Changes

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New 📚arrivals🌻 and lifestyle changes. Alhumduli’Allah, the 2024 Summer season has been huge for us (my husband), with preparing and transitioning our new (forever) home, work, and finding time to rest.

I aimed to begin my forage and botany adventures, garden, and herbal space. Still, I started too late in my region to reap any bountiful benefits🤨, so I am preparing Insha’Allah for 2025! To get my creativity flowing, I gathered some books 📚 to help:

1. Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine New Edition: 560 Herbs and Remedies for Common Ailments by Andrew Chevallier.

2. Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine by @rosaleedelaforet and @emily.y.han

3. The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy, Revised and Expanded: Over 800 Natural, Nontoxic, and Fragrant Recipes to Create Health, Beauty, and Safe Home and Work Environments by Valerie Ann Worwood. (I will look deeper into aromatherapy ideas for 2025) 🪷

4. Practical Botany for Gardeners: Over 3,000 Botanical Terms Explained and Explored by Geoff Hodge

5. Botany for Gardeners: The Art and Science of Gardening Explained and Explored by Geoff Hodge

Photo by | Cassandra |

Menopause

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I am in my early stages of perimenopause, and I am hoping to discover more natural/holistic treatment options and motivation to work out/exercise more. My why, I am unsure. There are days I have major brain fog and am unable to think clearly, and my mind remains blank for hours or days. I have compiled books on menopause to navigate me through this next life chapter as a woman coming into her “M-Power” (Menopause Power).

“The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts” by Mary Claire Haver MD

“The Menopause Brain: New Science Empowers Women to Navigate the Pivotal Transition with Knowledge and Confidence” by Lisa Mosconi PhD

“Generation M: Living Well in Perimenopause and Menopause” by Jessica Shepherd @jessicashepherdmd

“How to Menopause: Take Charge of Your Health, Reclaim Your Life, and Feel Even Better than Before” by Tamsen Fadal @tamsenfadal

Photos by Cassandra

Painting Via Getty Images

Hello World!

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My journey to wellness has involved spending most of my adulthood eating unhealthy, convenient, or fast foods and having minimal to no fresh food to get through each day. I grew up in a household where healthy, natural foods were always present in the garden, kitchen, and on the table. My mother, in her spare time, was an avid gardener, herbalist, and seamstress (more about my mother in my blog journey 😊).

Over the years, I have mentally adopted some healthy, natural eating habits from my childhood. I took my first step by eliminating meat, then fish, and transitioned to a Lacto-Vegetarian Diet, then a vegetarian diet, and eventually found raw food, ultimately becoming a vegan. To my surprise with these various transitions, I was still not my healthiest, I was just eating processed plant-based food to fulfill my daily eating needs, and rarely cooked natural foods, as I began to research articles, blogs, magazines, and talking with people who actually live a whole plant-based lifestyle, my mind began to shift to better understand my body I needed to read, study and network. On my journey, I was diagnosed with being pre-diabetic Type II and tested for food allergies (wheat and dairy). This put my whole being into a frenzy. I was at a loss. Once again, I began to network (with people in the plant-based community who can guide and support my new life’s journey), research, and found that living a natural, alkaline plant-based lifestyle was my answer to wellness and longevity.

I also furthered my wellness journey *knowing my mother’s presence was guiding me to heal myself mind, body and soul, I began by becoming a Yoga Teacher (RYS 200), Ayurveda Specialist, Restorative Yoga Teacher, Chair Yoga Teacher at the Yoga School Online and Yoga & Ayurveda Center @yogaschoolonline  studied  @herbalacademy Introductory Herbal Course, Intermediate Herbal Course, Advanced Herbal Course, Herbal Materia Medica, Botany & Wildcrafting, Herbal Aphrodisiacs, Foraging, Emulsifiers and Preservatives in Botanical Products, and Natural Perfumery. The knowledge journey continues…. with delving into the world of the cycles in menopause, gardening, herbalism, plant-based cuisine, wellness (mind, body, and soul), natural beauty, and a lot of surprises  

Photos via Pinterest