Dr. Turshá

Live Your Best Life

My Top 5 Favorite Herbs for Hypertension

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Hypertension is a Problem in the US

To say the very least, hypertension – high blood pressure – is a HUGE problem in the US and in the rest of the world. did you know:

  • 1/3 of adults over 20 in the US have high blood pressure
  • 1/3 of adults in the US have PRE-hypertension
  • Only about half of the people that have high blood pressure have it under control, and
  • High Blood Pressure costs this country almost 5 BILLION dollars a year

Hypertension is called a “disease of lifestyle”, which means that the things you do on a regular basis contribute or cause your numbers. The great part is that what you do can also cause your numbers to decrease as well!

My Top 5 Favorite Herbs for Hypertension

When creating your new health routine in order to lower your blood pressure readings and get healthier, consider adding these herbs to your daily regimen.

  1. HIBISCUS – this plant has been shown to lower both systolic AND diastolic numbers. It’s high in antioxidants and may also lower cholesterol levels. It can even help with a well rounded weight loss plan. You can drink hibiscus as a tea.
  2. HAWTHORN – this berry is known as a heart tonic. It is said to aid not only the physical heart, but also the emotional and spiritual heart as well. It your blood pressure is cause by emotional upset, then this herb may be helpful for you. Can be used as a tea, or in capsule, powder, or extract form.
  3. HOLY BASIL – this is not the same as your table basil. Holy basil has a history in ayurevedic medicine for many uses, including helping the body handle stress. It is also antioxidant and full of nutrients. It is considered an adaptogen that helps you handle stress, anxiety and exhaustion with more ease.
  4. ASHWAGANDHA – Ashwagandha is also an adaptogenic herb, like holy basil. It assists the body in staying in balance while dealing with the highs and lows of everyday life. This herb can be taken as a tea, in capsule form, or as a tincture.
  5. GARLIC – Studies have shown that garlic decreases both systolic and diastolic blood pressures after consistent use for at least 1-3 months. Allicin is the ingredient in garlic that is said to lower blood pressure. To get enough allicin, you need to eat 2-4 cloves of fresh garlic each day.

Each of these herbs can be added to your days, to your lifestyle, to help your body heal from the inside out.

The Legal Stuff

Oh… these statements have not been approved by the FDA. This information is provided for educational purposes only. Contact your Naturopath or other healthcare provider before making changes or adding any herbal medicines.

It’s YOU

Whatever you decide to do, make the decision to take control of your health. YOU have the power to change things for the better. YOU have the power to take control of your lifestyle… the lifestyle that contributed to your hypertension. You have that power. Take control of it!

And if you want to chat about it, HIT ME UP. CONTACT ME here and let’s talk about your health goals.

No Time for Change

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Some Reasons We Don’t Change

If you are like many of us, you’ve found that making changes to your health regimen really, REALLY difficult. Some of the main reasons we don’t make changes is because there is little time, little money, or very little desire to do things differently, things just don’t seem to change for you.  I know that for me, these reasons have surfaced at various times in my life and I believed that they were TRUE factors in hindering me from being a healthier version of myself.

Well, I recently had a wake-up call. I recently realized that NONE of these reasons were actually valid reasons to keep me from attaining my health goals. Even if I could only do a small portion of what it is that I wanted to do or a different version of it, I could have done something. They were just the excuses I used that helped me stay complicit in my current state… and allow me to complain to myself. Here’s what happened.

No Excuses

August 31 was the last day that I worked at my job. I decided to take a different direction in my life. I packed up my things, moved back to my home time, New Orleans, and continue to create the life that I wanted to live. Part of that life included travel, learning, and serving the worldwide community. While I’ve been doing many of those things, what I HAD NOT been doing was taking the opportunity to start working out, doing my deep breathing / meditation exercises, and stretching. One day, it hit me… I actually did have the time. So what was my excuse then?? NOTHING!!  There was absolutely no excuses any more.  I could not consciously say that I didn’t have any time to add a health regimen, because that would be a blatant lie to myself. Nope. I had to come up with something new. What I realized was that I had not MADE time. That was a wake-up call for me.

Make Time

When I had my epiphany, what I realized was that there was never really a point in my life where I had absolutely NO time to exercise. It was a choice. I choose to make everything else a priority besides my health. That is the reality. I choose to fill my hours with work, worry, Netflix, eating, and doing nothing over actually going out and building my physical body up. I had DECIDED that there was no room in my life for exercise or any kind of physical activity. That was my realization.

Now, the decision must be that there really IS time. There has always been time and there will always be time. The thing to do is to prioritize it, just like everything else gets prioritized in our lives. I also realized that there are people out here with families, those running their own businesses, some that have a LOT of responsibilities that still make time for some form of activity. What sets them apart? What makes them any different from me? Well, what makes them different is that they actually prioritize their their health. And it’s what I will also have to do if I want to live my best, healthiest life. It’s what YOU will have to do also if you want to.

Make it small, Make it fun, Make it happen!

The next step is to create a plan that includes a regimen that I want to do. One that I will enjoy and will want to continue to do for a long time to come. A plan that, even when more life begins to happen, I will continue to prioritize my health plan over the new life-y type of stuff. I don’t want to put myself on the back burner anymore. Here is how this must happen.

  • Take stock in my day: Look at all the things that I do throughout the day, both scheduled and unscheduled activities, so that I can know exactly what is taking my time.
  • Find some small activity that I can do: even if it’s walking around in circles in my living room for 10 minutes each day (there is an article about an elder woman that lost 120 lbs by walking around her house… NO EXCUSES!).
  • Make it fun: it won’t continue if it’s not fun. Give yourself fun goals. Challenge yourself. Hype yourself up. Do something you enjoy. Finding fun will make the whole process easier.
  • Start doing that activity no matter what: do it. Do it. DO IT!! Stop giving myself excuses and actually do the think. Make it happen!

It’s sounds simple, because it really is. No matter how complex (or NOT complex) our lives are, there is always an opportunity to re-prioritize and insert our health into our daily routine. We just have to stop using the “there is no time” excuse and make it happen just like we do for all the other things we tend to make happen in our lives.

I promise you, there is some way that you can add yourself and your health back into your day. If you need some help to create a plan, let me know. Let’s make 2019 and beyond the healthiest time of our lives!  CONTACT ME HERE to chat about how I might be able to help you reach your goals.

“Wet” Socks for Colds & Flu

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Use your favorite wool socks to help you heal from the cold and flu

Cold and flu season is quickly approaching!  So if you are looking for a “natural” remedy to help you and your family get through it, try this on for size.

This treatment goes by many names. It’s called “wet socks”, “magic socks”, and “warming socks” to name a few. I first heard about it in one of my hydrotherapy (using hot and / or cold applications of water in order to help the body heal) classes. The therapy is said to help decrease congestion, eliminate headaches (especially sinus congestion headaches), increase parasympathetics (that’s the rest and digest part of the nervous system), increase blood flow, and boost the immune system. Now, who wouldn’t want a treatment that does all of THAT??

Here is what you need:
1) A pair of wool socks (if no wool is available, use very thick cotton socks)
2) A pair of thin cotton socks
3) Cool water
4) Warm, comfy bed

Directions:
1) Soak the thin cotton socks in the cool water. Make sure they are thoroughly wet
2) Ring the socks out so that they are not dripping
3) Place the cool, wet socks on your feet
4) Place the dry, wool socks on your feet over the wet socks.
5) Get in your warm, comfy bed.

Leave the socks on your feet until you’ve dried them (Yes, your body will dry them! It’s quite amazing) or until the next morning. You can repeat this several nights in a row if you find yourself still congested.

That’s it!  Pretty simple, right?

If you need any other assistance with strengthening your immune system and improving your overall health, feel free to CLICK HERE and schedule your FREE 15 Minute discovery call!!  Let’s see who we can work together to help get you to Live Better!

What We’re Eating Is Killing Us

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Just like many of you, I’m have subscribed to several email newsletters. Some are about health and wellness. Others are about business or podcasting. Some are just fun. And of course, there are those that are about medicine, medical trends, and the latest research that affects the medical community. A couple weeks ago, I got an email from one of those medical community newsletters that really peaked my interest. The title of it stated, “What We’re Eating is Killing Us.”  I have to admit, the title intrigued me.

Poor diets are among the top causes of ill health globally, accounting for nearly one in five deaths, according to a study published on Thursday that called on governments and businesses to do more to improve eating habits.

Medscape, Nov 30, 2018

So, why was I intrigued? It’s relatively simple. It seems as though the global community is FINALLY catching up to the fact that we need to do something about our food supply.  They are beginning to realize that what you put in your mouth is a matter of life and death. There is still work to be done, but at least it’s a start.

The article goes on to say that over half of the food grown globally goes to waste. That means that half of what is grown goes bad and  is discarded. Food that someone else could have used is never used for that purpose. We’ve got to do better, y’all!

But what can we do? What can each of us do? Well, I have a few suggestions that may help each of us.

1) Plan your meals: when you plan meals, you are less likely to waste food because you already know what you are going to eat.

2) Only buy what you know you’ll eat: I know I have a habit of impulse buying things without a plan, then it goes bad. Limiting my purchases to things that I KNOW I’m going to eat in the next day or two will help decrease some of that waste.

3) Try something new, but only 1 at a time:  I like trying out new foods, especially new fruit and veggies. The culinary adventurer in me loves having a new experience on a regular basis. The problem comes when I purchase more than 1 new thing at a time. Something is bound to go bad. So, trying one new thing at a time may be what saves me. It may save you too.

The bottom line is that every thing that you put in your mouth is either helping you heal, or it’s causing you harm. Globally, we are eating more foods that are killing us. Let’s begin to change that trend one dinner table at a time. Together, we can begin to change trends AND improve our health.

If you would like some help in choosing foods that are both healing AND delicious, contact me and set up your FREE 15 minute consultation. Let’s connect to see how we can work together to help your family get healthier by the spoon. Just CLICK HERE to connect.

Goodbye Chicago!

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All good things must come to an end

As I’d mentioned in my last two emails (if you didn’t see them no problem! Just check HERE and HERE) I have some big changes happening!  Well, I’ve decided to leave the great state of Illinois and move back home to New Orleans!!  YAAAASSSSS!!!!  It’s time for me to be surrounded by old friends, good music, great food, and my loving family. My time as a Mid-Westerner is up. I guess ALL good things must come to an end, right? [Read more…]

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