Kristi N. Taylor

Master Herbalist, Clinical Herbalist, Nutritional Herbalist, Homeopathist, Aromatherapist

Kristi's search for truths surrounding health and wellness led her down the unexpected paths of herbalism, homeopathy, nutrition, and psychology. Her quest for understanding confirms the findings of countless researchers, doctors, and health professionals—that people have tremendous power over the state of their own well-being. This realization compels her to share, teach, and guide anyone trying to connect the dots of health and happiness.

What is Good for You?

Most of us probably think we have a pretty good idea of what’s good for us.

My entire life, I’ve been aware that some things were good for me, and some things weren’t. One of my earliest memories is of my mom trying to get us kids to eat homegrown cauliflower she’d steamed for dinner. Steamed cauliflower - generally not super enticing to kids. When we gave push-back, she encouraged us with “it’s good for you” - an obvious incentive to eat up?! We complained and slouched at the table - refusing to be motivated. Not one of us wanted to eat that cauliflower – good for us or not. It looked weird, and it made the house smell funny. We did all the things kids do to get out of eating something they don’t want to eat. When we complained about the smell, she rolled her eyes. When we said it looked gross, she pooh-poohed us. When we moaned, there were bugs on it - she told us it was pepper. But that last complaint got dad’s attention, prompting a skeptical look at the cauliflower. The “pepper” indeed had legs.  We claimed a small victory that day, because bugs in your food overrides having to eat anything good for you. 😊

This experience, and I’m sure countless others, reinforced the idea that “good for me” equates to bad smells, bland taste, funny textures, negative feelings, and loads of vitamins. (Like broccoli. The texture takes some getting used to. I threw it up once just because of the texture.)

Vitamins

I took loads of vitamins growing up. In middle school, I brought a very small manila envelope of about a dozen vitamins in my lunch. I even took them! I took vitamins 3 times a day! My mother wanted to make sure we were getting all the essential nutrients. When I got a little older, the vitamin consumption waned – I couldn’t tell if it was doing any good or not.  But, by the time I had my own children, that mother instinct kicked in, and I too wanted to ensure my children had all the vitamins and nutrients needed to be healthy. However, instead of a dozen vitamins at mealtime, they got a gummy, …. when I remembered. I think for me, vitamin supplements represented some kind of health insurance. If my kids ate too many treats or wouldn’t eat healthy foods, at least they were taking their vitamins. I didn’t worry so much about the boxes, bags, and packages that filled their stomachs.

Confusion 

It wasn’t until my kids started leaving the nest that I became aware my perception of what was good for me might be misguided. I’d raised my kids on typical kid food (hot dogs, fishy crackers, loads of milk, boxed macaroni and cheese). If it didn’t look like a dessert item, it probably wasn’t so bad. We limited soda and sugary cereals to special holidays and rarely frequented fast-food restaurants.  

Throughout my life, I, like you, have made a whole lot of choices based on what I thought was good for me. The funny thing is, that the benchmark for what is supposed to be good for me seems to always be changing – partly because science is always changing, but also because of misunderstandings.

A flash of hindsight reveals some of these changing health admonitions:

• Low-fat; low cholesterol
• No eggs; eggs!
• High fat; high protein!
• Calorie counting
• Low carbs
• Intermittent fasting

When the food pyramid changed from a pyramid to “My Plate,” my “Good for You” foundation was pretty shaken. It seemed like everything I’d been taught was turned upside down. What I thought was the absolute truth had been radically altered. I did my best to reconstruct a new “good for you” foundation.

A Plant that Heals

Then I had an experience that really rocked my world.

About 9 days in on a two-week bus tour, my husband’s ankles became swollen, red, and splotchy. When he pressed his finger into them, an indentation the shape of his finger remained. It appeared to be edema. Under normal circumstances, we would have gone to urgent care, but because we were stuck on this bus tour with our kids, our options were limited. I racked my brain. I had no idea what to do for him. We couldn’t feasibly leave the tour bus. We’d have to forfeit the rest of the trip.

Then I remembered a woman on the bus who seemed to be something of an herbalist. I’d been half-listening to her wild stories of herbal benefits since the tour began. As a last-ditch effort, I told her what was going on with my husband. She smiled and seemed to be mulling this over as we got off the bus for a nature walk. When we returned from the nature walk, she proffered a handful of hard little purple berries and asked if I thought my husband would eat them. I laughingly said “no,” but said she could ask him! She told him to crack 4 or 5 berries in his mouth 3 -4 times a day and swallow them. I couldn’t have imagined stranger advice. And I knew for certain my husband wouldn’t do this - but he did. 24 hours later, the symptoms were noticeably better, and 36 hours later, all symptoms and discomfort were gone.

And I said - what were those purple berries?!

Juniper. They were juniper berries.

I recognized that name and thought I might even recognize the plant if I saw it. I was stunned! Something in nature as common as juniper had medicinal benefits. Without being processed or extracted, or synthesized. Just, raw nature, in its whole form.

Learning More

This was a catalyst moment for me. I witnessed the immediate effects of how the body reacts to what is put into it. I became so curious and interested in the way things interact with our bodies, the food we eat, the medicines we take, the air we breathe. As it turns out, all of these things have a powerful effect on our bodies.

I began reading and researching, and learning all I could. And at almost every step along the way, I continued to be amazed!

I had been so ignorant for so long. I really thought that science had discovered every vitamin and mineral, and nutrient in our food there was. I mean, we live in a day and age where science is doing really amazing things.  How could they not have discovered all of the components in our food?!

The truly amazing thing is, there are thousands of nutrients in our food yet undiscovered and unresearched. Thousands! If there are thousands of undiscovered and unresearched nutrients in our food, how do we know what those nutrients do for our bodies? And what happens to our bodies when they are removed from our diet? If your diet mainly consists of foods that come out of a package, drive-through, or vitamin bottle, you are missing out on these undiscovered nutrients. 

I started paying attention to how my body reacts to what I put into it. Those random aches and pains I’d attributed to the wonders of aging actually went away when I changed what I was eating. How could food have such a dramatic effect on how I felt physically?

There are so many health nuances that make understanding what is actually “good for you” challenging. There are so many! The more I’ve learned, the more disappointed I became that I didn’t already know this stuff. Why aren’t we all taught this in school? Understanding how to navigate health, which, by the way, is very connected with all aspects of your wellbeing, shouldn’t be so hard.  

My Quest for Health

And this is why I’m here. I’ve learned so many amazing things about what really is good for you that I think everyone should know. My quest for health and healing knowledge is also shared by my sisters.  I  became a Clinical Herbalist, then a Master Herbalist. My sisters have also pursued a study of health and herbs. We’ve made so many wonderful discoveries - and we want to share them with you. We are going to cover a lot of topics and highlight anything that contributes to overall health. So, tie your shoes and hold on to your hats because – Here, We, Go!

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Kristi Taylor is a Master Herbalist, Clinical Herbalist, and Natural Healing Guide. She endeavors to share her knowledge and passion for natural healing with whomever will listen – because nature’s wisdom never ceases to delight and amaze!

Kelly Summers

Master Herbalist, Clinical Herbalist, Nutritional Herbalist, Homeopathist, Aromatherapist, Expert Level Sound Healer

Kelly is driven to study and learn about natural choices in healing the body and mind. Her studies led her to examine natural healing practices from a wide variety of sources, including herbalism, the psychology of happiness, the healing nature of touch and social connection, and the healing aspect of plants as food. Kelly knows that knowledge is empowering and deeply desires to share the insights she has learned through her continued journey of learning.

Picky Eater

As a young child I was tall and skinny. My mom worried that I was not getting enough to eat, I was a picky eater. She talked to the doctor about her concern, and he suggested she put a cold hot dog in my pocket and that I would eat it if I got hungry. I did not like to eat fruit and veggies. I only really liked sweet things and bread. 

It wasn’t until I was a teenager and my parents divorced that I began having concern with my weight. My step-mother was health oriented. Her mother had a degree in Home Economics. My mother knew the importance of nutrition (good foods) and knew that scientific data should support a persons’ understanding of nutrition. Thus, she fully believed some of the trends or fads of nutrition, most recently, high protein, high fat, low carb. I remember that we always ate whole wheat bread, we drank raw milk, we had carob chips instead of chocolate chips, we did not have any soda or sugary treats from the store. I still was a picky eater and as a high school student I daily grabbed donuts from the donut store across the street from our high school. Since I had my own job, I was also able to buy candy bars, zingers were a favorite, etc. 

Alternative Medicine

Back to my step-mother, she began to have some health problems with her digestion and sought help from doctors. One after another, without ability to resolve her issues. She became desperate and began looking outside of traditional medicine for help. Mom latched onto anything she thought would help. And this is where I was introduced to alternative medicine. She visited a chiropractor, who adjusted the spine and encouraged good nutrition. She saw a doctor that could look at your eyes and tell you where in the body you had health issues. She saw another doctor that used muscle testing to determine food allergies. She consulted with an herbalist and began including herbal supplements in our home diets. I think she even went to a Traditional Chinese Medicine specialist. Sometimes mom would take me to these visits. I was an avid reader, and I observed the books on the shelves at the many doctors’ offices. As a high school student, I read “Back to Eden” a book by Jethro Kloss, an early herbalist. These experiences and books gave me the introduction into alternatives. Not that I needed any of those, I was fine as long as I got my sugar fix. 

Soft and Squishy

Fast forward many years. I married, had children, life was stressful and challenging and I gained more weight. I could deal with everything, if I had my daily doses of sugar, brownies, cookies, ice cream, candy bars, frosting, etc. There were many times that I started diets and lost weight. The one that seemed to work the best was the diet with high protein for every meal and then some starches and veggies. But I still had a free day to eat all the sugar sweets I wanted. 

For a few years, I even started running and participating in races. I was slow and big. The people around me were supportive and encouraging. Usually, my division was “Athena” the equivalent of the men’s Clydesdale division, larger than everyone else. 

 But when life became challenging again, I went back to my old habits, I gained the weight back again. I got used to being “soft and squishy”, but it bothered me. Actually, I believed I knew what changes I needed to make to change my weight and be healthy, but it was too hard. I could not imagine ordering just a large salad for dinner at a restaurant. But I felt like I should. In the grocery store I knew I should be buying more fruit and vegetables, but when I did, it just went bad. I knew I should stop eating anything with sugar, but I couldn’t. I would describe my relationship with sugar as an addiction. I could not go a day without eating something that contained sugar. 

Symptoms

Eventually, my children grew up and moved out of the house. I was teaching part time at a nearby university and we had recently moved to the country. I debated for months about taking a nutritional herbalist course, but I thought I already knew what I needed to do to be healthy, I just didn’t do those things. I finally decided to take this course with my sister. My paradigm changed completely. I had always looked at medicine and herbs in an allopathic way. What does this mean? It means that I just wanted to treat the symptom of extra weight. In reality the extra weight and other symptoms like inflammation, aching joints, headaches and more were signals from my body that something was wrong. 

As I learned about my body and how wonderfully it works, I also learned about the foods that help it to function properly. I learned that it would take time for my body to heal itself and that I needed to provide the nutrients it so desperately needed. By the way, did you know that cravings are the body's way to signal that it needs something? And if you do not provide the body with what it needs you will develop cravings. More on that another time. 

Looking & Feeling Healthy 

As I approached my health, examining the "big" picture or looking at the whole situation, things began to change. Before I just wanted to lose weight. I now realized it wasn't about the weight. It was about feeling good and healthy. My job was to provide the assistance to my body with what it needed to heal. It took some time and effort, making small changes. Over time my health improved, I felt healthier and happier. I have lost some weight, many of my symptoms, like the inflammation, lessened, and the joint aches went away entirely. My eyes have been opened as I have embarked on this journey of health. I hope to share with you the things I have learned so that you can make positive changes in your lives, too. 

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Kelly Summers, is a Master Herbalist & Natural Healing Guide. She knows that knowledge is empowering and deeply desires to share the insights she has learned through her continued journey of learning.