Spring is here!
Everyone is busy in their gardens, yards and houses, cleaning out
all of the old things that have accumulated over the winter. This
is a great time to do a little spring cleaning on ourselves as well.
In the winter we all tend to eat heavier, greasier foods to bulk
up and keep old Jack Frost from nipping at our heels. Now as life
returns to the earth it's time to lighten up!
A good place to start
with your own spring cleansing program is with your dear old neglected
liver. The liver is one of the hardest
working organs , filtering over a quart of blood every minute.
The liver is the major organ of detoxification in the body helping
to break down and eliminate all manner of toxins from the system.
There are many herbs that you can use to help support, protect
and nourish your liver.
 This
is a good time to introduce to you my grand herbal love, the
perennial favorite, a humble weed loathed by many but so rich
in nutrients, medicine and lore that it seems a travesty to do
anything but sing its praises. It's the amazing, abundant, delicious..DANDELION!!
Why waste your time and money trying to get rid of them with
toxic chemicals when you could eat those lovely little plants
and tone your liver, kidneys and blood for free ! Dandelion
greens are one of the best spring cleansers. Rich in potassium,
and a stimulating digestive bitter, dandelion greens help to
improve sluggish digestion by increasing stomach secretions.
Here's an easy and delicious recipe for a cleansing spring dish.
Great
Cape Dandy Greens
 Pick
a mess of Dandelion greens -- at least 50 feet away from roads
please, and be sure you are not picking from a lawn or area that
has been sprayed with chemicals. Wash greens throroughly. Mince
up 2-8 cloves of garlic for each cup of greens . Chop or tear greens
into small pieces. Saute garlic in Olive oil, coconut oil, ghee
or butter for about 2-3 minutes without letting it brown. Throw
in the greens and saute for another 5 minutes. Eat with a sprinkle
of celtic sea salt and some freshly ground black pepper. For
a less bitter flavor, blanch the greens in a pot of boiling water
for one to two minutes before sauteing. Delicious!
"Bitter is better" is a good rule to live by. If you find that your
digestion is sluggish, or if you frequently suffer from heartburn, belching,
gas or indigestion- add some bitters to your diet. The best way to use bitters
is to eat them about 20 minutes before a meal. This gives the stomach and pancreas
time to secrete the enzymes and digestive juices that will help break down your
food. You can eat a dandelion leaf or two, chew on a little piece of gentian
root or take thirty drops of our Better Bitters tincture under your tongue.
Dandelion
root is
another amazing liver nourisher and detoxifier. You can drink
it as a tea, take Dandelion
tincture,
slice up the root and throw it in soups or try our favorite
Dandelion root based herbal coffee substitute- Dandy
Blend. It's
basically just powdered roasted root of Dandelion, chicory
and beet with some barley and rye extracts. It's got the
same full
bodied flavor as coffee so I find it satisfies the coffee
craving in a way that tea doesn't. It's caffeine free, great
iced and
we can't keep it on the shelves we have so many die-hard
Dandy Blend drinkers around here these days.
Another wonderful
formula for total body cleansing is the Hoxsey
Red Clover Formula.
Originally used as a preventative and to support the body
when dealing with cancer, Hoxsey can also be used as a
great all
around spring cleanser for the system. Red Clover is a
lymphatic, lung
and liver remedy which helps to clean the blood. Burdock
root gently increases kidney, liver and lymphatic function.
Licorice
helps to strengthen the adrenal glands. Oregon Grape is
a good digestive bitter and helps to increase digestion and
absorption
of fats. Prickly Ash is a circulatory instrument and a
potent
anti-viral. Stillingia is a powerful alterative which is
best used in small doses to stimulate the kidney, liver
and lymphatic
functions. Buckthorn is used primarily as a tonifying laxative
and Poke Root is a well-known folk medicine used for arthritis,
rheumatism, mastitis and other bacterial infections as
well as cancer. Potassium iodide is added to increase absorption.
Triphala is
an Ayurvedic preparation that come in capsule form and helps
to rejuvenate and detoxify the system. Ayurvedic
medicine is governed by the seasons and Triphala is specific
for this time of year.
A Detoxification
tea can
be easily made by combining liver supportive herbs
such as Dandelion, Sarsaparilla, Burdock and Licorice. One
to three
cups of this
may be drunk a day for one to three weeks as part of
a spring cleansing protocol.
Ok, all this talk about
Dandelions has made me want to tell you even MORE about them.
So my next journal
entry
will be
entirely
dedicated to this amazing weed-stay tuned!
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