Cold & Flu Season – Solutions for the Masses

Written on January 2, 2012 at 1:33 pm, by admin in Blog, Featured Products

One of the most important things we can do for our health is to receive adequate sunlight and keep our vitamin D levels high.

 

Seriously, this one of the major interventions I make with clients across the board. The results are sometimes staggering. I love the Vitamin D Council for their clearing house of great information, analysis of current studies and championing the cause of D supplementation. I will not bore you here with all the details but please check them out for all your further questions. www.VitaminDCouncil.org

 

A Dietary Supplement Providing 2000 IU of Cholecalciferol per Drop

and Backyard Remedies Flu & Virus Formula

 

Rx Vitamins sells exclusively to health professionals and is one of the few products I sell that I do not make myself. Their LIQUI-D3 provides cholecalciferol, a highly bioavailable form of Vitamin D, in a nutritious, olive oil base. They recommend that physiologic requirements for vitamin D may be as high as 4000 IU per day. I personally take around 4000-10,000IU in the winter months.

 

Low levels of Vitamin D have been associated with rickets and osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, tuberculosis, at least 16 types of cancer, depression, autoimmune disease, eczema, etc. The Vitamin D council recommends that we keep our levels at 50-80 ng/dl year round.

 

You can have your blood tested for 25-hydroxy-vitamin D AKA 25(OH)D by your doctor or order the test yourself here: http://www.zrtlab.com/vitamindcouncil/ . Personally, I have never tested myself preferring to take the research at its word and monitor my sun exposure. I supplement D in the late fall, winter and early spring and find that it suits me just fine!

 

Vitamin D Council Recommended Amounts

Based on the body’s indicated daily vitamin D usage, Vitamin D Council recommends the following amounts of supplemental vitamin D3 per day in the absence of proper sun exposure. Due to the variable response discussed above, these are only estimated amounts.

• Healthy children under the age of 1 years – 1,000 IU.

• Healthy children over the age of 1 years – 1,000 IU per every 25 lbs of body weight.

• Healthy adults and adolescents – at least 5,000 IU.

• Pregnant and lactating mothers – at least 6,000 IU.

 

Additionally, children and adults with chronic health conditions such as autism, MS, cancer, heart disease, or obesity may need as much as double these amounts per the Vitamin D Council’s recommendations.

 

Fifteen minutes of sun exposure to 40-percent of the body is suggested daily for fair-skinned individuals, and more time for dark-skinned people. People with dark skin pigmentation simply don’t make as much vitamin D as Caucasians.

 

Vitamin D Winter and latitude

Average levels in middle-aged folks in North America in March are about 16 ng/mL, a level at which some children will manifest rickets and at which flu symptoms & pneumonia are more severe.

 

When the sun at noon is lower than 45 degrees, all the UVB is absorbed and this is known as the “vitamin D winter.” So check your latitude and the sun’s angle where you live to determine if you need to supplement D in the late fall, winter and early spring months. If you’re not living on the equator chances are you can benefit from supplementation.

 

Estimated Vitamin D Winter months according to latitude:

• Latitudes from zero degrees to around 35 degrees north or south allow year-round vitamin D production, though the amount produced will decrease as latitude increases. ³⁵

• Latitudes above 40 degrees north will experience Vitamin D Winter from around November through early March.

• Latitudes below 40 degrees south, around June through August.

• Latitudes above 50 degrees north, October through early April. ³

• Latitudes below 50 degrees south, mid-April through July. ⁴

 

Ok, to simplify just remember this, “If your shadow is longer than you are tall, you are not making much vitamin D.”

$20 per 1 oz bottle, which lasts me a whole season.

 

 

 

Flu & Virus Formula

 

Ok, but I use echinacea already, why do I need this?

A teacher once told me that using echinacea alone is like pouring chlorine into your pool, but not turning on the pump; the herb by itself has no innate power to expel. This formula is designed to warm up our bodies, stimulate the immune system and help us move and excrete the nasties. Many of the herbs help our pores to open and detoxify waste and aid the lymphatic system in the movement and refining of toxins and invading agents.

 

This formula is very aromatic meaning that disinfecting essential oils extracted in the tincture will be excreted through our lungs, skin and ureters.

 

I like to use the Flu & Virus formula preventatively taking small doses throughout the day or week. If I know I have been around sick folks, I may increase the frequency of the dose, but I stick to about 10-15 drops.

 

If did come down with the flu this aids in allowing the fever to run its natural course without hurting the body. It is very important that we not suppress fever with NSAIDs as suppressed fevers can cause a variety of health issues and recurring illness. Boneset, one of the herbs featured in the formula, is specific for the bodily aches and pains that flus are want to cause.  I like to take the formula in warm water or tea if I am actively and acutely ill.

$10 per 1 oz. bottle

 

Buy both of these winter warriors together for the special price of $27 until January 15^th

 

Calendula officinalis and infused oils

Written on August 10, 2011 at 2:36 pm, by admin in Blog

This golden beauty has always had a special place in my heart, but when a couple rigorous plants overwintered in our 3500′ elevation garden….well, she became an herbal champion. She was named for the Greek word for Calender signifying her proclivity to year round blooms, but I was still surprised at her tenacity after so much snow!

Calendula in the dew

I’ve written about calendula briefly before, but there are so many reasons for everyone to be growing this plant I though I would repost reasons of her magic. First of all the seeds look like curved little worms and are really fun for kids and adults  alike to plant. The spread of zones she will grow in is amazing. Calendula makes a great companion plant.  I’ve found the flowers attract many of the insects that love to damage the other yellow and orange flowers in the garden like the wax beetles and cucumber beetles.

This old world plant is a great first aid herb and is easy to process into usable forms. I gather the flowers in the late morning after the fog, dew or mist has dried. The resinous flowers should be open and sunning themselves. Paper bags, cardboard flats and baskets work great for drying and each day I add the new flowers to the basket.

Dried flowers work best for making oils, but the fresh or dried flowers can be used for tinctures, teas and can be added soups, salads and used as garnish. If you are using the fresh petals in food, pluck them from the calyx as it is resinous and bitter. Use the gold and yellow petals to flavor and color a million dishes!

Infused oils are easy to make. I like olive oil over nut oils for the versatility and lack of allergens. Add dried flower to olive oil and set in a warm place. A paper bag in the window sill makes a nice little warm incubator without the harmful UV rays, which will damage the plant constituents. Some folks use crock pots, but be careful not to heat the oil too much so that is goes rancid. I prefer a very minimal heat approach and time. In the winter, snuggling well sealed jars up to a wood stove or furnace works nicely.

After your oil has infused for a couple weeks to a couple months strain your golden product through a strainer and coffee filter, an old t-shirt or cheese cloth. You just want to make sure there is no rogue plant matter left in there. Allow the oil to settle. Is there any separate on the bottom of the bottle? That would be water and if you used fresh plant material you will want to make sure you poor off your oil so that no water is left to contaminate your oil. Oils with water extracts on the bottom will not last long.

Alright. You have an oil. Congratulations! You can use this oil to emulsify into lotions, add beeswax for a salve, formulate into lip balm, add to your soap bar making, or just use straight as a medicated oil.

But what can you use this new slippery treat for? So many things, my friends, so many things. Externally as a wound healer calendula is unsurpassed. I hesitate to use the words anti-septic and bacteriostatic because I am not sure the exact mechanism by which this and other plants work, but they do. For any abraized and damaged skin calendula is a savior. Calendula is antiinflammatory and not only helps to heal the skin, but to clear infection and move debris away through the body. I love this as a single herb salve and so do my customers!

Internally, calendula is also a wound healer and is one of the best gastrointestinal herbs for ulcers, leaky gut, irritable bowel syndrome and colitis. As an immune stimulator calendula excels because it is so good as moving the lymph and clearing the systems. It is heating and stimulating and resolves stagnation. I use calendula as a major part of my Lymphomaniac Formula, developed for the sole purpose of moving and cleansing the lymphatic system.

The alacrity with which calendula aids in epidermal growth is amazing. Put some salve on your lips at night and you will have a new layer of skin grown in the morning! For this reason I used calendula in treating my own cervical dysplasia after receiving and Class II abnormal papsmear a few years ago. She brings light to dark places.

I use her in so many of my combinations and formulas including my Sore, Stiff, Sprain oil made specifically for carpal tunnel and sprains. Even the topical use can and does have deep effects on the tissues and tendons beneath.

What are you waiting for? Plant some calendula seeds today and brighten your garden all year.

 

Tahoe Sub-alpine Adventure

Written on July 4, 2011 at 2:53 pm, by admin in Blog

We were in South Lake Tahoe last week for our good friends’ wedding and actually got some time up in the mountains post festivities. Neil and I made it up to part of the Tahoe Rim trail and as unprepared as we were [um, I was hiking in flip flops over snow packs on parts of the trail] we saw some awesome plant friends.

The amount of melt happening was absolutely amazing. The sheer force of the water over stones and through trees as it out grew the stream beds was scary. We saw portions of roads flooded and newly made streams flowing through what used to be a quit forest. This sub-alpine meadow was a mushy swamp of spring melt alive with new growth and scurrying animal life.

And then for the first time in my life I met Balsam root! What a joy. I have been keeping my eyes peeled for this plant for many years. We were actually looking for arnica to collect, but as so often happens when you’re too myopic you run into what you need. Balsam is an excellent immune stimulating herb and cold remedy and has a long history for coughs and as a food source for native peoples.

As you can see from Mimi Kamp’s drawing the root has an amazing texture and form. It really does rise and crackle like that and swell at the middle with resinous scales. I’m excited about using it as medicine this year. Micheal Moore likens it to a mixture of Echinacea and Osha root together, which is to say it has immune stimulating properties, anti-microbial effects and cleansing movement to expel the nastiness.

We were on the dry side of the mountain, although it was impossible to tell at this time of year. First Balsam root and now Wild Peony! What a joy to run into her here. She love to grow in sandy soils after burns and she was even in bloom. Check out this sweet little blossom that all our showy cultivars can thank for their ruffles and curves.

A couple days later we stumbled upon a mullein patch while coming down the mountain. Mullein does grown everywhere, but it is hard to find in a clean environment. This hobo loves road sides and railroad tracks, but we honed in on it having a family reunion here. I was able to gather and dry a couple pounds of its lung saving leaves for teas and smoke mix.

Last, but not least, my newest saprophytic friend, Snow Plant. This magenta beauty is popping up absolutely everywhere in the Sierras as the snow melts. What a shocking and welcome surprise amidst all the green and brown.

We saw lots of Pedicularis groenlandica, Valerian spp., and Yerba santa, but we’re still on the hunt for arnica cordifolia closer to home. All in all it was a joy to be back in the high altitude world hanging out with old friends.

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