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Get Healthy Naturally with Jennifer Schmid | Speaker.  Healer.  Nurse.  Naturopath. 

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Thoughts

Our latest blogs and podcasts on earth-based medicine, current trends in healthcare, and finding the balance.

Filtering by Category: earthbased medicine

Improving Patient Outcomes and Creating Solutions through Practitioner Collaboration

Jennifer Schmid

I recently read a blog post titled “How to talk with your patients about alternative medicine.” I got really excited and thought Yes! Another physician who gets it. Well, no. The blog really should have been called “How to convince your patients why you think alternative medicine is bogus without offending them.” 

Because of the negative way alternative medicine is portrayed in the media, I had the misperception that the great majority of conventional practitioners were against it. I started digging, though, and happily found out, that is not necessarily the case.

The problem is, few of us are working together for the greater good to collaborate with other practitioners and offer patients what they really want.

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More Measles Musings from a Swollen-headed Narcissist

Jennifer Schmid

Whew. My previous blog about why I’m not afraid of measles has gotten over 21,000 hits and 5000 Facebook likes in 3 days. People are so hungry (ahem) for nutritional solutions to health care issues. The feedback for the blog has been overwhelmingly positive, though I have been called all sorts of untoward names. Someone even said to me that using whole food nutritional strategies to boost the immune system was akin to “snake oil.”

There is so much fear out there. There are so many people who truly believe that pharmaceuticals such as drugs and vaccines are the only answer, and without “modern medicine”, we are are all going to die. I have such compassion for people who live in that fear, because a) I used to live that way, and b) it’s not a joyful way to live.

So let me reiterate. We don’t have to be afraid. 

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Why I'm not afraid of measles

Jennifer Schmid

Update, January 30, 2015: Thank you so much for your positive feedback about this post! You people rock. Due to popular demand, I have revised the blog to include more citations so that you know I am not pulling the wool over your eyes. Likewise, at the request of nutrition guru, Sally Fallon Morrell, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, I have added in two more effective prevention strategies to help boost immunity, both of which are, of course, back up by science, just like all the others. Be sure to download the revised Strategy flyer!

Everyone should follow a measles prevention strategy by strengthening their health and immune system, even if they're vaccinated. Here's my strategy.

 

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Why I look younger than my age

Jennifer Schmid

Call it good genetics, but people frequently point out that I look younger than my age. And then I frequently point out that I am careful of what I put on my skin, the same way I am careful of what I eat and put in my body.

Instead of telling you how I nourish my skin with Pangea skin care products, however, I thought it’d be a lot more entertaining to show you. 

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Putting on the brakes

Jennifer Schmid

Every so often, I come across something I read and think, "I must share this with my peeps." This blog was written by my dear friend and yoga teacher, Kathleen Thompson. I first met Kathleen over 10 years ago at her yoga studio in Mansfield, a small town in rural Pennsylvania, just after the birth of my third child, when I was desperate to hold onto my identity as a woman outside the confines of motherhood. Her yoga classes were not just a welcome escape, they rejuvenated my body and soul, making me a better mother, woman, and healer in the process. I have since come to love and respect Kathleen not only as a yoga teacher but as a community builder, mentor, and friend. She never stops learning and appreciating, figuring out what works and what doesn't work, and then getting rid of the "doesn't work" that holds her back.  As such, she spreads joy and smiles wherever she goes, like a Glinda the Good Witch, and looks 20 years younger than her age. She is beautiful and radiant, inside and out.

I am honored to be able to share Kathleen's wise journey with you. Don't miss out on her manifesto (words for us all to live by), or her insightful metaphor at the end; we all need to know how to recharge.


Winterlude

In the week between Christmas and New Years I rented a little apartment in Ithaca, NY. I needed a getaway: from Christmas, from busyness, from tired.

I needed a retreat. But instead of booking myself into a fancy place like Kripalu, I tried a “self-guided” retreat this time, in a nearby city where I know a few, but not many people, and where I could be happily alone.

I cooked up a a batch of kitchari in my home kitchen and brought that to eat, along with a few other staples.

Every day I cooked up the kitchari for lunch with greens I bought at Oasis.

Kitchari

 

The man at Oasis who checked me out told me this joke one really cold morning:

Q: What do you get when you cross a snowman and a vampire?

A: Frostbite!

I drank a lot of hot water which I heated up an electric kettle I found in the apartment kitchen. But the mugs there didn’t fit my hands so I wandered into Handwork and bought a beautiful handmade mug for my hot water.

The one I bought was made by hands, for hands.  It is beautiful and I treasure it. It is currently sitting on the the table beside me. It will forever remind me of this time of great regeneration.

Kathleen mug handwork

I sat on a small brown couch all day and edited my manuscript.

Kathleen couch

I slept like shit. (The bed was very mushy.)

Most nights I stayed up very late. (For me.)

I sat on the windowseat and looked out.

Kathleen Thompson selfie

I finished The Distraction Addiction.

I started Daring Greatly.

I went to yoga every day.

When you teach yoga every day like I do, it is such a thrill, such an utter indulgence to be led. I got to follow someone’s else’s path every day and it was lovely.

I went to Starbucks. (Not every day, but almost.)

I cruised through the bookstore a few times. I ran into people I know, and like, from home. I ran into people I know, and like, from Ithaca.

I sat and meditated with my dear friend Zee, and her friends, on New Year’s Day, and then had Indian food with them afterwards at Diamonds.

All day I worked.

I noticed the way I worked. I noticed that I like alternating between digital and analog; between computer and fountain pen. When I started to stagnate on the computer, I’d pick up the pen and a fresh world would appear. When I felt that world begin to fade, a return to the keypad ignited me again.

And in this way, back and forth, digital to analog, hour after hour, day after day, with breaks only for fresh hot water and to pee, I spent my interlude.

I worked on my manuscript, but I wrote other things, too.

I wrote deep reflections on all the yoga classes I took, for example, pondering what it really means to be a yoga teacher, and how I might become a more effective one.

I wrote my “manifesto” which was deeply inspired by the two books I was reading. My manifesto lists the qualities that I hope to cultivate and manifest in myself and my life from this time going forward. I love this list and feel so happy to have finally articulated it.

Kathleen Thompson manifeso

I wrote in OmWriter, which is a new writing platform for me. I was inspired to try it from the writer of Distraction Addiction. I really like it a lot. I found it allowed me to go deeper into reflective space than I have ever gone before, and stay in that depth longer.

I severely limited my connections to other people, and to distractions like email and internet. I only went online twice a day: morning and night, and would not have gone on at all if I didn’t have a business.

I thought about installing Freedom but my self-discipline was strong enough and I really didn’t need it. Still, I like knowing that it exists, because I can foresee a time in the future when I will need to utilize it.

I loved living in this small, walkable city. Everything I needed and wanted was less than a 5 minute walk away: yoga, health food store, bookstore, Starbucks, even an indie movie theater. I could walk to Indian food and Thai food, as well as Tapas and Mexican and vegetarian.

On my last day, G came and we went to see the movie Wild. For my final dinner, we chose the tapas restaurant right below my apartment. We drove home in two cars, following each other.

Kathleen Thompson Ithaca apartment

(my apartment was on the 2nd floor, the 2 windows on the left with the white blinds.)

As I drove home I thought about the Prius, and how the battery of that car recharges every time you apply the brakes.

It recharges when it brakes.

What do you know? Me, too.

Go figure.

Oasis Wellness Empowerment Series #2: Disempowering Patients through Fear, Coercion, and Force

Jennifer Schmid

In the first segment of our 3-part Empowerment series, I discussed why it’s so important for patients and providers to feel empowered, and how we can use the Internet as a way to stay informed on best current practices. Today, we look at an uglier side of our health care system based on the outdated beliefs that the health care provider is always right, and Western medicine has all the answers.

Except in trauma, Western medicine excels at suppressing symptoms, but it’s not so good at helping people to heal. (I define healing as coming back as strong or even stronger than before the illness or health issue developed.) Even worse, our health care system is rife with practitioners – from all ranks of medicine, both conventional and alternative – who believe that they know better than their patients. And rather than using information to empower their patients, they use fear, coercion, and sometimes force to manipulate their patients into “patient compliance”, making them go along with treatments that are expensive, not evidence based, and/or may cause harm to the patient.

 I know these are strong words to use. The problem is, people contact me every week because they want options. They question why their doctor is “requiring” that they or their child endure a treatment or intervention that might cause them harm, whether those treatments are surgery, chemotherapy, or supplements. They feel intuitively there must be a different way, but their provider is not providing them with any options.

 It’s the ugly side of our health care system, and it is hurting patients.

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Healing for the FUN of it

JPW Design Team

Most of the time, people become my clients because they are unhappy with the prescriptions they get from their doctors, whether conventional or naturopathic. They are overwhelmed by the pharmaceuticals, supplements, and diet changes that their provider insists they must swallow and follow for what seems like an infinite amount of time -- a year, the foreseeable future, or in some cases, forever. And that saps any possibility of joy from their potential healing. The client loses their mojo. They see Mt. Everest before them. Huge. Looming. Insurmountable.

Why in the world would they want to invest the time, money, and energy in a process that might or might not heal them, but will, in their eyes, cause them to suffer, whether physically or emotionally? To me, that’s a bitter pill to swallow.

I do not believe in telling my clients they have to “suffer through it,” “stick it out,” "feel crappy," “endure it,” or anything of that nature. Yuck.

One of the fundamental tenets of the work I do is to show people how to capture the joy in healing. Healing – no matter how it comes about -- should be FUN. If you’re going to spend the time, money, and energy to heal, it needs to feel good, whether it involves whole foods, herbs, or diet and lifestyle changes.

This is not some idealistic Pollyanna scam on my part. Like all of the work that I do, this premise is based on science. Just look at the research surrounding laughter as medicine. When patients feel joy, they feel better. It doesn’t matter if they’re depressed, have cancer, walk with pain, or are on dialysis. Their symptoms improve.

Therefore, incorporating joy and fun into a client’s journey towards optimal wellness is critical. They are integral components of earth-based medicine, especially where food is concerned.

We all understand the joy and comfort that we get from eating certain foods and drinking certain beverages. Unfortunately many of these foods and beverages take away from our health, particularly when we are dealing with some sort of health crisis.

For instance, I had a client, Liz*, who came to me wanting to lose weight and unable to kick a 30 year Diet Coke habit. She drank anywhere from 5-10 cans a day. She knew the Diet Coke was unhealthy and contributed to her weight gain, but she enjoyed drinking it during her stressful day as a high-tech executive. I asked her what she specifically liked about the soda, and she said, “The bubbles refresh me.” I suggested that she drink mineral water instead. Violà – the Diet Coke habit disappeared in one week, and she’s been on a healing journey ever since. All we had to do was tap into her joy.

Patricia*, who was already an amazing cook, has started listening to music while making dinner. She says the food tastes better, she is eating more slowly, and her digestion has improved.

Children especially need to have fun when they’re healing. Kate*, a beautiful 11 year old, came to me with her mom recently after dealing with debilitating joint pain for over a year. She has been to countless doctors, all of whose different diagnoses and prescriptions, despite their best intentions and steep costs, have caused Kate to suffer even more. Some recent bloodwork suggests that Kate needs to make some major changes to her diet, including not eating her Halloween candy. Together with her mom, we figured out what would bring her joy instead of the sugar, and she left my office empowered and smiling, knowing she would get some of her favorite Pangea Organics lip balm at the end of her candy-free week. There might even be a trip to Disneyland in the spring.

When you give people options, when you take the time to find out what brings them joy and what’s “fun” to them, you also tap into their innermost source of deep healing. Yes, healing can mean making major life changes, but these changes should be rooted in joy, not suffering.

I want my clients to have fun while they’re healing. I want them to savor the physical and emotional joy that comes from their symptoms disappearing and from living life to the fullest. My clients are redefining wellness for themselves and having a darn good time in the process. And that’s what I call medicine.

*Names have been changed to protect clients’ privacy.

Setting the self-care example for our patients

JPW Design Team

How many people do you know who suppress their need to rejuvenate, who pick themselves up in the morning with their Starbucks grande and numb themselves in the evening with wine, beer, or whiskey? How many nurses and doctors do you know who are hooked on coffee, junk food, and Diet Coke to get through their long shifts? As a patient, how does it make you feel when you meet your doctor/nurse/practitioner for the first time, and they’re 50 pounds overweight, with big, dark circles under their eyes, and they too tired to greet you with a smile?

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Why I’m not afraid of Ebola (but you might be)

JPW Design Team

I recently read a blog stating it would unethical to conduct a study on Ebola treatments using a placebo (fake treatment). I take that a step further. It is unethical to conduct a study using ONLY drugs. If Ebola is such a menace, why are we not using every possible means to heal people and to prevent illness?

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