Blogs

We have had a lot of people asking us about "Liver Detox or Spring Detox"  Below is our thoughts and  our beliefs from our studies and experiences. Please also click on the links at the bottom of this blog for further research.   

You can see that spring is telling us what to eat.  But, Americans are clearly very disconnected to nature because they are not getting the message.  The only message humans seem to be getting is jump on the latest fad and start your spring detox and flush your system.  

Spring is not about the next new detox diet, the next fruit juice fast, etc..  Spring is the awakening of the new season to come.  It is the season to wake up from the sluggish winter and  eat bitter.  It is time to move your body more and get outside in nature.  

Feeling sluggish by spring, means you need to take better care of your body throughout the year and through winter season.  It does not mean do some radical detox and flush your body out.  

You feel sluggish because you gorged yourself with foods that were to heavy, toxic and sugary during the winter season.  

Spring brings us beauty and awakening.  If you were eating right through the winter and sleeping enough you would feel renewed.  Instead of focusing on a detox diet, focus on creating a better winter eating plan for next winter.   You need to be thinking about the long term damage to your body that your are creating , not short term quick fixes like detox/cleansing diets that really don't work and are damaging to your body.  

Spring brings us spring greens, spring edible weeds and spring herbs. Spring brings us beauty after a long dark winter.  Spring is a reminder to eat your greens , especially eat  your bitter greens, it is a reminder that you should always think about boosting your detoxifying process, not just once a year.  

Spring is not here to torture your internal organs with fad detox diets.  It is a reminder that if you feel sluggish because you made bad choices throughout the winter with heavy sugary holiday food, toxic food that maybe next winter you will make healthier choices for your body mind and spirit.  

What spring is telling you  is to wake up, take a walk out in nature, slow down your life because you refused to do it, breath more, and enjoy the beauty that the next few seasons will bring.  

Say NO to spring detox/cleansing diets, start making better choices/better life style habits and learn to eat your bitter greens.

 A life of eating to be healthy is truly about finding  balance, listening and seeing what nature  is bringing  to you.  

 Life Detox:

You are living a life that is too fast.  Slow it down.  Take deep breaths, learn to breath again.   A fast paced life gives you indigestion. Simply put, it is bad for your digestion to live a life that is fast.  Instead of a juice fast that will give you a blood sugar high, sit down under a tree with a cup of nettle tea.  

Drink nourishing bone broth made from animals that are treated beautifully and fed a non-gmo diet.

Practice being kind and learn to give instead of take

Get to bed by 10:00 PM

Cut out sugar

Find out your food allergies

Exercise is a must.  No excuses, humans need to move their bodies.  Find something you like.  It does not have to be something that is hard core.  Walking is a great way to exercise.  It is being consistent that is important.   You need to exercise at least 5 days a week.  

Eliminate chemical toxins out of your life.  Remember hair dyes and nail polish are toxic.  Eliminate products that are made from petroleum, synthetics and GMO's 

 All screens, cell phones, computer, gaming, video games, TV, I pads, kindles,  etc All of them put your body in Fight or Flight mode.  So, instead of reaching for the newest cleansing diet, turn of your screens and limit your use of them.   If you have a cell phone then only use it for emergency's or if it is job related and If you have to use it for your job then set limits right away.    Turn the ringer off.  

Stop texting and start making time to see each other.  Texting turns you off from this world and keeps you overly connected, it is stressing your digestive tract out.   You need to set limits.  

Gaming/Video games, this is one of the worst things you can do to your body.  Total fight or flight mode every time you log on.   Get gaming out of your life, it is a serious addiction to adrenaline and it turns you  off from the real world.   Set your bare feet onto the ground and drink a cup of burdock root tea.  

Be Here Now.  Simply put if you are waiting for someone or something, just be, look around, observe what is going on around you, start a conversation, smile at someone, bring a paper book to read,  just get off of your phone.  You are keeping your body in constant state of stress.  What does stress do to your digestion? 

Create community and get involved.  This gives your body happy emotions 

Smoothies are the new quick fix, and you are skipping one of the first steps to digestion by drinking your meals.   I truly feel people are having more digestion issues because of our liquid diet and the smoothie fad.   Chewing and saliva are the first steps to breaking down your food.  

Sit and eat.  Be still while you chill.  Breath while you eat.  Breakfast at the table.  No Screen time while you eat.  All of those routines are becoming extinct .  It is time to start the day by eating a balance breakfast  with cooked greens, a clean protein and a salad.   

Stop eating raw food in the winter. 

Eat more green vegetables.   To this day I have yet to meet someone who eats enough vegetables.  

Eat seasonally. It does not make sense to your body for you to go on a juice fast in the spring if you live in an area that fruit is not ripe or even growing at this time.  

 Shop local farmers markets.  They are growing the foods that you can eat seasonally.   Buy organic as much as possible.   It is important for your health to eliminate eating foods that have  chemical toxins in them.  

Drink filtered water or spring water.  Most people are not drinking enough water 

Eat Spring Greens

Wild Spring Greens, head out and harvest some spring energy

Nettle, Urtica dioica - Nutrient, diuretic, detoxifying, astringent, glactagogue, decongestant and hypoglycemic.  Highly nutritious, high in vitamins and minerals.   Great for a nourishing tonic.  They stimulate the action of the kidneys and bladder.  Nettles help cleanse the body of toxins and wastes.  In the respiratory system nettles help clear catarrhal congestion and relieve allergies such as hayfever and asthma (with a balanced, healthy, diet) 

Cleavers, Galium aparine - Diuretic, alterative, antiinflammatory, astringent, antineoplastic, tonic and refrigerant.  Cleavers cleanse and clear toxins from the system and reduce inflammation.  They are a diuretic aiding elimination of wastes and also act ot enhance the lymphatic system, promoting lymphatic drainage of toxins ans wastes.   These actions ( with a healthy balanced diet) make them excellent for fluid retention, skin problems , urinary infections, and more.  

Sheep Sorrel - click on link below: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivx-B9iRcCo

Horsetail, Equisetum arvense - click on link below

http://www.herbwisdom.com/herb-horsetail.html

Chickweed, Stellaria media - Alterative, demulcent, refrigerant, mucilaginous, pectoral, resolvent and discutient. It is a mild diuretic and is used for water retention.  Has many nutrients, including calcium, potassium and iron.  Use as a food, it heals and soothes.  

Violet Flower and Leaf, click on links below: 

http://www.herbalistlisewolff.com/violets.html

http://www.susunweed.com/An_Article_wisewoman3e.htm

Lemon Balm, Melissa officinalis - Antiviral, decongestant, antihistamine, antiseptic, carminative, antispasmodic, antidepressant, nervine diaphoretic, hypotensive and bitter tonic.   Lemon balm is an excellent remedy for soothing the nerves and lifting the spirits ( a rainy spring would be a great time to make a wonderful cup of tea with this beautiful herb) It has a particular affinity with the digestive system, it calms and soothes nausea, vomiting poor appetite, colic, dysentery, colitis and any stress related digestive problems.   Make a bitters and it will gently stimulate the liver and gallbladder and enhance digestion and absorption.   It is useful for nervousness or depression.    It makes a great remedy for headaches and migraines.  A hot infusion causes sweating reducing fevers and making a good remedy for childhood infections.    This is one plant I would make sure I had growing in my garden!  

Dandelion Greens, Taraxacum officinale - Cholagogue, diuretic, antirheumatic, laxative, tonic, nutrient and detoxifying.  The whole plant ca be used medicine and is highly nutritious.   Pick the leaves in the spring and early summer.   Eat them as a bitter tonic to cleanse the body of wastes from the heavy clogging food and more sedentary habits of winter.  Dandelion eliminates toxins, wastes and pollutants through the liver and kidneys, cleansing the blood and tissues.  The bitters in both root and leaf activate the digestive tract and the liver, increasing the flow of digestive juices, enhancing the appetite, easing digestion and cleansing the liver.    So instead of reaching for the latest detox/cleansing diet, take a hike and eat some Dandelion Leaves (in a no spray area) 

Plantain, Plantago major - Leaves: demulcent, refrigerant, detoxifying, astringent, vulnerary, decongestant, expectorant, antiseptic and diuretic. 

My recommendations are this:

I won't recommended a Liver Detox tea to flush out toxins. I would never recommend a juice fast.   I will recommend that you increase your intake of green raw and cooked veggies,  I will recommend Susan Weeds Nourishing  infusions, I will recommend nutritive teas that nourish and tonify your body. There are many more recommendations that I would make.  But the most important thing I will tell you is that you need to take care of your body all the time, think about detoxifying it all the time through nourishing your body with healthy habits.   

Wild Weed Pesto: 

http://mcminnvillehealthdefense.ning.com/profiles/blogs/let-food-be-thy-medicine-and-medicine-be-thy-food-hippocrates

Trying implementing Nourishing Infusions in your daily wellness plan: 

http://www.susunweed.com/herbal_ezine/September08/anti-cancer.htm

More information on Winter Detox Diet: 

http://www.herbalremediesadvice.org/winter-detox-diet.html

Herbs for your liver: 

http://www.herbalremediesadvice.org/natural-liver-cleanse.html

 There is a plague going on in America, food allergies are on the rise

Between the GMO foods, package processed foods and eating to much of the same thing we have created a society that is reacting to food.  Food allergies are on the rise. 

Food allergies are your bodies way of shutting down to the specific foods that your body does not want you to ingest anymore.  Your body is protecting you and also telling you ( if you are listening) that you need different healthy foods, a variety of nutrient dense, local, seasonal eating, no spray foods. Sadly,  most Americans do not know what real food is anymore.  They have been taught to be busy, and eat on the go.  Eating the on the go creates a situation where you are eating the same thing all the time and if you are not being careful you are filling up on GMO Foods.  

When my dad died in 1979,  as a young girl I thought for sure, as I was growing up, that sickness would become less.  I have also lost my mom.   It is the year 2013 and we have more cancer, more disease, more sickness.  It just blows my mind, that this has become worse and supposedly we have better technology?  This mind blowing lesson for me has been my push in life to seek knowledge about health, true health not what the main stream media tells you. My mom listened to the main stream media and western medicine, she is now ashes thrown to the wind.  

The knowledge about our food is there, and it is simple.  Be Simple.  Simple ingredients, no scientific additives, no artificial colors, no artificial ingredients, no gmo food, learn to cook with simple ingredients with beautiful herbs and fresh food.  Simple, fresh, local seasonal food.  

Simple may not be fast. Simple is not a drive through, but a drive through fast food life will get you faster to the emergency room, faster to diabetes,  faster to high blood pressure, faster to arthritis, faster to cancer, and faster to fat.   

Think about this,  you can be pretty sure that  the great Greek doctor and philosopher, Hippocrates, wasn't referring to breakfast at Shari's, snacks from Nabisco   Doritos for lunch or dinner from McDonald's  when he suggested we let our food be our medicine. Rather, he implied eating simply and naturally, so that we nurture our bodies with an array of vitamins, minerals, proteins and fibers found in a well-balanced unprocessed diet. When we eat clean whole foods, we’re not only staying healthy by consuming vital nutrients, but we're also staying healthy by avoiding potentially harmful food additives and GMO foods.

Note on the GMO Food, I really do not want to call GMO foods a food, because they are technically not a food anymore because science has changed its DNA structure from a food to a chemical.   Example:,  GMO Corn is patented at the US patent office.  You can't patent food, but,  GMO Corn is not a food because  it's DNA structure has been changed and  is now  a pesticide  therefore that company owns it, patent's it and the GMO corn and seed is only owned by the creator, the company.  Monsanto ( I like to call them Monsatan) was one of the first to do this.  There are a lot of other bio-tech companies out there now, like, sygentia, dow, pioneer etc.  I can't tell you enough how important it is to avoid and not eat any GMO Food, Period... Never.... Let't put it this way, if you are eating foods that are GMO, you are eating something that is listed at the US patent office as a chemical.  Yuck! 

GMO Foods and food additives are Foreign to your body, therefore it creates dis-ease. .... Inflammation, ..... sickness, .... When there is something foreign being put in your body your body has to fight.  Think of it this way.  Have you ever got a wood splinter, tip of a thorn or a blackberry thorn tip in your finger?  It is stuck under your skin and you can not get it out with the tweezers?  What does your body do to get the FOREIGN object out?  It starts puss up and tries to  push it out.  Now think about what it is like for the inside of your body when you are putting FOREIGN substances in it.  

Food Cravings

The foods you crave are oftentimes the foods that cause you the most trouble, . Common food cravings are milk, ice cream, pasta or bread.

Do You Have A Food Allergy? 

 Questions that can help you determine whether or not you might have a food sensitivity or allergy are:

Do you experience bloating after meals, gas, frequent belching, or any kind of digestive problems?

Do you have chronic constipation or diarrhea?

Do you have a stuffy nose after meals?

Do you have low energy or feel drowsy after eating?

Do you have frequent headaches or migraines?

Does anyone in your family have food allergies?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, you may want to investigate further.

The Elimination Diet 

There are a few food eating plans out there that can help you find our what your food allergies are.  This method is a cheaper way of doing it.  It also teaches you how to listen to your body.  But, remember what I said up above.  First look at your food as being simple, what is in the food you are eating?   Second ask your self the questions up above and remember many people eat the same foods every day. This violates the principle of regular food rotation, (like eating seasonal) and increases your chance of developing an allergy to a certain food.  I gave a link to a site, that I think does a  pretty good job with The Elimination Diet.  They have a lot good recipes and you can download information.  I am very familiar with this diet so if you need help please just ask.   Again, if you answered yes to any of the above questions  you could possibly have a food allergy.   So either do The Elimination Diet or find a Naturopathic Doctor that does the Vega Testing   

The Elimination Diet

http://wholelifenutrition.net/elimination-diet

Vega Testing Information:

http://www.getwellhere.com/pdf/vega-testing.pdf

Easier Method Of Elimination:  

These are the most common Food Allergies:  Tomatoes, dairy, wheat, corn, soy, potato, peanuts, tree nuts, sea food and citrus.  Take all of these out of your diet for 30 days.......................

Then introduce them one at a time in 3 to 5 day increments.  If you get any bloating, acid refux, digestion problems, arthritis flares up, headaches, migraines  mood swings, PMS, stuffy nose or tiredness.  Then that food is not for you. 

Simple Elimination Diet: 

Take wheat and dairy out for thirty days.  Then introduce them one at a time in 3 to 5 day increments

Dr. Mercola on Food Allergies: 

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/06/14/why-are-there-so-many-food-allergies-now.aspx

Food Additives To Avoid: 

http://www.organicauthority.com/health/are-you-allergic-to-food-additives.html

Food Inc, Documentary: Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eKYyD14d_0

This film is not your usual doom and gloom experience it gives great optimism for the world and what ORDINARY PEOPLE CAN DO -Michael Burton, New Zealand

Modern agriculture causes topsoil to be eroded at 3 million tons per hour (thats 26 billion tons a year!). Human mass (waste) is replacing biomass and other species. The carrying capacity of the earth is almost spent. To maintain our comfort zone lifestyles we will soon need five earths to sustain us in the style to which we have become accustomed. The mantra of free trade has failed the worlds poor. There is a better way. Biodynamic agriculture may be the only answer we have left.

Trailer 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfuW0UCUgUI

You can watch all the movie on YouTube:

Here is part one: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y1xMauClzU

This site has great information about health.  From illness to kids consuming to much.  Check it out and share the education.  

http://www.foodmatters.tv/content/newsletter-archive?A=WebApp&CCID=4629&Page=1&Items=7

Peace to you and have a beautiful day! 

Sue 

Some ideas to keep the bugs away:  Don't eat bananas during mosquito season--mosquitoes love bananas! There is something about how your body processes the banana oil that attracts these female sugar-loving insects. Supplement with one vitamin B-1 tablet a day from April through October. Add 100 mg of B-1 to a B-100 Complex daily during the mosquito season.

Natural insect repellents  is made from the clear liquid vanilla (real vanilla) It is reported to work great for mosquitoes and ticks, and spreading a little vanilla mixed with olive oil on your skin smells great.

Yarrow  Bug Spray Recipe below. 

More Information: 

The following ideas that many people swear by these methods for keeping those pests away.

Avoiding sugar: some say that sweet blood attracts mosquitoes. Mosquitoes actually do rely on sugar from plants as their main source of energy. Female mosquitoes only suck blood when they are about to lay eggs. Otherwise, male and female mosquitoes get their food from flowers.

Avoiding bananas: This goes along with the sugar theory, but the consumption of bananas is blamed in attracting mosquitoes.

Eat garlic: Many people claim that regularly eating raw garlic keeps the mosquitoes away. Of course you have to weigh the pros and cons here. You may keep the mosquitoes away with garlic but you may also keep your friends and family away too.

B Vitamins: Also not proven, but it is certainly often quoted that B vitamins, especially thiamine, can deter mosquitoes.

Herbs high in thiamine include: alfalfa, bladderwrack, burdock root, catnip, cayenne, chamomile, chickweed, eyebright, fennel seed, fenugreek, hops, nettles, oatstraw, parsley, peppermint, raspberry leaves, red clover, rose hips, sage, yarrow, and yellow dock.

Foods high in thiamine include:  Brown rice, egg yolks, fish, legumes, liver,  peas, poultry, rice bran, wheat germ, and whole grains.  Organic of course

An article about what is going on in Texas and other states.  No one should be aloud to spray such toxic chemicals over populations.  Period.  They are going to increase cancer rates and kill of very important insects, like the bees.  http://www.naturalnews.com/036877_aerial_spraying_West_Nile_virus_chemicals.html

Yarrow Bug Spray 

For this recipe you’ll need:

1. Yarrow (either fresh or dried flowers and leaves)
2. Alcohol (vodka works fine)
3. Catnip Essential Oil
4. Spray bottles

If using fresh yarrow, fill a jar with yarrow flowers and leaves.

If using dried yarrow, fill a jar about half full with yarrow.

Cover yarrow with Vodka and let sit for a week in the cupboard,  Shake at least once a day. 

After the week is over strain yarrow.  Preserve your liquid and put your yarrow in the compost

Fill a spray bottle with half the liquid and then fill the rest of the way with water. You could also just use the alcohol extraction without any additional water. Of course this costs more in the long run.

Place a few drops of catnip essential oil in the spray bottle. Catnip essential oil has been shown to be more effective than DEET at deterring mosquitoes. You could also try using lavender or sage essential oils.

Happy Herbal Making 

Great place to purchase yarrow if you do not grow it.  I would suggest getting some started.  Yarrow is an incredible herb. 

http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/search/search.php?refine=y&keywords=yarrow&x=0&y=0