Posts tagged seasonal allergies
The Secret World Of Our Microbiome
belly.jpeg

🌱 The Secret World of Your Microbiome

Remember the Dr. Seuss book Horton Hears a Who? Where Horton goes a little nutty after discovering an entire world living on a speck of dust? That’s exactly how I imagine our microbiome — a whole Seussian universe of quirky characters living inside our gut, skin, and mouths.

Yep, despite our best 2020-level OCD cleaning habits, we’re crawling with bugs — and it’s fabulous. ✨ Like any bustling civilization, our microbiome is made up of average joes, quirky sidekicks, and a few troublemakers who all play a huge role in everything from our digestion to our mood.

For decades we focused on killing off bacteria, but science now shows us: the “good guys” are the real heroes of our immune system. Without them, we’re in trouble.

🧪 Meet Your Microbes (for real)

I now offer the GI-MAP stool test — one of the most advanced tools for discovering exactly who’s living in your personal “dust speck” and what they’re doing.

This lab doesn’t just identify the organisms in your gut — it maps out your microbial balance, detects pathogens, shows how your digestive + immune systems are functioning, and helps us create a highly targeted plan for your health.

Because honestly? You may not be as in control as you think (haha).

🦠 Why Your Microbes Matter

Your microbiome influences:
🌸 Allergies (food + seasonal)
🌸 Digestion (IBS, candida, Crohn’s, etc.)
🌸 Heart health + blood pressure
🌸 Blood sugar + diabetes
🌸 Mood + depression (hello gut-brain axis)
🌸 Autoimmune disease
🌸 Addiction pathways (!!)
🌸 Obesity + metabolism
🌸 Cancer risk + prevention
🌸 Arthritis + inflammation
🌸 Immune strength overall
🌸 Neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s, MS, Parkinson’s)

Basically: your microbes are pulling a lot more strings than you think.

👶 From Birth Canal to Backyard

From the moment we’re born, bacteria are shaping our health. Babies pick up bugs from mom’s birth canal (yep, my daughter also made the “eww gross” face when I told her), then diversify through breastfeeding, pets, playing in dirt, and eating all the things.

Studies even show kids raised with dogs have fewer ear + respiratory infections. And kids raised in overly sterile homes? More allergies and sensitivities later.

So yeah… your slobbery labradoodle is probably doing your kid’s immune system a solid. 🐾

🌿 7 Ways to Supercharge Your Microbiome

  1. 📊 Get tested with a GI-MAP stool test at the clinic.

  2. 🐕 Snuggle a pet (or three).

  3. 🧼 Wash hands instead of sanitizing when possible (ditch the antibacterial soaps).

  4. 🥬 Eat local, organic, soil-rich veggies.

  5. 🌸 Acupuncture: shown to encourage beneficial bacteria + boost mood via the gut-brain axis.

  6. 💊 Take the right digestive enzymes + probiotics (I’ll help you pick what actually works).

  7. 🥒 Load up on fermented + polyphenol-rich foods (sauerkraut, kombucha, kimchi, blueberries, cocoa, pomegranates, green tea, and yes — red wine 🍷).

✨ Bottom line: The more diverse your microbes, the healthier you are. If you want to peek into your personal microbial universe (and get targeted strategies to balance it), ask me about the GI-MAP stool test at your next visit.

Your gut bugs will thank you. 💚

Heal Your Allergies
seasonal allergies in Durango

Ditch the Zyrtec™

and Smell the Wild Flowers!

When you grow up in New Hampshire and suffer from chronic seasonal allergies as a child, as I did, your doctors love to tell you that the solution to your sinus issues is to move to the desert. It wasn’t until finally moving to the Southwest in my early 20’s that I realized just how totally off the mark those East Coast doc’s were. Here in the high desert of the four corners area, we have some brutal allergens from pinions, junipers, cottonwood, flowers and grasses. I’ve even known certain people to head to higher elevations in the spring in search of escape from the endless sneezing and sniffles. So what’s a nature lover to do?

Try these tips to get to the root of your allergy issue.

Prevent histamine: Start taking quercetin and some variation of the Chinese formula Yu Ping Fan San, to stop allergies in their tracks by preventing the release of histamine and other inflammatory agents. I have many effective options in my office!

Heal your gut: Did you know that the root of many allergies often begins with the health of our gut? Dietary proteins that pass through the compromised lining of a leaky gut can trigger a cascade of autoimmune response, including allergy symptoms. Removing inflammatory foods like gluten and dairy can be a great start to solving this problem.

Get Acupuncture! Over the past 13 years, I have been implementing a special allergy busting technique that uses Acupuncture and Guasha (an anti-inflammatory massage technique) to give you instant relief while addressing the root cause of your allergies. I’ve helped hundreds of patients breathe freely again and significantly reduce or eliminate seasonal allergies.

Load up on quercetin rich foods like: swiss chard, carrots, beets, yams and cabbage, along with probiotic rich fermented foods like kombucha, kimchi and sauerkraut.

Stop avoiding the fields of flowers, schedule your appointment today and get out there! I’m offering a special promotion on Acupuncture Allergy 5 packs this spring, call to find out more!