Why Use Herbs?

Chinese Medicine finds that different kinds of herb can regulate imbalanced body nature, therefore eliminates abnormal symptoms and cure the disease. Disease progresses from excess or deficiency of body energy and circulation to disharmony of organ mechanism. Chinese herbs can strengthen proper body energy and dispel bad circulation, therefore bringing our body back to optimal status.

What Kind of Herbs Are Available?

There are different kinds of herbs we can use, such as raw herbs, granulated herbs, or patent herb formulas. Raw herbs need to be soaked with water and be boiled for several hours or more as a herbal decoction. Granulated herbs dissolve in hot water and you drink as herbal tea. Patent herbs are the teapills made from ground raw herb, which is convenient to carry with you. 

Our patent herb supplement is based on Chinese herbology theory, which uses the best quality natural herb and transforms formulas from herbal decoctions to teapills. These herbs are grown in their geo-authentic region to maximize potency and are then tested to ensure that they are pharmacopeia grade herbs. They are tested for pesticide residuals, heavy metals, microbacteria, and other quality indices.

Each patent herb supplement comes from a specific chinese herb formula and are prescribed by professional practitioners to patients based on their body nature and Chinese Medicine diagnosis. 

Traditional herbs and combinations have been used by people around the world for thousands of years. A reason why these classic formulas continue to be passed on through the generations can be found in its effectiveness. If something doesn’t work, it won’t be used. In fact, American pharmacists were still using plant and herbal extracts in the mid twentieth century.

As scientific research and medical needs progress, traditional medicines and plants with healing extracts are coming to light again. The world-renowned Cleveland Clinic has opened an herbal pharmacy in its hospital. Pharmaceutical companies such as Merck, Wyeth, and Bayer are working with or acquiring herbal producers and distributors.

This can be seen as good news since the bar is raised for regulations and production standards of herbal formulas and supplements as seen in the FDA’s Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMP) guidance for the industry. Soon, the FDA will require extensive tracking and labeling of every step in bringing these types of products to the market, from growing procedures and soil quality to the cleanliness of the store that shelves it.

But herbal formulas and supplements have their limitations with one of the biggest being time. It takes time for natural products to take effect. This is how it is in nature. Generally speaking, herbs and nutritional supplements need to be taken for two weeks before we see a difference. Diet and lifestyle may also need to be modified to enhance the results. As with all pharmaceutical drugs, there are no pills without side effects. But with natural supplements, the effects are typically milder, less harmful, and easier to flush from the body.

Confused about Nutrition and Supplements?

Every week, you hear news about brand new superfood or supplement that cures everything. The truth is no one thing can fix everything, but you can and should take advantages of nutrition and supplements.
What we eat today looks nothing like what our ancestors ate 100 years ago mainly due to availability and popularity of processed food. Every time food gets processed, it loses some nutrients, and what we see in today’s grocery stores is ultra-processed food. Since processed food has become the main source of diet in U.S., most of us need to find a way to supplement lost nutrients in order to keep ourselves healthy.

Supplements, Herbs, and Medications

Supplements, herbs, and medications provide different types of support for your health, and knowing their differences can help you determine which support is right for you.
Imagine a situation where your car suddenly stops. What do you do?
1) Check the fuel level. If there is no gas left, your car simply won’t run. What you need is fuel (nutrients), and supplements can provide the missing nutrients.
2) Hire a mechanic. If you have fuel left, the next step is to hire a mechanic to restore car’s function. Herbs can restore body functions and guide your body to homeostasis.
3) Seal a leak. When there is a leak in your tire, you need to temporarily seal the leak, so you can drive to a tire company. Medications can provide the temporary fix and buy you time until you implement a permanent fix, such as lifestyle modifications.
A combination of supplement and herbal therapy is often necessary and effective in today’s busy society where we abuse our body with poor diet and a lack of proper rest.

Synthetic vs Food-based Supplements

Supplements can be manufactured from different sources, and most of them are made from either synthetic or food sources. While each has its own advantages, long-term use of synthetic vitamins can cause imbalance and ultimately depletion. For example, a high-dose long-term vitamin D supplementation alone depletes your vitamin A reserve in your body.
United Nation estimates that we are going to run out of topsoil in 60 years due to heavy use of synthetic fertilizers, and the solution is to use regenerative agriculture practices, including compost made from food scraps. Topsoil is where things grow just like our body, and in order to prevent degeneration, we recommend nutrient-rich food along with food-based supplements.

Quality and Cost of Supplements Do Matter

When you can get a bottle of multi-vitamin for $5 at your grocery store, why should you pay more? That’s because small details do really matter when it comes to supplements.
1) Ingredients: Commonly used synthetic ingredients, such as coal tar, is cheap whereas real food costs more money.
2) Higher Bioavailability: Not all nutrients are created equal, and some are extremely hard to absorb. For example, calcium carbondate, commonly added calcium in processed food and inferior supplements, is extremely difficult to absorb.
3) Proper Manufacturing: When manufactures cut corners for profits, their inferior supplements contain less nutrients.
4) Quality Testing: Responsible manufactures often hire third-party to test their products for quality control.
5) Research: Investment in research and development is necessary to improve and manufacture high quality products.
So when it comes to supplements, you really do get what you pay for if they come from the right sources.
Supplements can be abused
While it is less common, supplements and herbs can be abused just like medications. This type of abuse can create long-term negative health consequences, and it is easily avoided when working with qualified practitioners.