by Jen Owen, N.P. | Dec 2, 2021 | Seasonal Health
Many years ago, I was the herbalist at a garden & nature center. Every year I would lead a workshop on Herbal Gift Making. I was thinking about these fun and informative classes and thought I would share these ideas with you today.
These are perfect gifts for those on a budget or those who wish to give something more personal for the holidays.
Herbal Potpourri Sachet:
Use a small (3 in x 3 in or 4 in x 4 in) piece of cloth. Place your herb blend in the middle, tie tightly with a rubber band, and then cover the band with a pretty ribbon or twine. It will look something like this:
Possible herbs to include:
Lavender
Roses
Chamomile
Mint
Sage
Lemon Balm
Lemon Verbena
Rosemary
Herbal Vinegar
Use an attractive clear bottle (old wine bottles work great). Add sprigs of fresh herbs and a couple of garlic cloves. Fill with vinegar (white, white or red wine, cider or other) and close tightly. Herb vinegars can be used in salads, sauces, or marinades.
Possible herbs to include:
Rosemary
Basil
Sage
Oregano
Tarragon
Mint
Thyme
Dill
Look for jars like these:
Herbal Tea
Place your herb blend in a small mason or decorative jar, pack individual tea bags , or include a tea ball with the gift . Instructions with the gift would say something like this: “Add 1 tsp. herb mixture or one tea bag to cup. Pour boiling water over herbs, cover and let steep 10-15 minutes. Relax and enjoy!”
Herbs to consider in a blend of your choice:
Relaxing Blend:
Lavender
Chamomile
Roses
Passion Flower
Blue Vervain
Catnip
Skullcap
Tummy Blend:
Mint
Sage
Chamomile
Fennel
Ginger
Licorice
Holiday Blend:
Cinnamon sticks
Peppermint
Ginger
Chicory
Clove
Nutmeg
It is fun and easy to make Herbal gifts.
If you don’t have time to make your own…
Buy Local!
Consider gifting a package of Flourish Tea (a mint & tulsi blend locally made in Portland).
Let me know if you’d like to pick some up. Packages are available in white and silver.
by Jen Owen, N.P. | Aug 27, 2021 | Integrative Medicine, Mind-Body Medicine, Seasonal Health
For years, I’ve been checking hormone panels for females experiencing many different hormonal symptoms. Overall, the most common pattern I’ve seen is referred to as estrogen dominance. The estrogen level is normal while the progesterone level is low. This creates symptoms such as bloating, breast tenderness, low sex drive, headaches, irregular periods, decreased sex drive, mood swings, fatigue, trouble sleeping, weight gain around the abdomen and hips, foggy thinking & memory loss, and PMS.
This pattern often occurs when the person is experiencing a higher-than-normal stress level. Because progesterone naturally provides some of our cortisol (stress-managing hormone), during times of increased stress, the body will “steal” progesterone to make more cortisol.
I’m very used to seeing this and treating this.
What I’m not used to seeing is a pattern that has become quite prevalent over the past 1.5 years during the pandemic and other issues of these times.
In almost every hormone panel I’ve checked, another hormone is elevated: DHEA.
DHEA is short for dehydroepiandrosterone (D-hi-dro-epp-E-an-dro-ster-own), a hormone made by the adrenal glands located just above the kidneys. Of the more than 150 hormones made by the adrenal glands, the most abundant is DHEA. DHEA is generally converted into testosterone and estrogens.
Most of the time, when I check this hormone, it’s low. I’ve supplemented it many times in females to increase low testosterone and low estrogen.
Because DHEA is also produced from the ovaries, in the past I would see elevated DHEA associated with abnormal hair growth (think beard), acne, and PCOS.
Not now.
DHEA is appearing high across the board and not just a little high, it’s often double or triple the level it should be, without any of the usual and expected symptoms.
Now, this is not all bad news. Some studies suggest that DHEA may elevated as a counterbalance to elevated cortisol, so it’s likely a healthy adaptive response by the body.
At the same time, it means that the body is overloaded with stress hormones, and it’s working diligently to manage this and bring the body back to balance.
I’ve talked a lot about managing stress since COVID began. If you missed my previous posts, see the bottom of this page.
During the first year of the pandemic, I gave everyone a pass. I appreciate personally how hard it’s been to adapt to all of it; how challenging it’s been to eat right, find new ways to exercise, and avoid getting into negative habits to help manage our stress.
Now, we must face the reality that not much is likely to change anytime soon. We have to find ways to adapt, to manage our stress so that our bodies don’t take the toll from all of this.
We have to find new ways to experience joy, appreciation, love, and freedom.
When people come to see me, I can feel how much they want a quick fix to what they’re feeling. It’s frustrating to hear that stress is the underlying cause of their symptoms.
Yet, here we are and it’s been true for almost everyone I’ve seen.
The good news is that my stress-management toolkit is deep and when my patients implement the plans we develop together, they feel better.
Start with one thing…what’s the one thing that you could change in your life right now, that if you changed it, it would make a really big difference? Do that first and let it be for a few weeks. Then, work with the next thing. Trying to make a bunch of changes all at once simply creates more stress and likely, more DHEA.
If you’d like my help, schedule an appointment here.
Check out these articles to understand the stress response more fully and for more ideas of how to manage it:
Are You in Fight-or-Flight or Rest-and-Digest?
Self-Care for Stressed Times
Health Basics Check-in
Stop and Breathe…
How to Handle the Strain and Drain
My Top 5 Herb Choices for Stress
Exercise Can Be Fun
5 Tips to Protect Your Energy
by Jen Owen, N.P. | Jun 14, 2021 | Seasonal Health
It’s Summer time! As the seasons change, so does our health focus.
Health Focus: Heart & Small Intestine
In Chinese Medicine, there are two organs that correspond to the summer season: the heart and small intestine, the organs of the Fire element. They are responsible for warming and circulating.
The heart is most active in the summer season as it regulates blood circulation. If there’s imbalance in the heart channels, you can have high or low blood pressure, shortness of breath, weakness. or lethargy. Heart channel imbalance can also cause emotional disturbances such as lack of enthusiasm or joy, nervousness, and lower energy.
The small intestine works to digest foods, absorb their nutrients, and send them into the blood supply. If digestion is sluggish, you can feel bloated and gassy, or experience abdominal pain, heartburn, or general abdominal discomfort. Emotionally, a sluggish small intestine makes you feel overwhelmed, indecisive, or stuck.
Focusing on supporting these two organ channel system is key to having a light, energetic, and vital summer season.
Summer Food:
In the summer months, a focus on lighter foods is key. Luckily, Mother Nature provides for this perfectly.
Visit your local Farmer’s Market and buy all those fresh local, organic vegetables and fruits.
Eat less congesting foods during these months. Cutting back on dairy, heavy meats, fried goods, etc. will allow your body to better handle the summer heat.
Try making some cooling fruit waters, such as cucumber or lemon. Add fruit to water and keep chilled in the fridge.
Try brewing hibiscus tea, a cooling herb, and don’t forget to drink plenty of clean fresh water.
Summer Body Movement:
Exercise keeps your circulation moving and strengthens the fire element. During the summer months, don’t be afraid to break a sweat. Sweating clears the pores, enhances circulation, and helps the body with its detox mechanisms.
You don’t have to do anything fancy. Try walking for 30 minutes each day. If you haven’t been exercising for awhile, try starting with just 10 minutes and work your way up.
Need some other ideas for making exercise more fun? Check out this blog.
Summer Herbs:
Red Clover: an infusion of red clover is an excellent blood cleanser (red clover is a blood thinner, so please be advised.)
Nettle: nettles nourish and support every system in the body and from plentifully in most areas in the summer.
Dandelions: add the leaves to tea, salads, and smoothies for extra nutrients and enhanced detoxing.
Mint: all mints are cooling and make delicious sun teas.
Hibiscus: one of the best cooling herbs I know!
Summer is a great time for dusting off your battery and getting your ride moving again.
Go ahead and allow yourself some summer fun.
Take a break.
Soak up some rays.
Move your body.
If things don’t feel like they’re moving like they should be, it’s time for an appointment. Schedule yours here now.
by Jen Owen, N.P. | Jan 15, 2021 | Mind-Body Medicine, Seasonal Health
If you missed Part One of my New Year’s Musings: Why I Like “Intentions” Better than “Goals” or “Resolutions”, check that out here.
There are a lot of opinions about how to best write intentions. There are very feminine ways of dreaming, visioning, and creating that leave a lot of space for what’s possible. Then, there are the very masculine ways of setting goals that are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound).
I like a process that’s somewhere in the middle, a more balanced approach. Most of the people I work with are high achievers anyway, so setting masculine goals doesn’t support the need to also have time to rest and play and be creative.
Below is my 5 Step Process for creating intentions that work.
Step one:
Take some time to think about what you want to see come to fruition in the near future in all areas of your life:
~Home
~Work/career/business
~Health
~Money
~Relationships
~Personal Growth
~Other?
Step Two
Write a few sentences about why each one of the things you want to see come true are important to you.
Why do you want these things to happen?
Step three:
Think about how you’re going to feel when you get each one.
What emotions will achieving this evoke for you?
Get specific….feel it in your body like it’s already true.
Write down these feelings.
Step four
Who are you going to need to be to make these things happen?
What character traits do you already possess that will support your intentions?
Are there any new character traits you’d like to begin embodying to create the life you most want?
Add these to your list.
Step five:
Write your full intentions in a sentence that you can read aloud to yourself.
Read your intentions at least twice daily, once in the morning and once right before bed.
Consider reading them many times per day, making them into the background on your computer or phone, create graphics of them, write them over and over.
Each time you read your intentions, be sure to feel into the feelings you’ll feel once they come true.
example:
I’m going to give you a really practical example from one area of my life, so you can get the idea.
Step One: What do I want…
I want to wake up to a clean kitchen every morning.
Step Two: Why do I want it…
When the kitchen is clean, I’m more motivated to cook more complicated meals that include more fresh vegetables.
Step Three: How will I feel when I get it…
More fresh vegetables mean better digestion for a more healthy gut and more energy. I’ll feel light and energized so I can show up as my best self for myself and my clients.
Step Four: Who do I need to be…
I need to be organized in my time management and dedicated to making this a priority.
Step Five: Putting it all together…
I stay organized and dedicated to cleaning my kitchen every evening, so that I’m motivated to cook more vegetables so I can feel light and energized every day.
Do you see how different this feels than me just telling myself that I have to do the dishes every night? Dishes are my LEAST favorite household chore and I tend to walk away from the dirty kitchen after dinner.
When I do that and I wake up to the chore I like the least, it brings down my mood immediately, so I already don’t feel as energized as I could.
Then, because I don’t have time to do them in the morning, the pile is still there at the next dinner time and I’m more likely to grab a quick, less optimal meal so I don’t create more mess…a vicious cycle.
This is a very practical application of the process. You can use it for anything. Maybe you want more time with your sweetie? Maybe you want to move your body more often? Maybe you want to be more organized at work?
It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you get into the “why” of what you want and the feeling behind it, because what we really care about is how we feel.
Now, when I don’t feel like doing the dishes, I can ask myself, ‘Do you want to have energy tomorrow?’
The answer is almost always a resounding, “Yes!”.
Give this process a try and let me know how it goes.
If your intentions include upleveling your health and wellness, I hope you’ll consider scheduling an appointment with me for support.
Happy New Year!
by Jen Owen, N.P. | Jan 8, 2021 | Mind-Body Medicine, Seasonal Health
Why I Like “Intentions” Better Than “Goals or Resolutions”
It’s that time of year again, the time of resolutions and new goals. You know how it goes. You’re all excited for that big new goal and you get going right away in the new year. And then, in about 3 days, you give up. Some of you might last longer than that, but my guess is that very few new year resolutions actually come all the way true.
The problem is with how they’re created.
Often, we make new year’s resolutions out of some sort of disappointment in ourselves, not feeling like enough, or from a place of lack.
For example, how many people can you name right now who every year set a weight loss goal? They feel bad that they’ve either gained weight or haven’t yet lost previously gained weight, so THIS IS THEIR YEAR!
Can you see already how setting a goal from a place of shame, disappointment, or struggle might not be optimal?
And, I would add that most of the time when people come to see me in my clinic to help them with their new year’s resolution, the goal is often WAY too big to actually be able to attain.
This is why I like the word intention better.
The dictionary definition of intend is to, “have a course of action as one’s purpose or objective; plan”. So, an intention is, “a thing intended, an aim or plan”.
Did you know that in medicine intention means, “the healing process of a wound”?
Intention works so much better because often underneath our new year’s resolution is some sort of healing that needs to take place.
If we look at what we intend to create in our lives and we’re willing to see that some sort of healing might need to take place to get it, doesn’t that seem like a better way to go about it?
After working with thousands of women (and many men, too!), I see how much healing needs to take place when it comes to acceptance of ourselves and particularly of our bodies.
When we set a goal about weight, go on a popular diet, or restrict our eating without intention (and healing), it’s no wonder we can’t reach that goal.
What if…
What if you gained weight because of stress, but you’re not doing anything to reduce stress or support your body in it’s ability to manage stress more efficiently? Do you think boot camp exercises or a highly restrictive diet are going to aid your body in this process? You’re very likely going to make things worse or hurt yourself deeply.
What if you love sugar because you were rewarded with sugar whenever you were a “good girl” or every time you had fun with your family? Of course, you want sugar. Cut yourself some slack. Maybe your intention is to find new ways to reward yourself when you’re celebrating or for having fun, instead of eating sugar. Fulfilling your deep inner need will bring you much more joy than sugar, but sugar works too, so be sweet to you.
What if you’ve gained weight because of an underlying health issue and you’re refusing to go in and get checked out. Maybe it’s not as complicated as you believe it might be? Maybe there are some simple shifts you can make in your life to overcome this? You won’t know unless you find out.
What if you gained weight because it’s the natural course for your body? What if your body is beautiful just like it is? The deeper healing here is acceptance of her for who she is.
It always happens this time of year and this year, I want you to hear:
You are beautiful. If your body is not feeling optimal for whatever reason, come in and see me or see someone else, just get support.
And, as you set your intentions for the new year, I hope you’ll set ones that work FOR you and not AGAINST you and that you’ll be willing to look for the healing underneath.
by Jen Owen, N.P. | Dec 18, 2020 | Mind-Body Medicine, Seasonal Health
The holidays are a notorious time for overextending, overcommitting, and overspending. This year is obviously a little different, yet I’m hearing some common themes in my patients.
I’m here today to tell you that it’s OKAY to NOT do any of that and to take care of you instead!
Here are 3 ways you can practice self-care during the holidays that aren’t your typical self-care recommendations:
1. Say “no”.
You know what happens. You’re on the phone with someone you love and they ask you to do something you don’t really want to do and you say “yes” out of guilt or obligation.
Later, you beat yourself up for committing, your partner is irritated, and the whole thing becomes a really big deal.
Just say “no”! When you feel it’s a “no” in your body, speak your truth.
You’ll save yourself and your family a bunch of grief, and you won’t overextend yourself with things you don’t really want to be doing.
2. Don’t Do Things Unless They Bring you joy.
Holidays are full of traditions. Many of them are really wonderful and bring us a great deal of joy. Others we do for different reasons: maybe we do them because we “always” do them, maybe we do them because other people do them for us, or maybe we do them because we feel we “have to”?
Whatever the reason, maybe it’s okay to NOT do a few things?
For example, we decided not to put up a live Christmas tree this year. Normally, this brings me joy, but this year, it was feeling like a lot of extra work. We would have to go out in the dark some evening after work when it will likely be raining, put the thing up, add the lights, get out all the ornaments, and then do it all in reverse. (I talked about this Live on my weekly Wellness Wednesdays at Noon video on Facebook. You can watch it here.)
I simply don’t want to do it this year, so we aren’t. And, I felt a huge wave of relief when we made that decision.
Maybe for you, it’s something else like sending out holiday cards, or making cookies, or going to someone’s house who isn’t being safe with COVID, or ???
Whatever it is, I give you full permission to simply decide not to do it.
3. Don’t overspend.
It’s tempting during the holidays to try to make it “perfect”. This can include spending beyond your means. Try not to spend so much that you have to repay yourself well into the new year.
If funds are tight, start new traditions, buy gently used items, ask friends if they have any hand-me-downs that would be appropriate for your family. Little kids, especially don’t care if something is brand new.
And, buying or receiving used items is better for the planet.
Make a budget and stick to it and think of it as self-care rather than feeling deprived or disappointed.
Of course, you can do other self-care things like taking a salts bath, doing some deep breathing, or even a short break with a nice cup of tea.
I’ve learned over the years that those things are nice and it’s the deeper level of self-care like the suggestions above that make a longer lasting difference.
Happy Holidays to you and yours!
Do you have other tips like these? Please post them in the comments below.
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