S14 E6: How to Create an Effective Homestead First Aid Kit

Most homesteaders are frustrated with the modern healthcare system, but disentangling ourselves from it is easier said than done. 

I’m thrilled to be joined by Dr. Amber Belt today as we discuss how to safely and effectively take charge of your health. Dr. Belt offers an empowering (and balanced) approach to dealing with homestead first aid, acute issues, colds and fevers, and lots more. Grab your notebook and pen— this episode is packed full of info!

Podcast Episode Highlights

• Dr. Belt's background in holistic medicine
• Looking at how mistrust in conventional medicine began
• Why modern medicine doesn't look at the big picture
• Biggest gaps in proactive healthcare
• How to start becoming aware of health struggles
• Best tips and equipment for families for handling minor health struggles
• How to naturally boost our immunity and health
• Hormone issues in modern culture
• Favorite old-fashioned remedies
• Final thoughts and tips on being prepared for health issues

Podcast Episode Resources and Links Mentioned

Learn more about Dr. Amber Belt here: www.sagesirona.com

Follow Dr. Amber Belt on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/dramberbelt/

Get weekly musings from my homestead: http://theprairiehomestead.com/letter

My homesteading tutorials & recipes: www.theprairiehomestead.com

Our Wyoming-raised, grass-finished beef: http://genuinebeefco.com

Jill on Instagram: @jill.winger

Jill on Facebook: http://facebook.com/theprairiehomestead

Apply to be a guest on the Old-Fashioned on Purpose podcast: https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/podcast-guest-application

Transcript

Jill Winger: 0:00

Hi, friends. Welcome back to the Old Fashioned On Purpose podcast. One of the most popular topics I've ever discussed here on the show is talking about how to break outside of those traditional societal systems. We've talked about it in terms of education and how you make your living. And one of the most popular topics in that realm is how to break free of the modern healthcare system, at least I don't know anyone out there, kind of regardless of what side of the aisle you fall on in different opinions and topics, who wouldn't agree that our system is not the greatest. There's a lot of pieces that are really broken. But, Disentangling ourselves from that system is often easier said than done. And here on the show over the years, we've talked about ways to kind of keep yourself healthy so you don't have to use the system as much and how to kind of circumvent that. But what happens when you've done everything you can do and stuff happens? You have those first aid instances on the homestead. You have a situation that happens kind of out of the middle of nowhere, how do you handle that? How are you able to prepare yourself and your family for those inevitable emergencies that just sometimes pop up? So I'm really excited to talk about this cause I've never broached this topic anytime else on the show. And I have an amazing naturopathic physician joining me today. Mrs. Amberbelt, welcome. I'm so excited to chat about this.

Dr. Amber: 1:25

Hi, thank you for having me today. I'm excited to chat about it too.

Jill Winger: 1:29

Could you just start off by giving us a little bit of your background in this world of medicine and naturopathic interests and all of those things?

Dr. Amber: 1:35

Yeah. So I, I'm a naturopathic physician right now. I'm licensed in Arizona and Kansas and I've been.

Jill Winger: 1:43

to COVID.

Dr. Amber: 1:44

I've been licensed for almost 19 years, and so I've been in medicine for over 20 years. A lot of that has been as a primary care doctor, and for years my practice was heavily pediatric. So, first aid wise and acute illness wise, I've seen a really big spectrum. What can happen to people and then in a little more recently I I've focused in on orthopedic medicine So I got to see sort of the aftermath of what would happen when somebody You know really did messed up their ankle or broke a bone So acute medicine seems sort of like a bit of a natural fit for me to talk about

Jill Winger: 2:27

Yeah. Yeah, I love that you have all those different angles that you can bring to the conversation. I think that's really valuable. I know that, especially over the last couple of years, we've, I've seen personally just a huge shift in people's perceptions of the medical system. I'd love just to dive in just for a moment about what you've seen. And when did you really start to see that trust in conventional health care start to unravel? Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Amber: 3:00

instead of a conventional doctor so my patient base has Historically been a little mistrustful of that system And when I was when I had was seeing a lot of children the parents were were pretty disenchanted with the system already and they you know, they A lot of them wanted nothing to do with that system. But I really saw, I mean, I think like a lot of us saw a really big shift in a mistrust of the conventional system with, with COVID how, how, you know, we were seeing treatments that were effective, low risk, potential high reward. Couldn't talk about them. And that was a huge, that was huge. And then, and then right after that with the, with the push for vaccinations and,

Jill Winger: 3:50

what the

Dr. Amber: 3:51

and the

Jill Winger: 3:52

the true

Dr. Amber: 3:53

mandating of them, despite, despite not knowing. What the risks, what the true risks and benefits were. And that one, two punch really

Jill Winger: 4:03

what

Dr. Amber: 4:03

built that mistrust. It was like exponential, you know, people, people were having none of it then. And so that's what I saw. I mean, I've always seen kind of a gradual steady, but, but through COVID was the, was the, uptick.

Jill Winger: 4:18

Yeah, I've observed the same as well, for sure. Like, I'm probably one of those people, like you said, that I've always been skeptical. But yeah, in the last couple of years, I've seen people around me that I never would have thought would be asking questions or suddenly asking questions, which I think is a really good thing.

Dr. Amber: 4:34

I think so too. And I think naturally I've always been skeptical because. You know, I was a really sick kid growing up and and so sort of a natural fit for me to be skeptical, but but I'm, I'm really happy people are asking those questions now and it's making them take a step back and look at the whole system, you know, instead of just looking at. Pieces of it. They're kind of stepping back and seeing that the whole thing is broken. And it's not just a, it's not just that they have a bad doc or something like that.

Jill Winger: 5:06

Yes. Why do you think our healthcare system tends to be so reductionist in terms of like, it's so hard for The modern paradigm to see health in a holistic view. It's like we get, like, I just see so many doctors getting just stuck on just this like pigeonhole vision of certain symptoms or certain ailments, and it's like they just, it's almost like it's heresy for them to consider that big picture. Why do you think that is?

Dr. Amber: 5:32

I think it's how the system is set up and how I think a lot of it is how insurance billing is set up. And it's, so it's how they get paid. You know, they want to, I think, I don't think anyone gets into medicine thinking, you know, I don't want to help anyone. I just want that money. I mean, maybe people do, but I think doctors want to help, but I do think they get sucked into that system. And then, you know, I think they're only allowed to talk about one thing during a visit, or they're only allowed to prescribe this medication for this, this condition, or they're only, they're only going to get paid if they run this one test, like, for example, for someone's thyroid instead of actually looking at what the whole gland is doing. And so, and then insurance has also sort of I don't know if forced is the right word, but it's set up now where every doctor is like this little subspecialty. So we're kind of losing that family doctor and that primary care doctor who really saw you as a whole. And, I mean, the beauty of the family doctor is they see you as a person and they see your whole family. So they know, they know so much about your history and so much about you.

Jill Winger: 6:42

Yeah. Yeah. You do see less and less of that, it feels like.

Dr. Amber: 6:44

Yeah,

Jill Winger: 6:45

So in your perspective, because I know you've seen a lot and you've, you've explored a lot. What are some of the biggest gaps that you see people struggling with when they really start to dive into a more proactive role in their health care?

Dr. Amber: 6:59

that, yeah, so some of the biggest gaps, I think that one thing, so I just, I just moved back to a very rural area. I grew up in a really small town in Kansas and kind of moving back here has shed a different light on it. So what I see is. I see a, like it's a fantastic desire and a drive to take that, to take medicine into your own hands. But like you're saying, there's this gap between the knowledge. And I think what I see that's the most alarming is missing red flags. It's just the knowledge to miss red flags that might end you up in the hospital, which is where none of us want to be, you know? So, I mean, let's say a kid has an ear exam, ear infection, for example. You know, you, you want to make sure that as you're watching that ear infection as a parent, and you want to monitor it at home, that they're not getting tenderness in this little bone back behind your ear, because that's a much bigger problem. Or if you're managing a urinary tract infection at home, how do you, how do you watch and make sure that's not creeping into the kidneys? So, I think the red flags are like the, the most the trick, maybe the trickiest thing when you first get started. Mm

Jill Winger: 8:18

I would so agree with that, and that's where I always start to. Like kind of doubt myself is when I get into those situations where I'm, you know, I, I trust our body's ability to heal itself. Like I, I, I think, you know, all those things, right. But I also know that there are, are times when things can get out of hand. And there was a reason we have some of the, the medicines we do. And that there's a reason that more people died from those simple infections in the past and they don't die as much now. So I'm always like, where's that line? And it's crazy. You bring up the ear my daughter's 13 when she, now, but when she was two. We didn't hardly have any ear infections with my kids, but she had it like her first ear infection of her life. I, I watched it for a couple days and I finally took her in to the doctor and he said, Oh, your infection. And he's he's like, I can give you antibiotics, but I probably don't have to. And I'm like, well, we're not an antibiotic family. So I'd rather not if you're okay with that. So he's like, it's fine. And he sent us home. And a couple of weeks later, I noticed, I just had this feeling and her ear was kind of sticking out and it was, it was tender behind her ear. And I just, my gut was like, something isn't right. So I took her back and she had mastoiditis in that bone. And she ended up in the hospital on heavy antibiotics then, because that's, they were like, she could have

Dr. Amber: 9:27

Mm hmm.

Jill Winger: 9:28

that. So after that experience, I'm like, those red flags still scare me and I'm like, where do I, how do I know? And, and who can I talk to? And how can I educate myself? Do you have any? I mean, maybe I'm jumping the gun a little bit on our conversation, but how do you recommend people start to become aware of like, this is okay. This is wait at home and drink lots of fluids. And this is like, no, you need to get it checked out.

Dr. Amber: 9:51

I'm developing some courses to specifically address that. But I think there, I do think that there are a lot of pediatrics, especially pediatrics, because, you know, when you're in your own body, or you're looking at an adult, Different levels of communication, but I think there's some good pediatric hand. I don't have any in specific in mind, unfortunately, but I think there's some peds books out there that, you know, there's resources that you can buy have on hand at home in a book form and, and Not online just I see a lot of asking for acute advice in different groups online And I'm like and sometimes the advice is good, but sometimes it's it's just not responsible

Jill Winger: 10:34

Right. I've seen that as well. Yeah.

Dr. Amber: 10:36

Yeah.

Jill Winger: 10:37

Yeah, there's a lot of, just even on Google, there's just like so much bad information. And I think that's what sometimes gives the holistic world or the natural healthcare world, a bad rap is because there is bad information out there. And so it's, you know, trying to sort through and find that responsible sources sometimes hard. Yeah,

Dr. Amber: 10:58

hard. It can be hard to watch too because there's only like if I'm in a group, there's only so much I can say because, because I'm a doctor and I don't want to give medical advice. But but I think you have to, you have to vet that information just like you have to, just like you have to vet. Your primary care doctor's information, too, to make sure it fits.

Jill Winger: 11:19

Yes. A lot of responsibility on the person. Right. And I think that's, that's what a lot of my audience, like we're okay with that added responsibility, but it's still added responsibility. It's more mental work. It's more heavy lifting of figuring things out.

Dr. Amber: 11:32

Yeah. And that's one thing I love is that drive to know, and that, and that the responsibility doesn't make, like, this community shy away from pretty much anything, because it's like, okay, bring it on.

Jill Winger: 11:44

that's my favorite part too. I'm like, you are my people. Yep.

Dr. Amber: 11:48

hmm. Right?

Jill Winger: 11:49

Okay. So you mentioned like, you know, find resources books, but what are some of the like actual tools that if, if a family, especially rural families, cause I mean, we talked a little bit about this before I hit record we live at least. 45, 50 minutes away from a decent ish hospital. And often if you go to that hospital and you're serious, they're going to fly you to Denver. Or send you to Denver, which is two hours away. So, it's not easy for me to run to a doctor, nor do I really like, I mean, I'm just not the type of person, and I don't think my audience is either, that every time my kid has a sniffle, I'm running to the doctor. We just don't do that. It's, it's difficult, and it's just not how we're wired. So what are some tools that families like mine can start to collect to have on hand in case there is injuries? Whether it may be, we could talk a little bit about acute injuries, but also maybe just like the sniffles and the colds and the fevers and things like

Dr. Amber: 12:38

Yeah. Yeah. I think, you know, for acute injuries, I mean, I think you can have some equipment on hand, right? Like, having a splint is a good idea. Having a triangle, you know, so you can, let's say your kid falls and they, you know, they, you can tell they've maybe fractured their forearm or something, something to stabilize that, or, you know, like a, they have those triangle bandages where you can stabilize your shoulder or your collarbone if you've done something there. So those pieces of equipment are, are important to have on hand. I think it's important to have some kind of I like to have sterile saline on hand to flush out wounds and it doesn't matter it can be like I fell in the driveway and I need to wash out this road rash from the gravel or it can be like I really tore my arm open on, on the fence, you know, cause you, I mean with the road rash, you, you kind of know that's not as serious, but with a, a bigger injury, like if you can at least Clean it, have, maybe have someone clean it up in a perfect world and, and look at it. You can, you can start to like visualize like how deep is that? Is it something, am I, you know, how does, how is the bleeding looking? Is it something I maybe should go get stitched up? Or can I use they're called, I was just looking at the ones over the counter. They're called skin savers. But it's like a, it's like a suture, a topical suture. And you can also use Dermabond, which is like the super glue stuff. But the wound wash is going to be important, because you want to clean it, you want to clean it out really well too, because you don't want to trap any infection in there.

Jill Winger: 14:19

What are your, what are your, not to interrupt, but it just also, I'm interrupting. So to, To compare like a sterile saline for washing versus hydrogen peroxide or chlorhexidine, like would you pick the saline?

Dr. Amber: 14:30

I would pick saline at first, because the hydrogen peroxide is going to bubble, and if you're trying to just look at it, it's just going to get in the way. And chlorhexidine is good. It's usually just a little bit thicker, so I would probably do saline, and then I would maybe follow that with something like chlorhexidine to really like scrub it out and clean it. Because, yeah. I use chlorhexidine when I do like sterile joint injections, so I, I like that stuff. I think it's, I think it's

Jill Winger: 15:00

We just, we use it, I used to work at a vet clinic. We use it a ton there, so I always have some just

Dr. Amber: 15:05

Mm hmm. Right? Yeah. And it gets a little sudsy almost if you, if you really get in there with it. So I think it's a good, I think it's a good one to have on hand for sure.

Jill Winger: 15:14

Okay. Awesome. Yeah. So we got a splint or a stabilizer, some saline, some Dermabond or something, or some sort of, you know, patch for your, for skin. What else is on your list for acute stuff?

Dr. Amber: 15:25

You know, I think something,

Jill Winger: 15:28

think something to start with,

Dr. Amber: 15:30

I think you can have a tourniquet on hand. If you need a tourniquet, you need to get

Jill Winger: 15:33

know, it's

Dr. Amber: 15:34

But for cases of bleeding that aren't gushing and that you can't get slowed down, I think some kind of stop bleeding powder. You know, they have the one over the counter. I make an herbal one that works really well. So you can kind of, and I, I've used them both and I think they both. I think they work pretty equally. But I think something to, to be able to stop that bleeding if it just won't quit on its own is important. And I think having, I think having internal, a really good stash of internal and topical pain relievers is really important. And of course in my world, like, I'm trying, I'm trying not to do ibuprofen, I'm trying not to do Tylenol, because I just, that's just not how I, I roll as a naturopathic doctor. And I, I mean, I have those things on hand, but they're kind of my last resort.

Jill Winger: 16:28

So what are your, your alternatives then to those?

Dr. Amber: 16:32

So for trauma, I love Arnica pellets, just the little homeopathic. My son, when he was little, he had, he had some pretty gnarly dental issues and we were able, he had This is a bad mom moment. I'm like, he had two or three dental surgeries.

Jill Winger: 16:49

fine. Oh

Dr. Amber: 16:51

I'm like, he's 20 now. I mean, yeah.

Jill Winger: 16:54

No, one's going to remember that. It's all good.

Dr. Amber: 16:56

Right. He had lots. But we were able to get him through pain wise all of those surgeries just with Arnica pellets. And yeah, so those can be really helpful. I also like having a good curcumin on hand or tumeric. There's one that I really like called tetracumin.

Jill Winger: 17:14

like to

Dr. Amber: 17:15

And just the way that they've encapsulated that little molecule. It seems to be delivered in a very pain relieving way. And then I also like to have, you know, other pain relieving herbs on hand. You know, ginger and Jamaican dogwood and coridalis. And there's, I, you know, I tend to, I, I tend to make some things at home, but for the pain relieving oral stuff, I, I just get stuff from supplement companies.

Jill Winger: 17:44

Okay, sure, sure. Now for the, for someone who hasn't used like Arnica, maybe they're, they're using ibuprofen or Tylenol. They're, they are considering switching. Are they going to see a same type of effect? Well, you, cause everyone knows you, you take a Tylenol 20 minutes later, your headaches gone, your back aches gone. Is that Arnica like that? Cause, or is it a little different?

Dr. Amber: 18:03

Arnica is a little different. Homeopathy is just kind of a different animal. If arnica isn't the remedy that's going to relieve your pain, it's just, honestly, it's just not going to work at all. And you might have to try a different remedy. But the pain relief should be quicker than ibuprofen would be, or, or a Tylenol. And with, one of the beauties of homeopathy is that, you know, they're the little pellets. I'll have patients take, In an acute situation, if Arnica is working for them, they can take it every 15 minutes to an hour, and there's not gonna be any toxicity associated with that.

Jill Winger: 18:39

So Yeah. quite a

Dr. Amber: 18:39

Yeah. but, yeah. Like, Arnica's good for trauma. Like, there's a remedy called Hypericum that's really good for nerve pain, or if you pinch your finger. So, having a little acute homeopathy, like, case is is probably a good idea.

Jill Winger: 18:55

that is a good idea. Awesome. Okay, what else is on your list? Okay.

Dr. Amber: 19:14

there's, I like, arnica topically too in a homeopathic form or in a whole herb form. The trick with arnica is that the actual flower, you can't, you can't take that internally because it's toxic, but homeopathically it's fine to take internally. But arnica flower topically is fantastic for pain relief. I used, so I used to play roller derby and I used that topical arnica all the time for all of my bruises and muscle pain and all

Jill Winger: 19:43

Okay, awesome. Awesome. Okay.

Dr. Amber: 19:45

Yeah, so I'm trying to think of what else for injury that what other yeah I'm like are there other injuries that I'm kind of missing I kind of I kind of go towards like cuts bumps bruises Sprains and that kind of thing

Jill Winger: 19:58

no, that's a great, that's a great list. I'm curious, kind of backing up a little bit, we were talking about, you know, like the Dermabond situations where you have a laceration, you have a injury like that. Where do you start to, I know when we've had stuff here on our property, it's like, Is it a puncture? Like, how deep is it? Do we need to be concerned about tetanus? Like, where, like, because I know punctures you want to flush, but you don't want to cover and seal with other ones you might, you know, that are not punctures you want to cover. So what is, what are your rules of thumb for that?

Dr. Amber: 20:27

Yeah, definitely for punctures we want that to heal from the ground up and usually if if it's if Boy, sorry, I'm trying to think of how to explain it if The wound is, is deep, especially, it's hard to, it's hard to see layers of the skin, but if you go through too many layers of the skin, and then you close that wound from the top, it's the same as a puncture, where you could be closing in infection. So, You know, you either want to get that sutured from the bottom up or you just want to maybe leave it open and let it heal and just know that you're going to have a scar

Jill Winger: 21:06

Okay. Yeah.

Dr. Amber: 21:07

and I, yeah, I know that's the same. I, I know with animals, it's that way a lot too. It's like, well, we don't want to close that up because it's going to get infected. And so it's, It's a lot the same with people. Mm

Jill Winger: 21:18

Yes. And we talked about this a minute ago, but let's, we dive a little deeper into infections. Because I think that's another point where people are always like, what do I do? Like the decision making process what are some, I mean, can we talk a little bit more about maybe cover those red flags again, or just a little deeper onto what people need to be watching for, whether it's like a wound infection or it's like maybe an internal, a sinus infection or some other sort of infection.

Dr. Amber: 21:43

Yeah, I think with wounds, the thing I look for, you know, is, like, obvious signs of infection. So, you know, it gets, there's a normal amount of redness, and then there's like, oh god, that's, that's not right. It's that deep red, purple, awful color that has some pus and that doesn't smell right. And that's when you know that, You maybe need to go in and see someone or really up your game as far as, you know, treating it at home. With smaller wounds, I think one thing that I've seen on a lot of, not a lot, but I've seen a few times on the online groups I'm in is, Hey, my, my kid got a little cut, now look at his foot, and it's like red streaks, and I'm like, oh my god, that's cellulitis. You could have, like, eugh. Cellulitis is one of those things that Is a red flag because it can spread really fast. I mean, and luckily like it's very treatable with antibiotics and I don't You know, antibiotics aren't bad. It's just being selective about when you use them. Yeah, so the, I think injury wise those are the ones that, that I, that I, that I think are the biggest red flags. Like if your wound is obviously infected or I mean, go look at some pictures of cellulitis online and just get familiar with what that looks like because it's, once you see it, it's pretty recognizable.

Jill Winger: 23:04

Yeah, not good.

Dr. Amber: 23:05

I remember one time I came home from a I think I had gone to a conference or something and I, my husband had. He'd nicked his, I don't know how he did this, but he got a little cut here, and he, I got home, and he's like, look at this cut, and I was like, oh my god, you have cellulitis right there by your eyeball. Yeah, and so he got, he got his very first course of antibiotics for cellulitis. So he didn't go

Jill Winger: 23:29

Yeah.

Dr. Amber: 23:30

Yeah.

Jill Winger: 23:30

Yeah. But those are the moments where I'm like, love old fashioned things, but I'm really glad we have modern antibiotics when we need them. Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Amber: 23:38

Yeah. Yeah. And then I think, you know, with, with like acute infectious stuff, I think being able to recognize or being able to monitor, like, With respiratory stuff, you know, that bronchial stuff versus it like trending into pneumonia. That's a really scary moment

Jill Winger: 23:59

Mm

Dr. Amber: 24:12

and you can hear it sounds wet in there and and you can Look online and get And hear lung sounds and what they normally should sound like and what, you know, what a, what it sounds like when it all goes bad. So, yeah, I think having a stethoscope is a good idea. I think having a little pulse oximeter is probably a good idea just so you can watch if somebody's really got a A really bad respiratory thing. Cause if your lungs are filling up with fluid that you can't deliver as much oxygen. So yeah, having that on hand is a good idea. And we talked about, yeah, mastoiditis is a good, you know, that's a good one to watch for. And then just making, I think urinary tract infections too, like. You can, if it goes to your kidneys, you can get septic rapidly. And so just, just watching. And it's so hard to watch with littles. I mean, fortunately, like little kids don't get, I think it was, I just taught a whole unit about this. 8 percent of girls and only 2 percent of boys get urinary tract infection. So it's not super common. But even for adults knowing when, you know, when to raise, raise the alarm. Like. Because they've got the chills and you touch their lower back and they levitate off the table. It's like, oh, that's that's got some kidney involvement there.

Jill Winger: 25:29

Okay. Good to know. Yes.

Dr. Amber: 25:31

Yeah.

Jill Winger: 25:32

Can we talk about fevers for a minute? Because I know I have a lot of moms listening, and that's always a question with moms and especially kids and fevers. And when do you let it go? When do you need to start being watchful and concerned? Those kind of rules of thumb.

Dr. Amber: 25:45

Yeah, so and I'm so glad I'm talking to this audience because I don't have to go through the whole fever is your friend speech. Because I think most people know it's your body's healing response. And yeah. So what I would tell parents When I was, when I was seeing PD, a lot, a lot of kids, you know, I was comfortable for kids, not, infants are different, but with kids, I was comfortable if their fever got up to 105. But, as parents, you have to decide what your comfort level is. You know, some parents at 102, they were like, okay, I need to start Bringing this down a little bit, which is fine. You know, in some parents, it was 103. And so I think, I think you kind of have to figure out where your comfort level is. But I think that with fevers, what we would do is, you know, if the parent was comfortable at 102 and their kid got up to 102. 5, we wouldn't, we wouldn't try to slam the brakes on that fever. We would just try to edge it down a little bit. So, so it was, you know, so the parents aren't freaking out cause that's not good. So you do a little tepid bath or you, you know, do, are you, I mean, homeopathics are great for fevers. You give them a little belladonna and see if that helps them move through that fever a little more quickly. But yeah, but fevers are, I'm always. Weirdly happy when someone's like, I spiked a fever. I'm like, awesome. Look at your body go. I know when my grandpa, he got COVID, I don't know, over the summer sometime and he's 92 or 93 and he's like, my grandma was telling me, well, he's taking his ibuprofen to keep his fever down and I'm like, Oh, well, okay,

Jill Winger: 27:30

Yeah,

Dr. Amber: 27:31

because I'm not gonna change any

Jill Winger: 27:33

No, old habits are hard to

Dr. Amber: 27:34

yeah. yeah. And he's, he's still got through fine,

Jill Winger: 27:39

yeah. Awesome. Okay, this is super helpful. I love this list. So we talked, we're talking more here about a little more acute, like, yeah, the problems, the emergency. I don't think we can ever talk enough about, Just like baseline, like how do we help our bodies be the best they can be so we minimize the occurrences of these situations, obviously you can't stop yourself sometimes from falling off a bike and breaking your leg, like that just happens, but like just that baseline of health, so our bodies are strong and functioning the way they need to function so that we can fight off some of these infections or some of these other ailments. What is your kind of daily basis health checklist?

Dr. Amber: 28:16

So I think, I think those foundational things like you can't, you almost can't say them enough. So making sure that your diet is solid, you know, and I think it does seem like I don't know. I was going through this whole thought process yesterday. I'm like, you know, what's cool about this community is that they have, they have such a leg up on the standard American diet as you know. And so, you know, eating whole foods, I always tell people eat food that looks like it did when it came from the farm. And so just, And not consuming a ton of sugar. And the other thing, not consuming a ton of alcohol. I don't know. It was, it's kind of wild over COVID, the amount of alcohol I was seeing people consume. It was, it was something else. And alcohol will knock your immune system down.

Jill Winger: 29:04

yes, and sugar

Dr. Amber: 29:05

and I

Jill Winger: 29:06

That'll like,

Dr. Amber: 29:07

oh, sugar for sure. Mm

Jill Winger: 29:09

I know. I can feel that in myself like so many times I'll like, kind of, I can feel my body's like trying to fight something off and I'll forget and I'll have something sugary and then it's just like, Oh, we're done. Like we're,

Dr. Amber: 29:20

Yep. Mm

Jill Winger: 29:20

Here we go. Yep.

Dr. Amber: 29:22

I've done that to myself. I'm not going to lie. More than once I'm like, ooh, that, that mocha looks good. And then the next day I'm like, dang it,

Jill Winger: 29:30

Yep.

Dr. Amber: 29:30

it wasn't worth it.

Jill Winger: 29:31

Yep.

Dr. Amber: 29:32

Yeah. Huh. I had one of my like like very traditional naturopathic doctors, he would say, you know, if you take Halloween and all that candy. And then you take Thanksgiving and all the pies and Christmas and then follow that with New Year's and the booze and then Valentine's Day. You're all confined inside and you're not sweating. Like, he's like, of course, it's like a recipe for getting sick.

Jill Winger: 29:55

everyone's like, oh, it's cold and flu season. I'm like, I think it's actually sugar season is what

Dr. Amber: 29:59

It is totally.

Jill Winger: 30:00

this. Yeah. A big part of It So,

Dr. Amber: 30:04

yeah. and I think the other thing, there's lots of pieces. I mean, sleep is a big one to, to maintain your immune health. I think one that I, that I see, Overlooked a lot maybe is exercise. Yeah, I think I just think when you're when you live a life where you're, you're more physical with your chores and your activities, I think there's sort of this misconception that you don't need to exercise. But actually, we kind of do

Jill Winger: 30:34

Yeah.

Dr. Amber: 30:35

and and so I really like to have people strength training three times a week and then just even just walking you. As much as you can yeah, I mean, that is, that's fantastic to maintain a healthy immune system and you're modeling it for your kids, too.

Jill Winger: 30:52

Yes.

Dr. Amber: 30:52

It's funny, I know I, yeah, I mentioned that my son's 20 and, you know, my husband and I have always been really active and I think once he went away to school, that's when he started lifting weights. And getting interested in fitness, and that's when he started mountain biking, and my husband and I, I mean, my husband worked at a bike shop from when he was 16 to when he was like, you know, 45, so, it's like, oh, now you're doing it. Awesome.

Jill Winger: 31:20

Yeah, yeah, but I mean, he was watching all that time and you know, you're, yeah, you're, you're building that good stuff in there. Yes, totally. I, I have totally been like in years past the person who said, I don't need a gym. I have the homestead. I'm doing chores. And then like probably the last two years, two or three years, I've been like, you know, I don't think it's enough. Like, I'm still active. We're doing the chores, but I'm like, and then I started to look at the research of how we start to lose muscle, you know, around 30 and we start just like our body just, just doesn't keep the muscle mass. And I'm like, I need to be more proactive. And so. Yeah. Like you said, I've been strength training more and walking, and man, I just, it just feels so different. Chores feel

Dr. Amber: 31:54

Mm hmm.

Jill Winger: 31:55

I mean, I still like weaving chores in, but like, just being in the gym, simple strength training, it does, it goes a long way, and I feel like the Homestead community especially could be maybe a little bit better about that.

Dr. Amber: 32:06

I think, I think there's one like big wellness thing that this community misses. I think it's exercise.

Jill Winger: 32:11

Yes. and

Dr. Amber: 32:12

and I think even if you look at it like you do your chores, but chores are hardly ever symmetrical. So you're always building like some kind of imbalance. Strength training builds that balance and so you're going to be less likely to get hurt. And, and especially for women, like strength training for not only your muscle mass, but your bone mass too. I mean, nobody wants to fall and break a hip when they're 60.

Jill Winger: 32:36

Yeah, that's what I keep thinking. I'm like, people are like, what are you training for? I'm like, I'm training when I'm, for, for being 65 and 70. That's what I'm training for. Like, I want to be riding my horses. I want to be throwing my own saddle on. I want to be able to like, if I slip, I don't want to break hips left and right. So like, that's what I'm like, I'm, I want to be functionally prepared as much as I can be as I age. So I can do what I love as long as I can.

Dr. Amber: 32:56

yeah, yeah, and I think, I think the other thing that, especially for, well obviously for women, because I'm going to talk about menopause, I think, I don't think we recognize or talk about enough, like during perimenopause and menopause, it gets a lot harder to shift your body composition, so that little bit of fluff you have on, it tends to like, Nudge its way up as your muscle mass goes down and it gets harder and harder to shift that so if you can get into it while you're earlier it's going to benefit you for your whole life.

Jill Winger: 33:28

And why, why is, is that a metabolism shift? Like what's the, the physiology behind why it does become harder?

Dr. Amber: 33:36

It's mostly just a hormonal shift. We, you know, we kind of tank our estrogen and testosterone goes down too and testosterone is what's going to help us build muscle mass as well. So it's just that hormone shift that does it.

Jill Winger: 33:50

This is a little off topic, but I'm just curious. Cause I've seen so many people online and wellness influencers or whoever doctors talk about just. I'm just, hormone imbalance is kind of across society right now. Like, they're saying men are, they're losing testosterone more than they have in decades past and women's hormones even before perimenopause or menopause are kind of out of whack. Are you seeing that? Like, do you have any thoughts on what could be causing that? Or is it our diet? Like, is it our lifestyle? I'm just really interested in that. Yeah,

Dr. Amber: 34:19

I think we look, I mean, I think we, And I think having, I mean, I hate to say this, but a lot of kids are just a little doughy or pudgy and It doesn't benefit your hormones to, you know, have that extra adipose tissue hanging around. And I think we're exposed to so much environmentally, you know, chemicals that mimic estrogens. So, yeah so I think, I just think it's our whole way of living. I think people are stressed. I think people don't sleep.

Jill Winger: 35:03

Yes.

Dr. Amber: 35:04

I think they put, I mean, I think they put girls and women on birth control to control these awful periods and without really digging into root cause. And no judgment for taking them, like, I, you know, I understand, like, you don't want to, you don't want to make yourself anemic every month from your period, but it's just lack of digging around for root cause to see what it is.

Jill Winger: 35:25

Yeah. Which feels like that's kind of our, our healthcare system is, we don't need root cause, we got symptoms and drugs, so we're good, we'll

Dr. Amber: 35:32

That's right. We're

Jill Winger: 35:34

We're fine.

Dr. Amber: 35:35

And then, yeah,

Jill Winger: 35:37

yeah,

Dr. Amber: 35:38

yeah, yeah, for sure. But, yeah, I think hormone, hormone balance is, it's complex, but it's not at the same time. Like, if you can really just simplify and get those foundations in order, you kind of have a clean slate, and then you can see why, why your hormones are still unbalanced, if they are.

Jill Winger: 35:56

Sure. Okay. That makes sense. Yeah. And that was kind of my, I've Googled like several times, like what is causing the testosterone decline in men? And it's like, lots of things. So I kind of figured it's not an easy answer. It's Yeah, it's all the things are lifestyle. The thing I do love about like, I've talked about this in my books and stuff with homesteading, like, people come into homesteading because they want chickens and they want like, sourdough bread, but I'm like, guys, the side effects of homesteading. are way even more powerful than what you're initially going after. Like, you know, when you're working outside more, you're getting better sleep. And you're potentially not exposed to as much like, you know, blue light because you're, you're living a simpler lifestyle. And hopefully your stress is going down because you're, you're simplifying, you're eating better food and you're less exposed to the synthetic garbage and the chemicals and the hormone stuff. So I feel like. I think a lot of the folks in this audience, like you got to leg up on this if you're just being a little more intentional, a little more aware, it's pretty cool how you come into homesteading for one thing and you're getting all these benefits on the side that are going to boost your health in the

Dr. Amber: 36:57

I, I, totally agree with that. And I think if you're coming into this with kids, they have like an extra leg up because they're out playing in the dirt and you know, they're in the sunshine and they're, they're just. Yeah, they, they have advantages over kids who are over scheduled and in front of screens all the time. It's going to make a huge difference

Jill Winger: 37:17

Oh, absolutely. Yeah, kids, it's such, it's almost. And I know sometimes like their peers will look at them and be like, Oh, you don't have as much technology. Like you're a loser. I'm like, no, no. Like they, they got a leg up and it's not that other families can't have that. It's just, it seems like the Homestead families are a little more aware, which I think you can still have that and live in a urban or a suburban environment, but there's just that awareness that

Dr. Amber: 37:38

Oh, absolutely. Yeah, Yeah. And there's a necessity with homesteading. It's like, where you wouldn't maybe have in an urban lifestyle, it's like, no, no, we have to go feed the livestock or, you know, yeah, so it's just, it's just a little more built in. Yeah. Yeah.

Jill Winger: 37:53

yep, I agree. So, what are some of your favorite old fashioned home remedies? Because I know you see a lot of things floating around on Pinterest and in blogs. Do you have any kind of folk remedies that you just love or you find that work really well?

Dr. Amber: 38:08

think my favorite is hydrotherapy, just using water as medicine. So I don't know. How familiar people are with wet socks but that's the remedy when, if you have, like, anything, like, from your sinuses to your chest that's wet, like you have a sinus infection or a runny nose or you have a, you know, a cruddy cough, you can wet socks is when you make sure your feet are warm and then you get cotton socks and you run them under cold water and you wring them out really, really well and you put them on your feet and then you put wool socks on and you go to bed and then, and then you just don't take them off till they're dry. And sometimes when I do this, I'll take them off in the middle of the night, but sometimes I just sleep till morning. And that tends to kind of, it gives your immune system a little bump. And it also tends to just kind of move some of that stuff that's lingering in your upper respiratory tract out and down. So, yeah, and then, so, yeah, using water, I mean, even just You know, magnesium salt mag or epsom salt baths or a steam inhalation. That's all hydrotherapy. And I love those types of home remedies. They are, they, I mean, all you need is water. Yeah, I also really like I mean, you kind of have to be careful with this one, but like a mustard plaster on a, you know, for bronchitis. And yeah, that involves a whole recipe. But, you know, using using herbs at home and even things like rice water for diarrhea is a, is a good one. So yeah, you can kind of boil that rice for a little bit and let it sit and then you drink the water from the rice and it's, I never want to, I usually never want to completely stop diarrhea cause it has a purpose, but sometimes, sometimes you just need it to slow down and yeah.

Jill Winger: 39:58

Yep.

Dr. Amber: 39:59

We've all been there.

Jill Winger: 40:00

You're like, please stop.

Dr. Amber: 40:01

Yeah. Huh. It's like if we could, if I could have a

Jill Winger: 40:04

Yep.

Dr. Amber: 40:05

Yeah.

Jill Winger: 40:06

Yes. Yes.

Dr. Amber: 40:07

But that, yeah, but rice, like brown rice water or rice water can really help just like give you that moment of like, okay. Without something, you know, for this example, like for something like a modium where it completely stops it and then you have the opposite happen when your body is really trying to Get rid of something. Yeah.

Jill Winger: 40:27

That makes sense. I have to ask, since you mentioned the socks, I hear so many people online talk about onions and socks. Do you, what do you think of that? Okay.

Dr. Amber: 40:37

think it can be effective. My husband's grandma used to put garlic in his, garlic and castor oil in his socks. Yeah, and it would work for him. I think, I think it can be effective. I, I like the wet socks a little bit better. I've just seen it I've used it for so many years and I've seen it be so consistently helpful. And then you don't have to deal with the mess of onions on

Jill Winger: 40:58

I know it's gross. I've never done it because I'm like, that sounds so gross to me. And I don't like sleeping

Dr. Amber: 41:01

I know.

Jill Winger: 41:02

And I really don't want to sleep with onion socks. Like I'm, I just don't want to do that. I'd rather have a cough. I'm sorry. So,

Dr. Amber: 41:08

Right? I know. That's funny. I usually kick off the wet socks in the middle of the night once they're dry, because I hate sleeping with stuff on my feet too.

Jill Winger: 41:16

Yeah. No, I just can't. I just can't. What is it? What's the connection with the feet though? Like, why is that so effective?

Dr. Amber: 41:23

you know, I think it's just, okay. So if you think of like energetically, like if I think of Chinese medicine and acupuncture, a lot of good points for any kind of pain are in your hands or your feet. And so I think just pulling that stagnant energy kind of to the periphery of your body is, is what we're, it's kind of a fine line between like. You know, physiology and energy medicine, but I think you are kind of pulling that energetically away from, from the stagnant parts and, you know, that contrast that warming hydrotherapy, you're like forcing your body to warm up your feet. That's been shown to. When you do it on the chest, that's been shown to increase your white blood cell count. So so I think that immune bump is, it's more quantifiable in science.

Jill Winger: 42:14

that makes sense. Okay, yeah, and I feel like a lot of those things, like it's, it seems woo woo initially and then we later find out, oh, the science is really obvious, you know, not obvious, but it's like right here and it's not woo woo and it's like proven and it's those, those instances always fascinate me. Yeah, when it happens.

Dr. Amber: 42:29

true. it's, Yeah.

Jill Winger: 42:32

Not

Dr. Amber: 42:32

I can remember a day when I, not always, yeah, but I can remember a day when I got called a quack for running vitamin D tests and,

Jill Winger: 42:39

Huh. Oh, how times have changed. So, yeah. Yeah. So, oh my goodness, this has been so good. As we kind of wind down is there any other thoughts or encouragement you would offer to someone in the Homestead community or on the periphery of the community that's just wanting to be a little more proactive and prepared for these sorts of health things with their family?

Dr. Amber: 43:02

You know what? I think, I think where I see people miss the boat sometimes is they're just not ready. So they, they want to do it at home and then they kind of, I don't know, you just get busy with life. Right. But then when the cold or the stomach flu rips through their house, They don't have the stuff on hand that they want and it's not like all the small towns we live near have a health food store where you can go grab, you know, your herbs or your silver or whatever you want. So I think, I just think being ready is huge for being able to manage stuff at home when you want to do that.

Jill Winger: 43:39

Yeah, that's a great point. And I've been that person where I'm like, I knew I needed to order it. I didn't order it and now I need it really bad and it's in town so

Dr. Amber: 43:46

oh, me too.

Jill Winger: 43:48

yep, yep,

Dr. Amber: 43:50

Yeah, and then you order it online, it takes two days, three days to get there anyway, so you're, yeah, the ship has sailed. Because I think, yeah, and I think the thing that I always come back to, even, yeah, is that When illness strikes your house, the earlier you can get on it, the better off you are, and that's why you got to be prepared.

Jill Winger: 44:09

yes, absolutely. Good advice. So can you let everybody know where they can find you online? I know you have some pretty awesome kits and offerings. Where can they connect with all of

Dr. Amber: 44:20

Mm hmm. Yeah, so I have I have a company called Sage Sirona, and it's S A, it's sage like the plant, and then S I R O N A. So our website is sage sirona dot com, and we have we have natural first aid kids, and we have we have like a boo boo spray and an iodine nasal spray. And some herbal products. And then, I'm on Instagram, I'm Dr. Amberbelt. Just one word, D R Amberbelt. And I think if you, and I send out, I try to do, I try to really give a lot of love to my email list. So you know, if you want more of that info from me, or, I think the best way to probably stay connected is to hop on my email list. Because social media is Social media, and they can, they can take that away whenever, but yeah, but yeah, I had my Facebook get hacked, and

Jill Winger: 45:12

Yeah.

Dr. Amber: 45:14

5, 000 people on there, and Meta does not care, trust

Jill Winger: 45:18

No, they don't. They don't. Like, there is no customer support there. Like, zero. Yep.

Dr. Amber: 45:23

No, no.

Jill Winger: 45:24

So, yeah, email is the safer way to go for sure. So,

Dr. Amber: 45:28

yeah.

Jill Winger: 45:30

Well, Dr. Belt, thank you so much for this. This was So enlightening. I just appreciate your balanced, calm approach to it too. I think that's really needed and important and reassuring. So thank you for that. Everyone, please go follow Dr. Amber on Instagram, join her email list and connect with her. I know she's great at educating. She has some really awesome kits. So yeah, thanks for being here. Thanks for your time. And I can't wait for everyone to listen.

Dr. Amber: 45:54

All right, thank you.\