Topics:
1. News and updates from Diane & Liz [2:27]
2. Shout out: Jackson’s Honest Potato Chips [9:43]
3. Expo West: Vendors with biodegradable packaging [11:19]
4. Natural immune boosters [18:58]
5. Herbal teas [31:12]
6. Oil of oregano [33:51]
7. Probiotics [37:22]
8. Humidifier [40:50]
9. Elderberry [47:48]
10. Vitamin D [51:19]
11. Rest and recover [54:12]
12. #Treatyoself: [58:58]
Links:
Subscribe to Real Food Liz!
Subscribe to DianeSanfilippo.com
The episodes are also available in iTunes & Stitcher.
Show sponsors:
You’re listening to the Balanced Bites podcast episode 235.
Welcome to the Balanced Bites podcast with Diane Sanfilippo and Liz Wolfe. Diane is a certified nutrition consultant, and the New York Times bestselling author of Practical Paleo, The 21-Day Sugar Detox, and co-author of Mediterranean Paleo Cooking. Liz is a nutritional therapy practitioner, and the best-selling author of Eat the Yolks and The Purely Primal Skincare Guide. Together, Diane and Liz answer your questions, interview leading health and wellness experts, and share their take on modern paleo living with their friendly and balanced approach. Remember our disclaimer: The materials and content within this podcast are intended as general information only, and are not to be considered a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
Liz Wolfe: Hey everyone, Liz here with Diane.
Diane Sanfilippo: Hey!
Liz Wolfe: Hey girlfriend. How are you?
Diane Sanfilippo: I’m doing pretty well. How about you.
Liz Wolfe: I see you in a couple of days.
Diane Sanfilippo: I know, I can’t believe it!
Liz Wolfe: But that’s going to be; so this podcast is going to air…
Diane Sanfilippo: On the day that we do our live studio audience podcast.
Liz Wolfe: Oh I’m so confused.
Diane Sanfilippo: This episode we’re recording on Monday, and in a few days we’re going to be live with an audience in Portland to record what will be next weeks’ episode. Are we clear?
Liz Wolfe: Alright, well let’s hear from one of our sponsors.
Diane Sanfilippo: Pete’s Paleo is a friend of the Balanced Bites podcast. They’re bacon is insanely delicious, and sugar free, and their premade paleo meals make your life so much easier when everything is getting busy and getting real food on the table is still a top priority, as it should be. Pete’s Paleo is now offering a 30-day gut healing kit containing bone broth, gelatin gummies, instant organic soup packs, and an E-cookbook. It’s the perfect complement to any anti-inflammatory diet. Get yours today at www.guthealingkit.com. Use code GRABACUPPABROTH to get $25 off; that’s an amazing deal. It’s GRABACUPPABROTH, C-U-P-P-A. And you can grab that code any time at www.BalancedBites.com to just read it and make sure you’re typing it in right. You can also use code BALANCEDBITES to get $5 off any of their regular meal plans. Check out www.PetesPaleo.com today. Pete’s Paleo; bringing fine dining to your cave.
1. News and updates from Diane & Liz [2:27]
Liz Wolfe: Ok, so let me just say Diane that for the last {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Month and a half, I have thought no question in my mind that the Balanced Bites live podcast event was like we were streaming live, and I have been literally bowels in a knot about it.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: The idea of, number one being in front of people and recording, but also the idea that this thing was going to be immediately broadcast to the larger listening audience. And you explain to me today that there’s a difference between a live event and a live streaming; I don’t know. You blew my mind.
Diane Sanfilippo: Well, so years ago we used to use Blog Talk radio, which we could record the episode and it would air live at the same time. So, people could listen to it while we were doing it; if like, right now it’s Monday, 10:45 San Francisco time, somebody could click to be listening now if we were on the previous platform. But no, we don’t have that capacity now. {laughs} So, no. that will not will be happening. It will be recorded with a live audience and, as usual, it’s not really going to be edited. If there are a bunch of silly flubs and things, that will mostly be left in. only if there’s some weird technical issue will that get edited. It will be pretty much as is for our listeners. We don’t; as people may or may not know now, we really don’t edit that much out of these shows at all. Save for a dog barking incessantly where we can’t hear each other. {laughs} Even that sometimes stays.
Liz Wolfe: Bodily functions.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, those types of things. Yep. Well, I’m deeply grateful that we’re not actually streaming this thing live, because that added a whole layer of anxiety to this whole trip for me, which is already layered in anxiety, since I’ll be flying with a tiny child again, and car seat logistics and all that stuff. So, thank you for taking that weight off my shoulders.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, no problem. {laughs} So, a couple of other quick updates from me. March 30 here in California if you live in the Sacramento area, I’ve got a talk that I’m doing. Check out BalancedBites.com/events, or just hit the events button. You can see more details on that. I believe it’s a free event, so if you’re in the Sacramento area, come to the free event. Come to the talk, it should be really fun. Whatever we talk about, there’s always Q&A and that’s always the most fun part, too.
Balanced Bites Master Class. You guys have been listening to the podcast for a long time, and heard us talk about this. It was just going to be an online workshop thing, but it’s really the Balanced Bites Master Class. It’s kind of the best of the best of the stuff that I teach in Practical Paleo, the stuff that Liz teaches in Eat the Yolks, and the way that that has all meshed together over the years when we used to teach live workshops, and pulling together kind of the best, most comprehensive information that we also sometimes talk about here on the podcast. And I know Liz you and I have referred to the workshop or the master class a bunch of times, where we have listeners who need to get all of this information in one place and just sit and be able to learn it in kind of an interactive format. Maybe not just listen to us do bits and pieces about digestion, but kind of a start to finish, what can I learn about that, what can I learn about blood sugar regulation. All of it. The Balanced Bites Master Class is going to be the place for that.
It’s great for anybody who is interested in learning what’s going on with their body. It’s also going to be great for any of you who are practitioners for your own knowledge base, for your own reference of ways to explain things to people for you to even refer your clients to when you’re trying to tell them what’s going on with their digestion, but they want to learn more and you just don’t have 10 hours to explain it to them. The course is multiple hours, very intense graphics where it’s very easy to learn in a multimedia way. And of course, we will have audio available separately, but the visual with the audio is really what makes it kind of a rich learning format. So I’m really excited for that; I’m super pumped about the graphics. Because as somebody who is a visual learner, the graphics are blowing me away.
When we used to teach this stuff live, our slides were remedial compared to what this looks like. And I’m like; “Man, if we had these slides when we were teaching a couple of years ago, I think everything would have just felt so much more legit and solid. So it’s kind of funny to look at it now, but I’m super pumped about it.
Liz Wolfe: We would have been offered our own TV show for sure.
Diane Sanfilippo: I know; oh, for sure.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’m pumped about it, you guys. As podcast listeners, you’ll get some kind of special inside tip or, of course, we’ll give you guys some kind of little special deal as our podcast listeners because we love you guys, you’re our posse. So stay tuned for that. And our live podcast attendees, there will be some fun swag that kind of goes along with the Master Class, so that will be cool.
And then just a very quick side note, if you follow the 21-Day Sugar Detox on Instagram, we made a very small account name change, and removed the “the” so it’s just @21-Day Sugar Detox. I know a lot of you guys, if you go to tag things and you start typing “the” and you’re expecting to see it, just so you know you can start typing @21D and then it will fill in the rest for you. So that should make your life a little bit easier. And that’s it for me. What’s up with you?
Liz Wolfe: I’m just checking out your IG feed here, and I really like your pink pants.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’m wearing those currently, at the moment, right now, as I sit here.
Liz Wolfe: Those are no joke, and that hat, which is like you’ve had for 10 years I think.
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s the only hat that fits my tiny head, and it’s tearing at the seam right now, and I’m very upset about it.
Liz Wolfe: Ugh!
Diane Sanfilippo: If anybody has…
Liz Wolfe: I have a big head and you have a tiny head.
Diane Sanfilippo: You what?
Liz Wolfe: I have a giant head and you have a tiny head, we could never wear the same hat.
Diane Sanfilippo: I mean, my head is so tiny. So if anybody has a tiny hat referral for me, please let me know.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: I may have purchased that accidentally in the children’s section of Target, but I believe it’s from the women’s section. It’s a cadet cap, so it looks normal on me but that’s because it has this one-third sized brim, and yeah I have a really tiny head. So anyone who wants to help out.
Liz Wolfe: If anyone has giant head suggestions for me. I was doing ok when trucker hats were in style, but at this point I’m just lost.
Diane Sanfilippo: This hat could be completely out of style; don’t know, don’t care. It’s all that fits.
Liz Wolfe: It’s all good. So I actually don’t really have any updates today. I’m just getting ready for Portland, I’m really excited. If you are listening to this podcast on the day it becomes available, you still have time to, I believe, register and show up for the Nutritional Therapy Association conference coming up over the weekend. The vendor floor is free so you could just come, show up, mill around, check out the vendors. I know Rosita extra virgin cod liver oil is going to be there. A bunch of other cool real food, traditional food type booths are going to be set up. So come, mill around. You don’t have to come to the talks, just come check it out. You can get more information on the Nutritional Therapy Association’s website. And that’s pretty much what I’ve got.
2. Shout out: Jackson’s Honest Potato Chips [9:43]
Liz Wolfe: So do we have a shout out today, Diane?
Diane Sanfilippo: I think I’m going to give a shout out to a company today who is not paying us to say this, FYI, in case anyone is curious. But I just love this company, I’ve loved them for a long time, and I saw them again at Expo West, which was super cool. Maybe I’ll talk about Expo West on an upcoming episode of the show. But, Jackson’s Honest Chips. I know we’re both kind of big fans of their products and their chips, but their just an awesome company. Like the people who founded the company and continue to run it are just super nice people; really sweet, really genuine, always really kind when I come by. I mean, I know I’ve kind of supported their brand and promoted them from the beginning, but that only happens because if somebody is cool, I’m happy to do that. And so I just wanted to give them a little shout out. They’ve got a new product coming out, it’s like a red ridged potato chip. I think it’s rippled red heirloom, and I was excited to try that.
We talked about this just last week on the show about dining out on how unhealthy fats and oils are one of the things we’re always trying to avoid, right? And this is the only chip cooked in coconut oil, are the Jackson’s Honest Chips, and I just freaking love them, and if I see them in a store I will pay the $6. I don’t even care, I’m just so pumped to see them in any store that I want to buy a bag so that they keep being able to sell them at that store. So I’m just excited for them to continue to expand their product line; love them, love their product, love the company. So I wanted to give them a quick shout out.
3. Expo West: Vendors with biodegradable packaging [11:19]
Liz Wolfe: Let me ask you a question about Expo West.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yes.
Liz Wolfe: Was it a lot; ok, so here’s what I’ve been thinking about lately with regards to the health food movement. Because I’ve definitely gotten my parents started on some of my favorite little less bad treats from Natural Grocer’s, and what I’ve noticed is that a lot of that stuff is just packaging, packaging, packaging. So, when we’re talking meat and veggies it’s not so bad. But when we’re talking about a lot of these new and novel products, we’re also talking about a ton of packaging, and with my attempt to use fewer single use plastics, I was wonder if you saw any kind of undercurrent at Expo West about people using biodegradable packaging or glass instead of plastic and that type of thing. What’s the current there?
Diane Sanfilippo: I think that one of the products, give me one second; I think it was… what is the brand. There’s a chocolate brand that’s like eco something.
Liz Wolfe: I’m not sure. The only brand I really know of right now that uses packaging that is biodegradable I think is Stahlbush, and they do frozen stuff, and there’s another thing.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yes, I’m familiar with that.
Liz Wolfe: That’s pretty energy intensive, frozen and refrigerated stuff. So that’s just something I’ve been thinking about lately.
Diane Sanfilippo: Let me see; why can’t I think of the name? So there’s a chocolate company that I believe they won an award, and I don’t think it had anything to do with their chocolate, I think it had to do with their packaging, and I want to say they developed a quinoa based, which I was like, “way to use something that’s otherwise inedible.”
Liz Wolfe: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} I personally just do not find quinoa to be delicious. I tried it again while I’m doing this whole gluten free grains thing; No. I did not like it. But I know there has been compostable packaging and materials made from corn in the past, so this company, I think they won an award for their packaging that’s compostable made from quinoa, so that I thought was really cool. Definitely something that is on the radar for the folks who are in the natural product industry, and I think the more we talk about it, the more attention we put on it, the more we commend the companies who are doing that, I think some of it has just got to be an inherent value that the company holds to not only make a product of a certain nature but to make the packaging that way, as well. So, you know, I think there will always be companies who don’t care and don’t do that.
I think there are also a lot of states where more things are recyclable than we realize, and we need to consistently pay attention to what’s recyclable. Because here in California, I know that a million kinds of funky plastic you would not think can be recycled actually can be, and so that’s another thing to just kind of pay attention to in addition to the whole compostable packaging thing. But yeah, I think it really just depends on the company.
It’s another one of the reasons why I do think there are certain companies where, as I mentioned a long time ago, I was talking about doing a post on yogurts, and companies that I think are legit to get behind for yogurt, and this is totally a tangent but it’s relevant. If the company itself sells a nonfat product anywhere, then the company just doesn’t get it. They’re trying to appease the masses and appeal to the masses and sell tons of stuff, where as a company like Maple Hill Creamery, which I’ve talked about before and I love. Again, they’re not paying us to say that. {laughs} But they don’t make a product like that. They don’t make a nonfat product, and it’s their company values. They’re doing grass-fed; this is what is quality.
So I think a lot of that we can learn about the companies, get to know them, and then just choose who we support in that way, and like you said, opting out of more and more things that are prepackaged. I think using them for travel and using them for one-offs; using them to help people bridge the gap between a lifestyle and just something that is novel versus maybe an everyday at home food. I know for me, a lot of the stuff that I’ve found, it’s a treat. It’s not something I have every day. Even for me, kombucha and a bag of kale chips, I consider that kind of a treat. And maybe that’s partially a treat nutrition-wise, and maybe it’s partially a treat kind of outside what I would normally put my money into with all the packaging and all that. But anyway. So the short answer is yes. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Well I’m as guilty as anybody. Look around the world, everything you see in every grocery store is packaged in some kind of single use plastic; shampoo, anything. So the natural products industry is not the…
Diane Sanfilippo: Right.
Liz Wolfe: The guilty party here. I mean, it’s nothing that hasn’t been going on forever and ever and ever. But one of the reasons I’ve been thinking about this because the last year has been so time short for me that I’ve made heavy use of things that are just so; they call them disposable, but all that means is you can throw them away.
Diane Sanfilippo: Right.
Liz Wolfe: You don’t have to wash them, you don’t have to reuse them. It doesn’t mean that they’re actually biodegradable. So I’ve been feeling super guilty about that, and hopefully eventually as I keep these things in mind I will make a little bit less of a footprint when it comes to that type of thing.
Diane Sanfilippo: So I did find the company I was thinking of, and I would not mind giving them a shout out.
Liz Wolfe: Oh good.
Diane Sanfilippo: But P.S.; your hippie coops, you guys, are where a lot of the bulk items are, so if you are concerned about this. I mean, this has nothing to do with cold care that we’re going to be talking about today. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: I know like Rainbow Grocery here in San Francisco, I could probably get shampoo; I know I could get things like coconut oil. I could get a lot of stuff that might be liquid in bulk and just refill bottles. So it is possible; it just depends on time and priority and what’s available in your area. So it’s AlterEco. I think you can; the options of the brands might be limited, but I think I probably can.
So AlterEco is the company. They won what’s known as a NexTI award; I think it’s an Expo based award. “We just won the NexTI award for our new quinoa pouch made of compostable materials. We couldn’t be more excited.” So that was pretty cool. They’re at AlterEcoSF. I don’t know if they’re based here in San Francisco; I can’t remember. They might be. But it’s AlterEco, they’re a chocolate company. And I actually really like their chocolate, I’ve had it many times. Good stuff. Delicious.
Liz Wolfe: #TYG, thank you Google.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Actually I was scrolling through the Expo West hashtag, and then I remembered that the award was called a NexTI and I looked at that hashtag. My interneting skills are superior. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Sleuthed it out. Wow.
Diane Sanfilippo: Sleuth.
Liz Wolfe: Our podcast sponsorship today comes from Vital Choice, an online purveyor of the world’s best wild seafood delivered right to your door; because juggling a busy life shouldn’t mean you have to forgo healthy meals. At www.vitalchoice.com, you’ll find wild Alaskan salmon, halibut, tuna, sable fish, and cod, as well as prawns, crab, and scallops. You’ll also find grass-fed organic Wagyu beef, free range heritage chicken, fresh frozen organic berries, and dark organic chocolates. Make a vital choice by eating the highest quality food you can. Vital Choice; come home to real food.
4. Natural immune boosters [18:58]
Liz Wolfe: Alright, so our topic for today, for podcast 235 is our favorite natural immune boosters. And this has been on my mind for a while, especially across the last year because, like I mentioned before, we are doing some plane traveling with the kid. We did some plane traveling a couple of months back, and that always feels like a potential germfest.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: The last time we traveled, we came back and ended up with roseola; not me, but the baby. She tolerated it incredibly well, it was like our first big, “oh no the baby is sick” type of moment, but she came through it beautifully, it was no big deal, and I think part of that is because at least to a degree we try and keep our immune system boosted as much as possible. But travel is always rife with stress; it just stresses your system, and that’s one of those stressors you really can’t do much about.
But I also personally I don’t have time to be sick, because I have a tiny person relying on me 24/7. I was really lucky; a couple of days ago I got pretty ill just kind of randomly, and thankfully was staying at my parent’s house. But if I hadn’t had somebody else running around chasing the kid around for me, I don’t even know what I would have done. I felt like I would have just put a dog leash around her waist, and attached her to something, I don’t know. It would have been kind of scary.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: But I don’t have time to be sick, Diane doesn’t have time to be sick, stress from lack of sleep and learning to be a parent has just been my undoing this year, and I’ve come up with some strategies out of necessity, and a couple of times those strategies have failed and I’ll talk about that in a second. But from what I gather, flu season is actually a little bit late this year, so I also thought this would be pretty timely because this is right when people start to think they’re out of the woods, but we’re actually not.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, and I got hit with kind of a cold/I don’t know, sinus infection perhaps/little bit of what seems like light bronchitis, or just…
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} I got a light splash of bronchitis.
Diane Sanfilippo: I got a light, I got a drop of bronchitis. I don’t know what it is, it’s just this nagging cough that won’t go away, and there’s not much going on with it. But it just is kind of hanging on, and I’m hoping it’s gone by Thursday, by our live event. But yeah. Immune boosters and in general, when it comes to overall health, I know you’re going to talk about something that’s not entirely related to colds and flus, but most of this stuff will be relative to cold and flu, but also general immunity from whatever is going on, any kind of infection, any kind of, I don’t know, people going into surgery; people ask us about that a lot, and we’re talking about just ways to get your immune system to be kind of in tip top shape. So good tips for all of that.
Liz Wolfe: Most of this we’re not going to be; a couple of these things will be safe for kiddos, as always check with your health care practitioner and do some Googling before you use anything on a kid. But I did want to shout out quickly Aviva Romm’s program, Healthiest Kids University. It’s at healthiestkids.com. I’m not an affiliate. We’re doing a lot of shout outs today; non-affiliate shout outs. But it’s a program I’ve signed up for.
Aviva Romm is an MD, but she has a very holistic bent, and she’s somebody I’ve been following for a while because she specializes in women’s health and children’s health. So her stuff is great. I highly encourage you to listen to her podcast, and check out her products and sign up for her emails, because she always provides some really valuable information from the perspective of a holistic medical doctor, which is rare. So, sign up for that.
Should I tell my little story about mastitis before we get going?
Diane Sanfilippo: I think so.
Liz Wolfe: Ok. Excuse me, my dogs are really excited about this story about my breasts.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: So a couple of months into being a parent and breastfeeding; well, here’s the first thing, a little disclaimer. If you’re doing side lying nursing during the night, and you’re worried that you’re breast is obstructing your baby’s ability to breathe, do not push down on your breast to clear the area around your baby’s nostrils. You’re not suffocating your baby, I’m 99% sure of that. Because any time you kind of selectively press down on an area of tissue where you could block a milk duct, you could end up with inflammation that can spiral into mastitis very, very quickly. So I had done that for about a week, because of course, as a new mom, I was freaking out about everything. Everything. And within a couple days, I ended up with an angry, red welt right where I had been compressing my breast, and within a day of discovering that little angry red welt, I had full blown mastitis. Fever, chills, shaky, just uber sick. And you just don’t want that to happen.
Now, when it comes to mastitis, when it gets that far especially, you use the antibiotics. You just don’t want to mess around with that. And for a lot of us in the holistic health community, I think antibiotics can become a little bit of a dirty word, but the fact is we are generally healthy people. We’re not using conventional remedies or antibiotics recklessly, so when it comes time to use them, please don’t feel guilty about it. Your system will be fine. You can support your system afterwards and during the use of antibiotics with probiotics, probiotic foods; things like that. And quite honestly, there’s some really interesting research out there about how antibiotics can actually improve health in very moderate doses at certain periods of time. So we don’t have to get into that, but just don’t be afraid. Because the stress that you feel about using antibiotics is probably going to make things a heck of a lot worse.
So, in that particular wave of mastitis, I did use the antibiotics. I actually ended up going to the ER because it was that bad. But, and everything turned out fine. But when I had that happen again, and I felt a little mastitis coming on; unfortunately, once you’ve had it once apparently you tend to be a little bit more prone to it after that. I don’t know why. But when I felt it coming on again later on, I actually had amassed a couple of strategies to try and ward it off. So again, we’re talking about immune boosters, boosting your system so that it can work and fight naturally against some of these things that happen versus actually treating something that’s already happening, you need to be smart about the medical care that you use and not be afraid to use conventional medicine in those situations.
But the second time when I had mastitis coming on, what I did is what I told Diane to do as well a couple of times, is I did the seeping garlic out of your approach {laughs} which is basically just crushing a clove of garlic, coating it in honey, and I feel guilty because someone told me about this remedy and I can’t remember who it was, I was trying to find out so I could give them credit. But you just crush a clove of garlic, you wait about 5 minutes for the active compounds to activate, and you coat it in honey and then you swallow it whole with a swig of whatever you want. Do that every 3 to 4 hours up to about 3, 4, 5 times, and it can ward off just about anything you feel coming on.
Don’t do it if you have a business meeting, or an important presentation or anything like that because you will literally be breathing garlic fire on everyone within a 20 mile radius. But, if you have a little bit of time to stay at home and to hunker down for a bit, it has been amazing, and it has worked for me not just on warding off mastitis, but on warding off just those funky feelings you get when you feel something coming on and you know it’s going to happen. My husband has used it a couple of times, and I think you have too, correct Diane?
Diane Sanfilippo: Yes, when I had a cold the last time I had a cold. I think it was right before Christmas, I did that along with some other stuff I’m going to talk about here, and I actually crushed whatever I had way faster than this time when I did not do that. So very interesting.
Liz Wolfe: Another thing that contains garlic is the master tonic, have you tried that?
Diane Sanfilippo: No.
Liz Wolfe: Alright, so Ashley, my friend, my fellow crunchy blogger from Whistle Pig Hollow, she has mentioned the master tonic, which I believe has onion, garlic, and it’s like steeped for a while. I’m going to Google it pretty quickly, but this stuff is gnarly. If you don’t want to make your own master tonic, you can actually get Dr. Schulze, which I think he’s at herbdoc.com. He has kind of a little mini master tonic shots that you can buy with a bunch of different ingredients.
Ok, master tonic; organic apple cider vinegar, garlic, onions, habanero pepper, ginger, horseradish, turmeric. I mean, you can make this for yourself. You can Google master tonic. People swear by it. But you can also get little master tonic type shots from herbdoc.com, which is another thing that actually works really well. And you can take those with you wherever, you can travel with; I’m planning on traveling with at least one or two of them. Maybe I’ll take a shot before I travel home. I promise not to take a shot of the master tonic before I present at the Nutritional Therapy Conference. {laughs} But maybe on the way home to boost my immune system before the second flight. Pretty gnarly, right? Can you imagine?
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, Scott was {laughs} Scott was near me after taking it probably 3 times that day I think I did, a pretty decent sized clove, and I couldn’t smell it because I was so congested. I was like, “I don’t think it’s really, I don’t think it’s that stinky.” And he was just laughing at me, because it was oozing. Oozing from my pores, for sure.
Liz Wolfe: Gross.
Diane Sanfilippo: So, should we talk about this whole thing in terms of some cold and flu care? Because I think the basics of immunity kind of, I mean they’re kind of far reaching when we talk about all of these elements, all of these different sort of natural supplements and things like that. But is there anything else you wanted to talk about in a different context before we get into all the cold and flu stuff.
Liz Wolfe: Ok, you know what I wanted to tell you, or what I wanted to talk about when you mentioned a respiratory issue; mullein, you can use mullein tea, you can use mullein tincture which actually can be pretty thick and gloppy, but it seems to work. It’s really great for respiratory constriction and chest colds and things like that, so that’s a really good one. And it’s actually something that I believe you can pass the benefits through breast milk to your little ones, same with garlic, same with ginger, same with almost any natural compound I think. If you are uncomfortable giving them directly to your baby. Which, for the most part, I prefer to do it that way. But you might try some mullein tea and see how you do with that.
Diane Sanfilippo: Interesting.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. Google it, because I’m not super sure about its applications, but that might be cool.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’m curious; so one of the things I am going to talk about are herbal teas that I love. I do love Traditional Medicinals; another shout out. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: But I may have talked about them a bunch of times. I love their blends because they have multiple things in them that are supportive of different issues and the tastes are pretty good, really well sourced, non-GMO, organic, etc. But I’m curious if they have a tea that might have it; maybe they have a throat coat or a cough tea that that might be in. I’m guessing it will be.
Liz Wolfe: I think so.
Diane Sanfilippo: Pretty much anything you find that you’re like, “oh this could be helpful for this issue.” If they’ve got a tea for it, it’s usually in there. So I think they are pretty good with that, so I’ll look at that.
5. Herbal teas [31:12]
Diane Sanfilippo: So yeah, let’s kind of just run through a bunch of stuff that can help people out for different reasons, and maybe we start with teas. I know we’ve talked about teas for different reasons on the show, whether it’s digestive aid, cold care, etc., but I usually do an Echinacea type of tea. This one is an Echinacea blend. It’s got elder flower, it’s got some other, chamomile and peppermint and some other things that may just be in there for flavor, but may be in there for other reasons as well. This one, again, it’s called Echinacea plus immune supportive and it does have elderberry, as well.
I tend to use that partially just for something to soothe my throat if I do get sick. Also, a cup of a warm beverage, you know that steam effect right underneath your nose and mouth does, at least from my experience, help to open things up a bit. That warm liquid helps to kind of loosen things up. Breathing in the steam helps to loosen things up. And I do think that we can very easily become pretty dehydrated when we’re sick, so finding a way to get more liquids in.
I know, especially if you can’t taste anything, drinking water or drinking tea, oddly it feels like a chore. I do put a teaspoon if I have local honey, I use that, otherwise I’ll use whatever. I think I had some from Tropical Traditions after the local honey ran out, and I used that, put a teaspoon of honey with the tea. I don’t stress about it too much. But that is something that I’m pretty on top of when I’m sick, is drinking some teas. Are you kind of a tea person, or?
Liz Wolfe: Sometimes I like to pretend that I’m a tea person. I would like to be a tea person.
Diane Sanfilippo: When I’m sick, I’m a tea person.
Liz Wolfe: But I think they have great utility.
Diane Sanfilippo: Otherwise…
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: There’s a lot of tea in the cabinet otherwise.
Liz Wolfe: I have to; just because the way we eat, and most of the people that listen to the podcast, the way we eat, we eat such water rich food as a general rule, I actually sometimes have to be reminded if there’s some nourishment to be gotten in liquid form. Because I just don’t get thirsty that often.
Diane Sanfilippo: Totally.
Liz Wolfe: So I will forget. You know, and also you used to make fun of me for this. I’d get coffee, and drink like 2 sips of it.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: It’s more like the smelling of it and the carrying it around that I like. But I love herbal teas, just in theory because I think they can be incredibly powerful and Traditional Medicinals is probably my favorite. I’ve actually used their chamomile, I think, tea as a facial toner.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, interesting.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, they do a great job.
6. Oil of oregano [33:51]
Diane Sanfilippo: Alright, so the next thing, and for those of you who would prefer to learn from a video I have a few of these in a video that we shared with my subscribers. I believe it was last week or the week before, and if you want to kind of see pictures and hear me talk through it while I was a little bit sick, because it was while I was about to take everything, but I do oregano in one or more forms.
So, obviously the most potent form of oregano that I could be taking would be an essential oil form, and you could do whatever brand you want. I know there are pure forms that are just oregano; I’ve definitely had one and used one that was cut with olive oil, and it has not been an issue. Oregano is so potent as an antibacterial, antimicrobial that it’s just a great thing to have in the house for any given time that you feel like there could be something coming on. I like to use things that are more natural, obviously, as kind of a first line of defense; for sure if you’ve got an infection or some kind of illness that has advanced to the point that you need antibiotics. I don’t think it’s something to be afraid of, I think once you have the mindset that antibiotics are not the answer for everything, it’s important to remember that they still are the answer for some things. So that’s fine, it’s fair to have that as an option.
But oregano is a natural form sort of antibiotic, so use it judiciously. I don’t recommend that people have this every single day. For sure if you are concerned about it, you’re concerned about gut microbial balance, you have issues there, then pay attention to this stuff because it is antimicrobial, so you don’t want to just be hammering it all the time killing what’s happening in your gut, but if you’ve got some kind of infection it can be very effective.
Some people would do a couple of drops in a shot of water and gargle that and then swallow it. Some will do a few drops in a humidifier or some sort of mister to get that in the air so that you’re breathing it. There are lots of different options for that. There’s also a capsule form that I like from a company called Oregamax. Actually, the company I think is North American Urban Spice. Scott maybe can edit my throat clearing.
So the company is actually North American Urban Spice, and the supplement is called Oregamax, and it is oregano but it’s also; let’s see, there’s also sumac, garlic and onion, which Liz you were just talking about garlic and onion in the tonic, and all of those can be really helpful in terms of immune support, antimicrobial, antibacterial, etc.
So, I like having all of them on hand just because if I’m feeling like I have issues breathing then I often want to use the humidifier, I often want to put a few drops of oregano in there, and I do like the capsule form as well just because it’s very easy to take, very easy to carry. I will, {laughs} I’ll be a pusher and make Scott take some if I’m sick and I don’t want him to get sick, and it’s something that helps as a preventative. And it’s pretty, despite the fact that it can be antibacterial, it’s pretty mild. It’s a natural, just food-based supplement. So it’s not like taking a preventative antibiotic in prescription form, it’s just going to be a milder immune supporting approach.
Do you have any other thoughts on oregano?
Liz Wolfe: Not for kids. That’s about all I got.
Diane Sanfilippo: Don’t use it for kids.
Liz Wolfe: Don’t use it for kids. But yeah, super powerful.
7. Probiotics [37:22]
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok. So the other one; and then to counterbalance that as well, and also to counterbalance what I’m going to mention next, but I think having a good probiotic on hand is a good idea, whether you rotate throughout the day of in the morning you doing the antimicrobial and then you’re doing the probiotic later or kind of after the few days or week of being sick you follow up with that probiotic, that’s another good thing to just keep in mind. We have Prescript Assist here, it’s the soil based version of probiotic. But if you have one you like that’s working for you, go for it. There’s not one that works perfectly for everyone.
So the other thing that I use, and it can be controversial, but again this is not prescriptive. I’m not saying everyone should use this, I’m not saying this is the best thing to use for everyone, but I find that it works for me, and I think in the right context and not overdone it seems to be pretty generally safe and again, effective. So colloidal silver. There are people who Google this and find somebody turning blue because they’re overdoing it with this silver, which I believe is a mycelized; it’s a microform of this metal. And it does have an antimicrobial, antifungal, antibacterial property to it.
So it’s a liquid form, it has no taste, no smell. Very, very easy to take. I’m going to guess this one is probably not recommended for kids. Liz you can tell me if you have information on that. But very easy to either use this as a throat spray or a nasal spray. I think this is a really great, easy one to carry with you if you’re traveling. I’ll put this throat spray in my travel bag, if we land somewhere and I’m feeling a little tickle in the throat, something, I might be under the weather a little bit, a few sprays of this. It’s kind of best used in that initial stage. I think it does help to ward things off really well. But this is something that I pretty much have around all the time. The nasal spray is what I’ll use as opposed to something like Afrin or some other over the counter medication if my sinuses are really flared up.
There was one night I was trying to fall asleep, and my sinuses were so inflamed that I could not fall asleep because I really couldn’t breathe. A couple of sprays of that into my nose, I had the humidifier on, and I finally was able to breathe and fall asleep. Do you have more thoughts on silver; have you used colloidal silver at all?
Liz Wolfe: I’ve only used it topically, and I honestly I don’t know much about it. I think it’s probably worth trying, I just haven’t had the necessity for it to be able to give a good report one way or the other.
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok. Totally fine; I think people can do their own research. Of course, most of the stuff that you’re going to read from like the Mayo Clinic or most traditional allopathic medical websites are going to say it’s quackery; whatever. You can try it, if you feel like it works for you, great. If it doesn’t, if you’re scared, don’t use it. Do what you feel is good for you. I use it, I feel like it’s effective, and there’s that. {laughs} So we can kind of move on to some other stuff, too.
8. Humidifier [40:50]
Diane Sanfilippo: So, the next one I want to talk about is a humidifier.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: Which, I know there are a lot of people; are you giving a heck yeah to it.
Liz Wolfe: I’m giving a Yes!
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok.
Liz Wolfe: Hell yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: So I know that a lot of people, and our friend Hayley of Primal Palate was talking about they were using dehumidifiers, because they had issues with mold in their house. So look, this can be a very polarizing topic, whether we’re adding or removing moisture from the air. I think the vast majority of people, depending on where you live especially, would do best in winter months especially to add moisture to the air. If you’re in a desert climate and you find that you’re getting sick all the time and you don’t know what’s going on, especially if that’s a new climate for you, then pay attention to the fact that your air could be really, really dry.
The problem with that; and this is one of the reasons why air travel is a breeding ground for illness. It’s not necessarily just the germs we get exposed to, right? You made a casual reference to the germs when we travel, and I know there’s a ton going on. There are tons of people; people sneezing on things, and touching things, and all of that. But depending on your belief system of the way we get sick, I think most of us are at the point where we know it’s not just the germ theory, right? It’s not just the germs that exist, it’s their interaction with our immune system.
So the things that we can do to maintain a better immune system while we travel or at home include keeping our mucous membranes moist, regardless of how you feel about the word moist {laughs}, it’s relevant and valid.
I bought a travel humidifier to bring with us to LA. It was not anything like my 1970s humidifier that literally; this humidifier that we have in our room, I don’t know what could be in there. We’ve cleaned it out, but that thing will pump more than a half a gallon of water into the air overnight, which is legit. Like, I love how much water that thing pumps into the air. It steams the curtains at the same time. It’s not a joke, that thing; actually, I could bring that we could steam our shirts for the podcast. {laughs}
But keeping your mucous membranes moist so that they can do their job; you know what happens when we get sick, you know we’re trying to breathe and it’s so try and we can’t get anything moving through there. When you are able to use a humidifier, we did this last winter much more consistently. We do have some issues with the dog being extremely scared of that percolating sound of the humidifier; she kind of freaks out. But using it all winter last winter, I don’t know if maybe I did get sick once, but not as often. And then this year being here in San Francisco, we didn’t think of it as much, it isn’t quite as wintery here and I was trying not to freak the dog out, and not using it I do think contributed to me getting sick again.
So it’s not just about the germs that we’re exposed to, it’s how our immune system can handle them and keeping those mucous membranes working optimally is extremely important to battling disease. Our mucous membranes are our immune system; right, that’s the layer that we have to protect us. Anything; our mouth, our eyes, our nose, it’s all going to have that barrier. And if it’s too dry, it just can’t work the same way.
So, I think a humidifier is great. I don’t have a specific brand to recommend; I think a lot of them have lights on them, which is really annoying and I wish that companies wouldn’t do that, because most people are using them overnight. I get that it might be a bit of a safety thing, but it’s also a bit of an obnoxious, we’d like to sleep in the dark thing. But getting a humidifier, find one that can get some pretty good output of the moisture into the air. They’ve got reviews all over the place. I wouldn’t worry too much; I think you can get a Vicks brand one at Walgreens or something, it should be fine.
I remember last winter being up in Park City for Sundance; the house we were staying in had a humidifier in the closet. I was like, heck yeah! Took that thing out and pumped that on every night, because I really did not want to get sick. So that’s a big one for me. It’s the least sort of, I don’t know, natural mediciney, right? It’s not something you need to be worried about. I don’t think it’s going to be a problem for kids if you have a humidifier on. I think most kids probably can do really great with that, too.
Liz Wolfe: So with kids and humidifiers, I haven’t really been able to nail down a suite of recommendations, because there’s pros and cons on either side. I might butcher which issue is associated with which type of humidifier. But the idea with humidifiers and kids is I think warm mist humidifiers can potentially harbor bacteria.
Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.
Liz Wolfe: But cool mist can potentially spread mineral dust that can be irritating to the lungs, and it’s just kind of all over the place. I personally think any issue is so rare and so unlikely that I probably wouldn’t even worry about it with a kiddo. But there is a website where you can compare a ton of different humidifiers for your different needs, and they’re really great and maybe I’ll shout them out if I can actually pull them up on the internet.
Diane Sanfilippo: The one that I’ve been using is definitely warm mist, and there are also some potential just cautions to have around a warm mist humidifier. It can be putting steam directly into the air, and if a kid goes to touch it, I mean that’s just another little general caution that it can be hot steam {laughs} being put into the air. So, that might be the reason why parents wanted to do cold mist but maybe didn’t know what the up and down sides of that would be.
The little travel one that I got does not put that much moisture into the air. I don’t think you’d have too much risk of stuff growing in it because you can very easily clean all the parts of it, as well as replace this little, it’s almost a pen-sized sponge type thing that helps to distribute the water into the air. Again, it doesn’t put that much out but it was pretty nice to have that for traveling. I felt a little more at ease knowing there was some moisture coming into the air. It was like; this thing plugs into a USB plug. I was like, this is a little crazy. But anyway.
Liz Wolfe: {singing} I still love technology.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Iallergy.com is the website that has literally everything you could ever want to know about any kind of humidifier, and they price match if you order through them. So I’ve gained a lot from that site, check it out.
Diane Sanfilippo: Very cool.
Liz Wolfe: IAllergy.com. Lots of shout outs today.
Diane Sanfilippo: All the shout outs.
9. Elderberry [47:48]
Liz Wolfe: How about we talk about one that people know about, but maybe they’ve heard about it so many times that they’re just like; “eh.” They kind of forget about it.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh.
Liz Wolfe: Elderberry. Do you do elderberry?
Diane Sanfilippo: Like as in a cough syrup type deal?
Liz Wolfe: Yeah elderberry, like in the bottles. You can get them at even Natural Grocer’s. Elderberry juice.
Diane Sanfilippo: I have done them. I have done it in a cough syrup form, and I found it to be delicious. {Laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, ‘tis delicious. And it’s actually one of the…
Diane Sanfilippo: I was like, I might have a problem with this cough syrup.
Liz Wolfe: I know, it’s so good. But it’s actually been, well at least compounds from elderberry have actually been pretty well studied as effective antimicrobial, antiviral, inhibiting bacterial growth, effective against I think certain types of the flu. It’s also safe for kids for the most part. I started giving it to my kiddo around 6 months. I mean, I think anything before 6 months whether you’re talking essential oils or herbal remedies, anything like that be really, really careful and make sure you do your research first. But we did use it for our little one, with just a little a dropper, starting at about 6 months and she was totally into it, no big deal.
And it’s kind of more one of those things you want to cycle on and off during the flu season or the winter season. Maybe take it for two weeks and then go off it for a week or two, but it can be really, really powerful. It’s got antioxidants, flavonoids, vitamin C, and I don’t even think those are necessarily the compounds that have actually been studied as effective in elderberry.
You can make your own; actually, I think Kate from Real Food RN, I think she has a recipe on her blog. You can buy dried elderberries and turn them into elderberry syrup. You can also grow elderberries. A lot of people will be able to find folks locally that actually produce elderberry syrup from local, unsprayed elderberries, which is really cool. I get mine from a woman named Carol at MindfullyMadeForYou.com, so if you’re in the Kansas City area, you should definitely look her up. She makes some amazing elderberry syrup.
And I probably shouldn’t call it syrup, actually, it’s probably more of like a juice, but I think it’s generally like a syrup.
Diane Sanfilippo: I think it just depends on where and how you’re getting it. I think I’ve gotten it as a syrup. Like a cough syrup.
Liz Wolfe: Like maple syrup, like delicious, put it on pancakes syrup.
Diane Sanfilippo: Uh, sort of.
Liz Wolfe: I’m hungry. Never mind.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: The Balanced Bites podcast is sponsored in part by the Nutritional Therapy Association. The NTA trains and certifies nutritional therapy practitioners and consultants, including me, I’m an NTP, emphasizing bio-individuality and the range of dietary strategies that support wellness. The NTA emphasizes local, whole, properly prepared nutrient dense foods as the key to restoring balance and enhancing the body’s ability to heal. Nutritional therapy practitioners and consultants learn a wide range of tools and techniques to assess and correct nutritional imbalances. To learn lots more about the nutritional therapy program, go to NutritionalTherapyAssociation.com. There are workshop venues in the US, Canada, and Australia. Fall registration will open June 2016. I know the price is increasing next year, so do not wait. If you see the NTA as part of your future, get started now. You won’t regret it.
10. Vitamin D [51:19]
Diane Sanfilippo: So, I just have one last one I want to talk about, which I thought is what you were going to mention when you said something obvious that people may not be thinking of, and that’s vitamin D. I know there’s a lot of controversy around vitamin D, whether or not we should supplement with it, whether or not we supplement with it all year or not.
I think, again in kind of a concentrated, isolated, I feel a cold coming on, or I’m dealing with this battle context, right? I have vitamin D, it’s been in my cabinet here, it’s not expired yet {laughs} so I’ll continue to use it. That’s something that I tend to, just for those couple of days while I’m dealing with trying to beat down something in my system, I’ll just boost my system with a little bit of extra vitamin D. We know that vitamin D is definitely a huge immune supporter, immune booster. But in the winter months, we’re really not getting much of it, and that’s not to say that we need tons of it during the winter; everyone is going to have different thresholds of how much vitamin D they really need.
I don’t think everybody needs to be supplementing with it year round or even just over the winter when you’re not getting sunshine. But I do think that if there’s something we can do that could be, again that natural immune boost, I’m for it, and I think you have to understand your own context. Everyone’s got different sort of thresholds and limits to what they can tolerate. My body does really well with a lot of these natural remedies, natural even just immune boosters, prophylactic type supplements. I don’t do great with a lot of prescription medications. It’s been years since I’ve really taken any, but I remember even taking a painkiller years ago from having my molars; not my molars, my wisdom teeth removed, and my body just doesn’t respond great to that.
So for me, these are great to have on hand. It helps me feel like I’m doing something to combat, but I think outside; I don’t know, do you have anything else to kind of throw in about vitamin D because I only have one other thing I want to recommend to people after that.
Liz Wolfe: You can apply it topically if you don’t want to actually ingest it, you can always just put it on your skin. I think that’s probably the preferred way to do it for little babies, instead of actually giving them the supplement via drops, I think letting them absorb it through the skin is a great idea.
Diane Sanfilippo: Like, put the drops on their skin?
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, exactly.
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok.
Liz Wolfe: You can use that for like psoriasis and skin issues, too.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, interesting.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: So, the one that I have, I talked about in the video that I have, it’s a liquid that is suspended in MCT, so it’s coconut and palm sourced suspension of the vitamin D. So that’s the one that I have; it’s pretty potent.
11. Rest and recover D [54:12]
Diane Sanfilippo: So the only other thing I want to say about immune boosting, cold and flu, any kind of illness, and as Liz mentioned sometimes this feels like it’s not possible because you might have a baby attached to you {laughs} or 4 kids, or whatever is going on. But in whatever way you can to slow down and rest, if it’s at all possible for you to take the day off of work; if it’s at all possible fo