Q: What is a clinical herbalist?
A: A clinical herbalist has an education in and provides a scientific approach to holistic care. When spending the time to learn and continue our research we can customize formulations to the specific needs of our clients.
Q: Can you give me something for my friend, spouse or child that has a problem?
A: I cannot help them from the symptoms or complaints that you are sharing with me. There are so many more factors and signs that our bodies give as to where the imbalance is, most don’t even realize are signs or that they are related to an underlying deficiency.
Q: I trust my body, why would I need herbs?
A: Herbs are nature’s gift that assist our bodies in functioning at its best and are used as preventative care, as well as supportive care.
Q: Do I have to stop taking my medications if I want to try seeing an herbalist?
A: No, we will never advise a client to stop taking a prescribed medication, unless their physician does proper testing and recommends stopping the medication.
Q: Can I just change my diet and feel better?
A: If you have an unhealthy diet, that will help. There may be a culinary herb, vegetable, or tea blend that may provide something your body needs that you have never tried or were unaware of its medicinal properties.
Q: Why can’t you just give me a pill that I take every day and make me better?
A: Our bodies absorb nutrients in different ways at different times based on environmental and physical stresses; even positive stress can effect what we need, so nothing that you take will be forever. If you are looking for an easy quick fix, seeing an herbalist will not permanently provide you with your optimum health.
Q: Why don’t you sell things I see on TikTok or YouTube, like elderberry syrup?
A: Elderberry syrup does provide immune support for some; however, those with auto-immune conditions, for example, can be made worse by elderberry syrup or tea.
Q: Can I just add essential oils to a glass of water and get the same benefits?
A: Absolutely not. Essential oils should never be ingested; they are the aromatic parts of plants pressed and distilled from the plant itself. The medicinal parts of the plants that you would get through ingestion have been destroyed in this process and added to a carrier oil. When the label says “food grade” it means that the carrier oil used is the grade evaluated and approved for consumption by the FDA or whatever governing country it was made in, not that the oil itself is for consumption.
Q: I bought this product that says “organic,” but I am noticing it is drying my skin and hair. Isn’t organic safe?
A: In order to label supplements and topical products organic, legally only 5% of one of the products has to be organic in the United States of America. You may have purchased something with an emulsifier, which strips out all nutrients and moisture from the skin and hair.
Q: Isn’t herbalism the newest medicine and a trend created in the 1960’s?
A: Herbalism is the oldest form of medicine and evidence of herbalism has been found to be over 60 million years old. Homeopathy was invented in the 1700’s by taking plant parts, isolating a specific molecule or enzyme and diluting it tens of thousands of times until the plant matter no longer exists. It was introduced to the U.S. in 1825. Pharmaceuticals are the youngest form of medicine brought to the U.S. in 1849, and started with the intent of mass producing and synthesizing homeopathic remedies such as morphine.