Four Winds Natural Healing Center

21/07/2025

Velvet Leaf
All plants have medicinal properties. However, some plants have real practical life uses. If you grew up on the farm or working for farmers, you know this plant. If you ever detasseled corn or walked beans, you know this plant.

I will let the video tell you about this plant.

19/07/2025

Teasel Root - Key Joint Herb
Teasel root is one of the key herbs we use to support joint inflammation. It is helpful to support join inflammation that comes with many diseases such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and Lyme disease. It is also helpful for tendon and ligament inflammation. It is not a cure for these things, but very helpful.

It grows in the far southeast parts of Nebraska. Once you get close to Kansas City, you see it everywhere. It is one of the most unusual looking plants.

I posted two videos of this plant I saw while on vacation. Yes, we had to stop. Yes, the kids thought it was normal to stop and look at plants.

This video is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to treat, diagnose or cure any disease. Discuss any changes with your healthcare provider. ...

13/07/2025

Negative Effects Alcohol Mouth Rinse
I recently heard a diabetes researcher mention newer studies showing that commercial mouth rinses with alcohol negatively effect the microbiome of the oral cavity. This I can easily understand. The new science is also showing that this negative effect on the oral microbiome makes people more prone to developing diabetes. Let that sink in. I had to fact check those statements.

Turns out it is true. Using alcohol based mouth wash injures your mouth and gut microbiome. This negative effect on your gut microbiome makes diabetes more likely to develop.

This does not relate to xylitol or alcohol free or essential oil based mouth washes. This just relates to alcohol based mouth rinses.

If you have not kept up on the latest alcohol research, let's just say everything has changed lately. According to new research, there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.

Here is one study showing this research.

Frequent regular use of over-the-counter mouthwash was associated with increased risk of developing pre-diabetes/diabetes in this population.

29/06/2025

Nebraska Sandhills
You have to be committed to excellence. To get results, you have to have the best products and plants. Usually that involves effort to find pristine environments to gather plants. Hiking through hot prairie sun, wading through rivers and getting lost. This is what we do to find the best.

Here is a video of my beloved Nebraska Sandhills. It is one of my favorite places on earth. Enjoy!

The amazing Nebraska Sandhills are one of my favorite places on earth. The majesty, the simplicity, the humbleness, the stillness and so much more. The San...

28/06/2025

Summer Tonic Drink
My families favorite Summer drink is a tonic water recipe. I use Fever Tree or Q Tonic brand low sugar natural tonic water. The recipe is simple.

Tonic water has quinine in it. Quinine has anti- inflammatory, febrifuge and immune boosting properties. It is used to help fevers, aches, chills, sweats and other symptoms with infections. It has fever reducing properties that are good to cool the body. It can be used to help heat stroke, heat exhaustion and heat sensitivity. Quinine also has some antibacterial and antiviral properties, further helping more.

This is a natural version of the 7UP we were all given as kids.

Quinine is also a digestive bitter. This is a great tonic for nausea, acid, reflux and upset stomach. My kids always request it when queasy during infections. People can also get queasy from extreme Summer heat and humidity.

Adding fresh lemon with rind helps further. The natural vitamin C and fever reducing properties also help.

You have to use the natural tonic water from Fever Tree or Q Tonic brands. This drink can be used preventatively too during hot humid days.

Here is a video showing how to make.

This video is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to treat, diagnose or cure any disease. Discuss any changes with your healthcare provider. Su...

23/06/2025

Get to Know Our Farmers - Curious Roots
We do our best to get the best quality herbal and nutritional products in the world. We always try to get local plants when possible. We always try to get organic plants. We always try to support small farmers. When herbs are wild harvested, we want them from the most pristine places on the earth and harvested in a sustainable way.

Here is the story of one of our farmers. Shea Harkness and her family own Curious Roots Herb Farm. Shea is an amazing soul. She is a past student. Her families herb farm is outside Louisville, NE. We try to get as much from her farm as we can. The main tincture company we use get most of their plants from her too.

There is so much talk about natural and farm to table. Here at Four Winds NHC we try to live that. We pride ourselves on clinical results. You have to have the best products on the earth to get the best results. Although many people think of this when it comes to the chef culinary world, most people do not think of this when it comes to medicine.

Shea is an amazing resource. She is custom growing many rare and hard to find herbs for us to use in the clinic. She is the only grower for many of these herbs. Without her, we could not get some herbs.

We also contract herb to grow small batches of other herbs for me to test and experiment with. In one of the videos posted, she shows her rattlesnake master root bed. She is growing it just for us to use at the office.

I recorded an eight part short video series to tour her farm. Please take time to get to know her, see her farm and be inspired. It is inspiring to me to see her go from an idea many years ago, to her living breathing farm.

The eight video series is posted here:

Shea from Curious Roots Herb Farm in Louisville Nebraska. We are so proud of Shea. She is a past student and amazing person. You can order herbs directly ...

23/06/2025

Cinquefoil Herb
Cinquefoil herb is a legendary European healing plant. Unfortunately few people use it today in the US. It grows everywhere in the US. It is one of the world's great wound worts or wound plants. There are so many internal and external uses with its astringent properties and tannin content.

Here is a short video of what it looks like:

This video is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to treat, diagnose or cure any disease. Discuss any changes with your healthcare provider. ...

08/06/2025

Wild Foods - Sorrel
Sorrel is one of the most important healing greens on the planet. It is a staple of European, Eastern European, Asian healing food recipes. Sorrel is growing wild in many places. It is a wild green cleansing food. More Americans should eat it.

Check out these six short videos on healing uses of sorrel.

04/06/2025

Ground Ivy
Ground ivy is an amazing healing plant. It is one of the main plants that detoxifies and moves the lymphatic system. It is a common w**d in Nebraska. It is a major historical herb for "painter's colic". We now call this disease lead poisoning. It has the ability to chelate or bind with lead in the body to help remove it. This is very helpful for those exposed to lead poisoning, which is very common in Omaha due to the old lead refinery. It is also one of the great ear and eustachian tube remedies.

The biggest challenge is that is mostly grows in polluted or disturbed soils. It is difficult to find it to harvest in pure, pristine placed. Only a few companies make the tincture still.

If you have a semi-shady spot on your land, you can easily grow a patch and watch is spread.

Check out this little video to recognize the plant in your yard.

https://youtube.com/shorts/LB9zAQL0g60?feature=share

03/06/2025

HSA Coverage for Supplements
There is currently a push in congress to get dietary supplements and herbal products covered by Health Spending Accounts (HSA) programs. Although then can be covered with a Letter of Medical Necessity (LMN) often, this would really make things easier for patients.

Consider signing this note to email your local congressional reps. I think everyone on every side of politics can agree on this one. Patients should be able to spend their money how they want to.

This link is provided by the Natural Products Association.

Support Access to Vital Nutritional Supplements with HSA FlexibilityYour voice is urgently needed to expand Americans' access to preventive wellness tools. Right now, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) cannot be used to purchase essential dietary...

30/05/2025

Grandmother Plant
Most of the world's cultures share similar wisdom in natural medicine philosophy. Although we often think of indigenous Native American or Chinese cultural concepts, most all the world's traditions have similar ideas.

The idea of the "Grandmother Plant" is a core idea in herbal medicine. It is core idea in our relationship to the earth and entire plant world. It is a core medicine making idea.

Here is a short video discussing:

, foods, medicine, , medicine, , , , healing, medicine, , , #...

30/05/2025

Liver and Gallbladder Cleanse Season
Now is the season for liver and gallbladder cleansing. This is the ideal time to do a traditional, comprehensive, balanced liver/gallbladder cleanse. There are hundreds of reasons why we would cleanse now.

For those who want expert advice on how to do this safely, I have a lecture module you can purchase to study yourself. For those who would like professional guidance, you can always call the clinic to set up an appointment to be placed on any kind of cleanse. I custom tailor every cleanse process to the individual patient. It can depend on how sensitive patients are, how reactive to herbal formulas they are, disease conditions patients have, age, current diet, current lifestyle, current medications and so much more.

Feel free to call the clinic to set up an evaluation anytime.