Supplement your health with Guido’s wellness specialists

Come for the manufacture, but stay for the ashwagandha and elderberries.

Guido’s Fresh Marketplace, in Great Barrington and on the Pittsfield brand, has already been well- known countywide with regards to produce, meats, and other top quality products.

But, did you know it also includes a Wellness Department with personnel well-versed in herbs, products and different naturopathic remedies?

Bonnie Bell, the wellness coordinator found in Great Barrington, and Lisa Zeleny, her counterpart found in Pittsfield, don’t say to be doctors, but they do have a good combined nearly 40 years of knowledge with natural remedies, and the pair can offer an abundance of information to consumers. The veteran Guido’s personnel recommend talking together with your physician prior to trying any health supplements or herbal treatments, as there can be some interactions between pure and pharmaceutical products.

With the coronavirus pandemic about to hit the year tag and as frontline staff at their local grocery chain, Zeleny and Bell have become intimately familiar with stress and the necessity to stay healthy. In the same way, lots of customers have already been asking them about what’s best to boost immune program health insurance and mitigate stress.

“Immunity and strain, they meld alongside one another. One affects the other,” says Zeleny. Furthermore, there are some herbs and supplementations that might help with both.

For an immune-system raise, Zeleny says, “black elderberry is pretty amazing. You can make make use of it for a daily upkeep; that’s how I like to utilize it. There’s some tiny studies that present it could shorten the period of frigid by up to four days and nights.”

While not a remedy, the shrinking of a cold’s duration is pretty remarkable, notes Zeleny, who’s been learning and using natural treatments for about 12 years.

She says elderberry will come in many forms, from syrup that’s “quite tasty” to gummy bears, capsules and tinctures. You can pick and choose elderberries in the wild here in the fall, and have them fresh in an infusion, Zeleny says.

“Whatever fits you, really,” this lady says, noting that the dried berries don’t lose potency over time.

Bell, who all took her high grade in herbs in 1993, recently supplied a good recipe for homemade elderberry syrup found in Guido’s monthly newsletter.

She also recommends a good Vitamin C supplement due to an immune booster and reducer of colds. And Supplement D is another beneficial supplementation, they both say.

“We’re finding data that it plays an enormous role in immune systems and helping your body fight infectious germs,” says Zeleny.