Health Shouldn't Be About Deprivation.
It Should Be About Discovery.
You know that feeling when you're standing in your kitchen, or at the grocery store, staring at ingredients you're not even sure you're "allowed" to eat anymore? Or wondering if it's the food that made you sick that one time, or something else entirely?
What about when you're scrolling through social media being bombarded by conflicting advice—the carnivore bro says you need steak, the vegan influencer says meat is poison, your well-meaning friend swears by whatever worked for her? Don't you just want someone to tell you what YOUR body actually needs and let you take it from there?
That's where I come in.
My name is Amber Hargroder, and I combine a decade of herbalism training with deep culinary expertise that grows deeper and wider with age. I grew up in South Louisiana where food is sacred—bringing families together, defining Cajun culture. I worked with a chef in Denmark during the 2008 financial collapse. I've studied fermentation in person with Sandor Katz and learned from chefs like Pierre Koffman, Marco Pierre White, Francis Mallmann, and Jamie Oliver through books, masterclasses, and obsessive online study.
I love food. But more importantly, I love when food heals us.
That's why I'm merging this culinary side of myself—which began when my Uncle Ralph taught me to fry eggs at eight years old—with my herbalism training and specialization in tongue evaluation. This unique combination enables me to give you precise food intelligence you can actually use, at a price that delivers true value.
But this is not another restrictive protocol that makes you suffer in the name of health. I'm not offering generic wellness advice that assumes health is one-size-fits-all.
Instead, I show you what your body really needs based on what's reflected by your tongue, then invite you to explore that discovery—new tastes, flavors, and techniques that make life more pleasurable, sensual, and delicious while healing you in the process.
The Wellness Industrial Complex Is Broken
Here's what nobody tells you: most health practitioners are just trying to replicate what healed them. They figured out their own body, had a breakthrough, and now they're convinced everyone should do exactly what they did.
But what heals one body can destroy another.
The green juice that gave your friend glowing skin? It might be wrecking your thyroid if you have a cold tissue state. The cayenne and ginger brew that someone said you should drink every morning? It could aggravate your inflammation if you're already running hot. The keto reset that worked for that one influencer? It might be exactly what your body doesn't need right now.
This is why I use tongue evaluation as the foundation of everything I do.
For thousands of years, healers have looked at the tongue first—not because they were old-fashioned or superstitious, but because it worked. The tongue is the only visible part of your digestive tract, packed with blood vessels, and able to renew its surface faster than almost any other tissue. It shows what's happening in your body right now.
In Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, and certain Western medical traditions, tongue diagnosis is foundational. It has always been respected as a practical, efficient way to assess constitution, spot imbalances before they escalate, and offer guidance that actually matches someone's body—not a generic protocol.
But for many of us, we’ve forgotten how to look. We’ve been too distracted by labs, algorithms, and one-size-fits-all wellness advice that’s based on trends instead of truth.
But your body is still speaking. Your tongue is still showing you the path to balance. And I've spent years learning how to translate what it's saying into food intelligence you can actually use.
What Changed Everything for Me (And Why It'll Work for You)
I know the wellness mess intimately because I’ve lived it. I’ve tried every extreme diet you can imagine. Raw vegan. Paleo. Elimination protocols. Fruitarian. I’ve spent hours researching supplements, dissecting the latest trends, and convincing myself that I just needed to find the right protocol for everything to finally work out. But in the end, some of those diets absolutely wrecked my digestive system, causing me to spend years trying to reverse the harm done. And that kind of trial and error isn’t only exhausting, it’s also expensive.
In many ways, the same goes for online courses and communities. You pay hundreds of dollars to sit through videos for a month (at least), listen to everyone else's problems during group sessions, and hope somewhere in there is the answer for you. It's generic disguised as personalized. And by the time you realize that, you're often too exhausted to call bullshit because you’ve already paid for it.
Meanwhile, you're standing in Whole Foods staring at pre-made foods, wondering if you can trust any of it. You're buying supplements because some wellness coach said so. You're delegating your autonomy to consultants who might not understand your unique body at all. And you’re literally grasping at straws until finally you just give up and head to the neighborhood bar to gorge on cheeseburgers and tater tots.
That's when I realized the problem wasn't me. It was the system. It was how we approach healing, health and food at the individual level. But it wasn’t until years later, after becoming a certified herbalist and learning the art of tongue evaluation from Matthew Wood that everything finally clicked.
Suddenly, I could see patterns I'd been missing my whole life. I understood why certain diets had destroyed my digestive power while my friends thrived on them. I realized why some herbs worked for me and others didn't. I could finally see what my body was actually asking for instead of following someone else's protocol.
But here's the thing about me: I don't stop at the surface. I dig until I find the roots. And because I’ve spent years working in marketing, I can smell fraud and false promises from a mile away. I know when you're being sold an illusion of choice. I know how to trace supply chains back to their source. And I know what quality tastes like.
So when I look at your tongue, I'm not just seeing patterns—I'm connecting your entire lifestyle through that lens. The ingredients you need. The cooking techniques that'll serve you. The wellness practices that match your tissue state. All of it integrated into something you can actually live with.
“All therapeutic tools which could possibly work have a legitimate place in the healing art.”
Here's What I Actually Do
You send me photos of your tongue and answer a brief questionnaire. Within 48 hours, you get a complete lifestyle protocol designed for your unique constitution.
Not vague wellness advice. Specific answers.
"Your tissue state is cold and damp—you need warming spices like ginger and cinnamon, slow-cooked stews, bone broth. Avoid raw salads and cold smoothies. Try infrared sauna and warm baths."
Or: "You're running hot and dry—focus on cooling foods, bitter greens, healthy fats. Skip the cayenne and coffee. Cold plunges and hydration are your friends."
And then here's the part that's different: I give you autonomy to play with it.
I'm not handing you a recipe that requires $60 worth of herbs that'll take three weeks to ship and might not even be right for you. I'm saying: "Your body needs more garlic. Go have fun with that." Ferment it in honey. Roast it. Make garlic soup. Build a relationship with it.
Because I'm not trying to create dependency. I'm trying to give you your power back.
My Training
Herbalism:
Certified through Marysia Miernowska's School of the Sacred Wild
Studied tissue states and tongue evaluation with Matthew Wood
Apprenticed in natural beekeeping and apitherapy with Ariella Daly
Circadian Certified through the Institute of Applied Quantum Biology
Mentored by Carrie Bennett as a quantum health practitioner
Food:
Cooking since age eight in South Louisiana food culture
Worked for a chef in Denmark
Studied fermentation with Sandor Katz
Self-study with some of the greatest chefs around the world
Decade of experience connecting culinary technique with healing
I've spent years studying tongue patterns—color, coating, shape, movement—and what they reveal about circulation, digestion, water balance, and nervous system function. I've worked with real people who needed real answers, not theory. And today I’m connecting everything I’ve learned to produce reports that are profoundly useful for the people who want answers now.
Who This Is For
You've tried everything. Keto, paleo, vegan, Whole30, elimination diets. Maybe some programs worked for a while. Maybe they made you feel worse. Whatever it is, now you're exhausted from trial and error.
You're probably a suburban mom juggling kids, work, and a kitchen you're too overwhelmed to use effectively. Or you're in your 20s or 30s in the city, interested in cooking because it's cheaper and you don't feel well.
The system has failed you somewhere. Maybe you're dealing with constipation, weight that won't budge, fatigue, autoimmune issues. You've spent money on consultants and coaches who gave you protocols that didn't work.
You're done with extremes. You want something sustainable. Something you can live with. Something that opens your world instead of shrinking it.
And more importantly, you want your autonomy back.
What This Isn't
❌ Another extreme protocol that makes your world smaller.
❌ A month-long course where you wade through generic content.
❌ A consultant relationship where you give away your power.
❌ Medical care (I'm not a doctor and don't pretend to be).
What This Is
✅ Fast answers in 48 hours—not months of expensive guessing.
✅ A complete lifestyle protocol: herbs, foods, cooking styles, wellness practices.
✅ Precision without restriction—you get guidance, then you play.
✅ Your autonomy back—you become your own best advocate.
Stop Delegating Your Health to People Who Are Just Replicating What Worked for Them
Your body has been trying to tell you something. Let's decode it together.