herb drops

reach for the sky

The latest issue of the Wheatsville Breeze is out, and I am sad to report that we didn’t make this issue. But hey, we have been featured in the last 3 issues as a staff favorite, so I am not complaining.

While cruising the staff notes on vitamins though, I noticed noticed the Rainbow Light Just Once multivitamin made the cut. I want to take a moment to second this nomination. From personal experience, I can tell you that I tried many different prenatal vitamins and the Rainbow Light vitamin was the only one that I never regurgitated with my rather inconvenient morning sickness.

Never mind the goofy name, they make a good product.

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Gravity: Just a Theory

As moderator of this blog, I get the privilege of sorting through real comments versus spam comments. The spam filter mostly does a great job, but periodically a few slip through. Usually I can tell immediately what is spam versus what is real because the authors of spam typically link to websites offering me a hot long night with my new laptop so I can work at home and make $12K a month in real estate. But this post comment has me confused enough that I let it through. Specifically, it says,

“Chinese herbs do work because it is time tested.”

If I was a betting women, and those of you who have played poker with me know I am, I would bet this is actually spam. The tells on this comment are:

• It’s a really old blog post and anyone who actually cared to comment did so a long while ago
• It contains a really basic grammar mistake that most native English speakers wouldn’t make
• As comments go, it’s just plain stupid.

So at the risk of offending Alexa Stewart, you’re wrong.

However, Alexa brings to my attention something that I hear more often than I would like, this notion that Chinese herbs “work because they are time tested.” (I’m sorry, I just could not leave that subject-verb agreement mistake alone).

This brings me to Isaac Newton. I know, it’s a jump, but hang in there with me. (more…)

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It's not just a fun, summer food anymore!

Standing majestically over all the other traditional Chinese herbs are those that do double duty as both herbs and foods. And emperor among this royal court reigns the benevolent watermelon. Traditionally used to combat summer heat and its effects- significant thirst, dark, scanty urine and dry heaves- it’s no wonder that entire towns have built reputations on growing these green skinned fruits of wonderfulness.

What prompts my love of the watermelon today in particular? As you may remember the Herbalogic team lives in beautiful Austin, Texas. And the rumors are true; summers here are just plain hot. This leaves us residents with two choices: cower inside for 3-5 months waiting for better weather (those of you to the north may be familiar with this strategy) or find ways to keep cool while enjoying our usual outdoor activities. Enter my love of the mighty watermelon.

During my herbal training, I once had an entire 45 minutes of lecture devoted to the watermelon and its two companion summer heat fighting foods, mung beans and lotus leaf. During the break, several of us students were comparing our own experiences with these foods. My friend, Cindy*, told me the following story.

Back before Cindy and her husband each spent 28 days on “vacation”, they used to throw wild pool parties at their home. (more…)

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Oh precious, I have you in my sights

Imagine my pleasure when I came across this article reporting that scientists have determined the mechanism by which the polyphenols in red wine inhibit cancer cell growth. Hooray for red wine! But wait, there’s a catch. Dr Gerald Weissmann, MD is quoted in the article:

“As long as they are taken in moderation, all signs show that red wine and green tea may be ranked among the most potent ‘health foods’ we know.”

There’s that sticky word, moderation.

It reminds of a time, just after college when my best friend and I took a celebratory trip to Spain. We toured around, saw sights, ate the food and drank the wine. One particularly hot and sunny day, we spent the afternoon in the sun on the beach. That night we met up with some other Americans for dinner, and started drinking red wine. After dinner, it hardly seemed fashionable to end the party, so we drank some more wine. In particular, we drank just about the cheapest Spanish rioja available. It was so cheap that $5 bought the bottle, the guy uncorked it, and then handed us 4 waxed paper cups to drink it out of. (more…)

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Do these shoes seem past their prime?

So many things in this world inspire me to sing their praises from atop the highest peak, or at least say how really great they make life. But the top three are probably

• The utilization of cell phones during airport pickups
• Maps
• Common sense

And truly, how I rank those three depends on my activity at the moment you ask me. Having recently seen an acupuncture patient, common sense is winning at the moment. Though not my most recent common sense moment, this is still my favorite.

An attorney friend came to me for acupuncture treatment for foot and ankle pain. He reported that the pain was much worse whenever he went running. I examined his foot, and inserted some acupuncture needles.

While he was lying on the table, I noticed the shoes he had worn into the office. They were a pair of worn out, misshapen, dilapidated running shoes. (more…)

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An actual case of heavy metal contamination

When my husband and I got married 5 years ago, many people had their doubts whether we would make it for two fundemental differences in our beliefs

• he’s a Yankee’s fan- hello, Red Sox fan here!
• he’s card-carrying, small-government, fiscal-restraint Republican- and I just wasn’t

But as time passes, and once respectable media outlets like the New York Times continue to run sensationalist crap, I find I am being pulled into the right wing conspiracy.

Specifically, this latest article reported the recent findings of a GAO report on dietary supplements.The first paragraph of the article reads:

Nearly all of the herbal dietary supplements tested in a Congressional investigation contained trace amounts of lead and other contaminants, and some supplement sellers made illegal claims that their products can cure cancer and other diseases, investigators found.

Anyone who bothers to continue reading will find in the second paragraph that those tested supplements that contained lead in fact “did not exceed thresholds considered dangerous”. But really, how many readers get to the second paragraph? (more…)

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It's not just a vacation spot, it's a metaphor

If you ask me to describe my hair color, I usually say something about it being sewer-rat brown. And like most girls sporting naturally light-brown hair, I have a) spent a lot of money and time trying to change its color b) have noticed my hair has gotten considerably darker as I have aged and c) have inexplicably heard a bunch of blond jokes that I think were supposed to refer to me, and all I could think was, “Dude, are you color blind? So not blond here.”

But a few weeks ago while doing an education event for Herbalogic, I just smiled sweetly, at the guy who wanted to share his full library of blonde-jokes with me. To my shock and amazement, he told me one that I hadn’t heard before. It went something like this:

Two blondes were sitting on their back-porch in Austin looking up at the full moon.  One said, “Ah, look at how beautiful the moon is.” The other blonde said, “Yeah. I wonder which is closer- the moon or Florida?” After some consideration, the first blonde replied with an air of authority, “The moon.” Surprised at her friend’s self-assuredness, the second blonde asked, “How do you know?” Her friend answered with the supreme confidence that comes with rock-solid logic, “Well we can see the moon. We can’t see Florida, can we?”

OK, it’s not particularly funny. But this joke got me to thinking (more…)

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In June 2007, the FDA published its current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) guidelines for dietary supplements. In my personal estimation, the FDA is not asking for anything unreasonable.  Essentially, the guidelines are for safe, responsible, manufacturing practices. (more…)

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Apparently Yelp does more than let people post product reviews, they also host parties! And according to her post, Lorena O. is a fan of Herbalogic. I love finding reviews of our stuff online.

Herbalogic was also a hit at the Southwest Symposium over the weekend.  We had a great time meeting with other vendors and acupuncturists. We have received so many nice compliments on our products, it’s hard to keep track.  Thank you all for your support.

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Tonight on KVUE news, Quita Culpepper reported Austin named best city to start small business

This has certainly been our experience! Besides being full of people hip to herbs, we have had so much help from experienced business people who help us because like us, they love Austin and they love small businesses with big plans. Thanks to everyone that has helped us out.

And speaking of the very talented Quita Culpepper, I am so excited that she has taken a sample of our products and has agreed to try them for a possible segment of Does it Work Wednesday? I can’t wait to find out her reaction!

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