The following article was written by Taylor Moya, a registered nurse and integrative health practitioner, and the founder of Taylor Moya Wellness.
MY JOURNEY TO SEEKING ROOT CAUSE HEALTH
When I began my career almost 11 years ago as a registered nurse, never in a million years did I picture myself ending up in the holistic end of nursing. I started out as every nurse does, learning about all of the pharmaceutical drugs, their mechanisms and what they can do to help people. I truly believed at that time that pharmaceuticals were the cure to all “dis-ease.”
I think most nurses can agree that pharmacology is one of the toughest required nursing classes on the curriculum. Not only are you memorizing all of the hundred different ways a certain pharmaceutical drug can affect the body, but also the dosage requirements for each specific age group, weight based calculations and the never ending list of possible adverse side effects.
I went on in my career as a nurse working with patients with a lot of chronic illnesses who were taking between 20 and 30 pills a day for their ailments. The problem was that they only seemed to get worse and not any better with time, even after their dosages kept getting increased by their physician. Why was that? I felt like there had to be a better way, and a reason these people were so sick. I started to believe that addressing their issues with a pill was only a band aid method approach and we weren’t getting to the root cause of why these people were chronically ill.
This was how I finally found a better way to use my nursing skills; I became an Integrative Health practitioner. I look at the root cause of someone’s ailments at a functional level. I see what type of everyday living environment they live in, the daily products they use on their bodies, the foods they are eating, the stress in their life, and I use functional medicine lab testing to look at gut function, mineral and electrolyte imbalances, heavy metal toxicity and several other factors that contribute to “dis-ease” of the body.
THERE HAD TO BE A BETTER WAY
5 years ago, I started looking into my own health and my own environment that I was living in. I started doing some research on things like personal care products, candles, the food we eat every day, and I was pretty shocked at what I found. I found out that the good majority of us were slathering ourselves in toxic chemicals with our products we use everyday. These products were anywhere from laundry to soap, eating foods ridden with pesticides, and inhaling carcinogenic compounds from our candles and plug in air fresheners.
I started removing these products and slowly replaced them with safer products that I could actually look up the ingredients myself, or just make on my own. I started buying organic food, and I also started looking for safer options to everyday pharmaceutical items I used a lot, such as acetaminophen and ibuprofen. I started having more mental clarity, my skin looked better, and I wasn’t getting those monthly headaches I used to get using all the toxic products.
One thing I was still dealing with quite a bit though, was my anxiety. I started reading up on CBD and the benefits it can have on the body overall and decided to give it a try. I noticed though that the CBD industry, just like basically any other industry, can be pretty dirty. The product can be heavily sprayed with pesticides and I found out that a good majority weren’t even pure.
One day, I was listening to Dr. Christian Gonzales’s podcast “Heal Thyself” and I heard him recommend a full spectrum organic hemp product out of Colorado, which is where I am from, called “Ned.” Now, I know when Dr. G recommends a product he has done thorough research on the product and company and he does not recommend products that aren’t third party lab tested for contaminants and heavy metals. This was huge! I immediately ordered some of their 750 mg full spectrum hemp oil and have never looked back.
Ned also makes an amazing magnesium product called “Mellö” that I also take nightly before bed.
THE BENEFITS OF CBD AND MAGNESIUM ON THE BODY
CBD is an amazing product when you find a trustworthy brand like Ned. A good majority of the world does not know that the body has an endocannabinoid system, which is basically a system that helps modulate neurotransmitters in the central nervous system to play on immune function, pain, cellular function and metabolism. Simply put, CBD works on these systems to help support immune function, help regulate the nervous system, and help support the body as a whole. There really is not a system in the body CBD cannot support on a cellular level.
Magnesium is an essential mineral in the body needed for proper functioning of the body system. It helps to maintain nerve and muscle function, aids in production of energy and protein, helps regulate blood sugar and helps bones remain strong. The average person is severely magnesium deficient and supplementation is needed.
Magnesium is amazing to help relax and calm the central nervous system as well so it is the perfect match to pair with CBD for added results to help with stress and anxiety. What I love about Mellö, is not only is it full spectrum magnesium, it contains over 70 trace minerals, L-theanine and Gaba. L-theanine is an amino acid typically found in tea that has been shown in studies using an EEG to have a direct effect on the brain, in which it induces relaxation without causing drowsiness. Gaba is also an amino acid that is also a main neurotransmitter, or messenger, to the brain that helps with several key factors in the neurological system such as depression, substance abuse disorders, anxiety, chronic stress and insomnia. Mellö is an amazing supplement to take, and I recommend it to my clients dealing with stress, anxiety, insomnia or having issues getting into the “rest and digest” aspect of their parasympathetic nervous system, which typically is any human these days. I find that most of my clients are mineral deficient, so Mellö is an amazing supplement to help that.
As you can see both CBD and magnesium are powerhouses to support the body as a whole on a cellular level, and I think they are vital in helping to restore and maintain the body to optional function.
MY ROUTINE
My daily routine consists of taking Ned Full Spectrum 750mg oil in the morning upon waking and right before bed. I also use one package of the Mellö in hot water right before bed, or if I need an extra calming boost during the day. I sleep amazing and wake up feeling rested and ready to take on the day. I also use a dropper full of CBD whenever I am feeling a little anxious or ungrounded and this helps tremendously.
I hope to give hope to others out there that there are other ways than pharmaceutical products to help with their ailments. The body knows what to do when given the proper tools, and Ned has knocked it out of the park with their products to help support the body.
To your Health!
Taylor Moya, RN IHP
Taylor Moya is a registered nurse and integrative health practitioner, and the founder of Taylor Moya Wellness.
