March 21, 2017
Author: Lily MazzarellaThe liver is hot, metabolically speaking. And very active: on any given day, it is performing over 500 functions for us. We all know that it’s on the liver to get us out of a pinch when we drink too much, but did you know that the liver contains a unique enzyme system that co-evolved with plants, and that this system can detoxify just about everything we encounter now?
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March 20, 2017
Author: Lily Mazarella
The dirty world of cleaning products –
Chemicals used in “air care” and cleaning products are receiving much-deserved scrutiny—in California.
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November 16, 2016
Author: Lily MazzarellaFrom swollen throats to blocked sinuses, coughs and congested chests, here’s what Farmacopia owner and lead herbalist, Lily Mazzarella, recommends to her clients to help ease their symptoms & speed recovery.
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October 03, 2016
Author: Lily MazzarellaKeep colds & flus at bay with this 15-minute daily wellness ritual.
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September 28, 2016
Author: Lily MazzarellaSugar. It’s the worst partner you’ve ever had. And it’s time to leave it in the X-files along with his old sweater and that tattered napkin she first wrote her number on. “What’s so wrong with sugar,” you ask? “It’s always there when I need comforting, makes me giddy at just the thought of it, and never says no to me,” you say.
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June 27, 2016
Author: Lily Mazzarella
If you are a person in the world these days, a person who speaks to other people, or walks through the vitamin section in your supermarket, who turns on a computer or glances at magazines in the dentist’s office, it is likely you know what a buzzword “inflammation” has become.
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June 27, 2016
Author: Dr. BridgetGrilling season has arrived!
As we celebrate Summer, let us use these days of sunshine for play and sociability, for spending time outside and for moving your body. This weekend remember to stay hydrated with water, electrolytes and other nourishing beverages like chia water or water kefir. This will help keep your muscles fluid, skin healthy, and your immune system balanced.
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June 20, 2016
Author: LaurelHumans have had a natural relationship with the sun since far before sunscreen came along – a relationship based on common sense, intuition, and being present by listening to one’s own body.
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June 05, 2016
Author: Lily MazzarellaPick your winner:
“I fall asleep easily but wake up after 4 hours and can’t go back to sleep.”
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May 02, 2016
Author: Lily MazzarellaShopping for organic, whole plant skincare? Here’s a quick guide to whole plant ingredients and how they impact your skin.
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May 02, 2016
Author: Lily MazzarellaThis spring at Farmacopia we are welcoming a new line of skin care with the highest standards for organic, biodynamic, raw, unrefined whole plant ingredients. Learn from Laurel, owner and founder of Laurel Whole Plant Organics, how to feed your skin with the nutrients it needs…
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February 02, 2016
Author: Lily MazzarellaA leaky what?
“Leaky gut”: a shorthand colloquialism for “abnormal intestinal permeability” or “intestinal hyperpermeability,” a well-researched condition that is at once clearly defined in the medical literature, and largely ignored in the practice of conventional medicine.
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December 01, 2015
Author: Lily Mazzarella
neither plant nor animal nor mineral…….Get to know a mushroom!SHIITAKE {nice to meet you} Lentinula edodes
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November 11, 2015
Author: Lily MazzarellaNews from the health food craze percolated even through suburban New Jersey in the late 70s and early 80s: I, like most people, grew up thinking that vitamin C was good for me, and that oranges were the only way to get it. When I was home sick with a cold, I would tip an icy canister of orange juice concentrate into a pitcher, pausing to eat it by the spoonful, getting perilously high on sugar. As I felt my energy levels rise, I knew for certain I was curing myself.
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October 20, 2015
Author: Lily Mazzarellaneither plant nor animal nor mineral…….Get to know a mushroom!
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July 29, 2015
Author: Lily MazzarellaBelly fat: it comes on stealthily, accumulating as we go about our fast-paced and stressful lives, perhaps not eating as well as we know we should, not exercising as much as we used to. It creeps up during hormonal transitions (puberty, postpartum, menopause & andropause), or after a long illness. And, seemingly suddenly we are stuck with it—for belly fat is notoriously difficult to lose.
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July 06, 2015
Author: Lily MazzarellaWe’re having a heat wave. There’s no AC in northern California, and the house is 89 at bedtime.
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May 26, 2015
Author: Sandra GustafsoBowenwork is an established form of bodywork increasingly sought by clients who desire approaches to pain relief, postural realignment and relaxation; and by bodywork practitioners seeking an effective, hands-on modality that does not unduly strain their bodies when working on multiple clients a day.
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May 13, 2015
Author: Lily MazzarellaIn honor of National Small Business Month, we’d like to take a moment to celebrate our fellow [local] small businesses.
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May 08, 2015
Author: Lily MazzarellaWe are celebrating Small Business Month and so should you! As a small business we understand the dedication and courage it takes to open your doors that very first time.
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April 22, 2015
Author: Lily Mazzarella
Remember high school health class?
In suburban New Jersey in the late 80’s, we weren’t learning anything particularly useful or compelling—even the sex ed wasn’t titillating. Now that I’m a teacher of physiology, and health practitioner talking to clients about their bodies, I’m always struck by how interested people are in how their insides work, especially children and teens.
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April 21, 2015
Author: Lily Mazzarella
The 21 Days of Inspiration blog posts for your Spring Cleanse are wrapping up. Our virtual and local community’s response to The Seasonal Cleanse outstripped my expectations—dozens and dozens of you bravely dived in and participated on every level of the cleanse.
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April 07, 2015
Author: Lily MazzarellaThe health benefits of olive oil have been touted for millennia, and as with so many plant-based medicines, recent research confirms what the ancients (and my grandmother, Benigna Mazzarella, who died at the ripe old age of 108) knew.
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April 02, 2015
Don’t run away just yet. It’s not to be demonized; after all coffee in its purest form isn’t all that bad. As anyone who’s ever been in the position to defend their dear java would know, coffee beans are chock-full of free-radical fighting antioxidants and the nervous system stimulating effects of caffeine goes a long way in providing a mental uplift, energy shift and, for some, migraine relief.
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March 25, 2015
Author: Lily MazzarellaSUGAR SUGAR SUGAR sugar sugar sugar CRAVINGS CRAVINGS CRAVINGS cravings cravings cravings
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March 18, 2015
Author: Lily MazzarellaI’ve never been a hardcore detox person. For the past 15 years I’ve seen scores of people “cleanse” and become depleted and feel worse, or feel great for 10 days of juice and rice cakes and then rebound—hard—into (dis)comfort foods and crappy habits.
But we’ve all heard it: there’s flame retardant in our breast milk, PCBs in our subcutaneous fat, and pesticide accumulating in our thyroid glands. Our fingers absorb BPA from store receipts, and our livers are being wrecke...
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December 11, 2014
Author: Lily MazzarellaBitters have been used pan-culturally, from Africa to Eurasia, as a natural tool to enhance digestion and appetite since our most primordial times. It would not be uncommon, for instance, to catch your primitive self nibbling on a bit of greenery along your post-hunt journey or rummaging in the village foliage after indulging in some flame-broiled bison. We humans learned very quickly that these bitter tasting shrubs growing all around often help ease our tummies after ...
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May 16, 2014
Author: Lily MazzarellaSummer is upon us, and we are gearing up for a favorite summertime appearance: the cherry. Rainier, Lambert, Balton, Montmornecy, and perhaps the reigning champion–Bing. These luscious, red, juicy, stone fruits have always dazzled us with their flavor and beauty, but now we have even more reason to love them.
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February 13, 2014
Author: Lily MazzarellaWhat do you do at Farmacopia? It’s a question we get a lot. We listen. We hear your story and it might sound something like this: I’m incredibly frustrated because (fill in the blank): I have no energy, my stress levels are off the charts, my hormones are all over the map, I blow up like a balloon no matter what I eat, I can’t sleep, I can’t remember the last time I wanted to have sex, and wow, on top of it, I’ve had this cold for 3 weeks.
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