It will be cold. It will be gloomy. It will be RESTORATIVE.

By Bex, Supplements Buyer & The Naturalist Contributor

Over the past several weeks, we've heard so many of our customers describe feeling inundated with physical, emotional, or political toxicity. The state of the world can take a deep toll on one's body and mind - immune health, stress response, sleep, you name it. While you're preparing to take meaningful action to clean up our planet and our society, it's also so important to also 'clean house' on a personal level and prepare yourself for dark times ahead.

Now, I’m not being fatalistic here, talking about dark times... rather, we’re shifting into the barren, frigged, overcast months when some lucky animals get to hibernate. It will be cold. It will be gloomy. It will be RESTORATIVE. Remember that, ok? While it's so tempting to linger in our beds, we suggest taking action and choosing to feel better! Healthy bodies, healthy minds = can't lose. So, what are some of our favorite self-care tips for tough times?

SNOWBALL FIGHTS! (Just kidding, sort of… actually, running through snowy woods is one of my favorite winter remedies.)

The real answer though: bid good riddance to toxicity! Purify, detoxify, rejuvenate and usher in the most life affirming foods, supplements, lifestyle and body care products. If the word detox conjures up gnarly images of cold-pressed veggie juices that make you shiver at this time of year, don’t fret. There are plenty of warming ways to fuel the body and release all that toxic gunk (think: nourishing soups and teas.) In the next few blog posts, we’ll share some ideas with you on how to purify your phenomenal vessel from the inside out and the outside in, but for now, here are some quick and simple ways to get started!

A pot of Pu-erh tea - one of our favorite restorative rituals. Photo via Rishi Tea.

FIVE EASY WAYS TO JUMPSTART MENTAL, EMOTIONAL & PHYSICAL DETOX

1. To start (and this one won’t cost you any money,) we encourage you to take three slow deep breaths every time it is all feeling like too much. Just three mindful inhalations and exhalations. See how good that feels?

2. Make yourself a pot of tea and DRINK IT slowly. Here are some tea suggestions from a few of our brew-loving staff members: Caleb, Rishi Pu-erh; Brenden, Guayusa tea; Jess, Organic India Tulsi tea; Caitlin, Traditional Medicinals Nettle tea with 1tbsp South River Dandelion, Leek Miso; Vicki, Mugwort tea from the bulk section; Bex (that’s me!) Four Sigmatic Reishi Tea. Stop in and ask us why we love these particular teas and brews!

3. For a little something more, gift yourself one of the beautiful journals or notebooks from our lifestyle department and write down all the toxic, difficult feelings and actions you want to release this season. Then make a list of the nourishing feelings and actions you want to invite into your life, and the steps you can take to help manifest those dreams.

4. Next level: Pick up a bottle of Cleanse and Fortify by Maine Medicinals, a surprisingly tasty tonic that “supports the gentle elimination of toxins.” With cleansing and restorative herbs as well as adaptogenic balancing herbs, this is a pleasant way to ease into detox.

5. Keep reading the blog for ideas on how to filter out the crud and replace it with things that support your well being. We're here for you!

Not to be nosy, but you may need a Neti Pot!

By Bex, Supplements Buyer & The Naturalist Contributor

What’s that ceramic wonderland hanging out in the Sinus & Eye Support section by the supplements desk? The rainbow pottery assortment is a colorful tribe of neti pots! While they are neither teapots, nor genie lamps, neti pots can pretty much function as both for your nasal passages. If you find yourself complaining about seasonal allergies year round, if you constantly feel like you’re swimming underwater, or if you’ve yet to shake that stuffy, sniffly, cranky, leaky bout of the morning blaaaahs, you might want to try nasal irrigation!

PRAY TELL, WHAT IS NASAL IRRIGATION?

Nasal irrigation is a support system that stems from Ayurveda, the 2,000 to 5,000 year old traditional healing modality of Vedic India that was developed to assist one’s yogic path. This ancient practice involves flushing the nasal passages to support the release of mucous buildup, congestion and other potential ickiness that gets stuck in your nostrils and sinuses. Neti pot flushing assists the airways to promote deep and clear breathing, which is a major boon for yogis and non-yogis alike!

WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD I STICK THIS THING IN MY NOSE?

Our nostrils are the primary passage of air in our bodies - so pollutants, debris and other irritants can sneak into our system and get caught there, bringing on an onslaught of, well, snot. Other people that are particularly booger prone prefer flushing to picking because (just in case you didn’t know) fingers are dirty.

From an Ayurvedic perspective, autumn is the Vata time of increased wind and cold. As chill sets in, leaves fall, mold forms and ragweed goes nutso, so it turns out that now is a great time to start flushing and prep your schnoz for the frigid winter months.

OK, YOU’VE CONVINCED ME. HOW DO I DO THIS THING?

It miiiiight feel a little goofy to shove what feels like a piece of dishware up your nose to encourage that feeling you would get when you accidentally snort water through your nose while swimming - but I assure you, after a few practice sessions, you will be diving into the practice!

Your neti pot will come with instructions, but basically, you will be letting water travel from one nostril to the sinuses and back down the other nostril - then you will switch sides and repeat! Remember to always use lukewarm previously boiled, sterilized or diffused water as regular tap water can introduce some pretty funky critters into your nose.

WHAT COLOR NETI POT SHOULD I GET?

Now that’s totally up to you. We carry gorgeous Baraka and Coryell ceramic neti pots as well as an assortment of (BPA free) plastic neti pots. While they are all super-functional, some might fit into your bathroom aesthetic better than others.

Soon you will be a neti pot devotee! And if after a while your nasal passageways are so clear and moisturized that you decide the practice is no longer necessary, you can always use the ceramic vessel as a landing pad for your latest experiment sprouting seedlings!

RegActiv Probiotics: Immune, Heart and Liver Wellness through Antioxidant Support

This post was originally published back in December of last year. We have RegActiv probiotics on sale in the month of July - save 20% off!!

By Miles Sarill
Supplements Buyer and M.S. Candidate - Experimental Medicine

In the last thirty years, the market for probiotics has evolved and grown greatly. No longer is the sole capsule of Lactobacillus acidophilus the only option; rather, the aisles are populated with a multitude of products each touting “more than 10 bacterial strains” with anywhere between 5 and 150 billion cells per capsule. This boom in the probiotic market is partially fueled by both consumer interest as well as novel research into the microbiome.

Read more in the original post: http://www.cambridgenaturals.com/blog/regactiv-probiotics

Featuring: Holy Sponge!

This blog post was written by Caitlin, our Assistant Body Care Lead and an intrepid product tester! Read below to learn more about Holy Sponge! and what a Menstruation Activist is. 

I remember the first time I tried using a tampon - it was terrifying. I felt like I was taking a foreign object and entering a foreign place. Over a short period of time (no pun intended), I got used to using tampons, and they easily found a way into my monthly routine. To me, there was nothing friendly about a tampon, and pads just simply were not appealing. Now that I have grown well into my womanhood and learned to love my body and my monthly cycle, I have also learned to love the power of choice as a female consumer! Enter: the Holy Sponge!

The Holy Sponge! was created by Janeen Singer, a self-proclaimed menstrual activist who wanted to provide women with safe, earth-friendly alternatives to toxic, commercial menstrual products. Although a sponge may seem intimidating at first, you might find yourself surprised by the soft, silky body of the sponge. Before inserting, the sponge should be run under warm water to soften making for easier and more gentle insertion than a dry, cotton tampon.

The Holy Sponge lasts for 3-6 cycles and is fully compostable - making this both a great economic and eco-conscious consumer option. For someone who doesn’t even like to carry a wallet, nevermind a purse, the Holy Sponge is a true savior! No purses, bags, or backpacks required to accompany you on your next trip to the bathroom making the sponge an extremely discreet way to experience your monthly cycle.

Janeen and her team have put great care and energy into creating Moon Ritual Kits which come with a set of 2 professionally and sustainably harvested sponges, an easy-to-read illustrated guide for care and use, a small vial of organic tea tree oil for disinfecting, responsibly harvested dried herbs for a bath or cleansing ritual, and a cotton carrying bag. The Holy Sponge team is also quite accommodating and will gladly disinfect your sponges with peroxide instead of tea tree oil if you happen to have an allergy, sensitivity, or preference.

If you are interested in trying the sponge, you will be investing in an educational exploration of your body. I am now even more amazed at what my body is capable of and how easy the sponge is to use - once it’s in, you can hardly tell it’s there!

You can learn more about Janeen and the Holy Sponge at http://www.holysponge.net/

Partners in Wellness: Vitality Works

You've probably seen our Cambridge Naturals Brand herbal tinctures around the store - we carry a wide selection of affordable, high quality single herb and herbal blend CN tinctures, as well as some dried herb capsules and over 30 essential oils, to meet our customers' growing need and passion for herbal remedies. These herbal tinctures are manufactured for us for us by Vitality Works in Alberquerque, New Mexico, led by founder and award winning herbalist Mitch Coven.  For over three decades, Vitality Works has striven to provide leading edge medicinal supplements of the highest quality, purity and potency. They offer an unmatched expertise in direct sourcing of botanicals, and their meticulous attention to detail and consistency of the manufacturing process has given them an impeccable reputation for quality. We are proud to work with Vitality Works on our Cambridge Naturals Brand herbal products! Below is our interview with Craig from VW:

Tell me a little bit about Vitality Works. Where are you located and who are you owned by? What makes your products unique in this ever-expanding industry?

Vitality Works is located in Albuquerque, NM where it was founded 34 years ago by Mitch Coven as a complimentary health clinic.  One of the factors that make our products unique is that the entire operation is overseen by Mitch, a Medical and Clinical Herbalist and lecturer. Formulas that were developed and successful in the clinic are the foundation of our line. Mitch’s depth of herbal knowledge assures that everything from the procurement of the herbs worldwide, processing into products, quality and regulatory compliance is carefully managed so that every bottle leaving the facility is consistently of the highest quality to maximize results. Mitch’s leadership is supported by an exceptional group of employees, who share his dedication.

How do you source the raw materials that go into your products?

Our herbs are sourced from all over the world.  We buy certified organic and ethically wild harvested botanicals direct from growers and harvesters as a priority. We buy fresh, recently harvested botanicals that are 100% tested for potency, strength, identity and purity. We pretest lots of herbs to insure they meet our specifications, which go beyond FDA requirements. We have relationships to our growers that go back decades. 

What type of certifications do your products have? Why are these certifications important?

The Vitality Works facility has a number of certifications, all of which are reflections of the quality control that is in place.  It is important to have 3rd party certification to validate that the manufacturer is really making safe product, are following regulations, meet quality standards and that meet the claims on a label. Our facility is FDA-registered; NSF GMP certified, KOF-K Certified Kosher and Certified Organic for some products.  Our products are GMO Freee and Gluten Free as well but are not certified. Mitch is also a member of the American Herbal Products Association (APHA) and the American Botanical Council (ABC). 

Does Vitality Works have any transparency initiatives in place and if so what are those? What does Vitality Works do to maintain sourcing and manufacturing transparency? 

Our facility is open to inspection and we hide nothing. We are audited or inspected on average 40 times per year by a third  party. If someone needs to know where our raw materials come from, such as country of origin, we tell them. We are proud of what we offer.

Partners in Wellness: Interview with Cristina Ciccone from Gaia

Gaia Herbs is one of our top herbal supplements suppliers - and we've worked with them for decades. They manufacture high quality liquid tinctures and liquid phytocaps as well as dried herb extract capsules. Much of the raw material comes from their amazingly gorgeous organic farm in Brevard, NC - as well as organic farms in Italy and Costa Rica. Their "Meet Your Herbs" platform puts transparency right at your finger tips - just use the QR code on the bottle to discover exactly where and how the extracted herbs in your bottle were grown and processed.

Cristina Ciccone, our Gaia representative, is one of our favorite reps to work with! She is incredibly dedicated to her work and a self proclaimed "herbal nerd" - we've come to her with many complex questions about herbal medicine over the years and she always responds with a thoughtful, detailed answer. In honor of Partners in Wellness week, we've asked Cristina to answer a few questions about her work with Gaia:

What do you love about working for Gaia?

As an Herbalist, I love working for a company that specializes in just that, herbs. Rather than attempting to produce products in every category like multi-vitamins, fish oils, probiotics etc., I think it’s important to have a company that specializes in a particular category and that does it exceeding well. Herbs vary so much in their chemistry and quality batch to batch, so it’s important to understand all the nuances to make really effective herbal medicine. Gaia is uncompromising in its integrity and manages to find the perfect balance of cutting edge science as well as honoring traditional wisdom and plant intelligence. I think it’s so easy for herbal companies to be pulled too far in one direction. Some herbal companies treat their herbal products like pharmaceuticals in isolating and spiking single plant compounds.  This type of herbal product is entirely “missing the point.” Gaia honors whole plant medicine by concentrating, never adulterating or isolating. I believe this makes for the most effective herbal medicine. Gaia is a company I truly believe in and feel honored to work for.

What's the best part of your job as an educator and company representative?

Gaia has a full traceability platform called Meet Your Herbs. This is an industry first, and it allows consumers to trace every raw material to where it was grown, how it was grown and all of the testing done on that particular batch of plant material. Showing people that they have the ability to trace a raw material from seed to shelf helps to really bring their medicine to life and helps them to feel confident that it’s a pure and efficacious product. One of my favorite things to do in store aisles is to pull a product off the shelf, plug the lot number into our Meet Your Herbs app and show a staff member or a customer where that batch of herb was grown and all the testing and quality control that took place before that product even reached the shelf. It feels like I’m performing a magic trick. 

I also love the opportunity to educate about individual herbs and formulas. It is one of the best parts of my job with Gaia. It’s another way for people to 'meet their herbs'. The herbal category can feel pretty intimidating, confusing and even esoteric. Education helps to demystify herbal medicine, clear up confusion, and make people feel more comfortable in knowing when to use/recommend which plant or formula.  It can feel entirely overwhelming when you find multiple different choices in the immune health section, stress section, etc.  All herbs have their own specialties and individual properties. Education helps people come to see these patterns and understand an herb’s “personality.” With this knowledge it becomes easier to recommend/choose which product is right for which particular situation and which particular person. When I conduct these trainings, I almost feel like I’m introducing two people at a dinner party!

What do you think is enticing more people to start using herbs?

There is a dynamic interplay that takes place between our bodies and plant medicine. We have co-evolved with these plants as long as modern humans have walked this earth. I believe there is an understanding and an awakening that takes place in our bodies when we consume plant medicine. Herbal medicine is literally built into our DNA. Our bodies do not understand isolated synthetic compounds, such as is found in pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceuticals have been used  for little more than a hundred years. This is the blink of an eye for human existence and humans beings have no evolutionary frame of reference for this type of medicine and how it operates. I believe this is why we see so many side effects from pharmaceuticals because rather than the dynamic and elegant interplay we see with people and plant, Pharmaceuticals force a process in our bodies. I think many people are longing for the opportunity to re-connect with their medicine and food as well. I think part of our modern “social sickness” is a feeling of disconnect.  I think it is a profound thing to feel connected with your medicine and for people to reclaim their power by actively engaging in their own healing process. Of course the lack of side effects, less expensive cost and ability to help prevent disease, also makes herbal medicine more and more appealing.

What's your favorite (or one of your favorite) Gaia products that you use every day?

Adrenal Health! I always feel corny saying it, but this product literally changed my life. It was the first Gaia product I had ever tried and made me a believer.  This product is formulated for stress management, but rather than just temporarily masking the symptom of stress, it literally changes your body’s perception of stress through its regulation of stress hormones.  It also has the beneficial “side effects” of increasing my energy levels and enhancing my mood memory.