I want to talk about something today that might seem really trivial at first. But for me, it turned out to be a major game-changer in my health.

Welcome to Quantum Waves of Wellness. I’m your host, Dr. Paula Apro—Doctor of Natural Medicine, holistic health mentor, and your guide to unlocking the healing power within. Today, I’m going to share a personal story about seemingly safe substances that we consume every single day and how they can quietly have a huge impact on our health.

For most of my life, I suffered from ridiculously itchy ears. The urge to itch my ears was overwhelming, and it literally put me in danger when downhill mountain biking or driving my motorcycle. Knowing it wasn’t safe, I still just HAD to take one of my hands off the handlebars to scratch my ears.

I went to see an ear, nose, and throat specialist, and he offered me about 5 minutes of his time and handed me a food allergy list of the things that I should avoid, while writing me a prescription for an ointment to drop into my ears. I gotta say, that ointment, whatever it was, worked like a charm. One drop and I had immediate relief. Problem solved, right?

Wrong. When my insurance company decided they would no longer cover it and I found out the tiny bottle of ointment would cost me hundreds of dollars a month, I went back to suffering with itchy years. For YEARS. Most of my life, in fact.

Until about four years ago, when I went to see an iridologist. This is somebody who studies the color variations of the iris of your eyeballs and links this information back to your health status. I was always curious about this modality, and during that session, I was told that spices and seasonings were one of the biggest stressors on my system. Specifically, that they were putting a burden on my kidneys and were linked to uric acid.

At the time, I was also dealing with gout in one of my toes. So I already knew my body was struggling with something inflammatory. That part wasn’t a mystery. But spices? They were never on my radar. I spent years trying to figure out what foods caused the problems until I finally gave up and determined that EVERYTHING made my ears itch.

So this was a very interesting discovery. I followed her advice to be very strict about what I use. Positively no onion or garlic powder (which is used in nearly everything in a restaurant), and I was also instructed to never touch anything with additional flavoring, especially potato chips.

I followed this advice and threw away almost all of my spices. Just about all of my cooking is as bland and tasteless as can be, but guess what? My itchy ear problem has almost completely subsided. Now I just want to remind you that when you have a symptom, and it can be anything, it’s your body’s way of trying to tell you something.

Yes, I get that itchy ears aren’t life-threatening, and I could have easily lived the rest of my life with the itchiness. But that was a sign that my kidneys were struggling, and the next symptom that showed up (the gout in my toes) was my next message. Not many people might connect itchy ears to painful toes, but for me, they were absolutely connected. And I should also mention that my fingers were also starting to get swollen, stiff, and very sore.

All of this has been resolved. My toes and fingers shrank back to normal size with no more pain, and I pretty much forgot all about this story. Until last month . . .

My stepdaughter came to stay with us for about a month, and she is an amazing cook. Everything she made was full of flavor, and I really enjoyed eating tasty food again.

But within a few days, I noticed something. My ears started itching again. Not occasionally—almost constantly. And it hit me pretty quickly. Nothing else had changed. The only real difference was what I was eating. The seasonings were back.

It was such a clear reminder that my body hadn’t forgotten. And then, almost right after she left, I came across a video on YouTube all about spices that I will share in the show notes.

The timing was perfect because it reinforced everything I had already experienced firsthand. The video breaks down something that most people don’t think about. We assume spices are harmless, clean, and maybe even beneficial. But when you actually look at what’s in a lot of these blends… It’s not just herbs and spices.

There are fillers. Anti-caking agents. Preservatives. Ingredients labeled as “natural flavors,” which can mean a lot of different things...usually all toxic. Sometimes, even added sugars. And it made me think about how careful so many people try to be. We buy organic foods. We avoid processed foods. We read the nutrition labels. But then we reach for something we use every single day—without ever really thinking about it.

And that’s the part that struck me the most. It’s not always the big things that we have to watch out for (like going to McDonald’s or eating a ½ gallon of ice cream). It’s the small things that we do consistently and constantly. Those things that we don’t even think twice about.

For me, it showed up as itchy ears. For someone else, it might show up very differently. But the point is, the body notices and tries to let you know if there’s a problem.

I just want to take this opportunity to encourage you to watch that video and take a good hard look at your spice rack. Maybe even get curious enough to experiment a little. Try removing something for a period of time and see how your body responds. Then bring it back in and notice what changes.

And don’t forget that I can test you, energetically speaking. I can tell if any substance is negatively affecting your energy and therefor your health. If you’re interested in that service, please just reach out.

Sometimes the answers we’re looking for are hiding in the most unexpected places, and I can help you uncover them.

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of Quantum Waves of Wellness. I hope I inspired you to do a little digging in your own pantry. If you enjoyed this information, please consider hitting one of those subscribe buttons and or sharing with a friend. Until next time . . .

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