Beverly Hills’ best kept secret is not that it houses the headquarters of FreezeTheFat.com (seriously, wtf IS that?), or its real botulism-injected housewives. Rather, it is a shop called Dragon Herbs, with which I am currently head-over-herbal-heels in love. Situated on Robertson Blvd. between 3rd St. and Wilshire, this Chinese herb and tonic shop has incredible and high-quality products.
Spring Dragon Longevity tea- one tea bag makes 3 cups, and the box of 20 bags is $9 or less
The first product I got here was the above tea, and I felt like I was on some seriously lovely, yet mild, drugs all afternoon and evening. Sadly, it hasn’t made me feel that crazy high since, but it has completely changed my world for the better… and, better yet, it has allowed me to completely drop the caffeine addiction I recently picked up. I’d been having some major issues with low-energy, and was up to coffee twice a day, which I hated. As soon as I started drinking this tea, I stopped craving caffeine. It’s adaptogenic, which means it actually helps your body function systemically, it doesn’t just give it a temporary boost that will then leave you depleted later, a la caffeine.
The pills that knocked my cold straight into cold heaven
The first herbal pills I got from Dragon were a complex called Activated Minor Bupleurum, which cost about $20. I’d had a nasty cold for about four days which nothing was helping, with “nothing” being outrageous amounts of vitamins c and d, olive leaf extract, etc. Got this bottle in the early afternoon, felt pretty much fine by evening. The next day I hacked out all the phlegm that had been in my sinuses, and that was that. I was fine. I have never, ever recovered so quickly from an illness! I continued taking it for another day or two, then shelved it so it can hopefully ward off the next bug that tries to attack me.
It really is Tao in a bottle, and it won't even set you back $30.
Duuuuuuuuude. This complex is the most effective chill pill EVER. I have a tendency, especially since my hormones got all thrown off a few months ago, to be a touch of a stresscase. I’ve acquired a ridiculous habit of, all weekend long, pointing out the time to my spouse, as if we have somewhere to be even when we don’t. Marijuana helps, but I’m just not that into that anymore, so she has been stuck hearing all day long about what time it is and how much time has elapsed since last I told her what time it was, and how long it is until we have to be somewhere, if we even do. And if we don’t, I tell her how long it’ll be till somewhere we are vaguely considering going closes. Enter Tao in a Bottle, and exit my giving a hoot about wtf time it is. I am going to the shop today to buy a bottle of this for my parents, because guess where I got that stresscase trait from?!
The manager of Dragon Herbs is named Susan, and she has recently spent a good deal of time with my spouse and I, helping us figure out what would be right for our bodies and needs. She’s quite intuitive, and can also read your health problems alarmingly well just by looking at you. I’ve also begun taking two more complexes, one for building my apparently weak/low blood and one for my poor trashed hormones, but all that takes far longer to fix than a cold, so I don’t have an opinion yet on those herbs. Their products are also available on iHerb.com, and a couple are available on VitaCost.com, but they aren’t particularly discounted on either, so if you are in the area, and have been needing to get your fill of the Ivy and Les Habitudes (which, incidentally, is where my $10,000 dream wedding dress lives), stop by Dragon Herbs and let them make your day a whole lot brighter. (If you’re not local, http://www.DragonHerbs.com is the site and they include very thorough descriptions of all products. There is also a location in Santa Monica.)
Baring Fruit 