need for reflection and compassion and self-love.

And if you take one step forward and ten steps back, acknowledge that you did take one step forward.

May you smoke your cigarettes, drink your alcohol, and eat your sugar in peace, my friends.

Love,

Charlotte

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