Hi everyone, my name is Kerley Vinas.
I was born in the Dominican Republic to very hard working parents. As a boy growing up in a third world country we didn’t have much access to the modern medicine of the time so most of us resorted to using traditional folk medicine. I came to the United States in February 1988 when I was 11 years old, 3 months shy from 12. A week after I got here I caught the worst cold I’ve gotten to date.
I was sick for about 2 weeks, seen a couple of doctors and none of them or any modern medicine worked, my parents we very worried. I had blood in my phlegm, a migraine headache that wouldn’t go away, and horrible body aches. That’s when my aunt Cima (Ceema) stepped in and said “Leave him to me” She started mixing garlic, onions, red radishes, raw honey, ginger, turmeric, cayenne, apple cider vinegar among other things.
She told me to take 2 Tbps every 3 hours starting now, she poured the mixture onto the tablespoon and it smelled so bad I almost threw up, but at this point I would have done anything to feel better. So I took the 2 Tbps every 3 hours like my auntie said for an entire day, the night came and I fell asleep, woke up feeling very nauseous. I made my way into the bathroom and proceeded to throw up but what I noticed was that the throw up consisted mostly of phlegm which was absolutely disgusting. When I was done I felt much better than I had felt in weeks.
I was still sick but now all the phlegm had started to move out of my body rapidly. I remember that there wasn’t a time that I didn’t blow my nose that a ton of nasty snot didn’t come out. This went on for about 2 more days and by the third day I was a brand new person feeling very thankful that my aunt had this recipe which I now know it to be very similar to Fire Cider. This left a giant impression on me and the rest of my family, so much so that we all asked her to show us how to make the infamous stinky mixture that I believed saved my butt.
So fast forward to December 1999 when I filled out an application at Whole Foods Market, where I bagged groceries at the registers. In May 2002 I became a team member of the nutrition department as it was called back then.
I worked in the department where supplements and beauty products are sold. Since the very first day I hit the sales floor, I was bombarded by a ton of questions from customers about anything related to supplements, like herbs, detox kits, insomnia/sleep issues, probiotics, constipation, headaches, muscle cramps, indigestion, you name it and I bet you they asked me about it.
Based on the kinds of questions I was being asked, customers must have thought I was a doctor or someone with better qualifications. I then realized that I needed to step up my game big time and learn as much as I could and do it fast or I was going to get swallowed by the onslaught of question I was getting asked.
I decided to create this website this with those people in mind, the ones who asked and continue to ask me countless supplement and beauty related questions, plus the thousands of conversations I engaged in with customers over the 19 years. Now keep in mind that during the time of this writing, 5/31/21 I am no longer employed at Whole Foods Market, but I am now happily self employed serving other customers on a world wide scale & feeling very thankful that I’ve accumulated 19 years of experience helping people in the health & beauty space.
I always asked every customer to please provide feedback regarding their experience while taking whatever supplement, beauty product they purchased or change in lifestyle. What that did for me was priceless, because the amount of information I gathered during the 19 years allows me to reach and positively affect countless lives.