Podcast 34 – Dads with Audacity: These Fathers Know Best!

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In this podcast, we cover:

03:35  Casey’s journey with homeopathy   

16:10  Broken shoulder, colds, poison ivy, headaches, and food issues

27:06  Mark’s belief in homeopathy and self-healing

32:48  What is bursitis

43:06  Life without homeopathy for Levi and his family

52:36  Iris ver and Mag phos for acid reflux

57:20  Who is Levi

Click here to skip ahead and get your Remedy Card.

 

You are listening to a podcast from joettecalabrese.com where nationally certified American homeopath, public speaker, and author, Joette Calabrese, shares her passion for helping families stay healthy through homeopathy and nutrient-dense nutrition.

 

Paola:  It’s podcast number 34 at JoetteCalabrese.com. We’ve got another “Dads with Audacity” interview for you.

 

Joette:  Each day from my office, I get to see how homeopathy is transforming lives all over the globe. I want to share them with you. Some of my students have really caught my eye. Some of you have done all you can to learn how to cure those around you using homeopathic medicines. Your successes inspire me. They’re glorious and powerful. I can’t keep these successes a secret any longer. So, with help from my roving reporters, we bring you a mini podcast series that I call Moms with Moxie. Sometimes we even interview dads with audacity. See how regular mothers and others, average people who want to cure those around them have gone from freaking to fabulous with homeopathy.

 

Paola:  For today’s podcast, we are actually shifting gears a little bit. I’m your host today, Paola Brown. This is going to be our longest podcast. So, you for sure need to save it in a queue the next time you’re going to be on a long drive or you’re folding laundry or definitely if you’re near your husband and you guys have some downtime together. But in today’s podcast, I am interviewing three dads with audacity. The first guy is Casey. I quite enjoyed Casey. An interesting thing about him is he snuck into the background of one of the study group classes I taught. I usually teach it online. So, he was sitting off camera enjoying my class. When I found out about that, I was really excited. I begged him to please be on the podcast. So, you’ll really enjoy Casey’s interview. Next, we have Mark from New York. Mark is an avid sports guy. He talks a lot about how homeopathy fits into his life with his sports and with his family. The final interview we have today is a top-secret interview. His name is Levi. I don’t reveal who Levi is until the very end of the podcast. So, until then, I’ll let you try and guess why I think this dad with audacity is so awesome. Here we go from the top with Casey.

 

I’m excited to have a “Dads with Audacity” podcast today. I’m here with Casey. He’s from Texas. He is a father of how many kids, Casey?

 

Casey:  We have three kids.

 

Paola:  Three kids. I know your wife actually took the homeopathy study group class that Joette offers. She purchased the curriculum and participated in that. So that’s great. So, tell us about that class. Your wife was taking it and where were you during that time?

 

Casey:  I was looking over her shoulder for a lot of it. I was listening in when I could, to see what I could learn. We were making notes. Yes, it was very informative and we learned quite a bit. To be honest, it was kind of like hitting a fast-forward button and kind of soaked a lot in quickly. So, it was incredibly helpful.

 

Paola:  Good. That’s awesome. I was actually teaching the class for your wife. I remember we ran into you guys and she introduced herself to me, “Oh, I’m Carly. I’m in your class.” Then I realized, and she says, “My husband’s been sitting off camera listening to your class, too.” I think, Casey, you were my first official male that has ever taken my study group class with me. So, I think that was pretty cool.

 

Casey:  I don’t know if that’s good or bad.

 

Paola:  It is a good thing.

 

Casey:  I guess I’m honored.

 

Paola:  Tell us. Why do you think that is the case that so many dads aren’t as interested in homeopathy?

 

Casey’s journey with homeopathy

 

Casey:  Yes. I’d have to go back a little further to even explain how we arrived at homeopathy and how we even learned about it. It probably started for me well over seven or eight years ago. It was more about a journey to be healthy. My wife and I, for an anniversary trip, flew to San Francisco and drove our way down the coast to LA. When I say drove, what I really should say is we ate our way down the coast. So, it was that typical vacation, anniversary trip where a lot of it was about food.

 

Paola:  Yes, absolutely.

 

Casey:  When we got home, I took a look in the mirror and realized I was into my 30s now and I couldn’t exactly eat and do what I wanted to do. There are going to be consequences for some of my decisions.

 

Paola:  So metabolism is a little different in your 30s.

 

Casey:  It changed, yes. It slowed down a little bit. Couple that with working at a desk, and I was drinking a lot of sodas. Dr. Pepper was my soda of choice. I was still fairly active. I still liked to hang out with the guys and play golf, play softball, things like that. But I didn’t really have a fitness mindset. So, I just on a whim decided, “You know what? I’m going to see what I can do to get healthy here.” So, I cut out the sodas. I signed up for a triathlon. I’d never done one. My friends had done them. I thought, alright, I knew I had to pay for the triathlon. I had to get some skin in the game if I was going to actually go for a run or a swim or ride my bike. So, I did that and eight weeks later did the triathlon. It was just a short sprint triathlon for fun. I enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun. So, then I realized they kind of time you. You have like a time where you fall in your age group. I thought, “Hmm, what can I do to improve? Could I train harder? Could I train at some other things?” One of the first things I looked at was diet. What am I eating? I didn’t really change what I was eating all that much for the training. So then, I started experimenting and reading about vegan diet, Paleo diet, all these different kinds of healthy eating. So, I started watching a lot of documentaries and things like that just to trying to educate myself. So that was the first time I really started questioning and at least looking at what I was putting in my body in terms of food. So, that started a cool journey of getting fit, and trying to be healthy, and watching what I eat, and looking at food as fuel from a nutrition standpoint.

 

Paola:  Right. I think that’s a similar journey to anyone who has come to homeopathy specifically. The gateway is starting with diet. I read this quote once. It says, “You cannot outrun an unhealthy diet.” That really kind of hit me.

 

Casey:  Correct.

 

Paola:  I used to think well, I’ll have a soda. I’ll run a couple of miles and that will neutralize the soda. But that’s not how it works. It’s doing damage in your body that you can’t outrun. That’s good. How did you do in the triathlon? Were you happy with the results?

 

Casey:  I did pretty well in the triathlon. My first goal was to finish and I did that. Then from there, I’ve probably done, I don’t know, another dozen triathlons, 5Ks. I do a couple a year now. It keeps me training, keeps me active and things like that.

 

Paola:  Good for you.

 

Casey:  The nutrition part was the first time I questioned what I put in my body from a food standpoint. Then it kind of grew from there. Then it was looking at other things that I was putting in my body, just things that I took for granted. I say in my body. I couldn’t even say on my body. So, I was like I would put deodorant on and I’m thinking, “What is in this?” I don’t even know what’s in this deodorant. Or getting a cold and taking an over-the-counter medication. I have no idea what is in this. I started looking at my food, but I’m not looking at anything else, whether I’m washing my hair or washing my clothes or anything else. So, it was more of just questioning. I’m not saying any of those things are bad. It was just me personally wondering, “What is this doing to my body, the things that I’m putting on and in?” So, I think our journey just started there. It was food and then it moved over into other areas. That’s when we’ve kind of arrived at the medicines.

 

My wife’s kind of entered into oils, which was great. There were some things that we applied there. That was a bit of a gateway into homeopathy, I think.

 

Paola:  Yes, that’s the crossover. I will say that the oily people, the people who do their oils, they’re the best crossover group to get into homeopathy because they’re looking for independence. They’re looking for alternatives.

 

I have to say. One of my little pet peeves and I don’t usually get too annoyed. I’m pretty easygoing. But one of my little pet peeves when I thought someone has a headache and I go, “Maybe you should try some Bryonia or if it’s tension headache, try some Arnica montana.” You wake up in the morning and you slept wrong. You’re like, “Oh my neck hurts. So, I have this really bad headache. I slept wrong.” That’s a Rhus tox headache. So, sometimes when people mention their headaches to me, I’m like, “Oh, would you like to try one of these, guys?” Then now, they’re all of a sudden very skeptical. They’re like, “Whoa, what’s in this? What is this homeopathic?” I’m like, “Do you even do that to Tylenol or to all the other stuff that you’re taking?” It’s more of like this cultural acceptance over actual facts that help you make an informed decision.

 

Casey:  It’s true.

 

Paola:  Good for you. I’m very impressed that you’ve crossed over from food to even the medicine because I feel like that’s a leap for some people. But it’s very logical for you to do that, so good job! So, your wife came home saying that she wanted to take the homeopathy study group class or what happened? Were you guys seeking something or were you pretty satisfied where you were with your diet and your oils?

 

Casey:  The oils left a little to be desired in terms of … I felt like they worked well for things that were topical and things like that. I know there are people who say they’ve had success from taking them in other ways but I think we were looking for something a little different to replace medication, I’ll say. If you go stand in a drug store, you’ve got shelves and shelves of whatever ailment you’re needing help with. I felt like we needed something to replace that. Then also, I’m wondering if we even should be taking something for a particular ailment, that sort of thing. We did a lot of reading. We read a few books and stood in front of some health stores that carry different remedies. All those little vials were very confusing. It was a lot to look at there. It was a bit overwhelming. That’s when my wife discovered the course. I think that kind of came on at just the right time where we were able to start making notes and start learning and writing things down. There’s a lot of information out on the internet. You can do a lot of good reading but the course was something for us that to hear it from someone else and to hear someone else’s experiences really helped us out. We still reference the notes from that class all the time.

 

Paola:  Yes, awesome. I think that’s what’s so cool about the study group class, two things. You really don’t need to take a class with someone. You can just start your own group and the book walks you right through it. But if you take it with someone who has had a little bit of experience with homeopathy, that’s also a good option because they have all the experiences and the story that kind of illustrate how wonderful these little remedies work. You’re right. They are overwhelming. I have a friend who has said, “When I went to Whole Foods and I saw all those little blue Boiron homeopathic single remedy bottles, I thought that they were for practitioners. I thought that was something that I wasn’t even going to allowed to buy. I thought I was going to show some sort of license to buy it because it is so overwhelming and so foreign.” So, your wife started taking the class. You’re kind of off camera listening. She has told me that your support in the family’s homeopathy journey has been integral for her. Can you talk about that and maybe what challenges you guys faced together and why being a team player in this situation was good for you guys?

 

Casey:  I think we both had to be committed to it for a couple of reasons. Number one, to keep each other strong because when you’ve got a child who’s not feeling well at three in the morning and standing next to your bed, you need to go get something different out of the medicine cabinet. So, we’re both on the same page. It really helps when you can keep the notes open. Let’s figure out what remedy we need to go with here. Do we even need a remedy right now? Is this real or is this “I woke up and I got a little bit of discomfort but I could probably go back to bed.” So, it just helps when you can stay on the same page. When you both have the education, I may recall something that we could do here or she might recall something. So yes, I think being able to support each other because there’s a little bit of a learning curve. I think that discourages a lot of people but if you can push through that, then you can start developing some confidence. Oh, I’ve seen this before. My wife takes really good notes anytime we have an issue. So, if my son gets in a poison ivy, we had this last summer, I remember. We can go back and look and see what ended up working and helping him. So, I think supporting each other there, making good notes is what gives you that confidence moving forward.

 

Paola:  Yes, I think you’re absolutely right. I think what you said to me and I’ve said this before to people. If you can just push through the overwhelming information for just a couple of weeks, really not even that much, just get over that hump, it all starts connecting and making sense. Like you said, it becomes muscle memory because you remember things. It all just kind of comes to you when you need it. So, that’s great. So why don’t you tell us some stories about your family. It sounds like homeopathy came just in the nick of time for some issues that you guys were facing.

 

Casey:  Absolutely. I’ve got a few stories I could tell you. One that we jumped into pretty quickly, we realized that homeopathy could help with eczema. That’s something that my daughter had struggled with since she was 1 ½ to 2 years old. So, we did all the steroid creams and all the medications. Anyone who has any experience with that knows that allergies and asthma and eczema are all kind of twisted together in this big knot. So, that’s something we’re in a process of unraveling right now. But, the first thing we were able to do is deal with the eczema. Like I said, it’s been something she struggled with for a long time. When we first started, I’ll admit that when you start to get that understanding of homeopathy and you work backwards especially in something like that — that’s been chronic, something she’s dealt with her whole life. So, at first, her eczema flared up quite a bit. It makes you a little nervous when you see something like that. Being on the other side of that now knowing that it’s getting a little worse before it gets better because you are flushing it out of your body, you’re doing the right things. But that can be a little scary that first time through. So, seeing her hands and her feet the way that her skin looked was not the most pleasant thing to watch a child go through. But I can tell you. Being on the other side of that now, her skin is clear. If she ever has a little spot pop back up, we know exactly what we have to do. In the winter and all the times when she typically is kind of suffering through some of that, we don’t have to go through all of that with the creams and the lotions and all the things that we used to do. Knowing that we can fall back to homeopathy is a pretty cool thing.

 

Paola:  Yes. That is awesome. I find that with eczema and Joette, she used to be blanketed with eczema and she really has a lot of experience with this. So, she has a soft spot in her heart for people who suffered through it. But she has talked a lot about one of the reasons people’s eczema get so much worse at first before it gets better is because you’re coming off of the steroid cream. It sounds like your daughter didn’t go through a withdrawal but some people go through withdrawal. If you want to learn more about this withdrawal, you can go to this website called IT (like Tom), S (like Sam), A, N (like Nancy) — ITSAN. It basically talks about topical steroids. When you stop using them, you can go through these withdrawals.

 

I have a friend whose daughter went through it. I mean it was like she almost looked like a burn victim from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet, not because it was eczema anymore but because her body was going through this terrible, terrible steroid withdrawal. So that’s really good. It sounds like your daughter didn’t go through that. My friend, she used only like a little dime-sized, once every other week on her daughter. Her daughter still went through this horrible, horrible withdrawal from the steroids. You just never know what your body’s going through. So, it’s just so wise that you guys knew you wanted to get off of this and that you wanted to find a better way. That’s a blessing really for your daughter.

 

I do want to ask you this. Did you guys ever waiver? Was it an uphill climb, just pretty smooth and predictable?

 

Casey:  We questioned a lot on that one just because the way her skin flared up. The eczema didn’t look good. It was pretty rough. So that one, yes, we definitely were wondering if we were doing the right thing there. But like I said, being on the other side of it now and seeing how her skin looks now and that she’s in great shape as far as the eczema goes, it was definitely worth it, kind of pushing through that.

 

Paola:  That’s exactly why I think it’s so important for couples, husbands and wives to have a conversation about homeopathy because there are times where things get a little stressful. You really need to talk it through and figure it out. It’s really hard to have that conversation when husband is staunchly against and wife is staunchly for it. It’s important, I think, to have these conversations. In the study group class, we talked about when you suppress an illness, it drives it deeper. A homeopath who treats someone with asthma who has had eczema as a child, they don’t see asthma as asthma. They see asthma as suppressed eczema. Now, not everyone who has asthma has eczema as a child. But that’s just an example of when you suppress the eczema, it drives the illness deeper into the lungs and they can develop asthma. Okay, well tell us another story.

 

Broken shoulder, colds, poison ivy, headaches, and food issues

 

Casey:  Sure. That was more of a chronic issue that we dealt with. But I can give you one that’s quite a bit different. My mother-in-law took a little spill and broke her shoulder. She immediately went for Aconite. We had to go to the emergency room, of course, and get X-rays. It was a pretty bad broken shoulder. They of course wanted to offer her pain medication. She had taken Aconite at home right when the spill happened. She knew to grab that. Then in the emergency room, she actually used Arnica montana.

 

Paola:  Good for her.

 

Casey:  Yes, and was able to make it through that ordeal with very minimal pain medication. It’s a longer story than that. The doctor opted not to do surgery, wanted to see what would happen if it healed on its own. She took a couple of different remedies. I believe it was Hypericum.

 

Paola:  Symphytum probably.

 

Casey:  Yes, to help heal bone and for bone growth. So, she was able to go without surgery and use those. So, they were doing X-rays along the way. So, we could see the X-rays. We could see the bones growing and moving back together. So yes, to go with a really broken shoulder, to go through that without surgery, without a lot of medications that they wanted to put her on was a pretty cool story there to see all that happen.

 

Paola:  Right.

 

Casey:  Because the default there, you go to the emergency room and they want to give you pain medication. While you’re in pain, that seems like they’re really trying to help you. It seems like the right thing to do to take that pain medication and then surgery. The doctor does X-rays and tells you that you need surgery. This one opted not to do that. But I guess it’s back to that questioning and just making sure we’re asking the right questions. What I like about homeopathy is it puts us a little bit more in the driver’s seat in terms of those decisions.

 

Paola:  It does, absolutely, yes. I think you said something that’s really important. I want to reiterate it. Sometimes asking the wrong question gets you the wrong answer. So, it is important to know how to ask the right questions to your doctors so that you can have control over the situation. I’m so glad she’s feeling better. Does she have full range of motion and back to normal now?

 

Casey:  Getting there, getting there because they let it heal on its own. The doctor was upfront and said, “I don’t know that I would necessarily recommend surgery. You may not get full range of motion. You’re going to get most of it back without surgery.” That was his belief. So, she didn’t quite have full range of motion. But I’ll be honest. If she had surgery and just the rehab from that, I don’t know how much better off she would have been with all the risks that go with surgery as well.

 

Paola:  Absolutely. That’s exactly right. That’s kind of how you have to think of it. I just want to give an example of the wrong question kind of gets you the wrong answer. I’m talking about talking to your doctor. I always caution people about whether or not they share with their doctor about homeopathy or even asking them questions about homeopathy. You know, I took this to my doctor. He said that there’s nothing out there that would help my bones heal. Like well, you’re asking the wrong question to the wrong person. So, you’re going to get the wrong answer. That’s really what it is. If you don’t rationally think through these situations, who you’re talking to, what you’re asking, you’re going to get the wrong answer. That only hurts you.

 

So, tell us another story, Casey.

 

Casey:  Those are kind of big deals for us. Those were big ones. But then like just everyday things, I can give a couple of examples. If we feel something coming on, we always keep Coldcalm handy. That has licked a couple of things that were coming on very quickly, kind of prevent it from coming on. So, we always keep that on hand. It works well for us.

 

Paola:  Good. I actually don’t have that one. I need to get it. Is it a Hyland's brand, Coldcalm?

 

Casey:  I think that’s Boiron.

 

Paola:  Okay, Boiron.

 

Casey:  It doesn’t come in a typical tube. It comes in a box. The instructions on there are great. It tells you how many to take at first and then every few hours. It still dissolves in to the tongue, but it’s more of pill-looking. It’s a little larger than the little pills we’re all accustomed to. But yes, it definitely works well. Then a couple of other things, my son was doing either yard work or playing in the woods, something. He got into some poison ivy and got into it pretty good on his stomach and arms. We were able to use homeopathy for that to not have put all kinds of creams and lotions or go to the doctor for a steroid. It was nice to be able to treat that at home. We also used it for little aches and pains. I’ve got some issues in my back and shoulder. So, I’ve got a couple of go-tos for myself. I’ve got Rhus tox and Ruta grave that I used for those little things. That’s kind of on a practical thing where I would have probably gone to Advil, something like that. Now, I go to ice and homeopathy.

 

Paola:  Awesome. That’s great. Actually, one of the other dads that I interviewed, Mark, he’s like you, a pretty avid sports guy. The funny thing with him is he doesn’t even really know exactly. He says that me and the kids will all line up like baby birds and open our mouth. My wife will just drop stuff in our mouth or whatever we need and they just kind of trust her. Going back to the poison ivy, did you guys use Anacardium for your son?

 

Casey:  I want to say we used Aconitum and Rhus tox for that if I recall correctly.

 

Paola:  Interesting, yes, very good. That’s interesting because Rhus tox is the homeopathic remedy made from poison ivy. If you take the study group class that Joette offers, you’ll learn how it’s diluted. In its homeopathic preparation, it’s not toxic at all. But for some people, the Rhus tox works quite well even though it’s a remedy made exactly from what you’re suffering from. In homeopathy, usually, you look for the laws of similar, not the laws of exact. So Anacardium which is not made from poison ivy is usually what helps people in a poison ivy situation. So, I just like to throw these little factoids out there when people are listening so they can learn a little bit about homeopathy too.

 

Casey:  That’s good stuff.  

 

Paola:  Yes, it is. It’s great. What about for headaches?

 

Casey:  My wife takes Kali bichromium particularly, she’s susceptible to like when weather’s coming in, high-pressure, low-pressure. I don’t know which one triggers a headache. But I just know that when a high-pressure or low-pressure season comes in and it changes the barometric pressure, for her Kali bichromium. I remember back even Christmas Eve, she got a pretty good one. So, that was able to help her out. Then we use some other things too for food allergies. That’s a new one we’re kind of working through and trying to figure that out. But Bovista is one that we go to for that to try to deal with that. My daughter, when she eats an apple or something like that, it’s not a major issue. Her lips get kind of itchy. Just little things like that. Having go-tos, you just start to develop your tool box of things that you can go to.

 

Paola:  I know. People always ask me. Which one of Joette’s courses do you think is the best one? Which one should I take? I firmly believe that if you were passionate about this, you work through and take every single one of those courses. I mean the Survivalist Guide is probably one of my favorites because it addresses some pretty extreme acute things but the Good Gut, Bad Gut talks a lot about food intolerance like you’re saying. Very good.

 

Well, Casey, you’re an awesome dad. You’ve got the audacity to take over your family’s health, your wife, and to work through these things. I think your family is going to be blessed for generations. Joette says this that homeopathy is generational because you’re not just blessing your here and now, you’re blessing your kids. Your daughters are healthy. Your grandkids are going to be healthier. Hopefully that passes down. So, good for you. I really appreciate you taking time to talk with me here on the podcast.

 

Casey:  Oh, it was my pleasure.

 

Paola:  Okay. So that was our interview with Casey. Thank you so much. Before the interview, Casey told me about how he really believes in the power of story. I think you’re right Casey. I really think that these stories that will provide the future for homeopathy and for health in a lot of families. So, thank you so much.

 

Now onto our second guy who is Mark. I’m happy to be here with Mark B. from New York. How are you, Mark?

 

Mark:  Hi. Good, thanks.

 

Paola:  Good. Tell us what line of work you’re in.

 

Mark:  I repair furniture.

 

Paola:  Awesome. You are a pretty avid sports guy, am I right?

 

Mark:  Yes. I like to run and take part in races. I like soccer in the winter.

 

Paola:  In the winter?

 

Mark:  Well, indoor soccer. I bike and run in the other months.

 

Paola:  Are you training for any specific event right now?

 

Mark:  Yes. I’ve got a half marathon coming up Memorial Day weekend.

 

Paola:  Okay, cool, very good. It will be nice and warm. Then you have a few children, right?

 

Mark:  Three kids, two boys, 9 and 2. Then my girl is in the middle, she’s 5.

 

Paola:  Awesome. You have been around the natural-medicine-block for a while now.

 

Mark:  Yes.

 

Paola:  I think you told me that it’s thanks to natural medicine that you met your wife.

 

Mark:  Yes. We both were working at the same little health food store.

 

Paola:  Oh, you guys were working there together. How cute. I think a lot of women now who do homeopathy on Joette’s paradigm wished they met their husbands in a natural health store.

 

Mark:  Yes. No, we didn’t meet in a bar.

 

Paola:  Right.

 

Mark:  It’s a little bit almost the opposite.

 

Paola:  That’s cute. When you guys told me that, I thought that that just couldn’t be more perfect. So, let me just back up and remind us why we’re doing this podcast. The gears in a man’s brain obviously turn differently than a woman does. I found that this podcast really needs the voice of some men and their perspective on homeopathy. So, thank you for coming and participating with this. But something interesting that you’ve told me is that you’re not really interested in changing people’s mind. That’s not your personality as far as homeopathy goes.

 

Mark:  Yes. I wouldn’t want to convince somebody, preach. I’m not a preacher.

 

Paola:  Okay. Why is that?

 

Mark:  I think that what everyone believes is right for them in that moment. So, for me to come in and say, “Actually, you should believe this,” I don’t think that’s how minds change.

 

Paola:  I think that’s very fair. I guess for you in your experience, what does it take to change your mind about something?

 

Mark:  Ultimately, choice but choosing to be open to a new perspective, a new possibility that doesn’t prove your old way of thinking wrong — but just expands on it. Yes, it may prove it wrong in the long run. You just got to be open to new perspectives is how I see it.

 

Paola:  Yes, I like that. It’s almost like being open to allowing yourself to evolve, permitting the evolution of the self and new ideas. That’s really what I think homeopathy is for a lot of people. They’ve evolved in their thinking. Let’s try something new like you said and being open to that choice. So, let’s get into this. You do feel like you have some experiences that you could share with homeopathy that our listeners might find interesting. So, why to you does homeopathy have value?

 

Mark’s belief in homeopathy and self-healing

 

Mark:  I believe the way I see homeopathy is, it doesn’t do the healing. It directs your body to do the healing on its own.

 

Paola:  So, you have faith in your body then.

 

Mark:  Yes. If I were tasked to talk to a skeptical husband about homeopathy, I would just ask him…is his faith or his belief in healing, is it in the traditional medical industry, in his doctor let’s say. Is that where your faith in healing is? It’s fine. What if your body could do it better than your doctor? I think homeopathy is a great path to understanding self-healing.

 

Paola:  Well, I find, at least for me, I’ve had a lot of chronic health problems. I don’t know if you share that. So, what happened for me was I had a lot of mistrust with my body, miscarriages, itching all over, just terrible chronic things that happened to me. I developed a very real mistrust with my body because it proved to me that I couldn’t trust it. But you’re right, homeopathy opened that door that I could find a path back to that place of innocence that I had before my chronic stuff started coming up, where I can trust it.

 

Mark:  Precisely. You know actually, this is a thought that occurred because knowing that this was coming up, I thought on the skeptical husband front, if I were to just remind him that we accept, oh well, babies and kids, their bodies just heal faster. They can heal anything. They’re resilient, right? We just attribute it to youth. Maybe it is the physical body itself but maybe it’s the fact that they don’t dwell in fear and doubt like we do. So, I think homeopathy can be a way to send a clear message to your body like, “Hey, do this,” rather than the clouding our thoughts with fear and doubt, I think can confuse the body on what it needs to do. Maybe that’s why we don’t heal as fast, just a thought that crossed my mind today.

 

Paola:  No. I think that’s right. Kids almost, they don’t care about, you know…

 

Mark:  Exactly.

 

Paola:  I mean you guys were telling me about your son today. He has an ear infection right now. But he just wanted to play with his buddies. They just kind of let their body do their thing. So, they get sick and they go to mom. Then mom helps them out. To some degree, it’s okay, whereas I think an adult even feels a little pinch in their ear. They’re freaking out, and they’re going right to the doctor for the antibiotics or whatever. I think we react a lot quicker than we need to.

 

Mark:  Yes. It shows you where their faith is.

 

Paola:  Yes.

 

Mark:  Their faith is in their doctor.

 

Paola:  Yes, you’re right. It goes right back to that mistrust we were talking about, very good. I want to jump ahead and talk about what situations have you found homeopathy to be beneficial for you in your lifestyle, your family.

 

Mark:  Sure. My wife, she’ll use homeopathy for a lot of things with herself and with the kids, whether it’s rashes for herself or an earache, whatever the kids are going through just to address it somehow. So, for me, I really will only pursue homeopathy for like sports injuries. I broke a toe five weeks ago. So, I would take homeopathy to speed the bone healing. Then once the bone heals after a couple of weeks, I found that it’s still hurting. Well, it’s a sprain because it’s dislocated. So, the sprain, I’ve heard takes longer. Then I’ve been on a protocol for the ligaments to heal and the swelling to go down. So, my personal experience is physical healing, bone and muscle and ligaments.

 

Paola:  Because you have those strenuous, I mean it sounds like a strenuous workout schedule for your competitions and everything.

 

Mark:  That’s another story. I’m training too hard actually. I think like anything and everything in moderation. You should start where you’re at and just go from there. But for me, I’ve been pushing it too hard is all.

 

Paola:  I would love to share that protocol. I’m guessing you use Symphytum for the bone when it broke. I’m so sorry you broke it.

 

Mark:  Yes, Symphytum, Rhus tox. I don’t know the details. I just know that those two together do something a little different.

 

Paola:  Right. So maybe it’s your wife saying, “Alright, take this.” You’re like, “Okay, I trust you.”

 

Mark:  Yes. I’ll be the one who stays with it, whereas yes, she’ll just pop some remedies in my mouth if I mentioned something without asking for it.

 

Paola:  That’s so nice of that for you.

 

Mark:  Oh it’s so nice, yes.

 

Paola:  Mark, a lot of men like data and facts. So, let’s just use your family as a microcosm of other families who use homeopathy. How long have you guys been using homeopathy for now?

 

Mark:  About nine years.   

 

Paola:  So, in those last nine years, have you needed to go to a doctor for these illnesses, these injuries, these kinds of things that I think a lot of other people have to see the doctors for.

 

Mark:  No. However, before we’ve been doing homeopathy for these nine years, I did have a bursitis flare up in the knee.

 

Paola:  I’m not familiar with bursitis. What is it exactly? It sounds like a terrible thing.

 

What is bursitis

 

Mark:  I think there are bursa sacs in every joint. I might be wrong on that. But there’s a bursa sac in the knee. I guess, I wish I knew, I should know, but there was a bacterial infection that took off in that bursa sac. For whatever reason, it can affect the whole knee. The whole knee got red and warm and swollen. But I stayed home for almost two days, a day and a half doing garlic, doing things that I thought would just help my body address it. The thing just got more and more swollen, more painful to move. That’s a case where we did end up going to the emergency room for an antibacterial shot in the knee. I think if we had homeopathy, I think that would have taken care of it. My son had almost the same, the beginnings of the bursitis flare up in his knee. It was warm and red. So, my son started getting that. But now, we have homeopathy. My wife gave him a remedy remembering that I had the same thing, though…she gave him a remedy, and no ER visit. It died down.

 

Paola:  Yes, it worked. So, that’s wonderful.

 

Mark:  Yes. I should state, too, that for trauma that I’m not comfortable addressing on my own. That’s what I love about modern medicine is they’re really good with trauma care. That’s definitely where I see the place of traditional, conventional medicine in my life is.

 

Paola:  We have a great podcast that I always refer back to. It was on discernment. You really do need to have good common sense and discernment to know when this is an emergency, or when this isn’t and you can treat yourself. A lot of it comes down to having the knowledge, sometimes the diagnosis, knowing what it is, owning the remedies and having the knowledge for the proper protocol to use. So, that is really important. We’re very lucky that if you don’t have all those ducks lined up in a row, you can go seek out medical care. So, it’s an important point you make.

 

I guess my last question to you is it sounds like, Mark, you have a lot more control on your life than other people do. I mean you injure yourself when exercising and you have an option. Your kid starts getting bursitis, you have an option. Your kid gets an ear infection, you have an option. In what way does homeopathy give you the freedom to continue your life as you wish?

 

Mark:  I believe that I’m healing faster than I otherwise would have if I didn’t take these remedies for ligament and swelling reduction. Yes, it’s given me the ability to learn from my overtraining mistakes.

 

Paola:  Right. It has allowed you to kind of in excess of your exercising routine, enjoy it in excess.

 

Mark:  Yes. Sure, probably I would also add that for not taking the kids to the doctor as much, we’re not paying into our insurance deductible as much. So, we’re saving some money. There’s little freedom there too.

 

Paola:  How would you like…I mean, it’s Friday night. Your kid has an ear infection. How do you feel about spending the rest of the night in the ER?

 

Mark:  Yes, that doesn’t sound really freeing to me.

 

Paola:  That’s awful. Well Mark, thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time to share your perspective on things. It’s just really great to hear a different view.

 

Mark:  You’re welcome.

 

Paola:  It puts some testosterone into the podcast.

 

Mark:  Yes, you’re welcome.  

 

Paola:  Alright, thank you so much, Mark. Now, we’re onto our top secret, final interviewee, Levi. Let’s jump in and listen to that one.

 

Hi. I’m here with Levi. I’m very happy to have you on the podcast here. Thank you for taking the time to join us.

 

Levi:  It’s a pleasure to be here.

 

Paola:  So why don’t you introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about yourself. You are all grown up.

 

Levi:  Yes, a little bit. Yes, I’m 59 years old this year. I’m originally from Brazil, born and raised in Brazil. I graduated as an MBA in Engineering. That’s at Brigham Young University. I worked through companies among others, Intel Corporation over in Arizona. I have three kids and seven grandkids now. Right now, I enjoy life working as a purchasing manager in a company in Wisconsin. I also enjoy the fact that I am a Boy Scout master.

 

Paola:  Oh good, at your local church?

 

Levi:  Yes, yes. We meet regularly and then have all those scout activities and I enjoy the boys.

 

Paola:  Very good. So, I’m really interested because a lot of the people we’ve interviewed in our podcast have been kind of in the middle age. I’m in my early 30s. A lot of the people we’ve interviewed have been about that age. But I’m interested in your insight and your perspective on homeopathy and your health because you are a generation ahead of me. So, tell us about your health.

 

Levi:  Well, right now, I enjoy good health. I do go to the gym at three or four times a week. I’m very active. I do a lot of yard working, a lot of trimming, a lot of pruning, and all those outside activities, bike sometimes. I really enjoy good health. No major issues health wise.

 

Paola:  So, as you look to the future, what kind of goals do you have for your health? What do you want to do with your body as you get older?

 

Levi:  The only thing I cannot do is stop aging, but I could maybe do the best that I can to age properly, I would say. Then when I look around, I see a lot of people my age, they don’t even work anymore. They’re force to retirement because they have issues like diabetes, cholesterol, or high blood pressure, and things like this that comes with age. Then happily, I don’t have none of those yet. I see a lot of people also dependent on drugs. They cannot move around. They can’t even travel sometimes because of their dependence on drugs or whatever. I would like to be happy by being free of drugs or free of any disease as it stretches as long as I can.

 

Paola:  Absolutely. So really your goal is to be drug-free, healthy, independent, and what was the word you said you want to age?

 

Levi:  With a quality of life. When I retire, I like to be a volunteer worker and then do something out there to maintain, I can go up and down and then move around without major health issues. That’s the goal.

 

Paola:  That’s a really good point. People your age, when they do retire, they can still be a huge contribution to society, I think, in those volunteer type positions, helping the community. If they don’t have the health to do that which a lot of them don’t, they actually end up, I think, becoming the opposite…kind of a burden to their family because of their health issues. Of course, I think families should and ought to care for their older family members. But you’re right. To have that health and ability to serve is way better than the opposite, so very good. Let’s talk about homeopathy. Is homeopathy something that is new to you or have you known about it before.

 

Levi:  Oh yes. As I said, I was born and raised in Brazil. Down in Brazil, it’s a very common thing. People have access to homeopathy. Poor people, rich people, everybody has access to that. The good thing is that it’s very affordable. I grew up in a very poor family. Health insurance was not available in my family. So anytime we have some symptoms like a sore throat or whatever issue that we had, mom would go to this pharmacy and they start using this homeopathy to be able to at least see if it can fix the problem before we go to doctor or even hospital. I don’t remember seeing a hospital in my whole childhood. Then every time me or any of my brothers would have any health issues, my mom would go to the pharmacy and buy some homeopathy medication. Then we would use that. Then we lived a happy life, a happy childhood, poor but with everything that we need and no major issues there.

 

Paola:  Now, you told me, I think, that your mom was also a nurse. Is that right?

 

Levi:  Yes. Being a nurse, she always would know the symptoms of somebody’s getting sick. So, at that point, she would rush to these pharmacies, which is very affordable and then could get those and start immediately helping. That’s how I grew up. As far as I remember, I never took much of other medications because I was healthy.

 

Paola:  What happened when you started having kids?

 

Levi:  At that point, every time one of my kids would have some issues like a sore throat or little fever or this or that, and then we also remember what my mom used to give to us. So, I just went to one of these pharmacies and get the proper homeopathic medicines. Then it’s very common thing to have also doctors already available. We visit the doctor and he gives us some advice on what kind of homeopathy medication or remedies to fix whatever problem was going on.

 

Paola:  This is really interesting. So, you’re telling me that you would see a homeopathic doctor or a regular doctor who knew how to prescribe some homeopathic medicines?

 

Levi:  No, mostly they were specifically homeopathic doctors.

 

Paola:  Oh interesting.

 

Levi:  On the case of pharmacies, they usually have both, in Brazil. Any pharmacy you go in Brazil, you’ll find both medications.

 

Paola:  Oh wow, just side-by-side get what you need, interesting.

 

Levi:  Yes.

 

Paola:  There came a point, I think, in your life where you saw homeopathy kind of step out of the family life. You grew up with it. It sounds like early childhood when you were raising your kids, homeopathy was still present. But there came a point where homeopathy stepped away. Tell us about that.

 

Life without homeopathy for Levi and his family

 

Levi:  Yes. That was when I was about 26 years old. I decided to immigrate to US. At that time when I moved to US, first of all, those homeopathic remedies are not readily available in the pharmacies. Also, I was a poor student. So, I’m going to college and then raising kids. Then when those needs would come around, in the beginning we brought a kit from Brazil. That kit had the most common stuff that we might need. But we ran out of those homeopathic remedies, and then we decided to move into the regular doctors because there was nothing available. Whenever an issue would come, any sore throat, any fever, or any common flu or cold would come, we’d have to go to a quick shortcut and use the regular doctors.

 

Paola:  Wow! That sounds so tragic that you guys brought a kit and then it ran out. Then you guys did what everybody else did, it sounds like.

 

Levi:  Yes. It was not fun, but when you are in an emergency and running up and down, having two jobs and 16 hours of classes in college, it’s kind of a busy life. So, we need to go to the shortcut.

 

Paola:  Right. That’s exactly right. At that time, did you believe that doctors were a better route for your family because doctors, especially in the US, they’re highly respected. They’re very educated. I know that they would spend many hours studying their practice. As your homeopathy kit run out, did you feel like okay, well, we should be seeing the doctors because they’re better anyways. They’re highly educated individuals. It’s better for my kids.

 

Levi:  No, not at all. Actually, I just went to those regular doctors because that was the only availability I have around. I always saw those homeopathic doctors as good doctors as any other doctor. I’m an educated person so I kind of understand what those things are. Every time, even when a regular doctor would give me some sorts of medications, I made my own judgment on what to take or not to take because sometimes reading all those ingredients and say no, this is no good for me. Then try to cope with the symptoms as much as you can. When I was living under these homeopathic doctors down in Brazil, I noticed that they would go for the root cause of the problem. When I came to US using these regular doctors, they’re always going for the symptoms, trying to fix the symptoms and not the actual root cause. Like, if I am having a headache, they would go for the headache and not what’s causing that headache.

 

Paola:  Right.

 

Levi:  And also, I noticed how expensive it is, the regular doctors, especially in the United States. It’s atrociously expensive. Down in Brazil, going to a regular doctor was not as expensive as it is here. Just to give an idea. When we moved to Wisconsin two months ago, we decided to establish our family doctor. We went to see this doctor and the doctor asked me if I was married to my wife. Yes. So, he invited us both in to her office. Then we stayed there. They  questioned us about health history and this and that. My wife is not sick. I am not sick. Then we stayed there talking about those historical events in our lives about health. Then we stayed there about 20 minutes. Then I was surprised that two weeks later that I received over $500 bill for 20 minutes. 20 minutes times 3 is one hour. 500 times 3 is $1500 per hour. Whoa! It’s a highly immoral system that we have in US is how much money goes around. I don’t know exactly details on what that money went for. I just know that we sit down for 20 minutes and just talked to the doc. She checked my wife’s pulse and blood pressure, and that was it.

 

Paola:  Right. It didn’t feel like a $500 visit, for sure. She didn’t hand you any gold bars or anything, right?

 

Levi:  I just told my wife, as soon as I got the bill, I said, “Honey, I just got the wrong profession because she’s going $1500 an hour.” Something is wrong with this picture. Unfortunately, in US today, there’s a lack of options. The best thing to do is to keep ourselves as healthy as possible, making sure that we are eating well and then exercising and maintaining our healthy life and not to use that system.

 

Paola:  Yes. I think most families would prefer to go seek out natural ways to uproot the root cause like you were saying. But those things can fall by the wayside if there’s no available option. Here in the US, you really have to go looking for it. I think that’s what happened with you guys and your kids. It sounds like you came prepared. You did what you could do. But life is busy. It sounds like homeopathy kind of fell by the wayside as you guys got older.

 

Levi:  Yes. For me to find any homeopathic remedies, I need to go on Google and find on the internet and then order online, because I cannot cross town or go downtown and find somebody that can sell me those stuff.

 

Paola:  It’s not like you have your local friendly homeopathic pharmacy anymore like you did in Brazil. Joette talks about this. Joette says look at what everyone else is doing and do the opposite. In some ways, I think she’s absolutely right because if you look at what everybody else is doing — and I think you saw this, too — everybody else is probably going to the doctors when you came here to the US. It’s just what everybody does. It’s important to question what everybody does and maybe you do need to turn around and walk the other way.

 

Levi:  Yes. That’s what I did. About two, three years ago, I started having some acid reflux. And it started coming and was pretty bad. Then of course went to the doctor and omeprazole was prescribed to me.

 

Paola:  So, omeprazole is to help with acid reflux, like GERD?

 

Levi:  It stops heart burn. Then I started taking omeprazole. Then one day in conversation with my daughter on the phone, I mentioned to her that I was taking omeprazole. Then she starts telling me, “No. You should not be taking those. Go there and look into the internet and see all those side effects of those medications.” I did go. My wife and I started reading and we were, “Whoa!” It’s horrible things.

 

Paola:  What did your wife call it? She said basically it causes…?

 

Levi:  Dementia.

 

Paola:  That’s not good.

 

Levi:  My daughter listens to Joette’s podcast and then taken her classes. She was nagging me about not to take omeprazole anymore. The omeprazole is so good. I mean I take one and the rest of the day, nothing. But, every time I would go to sleep at night thinking about all those side effects, whoa, I think that I’d do something about it.

 

Paola:  So, she planted a seed of concern in you, basically.

 

Levi:  Yes, I could not sleep well at night. Every time I’ll take one of those, I’ll regret. Last time I was in Brazil, I was talking to my brother and then he was taking a medication right in front of me there. So, and then I said, “What are you taking there?” He says, “Oh, omeprazole.” What do you need that? They’re for acid reflux. We started talking about it. I asked him, “How long have you been taking this stuff?” Oh, as far as I remember. I don’t know. Ten years now, I guess. Also, I have another friend that takes omeprazole regularly. He’s saying that he takes several other medications and then omeprazole kind of neutralizes the effects of those medications he’s taking.

 

Paola:  So it’s like the medications he’s taking causes GERD. Then he needs the omeprazole to deal with the GERD.

 

Levi:  Exactly, exactly.

 

Paola:  It’s the side effect with the side effect. So, now you’re on a bunch of medications to handle each other’s side effects. That’s great.

 

Levi:  I told him it felt like a negative downwards spiral with all these stuff that you’re taking. Then one thing pulls the other one and then eventually you’re drowning on those medications.

 

Paola:  So, when you thought about these friends of yours, these two in particular that you’re talking about that take omeprazole, did you notice anything with their mental state? We’re not saying that omeprazole causes dementia, but you’re saying when you added up all the potential side effects, it sounds like it could cause dementia-like symptoms.

 

Levi:  Then actually talking to my sister in law, for instance, she’s saying that my brother is sometimes not cohesive anymore. He forgets things. I mean it comes with age but reading those side effects of this drug, I can see some signs of those things in his life. And also, other people that I have around, similar symptoms are being experienced. I don’t know much about those things. I just see that people, they have a hard time to remember things, kind of going to a stage that life is not very happy or healthy.

 

Paola:  I just did some research on the internet here for omeprazole for some of the side effects. I see that the label says it can cause confusion, depression, feeling agitated, aggressive, hallucinations. I mean so these are definitely mental issues. So, when you got back from your trip to Brazil after seeing your friends…

 

Levi:  When I saw these side effects on people and then I got scared. I said I better pay attention with what my daughter is telling me because I don’t want to go to that path. My daughter decided to get me hooked up with some protocols that would help me on that.

 

Paola:  So, did you think it was going to work?

 

Levi:  No. First of all, I would have to stop completely omeprazole. If I would forget one day to take omeprazole, I would go in pain. Sometimes I have to drive 20, 30 minutes back home at lunchtime just to get one of those or buy another pill in the pharmacy because I could not live without it. Just the idea of changing my omeprazole to something else, I guess would be bad news. So, I was really concerned about that. I have to work and life needs to go on. It’s kind of hard. How can I live with heartburns and severe heartburns actually?

 

Paola:  So, you just felt like you were scared enough to try it.

 

Levi:  Then one of those nights when I was brave enough to say, “You know what? I’m going to follow my daughter, whatever she’s saying.” Then I have swallowed my pride and go for it. And I did. My daughter hooked me up with Banerji Protocol.

 

Paola:  So, can I share the protocol with our listeners?

 

Levi:  Yes, please.

 

Iris ver and Mag phos for acid reflux

 

Paola:  So, the protocol that you used was Iris versicolor 200C in liquid. You took that four times a day before each meal. So, that would include the three major meals and maybe like a snack, like an afternoon snack.

 

Levi:  Yes.

 

Paola:  Then if you had heartburn and tell me if this is right, you would alternate Iris ver 200 with Mag phos 6X, every 15 minutes. If you were having a heartburn flare-up, you would do the Iris ver then 15 minutes later, you would do the Mag phos. Then 15 minutes later, you switch back to the Iris ver until there is relief.

 

Levi:  Actually. in the beginning, I could not get any relief from those protocols. What I did was one day I would take omeprazole and the other day I would take those. Life was not fun. It was maybe two months straight having all those ups and downs of flares and coming up and down.

 

Paola:  When you took the omeprazole, did you also take the homeopathy on top of it?

 

Levi:  No. One day, I would take omeprazole like in the morning and in the afternoon when I have some flares then I would take those protocols.

 

Paola:  I see. For reference, homeopathy can be used in conjunction with medications. At least that’s what homeopathic practitioners have said over the years. They don’t cause any interaction with medications since they’re so ultra diluted. But that’s what you did. You just did one and then the other.

 

Levi:  Exactly. Then a week later, I decided to be brave enough to completely avoid omeprazole, never touch that again. Then I kept on those protocols. There was not relief immediately. Especially Mag phos, I would take them quite a bit, every 10 minutes sometimes. Sometimes I just took one and then 15 minutes later, there it was again. There with the same flares. I was persistent to that. In the past, I saw homeopathic medication working well. I have faith this thing might work, too. But, I was not seeing much result on those. Then about a month later, I start seeing good results or improving. Then two months later was a half of what was before. Then within 3 ½ months, I was completely done with that. To the point that I was taking maybe once every two days and then became once a week. Then today, last time I took one of those was maybe five weeks ago.

 

Paola:  Wow.

 

Levi:  Completely fixed the problem. When I looked into my medicine cabinet, I see there a whole bunch of those omeprazole. I laughed at them. Most of them are already being expired because I don’t touch them anymore and then I don’t need anymore.

 

Paola:  That’s great. That’s great.

 

Levi:  Once in a while if I eat something too spicy, like if I go Mexican food or Indian food or whatever and then sometimes it gives me those little flares. I don’t even take Iris ver. I only go for Mag phos maybe one or two little pills, and that’s enough. Wherever I go, I just take with me in traveling and then just make sure I have those just in case. But lately, I’ve been completely free of both, all those protocols and also, happily, out of those omeprazole…out of my life.

 

Paola:  So, you see it as being uprooted. I think that’s a really great story. I think at the beginning when you were using the omeprazole and the homeopathy, you were trying to decide what you really wanted to do. But I liked how you finally just did, “You know what? I need to commit to this. I’m going to give this up. I’m going to really give it a try.” A month seems like a long time. It seems like a long time when you’re in the middle of it during that hard time. But it sounds like one month of struggling through something is worth it when you look at the next 15 years of being free from this.

 

Levi:  Yes, yes. That’s exactly what it is. I don’t want to take medication at all. I don’t take even Tylenol or anything. I don’t take anything anymore. I don’t have a need for those things. If I eat a little funny one of these days then I have to go to one of these protocols to help me up but it’s rare. As I said, last time I touched it was about five weeks ago.

 

Paola:  That’s great. At the beginning of our interview, you have said that you had a homeopathy kit that was brought from Brazil for your family that you use and then it ran out. So, do you have plans on getting your own homeopathy kit now?

 

Levi:  Oh yes, oh yes. I’m working on that. I don’t know. Maybe Brazil is going to be less expensive the next time I go down there. I’m going to talk to my daughter first to give me a list of stuff that I should be having in my kit.

 

Paola:  Yes. Well, usually if it’s a kit, the pharmacy has done the research. They have the top, most commonly used medicines already preselected in the kit. Usually, you don’t have to build your own kit. They come preassembled which is nice.

 

Levi:  I guess I’m going to go for one of those and start changing my habits and moving to a healthier life.

 

Who is Levi

 

Paola:  Very good. Should we confess to our listeners? I really wanted to do this interview with you, because we’re trying to get Dads with Audacity, right? And you are my dad.

 

Levi:  I am your father.

 

Paola:  So, I really wanted to interview you because I just love the story of how we did grow up with homeopathy in our early childhood but it fell by the wayside. It’s kind of made full circle back into both our lives. My siblings and my mom uses homeopathy. I just love that it’s kind of reentered our family. Joette has said that homeopathy is a generational experience. It blesses all the generations. You can leave a legacy for your children and your grandchildren. I just thought this is a really great little story to illustrate this idea that you can bless your family all around you. You can’t keep homeopathy to yourself when you see people suffering and taking medications that could ruin their long-term health, too.

 

Levi:  Yes. I love you for helping me become healthier. Actually, if I could give you a parallel story on that. As I mentioned in the beginning, I came from a very poor family. We are six children. Education was not a common thing. Actually, I don’t know anybody in my family or extended family that ever went to school, for instance. Then when I was growing up, I decided that schooling would be a very important thing for my life. I could see poverty everywhere because of lack of schooling. In Brazil, it’s very hard to go to school. It’s very expensive. Only rich people can go to colleges, things like this. Then I decided to be brave and break that chain of poverty. Because I did, my youngest one is going to college now. My oldest son has a PhD. Paola has her master’s degree. I believe that it takes courage to break a system that’s created around you. But it’s a paradigm way to do it. The same thing with this health way of life, whatever is imposed to your life, it doesn’t mean that I should swallow that and go for it. I should question. Like questioning this, that’s what made me healthier. I do exercise. I tried to eat as healthy as possible. So, I believe it’s a paradigm shift. Those paradigm shifts is everywhere in life. In my case, education was a big one. Another one is back to homeopathic medication.

 

Paola:  I really like that analogy about the paradigm shifts. So, that’s a very wise advice. Well, thank you so much, dad, Levi, for being on the episode for Joette. If you are listening and you know a ad that has audacity like Levi or the other dads that we’ve interviewed, we would love to hear from you. Just contact us at [email protected]. That is podcast (in the singular form, not plural) @joettecalabrese.com. Thanks again, Levi.

 

Levi:  Thank you. Love you. Bye-bye.

 

Paola:  I love you too, dad. For Joette’s listeners, I really hope you enjoyed this podcast. I hope you found it as enriching and beneficial as I did. For sure, I want to encourage you moms out there listening to get your hubbies to listen to this podcast. Maybe it will get their gears turning in a new way if they hear the perspective from some dads with audacity. Thanks.

 

Joette:  Are you or someone you know a mom with moxie? Well, we’re on the hunt for you. And of course, we don’t want to hear just from moms but from anyone who uses and loves homeopathy. Reach out to my podcast team and let us know why you’re a mom with moxie. For more information, contact [email protected]. 

 

Thank you for listening to this podcast with Joette Calabrese. If you liked it, please share it with your friends. To learn more and find out if homeopathy is a good fit in your health strategy, visit joettecalabrese.com.