Namaste everybody! Welcome to today’s show from Namaste Nutritionist, where we explore designing a fulfilling life, with nutrition, food, spirituality, fitness, stressing less, and a lot more. For those wondering who I am, I am your host, Francis. I am a registered dietician and a long time yoga instructor. You can find me at namastenutritionist.com. Today’s interview is from a master herbalist, Rebecca Potter, and we’re going to talk about how herbs can help you keep your immune system laser sharp, why getting a flu shot might not be your best defense from the flu, and specific herbs to help you avoid getting the crud. We have show notes that outline a lot of the tips presented in this interview, plus there’s a bonus in our show notes. So, be sure to get back to the show notes to get hold of that information. And Rebecca, thank you so much for compiling all of it for most of us.
So, lets jump Rebecca’s bio and then the interview. Rebecca received her Master’s degree from the School of Natural Healing. Her journey into herbal healing began after experiencing its healing powers first hand. She feels passionately about sharing her herbal knowledge, and I think you’ll be able to tell this. She helps people work with the body to achieve optimal wellness. She develops individual, natural healing programs for people, teaches herbal and nutrition classes, and is helping to create an integrative health clinic. I’m so excited to bring this interview to you today, so let’s jump right in.
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Francis: Hi Rebecca, how are you today?
Rebecca: I’m fantastic, Francis, how are you?
F: I’m awesome! Thank you so much for joining us today, I’m really excited about this interview.
R: I am as well, thank you.
F: And, you and I were talking earlier, and I learned about your story. So you have a really cool story about how you got started on this herbal journey. Will you tell us about that?
R: Sure! It was in 2004, and I was experiencing some very strange health problems that kind of came up suddenly with a lot of vertigo and dizziness, and nausea. And it went on for months and I was very distressed at this, because it was severely impacting my day-to-day life in every way that it could. And I, of course, did what people normally do, I went to the doctor and tried to figure out what was going on, and did not have a whole lot of success, and so it was a little bit frustrating that I wasn’t getting any solutions. And, so after a few months of trying everything that I could in that direction, one of my friends suggested that I try her homeopathic doctor. And, it was a little bit scary for me, not scary, but it was new and different and I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into. But it also felt like a good decision to try because I really had tried everything else, so I said “Yeah, yes, give me the name.” And so I went to that doctor and he gave me some herbs, and within a few days my symptoms disappeared and never came back. So of course I was just elated, and also quite fascinated with the power of these herbs, which I had never tapped into before. And, I was very impressed that they worked so quickly on these symptoms that I had been suffering from for months, and so I really wanted to explore more about the medicinal properties of herbs and find out about this whole new topic that I was now exposed to. So, I was doing some research a few years later on schools that would help me learn more about herbs and natural healing, and I came across the School of Natural Healing, which I just received my Master’s degree from this summer in Herbalism. So, I am now a life-long learner of herbalism and very excited about sharing this knowledge with other people.
F: I like that, “a life-long learner” [laughter]. And so congratulations on your Master’s degree in herbalism.
R: Thank you very much.
F: What school did you go to again?
R: It’s called the School of Natural Healing, it is located in Springville, Utah. They have their Master Herbalist program as well as a few other programs that you can choose from, and the very first course that I took was called “The Family Herbalist” course, and, in fact, if you go to my website, iheartherbs.com, you can get that family herbalist course for $300 savings off the regular price, so it ends up being $195 dollars, and then it’s an online course that you can do anywhere! So that’s what really started my desire, it really whetted my appetite to continue and complete the whole program.
F: That is awesome. And it’s really a speciality, so, um, you know, there‘s a lot of people that are curious about how to use herbs because it’s one of these things that we’ve gotten away from, you know? Herbalism is such an ancient science, and it used to be passed down from our parents and grandparents, and we intuitively learned how to use herbs, how to find them growing around us, and now we have really lost that because we have gone so much to pharmaceuticals.
R: Absolutely.
F: And so whatever you’re going to share with us I think is going to be really helpful for taking away some of the mystery and maybe some of the fear around herbs.
R: Yes! I think that it’s a perfect time to educate specifically Americans a little bit more on the ancient medicinal uses of herbs, just as you were saying, because, you know, i’ve spent some time living in both Asia and Europe, and you know, herbs have been a part of their medical system and their preventative systems for centuries, and I think that it is really something that America is lacking at this time, and so, getting the education out there and helping people understand natural ways of healing is just the perfect thing to do right now. So I really have noticed the difference that it makes in other cultures, and how America can learn from that.
F: Ah, that’s so fascinating! And before we jump in to what I promised I would ask you about, I’m going to throw out a question that you probably didn’t expect me to talk about: What can we say about the challenges around herbal research and why herbs are getting a bad reputation?
R: So, I believe that one of the reasons that herbs have a bad reputation is because when there are tests published, scientific tests published about herbs, what usually ends up happening is that the test will take one active constituent out of the herb, test that, and then publish findings that are obviously misleading and inconclusive, and incomplete because you are testing one part of the whole, and the beautiful thing about herbs and plants is that the synergy between all the constituents need to work together, and obviously the way that it was created, and so people are being exposed to a lot of media and publishing that puts the herb in a negative light, so to speak, because it will look like from these studies say that “this herb doesn’t do this” or “this herb does this”, when actually they’re just testing one part. It’s like if you were to take an arm from a human being and say, you know, this arm can do this, this, and this, but really it needs to be attached to the rest of your body in order to do that! So that’s one of the misconceptions is just media from testing, and I think also a lot of people just have a connotation that herbs are associated with “woo-woo” voodoo, out-there kind of things, but I really think that if it was a part of our culture more, and we grew up with it, and we knew those ancient ways that the Native Americans did, and you know, ancient Chinese, and old folk remedies that really work, maybe we wouldn’t have such a weird conception about herbs.
F: Yeah, I think so, I think that there is so much familiarity that we’ve lost with the herbs besides just keeping them in our kitchen cupboard as, you know, like a spice, and we’re so much more familiar with pharmaceutical drugs that I think people tend to be more comfortable using pharmaceuticals to a large degree than they do using herbs. At least that’s been my experience.
R: Yeah, I agree with that.
F: One of the things that I know I love using herbs for is to improve my immune system. And, we already have some nasty bugs going around the office.
R: Oh no!
F: And it’s just like they’re ferocious and people always come to work sick! It drives me crazy because it’s like, “No, when you get the sniffles, don’t wait ‘till you have a full-blown illness to call in. Just call in when you’ve got the sniffles ‘cause you’re contagious then, and, like, get it under control!”
R: Exactly!
F: And don’t bring it to the office and then you save us all a hassle of having, like, two weeks of bad cold. And plus, I think that colds are much worse than they used to be. They just seem like so vindictive, I think it might be the super-bugs, but I get way sicker when I get sick than I ever remember getting when I was a child.
R: Oh wow!
F: Yeah, so you know, so talk to us about how we can improve our immune system with herbs.
R: Well, one thing I do want to mention before going into the herbs is that the best thing that you can do to keep your inner environment clean and healthy is actually to improve your diet, and to make sure that you eat well and are hydrated and, you know, get enough sleep, and really just maintain a healthy lifestyle over all. This will actually help prevent you from getting sick more than anything, because the only reason that bacteria and viruses can grow within us is if we have waste matter or toxins for them to live on. If there is nothing for them to live on, they just pass you by. So you could literally go into a room of sick people and not get any of their bacteria and viruses transferred to you just because your inner environment is so clean and healthy. So, that is definitely something that I like to educate people on, is education and making sure – I mean, excuse me – on nutrition and making sure that they keep really high standards in their diet.
F: Hey, I like that!
R: Yeah, Yeah! I know, a nutritionist would! So you totally understand what I’m talking about with that, so.
F: So, before you move on, do you recommend cleansing, detoxing?
R: Oh, absolutely! We could do a whole other podcast just on cleansing alone, but that’s very important. I mean, we only really, like I was saying, we only really catch colds and flus and any other bacterias and viruses because our bodies are loaded down with waste matter. So clean it now and nourish yourself with healthy nutrients and keep your bodies clean, and you really don’t have to deal with a whole lot of sickness, it’s really true. And I myself, this is such perfect timing, just two days ago, out of the blue I just started feeling like “I think I might be getting sick” and I started having some sniffles and a scratchy nose and lots of sneezing, and I was kind of surprise because I don’t get sick that often, but I know exactly what to do when that happens. And so I just downed some cups of tea with cayenne, echinacea, and red raspberry leaf, and then I at two cloves of raw garlic, and yes, it definitely burned, but that’s how you know it’s working. And then I took a few swigs of my favorite Super Garlic Immune Formula, which is Dr. Christopher’s brand, which combines garlic with lots of other infection fighting herbs. And so, within a few hours, all of those symptoms had disappeared, and the next day, I just felt totally normal and I guarantee you if I had not nipped that in the bud right from the beginning, it would have turned into something, and I just don’t have time for that, that’s unacceptable!
F: Take note all employees and coworkers around the world! Nip it in the bud! Stay home, drink your tea, do your garlic, do your formulas, and don’t bring it to the office, please! I’m going to send this out to all of my employers.
R: Yes! Well, and even if they did bring it to the office, Francis, you could just prevent yourself from getting it by doing what I did and lots of other things. And, you know, I think it’s really important, this is another thing I just want to touch on really quickly, it’s really important for people to understand that when you do get sick, you don’t want to suppress the symptoms, which is what pharmaceuticals will do. You actually want to work with you body, because guess what?Your body actually want to be well, and it’s always working towards wellness. It doesn’t like to be sick, you know, either, I mean, as much as you do. So, if you take herbs that help the body rid itself of these viruses, bacteria, and help the symptoms, help the phlegm get out, you know – use expectorant herbs and all of these things to work with your body towards wellness. That is one of the keys on getting over flus and colds quickly once you get them.
F: Oh my gosh, that’s so inspiring! This is so inspiring, it’s just great, and it’s different from what we’ve learned, too, which is just to preserver. And, I think persevering is good, we all need to have that strength, but it’s better to just work with your body before you have to get really sick and preserver. So tell us, then, what can we do? So, you know, we start feeling the sniffles, we start feeling fatigued and maybe a little tickle in the throat, something like that where all the signs and symptoms are just starting to appear. What can we do to nip that in the bud like you did?
R: Okay, well, it’s very important to act as soon as you feel like something might be coming on. And that is, that’s what I call the “Hour of Power” because you really have a very limited amount of time to nip it in the bud and really just kill that infection so that it doesn’t spread. One herb that I believe everybody knows about, so we’ll just start with that one because it’s so popular is Echinacea. And, Echinacea is a very strong immune stimulating and strengthening herb. And, if you get if you have echinacea tincture, that’s even more powerful, because tinctures are even more fast absorbing and more powerful than even an herbal tea would be. Echinacea tincture is also very very sweet. In my opinion, it tastes like liquid candy. So I guarantee you that your kids will love it – you will as well! And so, and there’s actually Dr. Christopher’s also has a formula called “Kid-e-Mune” which is echinacea in vegetable glycerin and “Kid-e-Well” which is yarrow, elder, peppermint, and echinacea in vegetable glycerin. These are both very sweet, they taste very good, and this is a really great herb for strengthening that immune system and getting your body to fight the infection as soon as it enters.
F: So it’s sweet, but without sugar. Because we have also learned that sugar depresses the immune system. So this is a natural kind of sweet, right?
R: Exactly!
F: Total bonus.
R: Yes, we definitely – thank you for mentioning that – because we definitely want to avoid mucus-forming foods and immune-depressing foods, especially when you feel like you’re getting sick. You are just going to counteract every good herb that you take in if you eat poorly. So that means no sugar, and no dairy and no mucus-forming foods whatsoever. Just really show your body some TLC during that time.
F: Okay. So, I have a question about the echinacea because some studies show that it only works, like I think that it’s before you get sick, if I’m remembering correctly. Is this true?
R: That is true.
F: Okay.
R: And also another thing to remember about echinacea, if you are taking it by itself like that, in a tea or tincture, you only want to take it for a week, and then you want to stop taking that and replace it with another type of herb, and then after a week you can take echinacea again. But when you are just coming down with something, echinacea is really fantastic to boost the immune system. Dr. Christopher’s also has an immune system formula, but it has echinacea in it as well as astragalus root, siberian ginseng root and Reishi mushrooms. And, in this form, as a tonic, you can actually take echinacea every single day as a preventative. And so you don’t have to worry about the week on, week off thing.
F: Okay.
R: Now once you are actually sick, some of the best things that you can do to help your body work out the toxins are going to be diaphoretic herbs, cathartic herbs, alterative herbs, and like things, especially like garlic because garlic falls into most of those categories. That’s what I ate, two cloves of raw garlic. And it’s important that it’s raw and that you chew it because it has allicin in it, which is what is the main infection-fighting antibacterial, anti-fungal, antiviral element. And it’s stored in a part of the garlic that needs to be combined with another part and that only happens when you crush it or when you bight into it with your teeth.
F: Okay and so what I’m getting a lot from you is that it’s better to do combinations of things, is that true?
R: Well, you could actually just eat some raw garlic and leave it at that, it’s just that’s really hard for people to do because it does burn and it doesn’t always smell very good, but when you’re sick that’s the last thing on my mind, is how I smell. I just really want to get better. But, yeah, so eating raw garlic is wonderful because it is a diaphoretic herb, diaphoretic meaning helping you sweat out the toxins. It’s an expectorant herb, which for obvious reasons, we would need when we’re sick, and all of the, you know, antibacterial, fungal, and all of those medicinal properties as well. It will kill almost anything. It will kill staph and salmonella and candida, it’s really nature’s antibiotic. It’s a natural penicillin, it’s even more powerful than penicillin. There’s an old folk saying that says, “eat onions in March and garlic in may, the rest of the year, your doctor can play.”
F: Very cute.
R: Yeah. But if you combined garlic with other, like in a formula like the super garlic immune formula which has apple cider vinegar, raw honey, aloe vera gel, wormwood, lobelia, marshmallow root, white oak bark, black walnut hull, mullein, skull cap, gravel root, and plantain, then what you are doing is packing an even more powerful punch against the sickness or the illness. And so, combining that together, that’s going to clean you out really fast and start killing infections immediately. So, I like to do combinations just because it just works faster.
F: Uh huh. Yeah, some of that stuff is what I have in my kitchen, and some of it I don’t even know what it is. Like I definitely keep raw honey, garlic, onion, um, I have no idea what wormwood even looks like, but uh, you know or marshmallow root. I think I have a book that shows me how to make marshmallows out of marshmallow root, but you know some of that stuff I just have no familiarity with, so in some ways it is easier to get a tincture. But I gotta tell you what I do when I’m sick. The first thing is I take a giant scoop of miso and then I chop up some raw garlic and I just stir it in some hot water and that’s like my tea. I end up sipping on that all day and then it’s delicious so I don’t even mind it, and it just feels so healthy. Also, I do warm water with, like really warm water, with some lemon juice first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. And if I’m getting sick, I’ll definitely ramp up the ginger and if I have turmeric, I’ll ramp that up too.
R: Oh, that’s fabulous!
F: But I like the idea of doing tinctures as well because it’s just nice to hit it from every angle.
R: Yeah, and they absorb into the bloodstream in five or ten seconds, and it’s just so powerful and so cleansing, and I just really love it. And you just, to me, it actually tastes good, because I know that these herbs are working and they are natural and I just love it, and my body loves it. You know, and it just feels good.
F: I have one more story to add to that, I actually since moving to the Pacific Northwest, I’ve got this, I’ve had very itchy ears, and the doctor told me I have a fungal infection, and so I have added, he gave me this tincture of garlic and mullein, and so I actually have to put that in my ears. And my ears feel just a tiny bit garlicky, I wouldn’t say it was so much that the dog wants to lick my ears, but, it seems, after several weeks, it actually does seem to be improving the outcome of itchy ears.
R: Yes! That is a fantastic combination for killing fungus, and another herb that comes to mind for killing fungus is black walnut. That’s one of the very best, so, and since black walnut is in the Super Garlic Immune, that is one reason that I love that tincture specifically. But I’m glad that you mentioned ginger too, because that is another great diaphoretic herb. If you put three tablespoons of ginger in the tub and keep the water really hot while your drinking teas to help you sweat out those toxins, that’s really going to be very beneficial during sickness. Other diaphoretic herbs are yarrow, chamomile, boneset, catnip, and spearmint, so most of those people probably know or have, and you will also want to use some expectorant herbs, like cayenne, comfrey, mullein, which is what you just mentioned for your ears, licorice root, lobelia, and slippery elm. And then, also really important is to keep the bowels clear, so that those toxins can actually get out. The very first choice for the body to eliminate toxins is through the bowels, and so it’s very important to keep the bowels clean and clear, and so cathartic or laxative herbs like senna, cascara sagrada, turkey rhubarb, or Dr. Christopher’s lower bowel formula, which is a combination of several laxative herbs is very, very good for that.
F: Can you go over those bowels again, the bowel herbs?…
R: The cathartic herbs?
F: …Please, the cathartic?
R: This is just a very small list but these are just some of the best that I know of. And senna is actually very, very powerful so you don’t want to take that by itself. But, senna is a very cathartic herb. Cascara sagrada.
F: How do you spell that?
R: C-a-s-c-a-r-a and then the second word, s-a-g-r-a-d-a.
F: Okay.
R: And then turkey rhubarb is another one. And that is in the lower bowel formula, Dr. Christopher’s formula. And then some alterative herbs, alterative meaning helping to clean out the blood stream and produce a tonic effect in the body, a gradual improvement would be plantain, red clover, garlic, again, and echinacea, and just a note on plantain and red clover, these are really good herbs to use for blood cleansing, and they are included in a lot of blood cleansing formulas, and they have traditionally been used to help with cancer because they are so good at helping clean out the blood.
F: Wow.
R: So everything that you can do really just to clean out the body and to kill infection, those are the main goals when you are dealing with preventing sickness and getting over the sickness once you have it.
F: Oh my gosh! This stuff just gets my so excited, like my heart is actually pounding just a little faster!
R: Wow!
F: So, yarrow, when you mentioned that, I remember cultivating a little bit of yarrow. I didn’t know very much, except that I needed to cultivate it before it flowered. And I remember learning that back, you know, ancient battle days, warriors would carry around powdered yarrow, and they would keep it in their medicine bag to treat a wound, and stop the bleeding.
R: That is exactly right! In fact, that is how it got its Latin name, because Achilles was known to, well in the legend of course, was known to use yarrow on his wounds, and so the Latin name is, and I don’t know how to pronounce it, but it’s involving the word Achilles in Latin form, for the yarrow. So, yeah, so it has, you know, centuries use, it’s one of those old folk-tail herbs that everyone knows about. I am here in Utah and it grows wild in our mountains. And, yarrow, plantain, red clover, these three, are three of the herbs that I use and that I offer, I should say, in my nine herbs mini kit. Because I decided to put together nine of the most powerful and useful herbs for the human body, and so those definitely came out on top. I would say yarrow is probably the very best diaphoretic herb.
F: I think I am going to have to look into doing that, because Mike and I are doing a cleanse, and we’re trying to sweat, and I find that I don’t sweat very easily. But it is interesting that you mention garlic is a diaphoretic, because the other day I started adding garlic back into my diet, I went for a period of keeping it out, and now I’ve added it back and I noticed that I was sweating a little bit more, and I was really excited about that. I didn’t have any connection in my mind that maybe garlic was helping me sweat when I go to the sauna, so maybe I’ll add a little yarrow, because I just don’t sweat very easily.
R: Oh yeah, absolutely! You could just drink cups of yarrow tea until it comes out your ears. You can’t OD on herbs, it’s just one of the greatest things that there is going to be no side effects, and it’s just one hundred percent benefit.
F: Wow! And then plantain, I think I used the word cultivated earlier, which really I meant to say “harvest”, we’ve harvested plantain, and we have it growing everywhere in my garden and around the area, and so, will you tell us a little bit about how to use plantain, because it’s kind of a weed in a lot of places, but if you grab it before winter comes, you can use it throughout winter for your immune system.
R: Oh yes! Plantain is one of the unsung heroes in the weed world because it does grow everywhere, but it is so fabulous. It is definitely number one for helping with blood poisoning and blood cleaning and drawing out infections or toxins especially on the skin. If you had poison ivy or an insect bit or snake bit or anything, it will just pull it right out and clean that blood, and it’s just a fabulous herb.
F: That’s awesome! And so I want to go back to another herb that you mentioned which is cayenne, the expectorant? And I wanted to give a little recipe and see if you had any variations on this. There is a recipe that people will often use for when they feel like they are getting a cold or when they have a cold: cayenne, honey, lemon, and cinnamon, and hot water.
R: Yes! That is great! Anytime that you can add cayenne to anything, it is good. Technically speaking, we should all be having a teaspoon of cayenne a day, which is a lot, but it is so wonderful because it really just cuts that mucus out of the body so fast, that’s why it’s such a wonderful expectorant, and it also strengthens the veins and the heart and it equalizes the blood pressure and circulation, it’s a natural stimulant. Mixed with lobelia, it is perfect for depression and times of low spirits, and it really is, I consider it the number one first aid herb. You could put it in anything, it just has natural properties that really help invigorate all systems of the body. It is fabulous.
F: Wow! Wow! And so there again, you could do cayenne and lobelia for the winter blues
R: Oh yes! Yes!
F: Which we really get here in the Northwest, lots of people get that.
R: Yeah, that would be great!
F: Awesome! So this a great selection , I just have one more question before we move on: what about stinging nettle, do you have any experience with that?
R: Yes! I love stinging nettle, it is actually one of my favorite herbs on earth because I grew up with it and was afraid of it because, obviously, the sting, but then when I started going to school and learning about the different things that it does, I just really grew to love it, and it became one of my favorites. One of the best uses that stinging nettle provides is for arthritis, especially if you use the leaves fresh and you use it topically, on the skin, it will really help the pain of arthritis, because it delivers a natural histamine, kind of injection, I guess you could say, to the body, which helps counteract that. It’s also really, really good for allergies, and it’s very, very nutritious, so I will put it into my smoothies, and really I’ll just use it whether I can because it’s just so nutritious. So, another weed that people don’t really realize is so valuable.
F: And there are so many, we could talk about that forever! And I mean, it’s fascinating to me how many weeds are good for us!
R: Yes!
F: So, we might have to do another show on that. And so I want to know, are there any herbs that you use regularly that you use to keep your immune system strong?
R: Well, I use everyday, it’s another Dr. Christopher’s formula, and I don’t know if a mentioned, Dr. Christopher, Dr. John Christopher, was the founder of the School of Natural Healing, so when I refer to his formula’s, that is the man that I’m referring to. And, he was just a brilliant and inspired herbalist of his day, he passed away in the eighties, a great loss to mankind. But he had, he came up with a lot of formulas and put those together which are still produced today. And so, I love to take his Vital Herbs combination which has, you know, a lot of different vitamins and minerals from natural whole plant sources like alfalfa, and barley grass, and there’s cayenne in it since I like to get my daily cayenne. And so vital herbs are something that I do take everyday, and I feel that that is the best for me. And I think it’s really important that people listen to their bodies, because your body will tell you what its craving and what it wants and what it needs and what its lacking, and so if you just listen to your body, you know, trust yourself! I love to tell people that. You know your body better than anybody else, nobody else does.
F: Isn’t that the truth? Yeah, that’s good, that’s really good. So, are you doing okay on time, because I have just one more question that we can keep it brief, because I know we said we would only go until about know.
R: Yeah, absolutely!
F: It’s just so much fun, Rebecca. So how do you feel about the flu shot? I know we’ve talked about this, you have some opinions.
R: Yes. I’m actually not a fan of flu shots. I believe from all of the research that I have done, that they are ineffective, and harmful and a waste of money, actually, because I feel like the, if you look at what you are putting into your body, which is what we should all be looking at every single day, the things that a flu shot is giving your body is really not going to be preventing the flu, as much as some people will even get the flu from the flu shot, and they never really know which strain is going to hit anyway, and so it’s just kind of, its just ineffective and its harmful because they are injecting foreign proteins into your body. I choose to do a more natural approach, and again, work with the body instead of getting foreign proteins to attack, I want to work with it to actually strengthen the immune system, which flu shots do not do. I like to take the Super Garlic Immune, there’s other formulas like the Lymphatic formula, which cleanses the lymph, Dr. Christopher’s Chest Comfort, which has herbs that neutralize and remove the harmful substances and toxins. Anything that is empowering and invigorating, that has that kind of action on the body system and boosts my immune is what I would choose over something that is going to do the opposite, which, I feel, I flu shot does in every way.
F: Yeah, and you’ve done a lot of research, you were telling me.
R: I have, yes.
F: I actually have had the flu shot in the past and felt like I got the flu. Not a full-blown flu, but just, I really felt flu-like symptoms for a good two or three days, and so it was kind of annoying. And then I remember one year that I got the flu shot, and got the flu like symptoms, I still got another flu that was full blown that year anyways. I just felt very disappointed.
R: Yeah, you know I don’t recall ever getting a flu shot, I might have received one when I was a kid against my will, I know I didn’t enjoy it if that was the case. In my adult years, when I have been able to choose for myself, I have always chosen never to get the flu shot, and I have also never gotten the flu. And so, I really feel like that kind of speaks for itself, and I also think, well, why would I spend money on something that may or may not work, that hurts, that might be harmful to my immune system? It just doesn’t make since to me. ANd so, I would really encourage everyone to do their own research on both sides of the issue, because again, I really am just a huge fan of education.
F: Very good. Very good. Well, we’ve sure covered a lot and this has been a lot of fun, and I would already say that I would love to have you back because I know that there is a lot more that we could talk about with detoxing and herbs for well being, especially mental and emotional well being, so if you’re down for that, we can do that sometime.
R: Yes! I would love to, this has been great!
F: And, will you, do you want to just kind of recap briefly any, or actually I guess I haven‘t asked you if there are any resources you want to put out there for us.
R: Okay, well, my website is iheartherbs.com, and also I just want to mention again on that website is where you can find the link to the SChool of Natural Healing, and getting that special of $300 savings off of their family herbalist course. That’s on the page that says “Dr. Christopher and the School of Natural Healing”. In addition to that, I am on Facebook, facebook.com/iheartherbs. And then the final link which I want to mention, which is a fantastic and thorough, detailed compilation of herbal articles and information is herballegacy.com, that’s put together by my school and other graduates of my school, that’s herballegacy.com, and I look up a lot of information on there quite often.
F: So if you send me those links, I can put those in the show notes for everybody.
R: Absolutely!
F: And it’s iheartherbs.com.
R: COrrect.
F: So, this has been so much fun. Thank you for going a little bit over with me! Rebecca Potter, you are awesome! And everybody out there, please, just try one new herb or new herbal tincture. This week, go out and get something, don’t wait until you get sick, just get yourself a plan for keeping your immune system up this year, you don’t have to be another victim of grimy office germs going around.
R: That is a great plan! And you know, something that people can also find on my website is the nine herb mini kit that I mentioned, with the nine herbs I put together. A lot of these are going to help you stay healthy all year round, and as a particular benefit of buying this kit, you get three videos that I put together, showing you step by step how to make your own tincture, poultice, balmintation, concoction, and infusion. So, I really help people empower themselves to take care of their own health.
F: Excellent. So that’s actually a good plan too, to just get a kit because then you don’t have to learn a lot and think your way through it all.
R: Yeah, it comes with three pages of information about the herbs, it’s just kind of a one-stop shopping experience, the herbs, the information, the videos, and empowerment as a bonus.
F: Wow! Nice! Wow, that sounds like my style. That is totally, cause it’s not everyone is going to have time to go out and figure out which herbs to combine with what, you know, because there is a lot of study going on there to do all that. So, cool! Well, thanks Rebecca! And so, everybody who is listening out there, you have no excuses! You have the information in your hands, or at least in your ears right now. Go out this week and make a decision to get something to boost your immune system. And let us know how it goes! Please come back to this post and leave us with a comment so that we know what you decided to try.
R: Yes! And I also love comments on my Facebook page, anything, any kind of information about herbs, I welcome on my Facebook page.
F: And you answer them!
R: Yeah, any sources, any feedback, I just love sharing the knowledge and passing it around.
F: Very cool.
R: Thank you for letting me do that on a podcast, Francis!
F: Hey, my pleasure, my pleasure! So, thanks Rebecca, and I guess we’re just going to wrap it up now. So I hope you have a wonderful afternoon.
R: I hope you do too! Thank you so much!
F: Thank you! Talk to you again real soon!
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Hey! So I hope you got a lot out of the podcast. I know that it definitely was helpful for me, I learned some things. And the first thing that I’m going to say is: for all of us, let’s take responsibility for our own immune systems this year. There is a lot that we can do to stave off feeling bad with a cold, with the flu, the body wants to stay healthy, it wants to be well. And so, let’s just all look at one thing that we can do starting this week to strengthen our own immune system. And Rebecca points out that nutrition is the first thing to examine, even before you add supplements, and I think that’s a very crucial point because people often take their nutrition for granted and they try to compensate with supplements. And that’s really the opposite order you need to do it. So, making sure that you are eating good, nutritious, well-raised foods, and you know, minimizing your sugar intake, that can go a very long way to just boosting your immune system. And then from there, you can look at other things like adding supplements.
Rebecca created a summary for us over at Namaste Nutritionist, and it’s a mini-guide to the herbs and tinctures that she mentioned in the podcast. So you check it out namastenutritionist.com/session4 and the only thing I’m going to say is, you know, a word of caution: it’s just be sure that you are working with your healthcare provider, especially if you are on medications. It’s crucial that you let people know, your healthcare providers, if you are on herbs or alternative medications, because a lot of the times people keep that from their doctors, and that’s really not okay, especially when you are taking meds from, you know like prescription medications, they can definitely have interactions. And then, also honor the needs of your own body. What works for your neighbor or your best friend, might not work for you.
Now this week, I am going to continue doing some of the things that are really helpful to me, like buying some of my herbal teas, I love Yogi tea, doing therapeutic massages for relaxation, drinking warm water with lemon when I wake up, and then I like to blend vegetables into a yummy smoothie most days, to help cleanse. But as for one new thing, I’ll probably pick up some yarrow root, and then add one of Dr. Christopher’s immune formulas, and so I guess that’s actually two things, but I think that that is manageable without too much stress. So do one thing this week, or you can do more if you think it’s easily attainable. But just take baby steps – be gentle. And, whatever you’re doing, it really shouldn’t add any stress, to your mind, to your body, to your schedule, to your emotions. It should make you feel better. If not, then you need to examine how you’re doing things and what you’re doing and figure out what to adjust.
So again, you can return to namastenutritionist.com/session4 for the show notes. And you can just let us know when you’re there, tell us what you’re going to do this week, one thing. Or you can connect with the Namaste Nutritionist Facebook community and let us know there! So it’s facebook.com/namastenutritionist. And I just want to say thank you so much for listening, it means a ton to me. I really appreciate that you save space for me in your day or your week to check in and be a part of my life, and to be a part of this community of wellness. So, hats off to you, take care, and we’ll see you real soon, okay? Namaste!
