Get to know me and why I started this blog...

Hello and welcome to my blog. I hope you enjoy and find your health and wellness!

My name is Melissa Rhoads and I am a pharmacist with a passion for helping people live a healthier lifestyle.

I am married to the most wonderful and supportive husband, Tim. We have two kids, Brittany, a senior in college, and Justin, a senior in high school. We live in Naples, FL but enjoy the summers in the North Carolina mountains. My hobbies include hiking, yoga, gardening, cooking, sewing and recently Pickleball!

My goal is to educate; to give you a better understanding of your specific needs, and to provide simple and easy to follow recommendations for dietetic changes, vitamin and herbal supplements, and physical activities to produce exciting improvements in your overall health.

I believe the best medicine for healing and health in order of priority is:

· Faith and prayer

· Positive attitude/Stress management

· Proper nutrition

· Physical activity

· Medicine (when necessary)

Why I started this blog...

I have been trained on how to live a healthy lifestyle but actually doing so is a different animal. I know refined sugar and processed foods should be avoided. I know how important exercise is to overall health. But actually putting what I preach to work in my own life was a struggle for me. Then a year ago I was given a diagnosis of cancer - boy what an eye opener. Talk about getting some motivation to make changes - that will do it! So I took a hard look at what I counsel patients and what I know to be a healthy lifestyle and put it in place in my own life. I actually started practicing what I preach! I underwent surgery, radiation and chemo and I am happy to announce I am a cancer free today...whoohoo! But the lifestyle changes I made to improve my overall health and to reduce side effects from chemo have made a profound difference in my life. After enduring all the toxic chemicals used to rid me of this disease, I actually feel better today than I have in many years. I was able to lose weight and keep it off without actually “dieting”. I have more energy now so I want to exercise and be fit. I have more peace and contentment in my life. I understand what it means now to slow down and smell the roses.

I am very blessed to have had the knowledge and medical background going through this past year of treatment. I have some amazing friends and colleagues that also provided guidance. As I became the patient instead of the caregiver I realized how important it was that I knew what questions to ask the doctors so I could collaborate with my treatment. I understood and saw first-hand a lot of others going through the same thing but not knowing what else they could be doing or what questions to ask or where to seek additional advice. Like they say.. you don’t know what you don’t know. I have always enjoyed helping people in my career but now it became very personal. I recognized a real need for a health coach; someone that could provide trusted advice on what questions to ask a doctor and what other options are out there to address someone’s particular issues. Therefore, my hope is that this blog will help you make the best lifestyle choices; help you understand there are options in treatments, and that you can combine traditional medicine with natural therapies and why this is so important.

In my professional career, I have specialized as a compounding pharmacist. A compounding pharmacist formulates medications to meet an individual’s specific needs. As an example, if a medication was prescribed to a child that was only available in tablets that the child could not swallow, then a compounding pharmacist could prepare that medication in exactly the dose needed in a liquid form and make it taste good! We consider ourselves the problem solvers of our field. I find this type of pharmacy practice is the most rewarding because I am allowed to help patients find solutions. I guess by now you can see a common theme in my passions...helping others.

I want this blog to offer you advice and guidance in a down to earth, easy to follow format. I hope to inspire you to make small but significant changes in your life and overall health.

Please subscribe to be notified of new content and provide feedback of topics that interest you. I love learning and helping others so your feedback may teach us both something new!

I have personally selected the highest pharmaceutical grade supplements at a reasonable price and grouped them together with suggested dosing to make starting a regimen very easy and cost effective.

Click on the link below to view Montagne Apothecary’s Fullscript dispensary!

For a limited time, I am offering 10% off all supplements!

Be sure and check out the “Practitioner Categories” under the Catalog section, where I have hand selected a group of my favorite supplements designed for a specific need. You can create an account to select and add items to your cart.