Before you Start a Cleanse

"It is SO time!"

You know without a doubt when its time to do a cleanse.  The symptoms are unmistakable.  Irritable, bloaty, broken-out, unable to focus, MESS!  I'm pretty sure this is why new years resolutions were invented.  

Well this year my family has been pretty darn fortunate.  I've been spiking the soup broth with Astragalus Root all season, taking my Autumn Cordial whenever I'm stressed and trying to drink my Women's Vitamin Tea at least once a day.  It must be working because we haven't been sick since Thanksgiving. *knock on wood* But even so, I find myself eating way more carbs now then I ever did before the holidays and I'm feeling sluggish and moody. My lower back has been achy too which signals to me it's time to bless my kidneys with  more water and more herbal tea.  

I've done cleanses in the past and I can tell you they all have very different results.  Some not so great and others leave you feeling well...fabulous!  From my experience the ones that leave you feeling fabulous include good habits we should have anyway.  Honestly if we all got more sleep, drank more water, ate more veggies and practiced meditation we'd be feeling pretty fantastic.  And for a lot of people that's all that needs to be done.  The body has the wonderful ability to cleanse itself of toxins (granted we don't overload it with crap). We don't need any crazy white turnip or spicy lemonade diets.  Our bodies are perfectly capable of doing the work without these extremes.

But there comes a time when it feels good to give your body a little extra help.  Such as when you feel like the mess I described above.  It's also a great idea if you find you are prone to yeast infections or your hormones are out of whack.  Your gut, liver and kidneys are in charge of a lot of things and if you don't treat them well, you are going to feel like crap.

So how do you get started?

The first thing you should do before any cleanse is try to clean up your eating habits.  Eliminate the big offenders such as heavily processed foods, sugar and try to cut down if not completely git rid of your coffee habit.  Remember that everything should be done in moderation and if you find cleanses hard to follow it's probably because you are trying to do too many things at once.  So pick one thing (like kicking a coffee habit) and go from there.  When you think you are doing pretty well, then you can start adding things like herbs and foods that will help clean your system.  I like to go by these rules when doing a cleanse:

1. Reduce my bad eating, sleeping, drinking water habits.
2. Clean the pipes - add more fibrous veg and maybe add a fiber supplement. Don't forget to drink LOTS of water!
3. Kill the yeasties - You can't believe how much yeast can have an impact on your body.  I like to start by taking some anti-yeast herbs like pau d arco that also boosts the immune system and eliminating leavened bread and sugar.  I also like to eat yogurt and/or take probiotics to restore good gut flora.
4. Bless your liver - Take some *gentle* liver herbs like burdock, dandelion root, milk thistle, turmeric and eat greens and beets.
5. Round it all out - By getting plenty of sunlight, doing stress reducing techniques (like meditation or yoga), clay baths, nourishing herbal teas, doing thing that make you happy.

I have to admit I'm pretty excited about doing a cleanse because I know from experience how great I'll feel afterwards.  Don't worry I'll post my progress on here ;-)  I don't recommend cleanses for pregnant women or those that are nursing.  But if you are feeling icky it's never a bad idea to eat more fruits and veggies.

Here's list of other cleanses I've enjoyed and seen good results from:

Shoshanna's Diet and Exercise Challenge (great herb info here too)

The Raw Food Detox Diet (a little more challenging but my skin has never been so glowy!)

Radiant Goddess E-Course (comes with recipes, videos and all kinds of goodies to help you feel better)

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How to Get Rid of PMS

Do you get bad PMS?  Are you grumpy, have breast tenderness, low libido, infertility, fibroids  or an irregular cycle?  Then you might want to give chaste tree a try! Second only to Red Raspberry, this is my favorite herb for helping the female reproductive system.  Many women experience bad PMS, especially after they've had children.  Progesterone (a female hormone) is high during pregnancy to help promote healthy gestation.  But once you have your baby, progesterone can become very low and low progesterone can cause any number of reproductive complaints.   

Chaste tree berry is excellent at regulating female hormones, especially when it comes to low levels of progesterone.  My personal favorite effect of this herb was its ability to help me with low libido after I had had my children (another effect of low progesterone).  It is very helpful in cases of PMS and a wide range of menstrual and gynecological problems that are related to hormone imbalance.  It can be used for irregular and painful periods, heavy bleeding, fibroids, and to re-establish a normal menstrual cycle after taking birth control pills.  It is also used for menopausal problems including depression.   

Chaste Tree Berries look a little like peppercorns and taste pretty similar.  Because of that I don’t recommend drinking it as a tea, unless you add it to other herbs like a chai.  I suggest grinding them up and putting them in capsules or taking them as a tincture. Traditional dosage for a chaste tree tincture is ¼ to ½ tsp., or one capsule, taken three times a day until you get your period.  Stop taking it during your period and then resume with the above dosage when it has run it’s course.

Pregnant women should not take chaste tree berry and I don’t recommend it until you get your first menstrual cycle after you’ve had your baby.  Men should never take chaste tree berry, it gets it name from a time when Monks used it to help them be chaste (funny bit of history there).

 

*LOCALS* You can purchase chaste tree berries at both the Homestead location and the Well Rounded Baby Boutique!  

If you are not local, I highly recommend buying them online at Mountain Rose Herbs.

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Herbal Treats

Happy holidays, blog readers!!!  Since I am enjoying my own family for the holidays, I wanted to share three of our family favorites that are *kindof* good for you. ;-)  If your family calls up and they need you to bring something yummy, any of these three recipes are sure to be loved.

Lavender Hot Chocolate

Serve this to the kiddies an hour before bed and between the sugar low and the lavender they should be well asleep before Santa makes an appearance. ;-) For Grown-Ups: Coffee is quite a tasty addition if you don't want to snooze right away.

4 cups whole milk or 4 cups half-and-half
1 Tbsp dried lavender
2 Tbsp chocolate chips
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:  Pour the milk into a medium saucepan; add the lavender; set over medium heat and bring just to a boil. Then, remove from the heat, cover and steep for 5-8 minutes. Strain out the lavender with a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth.  Return the saucepan to heat; whisk in the chocolate until melted and smooth. Whisk in the cocoa powder, sugar, and salt; remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla extract. Enjoy!!!

Herbed Cheese Balls

I'm not joking when I say these are fanfreakintastic!!!  My son told me they were "so awesome, they had extra awesome on top!"  I made these last Thanksgiving and it was eaten up in a hurry.  I'll be making these for just about every family function from here on out. The recipe in the video makes about 2 softball sized cheese balls that I suggest you store in the fridge, wrapped in wax paper.  Serve with your favorite crackers or veg.

Hawthorn Cider

I really love using Hawthorn in the colder months since it goes so well with other winter and autumn spices.  It's good for the heart, reduces stress and spreads good cheer.  For more info about the benefits of hawthorn, read the post Hawthorn for Holidays & Heartbreak. 

Make or buy your favorite apple cider.

Bring to a boil, then add your dried hawthorn berries:

1/2 tsp of dried & powdered hawthorn berries per cup of cider

1 tsp of whole hawthorn berries per cup of cider

1 hawthorn tea bag per cup of cider

 Let the herbs steep in the hot cider for a good 15 min.  If you are using powdered hawthorn, I like to lightly simmer it to really get the hawthorn soft and then you don't have to strain it out.  The texture of the cooked, powdered hawthorn turns out the same as the sediment in not-from-concentrate apple juice.

You can also add other herbs for taste and medicinal benefits.  My favorite additions are: rosehips, cinnamon, schizandra berries, cloves, orange peel.

So that's it! I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as we have.  May you all have a happy holiday season!

Brightest Blessings,

Sarah

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