I grew up in Western New York in a small town surrounded by farms. The air and water were clean, the grass smelled heavenly and the food was pristine. My Italian grandparents lived down the street and had a garden of vegetables and beautiful flowers. Every spring my grandfather would dig up the dandelions and cook them with olive oil and garlic. He would tell us he was doing his “spring cleaning.” I did not know until I studied herbs that dandelions help to stabilize blood sugar and detoxify or “clean” the liver. It’s too bad more people don’t know how healthful these plants are.

In New York, the high school curriculum was more difficult than most states. We had to take a regent’s exam which required you to know quite a bit about a subject in order to pass. This made my first couple of years in college quite easy, but when I got to pharmacy school it was a whole different experience. We were taught difficult sciences and had to interpret them as they pertained to the biochemistry and physiology of the body.  We studied how drugs and herbs worked, and what drugs and herbs are needed for absorption, distribution and excretion in the body.

The first day of pharmacy school, we were told, “Look to the right, look to the left, one of you will be gone before school is over.” I could not believe it because I was surrounded by students who excelled in biochemistry and calculus.  But sure enough they were right. About 30% of the students failed the physiology course. The professor, Dr. Becky Bunce, required us to realize that the body is programed a certain way, and one system affects other systems, and symptoms may show up in many places. She taught us that the adrenal glands can affect heart rhythm and so many other things that are not taught today. It is because of Dr. Bunce I became a “Body Detective” and want to share this knowledge with you!