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Far Infrared Heat Benefits: Weight Loss, Detox Support, Better Sleep, and more!

far infrared benefits

Why should we care about Far Infrared Heat Benefits?

When it comes to health and wellness, I am always trying to find the best methods for improving health.  Recently, a friend started talking to me more about this far infrared heating pad that she got.  I had heard of infrared sauna before, and know that the sauna is an awesome way to aid the body to detox more effectively- however, any kind of sauna can be a bit rough for those with low electrolytes, so it’s not something that I have ever really recommended.

Enter the infrared heating pad! The best of both worlds: you get the awesome benefits of infrared, without the intense electrolyte wasting that the sauna can induce.  I got this exact heating pad about a month ago, and I’m ready to report that it will be something I’ll be recommending a lot more.  I’ve already been hearing amazing results from the few people that I’ve spoke to about it!

What are the benefits of this infrared heat?

What this heat basically does is stimulate your metabolism by increasing body heat slightly. This helps with getting the lymph moving, healing underlying infections, and even helps with weight loss.  Some sources compare far infrared to a non-surgical form of liposuction- it can stimulate the fat cells to open up and dump their contents. This is why we need to start slowly with introducing this awesome healing tool- toxins get stored in fat, so this flushing can create quite a massive detox reaction.

Far Infrared has been studied all over the world for decades now, and the benefits are incredible.  Basically, this form of heat is actually the beneficial form of heat we get from the sun!  So we get the benefits of the sun without risking the sun burn part.  Sunlight itself has so many well known benefits- better immune health, more balanced moods, and it even contributes to keeping weight more stable.

Main Benefits of Far Infrared:

  • Stimulates blood flow and better circulation
  • Weight loss
  • Stimulates the metabolic rate- can help with healing any chronic illness people are dealing with if they are in slow oxidation.
  • Heals the lymph system, boost the immune system, and encourages the body to heal underlying infections like parasites, EBV, and Candida
  • Aids in more effective detoxification- our bodies are overloaded with toxins, and those with sluggish metabolisms will have a hard time properly detoxing. FIR helps a lot with this issue
  • Detox support for heavy metals and other toxins
  • Improved joint and muscle health (these pads are especially used for pain relief- FIR heals a lot deeper internally than traditional heating pads.)
  • You can read a giant list of things that FIR can help with here.

According to Life Extension: “The benefits of infrared heat may be further enhanced by natural jade stone. Jade is the most efficient natural infrared heat absorber of all the semiprecious stones. When run through jade, far infrared passes its heat smoothly to the body. It also creates negative ions, which is a further benefit. Our bodies are positively charged, and introducing the body to a negative ion environment (such as that found at the ocean side) is calming and soothing.”

This is why I recommend UTK for far infrared heating pads-they use jade and Tourmaline in their pads. They also say on their own website that they make these pads to have as little EMF as possible. They also have quite a few more articles and studies about the benefits of FIR.

How to use the infrared heating pad

Low and Slow and Turtle Speed are phrases I say quite often.  Things are no different with this infrared heating pad. 5-10 minutes at first would be great, and eventually you can do much longer sessions.  The instruction book even recommends starting with about 15-20 minute sessions at first so you can see how you react.  It CAN create detox reactions.  But the best part is that it will start stimulating your metabolism more so you can handle detoxing better.

Once you feel comfortable with the infrared heat, you can increase the length of time you use it.  Right now, I try to use it for 1-2 hours a few days a week.  My personal observations have been better sleep, easier detox reactions (especially with pathogens), and some old scars that I have had are actually disappearing!

There are some precautions to using infrared, and they’ll differ depending on who you speak with.  If you are dealing with a health issue and are concerned with if infrared is a good fit for you, check with your doctor (hopefully a naturally based one as they are more likely to have a clue what you are speaking about).  I would avoid using infrared while pregnant or nursing at the very least, and I wouldn’t use it over open wounds. Check with the manufacturer’s manual for other warnings, or see the list here from UTK.

Happy Healing! I really feel like this tool will be a huge helper for those stuck in the constant struggle of detoxing with sluggish adrenals.

If you are curious about your oxidation rate, the state of your adrenals, and if you are dealing with heavy metals, check out HTMA! You’ll get a program tailored for your personal biochemistry, which takes a lot of the guessing out of healing.

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Preparing for a Happy, Healthy Pregnancy

happy, healthy pregnancy

Preparing for a Happy, Healthy Pregnancy- naturally!

We really need to start working on our health YEARS before even thinking about conception. There are a few main reasons why:

  1. So many women are dealing with postpartum depression (or other postpartum issues) these days.
  2. Kids are dealing with extreme health issues these days, and now they have shorter life spans than we do. (more on this here!)
  3. We need to break this cycle of depleted, toxic, and burnt out people having children that start life out with these same issues. Cases of children with adrenal burnout have been reported since the 90s (source)! It’s time for change!

It can take a few years to fully undo the damage of a Standard American diet coupled with a fast-paced, stress-filled lifestyle. Most of us don’t even think about taking care of our health until a few months before we want to get pregnant (or worse- we don’t make changes UNTIL we are pregnant!). If we want to have happy, healthy pregnancies that lead to happy, healthy babies we need to start making changes sooner. Let’s go over the main changes to make and what we can do to really have a great pregnancy!

Nutrition

The absolute first step on the road to better health is to get an HTMA. This is the best way to determine your personal mineral imbalances, your adrenal strength, and your metabolic rate to figure out what YOU need as an individual.  With an HTMA protocol, you will get the ultimate start on healing your body and preparing for pregnancy.  Plus, HTMA is something great to keep up with during pregnancy and in the postpartum period to make sure your body is running as well as it can.

What are the basics of fixing our nutrition though?

  1. Nutrient Dense Foods- Fruits, vegetables; full fat foods like butter, ghee, and coconut oil; organic/grass-fed whole milk dairy products; fermented foods; eggs; grass-fed meat; beef liver every so often if you can handle it! You can see my whole post on general diet recommendations here, including what to avoid.
  2. Herbal Infusions– Nettles and Red Raspberry leaf are the 2 best herbs for pregnancy and nursing. Nettle infusions are full of vitamin K, iron, copper, magnesium and calcium, and they help the kidneys, liver, and adrenals.  Red Raspberry leaf is a well-known uterine tonic and helps to keep hormones balanced, especially after birth. Both of these are great to use pre-conception to heal hormones and replenish nutrient levels.  Nettles are best for everyday use, while RRL is best for use around your menstrual cycle. (If you are dealing with menstrual cycle issues, check this post out here).
  3. Focus on Gut Health– we need sufficient stomach acid and bile to digest a lot of our nutrients and to take care of nasty things like bacteria and parasites. Using either a probiotic or eating fermented foods is essential as well.
  4. Heal your liver! What does the liver have to do with pregnancy?! Quite a bit! We need happy livers to keep copper balanced (which is something that can get extremely imbalanced during pregnancy as copper tends to triple!). We also need happy livers to utilize fats and fat soluble nutrients, and to keep our detoxification system working properly. My favorite liver lovers are Liver Life from BioRay, dandelion root tea, nettle infusions, ACV, lemon, beets, sunflower lecithin, and castor oil packs.
  5. I recently spoke to someone at BioRay about what is best for use while pregnant or preparing for pregnancy. They recommend the Total Body Detox as the best solution if possible. If not, then go for Detox Quartet, followed by Lady Passion for women and Red Rooster for men until you are pregnant. . Loving Energy, Liver Life, and Belly Mend are ok to use with guidance during pregnancy as well. Check out the chart with more info here! Plus, you can use the code SASSY at checkout for a discount!

Clean up your home!

No, I’m not talking about spraying the whole house with disinfectant. I am talking about switching out all of your current household products for CLEANER versions. This includes soap, shampoo, deodorant, candles, laundry detergent, and even furniture if possible!

Why, you ask?

There has been at least one study done on US infants about how babies are born with about 200 chemicals in their umbilical cord blood (source). This was done in 2004, so imagine how much worse it is these days, especially knowing that there are 82,000 known chemicals used in everyday household items, and most of them have never been tested for safety. These chemicals are cancer causing, hormone disrupting (especially causing infertility), and skin irritants. The skin is the largest organ in our bodies and using these harsh products on our skin daily is truly wreaking havoc for our health. Not only do WE absorb these- these can be passed on in utero to our babies!

Here is my entire list of things to switch out in the home, and what I use personally!

There you have it- my top tips for preparing for a happy, healthy pregnancy! As you can see, it can take a lot of time, effort, and commitment to prepare for this, which is why we need to start taking care of our health from an earlier age. But, baby steps are fine! Start with one thing at a time to ease into the changes. The sooner we do this, the sooner we can create a healthier generation that has a brighter future with less chronic illness.

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Heavy Metal Detox

heavy metal detox

My Take on Heavy Metal Detox

Many of you already know my stance on detox: we should be HEALING the body to help it get rid of toxins in its own time and when it has the strength to. We should not always have to force the toxins out- this can lead to overloading the body with too many toxins at once which can cause an adrenal crash PLUS it is also likely that these toxins will recirculate and redeposit until the body can actually get rid of everything.  Toxin exposure has increased to an incredibly scary level over the last 50 years or so. At this point, it is impossible to avoid every toxic chemical or heavy metal out there. We just have to work on improving the way that our bodies tolerate and excrete these things, as well as reduce our exposure as much as we can.

When we have heavy metals, we are usually also dealing with parasites, bacteria, yeast, viruses, and other toxins. Once we start trying to eliminate one of these things, the others follow suit. For someone in adrenal exhaustion with a severe sluggish liver and colon, this can crash a person pretty quickly.  This is why I have such a super cautious approach to detoxing, and why it drives me crazy at times that others are like, “No we HAVE to rip everything out and kill all the pathogens with a ridiculous amount of fire power FIRST!!”

I do understand the need to heal our sluggish and stressed out detoxification systems- which is why I follow a few key steps for my clients to heal (And I highly encourage you to work with someone knowledgeable that can work on healing your minerals and overall detoxification system as well!). The body is always a whole and we should be looking at it that way- you cannot initiate massive detox without taking into account the rest of the body. Luckily, I’ve been learning quite a bit more from BioRay (aka The Natural Detox Company) and I have found some more super safe ways to eliminate heavy metals, which I’ll get into below.

“80% of all chronic health
concerns are associated with
heavy metal toxicity.”
– WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, 1974

Main Steps for Heavy Metal Detox:

1) Get your colon moving!

Your colon cannot be sluggish!! The colon’s specific jobs include collecting and eliminating toxins from the body. However, if it the colon becomes even slightly sluggish it cannot perform its job properly. There are so many things that can mess with the function of the colon: poor diet, stress, overuse of laxatives, drugs, lack of exercise. The less you “go” normally, the worse the colon gets.

When we are trying to improve detox ability, you HAVE to get that colon moving. There is no ifs, ands, or butts about it (haha, I had to go there!). If toxins are not able to get out, they will recirculate- period.

Tips for keeping your colon moving:

  • Use BioRay Belly Mend to help heal your gut and bowel
  • Use helpful digestive aids like apple cider vinegar and lemon juice either during meals, or whenever you feel like your bowels are very sluggish (these also help the liver and kidneys)
  • Use something like a Squatty Potty to help make things easier
  • Aloe vera can be helpful to keep things moving (just do not use while pregnant as it can be a uterine stimulant)
  • Fermented foods (I find grass-fed kefir to be very helpful!)
  • Fiber and Bile boosting are huge as well- read all about this here.
  • You can read my whole colon health guide here.

2) Heal Your Liver!

The liver itself has over 500 roles in the body, but most just know it as the main detox organ.  The liver helps to make bile (which we need for elimination of toxins), filters out toxins like ammonia, and plays a huge role in overall health.  A sluggish liver is usually the main root cause of toxin build up in the body- it just cannot keep up with the heavy load that we deal with these days.

From ARL Labs on mercury removal: “Biliary excretion is the preferred route of excretion of mercury. (Meaning BILE FLOW)…Mercury is also eliminated in saliva, through the pancreas, through intestinal wall secretion, and through nails and hair.”

“A tissue mineral analysis is of value in designing nutritional programs which balance the tissue electrolytes and enhance the energy pathways. By so doing, increased biochemical energy is made available to facilitate excretion of mercury from tissue reservoirs.”

How to heal your liver:

  • Do your best to cut down on toxin exposure, especially in the home
  • Eat as clean as you can.
  • BioRay’s Liver Life is amazing for liver healing and regeneration
  • Castor oil packs
  • Herbal infusions like nettles, oatstraw and red raspberry leaf. Infusions are extremely nourishing to the body, and most of them help with liver, lymph, kidneys, and the adrenals.
  • Sunflower Lecithin: This form of lecithin is rich in phosphatidyl choline, which is a B complex vitamin that has extremely important roles in fat metabolism and liver health. It helps with stimulating bile flow and can help flush fat out of the liver, and it is also extremely important for brain health.
  • More on liver healing here.

3) Other methods of supporting detox

  • Dry skin brushing– skin is our biggest organ and we can eliminate toxins through our skin (this is why things like acne, eczema, and cherry angiomas are so common- the body is trying to put toxins out through the skin). Before showering, use a natural bristle brush (like this one) to brush your dry skin in circular motions upward from the feet to the torso and  then from the fingers to the chest. You will want to work in the same direction as your lymph flows which is towards the heart. Be careful over sensitive areas like the breast.  The more you brush, the less sensitive your skin will become.  After you are done brushing, hop in the shower to wash off the dead skin cells that you’ve brushed off! This is such an easy, quick thing to add to your daily routine.
  • Rebounding on a mini trampoline or even bouncing on a yoga ball
  • Kidney Support: nettles, ACV, lemon juice, etc are all great for kidney loving.
  • Sauna (if tolerated)
  • Gentle exercise like yoga or walks

4) Balance your minerals!

With hair tissue mineral analysis, we aim to restore the body’s biochemistry.  As we balance minerals, the metabolism can heal and the body starts to detox better. This is a MAJOR player in being able to properly eliminate heavy metals. If you are severely depleted of minerals, your body cannot have the strength to detox properly.  Many heavy metals will take the place of minerals as well! As we replenish the nutrients, the body can start to push the metals out to replace with the minerals (which is one main reason why I do not advocate for chelation: you cannot rip those metals out FIRST and then try to replace it with synthetic “nutrients”. This is not the way that HTMA was intended to be used).

With HTMA, we can start to heal the adrenals as well, and they are usually the main thing that takes the brunt of the damage if we try to rush into detoxing. We HAVE to have strong, healthy adrenals to deal with the stress of heavy metal detoxing. We tend to burn through minerals like sodium and potassium like crazy when we are detoxing so getting on a good plan to heal is imperative if you want to safely remove the heavy metals.

5) SAFE Heavy Metal Detox

For the last few years, I have not done anything specific when it comes to detoxing heavy metals as a majority of the clients I get are in adrenal burnout and simply cannot work on this part yet. Recently, I started learning more about the amazing tinctures from BioRay and I’m happy to be able to share what I have found regarding SAFE heavy metal detoxing.

BioRay recommends basically everything that I mentioned above as well in order to detoxing safely and effectively.  We have to support the colon, the liver, the kidneys, and the adrenals (because again, the body is a whole!). Bioray offers the best line of detoxification support out there for everyone. They have 3 main lines: therapeutic, the Daily line, and the kids line.  The therapeutic line is the strongest; the daily line is about half the strength of the therapeutic; and the kids line is about 25% the strength of the therapeutic line. Where to start depends on where you are in your healing journey.

The Ideal order for the BioRay products are: Loving Energy (for adrenals), Liver Life (to heal and prepare the liver), Cytoflora (to support good gut balance), NDF Plus (for gentle toxin removal), and then Artemesia and Clove (for unwanted organisms). Low and slow is always best, and all of these have specific instructions for use.

The main heavy metal detoxer they offer is the NDF Plus. It’s specific functions are:

  • Removes toxic metals including lead, mercury, arsenic, uranium, thallium, cadmium, antimony and aluminum.
  • Removes chemicals and pesticides including Lindane, dioxin, BPA, phthalates and chlorine.
  • Binds to endotoxins and exotoxins.
  • Balances essential nutrients as it contains naturally occurring amino acids, vitamins and minerals.
  • Provides natural occurring fulvic acid, antioxidant and free-radical scavenger, serving to balance cell life
  • (read more here, and you can read the results of the case and lab studies done on NDF plus here).

You can see all of the kids’ line here as well as further description of the kid-specific line.

BioRay also has a lot of amazing tips for those that need to use antibiotics, get vaccines, are exposed to chlorine, or need to get their mercury dental fillings removed. Check out their main articles on this here. Here is their chart outlining what products can help with specific issues.

 

So there you have it: the truth about what goes into detox! You cannot just take 1 supplement and detox your entire body. There is a lot involved in proper and safe detox!

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Achieving Health and Wellness with Sassy Holistics

Achieving Health and Wellness with Sassy Holistics

The natural health world can be complicated at times. There are many different products and programs that promise quick-fixes that may or may not even have benefit for you. In reality, there are no quick fixes when we want to heal. I went through this all myself, and found that way too many people hyper-focus on one organ, one specific illness, one diet, or one nutrient.

True holistic health focuses on the body as a whole. We don’t work on just the thyroid, or try to get you to drop 20 pounds in 10 days. We don’t take 20+ supplements a day, nor do we starve ourselves or do strict diets.  My programs are designed with biochemical individuality in mind: we are all different and we all need different plans to heal.  We also try to make things simple!

What we do to help you heal:

  1. Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis: HTMA is the best first step in figuring your your personal biochemistry.  Minerals are at the base of our health: they influence our hormones, can impact our neurotransmitters, play a huge role in our genetic expressions, and more. HTMA gives us insight on how your body reacts to stress as well as what minerals you are deficient or toxic in.  My plans with HTMAs include the following as well:
  2. Gut healing: Leaky gut is rampant these days. HTMA gives us a lot of insight on how well you are utilizing certain nutrients so we can see if you are dealing with low stomach acid, poor bile flow, or having issues with protein metabolism. In order to heal, we HAVE to heal your gut!
  3. Detoxification Support: We live in a toxic world. When our bodies are overloaded with toxins, we become tired, grumpy, and sick.  My plans include gentle support in healing the liver, the lymph, the kidneys, and the whole detoxification system. As we work on balancing minerals, the body works up more strength to get rid of toxins (heavy metals, parasites, etc), so we add in extra support to make healing easier.
  4. Individualized nutrition: Since HTMA gives us a good view on what nutritional imbalances you have, we can make some changes to make sure we get more of what you need.  We all have to eat: why not make the most of your diet with nutrient dense foods?
  5. Focus on your main symptoms: We try to work on the worst of what is bothering you right now. Having issues with sleep? Or bloating? Anxiety? Based on your symptoms and HTMA, we will find a way to help you start healing your biggest concerns first if we can so healing is more comfortable for you.  Deep healing takes time, but we can absolutely make huge leaps in progress when we start introducing the nutrients we need.
  6. Weight Loss: Often, dealing with weight issues is a sign of a sluggish liver. As we heal, weight is something that the body starts to fix. Many of the things I use on my plans are intended to really get weight moving- but it is NOT a priority for the body. Some people lose weight quickly when we start healing, and for many others it is one of the last things to resolve. Part of my goal with HTMA and my healing protocols is to get people to stop looking at weight as a measurement of health.  Part of this healing journey is learning how to really take care of yourself and accepting yourself as a whole (struggles included!). I’ve recently been investigating more ways to help with healthy weight loss as we heal, and if they are applicable to your needs, then I add them to our whole protocol.

Read more here!

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My Favorite BioRay Products!

 

favorite bioray products

Have you heard of BioRay yet?

BioRay is one of my absolute favorite herbal companies. BioRay has been around for about 25 years. They use a mixture of ancient Chinese medicine and modern science to formulate their products. They make their products in small batches and use only organic ingredients.

I’ve touched upon some of my absolute favorite BioRay products before, but I wanted to put them all on one page to make things easier for those that want to try more of their amazing supplements.

A few months ago, BioRay started up an affiliate program, which I was so excited about. I had already been using and recommending their products for over a year, so I was excited to be able to join them. They even have given me a coupon code for you all to use, and this goes for the main site and the kids site: use SASSY at checkout for 15% off!

My Favorite BioRay Formulas

Liver Life (and Liver Lover)

BioRay Liver Life is the best choice for liver loving and regeneration!

 

Liver Life is my absolute favorite. My husband and myself have used this one on and off over the last year or so and it helps SO much with detoxification support. The herbs that are used help with the liver, kidneys, lymph, adrenals, and immune system so you get a huge whole-body healing effect from this one supplement. I have seen people have nearly miraculous results with just this product. The liver itself has over 500 functions- if you are dealing with ANY health issue, you will need some liver loving.  Read more about why we need to love our livers here.

They also have Liver Lover that is close to Liver Life, but it is alcohol free. (tinctures are traditionally made with alcohol because that is the best way to draw out the properties of the plants used.). Liver Lover is a good alternative if you absolutely cannot tolerate alcohol based tinctures, but Liver Life is always my first choice. According to BioRay, Liver Lover is only about half as potent as Liver Life.

Kids Line

All of the tinctures in the kids line are Alcohol, Gluten, Dairy and Soy free, as well as Non-GMO. Most of these formulas are for children over 1 year of age, and they all have different doses based on weight. The biggest differences between the adult line (which most can be used for kids) and the kid’s line are that the kid’s products are all alcohol free and they are flavored, so even the pickiest kids might handle them well!

You can see all of the kids’ line here as well as further description of them.

    • CALM: For adrenals, mood support, sleep, and liver detox support
    • FOCUS: For gut healing, allergies, speech, adrenals, and detox support
    • SHINE: For gut and immune system health
    • HAPPY: This is mainly for parasite removal
    • SLEEPY: For sleep help
    • POOPER: For constipation support

 

Loving Energy

Loving Energy is the best herbal blend for adrenal support. If you are going through an extremely stressful time in life, or just dealing with chronic exhaustion, then Loving Energy can help!

Belly Mend

Belly Mend can be an amazing helper for those dealing with leaky gut, brain fog, and histamine intolerance.  This formula has a blend of herbs for both gut and liver support, as well as liquid probiotics.

Astemisia and Clove

This formula is the best for removing unwanted pathogens. I have used this one myself and can attest to its strength!

Mind Zeal

Mind Zeal is the *best* formula for those dealing with brain fog and cognitive issues. This especially works on safely removing heavy metals like lead, mercury, and arsenic as well as many common toxic chemicals.

**I would really make sure that your colon and liver are ready for something like the last 2 that I mentioned!**

Kits

You can read BioRay’s amazing article about dispelling common detox myths here. If you are concerned about the chlorella used in some of these products, I totally understand your worry! I used to be skeptical about it too. However, the chlorellas used by BioRay is not just any chlorella you can go buy in a capsule. They use a special process called micronization , which actually breaks down the cell wall and allows for better usage of the chlorella. I recently tried the Belly Mend which has this form of chlorella in it and I can definitely vouch that is great! I would never recommend anything I have not tried myself. There is a lot of bad info out there on chlorella, and I hope to help stop the fear-mongering!   (read more about micronization here!).

You can also read their own post on what their main tinctures are used for here.

favorite bioray products

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.*

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How to have a Happy, Healthy Period

holistic period

Periods Don’t have to be Painful!

I am sure many people read my headline and rolled their eyes a bit.  A “happy period”? There is no such thing, right? WRONG!  Even though periods are not exactly fun, they aren’t supposed to be devastating, painful, or terrible.  If you deal with PMS, acne, breast tenderness/pain, cramps, anger, mood swings, heavy flow, migraines, or any other common symptoms associated with menstruation, please know that this is not a normal part of our hormonal health! If you deal with these symptoms, it is a very big sign that your liver is angry, your lymph is sluggish, your minerals are out of balance, and your adrenals are likely stressed.

What if I told you that periods can be pain-free and barely even a nuisance? It is true, whether you want to believe it or not. I used to be one that had severe periods.  The first day I’d pretty much be bedridden or popping pain killers every few hours to keep the pain manageable if I had to go to work. I had a few times where I fainted from the pain, many times where I’d have migraines with aura, and used to make me act like the Hulk at times with how angry I’d get. These days? I don’t deal with any of that. No cramps, no annoying PMS symptoms, nada.

How is this possible, you ask? Holistic healing! Working on healing the body as a whole is key to getting rid of these terrible periods.  Balancing minerals, healing your liver, supporting your lymph, eating clean, and managing the environmental toxins that you are exposed to is crucial.

My top tips for a Healthy Period

Nutrients that play a role in hormonal health

The number one thing to look into if you are having painful or irregular periods is copper dysregulation. You can read all about this here, but in a nutshell: Copper is a crucial mineral for estrogen balance and zinc is crucial for progesterone/testosterone balance. When zinc and copper are out of balance, these hormones can go haywire. We tend to have an issue where copper builds up and becomes unusable to the body- so we have a double issue where we are copper deficient and have an excess copper buildup. With this, we can have symptoms of both copper deficiency and excess copper!

What creates this imbalance? A sluggish liver, a vitamin A deficiency, birth control, overuse of antibiotics, not enough zinc in the diet (which can be caused by leaky gut as we need stomach acid to utilize zinc correctly), and diets like veganism/vegetarianism and the Standard American Diet.

To fix this: use HTMA and supporting blood tests to heal this imbalance. Healing the liver is crucial (which we’ll go over next), as is introducing vitamin A rich foods like cod liver oil, eggs, grass-fed butter or ghee, and beef liver (which is one of the biggest helpers for fixing the copper bio-unavailability side of things). Heal the gut to help with zinc utilization as well.

This is the LONG TERM healing plan for all hormonal issues, including estrogen dominance. Read about that here.

Detoxification support

Menstruation itself is a time for heightened detox. Heavy, painful periods that come with a handful of symptoms (especially headaches/migraines, breast pain, mood swings, and acne) are a huge sign that your liver and lymph are overloaded with toxins.

Basic liver healing tips: Bioray Liver Life, Castor oil packs, dandelion root tea, fix your sleep, eat clean (no GMOs, no corn syrup, no artificial sweeteners, organic meat and dairy, etc)

Basic Lymph healing tips: Rebounding, castor oil packs, nettle infusions, red root, massage, legs on the wall yoga pose, gentle walks

Herbal Support

One of the *best* herbs for hormonal health for women is red raspberry leaf.  This herb is nothing short of miraculous for PMS, copper balancing, and overall hormonal healing.  It is even amazing during pregnancy and breastfeeding!

Red raspberry leaf is packed with nutrients: magnesium, manganese, iron, vitamin C, b-vitamins and potassium.

For infusions: I put 1 cup RRL in a quart of hot water and let it steep for at least 4 hours. I strain the liquid and drink this through the day. (you can reuse the herbs for another weaker quart). Store the liquid in the fridge when done and consume 1-2 cups daily, or more when pregnant or about to start your period!I usually recommend using this the week leading up to your period to help prevent any menstrual issues. This can be helpful for those that get symptoms at ovulation as well.

Other herbs that can help with hormonal balancing: Nettle leaf infusions, nettle root (capsules or tincture- especially helpful for heavy periods), red clover, ashwagandha, chaste tree berry, and dandelion root.

Cleaner Personal Care Products

Did you know that most popular brands of tampons and pads have glyphosate in them, the cancer causing chemical (source)? Yikes!  Using organic pads or tampons are MUCH better these days to avoid coming into contact with nasty chemicals like this.  Things like mama cloth (or reusable pads, like these that you can find on etsy!) are popular these days too and are much more Eco-friendly.  Many people are raving about menstrual cups as well, but I’m not convinced of their long term safety- knowing that silicone can indeed leach into the lymph system makes me weary of these things. We all have to do what works though- just stay away from the popular brands for things like pads and tampons!

Personal care products comes down to things like make-up, shampoo, soap, toothpaste, etc. Many of these conventional products contain carcinogens, hormonal disruptors, and other toxins that negatively effect health. Read more about this here if you’re new to this topic and want to start greening up your home!

Birth Control?

The Pill, the IUDs, the patches, the shots- I would stay FAR away from these things. They all have severe side effects that can either hit you right away or build up and hit you several decades later.  Birth control doesn’t solve anything. If it seemingly helps you with hormonal issues, then it is a band-aid solution. Using the above tips will help you get to the root of the issue in the long term.  The possibility of cancer, blood clots, and other serious illnesses is not worth the “benefit” of preventing pregnancy.

I could go on about this for hours, but read my main issues with birth control here, as well as what other good options there are for contraception.

 

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Reducing Environmental Toxins in the Home: What to Switch out!

reducing environmental toxins

Reducing Environmental Toxins: What to Switch out!

Reducing environmental toxins can be a daunting task once you realize how many horrible chemicals are in the typical things we use daily around the house.  Baby steps is always best for this though: either pick one room a month to “detox” or do one item at a time. This list is just going to give you an idea on the things that you might want to change as time goes on.

When I first learned about the toxins in our household items, I went a bit overboard and threw EVERYTHING out at once. Makeup, cleaners, shampoo, etc- I got rid of it all in a day. I realize that not everyone can do that, and it’s made me a big proponent of slowly making changes. We’ve been using various brands of things over the last several years, but now we are switching everything over to Poofy Organics. I am so tired of having to read labels still on products that claim they are “natural” or “organic”. Poofy Organics has been one of the few brands that I have actually been able to trust 100% with their quality.  And I am SO picky with what I use and promote- this is one of the few companies that I really feel good about using and telling others about.

I hope this list helps! I think it helps to have it all in one place so you can figure out if you are missing anything (especially if you are someone sensitive to rashes or reactions from chemicals and can’t figure out where toxins might be lurking).

If you want to read more about the WHY behind switching these out, check out my article here on some of the most toxic chemicals that we come into contact with on a daily basis. We cannot eliminate or avoid everything bad out there- but there is a lot that we *can* control.

Kitchen

  • Dish Soap
  • Dishwasher Liquid
  • All-Purpose Cleaner
  • Candles or air fresheners
  • **I use a mix of half white vinegar/half water in a spray bottle for my all-purpose cleaner. To make it smell nice and add some more cleaning properties I soak lemon and lime peels in a jar of white vinegar for a few days, strain the vinegar out, and then mix that with the half bottle of water (measurements depend on your bottle size!). I use this for counters, tables, the kitchen sink, and other miscellaneous cleaning. I also use Dr. Bronner’s soap at times for cleaning floors or using as dish soap (I dilute it for these purposes though).

Bathroom

Bedroom

  • Mattress
  • Bedding
  • Pillows
  • Kids’ pajamas- some companies still use flame retardant on them, so be on the lookout for that. Most of the time you will see a warning now that says “make sure PJs are tight fitting as these don’t contain flame retardant.

Other household items:

  • Floor cleaner (whether hard wood or carpet)
  • Laundry detergent
  • Dryer sheets
  • Fabric Softener
  • Sunscreen
  • EMFs from computers, cell phones, TVs, etc.
  • Other furniture: couches especially are a huge source of bromides- many companies are no longer using thing, but it is always worth looking into when you are ready to buy new furniture.
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Liver Healing vs. Liver Detox: Why there is a HUGE difference!

liver healing

Liver Healing vs. Liver Detox

Most of my followers know that I am a huge Liver Lover! I can never stress the importance of the liver enough. It has about 500 functions in the body, and it takes a beating in our toxic world.  You can read more about liver health here, but we’re going to go over some important points in this post: what the liver is for and why we need to love and support it- not flush and force it to “cleanse”.

The liver plays a role in:

  • hormonal balancing
  • blood sugar regulation
  • heart health
  • weight management
  • cholesterol regulation
  • detoxification (of toxic chemicals, heavy metals, pathogens, etc)
  • digestion (of fats and protein)
  • utilization of fat soluble nutrients like vitamins A and D
  • keeping copper and iron balanced
  • thyroid and adrenal health
  • immune health

Why we need Liver Loving, not Flushing or Cleansing

The Liver itself doesn’t get dirty- it doesn’t need to be flushed or cleansed. It can get sluggish and it can start getting an extra storage of fat, iron, and copper but it doesn’t store toxins.  When the liver gets sluggish, it stores toxins in FAT which is why there is such a huge link between being overweight and having liver issues.

This is one of the main reasons why I am not a huge fan of liver flushes, cleanses, or anything that will stress the liver out and force it to detox. Our goal should be to provide supporting herbs, foods, and practices to help gently stimulate the liver to heal.  Obviously we all have to make our own choices, but I am not a fan of things like liver/gallbladder flushes, chelation, or fasting- these methods can be very harsh on the body, especially if you are dealing with adrenal dysfunction.  Forcing the body to heal when it doesn’t have the strength is counter-productive.  Gently nourishing the whole body is the key for sustainable healing.

How to Properly Love your Liver

One of the main liver lovers that I recommend to nearly all of my clients is BioRay Liver Life. I have seen miraculous results with this particular herbal blend. The herbs that are used help with the liver, kidneys, lymph, adrenals, and immune system so you get a huge whole-body healing effect from this one supplement. You can read my full post about Liver Life here. Or you can check it out on BioRay’s site, where you can also see many of their other awesome products that I often recommend (and now you can get 15% off your order with the code SASSY at checkout!). You can also read about 10 of the most common detox myths here!

liver healing
BioRay Liver Life is the best choice for liver loving!

According to this source, the tests done with Liver Life “reveal improvements in high liver enzymes, food sensitivities, fatty acid metabolism, pH balance, nutrient absorption and microbial imbalances.”  Not only that, but liver function can improve liver function by 50% in only 15 days. Liver Life supports both phases of liver detox, can improve histamine intolerance, and can help heal food sensitivities over time.

The Liver Life itself can be used for kids as the dose is based on weight, but BioRay has a specific formula just for kids called CALM. You can read more about the kids’ line here.

Other Liver Loving Ideas

  • Herbal infusions like nettles, oatstraw and red raspberry leaf. Infusions are extremely nourishing to the body, and most of them help with liver, lymph, kidneys, and the adrenals.
  • Sunflower Lecithin: This form of lecithin is rich in phosphatidyl choline, which is a B complex vitamin that has extremely important roles in fat metabolism and liver health. It helps with stimulating bile flow and can help flush fat out of the liver, and it is also extremely important for brain health.
  • Castor oil packs (read about castor oil packs here!)
  • Dandelion root decoctions or tea
  • garlic, turmeric, ginger, cayenne
  • Bitter herbs

 

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.*

 

liver healing

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Bile and Fiber: Major Buddies for Efficient Detox

bile and fiber

Bile and Fiber: Why They are crucial for our health!

These days, you can’t look anywhere on a natural health site without seeing something about detox. However, a majority of these sites are promoting dangerous or completely useless cleanses, or the thought that there is something majorly wrong with our genes, which is why our detoxification is off. They usually fail to point out the importance of diet, lifestyle, and the environment! (You can read why I don’t focus on genes here.) In reality, there are MANY factors involved in detoxification, and we’re going to go over 2 main factors here.

**Two of the biggest factors in impaired detox are lack of fiber and lack of bile flow. **

Fiber and Bile are basically a tag-team when it comes to detoxification. They both help with binding or flushing out a lot of the gunk that our bodies are trying to eliminate. Both reduce the severity of die-off from yeast, parasites, and other nasty stuff because they can bind with many toxins to ensure they are evacuated efficiently.

When we are lacking bile and fiber it is common to deal with an inability to digest and utilize fats correctly (which can result in hormonal imbalances and an unstable nervous system), constipation, inability to lose weight, fatigue, and more.

The Process of Enterohepatic Recirculation

Without enough fiber, our bile can become thick and almost like sludge. If this continues, the possibility of developing gallstones becomes higher because the bile will solidify in the gallbladder and runs the risk of getting stuck .  Fiber essentially is the key to “cleaning” our bile as bile is technically recycled. Because of our imbalances and toxicities, it is common for the body to recycle the same bile over and over again (up to 17 times! {1})

Bile is excreted by the liver and stored in the gallbladder. When we eat fat (or when the body is detoxing), this bile is released. On its way to the intestinal tract, it attaches itself to toxins, parasites, excess hormones, and even bad bacteria ( I love how Dr. John Douillard phrases it: Bile is essentially like Pac-man in our bodies with its amazing ability to gobble up everything in its track. {1}) Once bile gets to the intestinal tract, it binds with fiber in the gut and gets taken out of the body. The big catch here is that we need BOTH of these things to achieve this amazing cycle.

You can read the whole breakdown on Enterohepatic recirculation here on Karen Hurd’s website.

When this process between bile and fiber becomes sluggish, this can negatively affect stomach acid production as well. This in turn begins to mess with the way people digest many common foods (which leads to them eliminating many food groups after a time as they become more and more intolerant to things). No bile/fiber=lack of stomach acid= intolerances to gluten, dairy, meat, and/or fats. All of these things will lead to chronic constipation as well.  Constipation leads to us storing up our toxins in fat and continuous re-circulation of some toxins (especially excess, unbound copper!) until we get our gut sorted out.  Common side effects of this are: anxiety (toxins recircuating), rashes (toxins trying to come out through the skin), headaches, fatigue (80% of our energy goes to detox so when that is sluggish it will steal from our overall vitality), and weight issues (whether unable to gain or lose weight).

Why are we so deficient in these 2 things?

The biggest reason why we are dealing with these deficiencies is because of the Standard American diet.  This diet is filled with refined foods that are not only low in fiber, but they require even more stomach acid and bile for us to attempt to digest (and whatever isn’t digested starts to build up in the colon, creating a breeding ground for pathogens and toxins!). Throw in heavy metal toxicity, pathogens, and other nutritional deficiencies and the call for bile and fiber becomes even more dire to help flush these things out. Instead of the body eliminating toxins, it starts to store it up in the body until one starts introducing the correct nutrients for removal of these toxins.

Eating a whole foods, clean, and organic-as-possible diet is the best way to achieve better health. There is no *one* perfect diet for everyone on this planet, but those are my main guidelines! You can read my take on the “ideal diet” here.

What is Fiber?

There are 2 kinds of fiber, insoluble and soluble. Soluble fiber tends to dissolve in water and forms a sort of sponge which helps to bind with toxins. Insoluble fiber helps the gut wall move more efficiently, as well as ferments in the gut to act as a food source to your good bacteria. They have different functions, but the most important thing to focus on is to just GET MORE FIBER! (source)

The main functions of fiber include keeping us regular, helping us to detox harmful substances, balancing cholesterol, balancing blood sugar, controlling weight, and helping to balance our hormones.

Apparently our ancestors ate close to 100 grams of fiber a day. Most people get maybe a tenth of that on a Standard American Diet. Ideal daily fiber intake should be at least 30-40 grams. It’s best to spread this out through the day in smaller amounts.

From this source, “When we don’t eat fiber, the toxins that we should be eliminating through our bowels get reabsorbed into the bloodstream — and that can cause many problems,” Junger says. “Unfortunately, Western medicine is toxic-blind”.

High Fiber Foods:

*Medium Apple with skin- 5 grams
*Medium Banana- 4 grams
*2 medium dried figs- 3.7 grams
*1 cup of raspberries- 6.4 grams
*Oatmeal, 1 cup- 12 grams
*1 cup of black beans- 14 grams
*1 cup garbanzo beans- 6 grams
*1/4 cup pumpkin seeds- 4 grams
*1 avocado- 12 grams
*A cup of cooked carrots- 5 grams
*1 medium sweet potato- 5 grams
*Psyllium fiber supplements can be helpful too, especially if you are dealing with food intolerances and have to limit high fiber foods like grains and beans. My new favorite way to use psyllium for effective colon cleansing includes this recipe, taken once or twice a day: 4-6 ounces of plain, organic kefir, 1 Tablespoon of psyllium husks, and 1-2 Teaspoons of blackstrap molasses. This mix can be very helpful for getting things moving!
*When I’m tired of psyllium, I switch over to this liquid fiber from Alive! for a time. I honestly see about the same benefit from it as I do from psyllium!

The only caveat to fiber is for those that might have SIBO. Fiber might end up feeding the bacteria too much. In my experience though, SIBO is very common in those suffering with low bile flow, so that is something to focus on first before attempting to get more fiber in the diet.

What is Bile?

Bile is a clear yellow (or orange or green) liquid that is created in the liver and stored in the gallbladder. A healthy liver will create 1 quart of bile per day- that is quite a bit of bile! Most of us have not been very loving to our livers though, and when we are healing we need a LOT of focus on liver health and bile flow.

In a healthy person, bile is made in the liver with no issue.  But for those that are deficient in crucial nutrients or overloaded with toxins, it is hard for the liver to keep up with the demand to produce bile. Why exactly is bile so crucial?

Bile helps us:

  • digest and assimilate fats and protein
  • it helps alkalize the intestines
  • Excrete excess copper
  • Excrete pathogens and yeast
  • Plays a role in excreting heavy metals and excess iron
  • helps us absorb fat soluble nutrients like vitamins A, D, and E.
  • balance stomach acid and acts as a buffer for it

My Top Bile Boosters:

SO! What is our biggest takeaway here? That there is no *one* magic thing that will help us heal, especially when it comes to detox. Our bodies are extremely complex and there are a ton of functions that require many steps. Our gut, liver, lymph, kidneys, skin, and colon are all important for overall detoxification.  Learning how they all work in tandem is fascinating!

Resources:

{1} Eat Wheat by Dr. John Douilliard

Karen Hurd on Enterohepatic Recirculation

Fiber: Why it Matters more than you think!

Bile and Fiber

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My New Hand-Picked Packages at Perfect Supplements!

Most of my followers know that I love Perfect Supplements, and I order many thing from them myself. Well, it just occurred to me recently to see if they would set up some of the most common packages that people buy. This makes things sooo much easier for everyone (myself included!) so that when I need to reorder my collagen, dessicated beef liver, etc I can just click ONE button now instead of searching for everything individually. I find that I often forget something when I do that too. So now it is super easy! PLUS when you use my code SASSY at checkout, you still get 10% off of everything 🙂

You can see my whole storefront on Perfect here, and the new packages are at the top.

Sassy Holistics – Adult Healing Essentials #1

  • Perfect Hydrolyzed Collagen- 660 grams, 60 Servings
  • Perfect Desiccated Liver – 120 Capsules
  • Bioray Liver Life – 4 oz liquid
  • Garden of Life – Vitamin Code – Raw Vitamin C, 120 capsules

Sassy Holistics – Adult Healing Essentials #2

  • Perfect Hydrolyzed Collagen- 660 grams, 60 Servings
  • Perfect Desiccated Liver – 120 Capsules
  • Bioray Liver Life – 4 oz liquid
  • Garden of Life – Vitamin Code – Raw Vitamin C, 120 capsules
  • NutraPro Virgin Cod Liver Oil – All Flavors -8 oz

Sassy Holistics – Gut Healing Essentials

  • Perfect Hydrolyzed Collagen- 660 grams, 60 Servings
  • Gaia Herbs Sweetish Bitter Elixir – 4oz
  • Prescript-Assist Probiotic – 60 Capsules
  • Bioray Liver Life – 2 oz Liquid
  • Bioray Belly Mend – 2 oz Liquid

Sassy Holistics – Kids Healing Essentials

  • NutraPro Virgin Cod Liver Oil – All Flavors – 8 oz
  • Perfect Hydrolyzed Collagen- 660 grams, 60 Servings
  • Perfect Desiccated Liver – 120 Capsules
  • Bioray Kids NDF Calm-Mood and Brain Boosting Herbal Drops (Vanilla cream flavor) 4oz liquid

Sassy Holistics – Detox Package

  • Perfect Hydrolyzed Collagen- 660 grams, 60 Servings
  • Perfect Desiccated Liver – 120 Capsules
  • Bioray Artemisa & Clove – 2oz Liquid
  • Sonne’s #7 Bentonite Clay Detoxificant 32 oz
  • Bioray Liver Life – 2 oz Liquid
  • This one I would recommend for those wanting to do pathogen cleansing. (Note: I usually have people rebuild their minerals a bit first before moving onto pathogens!)