Burdock Root
Ah, burdock, that annoying plant that sticks those prickly balls on clothing after a romp in the woods and fields. This plant, that creates burr seeds, is a healing blessing, despite those barbed 'lil balls!
As a kid, I fell into a large clump of burdock plants while romping in the fields. Those burrs make an amazing mess in long hair! Surprisingly, as an adult, I do not avoid them.
Burdock can be utilized in a number of herbal remedies to aid in digestion. The root is bitter, stimulating the liver, and therefor aids in digestion, enhances absorption of nutrients, and supports your whole digestive tract and colon with the elimination of wastes.
Burdock root, along with dandelion and nettle, are amazing, healing herbs to use in liver conditions. The liver plays a huge role in removing toxins from your blood, producing bile to digest dietary fats, metabolizing hormones to maintain hormone balance in your body, stores excess carbohydrates, in addition to many, many other functions.
Nourish your liver and heal many "dis - ease" symptoms. Nourishing the liver is useful in: skin conditions, liver conditions (obviously), hormone imbalances, allergies, infertility, headaches, migraines, digestive problems, chronic gas, constipation....
Need help with herbs for healing? Give me a call. As an herbalist, I love to help with herbal healing! pyoumell@gmail.com
Why do I tell you this? I love burdock. It makes a yummy tea, it is fun in soups and stews, and I just added a pile of it (grated) to my next batch of fermented veggies. I am curious to see what burdock will add to the final fermented product's flavor!
The brown grated veggies on the top are burdock.
This is a pile of burdock roots, graciously given to me by Dan Kent of Kent Family Growers. He knows I love burdock! I have used over half of my burdock gift already. My liver is feeling ready for spring and pollen season!
On fermented veggies: I asked Steve, of The Cheese Maker, if cheese cultures could be used in enhancing the fermentation of veggies. This kind man did a 'lil research and got right back to me.
Our conversation via emails:
Me: Can any of the cultures you sell be used as a sauerkraut starter? Thanks, Paula
Steve: I'll also do a little research and let you know what I find out.
Me: Thanks!
Steve: Hi Paula: Some research I found on Wikipedia and other scientific sites show that some of the same species of bacteria that make cheese are similar to those that make sauerkraut, though the sub species are different. I'm not a biologist, so I do not know how this will affect the flavor of the kraut. Only way is to make a small batch and see how it turns out. As long as the pH is similar in the end product, it is at least safe to eat. The below link is a culture which has similar bacteria, though not sub species. If you make a test batch, let me know what you find out.
Sacred Eating
Sacred Eating: Meal Time as a Spiritual Time
In Eastern Indian culture, eating is a spiritual experience. Truly, living is a spiritual experience and they recognize this. Native Americans always gave thanks to all the spirits of the food they ate, be it plant or animal based food. Eating was always viewed as sacred in our culture. People were grateful to the earth and all beings involved in providing the food that graced our tables.
In comes modern living and people with way too busy lives who have learned to gobble food while on the run. Smoothies to chug while racing about the house getting tasks accomplished, omelets being eaten in the car with disastrous results (Yes, I had one lady tell me a funny "omelet in the car story" and how she reserves omelets for weekend breakfasts only. I have had equally disastrous results with grated beet salad in the car. Not a good idea; beets stain everything), and far too many drive through eateries dot our landscapes making eating a mindless commodity for the run, run, run of life.
Sacred Eating: Meal Time as a Spiritual Time
In Eastern Indian culture, eating is a spiritual experience. Truly, living is a spiritual experience and they recognize this. Native Americans always gave thanks to all the spirits of the food they ate, be it plant or animal based food. Eating was always viewed as sacred in our culture. People were grateful to the earth and all beings involved in providing the food that graced our tables.
In comes modern living and people with way too busy lives who have learned to gobble food while on the run. Smoothies to chug while racing about the house getting tasks accomplished, omelets being eaten in the car with disastrous results (Yes, I had one lady tell me a funny "omelet in the car story" and how she reserves omelets for weekend breakfasts only. I have had equally disastrous results with grated beet salad in the car. Not a good idea; beets stain everything), and far too many drive through eateries dot our landscapes making eating a mindless commodity for the run, run, run of life.
We have lost the art of mindfulness around that which feeds our each and every body cell; not to mention feeds our minds and souls.
When I was a kid (Oh no, groan... here come the stories of "barefoot to school, uphill both ways!"), I had an internal time clock. I just knew I had to be home at 5 PM for family dinner time. No watch or cell phone in my pocket to remind me; we were just very aware, on an unconscious level that we needed to scramble home at 4:55 PM. I am not certain of the consequences of a missed dinner. I never stepped over that line. Family dinner time, eating the evening meal together, was an unspoken sacred family time.
Take a moment and think about how you can slow down your daily life to incorporate peace around meals. Meals where you actually sit at the table instead of finding yourself running out the door, food in hand, to eat in your car on your way to work or some evening activity.
Sit and be still. Sit at the table with loved ones (your precious pets count here) and experience the scents, colors, flavors, and textures of your food. Food is a very sensual experience and, yet, most of us skip right over this blessing of sensuality.
When we take the time to give thanks for all it took to bring this food to our plate and relax and chew it slowly and thoroughly, we perform an amazing healing service to body, mind, and soul.
And, a bonus here, every extra chew means more flavor burst in our mouths, more food broken down for ease of digestion and absorption to feed every one of our beautiful body's cells... does all this not seem worthy of our time and attention?
When we express and experience gratitude for the food on our plates and gratitude to all who made the meal possible, a ripple of healing effects roll through our body. This literally creates healthier body cells, a healthier you through better digestion and absorption of nutrients, better sleep quality as your body is less stressed, and an all around better quality of life.
And, on a bigger level, it sends a healing ripple of positive energy out into the world. Eating peaceful meals has a powerful global effect.
Can you think of one small step you can take today to make meal time a more leisurely and sacred time in your daily life? As you contemplate change, remember that no one is perfect. I was standing at the kitchen counter, eating a "quick" snack when the thoughts for this post raced through my head. There I stood, eating and scribbling notes before those notes became lost in the recesses of my mind and the rest of my day's activities.
Bottom line: Eating is a spiritual experience: we are spiritual beings in a physical body. All of our Earthly experiences are spiritual, divine. When we treat food preparation and eating from this space, we better care for our bodies. Choosing whole foods to nourish ourselves, right down to each and every physical body cell, is a choice we can make from a space of wellness and deep nourishment of our body, mind, and spirit.
When we approach all life choices in this manner, making choices for wellness seems like the only way to go. It is pure loving kindness.
You owe it to yourself: slow down, relax, and enjoy your food. Discover eating again for the sacred experience it truly is.
Native American Gratitude Prayer
We thank Great Spirit for the resources that made this food possible;
We thank the Earth Mother for producing it, and
We thank all those who labored to bring it to us.
May the wholesomeness of the food before us, bring out the wholeness of the Spirit within us.
Ablation?
Ablation?
Seriously?
Fry the Inside of My Uterus?
(This article was not meant to hit the pages of my WholeFoodHealer blog as it is a female issue. But as I was signed into this account when I was actually creating and writing it for this account: www.wisewomenredtent.com, it automatically posted here. I did immediately remove it from this account but it seems to have slipped into the world anyhow.
I started the Wise Women Red Tent blog as a space to address female health topics from a Wise Woman and holistic perspective. WholeFoodHealer has a mixed gender following.)
Ablation is defined as removal of material from the surface of an object by vaporization, chipping, or other erosive processes. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ablation). This definition alone, erosive processes??, would make me shudder and stop to think about what was being recommended for my body, my precious uterus.
“Stop your heavy period and restore your life” is NovaSure’s advertising hype for uterine ablation. Wow, my life needs restoring because I bleed? Really?
And next, the opening paragraph on the NovaSure’s website is a scary patriarchal mindset, PMS as Wise Woman Susun Weed aptly calls it.
Heavy bleeding is a symptom that there is an imbalance in a woman's body. Eroding the endometrium will not heal this imbalance. Correcting the imbalance will heal the heavy bleeding and prevent more complex female health problems down the road of life.
Address the cause, not the symptoms.
I would look at the woman's diet and lifestyle to unravel the causes of her heavy bleeding symptoms. I would suggest diet and lifestyle changes that were fitting to her unique, individual needs. I would recommend herbs (wild yam to start) to assist in healing the imbalances in her whole body. This makes more sense to me than burning away the endometrium, the uterine lining.
I am a Functional Medicine RN, Herbalist trained in the Wise Women tradition, Yoga Mentor & Natural Health Educator. I worked in Maternal Child Nursing for 12 years before leaving to focus on Wise Women centered care & Natural Health Education.
I first heard of this uterine ablation while sitting at my healing table working with a beautiful female soul. She told me she had this procedure 10 years prior, at age 32! I then gently said, “Wait, what? Please explain that to me again.” I was shocked to say the least but maintained my compassionate energy.
When I removed myself from standard medical care, I lost tract of new procedures created to “solve women’s issues.” Consequently, I am paying attention again, not to recommend the procedures, but to support women in healing and avoiding such procedures.
Not wanting to make her feel bad for her choice; I opened my ears, heart, and soul and listened to her story. I was amazed and frustrated at how she was convinced that burning away the inside of her uterus, the endometrium, was just the thing she needed to do to solve all her womanly problems.
I have since heard this story, many times over, and it breaks my heart. Red tents are needed in every community to remind women of the wisdom of their own body, to listen and hear what the symptoms of heavy bleeding are struggling to tell them.
My wish is to be able to support women in these situations. By sitting with them, listening to their “her-stories,” and helping them to unravel the causes of the menstrual symptoms. The body will heal when we remove the cause(s) of the health symptoms and nourish the body back to health with nourishing, Wise Woman supported, life giving choices. Lifestyle changes centered on whole food eating, whole health living, and herbs to nourish and heal the woman’s beautiful female organs and her entire body, every cell in her body, would be how I would create a Red Tent for every woman I am blessed to support on their healing paths.