Tips on how to Detox everyday!

Few of us give our liver a second thought. Yet this overworked organ is responsible for over 500 different functions, including: detoxifying environmental chemicals, storing certain vitamins, controlling cholesterol levels, metabolising fat, and even regulating hormones.  

When talking about this with people, I often get asked if you can drink our Detox-me Herbal tea every day or whether it is just for when you are detoxing. So it inspired me to talk about Detoxing every day.

I think that with so many 'Detox' Kits on the market we have all been conditioned to think that detoxing should be done only once or twice a year, after overindulgence periods. 

But the reality is that is not really the best way to go about it.  In fact many of the expensive detox kits on the market are actually just full of laxatives, so you might feel a bit lighter, but the long term benefits are marginal.

So when I wanted to add a 'Detox' tea to our range I made sure it was safe and easy (eg: tasted good!) to drink every day. 

There are also other things you can do every day to help your overworked liver and digestive tract (some are more overworked than others!!), so instead of doing a once yearly detox here are some tips to on ways to detox every day........

• Firstly start the day with a large glass of warm water with the juice of half a lemon squeezed into it. Your body needs water to flush out toxins in your bowel movements and urine. The addition of fresh lemon juice helps to stimulate your liver to produce bile that helps flush out toxins and it also reduces acidity.

• Also ensure you eat lots of Garlic and Onions as these contain important phytonutrients and sulphur compounds that help your liver metabolise fats and excrete chemicals.

• And if you are looking for a supplement, make it a daily tablet of Milk thistle extract. Milk thistle contains a potent substance called silymarin that protects the liver by inhibiting damaging substances that can cause liver cell damage. Silymarin also prevents the depletion of the nutrient glutathione–one of the most critical nutrients for liver detoxification. Both alcohol consumption and exposure to various types of synthetic chemicals can deplete glutathione in the liver.  (Milk thistle is far too bitter for a tea, so best in a capsule.  I use dandelion root in detox-me as the flavour is more neutral, but it has similar liver cleansing abilities).

• Eat Indian curries!  Turmeric, one of the main spices used in Indian cuisine, adds a yellow-orange color to curry dishes along with a potent healing boost. Turmeric protects the liver from free radical damage. Add turmeric powder to soups, stews, and curries to bolster your liver’s cleansing abilities.

So with a little bit of  liver care and attention it isn't surprising that these simple measures could make a world of difference to your health.

Click here for more info on our yummy Detox-me Healing Herbalist blend...

Exercise combats depression

In a society where medication for depression is becoming an epidemic, it is great to see more research coming out showing there are drug-free ways to achieve good mental health and help those who suffer from depression.

We all know that exercise can make us feel better, the more the heart rate goes up the more endorphins are released. These make us feel happy, and the impact of them lasts for days. So it makes sense that exercise would be a great thing for depressed people, but just how much impact does it have? Well it appears a lot!

An American university research group looked at the impact of exercise on depression. The university split clinically depressed people into 3 groups: exercise only; exercise plus anti-depressant drugs; and anti-depressant drugs only, to see what treatment best treated depression.

They thought the best outcome would be those who were in the combined exercise and drug treatment group, but in fact ten months later, it was the exercise-only group that was most successful in maintaining wellness!

The final results showed that 30 minutes of brisk exercise three times a week is just as effective as drug therapy in relieving the symptoms of depression.

They also followed up the group in six months, and found that patients who continued to exercise after completing the initial trial were much less likely to see their depression return than the other patients.

So what kind of exercise? Well any kind really as long as you get your heart rate up 3x a week for 30minutes.   Walking is the perfect exercise, as long as you make it more than a gentle stroll, but walking and yoga would be even better!

What you might consider a relatively low impact exercise like Yoga can help reduce depression too - it's not just a gentle stretching for aging hippies you know.

It's common knowledge that yoga improves mood and shrugs off stress, but until recently, we didn't know why. A recent study from Boston University School of Medicine discovered that the reason Yoga enthusiasts tend to be happier is that it may be because of yoga's ability to increase levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an endogenous antidepressant neurotransmitter present in the brain.

They followed several healthy individuals who were divided into two groups. The first group practiced yoga over a 12-week long period, while the participants in the other group walked for the same period of time. At the end of the study, researchers evaluated psychological state of both groups and found that subjects who practiced yoga experienced a greater decrease in anxiety and more significant improvements in mood than those who walked.

So it seems these findings certainly indicate that a modest exercise program is an effective treatment for patients with depression, and also just to help lift your daily mood.

But always remember if you are taking anti-depressant medication always discuss with your doctor or health care practitioner before coming off them.

The website www.depression.org also has a lot of great advice on how to help with depression.

Ginger works as well as ibuprofen for Period Pain

Most women have some occasional pain or discomfort during their period. Typical symptoms include cramps, headache, nausea, backache, and fatigue.

Menstrual cramps or period pain are most often felt in the lower abdomen but may also occur in the lower back or spread down the legs. The medical term is dysmenorrhea.

Menstrual cramps affect as many as 50 percent of women of reproductive age and between 60 percent to 80 percent of teenaged girls.

There are basic lifestyle factors you need to consider as in my experience these small changes can make a big difference:

• Walk or exercise regularly. 
• Follow a healthy diet high in a variety of grain, fruits, nuts, seeds and vegetables, and plenty of cold water fish like salmon, tuna, and sardines. 
• Reduce sugar, junk food and caffeine intake

For those who really suffer you can try the herb Ginger. A study was conducted in America in 2009 that compared the effects of ginger and ibuprofen on pain in women with primary dysmenorrhea (period pain).

This was a double-blind comparative clinical trial conducted from September 2006 to February 2007. Participants were 150 students (18 years old and over) with primary dysmenorrhea from the dormitories of two medical universities who were alternately divided into two equal groups.

Students in the ginger group took 250 mg capsules of ginger rhizome powder four times a day for three days from the start of their menstrual period. Members of the other groups received 400 mg ibuprofen capsules, on the same protocol. Severity of disease, pain relief, and satisfaction with the treatment were compared between the groups after one menstruation.

Results showed Ginger was found to be as effective as ibuprofen in relieving period pain.

At the end of treatment, severity of dysmenorrhea decreased in all groups and no differences were found between the groups in severity of dysmenorrhea, pain relief, or satisfaction with the treatment.

So you can find ginger in capsule form in most health food stores - often packaged up as a travel sickness aid.

Or you can drink it as Herbal Infusion. Grate fresh root into a cup or use dried ginger root and pour over boiling water and infuse for 10 minutes.

I recommend drinking 3 cups a day - ideally a couple of days before your period, and definately during!

Click here to go the page on my website with more information on other health benefits of ginger....

Leanne 

How to tell if you are drinking enough water

A while ago I talked about why our bodies need water.  But as I said everyone is different and how people eat can also determine how much water they need to 'top up' with.

So what is the magic number of glasses we should be drinking every day?   Is it six glasses per day or is it eight? It can be very confusing and hard to decide if you are drinking the right amount.  

Also confusing is the misconception that we must drink a certain amount of water, when in fact we only need to consume the right amount of fluid to stay hydrated. 

A fluid can be any liquid that has a positive water balance in the body such as herbal teas, milk, juice, water and other drinks, but it also includes foods that are mainly water, such as some fruits, vegetables and soups. 

There are also foods and drinks that have a negative influence on water in our body: salty processed foods, caffeine, soft drinks are some examples.

So what you should do is look for a few sign that YOU might be dehydrated.

        

•       Urine: Your urine should be clear or a very light yellow color. A dark yellow indicates dehydration, so you will need to drink more water. Also you should need to use the bathroom every couple of hours.

•       Stool: It should be easy to pass your stool. If you are straining a lot, this may be an indicator of dehydration. If you have consistently loose stools, this may be an indicator of overhydration. Your body may not be able to handle the amount of fluids you are taking in and it will not be absorbed.

•       Skin: Your skin is also a good indicator of hydration levels. If you pull up the skin on the back of your hand and let go, it should bounce back to its original position quickly. If not, you may be dehydrated. Also, dry skin or a dry mouth may be indicators of dehydration.

•       Thirst: If you are thirsty, you are in need of more fluids for sure. In fact the theory is that if you feel thirsty you were dehydrated a long time ago - you shouldn't wait until you feel thirsty to drink more.