Coffee and My Calamitous Affair, Revisited

Dandelion Coffee jar on my front porch in Northern NY, USA

In August of 2014 I wrote a post on Coffee and my calamitous affair with it. Refresh your memory here: http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/blog/2014/7/19/my-calamitous-love-affair-with-coffee

Moving forward a few months and seasons:

April 19th, 2015:  My calamitous affair with coffee has continued, on & off. Who can resist the smell, the taste, the sensation in the mouth, throat, and belly? Ah, so tasty, warm, and soothing (well, soothing until the caffeine hits my system exactly 15.2 seconds after the first sip!). 

I have tried many, many coffee substitutes and I have to say all may have been tasty in one aspect or another but all have never, ever, replicated the coffee experience (caffeine jitters aside, of course!). One has to enjoy them on a different level and not be thinking of them as coffee or you will be utterly disappointed.

On our family trip to Jamaica, April 2015, I find the most amazing, tasty, and coffee like drink ever: Sunburst's Products Dandelion Coffee. I picked up a jar at the Kingston Airport as we were preparing to depart Jamaica. I had no idea what I was buying as I obviously had not tried it. My thought was this: "If this stuff is even remotely tasty, it will help with my detox off the Blue Mountain coffee that I drank every morning at 6 AM. Seriously, despite my calamitous relationship with coffee - caffeine, what person in their right mind is going to say no to Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee? When in Jamaica, do as the Jamaicans do! (Thank You Mr. White at Great Huts Ecological Resort in Boston Bay, Jamaica. What a great man he is, greeting me every 6 AM with a "Good Morning Miss Paula, the coffee is ready. Where is Eli? I bet Jake is still sleeping!" All words said with the kindest twinkle in his eye.  Mr. White was the person, while off work duty, he jumped to fix me up with a local remedy poultice to soothe my bee stung foot. Hugs to Mr. White for making awesome Blue Mountain coffee every AM and your sincere Jamaican kindness!)

So now I am home and must detox from coffee OR:

• put up with caffeine side effects every day
• suffer the caffeine withdrawal headache for a day or two

I opt for the wean down off coffee detox plan:

• 1st morning: 3/4 coffee, 1/4 dandelion coffee
• 2nd morning: a 1/2 & 1/2 blend
• 3rd morning: 3/4 dandelion and 1/4 coffee
• 4th morning: 100% dandelion coffee in my cup

Here is what I found upon brewing the dandelion coffee:

• smelled awesome, very coffee like
• looks dark and rich, how I prefer my coffee
• let's taste the stuff! I was not disappointed but pleasantly surprised! Dandelion Coffee is by far the best "substitute" I have ever tasted. I think, if I was given a cup and not told that it was not real coffee, I would not know and believe I was drinking coffee! I would soon be curious as to why the caffeine effects were not quickly kicking in.

When my current jar gets low, I will be ordering more and hoping the product becomes easy to find here in the USA.  http://www.sunburstproducts.com/our-products/

Got Seasonal Allergies Healing Hint:

If seasonal plant and pollen allergies tend to drag you down, try this:

1. 1/4 tsp. of raw, local honey every AM & PM. The honey must be cold extracted from the comb to preserve the properties that will ease your allergy symptoms. If the comb was heated up, as this makes it so much easier to extract the sticky honey, the heat cooks the enzymes, nutrients, and immune healing factors that help to ease seasonal allergies. Sometimes the challenge with this is stopping at 1/4 tsp. Think of it as mind-body-soul healing medicine where truly more is not always better!
2. Stinging nettles. Most healers recommend freeze dried nettles in capsule form (You can find Ecclectic Institute's freeze dried nettles at Nature's Storehouse, Canton, NY). If you have stinging nettles around you, consider yourself fortunate, and indulge in your healing wild garden's bounty. Please be considerate of the plant and leave plenty for re-growth and to prevent soil depletion. With your nettles: make tea, make pesto, gently stir fry or steam.

My quart size bottle of medicine! This jar lasts a very long time. Local, raw honey is widely available in Northern, NY. Check farm stands, the Potsdam Food Coop, Nature's Storehouse in Canton, Martin's Farm Stand, and Garden Share's Local Food Guide for more local sources.

Longing for the Wild Ones: Nature's Medicine!

Every year I find myself in this same space: longing for the wild foods of spring.  Above I am digging leeks on 4/16/13 and the field of leeks and box of leeks pictures are from 2014. I am anxiously waiting for the leeks to pop their 'lil green heads up again this year.

The return of the leeks means many things to me:

• spring IS here,
• summer will follow sooner than the wait from winter to spring (so grateful for this!),
• more wild foods and flowers will be popping out of the ground daily, and
• my body is in sync with nature!

Wild leeks are nature's medicine. (Who am I kidding? All wild plants are nature's medicine!)  They have similar healing qualities of garlic: immune boosting, good for blood pressure, a blood and spring tonic, cold and flu remedy, and the leaf and bulb juice is good for ear aches and infections. 

Wild foods are the gifts that our bodies need after a long cold winter. They provide green food, vitamin C (and so many more vitamins and minerals), stimulation of the liver to open and cleanse the heaviness of winter out of our digestive tract and ultimately our body cells, and vital life force energy to up our internal level of vibrancy.

Soon to look for:

Violet leaves and flowers

Violets are rich in vitamin C, a much needed vitamin after a long winter. Vitamin C helps in the spring detox and the upward movement of life force energy. Violets are rich in enzymes, chlorophyll, vitamin A, carotenes, rutin (helps maintain blood vessel strength and integrity), and many more nutrients. 

Young Nettles

Nettles are, by far, my favorite plant (and I love all the plants!). It is one herb I would add to every herbal healing blend for its nutritive properties. Nettles nourishes each and every body cell, helps to build strong bones, nourishes the glandular system, aid the reproductive tract (pms, migraines, prostate, libido builder), great for allergies and asthma, and just about any and every ailment I can think of. This is because of nettles high nutritional value; when the body is nourished the body heals!

Young Dandelion

Um, Um Yum... dandelion greens and think liver. Dandelion is a bitter tonic for the liver helping with digestion and helping with the spring cleanse out of winter heaviness in our cells and life force energy. Dandelion is very high in nutrients (again, good for cellular health and build bones), is a mild laxative, and is good for skin conditions to name but a few of dandelion's virtues. Spring brings us this flower and the leaves to eat at just the time our body needs it. Nature is so wise!

Sorrels: Sheep and Wood sorrels

Sorrels are from the genus Oxalis. Oxalis means "sour" and is named due to its high oxalic acid content.   Oxalic acid is considered "toxic" when consumed in large quantities because oxalic inhibits the absorption of calcium.  Oxalic acid is not considered a problem when consumed moderately and with a varied diet. Many domesticated vegetables, including spinach and broccoli, also contain oxalic.  People who are challenged by gout, rheumatism, and gallbladder and kidney stones should avoid it.

Sorrel is rich in vitamin C (the sour and vitamin C again contributes to the spring cleanse of winter's stagnation in the body).  Traditionally it has been used to treat scurvy, fevers, urinary infections, mouth sores, nausea, and sore throats.

If you have never been one to grass your front lawn or the fields and woods near your home... I encourage you to find a good guide book with pictures, descriptions, and healing information and get foraging. 

Remember the forager's ethical principle: take only what you need and make certain to leave plenty of plants so they can reproduce and repopulate the area you are wild harvesting from. If you take all the plants you are creating a micro-extinction in that area.

Weight Loss with Chai Tea

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My Yummy, Warm, Soothing, Morning Chai

Ah, caught your attention didn't I?  I have discovered that when an article has information about weight loss it, that article:

1. Flies around the internet at break-neck speed and

2. Gets more reads than almost any other topics I write about.

Wait! Just one second there, don't you go clicking "delete!" I am a woman of my word and I DO promise to deliver on my weight loss information but I am wrapping it in a package with so much more. I want to sing the praises of Chai tea:

• the health benefits of the spices and the black tea, (herbs and spices are so medicinal!)

• the calming ritual of making and enjoying it (sharing it with loved ones too; like how about a Valentine's Chai Party with Girl Friends?! Guy Friends too! Share the Chai Love!), and

• the thermogenic and weight loss benefits of sipping a bit of Heaven.

So how does Chai tea help with weight loss?

1. Herbs and spices can help boost your metabolism. 

• Black pepper increases your body’s metabolism and burns unwanted fats, including the fat on your belly. Black pepper stimulates blood and lymphatic circulation. Better fluid movement in the body creates better nourishment, better oxygenation, and better waste removal from body cells. This all stacks up to better metabolism and weight loss benefits. Black pepper contains a substance called piperine which blocks the formation of new fat cells.

• Black tea has caffeine like compounds that stimulate metabolism. A healthy weight loss plan includes eating a 100% whole food diet and moving your body. Adding black tea can help keep your metabolism humming along at a healthy rate. (No, black tea will not help you burn the extra calories when indulging in high calorie foods. Whole food eating for weight loss is the answer. And, black tea's caffeine like properties are easier on the body than coffee. Coffee, in excess and over the long haul of life, tends to burn out the adrenal glands from over-stimulating them. Black tea has 1/2 the caffeine punch of a typical cup of coffee, unless you long brew - steep your tea bag or loose tea. Black (and green) tea has the balancing ingredient called l-theanine, an amino acid which promotes GABA uptake in the brain and is thus calming and helps to counter epinephrine surges. L-theanine also increases Dopamine. Thus, one can enjoy a nice combination of both focus and calm from tea. Tea is not as hard on the adrenals as coffee.)

• Cinnamon (real Ceylon cinnamon, not cassia bark) increases your body's circulation of fluids. See black pepper above. Cinnamon contains compounds called polyphenols and the mineral chromium. Both of these compounds help improve how your body uses insulin in turn regulating blood glucose. Cinnamon has been shown to increase glucose metabolism by about 20 times, which would significantly improve your ability to regulate blood sugar.

• Cardamom is another thermogenic herb that helps boost your metabolism and may boost your body's ability to burn fat.

• Ginger is a warming spice that has anti-inflammatory properties. Ginger may have thermogenic properties that help boost your metabolism, as well as an appetite-suppressant effect. See ginger for its potential role in your weight management goals.

• Nutmeg is a good digestive aid. When we properly digest food we better use the nutrients in the food. When body cells are better fed, better nourished, we do not crave food in unhealthy ways.

• Some Chai recipes include turmeric as a spice to add to the mix. Curcumin, turmeric's most active ingredient, reduces the formation of fat tissue. Turmeric suppresses the blood vessels needed to form new fat tissue (it is an anti-inflammatory herb and excess fat formation is an inflammatory response) and therefore may help prevent fat build-up. Curcumin use, from turmeric, results in improvements in insulin resistance, hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and other inflammatory symptoms associated with obesity and metabolic disorders.

• Cayenne. Ok, this is not a regular chai spice. It just happens to be in the honey I gently sweeten my chai tea with. Cayenne is another thermogenic herb. Capsaicin is the compound that gives cayenne peppers their heat. Cayenne may help fight obesity by decreasing a person's calorie intake, lowers blood fat levels, and helps to shrink existing fat tissue.

2. Regular consumption of chai spices stimulates digestive and pancreatic enzymes.

• See nutmeg above. Good digestion is key to obesity prevention, reduction, and healing.

3. There is also improved oxygen uptake and fat breakdown with chai spices.

• This has to do with better circulation throughout your whole body, better digestion, and the stimulation to all body cells from improved circulatory effects.

Healing Suggestion: Herbs and spices of the thermogenic nature work best in the context of a whole food eating and whole health living plan. Herbs cannot help shed excess weight within the context of an unhealthy diet that is comprised of calorie dense and nutrient poor manufactured foods.

Making Chai Tea

Black tea of the organic nature, spicy / raw honey, chai spices, peppercorns, local / raw goat's milk.

First, I gather my chai ingredients: 

• black tea (sometimes I use loose black tea)

• cayenne and ginger raw honey

• a spice blend of cardamom, nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon (I keep this pre-mixed in my cupboard)

• I recently added star anise and cloves (use 1/4 cup each spice EXCEPT the nutmeg and cloves, 1 heaping tbsp of nutmeg, slightly less than 1 tbsp cloves)

• black pepper corns in the mortar waiting to be ground

• raw, local goat's milk

• missing in the picture is the organic vanilla extract

Making the tea:

1. Bring 1 cup water to boil and turn off heat.

2. Add black tea, cover, and steep for 3 to 5 minutes. Yes, time this.

3. Remove black tea from how water.

4. Add 1 tsp. of chai spice mix.

5. Cover and steep 2 to 3 minutes.

6. Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup full fat milk from well raised and well fed lactating animals.

7. Cover pot and re-warm gently on low heat for a minute or so. Do not walk away or you will over heat and scorch the milk.

8. Grind the black pepper so you are not tempted to walk away to get that load of wash started.

9. Pour tea into tea mug.

10. Add a bit of vanilla.

11. Add ground pepper.

12. Add 1/2 tsp. or so of local, raw honey.

13. Stir, sip, enjoy, and relax!

Chai Tea and Me!

Are you looking at all the steps and saying... I don't have time for this Paula? Can't I just use one of those Keurig cups of chai tea? Sure go ahead but the above results are so much tastier. And the process becomes a meditative ritual. Think Asian Tea Rituals... sacred time.

Compare the taste a cup of Keurig coffee to a cup that you fresh grind the coffee beans and brew in a time honored fashion. There is no comparison.

Fast and easy is, well, fast and easy.

But taste is so much more! Would you prefer instant mashed potatoes or homemade mashed potatoes from local, organic potatoes cooked with the skins still on, mashed to perfection with plenty of butter from grass-fed cows, and a splattering of full-fat local raised, raw milk. Your choice! I am very clear on which one I would choose!

Share your thoughts. It is good to hear other's voices, thoughts, ideas...

Courtesy of: BeHealthyToday

De-Mystifying Detox Diets

Information on detox diets, detoxing the body, and all the lingo and hoop-la around this issue tends to be confusing as well as misconstrued; depending on who is sharing the information. But seriously, is that not the case with anything? Everything?

The biggest confusion, in my eyes, lies in the modern medicine vs. traditional - holistic healing's views around detoxing.

Teaching people the power of supporting their body's detox process is teaching them to take their healing into their own hands; creating an independence from the health care industry. Which please, do not be misled. Our country predominantly has a disease care system. It is a system that flourishes if your disease symptoms are only suppressed not healed. This means you are a patient, a customer, in this system for life; dependent on the health care professionals and their prescription drugs.

Understanding detox efforts in healing requires a quick look at human biology. Our bodies are built for detoxing. We are detoxing every minute of every day. Your liver is the main organ of detox; constantly filtering your blood and eliminating the "toxins" via the colon. Your colon, obviously, is an organ of detox as it eliminates solid wastes and the products of metabolic breakdown (liver) from the body. Your kidneys keep themselves busy filtering the blood and eliminating waste products down through the ureters, into your bladder, and out through the urethra.

Your lungs eliminate waste, toxins, through your breath. Your skin eliminates waste through the process of sweating. Your lymphatic system moves fluids around your body and helps to eliminate waste, toxins, as well.

Gratefully borrowed from: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/273241902367567074/

So what does "detox dieting" do for all these bodily processes?

The medical profession, our health care system, debunks detox diets from many angles and for many reasons. For example: Detox is a term used by medical personnel to label the process of cleansing drugs or alcohol from a person's system that has been imbibing in excess and/or for long periods of time. For western medicine trained professional to think about detox in different terms means stepping into a realm they were not trained in, natural healing, and thinking from a space that most western medical training scoffs at and actually teaches practitioners is quackery. This is not the important thing here; so let us not focus on it any longer. (For a little history lesson, scroll down to "suppression and decline:" http://www.mygenerationsclinic.com/about-naturopathic-medicine.htm. Another history lesson: http://www.healingmountainpublishing.com/articles/NPmedicine.html )

Instead, lets us focus on what natural, holistic detox is! It is simply assisting and supporting your body in what it does every minute of everyday: detoxes itself and heals itself. When a natural healer (Naturopathic Physician, Herbalist, Holistic Nutrition Professional, etc.) prescribes a detox plan, the detox foods and herbs are simply to nourish and support the organs that do the detox work in the body. 

The misconception lies in that people think these herbs and foods are doing something detox special... like scrubbing dirt from the body. These foods and herbs are not a dust buster, vacuum cleaner, or scrubbing bubbles of any type. They are simply foods (herbs are whole foods too!) that are high in nutrients that build cellular health and support healthy body organs. If your body organs are well nourished from whole food eating; they do their jobs better. This is truly simple nutritional physiology. The body is beautiful; poetry in motion in every way.

Now, I will admit, any opportunity some people and corporations have to market and profit from an idea, they will. If there are profits to be made, someone(s) will create scams to go along with it. This happens with everything around health. Let me give you several examples of the recent over marketing of reasonably healthy concepts but the concepts get taken to an extreme or used out of context for someone's profit:

• kale being made into every marketable food possible. I am not against kale chips but seriously... they are now the national health food?
• coconut in everything... we need to eat it, drink it in milk and water form, slather it on our bodies, etc.
• blueberries as the amazing superfood... do NOT go a day without eating them or your health will be in jeopardy.
• quinoa... we just cannot survive, nutritionally speaking without it. What did we do for 100s of years without this powerhouse of food from the Andes Mountains?
• any food, spice, or herb that is shown to up the metabolic rate and it is quickly slapped into capsule forms and sold as the latest "get skinny quickly" scheme.

My point? Plenty of health claims out there for all sorts of supposed healing products.

The wise thing to do is use your common sense in these situations. Products, especially expensive and exclusive products, are not needed!

Human beings have been supporting and assisting their organs of detox from time beginning. The natural cycles of life support this detox action: wild leeks and dandelion greens in the spring open our winter congested digestive tract and get things moving. The liver is stimulated more than it has been all winter, from these traditional spring foods, and aids in moving shit out of the body, literally and figuratively! Traditionally what did people do in the spring? Why they reveled in the wild leeks and dandelion greens, waiting anxiously and happily for their arrival in the spring. Time to dig wild leeks, time to gather dandelion greens and guess what... you are naturally, with the cycles of life, supporting your organs of detox.

Next in the seasonal flow of plants comes stinging nettles; another fine green plant that supports the body's natural detox systems and contributes amazing nutritional support to each and every body cell.

We can follow the seasonal appearance and growth of plants all growing season to discover the very plants people have traditionally used for supporting their organs of detox. In the winter, non-growing seasons, people prepared for this. Roots, barks, leaves, and berries of medicinal plants were gathered and dried for the long winter months. These foods were used when needed to support detox: when ill health symptoms arise or true microbial sicknesses.

Have you ever been constipated for 3 or 4 days in a row? How about a week or more? Remember how you felt? The colon is an organ of detox. Supporting detox (in just one example) is supporting colon health. Who wouldn't want this? Sure beats chronic constipation and the yucky, whole body feelings of ill health that result. Use this "constipated" thought process for all your pathways of detox: sweating, urinating, exhaling respiratory waste, lymphatic movement, and bile production and release into the small intestine. All of these detox mechanisms work more smoothly and efficiently when we support whole body detox.

Detox is not a hoax. Your body is doing it in every second of your life! How it is presented, promoted, and sold for profit may be what can get a bit shaky. Your body has always detoxed and will continue to do so until your life force energy is finished in your physical body. That is life and death here on this planet.

I am, right now whipping up a pot of nettle, peppermint, and rosemary tea. All of these herbs support circulation, cell nourishment, and ultimately detoxification. Simple 'lil pot 'O tea!  

Cream of Spinach Soup:

This was an easy pot of soup to whip up last eve. Then I let it sit in the refrigerator for the next day's dinner; all the flavors meld together better this way.  All veggies came from the Kent Family Farm and the milk is from local, loved, and well cared for goats.

1. Saute' a medium purple onion.
2. Add a medium potato and carrot or two to this saute'. Cook them just long enough to slightly soften but still have some crispness. They will cook a bit more when you re-heat the soup the next day so you do not want to create mushy veggies.
3. Clean up spinach and steam in a tiny bit of water. I had about a pound of fresh, local spinach  and it only takes a few minutes to steam it gently.
4. Put spinach and 2 1/2 to 3 cups milk into your blender.
5. Add a clove or two of garlic.
6. Blend well and pour back into the steam pot. Add the saute' veggies.
7. Add any herbs you like the taste of (rosemary, parsley, oregano, basil, thyme, curry mix, etc.) or not!
8. Voila' a pot of soup that is loaded with whole foods for detoxing!

A 100% whole food diet IS a detox diet.

You are always supporting your organs of detox, your each and every body cell, when you eat 100% nourishing whole foods. 

It really is that easy!  

BUT...If you have lived less than a whole food diet...   

Join me for my Liver-Colon Detox Nourishment online class 

    We start our liver healing journey with all new class materials June 1st, 2016. 

Class materials are yours for life.

REGISTER HERE: 

Developing Our Personal Power

I took the words in the below two paragraphs, with permission, from  Elissa Hayman's November blog post.  Elissa is a spiritual healer from New Mexico. I was introduced to Elissa and her work by a fine, local lady and friend.

I was stopped in my tracks by the most fiery blaze of coppery gold color I ever saw, radiating off a long line of cottonwoods on the riverbank.

Someone else had stopped to admire them and we got to talking. He turned out to be an herbalist who lived in the nearby mountains. His renowned company, Dragon River Herbals, was on the scene in Santa Fe; they supplied doctors and health facilities with their high-quality, wild-crafted, organic products.

Through this herbalist, I learned something interesting about wild-crafted herbs: their medicine is so much more potent because in Nature, they go through a lot of stress.  The plants' response to the natural stressors in their environment makes them produce more potent medicinal properties. The "fat cat" herbal plants grown in cultivation don't need to develop the inner strength necessary to BE strong medicine.

That's something to remember in November 2014, when  it will behoove us to see challenges like a plant in the wild, as something that develops our powers.

I love these words. It is the wise woman teaching I do around the foods we eat, the herbal plant foods we use for medicine, and the way we cultivate personal power in our mind, body, and soul.

Organic foods have this magic about them as well! When food is grown organically, the food itself has to fend off foreign invaders. In this dance for survival, the organically grown food develops higher amounts of nutrients and develops nutrients that do not exist in conventionally grown agriculture's foods (because conventionally grown foods do not survive these natural stressors). 

We are approaching the American holiday of Thanksgiving; a time to be grateful for all that we have and have experienced in life. 

Life experiences are the building blocks of who you are as a being; your wild crafting as a human. Take a moment to express gratitude, every day, for your life and all the wild crafting that has made you grow stronger. Life experiences are powerful medicine!

Feed your body, mind, and soul well!

Gratitude for making it safely into the Supai Village in the Havasupai Home, the Indians of the Blue Waters. Gratitude for surviving the long and very, hot trail down into the canyon.  Getting out was easy; we started at 4:30 AM and beat the sun out of the canyon!

Happy Thanksgiving with Love!

 

Herbal Recipe to Clean the Liver from Holiday Eating and Imbibing!

Simple Liver Nourishment Cleanse

Liver Nourishment:  This is a very simple way to nourish the liver as it goes about its non-stop job of filtering your blood.  Your liver is not “dirty.”  Spending a few days focusing on nourishing this important organ is a good way to prevent disease and heal your body.  Love your liver with good food, liver specific herbs, and relaxation. Oh yeah, did I mention fun and laughter? Anger is a toxin to the liver; let go of anger and revel in fun, love, and laughter.

Raw food fast for 3 days:  lots of local and seasonal berries / fruit in AM with nuts and seeds and then vegetable salads and raw nuts and seeds at noon & PM meals.

***If pre-diabetic, diabetic, or you have any metabolic syndrome issues (where you need to not have high levels of blood sugar surging through your system) keep your intake of fruit conservative and eat more vegetables. 

Raw root veggie and cabbage slaws are great in fall and winter for the raw, seasonal veggies.

AM liver flush before any food:  juice of 1 whole lemon, 1-2 tsp olive oil, pinch of unrefined sea salt. You can use this simple liver flush in the PM and/or the AM.  

I have clients who do it in the AM because they drink their Essiac detox tea at night.

Detox infusion:  purchase an ounce of each of these herbs:  cut burdock root, cut dandelion root, nettle leaf, dandelion leaf, and red clover blossom.

Each night heat 1 quart of water, stainless steel pot please.  When water is simmering turn to very low heat and simmer 1 tsp. each of the burdock and dandelion roots for 10 minutes.  This is a very gentle simmer with the cover on the pot.

After the ten minutes, shut off the heat and have 1 tsp. each of the dandelion, nettle, and red clover.  Add to pot, stir to get wet and cover pot.  Let it sit over night to steep, pot covered.  Strain into quart canning jar in AM and drink 3-4 cups over the course of the day.

Relaxing habits when doing a liver nourishing cleanse:  Plenty of fluids; lots of good, restful sleep, eating in a calm environment (without screens) and chewing very slowly and thoroughly, yoga, massage, relaxing by the fire or under a favorite tree (seasonally dependent behaviors!) while reading a good book…the point is to nurture the whole you and make your liver feel at peace and loved.

When to nourish the liver:  Ideally 4 times a year at the spring and fall equinoxes and the summer and winter solstices.  I recommend waiting past the Winter Solstice, after the December holidays, for obvious reasons! 

Milk thistle is a good herb to take for liver nourishing and rebuilding.  It can be added to the above dandelion, etc. herb tea. Milk thistle is a seed and needs to be added and simmer with roots and/or barks.

http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/making-herbal-infusions-teas/

Capsules, tinctures, teas of milk thistle are good options as a single herb or as a combination herbal formula with turmeric and perhaps ginger…

Taking milk thistle for a couple of weeks after a three day nourishing cleanse can help to nourish and rebuild the liver.  You can make milk thistle into a tea with nettles.  Again, simmer the milk thistle seeds, very gently for 10 minutes before adding the nettle leaves. Shut off the heat before you add nettle leaves and allow the herbs to infuse, covered, for at least 4 hours.

If you would prefer to do a more intense liver nourishing (that is pre-packaged for you, creating ease), go to this website:  www.herbdoc.com  and search under the 5 day detox programs for the liver cleanse.  It is a very complete liver cleanse kit with a well written book explaining liver cleansing and its benefits to your health and longevity.  Think of it as nourishing your liver, fortifying it with the nutrients it needs to do its blood filtering job well.

Dr. Schulze’s products are top of the line and use high quality herbs. They tend to be a bit more expensive but quality is quality.

You can do a more intense, longer, liver / organ cleanse by putting the materials together yourself and following the cleanse for more than 3 days

• Whole foods, raw
• Herbal teas
• Fresh made juices
• Lots of pure water (no chlorine and flouride from municipal water supply; both are toxins to body cells and your liver.)
• AM flush

If you have diabetic tendencies do not do a "juice or herbal tea" only liver cleanse.  Eat food and keep your protein level up.

Need help? Give me a shout.

My Whole Food Vitamin

Have you heard of Bullet Proof Coffee? This is my bullet proof, whole food, vitamin & mineral morning drink.

Body cells need nourishing. Whole food eating is my basis for nourishing my and my kid's body cells. In today's world, our bodies can use every bit of extra cell nourishment we can get.

Recipe:

• 1/3 to 1/2 cup water, gently warm (not hot!) before adding to your blender. This helps the butter blend in.
• 1 tbsp. butter or coconut oil, your choice, I go with pasture raised butter. This helps the body better absorb the fat soluble nutrients.
• 1 1/2 tsp. turmeric - ginger blend
• 1 heaping tbsp. Superfood Plus powder formula
• 1 to 2 mg of iodine drops, when I remember to add it
• 1 tbsp. organic fruit juice concentrate (I use this for my kid's doses as a flavor enhancer. Cherry and grape concentrate work very well.)

****I added to my mix on 10/22/14:

OK, so I just watched the 9th video in The Quest for the Cures series: http://thetruthaboutcancer.com/live/episode9.php 

This is The Truth About Cancer video series that talks about cancer; what cancer really is and how to cure the body naturally.  I am going to add fresh black pepper to this mix!  Fresh as in you do not cook it and best when ground from whole peppercorns.

Blend all the ingredients, gently.

To make it easier, less cleanup, use an 8 oz jam jar. Add the warm water and butter and shake until melted. Add the rest of the ingredients and shake well; lid on please. It makes quite a green mess if you forget the lid!

The turmeric-ginger blend. I buy in 1 lb. bags from Frontier herbs; organic of course.  Available through the Potsdam Food Coop or Nature's Storehouse - support your local health food store!

This is the Superfood,  www.herbdoc.com. The chorella and spirulina are potent heavy metal detoxers.

There are many green food powders on the market. Try your local health food store. To find one, read ingredients carefully for 100% whole foods. This SuperFood Plus is available wholesale which considerably cuts down the cost. I keep it available and share my wholesale discount. 

My indoor herb garden. I chew sprigs of the herbs daily for their medicinal, healing properties.

Last winter the kids and I took Juice Plus over the winter months. We had a great winter, in regards to our health, and avoided all the viral bugs that swarmed about us. We may add JP again this winter. Juice Plus are blends of fruits and veggies that have been juiced and low heat dehydrated. Basically they are fruit and veggie juice powders.

What do you do to add extra, whole food nutrition to your life? Share in the comments. New ideas are always good!

Holistic Healing Taste Testing

I decided to do some taste testing of the holistic healing options in my Northern NY State. As I taste test around Northern NY I will report on my findings.

If any of the healing options speak to you, try them out and report back to me in the comments.

Acupuncture:  Ok, I confess, I have used and LOVE acupuncture for over 16 years. The taste test was successful after my very 1st acupuncture treatment. I guess I could say I have become a regular consumer! Acupuncture has helped in healing my sciatica, headaches, low back pain, and menstrual issues (I am sure there have been more!).

Originating in China, traditional acupuncture is the oldest continuously practiced medical system in the world. It is based on natural laws that describe the flow of life energy both in nature and in the body. Acupuncture addresses the needs of the whole person and has the best results when patients use it in conjunction with other health promoting attitudes and behaviors.Well known for relieving pain, traditional acupuncture is actually a holistic approach that addresses body, mind, and spirit.

I recommend you try acupuncture with Shelby Connelly and Five Elements Living. I am certain you will find it a tasty way to support your healing!  (315) 262-2622

• • addiction
• • common cold
• • migraines
• • allergies
• • depression
• • mood swings
• • anxiety
• • digestive disorders
• • menopausal symptoms
• • fatigue
• • sciatic pain
• • back pain
• • fertility issues
• • sinusitis
• • bursitis
• • insomnia
• • arthritis