by Kay Lucas

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Undoubtedly you have gotten stuck in this stagnant trap on your digital device. You know after a while that you need to click refresh or even reboot. But what about when this seems to be happening within you? How do you click refresh on your soul? Because each person is different, what works for your neighbor might not work for you. Trying more than one of the following may help you find what works best for you.

• Laughter: Nothing lightens your spirit like a good giggle. Find some friends for a good time. You don’t need to go out, just conversation and  fellowship. If you aren’t a socialite, watch or read
   something for comedic relief.

• Meditate: Find a little peace and quiet to look within and communicate with your spirit.

• Music: Music has been proven to change your mood. From uplifting beats to soothing sounds, I’m sure you’ll find a favorite tune to connect and revive your soul.

• Scent: The olfactory bulb connects your sense of smell to your brain. It can be a magical time machine that returns your mind to a moment in your past. If you have any essential oils, line them up for a sensory journey. Open one at a time, close your eyes and take a whiff. Hopefully, you’ll have one that sings to your spirit.

• Get out in Nature:Everyone has an element they connect with at a soul-deep level. Do you feel your best at the beach? In the woods? Digging in the soil? Sitting around a fire? Or maybe you like the fresh air at the top of a mountain?

• Spa Treatments: This may be a biased opinion, but when your body feels great, your soul is happy.

• Exercise: The release of endorphins from a good workout will uplift your spirit.

• A Hot Cup of Tea: Wrap your hands around a mug of tea; bring it to your face and let the aromatic steam kiss your skin. Breathe it in before taking that first sip, then enjoy each mouthful with the intent of feeding your soul.

• Religion: This is a subject that people feel very strongly about, but it would be amiss to skip. No matter your beliefs, the Word of your religion should ignite your soul. 

Hopefully, one or more of these tips refreshes your soul and reboots your chi! With spring all around us, it’s time to reset your spirit too.

Kay Lucas is a local romance novelist, a licensed massage therapist, wife, and mother of four. When she doesn’t have her nose stuck in a book, she loves to dance while cooking and tend to her many fur and feathered friends.

 by Dr. Jeanne Petan, PhD. Nutripath 

Sickening toxins buried inside your walls, cabinets, your refrigerator, even your toothbrush are the last thing you want to worry about! What can be done to limit these poisons? Here are some tips you can implement to make your home a much healthier place to be.

Fluoride: It is a residue from the mining of aluminum and has been shown not just to lower the IQ level, but it proliferates bone cancer, Leukemia, hypothyroidism, and it also calcifies the pineal gland and cellular breakdown. According to Health Ranger Mike Adams, “When you drink fluoridated water your body thinks you hate yourself and wants to commit suicide!” Therefore, whenever possible, avoid drinking water, coffee, or tea at a restaurant; bring your own purified water. It is recommended to use fluoride-free toothpaste and deny fluoride treatments at dental appointments. If you’re able, install a home water purification system that eliminates all toxic metals.

Mold: Thousands of types have been found inside homes in the United States, especially areas of the country with high humidity. Minute spores, which travel throughout the home, have been found in flooded homes, roof leaks, bathrooms, kitchens, air ducts, basements, under carpets, in cabinets, and under the refrigerator or freezer. Some mold contamination symptoms include skin rashes, lung congestion, chronic sinusitis, migraine headaches, a suppressed immune system, and depression. Aspergillus Niger fungus can cause autoimmune diseases, and Candida Parapsilosis is tied to cancer development. 

Go to EPA.gov and search for “A brief guide to mold, moisture and your home” for more information.

Carbon Monoxide: Gas-powered heat, propane fireplaces, heating oil, and gas stoves present high risk for this toxin. Elevated levels of carbon monoxide displace oxygen in the body causing fatigue, muscle weakness, headaches, nausea, confusion, and shortness of breath. There is also evidence that gas stoves emit nitrogen dioxide. This gas can cause chronic asthma attacks and attention deficient disorders. Be sure to always use the fan when cooking. If you are buying a new stove, Consumer Reports recommends looking into induction cooking.

Dr. Rashid Buttar shares more information about toxins inside the home on his website AdvancedMedicine.com and his DVD “Facts on Toxicity.”

Food Integrity:
Consume organic ingredients as much as possible. The Americans For Safe Food Organization in Washington, DC found over 5,000 herbicides, pesticides,
preservatives, and coloring agents
in tested foods. Forego GMO
(Genetically Modified Organism) foods. When growing your own food, use heirloom seeds. Support local, sustainable, organic agriculture whenever possible to build healthy future generations.

Microwaves: The well-known integrative medicine expert Dr. Andrew Weil says, “Microwaved foods are either dead or carcinogenic.” Avoid using the microwave as much as possible. If you must, don’t stand in front of them when in use.

Staying healthy is the goal, and there are steps to take toward that goal. As Dr. Blake Livingood (Doctor of Natural Medicine, DC) states, “The only thing you truly have control of is your body and your environment. You are the water you drink; you are the food you eat; you are the air you breathe. Your choice = wellness or disease. Ask God, your Creator, to guide you in all the best for you and your family!”

Solutions in Health Care is located at 290 Enoree Trail in Fountain Inn. For more
information, call 864-862-4113 or visit: SolutionsInHealthCare.services.

by Kay Lucas

With spring budding all around you, you might be checking to see if your plants have come back from hibernation. When a tree is sick, you might notice the leaves aren’t growing or the branches are brittle. Is there any green left in there? Any good gardener will tell you to check the soil and fertilize and treat the roots to ensure the tree has the nutrients it needs to thrive.

Just like a tree, humans need to assess their symptoms and find the root cause of the problem. That’s what
LivingWell Integrative Healthcare is all about. 

While most medical practices will treat your symptoms, often prescribing one pill after another, LivingWell looks at the bigger picture to treat the problem, therefore, relieving you of the symptom. By digging deeper to find the root cause, they strive to provide “healthcare” instead of “disease care.” 

In January 2006, Clif Caldwell, MD, and Cheryl Middleton, PA-C, opened the doors to LivingWell Integrative Healthcare with a shared goal—a better approach to treating patients. They wanted their practice to be set apart from general primary healthcare options. 

The team at LivingWell Integrative Healthcare strives to give one-on-one care, developing a relationship with you. They are a small practice with three practitioners: Caldwell, Middleton, and Tracey Schofield, Jr., NP-C. LivingWell is always accepting new patients and scheduling appointments so that you spend more time with your care provider and less time waiting in the lobby. 

At LivingWell, by focusing on finding the cause of your symptoms, they’re able to personalize a whole-body treatment to meet your individual needs. You build a relationship with your practitioner since you see the same provider at each appointment, unlike in many larger healthcare offices where you see whichever doctor is available that day.

Because LivingWell Integrative Healthcare offers a full spectrum of advanced laboratory tests that are not always easily obtained elsewhere, they can identify the root cause of your problems and build a holistic treatment plan.

“Balance is key,” Middleton says. “When I was practicing before [opening LivingWell], you basically traded a symptom for a pill. For example, your knee hurts, here is an anti-inflammatory; you can’t sleep, here is a sleeping pill.” Middleton explains how LivingWell’s Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy helps their patients. “What the hormones do, is restore things back to physiologic optimal. And so, a lot of those things naturally get better, [especially] if the person is willing to not eat junk like fast food or packaged/processed food.”  

Along with Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy, LivingWell offers a long list of services, such as management of thyroid dysfunction including patients who have Hashimoto’s Disease, management of adrenal fatigue, and weight loss programs using an HCG diet. To find the best treatment services, LivingWell provides various screenings such as saliva hormone testing; thermography for breast and other areas of the body, including full body; micronutrient testing for vitamin and mineral levels; Cleveland Heart Lab testing for advanced lipid, metabolic, and fatty acid levels; heavy metal testing; food sensitivity testing; and neurotransmitter testing with other specialized tests upon request.

“Neurotransmitter testing will help with treatment of things like anxiety, ADD, etc., by helping to determine WHERE the imbalance is so we can help know what someone is lacking (or overproducing) in order to restore balance,” Middleton explains.

You do not need to be a patient at LivingWell Integrative Healthcare to use their testing services, but you will need someone to read the results and provide treatment if necessary. This means you can come in just for their advanced technology, such as thermographic breast imaging, instead of getting a mammogram. This less invasive exam shows the physiologic changes before a mass forms—which can take years—therefore, catching cancer earlier.

“Our goal is to get to the root [of the problem],” says Middleton. From their holistic approach to the relationships they are building, LivingWell Integrative Healthcare is a step apart from general healthcare.

LivingWell Integrative Healthcare is the area’s pioneer of Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy. Recently celebrating their 17th anniversary, LivingWell is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, integrative healthcare practices in the Upstate. 

LivingWell Integrative Healthcare is located at 838 Powdersville Road, Suite G, in Easley. For more infomation, call 864-850-9988 or visit: LivingWellHealthcare.com.

by Kay Lucas

Survey says: 86% of Americans take supplements regularly. And there is no doubt why; between studies proving that our foods are less nutritious than they used to be and our poor diet choices, many Americans are deficient in the vitamins and minerals that count. Swallowing pills, mixing powders, and drinking teas may be the traditional methods of taking your supplements, but there is a new way to get the nourishment and hydration your body needs: IV therapy. 

Hydrate Health is a mobile healthcare service offering IV therapies for hydration, liquid fuel, anti-aging, weight loss, immunity boosters, and general health and wellness. Owner Carl Stecker, medical director Dr. Daniel Tran, and registered nurse Rebecca Gray opened Hydrate Health in 2020. They started off doing their IV therapies remotely, traveling within a 15-mile radius of downtown Greenville. It became so popular they had to open an office location, so they wouldn’t have to turn people away due to overbooking or distance. Some people prefer to stay in the comfort of their own homes to relax while receiving treatment, so mobile appointments are still available and quite popular. 

IV therapy is just what it sounds like: a remedy given intravenously—just like when you go to a hospital, and they immediately hook you up to an IV. You can receive it in just about any vein you prefer, such as in your elbow or wrist. Most treatments take about an hour to receive but can vary anywhere between 30 minutes to three hours, depending on which infusion you choose. 

The duration of benefits from IV therapy fluctuates too. Rebecca Gray, RN from Hydrate Health, says, “When a patient comes in with hopes of getting over an illness quickly, their body may be depleted from fevers, and dehydration. Your body has to work really hard to get you better when you are sick, quickly using up your stores of electrolytes, vitamins, and minerals. Replacing these can definitely help you feel better, but you may need more than one drip to get back to where you were before getting sick.”

Treatments aren’t just for those who are sick. This is the perfect aid for athletes, whether in training or recovery from a big event.  Even the average Joe, who believes he or she is healthy, should consider IV therapy. Not only are our diets lacking for many reasons, but the low quality of many over-the-counter vitamin brands isn’t doing your body good. “When you take your regular multivitamin, you only are able to absorb a small portion of what is listed. But when you receive vitamins, minerals, amino acids intravenously, you receive 100% of it, and your body is able to utilize that as it needs,” says Gray.

The team at Hydrate Health has come up with clever names for their IV therapies. One of the most popular, The Bodyguard, is their biggest immune drip. The After Party is great for hydration, and Skinny Jeans contains MIC. Hydrate Health offers anti-aging drips, such as Forever Young. Or, if you prefer (after a consultation), you can personalize a bag with a combination of nutrients to fit your needs. 

The Hydrate Health team strives to meet the needs and wants of the community by providing services that Greenville doesn’t already have. Because of this, Hydrate Health also offers Ozone Therapy. Gray explains, “It is an oxygen therapy. We draw the patient’s blood out, put O3 (ozone gas) into it, agitate it, and re-infuse it. What ozone does is kill off any bacteria, viruses, or fungus that is in your blood. By making your organs more oxygenated, those things can’t live in an oxygenated environment; they can’t thrive in that space—too much oxygen kills them.” 

Watch for more new therapies coming from Hydrate Health. They have some big plans on the horizon, but it is too early to spill the beans!

Hydrate Heath is located at 721 Lowndes Hill Road in Greenville. For more information, call 864-523-8002 or visit: IVHydrate.com.

(Serves 4)

Every part of this nutrient rich salad is going to nourish and detoxify your liver!

Our liver is working tirelessly to process all the toxins of everyday living, so it’s always a great idea to fill your diet with some liver-loving foods and avoid overloads of heavy metals, alcohol, caffeine and chemicals. This recipe is a delicious way to cleanse and regenerate!

Let’s start with the dressing so it has time to marinate.

Ginger Grapefruit Dressing:

1/2 Cup fresh squeezed grapefruit juice

1/4 Cup Extra virgin olive oil 

2 TBSP Hemp seed oil

1 TBSP Apple cider vinegar

3 Brazil nuts

1 Garlic clove

1/2 tsp Fresh rosemary

 1-2” Knob of ginger 

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

1 pinch of Himalayan salt

Add ingredients to blender and mix until smooth. Add chopped parsley. Allow to marinate for 10 minutes before adding to salad.

Liver Love Salad:

2 Cups spinach greens

1 Cup shredded purple cabbage

1 cup of dandelion or mustard greens (depending on availability)

1 medium carrot thinly sliced

1/2 Cup cucumber thinly sliced

1 stalk celery thinly sliced

2 Radishes thinly sliced

2 Green onions thinly sliced

1 small beet thinly sliced

Toss ingredients together in a bowl. Top with sliced avocado and a few crushed Brazil nuts for crunch. Drizzle with dressing and serve.

Atir Sveska-Sharpe is a licensed and certified natural health professional at Pure Health and Wellness. Always the student, she spends her leisure time researching health, frequency healing, and human potential. She adores being a wife and mom, and is here to serve all of God’s creation in every capacity.

by Liz Liokumovich

My latest exciting adventure brought me to the brand new Danita Clinic in Greenville. This would be my first time trying microneedling.  Prior, I have seen the “do it yourself” at home versions of microneedling (the small handheld rollers you would see sold in stores). This one was going to be a little different. 

Microneedling, also known as collagen induction therapy, is a cosmetic procedure that uses sterilized needles to prick the skin. The tiny punctures help the body produce collagen, which in turn minimizes the appearance of wrinkles, dark spots, fine lines, acne scars and the like, as well as minimize appearance of large pores. Microneedling can be done with peptide gel, hyaluronic acid serum, or Platelet-Rich Plasma or PRP. The additional benefits of PRP is that it uses your own plasma which is full of proteins and helps heal wounds and stimulate collagen production. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but based on the benefits of microneedling that I’ve read about, I was definitely very interested to give this treatment a try.  

At Danita Clinic, I met Anita and Victoria, the two Registered Nurses who would be doing my procedure. I was instructed to wash my face with a facial cleanser and was given a topical anesthetic (lidocaine gel) to apply on my face, avoiding eye and mouth area for obvious reasons. It took about 45 minutes for my face to be fully numb. I decided to try microneedling with PRP. Victoria painlessly drew my blood and ran it through a centrifuge machine to separate red cells from plasma. This was my magic sauce. 

I laid down comfortably and just relaxed as these two lovely ladies did all the work.

Danita Clinic uses the SkinPen as the preferred choice for micro needling. SkinPen is the first microneedling device cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of acne scars. The treatment felt like exfoliation with a pumice stone, so I’m thankful for that topical anesthetic! Besides the slight buzzing noise of the pen and minor sensitivity on my nose, the procedure was very relaxing and painless. The PRP was applied topically and gently massaged along the freshly pricked surface. It was like my own natural moisturizer. 

Microneedling treatment takes about 20 minutes. Afterward, I was given some facial serum to bring home that would lock in moisture and protect the skin. The first 24 hours following the procedure, my face looked like I was sunburned. To my surprise, I was not in pain at all. It is advised after the procedure to protect your skin from the sun while it heals, and to avoid make-up and your typical facial routines for 48 hours. On the third day, I was cautioned to be ready to possibly start peeling, which it did, for about 2-3 days. I kept drinking plenty of water and moisturizing. 

Although it takes about 2-4 months to fully see the benefits of microneedling, just one week post treatment, I was able to really see improvement in my skin! It appeared to be more radiant and not as dull as before. I started seeing the enlarged pores shrink in size, as well as noticeable changes in the texture of my skin. As a bonus, I received quite a few compliments on the appearance of my skin. I look forward to seeing the full results, truly a so worth it experience! Thank you, Danita!

For more information about microneedling, contact The Danita Clinic at 864-419-7896.

Liz is a wife and homeschooling mom of four by day, and a self-proclaimed “Researcher-Hawk” by night (hopefully with some sleep in between). She’s looking forward to discovering more natural therapies to keep her life in balance.

by Leila Scogin, C.N.H.P.

Joi Natural Wellness

Our bodies have many systems in place to remove toxins and waste, and our health often depends on how well your body is able to do this. The liver is the body’s filter, removing toxins from the blood, turning them into waste, and working to metabolize fats, proteins, and carbohydrates, among other functions.

There are many factors that can impact liver health, such as alcohol use, certain medications, high-fat diets, and processed foods, but thankfully, there are also many preventative measures to take care of and support your liver.

HYDRATION – Drinking enough water is an excellent place to start. Water helps to support both the liver and kidneys, aiding them in filtering toxins from the bloodstream and removing them from the body. If it’s accessible, filtered water is ideal for this, as tap water can sometimes have heavy metals and other toxins.

EATING – Being conscious of the foods we’re putting into our bodies is also important. While foods with hydrogenated oils, processed foods, and refined sugars are notoriously toxic to our systems, foods that can help detoxify the liver include raw fruits and vegetables such as berries, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower.

HERBS– Herbs and other botanicals can also be great additions to support liver health. Milk thistle has been widely studied to help regulate liver enzymes, reduce fatty liver, and support detoxification. Reishi mushroom is rich in antioxidants and triterpenes, and works as an adaptogen to protect the liver and support the immune system. Other herbs to support the liver include dandelion, green tea, and turmeric.

CONSCIOUS LIVING– At the end of the day, fancy liver cleanses can be a good jump-start into detoxification, but making consistent and committed changes to your lifestyle, making sure you are staying hydrated, and being aware of what you are putting into your body—giving it the tools it needs to be supported, and eliminating exposure to toxins where possible can help put you on the path to better wellness and well-being.

Joi Natural Wellness is a local apothecary that provides natural health and wellness herbal remedies, educational classes, and resources in the Upstate. For more information, call 864-747-9404 or visit: https://www.joinaturalwellness.com.

Simple stretches to do before a spring walk.

Now that the temperature are starting to rise and the days are getting longer, many of us are going to be feeling the call for the outdoors.  This might mean a stroll downtown Greenville, a walk on the swamp rabbit trail, or a hike up in the mountains.  Whatever your outdoor activity may be, a simple stretching routine is not only a healthy habit, but can add hours of enjoyment. 

Over the winter months most people become less active causing their muscles to get tight. This increases the likelihood of an injury when first getting out there to enjoy spring.  Here are a few quick stretches to help avoid those injuries.

The lower back commonly gets tight after sitting for prolonged periods of time. You may use a dining room table or sturdy piece of furniture for assistance if needed. An easy way to stretch this out is to stand with your feet shoulder width apart, place your hands on your hips and start to bend forward at the waist until you feel a slight stretch in the lower back. Be careful not to over stretch, stretching should never hurt. Continue bending forward for 7 to 15 seconds then return to a neutral normal stance.  After completing this while looking straight ahead at eye level with the horizon, lean back slightly, you should feel a slight stretch in your lower back there as well. Continue this for 7 to 15 seconds and then return to a neutral normal stance. Repeat leaning to your right and to your left; not leaning too far or stretching too much. Repeat 5 times. 

Enjoy that spring weather! – Dr. Mike Robles Caroline Spine and Health.