Last week I went head-on into a trendy topic of “not needing your period.” It all got started with this article that has gained considerable traction in social media forums and was even reposted in the NYT. I shared these four points in response in my post titled Women DO Need To Have Periods:

1. You DO need your period and it should NOT be painful. Those painful symptoms are there to bring your attention to a deeper imbalance that likely began even before your menstrual cycles did. Read this post about what that imbalance looked like in your childhood. So this isn’t an either/or situation, it’s a clear cry from your body to fix the root of the problem.
2. Using hormonal birth control to suppress menstrual pain is only exacerbating the inflammation caused by a sluggish lymphatic system and less than optimal elimination organs. This post on painful periods explains how you’re just shifting symptoms this way.
3. Disruption of a regular cycle for any length of time will likely lead to overworked bowels and/or kidneys. This creates a build-up of acidic wastes which will then produce any or all of these symptoms:

• Digestive disturbances (bloating, flatulence, acid reflux)
• Changes in bowel movements (less than the optimal two a day, loose frequent stools)
• Increase need to urinate or sense of an oncoming UTI
• Nighttime urination
• Skin disturbances (acne and/or eczema)
• Painful breast swelling
• Sleep disturbances
• Lower back pain
  Irritability, Increased Anxiety, or Depressive Symptoms
  This post on inflammation and infertility discusses the approach I use in my practice

Also, don’t forget there is a huge pharmaceutical industry out there whose livelihood depends on the sale of birth control devices that will ease your pain or stop your period. It’s an unfortunate fact that much of the research we rely on for our health information is funded by the pharmaceutical industry. This is not cynicism, this is the truth and we can no longer risk our health and that of the next generation because of our naiveté. The greatest source of truth is to listen to your body and recognize its natural healing capabilities. Learning to listen and taking proactive steps that work WITH our body’s innate ability to clean and heal, we can have it all—painless periods and a body in harmony.

Now I’d like to tell you a story this week about a client of mine Melissa. Seven years before I had the opportunity of meeting Melissa she took the advice of her OB/Gyn to implant a Mirena IUD.

Why this seemed like a good idea
While Melissa was looking for the convenience of no menstrual flow she learned there was a price to pay. Let me share Melissa’s story. At 24 Melissa was delighted at all the Mirena IUD had to offer. No period AND reliable, ongoing birth control. That’s one great deal for a young professional woman. She was surprised, however, as she began to hear stories from friend after friend who also had the Mirena who were suffering from reoccurring UTI’s or ovarian cysts. She was feeling quite lucky that her experience was different. Or was it?

What Melissa did notice
While at the time Melissa never attributed these symptoms to the IUD she began experiencing them at a steady increase over time:

Anxiety & Sleeplessness: Like many young professional women Melissa had her fair share of steadily increasing sleeplessness and anxiety. This was easy to pass off as part and parcel of working full time and running her own business, but when this went away after the Mirena was removed it now appears to be linked.

Painful Swollen Breasts & Cramping: At about 8-14 days before her menses (which never actually occurred) Melissa would, in her words, “experience massive PMS symptoms particularly horrible swollen and sore breasts and cramps. It got to the point wearing a bra was extremely uncomfortable and I would have to cancel social outings because going in public was just embarrassing.” Now looking back Melissa can see it as if, “my body wanted to have a release but it couldn’t and it would last for a minimum of 8 days, usually 12 to 14.”  This went on every month in extreme form the last two years of having the Mirena.

Cystic Acne: It was the breast pain coupled with the highly inflamed cystic acne that would appeared on her face and back, increasing mid-cycle that pushed Melissa to the edge. “I remember one particular day crying in my car before walking into HEB because I was so embarrassed by my skin. This was my last straw before taking it out because nothing was working to clear my skin. Not even heavy prescription creams.”

My perspective
Melissa’s flaring symptoms came at the time of some groundbreaking collaborative work of mine with a group of European physicians who also integrated Gemmotherapy, Homeopathy, and Plant-Based Eating into protocols for their patients. I had just implemented the new intake process that evaluated a client’s elimination, vitality and inflammation that we had been working on. I was testing a theory that by opening elimination first the body’s natural cleaning and healing process would be optimized. Melissa’s protocol and her response actually became a landmark case for me and one I often hold up as an example in talks.

I had seen Melissa in my practice on and off for over a year with emotional and digestive complaints. In that time while treating her with Homeopathy, I saw her monthly painful breast swelling and tenderness 14 days out of a 28 day cycle, and significant cystic facial acne only grow more aggravated. Each 4-6 weeks we would make some gains but the cystic acne was taking its toll on her self esteem and she was at her limit. Melissa made an appointment to have her IUD removed and I suggested we meet afterwards to begin the process of restoring healthy elimination.

Meeting with Melissa this time viewing her case through the lens of elimination was where I discovered for the first time that aside from not having a monthly menses, Melissa only had a bowel movement every other day at best and never felt her bowels emptied. She told me this symptom had become increasing worse over the years since the IUD was in place. She had never mentioned it as it had been going on for so long and it was her skin that was in her focus.

I began treating Melissa with a simple protocol of only Walnut, (Juglans Regia) Gemmotherapy extract, twice daily by itself to begin the opening process and asked her to eat an all-fruit breakfast each morning. Within a week she begin having a daily bowel movement, and within that first cycle the breast swelling went from its high of 14 days a month to only 10 and the intensity of pain had decreased. Something was happening. We were both encouraged and could see that we were helping her body heal itself of long carried symptoms simply by opening her elimination.

By her second post IUD cycle her breast swelling dropped to only 4 days pre-menses, the intensity decreasing again and her skin began to show significant signs of clearing! Additionally Melissa was now having two bowel movements daily. We continued with exactly this protocol through one more cycle and by that point her skin was glowing and there was no cramping and only minimal breast swelling.

Convenience can be a good thing but certainly not when it puts a young woman’s health and wellbeing at risk. More often than not conventional medicine offers an immediate fix without a holistic perspective so it is up to you to consider how that fix will impact the intricate systems that make up your body.

The bottom line
My practice is built on the fundamental belief that the human body comes equipped with the perfect systems to clean, eliminate and heal. However, due to inherited traits, accidents, early medical intervention or exposure to harsh toxins one or more of these organs involved may not perform optimally and symptoms appear.  This article on elimination explains what those symptoms might look like. Opening the organs of elimination, namely the bowel, kidney and for women the uterus is key to this healing process. I’ve explained that in this post about the first stage of treatment.

Want to learn more?
I am passionate about helping women restore the natural rhythm of their body so they can live symptom free. A twenty minute introductory meeting (by Skype, Facetime or Phone) may help you or someone you know suffering from symptoms learn more about whether my method is a good fit for you.

My integration of Gemmotherapy, Homeopathy and a Plant-Based diet to support this absolutely natural process is called The Hubele Method. Currently the first two levels of online training are available here for those interested in learning more.

Early in September an article claiming that women did not need a menstrual cycle circulated through multiple social media channels, so I am pretty sure you have seen it at one point or another. Because it was so incredibly off the mark I chose at first to let it go, but when the NYTimes included a reprint of the article from The Atlantic last week, I decided it was time to address this head on. While I honestly would rather be singing the praises of fall veggies to fill your fridge this week, it’s important to put that on pause and offer some honest counter arguments to this wildly popular article.

What the article says

In case you missed it or need a refresher, the article is titled; Women don’t need to have periods. Just on that statement alone I could fill a room with women from my practice who have suffered severe side effects, often for years, by buying into that line. All of whom I am absolutely certain would love to share their experiences that proved the opposite to be true.

The author, Alana Massey a writer from Brooklyn, has now gone 3 years without menstruating due to her use of a Mirena IUD. In the article she makes her case against the need to menstruate through quotes from an interesting array of professionals to support her argument. Through it all she sings the praises of the gains she has experienced and shares these opinions:

she was “inconvenienced and frankly resentful of the fact that I had to spend three to seven days per month bleeding. . .”

she didn’t “want the burden of buying tampons and avoiding wearing white.”

Believes that, “getting rid of women’s periods is a bonus that saves them time, money, pain, and stress, with no known medical downsides.”

Declares that “if they ever want their periods back, all they need to do is have the IUD or implant removed.”

She cites a study on the positive health effects of women using IUD’s from the New England Journal of Medicine. You would need to read the fine print of this study to see that the “health factors” accessed in the study included:

1. practical difficulties
2. social life
3. psychological health
4. physical health
5. work and daily routine
6. family life
7. relationships

While I will not argue all of these are part of a woman’s well-being, they are secondary to her physiological symptoms that I believe this study chose to ignore. Nowhere do they look at what the effects the IUD had on the rest of the body, very likely because conventional medicine on the whole does not see the body in this way, choosing instead to look at each organ as a separate entity.

Here how I see it

What I’ve learned is though the uterus is thought of as primarily a womb, it actually functions first as another pathway of elimination for women. Monthly cycles are an extra way for women’s bodies to clean. This means that:

1. You DO need your period and it should NOT be painful. Those painful symptoms are there to bring your attention to a deeper imbalance that likely began even before your menstrual cycles did. Read this post about what that imbalance looked like in your childhood. So this isn’t an either/or situation, it’s a clear cry from your body to fix the root of the problem.
2. Using hormonal birth control to suppress menstrual pain is only exacerbating the inflammation caused by a sluggish lymphatic system and less than optimal elimination organs. This post on painful periods explains how you’re just shifting symptoms this way.
3. Disruption of a regular cycle for any length of time will likely lead to overworked bowels and/or kidneys. This creates a build up of acidic wastes which will then produce any or all of these symptoms:

• Digestive disturbances (Bloating, flatulence, acid reflux)
• Changes in bowel movements (less than the optimal two a day, loose frequent stools)
• Increase need to urinate or sense of an oncoming UTI
• Nighttime urination
• Skin disturbances (acne and/or eczema)
• Painful breast swelling
• Sleep disturbances
• Lower back pain
• Irritability, Increased Anxiety, or Depressive Symptoms
  This post on inflammation and infertility discusses the approach I use in my practice.

4. Finally, don’t forget there is a huge pharmaceutical industry out there whose livelihood depends on the sale of birth control devices that will ease your pain or stop your period. It’s an unfortunate fact that much of the research we rely on for our health information is funded by the pharmaceutical industry. This is not cynicism, this is the truth and we can no longer risk our health and that of the next generation because of our naiveté. The greatest source of truth is to listen to your body and recognize its natural healing capabilities. Learning to listen and taking proactive steps that work WITH our body’s innate ability to clean and heal, we can have it all—painless periods and a body in harmony.

This is a topic very near and dear to my heart. I have two grown daughters who I have coached through this approach and I work primarily with women’s fertility on a daily basis in my practice. I see day in and out the mis-service done to women and their bodies by conventional medicine, advice that does not take into account the integrated functions of the body, and highly accepted and promoted prescription birth control that is dangerous in the long run.

After removing the IUD or discontinuing the use of any hormonal birth control, a full body detox is in order to restore a regular cycle, and address menstrual pain, endometriosis, and all inflammatory conditions at their source. In my office this is accomplished by applying the Living Well 4, utilizing the therapies of Gemmotherapy, Homeopathy and a Plant-Based Diet to ease the body into harmony. The length of the process is dependent on how long the birth control methods were in place, inherited traits, and commitment to the protocols.

I’d love to hear from women who have personally experienced the negative side of eliminating a monthly menstrual flow. I’m hoping, too, that women who have worked with me to heal their menstrual symptoms and harmonize their bodies will share their experiences.

I hope I’ve given you pause to question this No Periods movement at least a bit more. I know much of what I say here is counter to what’s being reported from these generally reliable sources, but I feel very strongly that there are better, healthier ways for you and your loved ones.

Please do share your questions or experiences in the comments section and read what others have to say. Together we can start a broader conversation about this underexamined women’s issue.

Now here is a twist to Gumbo that I bet you have not tried. The ingredient list does include optional andouille sausage links, however, this recipe is can be 100% plant based and is equally delicious without the rice if you are grain free. I found this to be a flavorful opportunity to enjoy the plethora of greens now readily available. Trust me, the leftovers will be coveted and the greens cook down quickly so consider increasing the proportions.

Here is what you will need:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (coconut or olive)
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery, preferably the innermost ribs (reserve the leaves for later)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (Pink Himalayan)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 large clove garlic, minced
4 cups water, vegetable stock, or chicken stock (when I don’t have homemade I use this brand available at Whole Foods)
2 pounds assorted greens: collards, turnip, beet, mustard, chard, kale, or spinach, coarsely chopped
All the celery leaves from your head of celery, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
2 bay leaves (preferably fresh)
Juice of one lemon
1 to 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (replace with coconut aminos)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Fruity olive oil, for serving
1 scallion, white and light green parts only, finely chopped
Cooked white or brown rice, for serving (optional and can be replaced with quinoa or millet)
Filé powder (optional)
Hot sauce, such as Tabasco (Sriracha is a good option)

Full cooking instructions can be found here.

The value of removing dairy from our family diet honestly never registered on my radar for the first twelve years of my post cancer health journey. Then, in the summer of 2013, I paid a visit to the busy family practice clinic of my mentor, and now dear friend, Dr. Sorina Soescu.

In addition to our vegetarian diet, the widespread research on inflammatory diets and cancer prompted my family to eliminate gluten containing grains in 2009. Assuming at that point we had resolved all of our food related symptoms I put our daily eating habits on auto pilot. That is until the big AHA moment or should I say moments, associated with my first ever experience of a raw diet.

First Hand Experience

Being away from home and family no doubt heightened the awareness of my experiences. My only focus of the time was the cases presented in Dr. Soescu’s practice and the spiritual, mental, and physical experiences of eating a raw fruit meal each morning. Because my hosts stayed raw all day until dinner, so did I and after a few short days this is what I noticed:

· Morning energy like never before

· The absence of post nasal drainage

· The absence of an afternoon dip in energy

· The absence of bloating

· Deeper sleep

· Optimized bowel elimination

Now, there is no doubt in my mind that these results were due to the combined effect of a raw meal to start my day and the lack of dairy products. This article however, is just about ditching dairy and you can read more about fruit for breakfast here.

Having struggled with sinusitis my entire life, I honestly thought I had been symptom free for years until I woke up the first morning in Romania without sinus drainage. I’m sharing this not because it’s such a dramatic outcome, but actually because it seems rather benign and that’s the point. I had lived with symptoms on a daily basis that didn’t even register because they had become so normal. Could that be true for you? Joachim, my husband, refers to this as the fish/water phenomena. Ask a fish how the water is and your answer will be, “what water?”

Makes you wonder what “water” you swim in day after day that is accepted but not acknowledged. It could very well be that the inflammatory responses you are living with or have accepted could be improved in the absence of dairy in your diet.

The Whys

And this brings me back to the purpose of this blog and three reasons why I’d like you to consider ditching dairy.

1. The evidence proves dairy consumption contributes to many chronic symptoms, here are a few:

Milk and Adolescent Acne

Milk and Chronic Disease

Milk and Prostate Cancer

2. You will feel better! It’s remarkable how much discomfort we are willing to tolerate in order to maintain our lifestyle and how much energy we gain from resolving them.

3. Environmentally, the dairy industry takes a huge toll on our planet. Here’s two studies that everyone needs to read:

The dairy industry’s impact in California

Yale Environment report on Wisconsin dairy farms.

Getting Started

Back to my revelation in Romania. While I certainly caught my family by surprise when I returned ready to make this big shift in our diet, they did get on board for the following reasons:

· First to support my personal health journey

· Then the research they read was more than convincing

· Once the change was made they experienced their own benefits of resolved symptoms

Maybe going cold turkey as my family did in August 2013 is a bit daunting. How about trying this step by step approach offered by Dr. Oz? Oz’s 28 day challenge calls for the removal of one dairy food type from your diet each week. And for you cheese addicts out there, you can hang on to it until week four.

Some of my clients have found success with eliminating dairy products by the meal. Beginning each day with my suggested all fruit breakfast provides you with a head start. Then, for a week or two focus on lunch, becoming aware of where it sneaks into your diet. Dinner does require more effort as you will be rethinking family favorites. I suggest attempting one new recipe a week and possibly do that on the weekend when you can allow yourself more time.

So what do you say? The new year is the perfect opportunity to take on a new challenge and the return on your investment is substantial.

This tasty evening meal treat was suggested by the Vedic Chef in the Chopra Center newsletter last month. Since we are rosti fans I wanted to give this unusual set of ingredients a try. I must say, they are simply divine.

An easy-to-make burger with a loose structure, this is juicy, crisp, and light. Excellent served on a fennel salad with arugula.

In case you aren’t familiar with Rosti it originates in Switzerland and is a crispy grated potato cake. In this version Chef Johnny Brannigan includes yucca as a valuable source of anti-oxidants.

Ingredients for the Burger:
2 zucchini, trimmed and sliced lengthways; use a cheese slicer
1 pound yucca root, peeled and baked until soft
1 purple or orange sweet potato or yam, also baked
1 carrot, cut lengthways into very fine slices
1/4 cup finely chopped leek
Sesame seeds
Sunflower oil or sesame oil for frying
2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger root
1 tablespoon Chef Johnny’s Vata seasoning (while this calls for a premade blend I suggest combining any of the following spices to your liking: cardamom, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, dry ginger powder, turmeric, and hing, aka asafoetida)
1 teaspoon organic mustard sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Ingredients for the Dressing:
1 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
3 teaspoon fresh thyme
2 teaspoons mustard
1 teaspoon raw honey
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons Chef Johnny’s Vata seasoning (while this calls for a premade blend I sugges combining any of the following spices to your liking:  cardamom, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, dry ginger powder, turmeric, and hing- aka asafoetida)
Salt

Full preparation instructions can be found at the bottom of this newsletter.

In my practice I prescribe a Plant-Based Diet as part of the Living Well 4™, a four stage healing process that integrates the three therapies of Gemmotherapy, Homeopathy, and a Plant-Based Diet. The past four weeks my posts have highlighted each of the four stages in healing and the general protocols used. In the next few posts I’d like to support your shift to a Plant-Based Diet by sharing changes we made in my own home.

Eating more raw fruits and vegetables is a super important component of a Plant-Based Diet. The benefits from consuming more raw fruits and vegetables include:

• Alkalizing the body’s pH
• Activation of the lymphatic cleansing
• Improved digestion
• Decreased inflammation

All of this is important because a body that uses the lymphatic system to clean and eliminate optimally can heal itself. Your daily goal should be to eat a portion of raw salad before each cooked meal. So that means a lot of salads! To do that with enthusiasm it is important to have lots of options, a set of staples that are always on hand and a recipe-free plan to assemble some smash hits. Keep in mind good salad construction is all about simplicity and nourishing whole food ingredients.

Ready to get started?  I’d like to share my go-to building blocks to assemble endless salad combinations that we never grow weary of. Here’s how I break salad making down in my kitchen:

Bases & Textures

• All varieties of Baby Leaf Greens: Spinach, Kale, Spring Lettuces, Arugula, etc
• Torn whole leaves: Butter, Romaine, Red Curly, Endive, Frisee, Romaine
• Chopped: Kales, Romaine
• Grated: Root Veggies, Kohlrabi, and firm fruits such as apples
• Julienne: Carrots, Beets, Kohlrabi, Celeriac, Jicama

Add-ins

• Seeds: raw or dry toasted Hemp, Flax, Sesame, Pumpkin, Sunflower
• Nuts: Walnut, Cashew, Hazelnut, Macadamia, Pistachio, Almonds, Filbert
• Dried Fruits: Raisins (Golden, Black and Sultanas), Dates, Figs, Cherries, Cranberries, Goji, Plums
• Fresh Fruits: thin slices of all varieties of Apple or Pear, Asian Pear, Peaches or Plums, Mango, Papaya

Dressings

Choose one of the following Consistencies—Vinaigrette, Nut Based or Creamy

Base: Olive Oil, Nut Oil, Tahini, Walnuts, Almonds (Almond Butter), Cashews (Cashew Butter), Vegan Mayo, Dijon Mustard, Avocados

Citrus or Acid:  fresh squeezed Lemon,Lime, Orange or Grapefruit, Apple Cider Vinegar, Tamari Sauce, Mustard, Miso paste

Sweetener: Dates, Maple Syrup, Honey

Herbs and Spices: Green Onions, Garlic, Shallots, Cilantro, Basil, Parsley, Mint, Tarragon, Thyme, Pink Himalayan Salt, Fresh Ground Pepper

More on eating a Plant-Based Diet

So is eating a Plant-Based Diet the same as being Vegan? Actually no, eating Plant-Based means consuming a diet that includes 80% or more whole foods from plants. The remaining 20% can be animal protein and small amounts of processed foods. It is important to distinguish Plant-Based eating from a Vegan diet because the difference lies in the core purpose. The goal of Plant-Based eating is just that, to consume as many whole food, plant based, nutrient dense foods as possible. While the medical community that promotes a Plant-Based Diet does not promote consuming animal protein they make an allowance for it. For my clients I suggest that the main source of protein is consumed with the evening meal as it will take the most energy of all your foods to digest, making you sleepy at a logical time of the day. Want do the experts have to say about the benefits of Plant-Based Eating? Here are a few recent studies:

Plant Based Diets VS. Diabetes

Plant Based Diets VS. Cancer

Plant Based Diets VS. Auto Immune Diseases

School may be back in session but the heat is still on and corn is still plentiful. This corn salad certainly celebrates all of the last tastes and textures of summer and would be a welcome addition to any Labor Day celebration.

5 ears of corn
1 poblano pepper, cut into small pieces
½ red onion, thinly sliced
olive oil
kosher salt + freshly ground black pepper
1 large or 2 small avocado, cut into small dice
½ cup cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
2 T lime juice, plus lime wedges for serving
½ tsp honey (or maple syrup)
cayenne or Aleppo pepper, to taste
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

One handful of fresh basil and mint leaves, roughly torn

Full instructions for assembly may be found here.

This post concludes a four part series on the healing process we refer to as the Living Well 4™ in my practice. These four stages became clear to me while conducting a yearlong collaboration with my European colleagues involving over one hundred cases in which the three therapies (Gemmotherapy, Homeopathy and a Plant-Based Diet) were applied.

The first stage, opening elimination, is the stage most often disregarded when applying natural protocols. I find this stage to be a critical and often-missed aspect in unsolved cases. If elimination organs and processes are not optimized first, the chronic inflammation just shifts locations within the body. Initial symptoms may clear, but other symptoms inevitably arise surrounding this shifting inflammation. In the Stage One post I shared what I look for in my clients elimination process and how Gemmotherapy and the start of a Plant-Based Diet can initiate improvements.

The second stage, cleaning and fortifying organs involves engaging the lymphatic system to clean the body from the head downward. I shared the case of young Jenni and how important it was to begin the cleaning process with her head as that was where the root of her menstrual symptoms existed. When lymphatic stagnation is present in the head it often impacts the function of the pituitary gland which was exactly the case with Jenni.

In the third stage we focus more on the overworked organs that have been compensating for poor elimination and a sluggish lymphatic system. In this post I shared the story of young Thomas who had chronic asthma induced by weather changes. Cleaning the build-up from poor elimination and engaging the help of his lymphatic system cleared his symptoms to the point that he no longer needed an emergency inhaler.

Having arrived now at stage four it is important to understand this is not the end but rather the beginning of living with a body in harmony, something most of us have never experienced as adults. Some have come to believe that this is not even possible. The length of time it takes to reach this stage is very dependent on the lifestyle led during the process. I have found that most successful cases follow a 60/40 rule. Sixty percent of a successful process comes from adhering to dietary changes and compliance to protocols and about 40% relies on precise Gemmotherapy and Homeopathy selections. For those who have accepted their personal role and followed the protocols, it’s time to settle into a routine that is sustainable and supports continued health through whole food, daily exercise, fulfilling relationships and meeting your life’s purpose.

The Gemmotherapy extracts used to keep the body in harmony will provide continuous, gentle support to inherited organ weaknesses or those that may have been caused by long term use of harsh pharmaceutical medicines, surgery, or exposure to environmental toxins.

The Plant-Based Diet continues. It is vitally important to understand that returning to former eating patterns will produce setbacks even at this fourth stage.

Homeopathy may or may not be needed at this stage. I have clients who utilize this aspect and others who don’t. Either way, acute states that arise may require intermittent remedies.

You will know that your protocol for this stage is working if your immune response is strong and effective and you continue to be free of secondary symptoms. Because we are energetic bodies that are influenced by external and internal circumstances, life will present the need for some protocol adjustments and likely occasional support for acute or newly arising symptoms.

So, having reviewed the four stages of healing in their entirety, the next question is, “To what degree would you like to heal?” Your answer to that dictates how closely you will need to follow the protocols and lifestyle changes outlined. If you have decided you want to be symptom free and are committed to the process I have a program for you and would be delighted to support your journey.

I also recognize that health is a continuum and if you have decided there are symptoms you are willing to live with in exchange for not making some of the proposed lifestyle changes, then let’s find a protocol to at least support your body as it makes compensations.