As I mentioned in prior posts, when we were in Canada we went to see an Master Herbalist who my parents see. What I like about her is that she looks at our blood under the microscope (Live Blood Analysis) so her results are pretty objective. She's rather distracted and likes to visit, so I had to use my quizzical nature to my advantage and ask lots of questions to keep her on track! Greg, myself, James and Elise saw her, as we seem to be the ones needing some health direction. Although I feel we've been on the right track to healing, sometimes I wonder if we really are. So, going to her is reasonably priced and gave me lots of direction as well as an overwhelming amount of information to sort through and process. We didn't use any of her recommended supplements, as I needed to research more what herbs/vitamins were safe during nursing (most of all), but also wanted to conglomerate so that I'm not buying dozens of bottles of things when 1 or 2 would cover most of the basics.
So, what she found was that Greg and I both needed some major liver cleansing. Mine is full of ammonia (a byproduct of having yucky parasites in my system) and Greg's was just overloaded altogether (she didn't say why, but I'm assuming workplace toxins mostly, possibly poor diet in single days, former smoker, etc.) She wanted me to go on a parasite, candida yeast and liver cleanse, and Greg to cleanse his liver and his blood. In the meantime, we are both showing up with random foods in our blood due to poor digestion (sensitivities). (him just dairy and eggs, me- eggs, dairy, gluten and fish/shellfish)
James' liver actually looked quite good, which was really good to hear. We've been working on his for probably 5 years now (off and on), although he still had gluten and dairy in his blood. He also showed formaldehyde in his blood from stuffed animals (she just recommended washing them multiple times to reduce exposure). He also showed low immunity, for which she recommended echinacea and probiotics. Elise showed up highly sensitive to gluten. As in almost-Celiac level. And that she had low iron (solved by 1/4 c. raisins each day for a couple weeks).
When we got home, I started with the diet. Eliminating all those things seemed impossible, but somehow we're managing most of the time. Back to meat and vegetables. A few nuts and grains too. Gluten-free products in limited amounts (these are mostly nutrient poor, so I'm not too keen on just replacing bad grains with "good" ones, but they have helped fill in the gaps). We can all do goat milk, but to avoid all other dairy. I have been allowing milk kefir too, as it's cultured and we can really use the probiotics offered.
Then I planned on how to do the cleansing. Since I'm a nursing mama, all the cleanses have to be safe for baby too. So slow and steady is better than fast and intense. When I asked the Herbalist about cleansing, she said that breast milk is the 5th way of elimination for a body, so is only used when the other 4 channels of elimination (skin, bowels, urinary tract and lymph system) are clogged and/or not working. If the other systems are working well, then detoxing while nursing is no problem.
One of the herbal tinctures I already had James on is great for livers. It's technically a digestive bitter, but offers liver assistance overall. I bought the kind that is "Mama friendly" (so it would be gentler for kids), and so I just started the rest of us taking it too. It's called Liver Glow II from Mountain Meadow Herbs. It's kind of spicy but a good flavor too, so the kids and I each take some before each meal. It's easier than pills with kids too, as it's fun to drip the drops into their mouths. This promotes more stomach juices so that your food digests better overall and you get more nutrients from your food. It also has milk thistle in it which is a great liver protector.
I'm also taking Mountain Meadow Herbs Olive Leaf Extract which is great for Candida yeast and parasites and is also Mommy friendly. You time this with the moon cycles to get the best remedies for parasite killing. For Greg she wanted him also on Red Clover or Burdock Root to cleanse his blood. I bought some pills for him since he takes them to work and it's easier for him to do pills. I also have him on Milk Thistle/Dandelion/Turmeric for his liver. We are also trying to do fresh juices more often (at least twice each week, although more would be even better) and eating more cabbage, beets, other cruciferous vegetables too. We also buy Green Goodness for the days when I can't make fresh juice. It's available at most grocery stores. I have been drinking Teecino's Dandelion Tea each day too. It's full of stuff to cleanse your liver and tastes almost like coffee. It has carob and chicory in it which are great for the liver too. Another thing to add is this, if you're bowels aren't working up to par, it doesn't do much good to cleanse your liver. You will just reabsorb the toxins before they can be eliminated. So, adding in some colon cleansing foods/supplements can really help get you cleaned out. Psyllium husks are an easy thing to add in as fiber to help move things along. Apple pectin is another (or just eat 2 apples each day). Make sure you're drinking enough water too, as these are both fibers that absorb water in your colon and help eliminate toxins. Not enough water will cause you more problems than you started with!
I'm going to write my next post all about the liver, as it gets rather lengthy. I just keep on a-learning all kinds of new information. The geek in me is fascinated by our body and how it works. And how God made so many wonderful things to heal it!
