Dr. Alicia Armitstead Dr. Alicia Armitstead

Inflammation Relief - A New Supplement

Patients come to Healing Arts with all sorts of health concerns. Headaches, bloating, acne, constipation, insomnia, fatigue, infertility, eczema, brain fog, the list can go on and on. My answer is always the same, muscle test the body to see what toxins the body is holding in order to reduce inflammation. Inflammation in the head is a headache or migraine. Inflammation in the joints is pain. Inflammation in the gut is bloating and so on. The root cause of all dis-ease is inflammation. What we find with the muscle testing is why. Is the reason for the inflammation heavy metals, heavy chemicals, bad flora, parasites, or a food sensitivity? I fell in love with the technique of muscle testing because it is so fast and noninvasive, giving me and my patients answers.

When starting to detox and supporting the body with the right nutrition it takes time to get the inflammation down and yet I want patients to get symptomatic relief as soon as possible and I have noticed throughout the years I would have to give 2-3 different anti-inflammatory supplements to do the job so I decided to make my own supplement, called Inflammation Relief, that contained everything to help lower the inflammation. It contains Curcumin, Pepperine (Black Pepper), Fenugreek, Gotu Kola, Quercitin, Boswelia, Bromelain, and Magnesium lactate.

Curcumin is a well known anti-inflammatory. It is the active ingredient in turmeric and works ten times better with black pepper so add both to your cooking every chance you get or buy in supplement form. Make sure the supplement has black pepper in it too. I do about a teaspoon of turmeric in my superfood protein shake with a pinch of black pepper every morning. Curcumin specifically is great for reducing inflammation in joints, lungs and brain. For the brain it works by encouraging the immune system to send white blood cells called macrophages to the brain in order to destroy any abnormal proteins, restoring proper brain function. Now the reason I added fenugreek to the supplement is because fenugreek helps curcumin absorption into our bodies. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1756464616000426

So black pepper helps curcumin work and fenugreek helps it’s bioavailability.

Magnesium is another great supplement to help with inflammation. Magnesium can help with lots of different things including sleep and bowel movements. It helps with those things because it lowers the inflammation.

Boswelia also known as frankincense is amazing at reducing inflammation especially in joints with cartilage breakdown, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and osteoarthritis (OA). It’s also used to treat symptoms of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease and inflammation in the gut in general.

Bromelain is an enzyme find in pineapple that breaks down protein and has pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory effects comparable to NSAIDs. It too can help with bowel inflammation and help boost up the immune system and fight bacterial infections . When the immune system is stronger it can fight or get rid of whatever is causing the inflammation in the first place.

You’ve heard the old saying, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Today, researchers in the field of antioxidants and the effects of micronutrients are beginning to explain why this old adage is more scientifically true than we may have thought. Apples, as well as many other colorful fruits and vegetables, contain a rich amount of a particularly powerful antioxidant called quercetin. Onions have the highest known quercetin content. Other common foods with significant levels of quercetin include:

• Apples

• Cauliflower

• Grapes

• Nectarines

• Spinach

• Strawberries

• Tea

• Tomatoes

Although quercetin is commonly found in many of the foods included in a healthy diet, I use it in this supplement at a therapeutic dosage because it’s such a strong antioxidant.

Quercetin has potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antihistamine, antiviral, immune-boosting, and other biological properties. Quercetin works in multiple ways to help prevent or alleviate the symptoms of a variety of conditions, including:

• Cancer

• Canker sores

• Heart disease

• Herpes

• Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

• Nasal allergy relief

• Respiratory infections

Quercetin’s antioxidant properties also appear to offer sunscreen protection against damage to the skin from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation.

Gotu Kola is great for improving circulation which of course, the more blood flow the less inflammation. Studies suggest supplementing with gotu kola may help you improve your blood circulation. A study conducted on 87 participants diagnosed with poor circulation showed noticeable improvement when given 30 to 60 milligrams two times a day for 60 days. Additionally, eight more studies reported gotu kola effectively improved circulation while alleviating poor circulation symptoms, including pain, heaviness in the legs and swelling. Gotu Kola also helps reduce chronic inflammation by triggering antioxidant activity within the body.

So those are the details of why I put those ingredients in my third personally formulated herbal supplement. With the right nutrition the body truly can heal. To purchase the Healing Arts supplement, Inflammation Relief, https://healingartsnyc.com/shop/inflammation-relief

Read More
Dr. Alicia Armitstead Dr. Alicia Armitstead

Brain Boosting Tea

I love getting muscle tested for a personalized tea blend at the Healing Arts Tea Bar. When I want more focus I specifically get muscle tested for a Brain Boosting blend.  Our tea menu is different than anything you have ever seen before.  We have the teas listed and you can pick one and enjoy it either stay at the tea bar or take it to go but what is different is on the back of the menu is a list of symptoms and you can choose the symptom you want to work on and then get muscle tested for which 3 herbs your body needs.  So you don't choose your tea but your body does!

Besides getting a cup of hot tea we can also make a container for you of your personalized blend that is 12 servings. Here is the list of teas we have that can help boost your brain health:

Bergamot-Digestion, lowers cholesterol, brain health, acid reflux, immunity booster, energy booster, weight loss, skin support, constipation, hydrates


Black Tea- Digestion, blood sugar, lowers cholesterol, brain health, heart health, improves blood pressure


Butterfly pea -Eye support, skin support, improves blood pressure, hair support, lung support, brain health 


Cat’s Claw-Digestion, brain health, immune support, improves blood pressure


Earl Grey- Digestion, brain health, immune booster, energy booster, weight loss, hydrates, and great skin support


Echinacea- Immune booster, respiratory health, digestion, anti-inflammatory, brain health, skin, anti-aging


Ginger  - Digestion, anti-inflammatory, lower cholesterol, brain health, immunity booster, weight loss, women’s health, pain relief, heart support

Green tea  - Heart support, anti-aging, weight loss support, immune support, brain health, anti-inflammatory, blood sugar


Holy Basil-Digestion, blood sugar, anti-inflammatory, lower cholesterol, brain health, immunity booster, weight loss support, skin support, respiratory support, eye support, detox


Jasmine - Liver support, relaxation, brain health, digestion


Lavender - Relaxation, brain health, women’s health, sleep support, skin support


Lemongrass - Pain relief, sleep support, brain health, anti-inflammatory 


Mugwort -Diuretic, women’s health, energy booster, brain health, digestion 


Peppermint - Digestion, respiratory, anti-inflammatory, brain health, pain relief, sleep support, women’s health, weight loss, skin support, immune support, relaxation, brain health


Rose - Hydrates, respiratory support, skin support, sleep support, women’s health, immunity booster, brain health, digestion 


Rooibos - Improves blood pressure, women’s health support, energy booster, brain health,

lower cholesterol, blood sugar 


Turmeric - Pain relief, eye support, immunity booster, brain health, lower cholesterol, anti-inflammatory (for more on turmeric, click here)

We also have blends to help inflammation, energy, women’s health, digestion, immune system, high blood pressure and more.  So if you haven’t tried a personalized tea blend yet you must at your next visit!


More on brain boosting health listen to our podcast.

Read More
Dr. Alicia Armitstead Dr. Alicia Armitstead

Anti-inflammatory Teas Now at Healing Arts Wellness Center

Everyone enjoys a good cup of tea or at least I do! The comfort and the taste is something I look forward to daily.  I have enjoyed herbal teas for years and was just enjoying it for the comfort and taste when last year I started using herbal teas medicinally.  When I say medicinally I mean I started to actually think about the tea I was drinking for the health benefits of the herbs. When I did this I saw my energy which was already good, skyrocket!  My digestion improved and the slight swelling I would get time to time disappeared.  I was definitely less inflamed overall.  I learned so much and using this knowledge I was so excited to open up the Tea Bar at the Healing Arts Wellness Center three weeks ago!

The tea menu I created lists all the herbs that we use but I wanted to write this blog post about the anti-inflammatory teas we have and can blend together for you.  Yes, that’s right.  We use muscle testing to test what 3 herbs you need in your tea and make the personalized blend right there for you.  Since I muscle test supplements for people all day long it was easy for me to think about muscle testing tea too.  The creativity came in when I didn’t just want to give a person one type of tea but create a medicinal synergistic affect with a few teas together and create their own tea blend.  We have 25 different teas to choose from.  Imagine how many combinations of blends we can create with that! You can get one cup of tea or we can make a container for you that is 12 servings. 

One reason why anti-inflammatory teas are so important to have at the tea bar is because I think the foundational problem of why dis-ease starts in the body is due to too much inflammation.  My goal with every nutrition program is to help the patient reduce inflammation so the body can heal itself.  Inflammation is a reaction the body has when trying to put itself into balance or what doctors like to say, homeostasis, against any pathogen or toxin.  These toxins can be food, physical injury, heavy metals, emotional stress or heavy chemicals.  These toxins create free radicals which cause cellular damage.  With enough injured cells inflammation starts to build up.  Acute Inflammation is mostly handled by the expansion and activation of blood vessels. Inflammation is commonly associated with the formation of new blood and lymphatic vessels from the pre-existing vessels that got damaged. Interestingly, while the activation of the blood vasculature has been reported to increase inflammation, lymphatic vessels generally appear to exert beneficial effects, by improving the clearance of excess fluid, thus reducing swelling and levels of pro-inflammatory cells as well as a number of immune cells. So keeping the lymphatic system healthy to keep inflammation down is key for a healthy body.

When acute inflammation occurs the chances of it turning into chronic inflammation is dependent on the lymphatic system and that’s why the Healing Arts Wellness Center offers lymphatic drainage therapy.  Lymphatic drainage therapy is done by a massage therapist with a machine called Lympstar that uses electrons to attract the sluggish lymph and help it move through the body.  All lymph fluid travels to the collar bones where it gets dumped back. Into the blood and lymphatic therapy can help with that movement. 

We have been experimenting for months and came up with some great blends when muscle testing for helping with inflammation.  Here is the list of teas we have that reduce inflammation and have other healing properties as well.

Cinnamon Blood sugar, anti inflammatory, lower cholesterol (for more on cinnamon, click here)

Echinacea  Immune booster, respiratory health, digestion, anti-inflammatory, brain health, skin, anti-aging

Ginger  Digestion, anti-inflammatory, lower cholesterol, brain health, immunity booster, weight loss, women’s health, pain relief, heart support

Green Tea  Heart support, anti-aging, weight loss support, immune support, brain health, anti-inflammatory, blood sugar 

Holy Basil   Digestion, blood sugar, anti-inflammatory, lower cholesterol, brain health, immunity booster, weight loss support, skin support, respiratory support, eye support, detox

Lemongrass  Pain relief, sleep support, brain health, anti-inflammatory

Nettle Blood sugar, anti-inflammatory, pain relief

Peppermint Digestion, respiratory, anti-inflammatory, brain health, pain relief, sleep support, 

women’s health, weight loss, skin support, immune support, relaxation, brain health

Sarsaparilla Anti-inflammatory, immunity booster, skin support, liver support

Turmeric  Pain relief, eye support, immunity booster, brain health, lower cholesterol, anti-inflammatory (for more on turmeric, click here)

We also have blends for digestion, energy, women’s health, brain health, high blood pressure and more.  So if you haven’t tried a personalized tea blend yet you must at your next visit!

Read More
Dr. Alicia Armitstead Dr. Alicia Armitstead

Spa Day at Healing Arts NYC Wellness Center

We want you to enjoy all that the new Wellness Center has to offer at Healing Arts so we put together a "Spa Day" where you will spend about 2-3 hours at the wellness center doing different therapeutic services to help detox, rejuvenate and relax. It also comes with one personalized hot tea blend and a personalized homeopathic tincture.  The tincture you will take daily for 2 weeks in order to continue the rejuvenation process after your spa day. You can pick 4 different services for $150 and save $59. We also have a la carte options to make your spa day exactly what you want it to be.  You can also choose all 5 services for an extra $20 at $170 for the day!

Choose 4 for $150:

1) Foot Bath - helps to pull toxins out of the body through the feet by putting ions in the water of which your feet are soaking in. These ions have a negative charge. The negative charge attracts the positively charged toxins in your body. The ions in the foot bath water hold a charge that enables them to bind to any heavy metals and toxins in your body, similar to how a magnet works. This allows the toxins to be pulled out through the bottoms of your feet.

2) Ozone Sauna - you sit in a sauna pod that covers you from the neck down and induces sweating using steam from distilled water. This sweating opens up pores to allow the ozone gas to be absorbed by the skin. With the ozone gas the extra oxygen that goes in has such great anti-inflammatory and immune boosting effects. Ozone sauna therapy is believed to be a powerful treatment which may be comparable to IV ozone administrations just without the needle. Ozone therapy breaks up lactic acid, increases cellular respiration in muscles, speeds up recovery of damaged tissue and accelerates growth of muscle for those who have tight, sore muscles. Ozone sauna is great for after surgery or an injury. Ozone therapy improves blood circulation, improves vitamin and mineral absorption, fights inflammation, and is wonderful at killing mold, parasites, candida, viruses and bacteria.

spaday (1).png


3) Salt Booth - Our unique S.A.L.T. Booth® is an enclosed dry salt therapy unit to give you privacy during your salt therapy experience. With the salt booth, unlike the salt room, the concentration of salt particles can be adjusted to offer a more individualized and targeted salt therapy session. Because the concentration of salt is higher in the booth than a salt room sessions only take 10 minutes.


4) PEMF - an acronym for Pulsed Electro-Magnetic Field. PEMF therapy consists of a mat which emits pulses of energy waves. This energy courses through the body directly to inflamed or injured areas. The energy is also drawn to areas experiencing chronic pain. The energy waves of the PEMF mat passes through the organs and tissues and into the cells of your body, amplifying the cellular energy. The increase in energy promotes a natural reaction that regenerates and enhances the efficiency of the cell’s function. This natural process stimulates healing and helps to improve your overall well-being including cellular rejuvenation.


5) Chakra Light Therapy - Lay down and relax under seven Vogel-cut quartz crystals lit up by very specific light frequencies. Receive the frequencies produced by the UV laser and magnetic energy from the coil in the holder cancel each other out once they interact, this is how scalar energy is generated. It is then focused through the Vogel-cut crystals and into your chakras. Open and balanced chakras can allow you to heal faster and also give you higher levels of peace, focus, awareness and ability to relax and sleep better.


Do all 5 services for an extra $20. $170 for the day.


Included in each Spa Day:
Infoceuticals: Personalized Homeopathic Tincture to take for 4 weeks
Tea Bar: Personalized cup of tea made from 3 different herbs.


A La Carte
add an hour Massage for $120
add 30 min. Lymphatic drainage therapy $70
add Nutrition Response Testing $80add Initial Nutrition Response Testing $140
add Chiropractic $80


Healing Arts Special
If the "Spa Day" seems like too much time or too many services we also have the Healing Arts Special where if you get a massage OR lymphatic therapy AND Nutrition Response Testing on the same day we will mail you a coupon for one free service of your choice: PEMF, Salt Booth or Chakra Light Therapy.


It is important to Dr. Armitstead that you truly get the health benefits of all that the new Wellness Center has to offer.

Read More