Foods are the original medicines, and throughout history they’ve been used synergistically with many types of medicinal plants.

In Ayurveda, a specific branch of therapy is dedicated to which foods should be used to carry different types of herbs to their respective target organs; knowledge that can guide us in the best ways of using nutraceutical supplements.

Nutraceuticals can also be incorporated into Traditional Chinese Medicine herbal dietetics, where we find a vast number of recipes for treating illnesses, especially for rejuvenation and restoration of vitality. Whether meat-based or vegetarian, cooked or raw, we can potentize and increase the nourishing, rejuvenating, and detoxifying powers of foods by synergistically incorporating herbs and nutraceuticals.

In this opening module, you’ll explore:

• Foods versus concentrates — when it’s best to use foods only, and when it’s best to use high-concentration compounds
• Supporting digestive functions by knowing which categories of herbs and nutraceuticals combine best with different types of foods
• Before, with, or after meals — when to take popular nutraceuticals such as berberine and curcumin for best results
• How to use traditional Ayurvedic anupanas , food carriers for transporting herbs to specific organs, speeding or slowing assimilation of herbs in the gut, and other ways of potentizing formulas
• How to prepare potent synergies of rejuvenating and immune-boosting herbs and foods, such as combinations of adaptogens and soups found in Traditional Chinese Medicine
• How to potentize detoxifying juices using synergies of herbs and nutraceuticals, such as combinations of bitters and vegetable juices

Vitamins and minerals are essential for healthy metabolic functions.

We can potentize herbal medicines by combining them with these nutraceuticals, in the correct doses and forms, taken at the right time for maximum biocompatibility.

Using this approach, we can optimize many physiological and metabolic processes, including supporting hormonal regulation, enhancing immunity, strengthening bone tissue, rebuilding healthy blood, and many others.

By understanding the energetics and tastes of vitamins and minerals according to Ayurvedic and Chinese principles, we can avoid the common problem of mixing too many or using antagonistic products in the digestive system, and get maximum benefits with minimal stress on the GI tract.

In this module, you’ll:

• Understand the taste, energies, and potencies of vitamins and minerals according to Ayurveda and Chinese medicine
• Enhance the benefits of vitamins by using them in accordance with the digestive biorhythms
• Use herbs in conjunction with vitamin IV therapies for immune enhancement and rejuvenation
• Potentize vitamin-rich herbs by combining with similar vitamins, such as vitamin C and amla fruit
• Potentize herbs with the use of vitamins with similar functions, such as Vitamin D and bone strengthening herbs
• Potentize brain and nerve supporting herbs with Vitamin B12
• Explore how to potentize mineral-rich herbs with biocompatible mineral supplements for bone health
• Potentize menstrual regulating and uterine tonic herbs with biocompatible iron for building blood

Flavonoids are a large category of compounds found in foods and herbs.

Some flavonoids are widely known and used as nutraceuticals, including anthocyanidin (plant pigments), citrus flavonoids (hesperidin, quercetin, rutin), and many others.

These nutraceuticals can be used to enhance botanical medicine for optimal health benefits, including reducing inflammation, supporting vision, regulating blood sugar, boosting cellular protection, and providing cardiovascular benefits. Since many flavonoids are naturally occurring, we can create full-spectrum synergies by combining high-potency extracts with their original sources in foods and herbs with similar therapeutic functions.

David will share the benefits and warnings of using high concentration compounds. He’ll also explain the benefits of flavonoid compounds in the diet and herbal medicine.

In this module, you’ll explore:

• Maximizing the benefits of flavonoid nutraceuticals by knowing their taste, qualities and energies according to Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda
• Creating synergies of flavonoid nutraceuticals and flavonoid-rich herbs
• The concentration spectrum from whole herb to isolated nutraceutical compounds — and how to create layered formulas to include the entire concentration spectrum
• Potentizing flavonoid-rich foods and herbs with citrus nutraceuticals for immune support
• Potentizing flavonoid-rich herbs and foods with nutraceuticals for cell protective effects
• Potentizing herbs with proanthocyanidins to heal and prevent urinary tract infections
• The protective effects of phytoestrogen herbs and their synergies with isoflavones such as genistein
• Potentizing cardiovascular protective herbs with flavonoid nutraceuticals

Carotenes are a large family of plant pigments widely found in foods and herbs that support optimal physiological functions in numerous ways.

Many of these compounds are available as nutraceuticals, such as lycopene, alpha carotene, beta carotene, zeaxanthin, and many others, which can be combined with herbs in powerful synergies for both treatment and prevention of specific and generalized health concerns.

Carotenoid compounds in foods, herbs, and nutraceuticals have health-optimizing benefits that include supporting vision, reducing cancer risk, strengthening immunity, and many others.

In this module, you’ll explore:

• Understanding the therapeutic powers of carotenoids in foods, herbs, and nutraceuticals
• Potentizing herbs and foods with carotene nutraceuticals for cellular and immune protection
• Synergies of herbs and carotenes such as lycopene, alpha carotene, beta carotene, and other nutraceuticals for antioxidant support
• Potentizing anti-inflammatory herbs with carotenoid nutraceuticals
• Potentizing herbs for vision support with lutein, zeaxanthin, and others
• Combining marine-sourced astaxanthin with herbs for supporting brain and cognitive functions

Aromatic herbs and spices contain a great variety of health-promoting volatile essential oil compounds, many of which are now gaining recognition for their nutraceutical potential.

Using undiluted essential oils is dangerous, because their concentration is so high and can easily cause adverse reactions. When properly diluted, however, they can safely and effectively potentize herbal medicines in a variety of ways — including aromatherapy inhalations, massage and topical applications, and specific uses in herbal formulas.

Potentizing herbs with aromatic compounds can be preventive and curative, and it should be an important part of optimizing physiological functions for increasing respiratory immunity, supporting digestive health, enhancing cognitive functions, reducing musculoskeletal inflammation, and more.

In this module, you’ll explore:

• Principles of integrating herbal and aroma therapies
• Specific categories of herbs that combine perfectly with simple aromatherapy treatments
• Potentizing respiratory expectorant herbs with aromatherapy steam treatments
• Potentizing musculoskeletal anti-inflammatory herbs with aromatherapy massage formulas
• Potentizing nervine relaxant and sleep-enhancing herbs with calmative essential oils
• Potentizing respiratory immune-boosting herbs with antimicrobial essential oils
• Potentizing digestive herbs with aromatherapy to optimize digestive functions

Probiotics and prebiotics are widely used nutraceuticals, but they often give mixed or no therapeutic results.

Instead of attempting to recolonize the microbiome when multiple factors are disturbing it, it’s often better to restore functional balance by removing stagnation and reducing inflammation in the GI tract first, which then allows the healthy flora to thrive.

Knowing when to use prebiotics and probiotics in the digestive biorhythm… understanding the role of mucilaginous compounds and saponins… and recognizing the strengths and weakness of using digestive enzymes can greatly improve digestive functions and reduce complex and hard-to-treat chronic symptoms.

In this module, you’ll explore:

• Benefits and weaknesses of probiotics and prebiotics, and how to maximize their effects
• Understanding the mutually potentizing effects of using digestive herbs with prebiotics and probiotics for optimizing lower bowel microbiome functions
• Using the synergistic powers of demulcent mucilaginous herbs with alginates for reducing reflux and GERD and supporting the gut microbiome
• Understanding the tastes, energies, and potencies of digestive and anti-inflammatory enzymes
• Strengths and weaknesses of using digestive enzymes symptomatically
• Potentizing digestive herbs with enzymes to optimize upper GI functions and treat dyspepsia
• Using the synergistic powers of mucilaginous herbs and microbiome supporting nutraceuticals
• Enhancing gut immunity using full-spectrum concentration of astragalus and astragalosides
• Potentizing cardiovascular protective herbs with fermented enzymes of nattokinase

Amino acids, peptides, glandular supplements, and nutraceutical oils are widely used for many diverse functions.

Amino acids can sometimes be very beneficial for specific health-optimizing functions, including boosting immunity, enhancing sleep, and healing the gut membrane.

Peptides such as collagen are supportive of the musculoskeletal system… omega oils have nourishing, hormone-regulating, and anti-inflammatory powers… and glandular supplements are a contemporary version of animal nutrition that was once part of most diets.

The effectiveness of this class of diverse nutraceuticals can be greatly enhanced by using them in conjunction with herbs and herbal formulas that complement and synergistically support their functions and therapeutic actions.

In this final module, you’ll explore:

• Potentizing anti-inflammatory and endocrine nourishing herbs with omega 3 oils
• Blending krill and fish oils with herbal medicines to support cardiovascular and brain health
• Synergistic uses of rejuvenative herbs and amino acids for energy and vitality
• Potentizing joint and skin supporting herbs with collagen nutraceuticals
• Potentizing gut-healing herbs with L-glutamine
• Traditional herbs and herbal formulas for strengthening the musculoskeletal system that are complemented by amino acids
• Potentizing herbal oils for joint and skin care with hydrating nutraceuticals, such as ceramides and hyaluronic acid

Which treatments can best address your health concerns? What’s working for you? What isn’t?

This is your opportunity for a personalized medical consultation with David. Your 60-minute session can be done by phone, video conference, or email.

Your consultation will be unique and personalized, and the topics you’ll discuss might include:

• Creating an individualized pharmacy of herbs and essential oils that address your health and medical needs safely, effectively, and affordably
• The safe uses of herbs and essential oils according to your age, constitution, vitality, and other factors
• Herb/drug interactions
• Developing strategies to work with allopathic doctors when integrative medicine is needed
• Ordering and reading lab tests
• Up-to-date research on natural medicine and state-of-the-art treatments
• Individualized diet programs
• Sources for highest quality natural products
• Referrals to other practitioners, educational resources, and health facilities
• Meditation and spiritual guidance, stress-reduction instruction, and lifestyle modifications

Investment: $150 per session. This includes David reviewing your medical records, which you’ll send over beforehand, his recommendation for a complete herb program, and a follow-up email from David. (If you need a series of consultations over time, there are reduced rates for multiple sessions, as well as discounts if you refer others.)

In Chinese and Ayurvedic medicines, herbs and formulas are classified according to their physiological effects, which are described in elemental and energetic terms. Adaptogens, for example, can be found in the category of “tonify Qi,” while relaxant herbs are classified as “calming to the spirit” or “vata pacifying.” How do nutraceuticals compare to these broader categories of herbs and formulas in Asian medical systems, and how could we use these categories of therapeutic functions to create effective synergistic blends of herbs and supplements? You’ll explore this topic in-depth during this compelling video teaching — and also discover the preparations used in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine that we might consider as having nutraceutical properties and functions.

Explore how you can safely use combinations of herbs and essential oils for enhanced therapeutic benefits in this insightful video. David also shares enjoyable ways to relax your nervous system and formulas for treating and preventing common conditions of the respiratory and digestive systems, balancing the female hormonal system, healing musculoskeletal problems, and overall detoxification.

David’s extensive knowledge of plant medicine means he has years of experience in selecting the best suppliers for his formulas. As part of your participation in this course, receive 10% savings on purchases made from two of David’s recommended herbal suppliers below. No purchase is required for the course, and it’s not required to use products from these particular brands. You may use whatever products you’d like for your learning.

10% Discount at Banyan Botanicals
Banyan Botanicals produces the highest-quality Ayurvedic products using certified organic herbs that are sustainably sourced and fairly traded.

10% Discount at Herbalist & Alchemist
Herbalist & Alchemist’s mission is to develop, manufacture, and distribute herbal supplements that are of the highest quality, manufactured from plant material that originates in harmony with the environment: organically grown, ethically wild-crafted, or sustainably harvested.