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Cleansing for the New Year

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This is a repost of a blog I wrote around this time last year. Happy New Year everyone.

Is anyone else ready to put away the dairy and desserts and cleanse for the New Year? I personally love a good cleanse, though I’m partial to the low-suffering kind. I know people who think it’s not a real cleanse unless you take in nothing but fresh juice and water, but that never made sense to me. Our bodies like balance, and balance by extremes is not really balance at all at the human level. Just look at how bad yo-yo dieting is for people or how hard it is on the body when there are huge weight fluctuations. Gentle detox is a way to cleanse while giving the body support to adjust, instead of shocking the body and then reeling from its effects. Of course, there is a time and place for everything and if you know what you are doing and have the right support, then by all means juice away your days. If you prefer a cleansing reboot that doesn’t leave your blood sugar levels bouncing and your mood-o-meter permanently set to hangry, keep reading for some options.

Adding powdered greens to your daily routine is one way to activate detox mechanisms in your body. While cleansing you should be drinking extra glasses of water anyway, so adding a scoop or packet to one of your glasses or bottles of water is a great way to get extra goodness. It is worth noting that some green mixes, like Paradise Herbs, are formulated for energy~

while others, like the Food Science one below, are formulated more specifically for cleansing. Greens in general, whether in a powder or in a whole fresh or cooked form, are cleansing though so an energy greens mix will still work towards detoxing your system. Both these mixes came in my New Hope Blogger Box and they are tasty as well as healthy blends, but there are of course other reputable greens out there. Just be sure to read ingredients lists thoroughly.

Adding a cup or two of detoxifying herbal tea a day is another easy way to help your body cleanse. There are plenty of blends out there, such as detox teas by Yogi and Traditional Medicinals that are as easy as boiling water. Flora makes a tea concentrate that you just pour a bit out and add hot water to. They promote their cleanse every year on Facebook so you can actually join a group of others using their product to get tips and expand your knowledge a bit into the world of detox. (Plus if you join in you just might get a coupon I believe.) They do have a dry blend as well.

If you want to do something a little more involved than greens and teas, making up a batch of kitchari is what one of my herbal teachers drilled into us as the most healing, cleansing, tri-doshic thing you could do. Kitchari is a meal from the tradition of Ayurveda that is made up of mung beans and basmati rice (brown or white depending on your preference), spices, and ghee. You can eat it once a day to support a general cleanse, or you can eat kitchari three times a day and nothing else but herbal teas for 6 days straight for a more intense detox. As with all things herbal, kitchari is a traditional dish that you can find a thousand variations for so this recipe can be modified as you like. What follows is how my herbal teacher told us to make it and it has never failed me. It’s a calming meal, easy on the digestive system, and healing.

Kitchari Recipe:

1 C mung beans

1 C brown basmati rice (my herbal teacher actually used white basmati rice, so your choice really)

1 tbsp. ghee (vegans can use coconut oil)

1 tsp. each turmeric, cumin, and coriander

After soaking the mung beans overnight (or at least 6 hours), cook them in 4 C of water until they are thoroughly soft, about half an hour.

Cook rice according to its instructions, depending on white or brown, then mix together with beans.

Warm the ghee in a sauce or sauté pan and add the spices, cooking until fragrant, about 2 minutes or so.

Mix the spices and ghee with the rice and beans and you are finished. Eat as often as you like.

I’ve never been big on resolutions, but I do like the spirit of renewal that January sweeps in. A gentle cleanse sets a nice tone for the year~ a reminder to think better, feel better, act better, and be better. Best wishes for health, fulfillment, beauty, and peace to everyone for the New Year. Please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share this with anyone who might be interested.

 

DIY Bath Salts Mother’s Day Gift

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What mom doesn’t treasure her bath and beauty time? Whether you are making a gift basket for your mom as an adult, or helping little ones make gifts for your partner, natural DIY pampering gifts are easy to make and will actually be used and appreciated. If you are working with little ones, essential oils need to be handled with care because they are so potent they should not be put on the skin directly without a carrier, and also the scents can be overwhelming if you are using a lot all at once.

To make a custom jar of bath salts, you have some options. You can use sea salt, Epsom salts, pink, grey, or black salt depending on where you are and what you fancy. Epsom salts are best known for aches and pains, but pink and grey salts can help with those too, and they have a high mineral content. Sea salt and black salt are detoxifying, and all the salts are good for the skin. You can also blend different salts together if you can’t decide or want to make sure you cover all the salt benefits. Whatever salts you use, just fill a jar with them, and add the essential oils you want in a ratio of about 10-25 drops per cup, depending on how strong you want the smell. Mix with a chopstick and cap tightly.

To make it a moisturizing bath soak, you can almond oil or grapeseed oil to the salts slowly, mixing the blend as you pour. You will want about 1 3/4 cup salts, with 1/4 cup oil. When the oil and salts are all blended together, add your essential oils and stir some more to make sure everything is evenly distributed. Since this is a total of 2 cups, you can use 20-50 drops of essential oils.

If you are making this for someone who takes more showers than baths, then a salt scrub is another option. You want more oil than salt in that case~ 2 cups of almond or grapeseed oil, 1 cup of fine sea salt, and 20-50 drops of essential oils. You can always make an herbal oil first, then add that to the salts. Add the oil directly on top of the salt, then add the essential oils and stir well. You can use sugar instead of salt for a gentler body scrub. Prepare the exact same way as the salt but use brown sugar instead.

Another option is to add dried herbs to the salts. This of course looks lovely but can make a huge mess, so adding a large sized muslin bag or two to the jar of bath salts is a nice touch. The bather can spoon in however much they want into the muslin bag, then place it into the bath for a nice soak that they don’t have to worry about cleaning up later. Lovely herbs to add are rose petals, calendula flower tops, seaweed, and/or oats. The proportions are completely up to you, and in fact you can just use herbs for an herbal bath without any salts, or just add the salts and herbs together, or add essential oils to the mix as well. There are no hard and fast rules, so just follow your aesthetic sense or look to your (or her) favorite products to get an idea of what proportions might be most appreciated.

As always, be sure to label whatever you make and to write down the recipe. Here are some more DIY gift ideas if bathing isn’t the best treat for your gift recipient. Have fun with whatever you are making and Happy Mother’s Day to all the hard working mamas out there. Please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share with anyone who might benefit from this article.

How to Make Rose Oil (Quick Method)

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There are two traditional ways to make an herbal oil. The first method is referred to as the Folk Method, the Cold Method, or even the Solar Method although you can do it in the winter without the sun’s help, it just means that no artificial heat is used. Letting the sun help with herbal infusion is recommended though when that is an option, but here in the Pacific Northwest, there are few months in the year when that is viable. The cold method is what I used in the video series one and two where I infused olive oil with Roses for about 4 weeks. This method that I’m sharing below is called the Quick Method or the Hot Method because it is done on the stove-top and you have your oil in a matter of hours instead of weeks. So you might be wondering why everyone just doesn’t use the hot method if it’s so much faster, and the answer to that is the Folk Method in herbalism is generally the preferred method for best preserving all the healing properties of an herb. With the artificial heat comes the chance of over-heating and ruining some of the herb’s beneficial attributes, as well as the oil’s beneficial attributes. Many aspects of herbalism have a Folk Method vs. a Quick Method, with even the microwave being employed at times in Quick Method recipes, such as melting wax for lip balm for example. If you are mindful of keeping the heat on low and using a double boiler approach, this method should give you fabulous, fragrant oil that you can use the same day on your skin or in a more extensive recipe. If you are not pressed for time though, using the Cold Method is actually simpler and offers less opportunities for damage to the herbs and oil.

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Herbal Infusion in Oil using Quick Method (Hot Method) 

Put your herb or herbs into the top of some kind of double boiler. I use a measuring glass in a pot of water. Add the oil of choice (olive oil is most common and what I use, but you can use something different such as sweet almond oil or grapeseed oil). The oil should more than cover the herbs, with plenty of room for movement.

Fill the bottom of the double boiler with water, then place it all on low heat. This mixture should stay on low heat until the oil takes on some of the color and fragrance of the herbs, so count on at least one hour, then let the mixture cool before straining and bottling. Some recipes have the oil on low low heat for up to 48 hours so don’t worry about letting it sit on heat for too long. Dried herbs are preferred because anytime you introduce water into an oil preparation, you also introduce the potential for bacteria. Fresh herbs are called for in certain cases, such as with St. John’s Wort which makes a fantastic massage oil since it eases aches and pains, in which case it is recommended to dry wilt the fresh herbs for 24-48 hours before placing them in oil. Stir the herbs while they are on the heat every once in a while with a wooden chopstick.

Because I have Rose buds instead of Rose petals, I bruised and chopped the buds a bit with the largest blade I have before adding them to the oil. The more surface area available on your herbs, the better, and bruising them starts the process of releasing their oils and fragrance.

This often gets people asking, why not use herbal powder then…? You can use herbal powders, but straining the finished oil is difficult, and you might not ever get it completely free of the powder. If you do use a powder, plan on straining with a clean coffee filter two or more times, instead of straining with a cheesecloth over a stainless steel strainer. Once the herbs are strained from the oil, store in a glass jar in a cool, dark place for up to six months and always check for rancidity before using (the smell will be ‘off’). If you can refrigerate your oils, they will last longer.

Use rose oil as a moisturizer or serum alone, or add essential oils to it for even more benefits, or use the oil in recipes for lip balm, healing salves, or body butters. Rose is known to be hydrating, softening, beautifying, and particularly good for mature and/or sun damaged skin. Other good herbs to infuse into oils are calendula, lavender, or peppermint which is particularly revitalizing for tired feet and legs. Get creative with whatever you have in your particular corner of the world.

Happy Spring to everyone in the Northern Hemisphere. I hope the change of seasons has infused everyone with lightness and loveliness. Enjoy and please subscribe (top right or down below if on mobile) for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share with anyone who might benefit from this article.

 

 

 

People and Plants

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This e-guide from Delicious Living speaks to my heart. Delicious Living made it in partnership with the company Gaia Herbs which is one of  my go-to herbal supplement brands. I have taken their extra-strength turmeric daily for years and it has made a huge impact in my life (and my aching feet). Plants have been our friends, healers, and joy givers for all of our human existence and it’s a mission of mine to keep that relationship alive and thriving. This guide not only reminds us how many ways plants are part of our lives and part of our health, it also gives some suggestions for herbs that can enhance your daily life and if you think about it, our lifelong health is nothing more than our daily habits so adding small positive actions, supplements, and wellness practices are what make the biggest impact on health, aging, and quality of life. Check out the e-guide and enjoy being reminded of how integral plants are to our lives, and how entwined their health is with our own.

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Cleaner and Greener Laundry

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It was recently my birthday and I was going to ask my friend for dryer balls because I knew she made them as gifts for others, but then it occurred to me to instead ask her to show me how to make them, and that maybe others would like the directions too. She is always up for a crafting date, even if it involves awkward videoing and way too many photos, (such a good sport!) so below is the tutorial of my multi-talented friend Lani teaching how to make the inevitable task of laundry a bit greener.

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Lani
Not everyone is ready to switch to a natural laundry detergent, but just about anyone can reduce their ecological imprint by cutting drying time with wool dryer balls. If you replace fabric softener completely with these balls, then that makes each load even more environmentally friendly, not to mention budget friendly. If you like the scent of fabric softener, you can add a couple of drops of essential oil to your dryer balls before throwing them in with a load and that gives you complete control over how your clothes smell, without unhealthy fragrances and such. Wool dryer balls are incredibly easy to make and there is hardly any packaging involved, plus no weird chemicals. You can buy them of course if you are not in the mood to roll wool, but trust me when I say, anyone can do this. Be aware of the kind of wool you buy because it needs to be able to felt. 100% Roving wool is what Lani told me to get and it worked well.

If you are perusing natural laundry detergents though, I have a fun fact for you. You know that brand Country Save? It was founded (in Washington state) by a guy named Elmer Pearson. Any ideas on what other product Mr. Pearson is behind…? The clue is in his name. Or should I have said glue, instead of clue? Yes! Elmer’s glue! He didn’t get rich off of that ubiquitous glue by the way because he never held the patent, but you can read more about him here if you are interested. Back to dryer balls, here’s what you need:

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Wool Dryer Balls

Roving Wool (One skein will make approximately 2 balls)

Pantyhose or nylon knee highs (that you aren’t going to wear anymore)

Scissors

A large eyed needle or crochet hook (There are two below the yarn, and together they look like tweezers, but they are just needles).

To start, wrap some yarn around three fingers about 10 times, then take it off your hand and wrap it the other way a few times. Here’s a video of Lani showing how to get the ball rolling (har har):

Continue wrapping up the ball into a round shape until the ball is around softball or baseball size.60CC06EA-3A85-42CD-B760-E6E47C36BC39[1]Once your ball is a good size, take a large-eyed needle or crochet hook to bury the end of the yarn into the ball. You can completely bury it, or cut off the end of the yarn after a few tucks if you prefer. Here’s Lani showing how it’s done:

Once the balls are complete with the loose yarn tucked in, they are put into nylon stockings, tied off with string that is not the same wool because you do not want it to felt, then thrown into the washing machine for a hot wash with any other items that are washed on hot. They are then dried on high heat. I have a big old top loader and it took two cycles of washing for mine to felt, and really I wasn’t sure if they had until after the high heat drying. Lani has a more modern front loader and says hers typically take 3 or 4 wash cycles before felting.

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To use these you need 3-5 balls so they are creating space in your load to allow for faster drying and they soften the fabric as they bounce around and pummel the clothes. You can add a drop or two of essential oils to the balls for scenting. I’d start small and add more the next time if it isn’t enough for you. I’m excited to use mine and to play with the scenting myself! Thank you Lani!!!

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What they look like after felting
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How to Make an Herbal Oil Part 1

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Making an herbal oil using the ‘cold method’ is very similar to making an herbal tincture. For the base oil you can use olive oil, almond oil, or grapeseed oil, but olive oil is the one most commonly used. Herbal oils are a great way to get the healing benefits of the herbs onto the skin where they can work on skin issues (Calendula or Rose), and also be absorbed into the body through the skin to work on things like sore muscles (St. John’s Wort). Herbal oils can also be added to baths or made into a healing  balm or butter, and essential oils can be added to herbal oils for added benefits as well.

The skin benefits of roses from their nutritious rose hips to the highly prized essential oil are well known. Making an herbal oil of roses is another way to make use of the healing and beauty-imparting benefits of roses. It is far more economical than the essential oil, and also less potent, but it makes a great base for any perfume blending or body butter creations. Rose oil itself is skin healing and beautifully scented enough to make a lovely gift just as is, even without added essential oils. After the oil has cured and been strained, simply add a few new rose buds or petals back into the strained oil for a luxurious look. How to video below:

Here is part 2 of this series, as well as how to make an herbal oil using The Quick Method.  Please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share this with anyone who might be interested.

 

How to Make an Herbal Tincture Part 1

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Making your own herbal tinctures is one way to really connect to herbs, make exactly what you want, and save money. If you want to make extracts without using alcohol for example, you can use apple cider vinegar or vegetable glycerine instead. You can blend several different herbs together in the tincture, or just extract one herb at a time. In the video below I just use St. John’s Wort in alcohol for the demo. For more information about natural anti-depressants and anti-anxiety herbs, check out this previous post on nervines. Be sure to label your jars with as much information as possible and maybe even write in a notebook or on a calendar what you did and when you need to do the next part. There are different schools of thought about how long a tincture needs to cure, but most medicine-makers agree that a moon cycle is an appropriate amount of time, so about 4 weeks. (That is why I have the moon information on my label.) The next step will be straining the herbs out of the liquid into dark glass dropper bottles at which point the tincture will be ready to be used. That will be in part 2, in about in a month from now, so stay tuned, and while you are at it, why not make an herbal oil as well…

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Cleansing for the New Year

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Is anyone else ready to put away the dairy and desserts and cleanse for the New Year? I personally love a good cleanse, though I’m partial to the low-suffering kind. I know people who think it’s not a real cleanse unless you take in nothing but fresh juice and water, but that never made sense to me. Our bodies like balance, and balance by extremes is not really balance at all at the human level. Just look at how bad yo-yo dieting is for people or how hard it is on the body when there are huge weight fluctuations. Gentle detox is a way to cleanse while giving the body support to adjust, instead of shocking the body and then reeling from its effects. Of course, there is a time and place for everything and if you know what you are doing and have the right support, then by all means juice away your days. If you prefer a cleansing reboot that doesn’t leave your blood sugar levels bouncing and your mood-o-meter permanently set to hangry, keep reading for some options.

Adding powdered greens to your daily routine is one way to activate detox mechanisms in your body. While cleansing you should be drinking extra glasses of water anyway, so adding a scoop or packet to one of your glasses or bottles of water is a great way to get extra goodness. It is worth noting that some green mixes, like Paradise Herbs, are formulated for energy~

while others, like the Food Science one below, are formulated more specifically for cleansing. Greens in general, whether in a powder or in a whole fresh or cooked form, are cleansing though so an energy greens mix will still work towards detoxing your system. Both these mixes came in my New Hope Blogger Box and they are tasty as well as healthy blends, but there are of course other reputable greens out there. Just be sure to read ingredients lists thoroughly.

Adding a cup or two of detoxifying herbal tea a day is another easy way to help your body cleanse. There are plenty of blends out there, such as detox teas by Yogi and Traditional Medicinals that are as easy as boiling water. Flora makes a tea concentrate that you just pour a bit out and add hot water to. They promote their cleanse every year on Facebook so you can actually join a group of others using their product to get tips and expand your knowledge a bit into the world of detox. (Plus if you join in you just might get a coupon or more, depending on if you are one of the firsts to sign up.) They do have a dry blend as well.

If you want to do something a little more involved than greens and teas, making up a batch of kitchari is what one of my herbal teachers drilled into us as the most healing, cleansing, tri-doshic thing you could do. Kitchari is a meal from the tradition of Ayurveda that is made up of mung beans and basmati rice (brown or white depending on your preference), spices, and ghee. You can eat it once a day to support a general cleanse, or you can eat kitchari three times a day and nothing else but herbal teas for 6 days straight for a more intense detox. As with all things herbal, kitchari is a traditional dish that you can find a thousand variations for so this recipe can be modified as you like. What follows is how my herbal teacher told us to make it and it has never failed me. It’s a calming meal, easy on the digestive system, and healing.

Kitchari Recipe:

1 C mung beans

1 C brown basmati rice (my herbal teacher actually used white basmati rice, so your choice really)

1 tbsp. ghee (vegans can use coconut oil)

1 tsp. each turmeric, cumin, and coriander

After soaking the mung beans overnight (or at least 6 hours), cook them in 4 C of water until they are thoroughly soft, about half an hour.

Cook rice according to its instructions, depending on white or brown, then mix together with beans.

Warm the ghee in a sauce or sauté pan and add the spices, cooking until fragrant, about 2 minutes or so.

Mix the spices and ghee with the rice and beans and you are finished. Eat as often as you like.

I’ve never been big on resolutions, but I do like the spirit of renewal that January sweeps in. A gentle cleanse sets a nice tone for the year~ a reminder to think better, feel better, act better, and be better. Best wishes for health, fulfillment, beauty, and peace to everyone for the New Year. Please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share this with anyone who might be interested.

 

Gluten Free Snacks

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These are new snacks that arrived in my New Hope Blogger Box that would be great additions to a holiday gift basket or as party food. These are all gluten and dairy free, with clean ingredient lists that you can feel good about sharing.

My favorite of these products is the Thrive Tribe Paleo Bites. These aren’t the kind of product I normally buy so they surprised me with how delicious and snack-able they are, uh, actually were. My oldest son and I finished them off quite quickly. The vanilla in these is the predominant taste and we’ll be buying these again for sure.

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My son also loved these gimMe Seaweed snacks. He likes to snack on the regular seaweed so I gave him these which have extra crunch with the added ingredients, and he really enjoyed them. I’ll be getting more of these too and with only 100 calories per package, that’s quite a healthy lunch box addition.

Jackson’s Honest  chips are as clean as you can get, and the colors are incredibly vibrant which speaks to the quality of the foods and their minimal processing. The sweet potato chips are just sweet potatoes, coconut oil, and salt. The purple potato chips are just potatoes, coconut oil, and salt. That’s it! Their company is on a mission to bring more healthy oils to the table because they have helped the owner’s oldest son who has a rare autoimmune condition. This is a company you can feel especially good about supporting, and about eating and sharing.

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The R.W. Garcia Co. chips are a nice change from a regular tortilla chip. They are flavorful on their own with the hummus coming through much more than the red pepper. Both my sons gave their thumbs up and my youngest is an extremely tough customer to please so these are sure to be crowd favorites.

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Happy snacking and merry-making! Please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share this with anyone who might be interested.

 

Immune Boosters for Winter

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The samples I received from the natural marketing co-op I belong to were so good this time around that I’ll be doing two posts with some of the contents. We don’t get any compensation for these posts by the way, we’re just asked to write about anything that we like, and I like quite a bit. These are the immune boosting supplements that came in the #NewHopeBloggerBox which we’ll be using this winter to ward off the seasonal sickies.

New Englanders have a traditional herbal tonic that is catching on around the country which I’ve been wanting to try, but honestly been too nervous to make myself. This one is from Shire City Herbals and the ingredients include: Apple Cider Vinegar, Honey, Oranges, Lemons, Onions, Ginger, Horseradish, Garlic, Turmeric, and Habanero Pepper. So now you know why it has the name ‘fire cider’ and why I was hesitant to try to make my own. If a shot of this a day doesn’t keep the ickies away, I’m not sure what will, because it’s wicked strong.

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For a more travel-friendly vinegar option, these apple cider vinegar shots from Vermont Village have a variety of flavors and can be thrown into your gym bag or backpack. I had to add the shot to water myself because downing vinegar, even with ginger and honey added, is still not my favorite thing. With water though, it was tasty and apple cider vinegar is so good for your digestion (as long as it has the mother, which these do.)

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Probiotics are important year-round, but most important after a round of antibiotics. If you do happen to get sick this season, don’t forget to load up on a good probiotic during the antibiotic regimen and definitely after. This one from Ora Oraganic is very clean with no gluten, dairy, soy, GMOs, tree nuts, added sugars, filler ingredients, artificial colors or flavors, sweeteners, or preservatives, plus it has prebiotics which feed the probiotics.

This probiotic from Jarrow Forumulas targets women’s issues specifically, so it is a great one to take if you tend to get bladder or yeast infections, especially after a round of antibiotics. The box even reminds you to take it two hours after taking antibiotics which is a good rule of thumb for any probiotic during an antibiotic regimen. Then when you are all finished with the antibiotics, hit those probiotics hard.

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For an overall immune booster, this powdered drink mix from Oxylent is a great way to take in extra vitamins, minerals, and extra immune-boosting ingredients. It tastes like a liquid sweetart to me which is a nice antidote to the vinegar shots! 13C35F30-B2D6-40DC-9997-F2310C153E1D[1]

Oh dear, I missed one for the group pic! This supplement from Source Naturals is a unique combination of immune boosting herbs and ingredients to help one sleep, which is perfect for when the sniffles threaten sleeplessness. It is chock-full of good stuff so I’ll definitely be keeping this stocked in my medicine cabinet for when someone starts feeling a cold coming on at night. (It always happens at night, doesn’t it?)

Stay warm and stay well everyone! Please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share this with anyone who might be interested.