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Under the Canopy
On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, former Minister of Natural Resources, Jerry Ouellette takes you along on the journey to see the places and meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and Under The Canopy.
Under the Canopy
Episode 56: Health Food Store
Can Western and naturopathic medicine coexist for better health outcomes? Join us on this enlightening episode as we embark on an adventure through the world of muskie angling and ancestral medicine. Listen to Jerry Ouellette, former Ontario Minister of Natural Resources, share captivating stories from his outdoor experiences and his discovery of chaga, a medicinal fungus with remarkable properties. Jerry's journey also gave birth to Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, celebrating a life intertwined with nature. Get a glimpse into his daily routines, from outdoor fires to testing new coffee blends, while expressing heartfelt thanks to listeners from Ghana, Canada, and the U.S.
Next, we dive into the world of natural health and supplements with Marianne, the dedicated owner of Sunflower Health Shop and Services in Brighton, Ontario. Marianne's early exposure to natural remedies led her to take over the business in 2013, focusing on providing high-quality vitamins and health products. Learn about the stark differences between drugstore and health store vitamins and the challenges of running a health food store committed to quality. Marianne shares insights into the significance of supporting local businesses and the rigorous criteria for selecting top-notch supplements.
Finally, we contrast naturopathic and Western medicine, highlighting the importance of addressing root causes rather than just symptoms. From the benefits of omega fatty acids and magnesium to the challenges of maintaining a natural lifestyle amidst regulatory constraints, this episode covers it all.
Back in 2016,. Frank and I had a vision to amass the single largest database of muskie angling education material anywhere in the world.
Speaker 2:Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you.
Speaker 1:Thus the Ugly Pike podcast was born and quickly grew to become one of the top fishing podcasts in North America.
Speaker 2:Step into the world of angling adventures and embrace the thrill of the catch with the Ugly Pike Podcast. Join us on our quest to understand what makes us different as anglers and to uncover what it takes to go after the infamous fish of 10,000 casts.
Speaker 1:The Ugly Pike Podcast isn't just about fishing. It's about creating a tight-knit community of passionate anglers who share the same love for the sport. Through laughter, through camaraderie and an unwavering spirit of adventure, this podcast will bring people together.
Speaker 2:Subscribe now and never miss a moment of our angling adventures. Tight lines everyone.
Speaker 1:Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3:As the world gets louder and louder, the lessons of our natural world become harder and harder to hear, but they are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Jerry Ouellette and I was honoured to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources. However, my journey into the woods didn't come from politics. Rather, it came from my time in the bush and a mushroom. In 2015, I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal applications used by Indigenous peoples all over the globe. After nearly a decade of harvest use, testimonials and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession and I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show is about. My pursuit of the strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places, meet the people. That will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and under the canopy. So join me today for another great episode, and hopefully we can inspire a few more people to live their lives under the canopy.
Speaker 3:Well, good morning. It's my usual morning. Had to outran the dogs and Ensign Gunner and his skunk being sprayed by a skunk is almost all gone and it seemed to be kind of dissipated, although when he gets wet he still smells like a skunk to some extent. Now to all our listeners in Ghana. We want to thank you, as always and keeping us in the top rankings there in Ghana, as well as all our Canadian and American listeners. We really appreciate you taking the time.
Speaker 3:Not only that, but we had our usual, ran the dogs and had my morning fire outside, although here in August now the temperature was still about 29,. But we have a nice little fire, and what we did then was had my new coffee, which we've been doing for about a month now. It's a test one and seems to be going great. It's a special blend that we're doing, called actually it's for anybody listening and interested in research to me. I'll send you a couple of sample ones to get your opinion of it. What I have is roasted chicory root, roasted dandelion root and chaga all in the same tea bag, and I get about five cups.
Speaker 3:But what I do with that?
Speaker 1:is? I do it the night before?
Speaker 3:So I have about a five cup thermos and I put the tea bag in the thermos and the night before and actually Diane my wife.
Speaker 2:She kind of likes some ginger.
Speaker 3:So we add a little bit of ginger to it some freshly sliced ginger and I leave it overnight and that's what we have for our morning coffee and it's been great, and it looks like it might be a new line that I'll be adding to the SKU numbers that we have with the other Chaga products that we have. But anyways, we're now okay. We're doing something a little bit different, which we've done before when we did the classroom experience where we went out with the students, and this time I'm at a location with Marianne and Marianne thanks for joining us.
Speaker 5:Oh, thanks for having me. It's great to see you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no problem, it's always a pleasure. Now tell us, let everybody know whereabouts you're located.
Speaker 5:Okay, I'm the owner of Sunflower Health Shop and Services in Brighton, ontario. We're right on Main Street, 57 Main Street, across from the CIBC. I've been here 11 years. Last year was our 10-year anniversary and it's always keeping us hopping, keeping on top of the most recent research.
Speaker 3:So, and Brighton is about what? About two hours east of Toronto?
Speaker 5:Yes.
Speaker 3:Kind of halfway between what Kingston and Toronto about that area.
Speaker 5:Yes, yes, and we're sort of sandwiched between Trenton and Coburg.
Speaker 3:Right, and how did you effectively get started into the business of health food store?
Speaker 5:Well, my awareness was when I was four years old, believe it or not, my dad took me to an herbalist and my dad was very much into natural medicine and sort of living with mother nature. So that's how I first became that. I became known about it, but it wasn't until about 1999 that I started becoming very aware of things like aluminum and deodorant, fluoride and toothpaste. Why are these things in these products? So I started to eliminate them out of my body and taking them and I went to California for some training and it really opened my eyes.
Speaker 3:What kind of training did you do in California?
Speaker 5:Oh boy, we walked through a vitamin plant. We learned the difference between good vitamins and bad vitamins and, believe me, it is a buyer beware and a body beware. I always say never buy vitamins from drugstores, never buy them from big chain stores. There are cheap vitamins that are made with a heat process which actually kills a lot of the nutrients and enzymes die at 108 degrees. So those vitamins are very bad and you're not getting the nutrition Okay. Also, they can be sprayed with something called pharmaceutical food glaze. That's for tablets so they're easier to swallow. Instead of using something like deionized water and rice protein or something like that, a food source that your body can absorb and is bioavailable to the body. The cheap process is sprayed with pharmaceutical food glaze, which is shellac number four you use on your furniture. It's a carcinogenic. Which is shellac number four you use on your furniture. It's a carcinogenic. Your body does not know how to deal with it. It actually is a plastic complex and it's considered bedpan vitamins. Often, the way they go in is the way they come out.
Speaker 3:So is this just a tablet that gets sprayed with this?
Speaker 5:or are you saying that a capsule would be a better vitamin to take? Capsule would be better. But I really out there. I don't know what the cheaper brands are using in their capsules and also you don't know. You know, our vitamins here are like third-party tested they're. I mean we'll be out of stock on a vitamin because the raw shipment was turned down because they felt it wasn't good enough. So there's so much that is a difference between drugstore vitamins and health store vitamins.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay. So, and when did you get into the open the health food store here?
Speaker 5:I worked for the previous owner for two years and took over the business when her lease ran out, and that was in 2013 that I took over.
Speaker 3:So 2013,. We're now 2024. So you've had it for quite a few years. So I'm very interested about these good vitamins and bad vitamins. What else? Can you kind of give people some insight about what good vitamins are and how to look and check as to what good vitamins would be?
Speaker 5:We really research what companies we carry. Actually, I've just researched a new company not new, but new to us that's in Calgary, Alberta, and we're going to bring in some of their product. It's making sure that there's not added ingredients, that they are third-party tested.
Speaker 3:Right, so show us we're in the store. So show us an example of something that I can look at the label while we're talking to see some of the ingredients that we're looking for Now. People aren't going to.
Speaker 5:For example, vitamin E. It's not just vitamin E, that's vitamin E8. So you've got all the components of the vitamin E. You're not just getting a vitamin E.
Speaker 3:Right, and these are soft gels. Yes, so they're not sprayed. Getting a vitamin E? Right, and these are soft gels yes, so they're not sprayed like the tablets would be.
Speaker 5:Yeah, but just sprayed ones would be cheap products that are, you know, sold in other places.
Speaker 3:Right, right so, yeah, so. And it says now take two soft gels daily. Now, is that because of the volume of international units in it?
Speaker 5:Yes.
Speaker 3:So these are 400 IUs, UIs, and in that particular case you're saying that, but above that you have vitamin C as well, but you have different vitamin Cs for different purposes.
Speaker 5:Some are capsules, some are tablets, some are powder, some are different amounts and different like. Some are sodium ascorbate, some are ones that have, like rose hips and citrus, bioflavonoids. So it depends on what the person's really looking for, and a lot of people now are doing their own research, which I'm very happy about.
Speaker 3:Well, and so that's a great thing to lead into. Where can people look to do their own research, to find out which ways to go?
Speaker 5:Well, I mean, there is the internet, but you can't believe everything on the internet.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's for sure.
Speaker 5:There's books by many different leading doctors Dr Michael Murray there's, the Nutritional Healing book, the Balch and Balch book. There's let me see there's. Well, peter McCullough is amazing. He's our leading, one of our leading Canadian immunologists and virologists, but unfortunately people have been attacking him recently because of the decisions he made during COVID Right. The information he gave out, but he has a wealth of information.
Speaker 3:Okay, so, yeah. So this is one of the things to look at is do the research and to find out which ones are really good. So what makes a health food store a health food store as opposed to Just a regular food store sort of thing? Is there a classification for health food?
Speaker 5:Health food stores just generally carry more healthy products. I mean I would hate to take stuff, that is, products coming from maybe overseas, that we don't know the efficacy of it. I mean and here I also have like free range, herbicide free meat and gluten free breads and dairy free ice cream. So there's a lot of things here that you can't necessarily find other places.
Speaker 3:Right Now. Are these all locally sourced or are they just in here in Brighton? Which? What's the population of Brighton?
Speaker 5:roughly I think it's around 10,000.
Speaker 3:So 10,000. So is it something that the gluten-free or some of the other meats, that stuff? That's 14 now.
Speaker 5:Oh, 14,000 now the population.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 5:Wow, we do support and we have over a dozen family-run local businesses that we do uh support. And, uh, we have over a dozen family run local businesses that we support, whether it be out in the County, uh, belleville, um, um Castleton, um areas in like closer to here to Brighton and people in Brighton. So we're really proud that we support a lot of local.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and something I'm noticing here, um Marian, is something that my oldest son, who's done some podcasts with myself. He very much focuses on grass fed, free range and grass fed.
Speaker 5:Yes.
Speaker 3:Beef. He always asks is it just grass finished or is it grass fed? Is it start to finish or what? When I'm asking and when I'm at events like farmers markets and that find out if it's just finished or grass finished or is it grass fed. What's the difference between grass fed and free range from?
Speaker 5:from other aspects, well, um, if it is grass fed and free range from beginning to end, that's your best. Sometimes farms will finish off their cattle with corn. So you have to be aware, because most of the corn is GMO, genetically modified and you don't want that. It's hard to get non-GMO corn.
Speaker 3:Well, I had Greg ask on Sunday if there was non-GMO corn, and I don't know of any offhand. Most of the corn is all genetically modified, is it not? Yeah?
Speaker 5:it's very hard to get. I mean, I did get some frozen corn I think it came out from BC, but yeah, it is very hard. I love corn on the cob but I won't eat it anymore.
Speaker 3:So anyway, so yeah, so grass-fed makes a big difference and so does free-range. I know one of the locations. Gary was free-range, raised free-range chickens and, to be honest, the taste difference. They actually had a phenomenal taste to them. It was like night and day. I couldn't believe he's charging more, but you're getting something of that really good quality. Not only that, but the taste was hugely different from a lot of the chickens that are raised in the standard method.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I find that, even though food is more expensive, if it's organic or it's free range or whatever, but the quality is there and I find that your body doesn't need as much because you're getting more nutrients Right. I mean, it's like when our grandparents ate an orange years ago they could eat one orange. For us to get the same nutritional value, we have to now eat eight oranges because our soil is so deplete. We're so deplete in magnesium and many different minerals.
Speaker 3:I'm surprised I hadn't heard that before. So now, marianne, there's some new federal guidelines coming out in Canada that's impacting your industry and maybe you can kind of without getting too upset, give us a little bit of a breakdown on what's happening or what the impact and some of the reasons why they might be doing that.
Speaker 5:Oh boy, that's a good question to ask me. First of all, history does have a way of repeating itself. If you go back to the so-called witches, they dealt with herbs, they did herbs. So people that deal with herbs now really would have been labeled years ago as witches, and witches were drowned if they were guilty, or drowned if they were innocent and survived if they were guilty. So they got killed anyway.
Speaker 5:And then in the 1920s, there was a big again history, a big push. All the naturopathic schools were closed because they want chemicals and pharmaceuticals to be our mainstay. You could not practice and be a naturopath, and that's why more and more people got into being doctors and pushing chemical medicine.
Speaker 3:Some of the medicines that are out there, for example aspirins essentially initiated from willow bark.
Speaker 5:Yes.
Speaker 3:And the difference, as I've said on a number of locations, is that if you were to try to take willow bark to get the acetylsalicylic acid out of the willow bark, it's very difficult to determine how much you'd have to take when the pharmaceutical industry says every 81 milligram of ASA has 81 milligrams of ASA and that's one of the big differences how much you take. But a lot of the pharmaceuticals had a start and the one I talked to that really surprised a lot of people is this product called Metamucil.
Speaker 5:Right.
Speaker 3:The number one component, metamucil. Do you know what the number one component is? Psyllium husks. It's plantain husks. Oh, plantain, yeah, it's plantain seed husks. Most people don't know that. So it's from the plantain that the largest component of Mena Musil. So a lot of the industry is starting to find out, but I didn't mean to interrupt. You're talking about the impacts and some of the history there. So what's happening with the current federal government?
Speaker 5:So once again, history is repeating itself. We are having problems already trying to get certain products in. I mean, look at, for example, tramiel. They went back to Europe, they got fed up of the Canadian laws and they had great products. Now, all of a sudden, we can't get Hyland's homeopathy. A lot of it is to do with licensing. The government will decide, or somebody decides oh, you have to pay this much for this product to get it on the shelf. Well, these smaller companies, they can't afford that. The pharmaceutical industry, they have all the advertising behind them. They have, you know, so much big money behind them. You know we're losing more and more companies. There's a company, anima Mundia, that she has amazing herbs. She's from Peru, she's in New York and we're bringing her products in. Now, every time we order from them, the packages are stopped at the border and sent back.
Speaker 3:Really yeah, and are they giving you a reason why they're being sent back? I'm assuming it's to the states that it's going back to.
Speaker 5:Yes, it's going back to the states. I mean we're getting different, being told different things for different products.
Speaker 5:You know, I mean, I'm just like wild yam cream. Women love that product. It's very good for people that are menopausal or after, and I actually literally had a customer come in two weeks ago and say that their doctor could only give them half the amount because they were used to getting it through their doctor. Because there is now the government's pulling back on not being able to get, you know, bring in the supply they did, so now we've been able to outsource and we've been able to bring some in and now we're selling like crazy because people can't get it and it's. It's sad when people want to go the natural route and be healthy right, yeah, yeah, and some of it.
Speaker 3:I'm surprised that a doctor would be prescribing it, one of the things that I am finding, particularly in a couple of areas. I find more in Peterborough and the Ajax Pickering area, that there's a lot of medical doctors who are taking their naturopathic doctor degrees in order to be able to prescribe things like, as you mentioned, the yam cream, and I don't know if that's a particular case, but I think that's a good thing and, to me, the more knowledge that a health care provider has in some of the options that are available, such as yam cream that you just mentioned, that it gives people other alternatives to look at in dealing with their own health and things like that. Right, right, yeah, yeah, it would be great if doctors knew this end of stuff people other alternatives to look at in in dealing with their own health and things like that right, right, yeah, yeah, um, it would be great if doctors knew this end of stuff.
Speaker 5:But they learn like basically doctors. For example, not, this isn't set in stone, but let's say they go to school for seven years. They learn all the chemical medicine and the pharmaceutical products. A naturopath goes to school for seven years but learns all the natural part of it. You know so people look at naturopath. Goes to school for seven years but learns all the natural part of it. You know so people look at naturopaths and don't see that.
Speaker 3:That how close they are it's just one is on chemical and one is on natural products yeah, I remember reading it was a matthew wood book I was reading where he goes in the details about the difference between western medicine and naturopathic medicine was, and he used an ulcer, for example. Example, in Western medicine they treat the ulcer, so they operate or they give things to directly deal with the ulcer, where naturopathic medicine and this was in Matthew Wood's book goes in to find out what's changing your body to allow that ulcer to take place in the first place and let's get your body back the way it was. So it's now countering what allowed the ulcer to come forward. Yes, but from my perspective, the more doctors and medical trained doctors have the ability to take the naturopathic aspect as well would be far better off. Because I know I had my own medical doctor. I tried to find out some information from him and eventually he said look in his words were, if I operate on somebody and they pass away on the operating table, I wouldn't lose my license.
Speaker 3:However, if I was to suggest something like well, I'm looking here on one of your shelves at a cramp park, just like in Seinfeld when they went to see the person in there and Jerry Seinfeld mentions cramp park. But if they mention, you know something like Cramp Park or you know, the dandelion root is a blood purifier and things like that, and they're allergic to it and have an allergic reaction. He said they would lose their license because it's beyond their scope of practice. So what they needed to do was to get more experience in these sorts of things. But I haven't heard all the details. So what else are the? What are the reasons that the federal government's doing this?
Speaker 5:And I don't want to forget to mention blood pressure for one sec. This drives me crazy. When people have high blood pressure, the doctor automatically puts on blood pressure pills. Do they try to find out what causes the high blood pressure and go to the root source so they don't have to be on blood pressure pills their whole life, like why not take some you know chag, a tea or you know different things like that to resolve it? So that frustrates me, that doctors, just here's a pill, stay on that for the rest of your life. We don't need to take time to figure out what's causing it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, the medical profession, you know, it's just a lot of people and they're well trained for a long period of time, but the more that we can expand their base of knowledge, probably the better it is for people as a whole. I think so in the federal government. What are some of the? What are the other things, or what are they saying? So it's just a matter of now. You can get stuff from Canada, but you can't get it from the States, because you mentioned a new Alberta supplier.
Speaker 5:Right, you know there's a lot of speculation why this is being done. They want to have a lot more. One of the stories is they wanted to have a lot more information on the products. So therefore, boxes need to be made or labels need to be even written, even smaller, which we can't even read now. Right. And different licensing so that, for example, if a company carries 300 different products, they might only end up being able to afford maybe 75 products of licensing, and then all the rest will just dissipate. Because of that, we've been for about a year and a half. We've got prepaid postcards at the store and you'll find this, I think, in all the health stores across Canada that they're signing postcards to send to Parliament. Now this has gone through a second reading, but every time they get so far, another little paragraph is put in. That you know. And another stipulation you know. But what it is is, you know, money talks, greed talks and there's a lot more money in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry to be made.
Speaker 3:Well, they're pushing for their perspective. As to why they suggest that and I don't know the reasons why, I couldn't tell you because I haven't spoken with the pharmaceutical industry to determine what their belief is. Probably, as I've talked to people before, when you have a 40-year-old Chaga and a 10-year-old Chaga, is a medicinal application the same for those two Chagas and there's no research to verify that. So some of those are pretty hard to tell and the pharmaceutical industry, from what I heard in the past, was saying that there needs to be consistency. Well, when you're dealing with natural products, as I've mentioned on my seminars or my lectures or a number of podcasts, it's difficult to have that because it's so hard to find the research to verify. Like I just finished saying, a 40-year-old Chaga this is producing the same medicinal applications as a 10-year-old.
Speaker 5:Right.
Speaker 3:So, but you know, and I can understand that there's more and more people. Quite frankly, what I see is a lot more people gravitating towards natural medicines for their own, because it just seems to be gaining distrust from a large sector of society with the current options that are available, and people are now, with the internet and everything else, making their own decisions, which I think is the way to go. People need to make up their own minds on these things.
Speaker 5:Yeah, people need to do their own research, and research not just from one source, but, you know, really check their sources. I mean, you know there's things like during COVID and I'm not saying it was totally wrong but you know, hand sanitizer everybody was slathering hand sanitizer and our first line of defense is the bacteria on the outside of our skin. So therefore people wear hand sanitizing, taking away that first line of defense that our body naturally has, and now our body's more open up to getting disease and viruses and bacteria, because now you've eliminated that protective shield.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Well Over time, people's immune systems start to eventually burst. They don't produce to the same level as they used to. I don't think as we gain experience in life, as I say. But yeah, I know there's a lot of things that happen, with a lot of those things that people are completely unaware of.
Speaker 5:Yes, and there's things coming up that we keep hearing. We're hearing there's something called a 100-day cough and that's come up in the last two or three years. We do have a product that we really, really like. That's for that. It's Leaf Source, called Cold Formula, and what it does it actually gets the phlegm and mucus that sticks on the walls of the lung. So it doesn't just work like, let's say, a cough medicine expelling, but it's getting it off the walls.
Speaker 3:So it's the same as mullein. Mullein assists with a lot of that as well.
Speaker 5:That's good too.
Speaker 6:Hi everybody. I'm Angelo Viola and I'm Pete Bowman. Now you might know us as the hosts of Canada's Favorite Fishing Show, but now we're hosting a podcast. That's right. Every Thursday, ange and I will be right here in your ears bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. Hmm, now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week?
Speaker 5:Well, you know there's going to be a lot of fishing.
Speaker 7:I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch.
Speaker 6:Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show. We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors From athletes All the other guys would go golfing Me and Garth and Turk and all the Russians would go fishing To scientists. But now that we're reforesting- and letting things breathe.
Speaker 1:It's the perfect transmission environment for life.
Speaker 7:To chefs If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated, you will taste it.
Speaker 6:And whoever else will pick up the phone Wherever you are. Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside. Find us on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3:And now it's time for another testimonial for Chaga Health and Wellness. Okay, we're here with Kim from Bob Cajun and Kim, you had a great experience with the Chaga cream and your grandson. Can you tell us about that a bit?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so my grandson actually struggles with psoriasis. He's only 16 years old, so of course, the self-esteem right. He doesn't want his face all covered in scales and stuff like that. And I picked him up on a weekend to come and visit with me and I had overheard you talking to somebody about psoriasis. Okay so it kind of piqued my interest and I thought I would ask you about that. And when you explained it to me I took a container home for him.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:And in one day he was over the moon, happy that his face looked clear and he's going to be religiously doing it because he's so self-conscious about it.
Speaker 3:So he tried other things through the medical system and things like that. Yeah, and he just didn't have any success.
Speaker 4:Correct, he had a prescription of cream. And you know, it would sort of dry it up a little bit. But that was the problem. It just dries it up and then it's flaky on his face.
Speaker 4:And he doesn't really like that and it leaves a lot of little red blotchy stuff right. So after he rubbed that stuff on the chaga stuff, he was, his face didn't look so angry, you know, because it's a red, angry sort of look on his face and it didn't look so angry. It looked soft and clear. So he was over the moon happy and so I took him home and then he messaged me after a couple of days to tell me that he's so, so happy that his skin looks clear.
Speaker 3:Great. Thanks very much, kim. From Bob Cajun.
Speaker 4:You're welcome, okay.
Speaker 3:We interrupt this program to bring you a special offer from Chaga Health and Wellness. If you've listened this far and you're still wondering about this strange mushroom that I keep talking about and whether you would benefit from it or not, I may have something of interest to you. To thank you for listening to the show, I'm going to make trying Chaga that much easier by giving you a dollar off all our Chaga products at checkout. All you have to do is head over to our website, chagahealthandwellnesscom, place a few items in the cart and check out with the code CANOPY C-A-N-O-P-Y. If you're new to Chaga, I'd highly recommend the regular Chaga tea. This comes with 15 tea bags per package and each bag gives you around five or six cups of tea. Hey, thanks for listening Back to the episode. Okay, I'm back, so let's just do a walk through the store and tell me about some of the products here that are pretty popular that people might be interested to hear about.
Speaker 5:Well, omega-3, there's omega-3, 6, 7, and 9. Right, but omega is so important. It's one of those things. When it says essential fatty acid, it means that our body cannot make it on its own Right. So, for example, omega-3, it's good for dry eye. It's good for dry eye, it's good for your joints, it's good for mobility and helping with energy metabolism, it helps with your brain health. So I mean, that is one of the things, for sure, that I always recommend is omega-3, at least omega-3. And then there's other forms of the omega, but that's very popular. I always recommend is omega-3, at least omega-3.
Speaker 3:And then there's other forms of the omega Right, but that's very popular. So in cod liver oil? I know my grandparents on my mother's side always had a jar of cod liver oil in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. Cod liver oil can you tell us about the same?
Speaker 5:Cod liver oil. I personally feel that you take cod liver oil more so in the winter, and then the omega-3, or omega-3, 6, 7, 9 more in the summer spring months. Cod liver oil also has vitamin A and D, which is in a natural form, so it's very bioavailable to the body and your body looks at it as actual fish, so your body can take it in and and absorb it better it's good for brain health.
Speaker 5:Yes, no, yes, yeah yeah, and of course it's got vitamin a in it, so it's good for uh, it's good for your eyes right, you know um yeah, and magnesium is also very popular yeah, magnesium.
Speaker 3:uh, people with osteo and things like that as well, go ahead and tell us about magnesium.
Speaker 5:Magnesium is basically about 80% of the population is depleted in magnesium. There's so many forms of magnesium, but the main ones really are magnesium citrate and magnesium disquicinate, magnesium bisquicinate now, the magnesium citrate that we sell also has l-taurine in it, which is an amino acid which makes our body absorb it better. But the big one that we sell the most is the magnesium bisquicinate because it's more bioavailable right right um, and then there's um, I mean, and everyone's having issues with know, bone health and that kind of thing, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so all right. So now I had somebody that was dealing with. Are you familiar with vitiligo? That's the pigmentation.
Speaker 5:Not vertigo.
Speaker 3:No, oh. No, it's a skin pigmentation issue. No, it's Courtney. I don't know, do you watch or see much of any of the Dr Berg stuff at all?
Speaker 5:No.
Speaker 3:Oh, Dr Berg's a YouTuber that he feels he's going to be censored now as well. Oh, dear. Of his stuff, but anyways, he talks about vitamin D as being one of the key things.
Speaker 5:And people need to take quite a large doses of vitamin D to help counter it. Yes, you know, years ago, when I first took over the store, we had vitamin D in 2000, international units, 5000 and 10,000. And there was all kinds of articles like it's good against hip fractures, it's good for your bones, it's good for all these different things. Then, all of a sudden, the ruling got changed and we could only get vitamin D in a thousand milligrams, so people were still taking just one capsule. Now, so many people are deplete in vitamin D and even though they think in the winter they're getting sun you know they're walking, maybe without a hat or whatever they're not getting the vitamin D because the sun is on a different angle to the earth. Right Now, everyone has a different theory. There is a blood test you can get through your doctor for your vitamin D levels. But it is so good against infections, lung issues, colds, flus, bones, I mean you name it.
Speaker 3:A lot of people for depression reasons as well. Yes, yes.
Speaker 5:Now we have something up here. Whether you know, I'm not a doctor, I'm not recommending anything, but it says here, when you have most of your body exposed on a sunny summer day, in 15 minutes you get 10,000 international units of vitamin D. So you know, most of the year we're not, we don't have our body exposed, Right? You know, we're not exposed in the, in the spring, in the fall, in the winter, um yeah, and I I wondered about that.
Speaker 3:So, um, is it just through your arms, as you mentioned? You have a hat on it. Is it, does it? Is there particular parts of your body that produce it, or is it anywhere? That, uh, takes place with the vitamin d that can be produced yeah, there's different theories too.
Speaker 5:I mean, I've also heard that if people shower too much and I'm a big shower fan that they take off some of that natural oil off your skin so you're not absorbing the vitamin D. Now I've got to do more research into that. I mean, I'm researching all the time, but that's something I've got to also look into.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I see we're in another section here. It talks about Lyme disease. Can you tell us about that a bit?
Speaker 5:Yeah, that's a mystery. I mean, the ticks were around many, many, many years ago and they were found, I think, if I'm not mistaken, in frozen, like way up north in places. So they're trying to figure out how, all of a sudden, ticks have, you know, resurrected, how did they come back and be so great, uh, detrimental to our health? Um, so we do carry a few things for lyme disease, but again it's been hard to get certain things right. Um, but we do have like t-cell, um tincture, um andrographis, things like that, but it's again we're having problems getting certain, you know ingredients.
Speaker 3:Yeah, dean, the producer, he'd mentioned that some of the research he did was that when the passenger pigeon was around, the passenger pigeons consumed huge amounts of ticks. Okay, and so when the passenger pigeon was killed off, guess what? The tick population started to explode and now it's spreading everywhere, because a lot of the ticks that come around get moved on birds Right. So when they're migrating through you'll get a lot of that. So as much as we like to think that we can kind of get control of them, that not necessarily that it's actually taking place. And, dean, I haven't didn't talk extensively to him, but I found it interesting and, as you said, you just keep need to do research and find more and more research around.
Speaker 5:Right, right, you know there's another product too, because we have a big call for it, especially for women with urinary tract infections and that kind of thing.
Speaker 5:And what I try to explain to people is like, don't take cranberry juice that you get from like a grocery store, because it's got so much sugar and that bacteria is living off also off that sugar.
Speaker 5:So you want to try to eliminate sugar as much as you can when you have that and not only like get organic cranberry juice that is concentrated, that's the whole thing, without anything added. But the other thing is something called D-mannose, and the D-mannose with cranberry is even better and we do have it in capsule form, the two together, d-mannose again, it tends to scrape the walls and it tends to take the bacteria off, whereas if you're just taking cranberry, that'll flush a lot of it out but it won't actually get it off the walls. And the other thing is people will come in and they've been to their doctor, like maybe you know, two or three times, prescription after prescription. Well, each time it comes back and it's even worse because now you've lowered your immune system, now you need to definitely be taking probiotics to build up the good biome, the natural biome in the gut and take the D-amino with cranberry.
Speaker 3:And you mentioned about adding sugar. Well, they added sugar to just about everything. There used to be a show out there that talked about how the industry kind of got together and have a yum factor where there's a certain level and sugar is just about everywhere, and I know that we try to eliminate sugar as much as we can. But one of the things that we saw and you mentioned about the Salon Cinnamon was that actually cinnamon was supposed to work with a lot of people with type 2 diabetes in order to help regulate blood sugars and things like that. Right, but there must be a number of other things that assist with a lot of blood sugar issues.
Speaker 5:Yeah, we have a number of things for blood sugar and like, for example, we have berberine. Berberine is a good one, blood sugar balance by new roots. Herbal. We have, you know a number of things, chitosan you know a lot of things to help with blood sugar. But again it starts with us cutting back and it's in pretty much everything.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you got to check. That's the first thing that we do now is we read the labels on everything. It doesn't matter if it's yogurt or whatever it is. We check to find out the volume of sugar that's now put in there.
Speaker 5:And speaking of yogurt, people think they're eating healthy having yogurt, which is certain yogurts, yes, but when there's fruit in that yogurt, when you buy it, that sugar from the fruit has killed off a lot of the probiotics.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and we get the plain, or I get the plain. Usually organic Greek yogurt is the one that I use, right, but I get a lot of people asking me about or utilizing this. Can you tell us about?
Speaker 5:Yeah, about Colloidal silver.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 5:That's an amazing. It's antibacterial. It tends to help with infections and colds, flus, viruses. But we also have two of the combination of colloidal silver and colloidal gold. Gold is kind of the healer Right and colloidal silver is more of the antibacterial product.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 5:So that combination is amazing together too.
Speaker 3:And so is it actually gold? That's in there yes, actual gold, and it's actual silver in there. So how do they make it? Or what is the colloidal aspect about it? Because I know a number of people that I talk to that are now taking it. They come to me all the time and they talk to oh, I started taking colloidal silver, but I hadn't heard about the colloidal gold and colloidal silver combined.
Speaker 5:Yes, there is an actual machine that and I've never done it myself, but that you make the colloidal. It looks just like water. The gold has a little bit of a tinge to it, but it's basically very much water-based. But I can't tell you how good I I mean, I've used it for my dogs.
Speaker 5:I put it in my the dog bowl for, you know, any kind of infections, or every so often just to kind of make sure they're on the right path there right, yeah, so so, and what do they typically use the colloidal silver for? Uh oh, and you can use it topically. People can use it if you get a stye in your eye, right you?
Speaker 5:can use it on around your People can use it. If you get a stye in your eye Right, you can use it around your eye. Yeah, mouth sores, things like that. Yeah, it's just any kind of bacterial issue.
Speaker 3:Right, okay, so what other ones do you want to show us? Maybe take us to the back wall here.
Speaker 5:Well, collagen has been a big one because for bone health and skin elasticity, good for, uh, hair health, um that kind of thing right now, and bones and skin and joints, everything.
Speaker 3:Everybody's after stuff for their joints so here's your apothecary wall, so kind of tell us what some of these are and some of the things that um, because I look at this every time I come in and and I see lemongrass and licorice root and and so many different things in here that potentially have different components. Or you know burdock root and you know a lot of people I did a walk through a difficulty with. People have different, tough time telling between burdock and and milk thistle, right, how to identify them. So what's your annual, these ones here that you know of?
Speaker 5:well, burdock root, as you mentioned. It's very good as like a detoxifier it's very, very good and, depending on if the herbs are sort of almost like a powdered form, you can just put it in a tea ball and drink it as a tea, whereas if it's more chunky and hard you need to simmer it on the stove for at least 20 to 30 minutes in lots of water. And then there's the dandelion root. That's good for the kidneys. Again, it's a good detoxifier, definitely good the kidneys.
Speaker 3:Again, it's a good detoxifier, definitely good detoxifier, right and you've got roasted chicory root here, yeah Right, very good.
Speaker 5:Which is going to be one of your ingredients for your new product.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, and so what other? What other? Well, dandelion root is good for essentially blood purifier. Yes, oh, something else. Now you have a live blood analysis here at the store as well. Yes, so what is live blood analysis?
Speaker 5:Okay, live blood is. All they do is they prick your finger. They take one drop of blood. That blood is alive, because blood usually dies after about 15 minutes. So when blood gets taken by a doctor it's already dead to get your results. So it's a different kind of testing.
Speaker 5:But the live blood, that one drop, she can tell whether you know how your white blood cells are doing, if you're fighting an infection, currently your blood red blood cells, if you're high or low in iron, all that kind of thing. She also takes that same one drop and she dries it and now she can talk about your thyroid, your liver health, you know different organs of your body. It's a really amazing. I usually get it done twice a year and you actually see it on the screen and you can say, hey, what is that and why is that one? A funny shape, and they'll explain what's, what kind of cell it is and why it is the way it is. She also can do hair analysis, which takes which you take a little bit of hair at the back of the nape, of the neck and she'll send that away and that way it tells you all your minerals, if you're too high, too low, proper magnesium, zinc, that kind of thing. But the live blood, it's fascinating.
Speaker 3:So you mentioned sheesh. You have a person that comes in and does that.
Speaker 5:Yes, yes, so you would just give us a call at the store and we can set up an appointment, or she will call you back and set up an appointment.
Speaker 3:So there's so many things here. So I'm looking at ibrite and and and jewelweed and marshmallow leaves and meadow sweet and mistletoe and, and, oh, lavage. What do you use? Lavage? Do you know what you use? No, okay, I've got lavage or lovage growing in the yard and licorice root and lemongrass and lemon balm and so many different and mullein leaf. I see here that I talked to, and nettles as well right.
Speaker 5:Um yeah, stinging nettles good for allergies and kidneys, and that um the licorice root you just have to be a little bit careful of, especially if you have high blood pressure. It is something you need to kind of monitor that you don't take too much right um jewel weed. Jewel weeds for um poison ivy, yes, I mean we have jewel weed in an ointment, in a spray.
Speaker 5:Uh, we have rust tox, which we have a whole line of homeopathy right and rust tox is also for um poison ivy and with homeopathy they're taking that poison ivy and incorporating it and diluting it so much that your body actually builds up an immunity to it. So you're actually taking in what you are having the issue with oh, okay, interesting.
Speaker 3:So, and then you have another herb section here. So, with all different types of herbs, uh, just like we mentioned the, uh, the salon right, the uheylon there, as well as roasted curry powder, dill seed, dill weed, lemon pepper, so many different chilies and celery flakes and celery seed and cardamom. I use a lot of fennel lately as well. I'm not sure if I see fennel here, but yeah, fennel, yeah, yeah, ground fennel, but yeah, a lot of different things in the store, and from, certainly, people listening to this will get an understanding of the knowledge base that you have on all the different things and what they're applicable for, which is good, good.
Speaker 5:So we also have natural honey from a local supplier, maple syrup. You know different things that are locally sourced and I really like supporting local Very good. We have Kathy's kombucha, which she formulated when her dad was sick and it really prolonged his life for about three years, and that's the. You know a natural product made from a fungus.
Speaker 3:So maybe you can just kind of tell us what kombucha is, because I know there's different formulas for kombucha, but what is a kombucha? Just so people who have never heard of it before get an understanding.
Speaker 5:It's like a tea and it comes from a fungus. Now in Kathy's kombucha there is a little fungus in each bottle, so if you're drinking it, you can actually eat the fungus if you want. But it is good for your immune system. It's good for your gut health. It's good for many things, but you have to be careful because some are higher in sugar than others.
Speaker 3:Right, but it's basically a fermented fermented tea right of different sorts and I'm looking here because I'm looking at lemon, ginger, mango, different ones here. So there are different formulas that have different.
Speaker 5:I don't know if they have different applications or not, but very interesting yeah a lot of people just go by taste when it comes to kombucha, you know, and and it's a really quench thirst, like it really quenches your thirst in the summer.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, thank you very much, marianne. Now tell us how can people get in touch with you. Where can they find out more information about your shop and about all the great things that you have going on here?
Speaker 5:Okay, well, as I mentioned before, we're at 57 Main Street in Brighton. Our phone number is 613-475-3800. That's 613-475-3800. That's you'll get the store. I'm mostly here just on Saturdays, just because I'm doing the ordering and I'm doing the getting in touch with customers and doing research, and it's more than a full time job, but I do love. I do love our community and I love dealing with customers.
Speaker 3:So are you on Facebook.
Speaker 5:You have an email and that sort of stuff. We have Facebook, we have email and we have Instagram, which is kind of all stuff. I'm not a techie person, so one of our younger staff members does that, and we have a website too.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So we've got a website and you've got email and all those other things that information's out there, which is good.
Speaker 5:So our website is sunflowerhealthshopcom.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 5:And shop is S-H-Ohealthshopcom Okay, and shop is S-H-O-P yeah, sunflowerhealthshopcom.
Speaker 3:Sunflowerhealthshop. All one word yes com.
Speaker 5:Yes.
Speaker 3:All right, well, thanks very much. We appreciate you taking the time and, for those listening out, as always, we appreciate that If you have any ideas or suggestions on any of the shows coming up, just let us know. You can email us through our email. And this is just a little bit something different about all the different plants and herbs that are out there and where you can find them, and something a little bit different under the canopy.
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