The Herbal Audit

Let’s talk about Cholesterol, Statins, and CoQ10
For decades we’ve been told that cholesterol is bad, cholesterol clogs arteries, and lowering it prevents heart disease, but the truth is much more interesting than that. Cholesterol is not a toxin. It is not metabolic garbage. Your body makes it on purpose because it needs it. In fact, cholesterol is one of the most important structural molecules in the human body. Your brain is about 25% cholesterol by dry weight. Every single cell membrane in your body contains cholesterol. It keeps those membranes flexible, stable, and able to communicate... Read more...
The Fine Line Between Body Awareness and Health Anxiety
Pic: My youngest daughter when she was 5, in an unprompted peaceful moment. I talk a lot about learning our bodies. Knowing your baseline, recognizing your normal, and paying attention when something shifts, and I stand by that. But there’s another side of that coin that doesn’t get talked about enough. You can become too aware. You can start scanning, monitoring, interpreting every twitch, every flutter, every digestive gurgle as Meaningful and Possibly Catastrophic (ask me how I know this). And that is not health, it’s hypervigilance. There’s a difference... Read more...
Let's Talk About Gatekeeping
Gatekeeping is when knowledge is treated as something to be guarded instead of shared. Recently some of my lovely regular customers asked me what paint color I used on the walls of my store, and I told them (it’s called, “Salty Dog," by Sherwin Williams, btw). Then I overheard one of them say to the other, “She isn’t gatekeeping.” It got me thinking. I’ll be perfectly honest here and tell you it’s a subject that gets under my skin sometimes, but there are many reasons for gatekeeping, and they aren’t... Read more...
Let’s talk about the plague! And why do plague doctors look like haunted birds?
A little history:The primary carrier of bubonic plague was the rat flea. Plague bacteria lived in rodents, especially rats. Fleas fed on infected rats and swallowed the bacteria, which blocked the flea’s stomach so it became starved and aggressive. The flea then bit humans repeatedly, vomiting plague bacteria into the wound each time. I know it’s really gross but it’s just the truth. And that is how humans became infected. Once a person was infected, things got much worse. If the bacteria entered the lungs, the disease became pneumonic plague,... Read more...
Why Inflammacare Tea Works: The Science Behind the Blend
Chronic inflammation does not usually show up with sirens and flashing lights. It creeps in quietly through joint stiffness, stubborn fatigue, rising blood pressure, blood sugar swings, headaches, and that constant low-grade feeling that your body is irritated. InflammaCare was created to gently turn that volume down. Built around red rooibos, honeybush, holy basil, hibiscus, and true Ceylon cinnamon, this blend supports calmer inflammation levels, smoother circulation, steadier blood pressure, and a more resilient stress response. It is not a stimulant and it is not a harsh detox. It is... Read more...
Welcome.
Welcome.
Welcome to The Herbal Audit. This is a working notebook for real-world herbalism. Here we discuss natural remedies, break down what actually works, and give you practical, safety-first plant medicine... Read more...