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What needs to be organic

what needs to be organic

What Needs to be Organic- according to Sassy Holistics

When I first dove into the world of natural health, it was absolutely overwhelming.  At times it is still overwhelming!  Possibly even more so when years past and you realize that not enough people are even aware of the “why” behind jumping into the natural health bandwagon.  Everywhere you look you can see that people are NOT healthy, and you’d think they’d wonder why we’re all so sick these days.

Anyway- I wanted to put together a (hopefully easy) guide on the things I would *try* to find organic when it comes to food, household products, etc.  There are definitely non-negotiable for me- if I can’t find these specifically then I don’t bother getting it.

Foods- Either these foods are on the dirty dozen or there are GMO versions of these foods that have been released

  • Apples
  • Bananas
  • Potatoes
  • Blueberries
  • Strawberries
  • Papaya
  • Beef (grass-fed), chicken, and eggs (free range is best)
  • Dairy products (grass-fed is best, raw is the absolute best but can be expensive/hard to find/illegal in some states, ugh)
  • Grains- oatmeal, wheat, etc (yes, we eat these in our house! We just look for the best quality that we can)
  • kale and spinach
  • peaches
  • You can read the full Dirty Dozen/Clean 15 here, but the above is pretty much the worst of the worst and I do my best to always buy organic!

Tea and Coffee

Look for organic, but also look for unbleached or untreated tea bags. Traditional Medicinals is one of the best brands out there for tea and they offer a LOT of different types of teas.  Alvita is another brand I’ve found to be clean.  Buying herbs in bulk is also an option- Frontier and Mountain Rose Herbs are among the top brands out there.

Coffee is a tricky one because we’re now aware that many coffees actually are at risk for mold and mycotoxin contamination.  I would recommend researching the brands you currently use and look for info about mold testing.  Some brands that are definitely clean are Kicking Horse (Kick-ass is my favorite blend and one of the extra safe ones!), Bulletproof (can be pricey though), and… well right now those are the only 2 I know of but if I find more, I’ll update it here 🙂

Herbs and Supplements

Not all herbal products and supplements are created equally.   Many have nasty fillers or are just poor quality in general.  The main companies I trust for herbal products are BioRay, Herb Pharm, Frontier, Mountain Rose Herbs, Herbalist & Alchemist,  The best brands for supplements are Perfect Supplements, Pure Radiance, Grown by Nature, and the rest of my list is here (as well as the reasons why I don’t recommend a few of the most popular brands out there)

Household products

The average woman puts on about 515 different synthetic chemicals daily – and most of that is just in the morning! There are about 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.

The most important things to switch out first would be (and why to switch them):

Take a look on the Skin Deep Guide on the Environmental Working Group’s website to see how your favorite products rank. They have about 60,000 products listed!

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Dandelion Root “BulletProof” Inspired Tea Recipe

Dandelion Root “BulletProof” Inspired Tea Recipe- and why we add so much to our tea!

I love Coffee- but lately I’m trying to be nicer to my adrenals. Caffeine can be a real issue for those with adrenal issues- usually 1 cup a day is ok for most people, but if you can cut it out for a time then that’s the ideal. I really wanted to try a way to make tea version but I was worried about how it would taste. I actually spoke to one of my Mavens recently that mentioned how she makes hers, so I decided to finally try it out, and I’m kicking myself for not trying sooner.

Why Ghee, MCT oil, and Collagen?

We NEED healthy fats for proper health.  Fat is not evil like we’re made to believe- it’s the right kind of fat that is essential.  And no, I’m not taking about margarine- I’m talking about real, natural fats! I prefer ghee and MCT oil because they are easy for me and I do well with them, but you can use grassfed butter or coconut oil too.  Overall, I’ve realized that most people with a sluggish liver/gallbladder tend to do better with ghee and MCT oil.

  • Ghee is AMAZING. You can read my whole post on it here but basically it’s the best fat for fat burning, gut healing, and it can help with better detoxification (especially for those with a sluggish colon).  I usually go with Organic Valley’s ghee as it’s easy to find locally.
  • MCT oil from pure coconut oil is my other main choice as it is easy to use and very easy to utilize.  It can help with energy levels, brain function, and more! Check out my full post here. I use Jarrow’s MCT oil.
  • And of course, collagen! I love collagen for so many reasons- it’s an easy-to-utilize source of protein and amino acids, it helps with gut and liver healing, and it can help with healing the metabolism.  I use Perfect Supplement’s collagen (plus they give my readers 10% off with the code SASSY at checkout!)

How to make Dandelion Root Tea (“Bulletproof” inspired)

  • Brew 1-2 tea bags of dandelion root tea in 8 ounces of boiling water, let steep for 10-15 minutes. I like my dandelion strong so I use 2 teabags. You can use loose dandelion root too (1tsp-1Tbs of the root per cup of water), or even use your pre-made dandelion decoction.
  • Pour tea into blender with 1 tsp-1Tbs of ghee, 1tsp-1Tbs of MCT or coconut oil, 1 scoop of Perfect Supplements’ Collagen (start lower on the fat amounts if you’re just starting out to test our your
  • The other parts are going to be customization depending on what you want: you can add Ceylon cinnamon, raw cacao powder, or a pinch of coconut or organic brown sugar (yes, I know technically Bulletproof doesn’t recommend sugar in their coffee/tea, but I’m a rebel especially if it turns out more bitter than usual- I’m also not a sugar hater. Everything in moderation! ).
  • Blend everything up for a few seconds and then enjoy! I was surprised at how frothy it actually gets, and I honestly am loving this more than my coffee version now.

Also, you can use your bitter herb supplement before drinking this to help utilize these fats even better! I love Herb Pharm Better Bitters, Herbalist&Alchemist, or Urban Moonshine for bitters because they all have handy, dandy spray bottles. Read all about bitters here!

My gorgeous cuppa tea this morning:

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Why Healing From a Chronic Illness Can Take So Long- And why you shouldn’t give up!

 

Healing can take a long time- but you shouldn’t give up!

I know the healing journey can be long and sometimes frustrating. I also know that I see so many people looking for that “one thing” that is going to fix them. There is no one thing, I’m sorry to say. Our bodies are so multi-faceted and we really need to look at the whole picture. There really is no need to complicate things though- going back to the basics (especially when you are feeling stuck) can make a big difference, especially at the beginning of your journey.
 
I see it time and time again that people look in nooks and crannies for obscure answers when in reality they are overlooking the basics like healing the gut, getting rid of processed foods, eliminating toxins in the home, looking for underlying infections, or even something like living in a very toxic situation where people are constantly using you or creating negativity.

Why can healing take so long?

1) We didn’t get sick overnight

Many of us are trying to heal from years, decades, or even generations of poor health.  Deficiencies and toxicities can be inherited from our parents, and then most of us continue to live that lifestyle that gave them these issues in the first place. It seems like each generation is getting worse and worse earlier in life too.  So many kids are dealing with autism, seizures, cancer, and more- they’re getting the brunt of the damage thanks to what continues to get passed on through each generation.
You can read my entire post on why we’re all so sick these days right here– it’s a good one to share, especially with those that just don’t believe in WHY so many people are jumping onto the natural healing bandwagon.

2) The Body is a Whole

Healing is NOT easy. It’s not meant to be easy because our bodies are so complex.  If you have one issue going on (like hypothyroidism) there is always going to be other systems out of balance (like the gut or liver).  When we heal, we have to take into consideration all of these parts of the whole- gut, liver, lymph, adrenals, etc as well as the emotional healing side of things.  You can’t neglect the emotional side while trying to heal the physical and I often see people think that there is no need to even heal past traumas.

It’s going to take time, commitment, faith, and a lot of patience to heal.  Even though there are lot of things that are bundled into healing, we don’t need to make things complicated.  If we look at healing in stages instead of trying to work on fixing ALL THE THINGS at once, it gets overwhelming and we’re bound to give up easily.

3) Healing is not Linear

Most of us grew up with the mentality of “take this and be cured”. That is an absolute lie that is perpetuated by conventional medicine.  These days, most people are dealing with many nutritional imbalances, toxicities, and even chronic underlying infections.  Healing happens in stages and in layers- you will feel better for a time, and then feel a bit worse as the body gets through the next layer. Healing reactions, healing crisis, die-off, no matter what you call it, it can happen.  When we suppress symptoms for so long (with conventional medicine), we eventually have to deal with these things as they pop up.

Our bodies heal the way that THEY want to heal us, working from the most important layer to the least.  Often, the last things to resolve are the things we want fixed the fastest- energy, weight loss, brain clarity, etc.  Our bodies are meant to heal and they WILL if we give them time and the right tools.  There will be ups and downs though- you will have good days and bad days, but as time goes on the good will start to outweigh the bad.  A good rule of thumb that I learned when I first started my own healing journey- count on at least 1 month of healing for every year you’ve been sick.

4) Sometimes we just approach things incorrectly at first

There has been so much more info lately about about chronic infections (like Lyme and EBV), heavy metals, and parasites.  More often then not, when we learn about these bad things we just jump right into trying to trying to eradicate, kill off, or detox these things.  So many people overlook the basic foundational care that is needed before even attempting to work on these issues.  You *have* to heal the gut, work on the detox system, clean up your environment,  get overall strength in the body up, and more before working on these issues.  If you dive right into detoxing, you are likely to crash and set yourself back months or even years- I say this not to scare people but just because it is what I have seen so many times.

With our HTMA package, we do try to look at the whole picture and we try to work on the most critical pieces of the puzzle right from the start-which usually involves general foundational care first to start getting the body stronger before getting into these infections and other toxins.  

Healing can be hard, but you can’t give up!

Overall, we really need to start looking at health in a different light- there are no quick fixes, there will be ups and downs, and there will be times you want to give up.  But holding onto the GOOD things that are changing can make the biggest difference (sometimes we forget how much worse we used to be as we start healing- we forget the progress we’ve already made and we keep focusing on the symptoms that are still there).

Stay on your path, learn as much as you can, and have faith that your body is doing what it needs to be doing. You will get there!

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Giveaway for May- Buy an HTMA and get entered to win a Bitter Herbs Bundle!

Here at Sassy Holistics, we are crazy about bitter herbs.  Lately we can’t really shut up about them, so we thought we’d do a bit of a giveaway this month for a pack of our favorite bitter brands.

Why do we love bitters so much?

  • They help with overall digestive fire and increase nutrient assimilation
  • They help to stimulate the body to create stomach acid, digestive enzymes, and bile
  • They are gentle liver healing tools
  • They can help symptoms like bloating, gas, and belching.
  • read more here and here!

 

Not sure what HTMA is all about? You can read all about it here!

A quick breakdown of HTMA:

  • It shows you your mineral levels which can help us determine the strength of your adrenals, thyroid, and overall metabolism
  • Minerals are needed for the enzyme reactions in our bodies- and enzymes are what run our bodies!
  • Our HTMA service focuses on balancing the minerals as well as gut healing, detoxification support, and more.

So from now until the end of May, if you order an HTMA, your name will be entered to win a  bundle of our favorite Bitters. You’ll get: 1 Herb Pharm Better Bitters Classic, 1 Herb Pharm Better Bitters Bittersweet, 1 Herbalist and Alchemist Original Bitters, and  1 Herbalist and Alchemist Spiced Bitters.  So basically, you’ll get free digestive support for a LONG time! And you will be able to try a variety of bitters so you can pick your favorite kind to stick with.

We’ll pick a winner on June 1st and announce it in our Mineral Mavens Facebook group!

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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.