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Dr. Liz Carter

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Seattle, WA
Dr. Liz Carter

Teaching you naturopathic medicine the 5 elements of Chinese medicine to improve your health ✨ Contact her for an appointment today!

New Leaf Natural Medicine is committed to providing comprehensive, compassionate, and affordable healthcare for everyone. Dr. Carter uses a combination of acupuncture, naturopathic medicine, craniosacral therapy, herbal medicine, homeopathy, nutrition and lifestyle counseling, and hydrotherapy to help you feel your best!

02/01/2026

Naturopathic medicine approaches health very differently than western medicine.

We view the body as capable of healing itself, we look at symptoms as guideposts rather than something to be squashed, and we see getting sick as a good and even healthy part of life.

If you’d like to find your own naturopathic doctor and live in the US, check out this link: https://naturopathic.org/search/custom.asp?id=5613

Search without any filters first, and if no one is near you, search with the telemedicine filter to find someone who can consult with you virtually.

01/30/2026

Making your very own homemade pho broth is NOT as hard as you think!

It’s my favorite broth to have in the freezer, ready to pull out if I’m sick or just craving some really flavorful, nutrient-dense food 🍲

Broth is the perfect winter time food because it helps restore your yin and kidneys.

Pho broth is essentially bone broth with different flavorings (mainly warming spices).

It can improve gut health, restore your bones and skin, and help you to recover from an illness 💪

Ingredients:
2-3lb beef bones (ideally knuckle)
2 medium yellow onions
3in piece ginger
1/4c whole fennel seeds
10 whole cloves
5 star anise
3 cinnamon sticks
5 cardamom pods
4 tsp high mineral salt
1/4 c fish sauce
2 tbsp coconut sugar

Instructions:
Broil ginger and onion in a cast iron skillet until charred on both sides, about 15min.

In a large pot, cover beef bones with water and bring to boil for 2-3min. Strain off for a clearer broth. Scrub pot. Return bones to put and cover with about 16 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer.

Once ginger and onions are lightly charred, remove from skillet to cool.

Toast fennel and cloves for 1-2min in the cast iron skillet, stirring constantly, until lightly browned. Add to pot.

Toast star anise, cinnamon sticks, and cardamom pods for 2-3min, stirring as needed, until browned. Smash cardamom pods open, remove seeds, and add all spices plus the salt to pot.

Peel onions and ginger when they are cool enough to handle. Remove root ends of onions. Add both to pot.

Simmer for 3-12 hours. BONUS: it still tastes amazing after only 3 hours, so don’t worry if you can’t get in the full 12.

Strain through fine sieve. Flavor broth with fish sauce, coconut sugar, and more salt if needed to taste. Voila! Delicious pho broth to add your pho fixings to!

Find the recipe on my blog, too: https://www.drlizcarter.com/easy-delicious-homemade-pho-broth/

01/28/2026

If you have the flu, your body is already working hard and your job is to not make it harder. 🤒💛
Simple support goes a long way right now: rest, warmth, hydration, and foods that are easy to digest and deeply nourishing.

One of my go-to foods when someone is sick is congee. It’s a traditional Chinese rice porridge that’s gentle on digestion and supportive of recovery. 🍚✨

Simple congee recipe:
🧂 1 cup white rice
💧 8–10 cups water or broth
🔥 Simmer low and slow for 1–2 hours, stirring occasionally, until soft and porridge-like

Add-ins when sick:
🫚 Fresh ginger (lots of it) for warmth and inflammation
🧄 Garlic if tolerated
🥕 A little carrot, green onion, or squash if you want something more grounding
🧂 A pinch of sea salt to taste

Eat it warm, in small portions, and let it do its work. Sometimes healing really is about less: less effort, less digestion, less stimulation. 🌿😴

Save this for the next time your body asks you to slow down 🤍

Enjoy what I share here? Join my email list to help you deepen your understanding of the 5 elements and naturopathic medicine and how they can transform your healing process: https://www.drlizcarter.com/lp/newsletter/

01/26/2026

Acute illness (like a cold or flu) is often your body’s way of rebalancing your health ⚖️🤧

Getting sick interrupts your daily habits and that interruption is a good thing! Those patterns are often part of what made you susceptible in the first place.

In naturopathic medicine, your terrain, or the internal environment of your body, plays a large role in illness. If it’s clogged up with waste products from excess stress, poor food choices, lack of sleep, and more you’re more likely to become sick.

Acute illness creates a forced pause.

You sleep more, rest more, and naturally reach for simpler, easier-to-digest foods. Your usual routines slow down or stop entirely and you return to more supportive choices.

The symptoms that make you uncomfortable - aka coughing, sneezing, low energy, and more - let you know that your body is working hard to support your health 💪✨

It’s detoxing all the accumulated stress and waste that’s built up from you living out of tune with yourself.

Think of acute illness like a system reboot 🔄
Your system is now cleaned out, your habits are tuned up, and you’re ready for a fresh start.

—

Chronic illness is similar. Your terrain gets gunked up by unsupportive lifestyle habits, choices, or situations (some out of your control).

Your body creates symptom patterns of fatigue, pain, inflammation, and more in order to send you the message: “The patterns we’re running aren’t working.” 🚨

Your body will remind you of this again and again through symptoms and eventually illness until you pay attention and change some of those patterns.

—

So try not to feel guilty or ashamed if you get sick. It’s a needed part of life to help you reflect and rebalance yourself!

Instead, turn inward and get curious about why your body is sending you this message at this time.

You’ll likely find some answers and maybe even some ideas on how to support yourself better 💛

01/23/2026

How are your kidneys really doing? 💧

In Chinese medicine, kidney energy influences far more than just urination—it plays a role in your bones 🦴, ears 👂, teeth 🦷, vitality ⚡, emotions 😮‍💨, and reproductive health 🌱.

When kidney (Water element) energy is under strain, the signs often show up quietly and across multiple systems: fatigue, fear patterns, bone or dental issues, changes in hearing, or feeling either depleted or relentlessly driven. 🌊

These patterns aren’t random. They’re your body’s way of communicating where support is needed.

✨ If you want to explore the Water element more deeply,
• work with a licensed acupuncturist
• or join the waitlist for my 5 Element courses: https://www.drlizcarter.com/lp/waitlist/

01/21/2026

It doesn’t matter if you’re 92 or if you have multiple chronic conditions.

It doesn’t matter if you haven’t taken care of yourself for a long time.

Your body is always ready to help.

This idea is one of the core principles of naturopathic medicine known as the Vis Medicatrix Naturae, or the healing power of nature.

The easiest way to understand the vis, or your own innate healing potential, is to think about when you’ve had a cut or bruise.

You don’t direct your body to heal it - it just does!

The vis lives in every cell in your body and is active at all times.

So please know that you’re adaptable, resilient, and capable.

Your body is always repairing, nourishing, and rebuilding itself.

And you can harness this potential anytime life circumstances allow and you want to engage with the process.

Good sleep, good food, enough water, sunshine, a sense of safety, laughter, love, and connection all accelerate the process.

So spend your time and energy on these basics and watch the magic unfold.

May the vis be with you ✨

01/19/2026

Ever wondered why some people thrive under pressure while others avoid risk at all costs? 🌊
In Chinese medicine, this pattern is often associated with the Water element personality.

Water types are natural leaders who are charismatic, driven, and wired for risk assessment ⚖️🔥. They tend to seek out intensity and adrenaline, pushing beyond limits and feeling most energized when situations are demanding or high stakes.

Water’s lifelong lesson is its relationship with fear. 😮‍💨
Too much fear can look like insecurity and avoidance.
Too little fear can look like recklessness and bulldozing ahead.

Balance comes when Water learns to reassure themselves and move through fear, not be ruled by it. 🌑➡️🌊

✨ Want to know if you’re a Water element?
Take my free personality test: https://www.drlizcarter.com/landing/5ept-free/

01/18/2026

It’s rare that fevers get too high but when they do it’s good to know a simple way to bring it down that doesn’t involve medication.

Fever reducing medications work, but they can cause fever spikes after they wear off because they were too suppressive.

A tepid sponge bath, like I describe in the slides, allows you more control over your temperature. So you can reduce your temperature a little but not take it out of the optimal healing range of 102-104.

And if you don’t have one, definitely get yourself a thermometer! It’s a game changer when you have a fever because you’ll have a lot more insight into your symptoms.

Enjoy what I share here? Join my email list to help you deepen your understanding of naturopathic medicine and how it can transform your healing process: https://www.drlizcarter.com/landing/newsletter/

01/14/2026

I’m coming in hot to start the new year with a simple thought for you:

Healing is realizing that some of your most deeply held beliefs about yourself aren’t true.

In my experience, real healing often requires questioning the core beliefs we hold about who we are.

And that’s tricky because core beliefs are the bedrock of our sense of self. They feel fixed. Unquestionable.

I couldn’t possibly examine that. That’s just who I am.

But I invite you to pause and gently ask: Is it really?

Or is it something you’ve believed about yourself for a very long time, something that feels like you, but doesn’t actually reflect who you are or who you want to become?

I recently heard this quote from George Lucas:
“We are all living in cages with the door wide open.”

That’s exactly what it feels like to be ruled by core beliefs that no longer reflect who you truly are.

Many of these beliefs form in childhood, shaped by our environment and relationships. They often arise as adaptations or ways of staying safe or navigating situations where we’re dependent on others.

And because they once helped us survive, we carry them into adulthood. They feel familiar and protective.

But over time, they tend to become more of a hindrance than a help and quietly sabotage our relationships, our confidence, and our ability to move toward what we want.

The core belief that shaped much of my teens and twenties (and one I’m still unraveling—ah, the layers of healing) was that I was worthless. It kept me small, hesitant to take risks, and unable to see myself clearly.

It created relationship dynamics where other people had to constantly reassure me, cheer me on, and convince me I was good enough. Sounds healthy, right? 🫠

I also spent a good decade believing I needed to starve myself to be worth something. And my whole life I’ve felt like I need to work harder than everyone else in order to prove my value.

One of the most potent medicines for examining these core beliefs is the healing process itself.

Healing creates the space to unearth them, look at them honestly, and decide whether they’re actually true.

Most of the time, they aren’t. And there is something profoundly liberating about seeing that clearly, letting that sh*t go, and allowing yourself to evolve into who you truly are.

How about you? Has this been true for you in your healing process? Let me know in the comments 👇

01/12/2026

Trouble falling asleep or winding down at night? 😴

Sometimes your body doesn’t need more effort: it needs the right signal to soften. 🛁✨

Warm salt baths and foot soaks are a simple, time-tested way to calm your nervous system, replenish minerals like magnesium 🧂, and help your body shift out of stress mode and into rest.

You don’t need anything fancy! Just warm water, salt, and a little time. Even a foot soak can make a difference. 🌙

✨ Check out my free salt bath guide to get started: https://www.drlizcarter.com/lp/salt-bath-guide/

01/11/2026

Each season is associated with a taste through one of the 5 elements of Chinese medicine. Winter is the season of the water element and the water element is nourished by salty foods.

Salt is crucial to life and it packs a punch when present. Cook with unrefined sea salt or pink Himalayan salt whenever possible to get great mineral support and minimize irritation.

If you’d like to get a full list of foods, recipes using those foods, and learn about the energetic qualities of the salty taste, check out my Taste of the Seasons guides: https://www.drlizcarter.com/landing/taste-of-the-seasons/

01/07/2026

If you’re craving something warm and nourishing without needing perfection, banana bread is it 🍌

This recipe is easy, adaptable, and surprisingly hard to mess up.

It’s my favorite “most everyone gets to eat it” recipe! (sorry fruit intolerant folks 😬💛)

Gluten issue? Use gluten free flour.

Can’t eat dairy? Use coconut oil for butter and non-dairy milk or yogurt for the milk.

No eggs? Great, use ground flaxseeds!

Can’t do sugar? No problem, this recipe has no refined sugar!

I promise it turns out well every time. Let me know if you try it out :)

Ingredients:

Wet:
1 1/3 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 4 medium or 3 large)
2 tbsp ground flaxseed or 2 eggs
1/3 cup milk or plant-based milk or yogurt
1/3 cup butter or coconut oil, melted
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract

Dry:
1 1/2 cups organic flour or your favorite gluten-free flour blend
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp high mineral salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp coconut sugar

Optional:
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1 3oz chocolate bar*, chopped or 1/2 cup chocolate chips

*I use chocolate made with coconut sugar to avoid cane sugar. Evolved and Hu are some of my favorite brands.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Line a 9x5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mash the banana until almost smooth and double check the quantity so it’s around 1 1/3 cups.

In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients and mix together with a whisk.

Melt the butter or coconut oil on the stove.

Add the ground flaxseed or eggs, milk, maple syrup, and vanilla extract to the bananas and mix to combine.

Slowly add the melted butter and combine.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and combine with a spatula until flour is absorbed. Fold in chocolate and walnuts if using.

Pour batter into the lined pan and bake 45-50 min.

Remove from oven and test with a toothpick to make sure bread is fully baked.

Remove bread from pan and allow to cool on a rack for 2 hours.

Slice when cool and serve with butter if you can have dairy or enjoy plain!

Bread will keep for 5-7 days on the counter, covered.

🍌 Enjoy 🍌

Address

Seattle, WA

Opening Hours

Monday	10:30am - 7pm
Tuesday	10:30am - 7pm
Thursday	9:30am - 5:30pm

Website

http://www.drlizcarter.com/

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