Cleansing With Common Weeds :: Holistic Healing :: Detoxification and Cleansing

> Holistic Healing > Detoxification and Cleansing

Cleansing With Common Weeds
by author Rob MacDonald

Although cleansing is an ancient tradition, the necessity of doing so is more important today than ever before. We are exposed to thousands of chemical substances that didn’t exist 100 years ago: insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, chemical fertilizers, air pollution, preservatives, artificial colours, artificial flavours and sweeteners, automobile exhaust, electromagnetic fields, radioactivity, water pollution, toxic materials in the home and at work, cigarette smoke, and alcohol and drug toxicity.

We unwittingly consume three pounds of artificial chemicals every year. This puts a huge stress on our organs of elimination: the liver, kidneys, skin, bowels and lungs, which become overburdened to the point where they can no longer perform their functions effectively. All this toxicity leads to a weakened immune system, fatigue and poor health.

Since we cannot escape the hazards of our environment, routinely cleansing the body with the use of herbal medicine is increasingly important. Traditionally, spring is a time of renewal and growth, and it is the optimal time to do a cleanse because nature’s most potent detoxifying herbs are readily available. You need look no farther than your own backyard, neighbourhood park, local fields or health food store to find the herbs needed to do your own herbal detoxification.

Rural Remedies

Known principally as a weed, dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) has an astonishing range of health benefits. The roots of two-year-old plants are mildly bitter and act as a gentle laxative, which aids in the removal of toxins through the bowel. Dandelion root is one of the most effective detoxifying herbs, acting as a cleansing tonic for the liver, gallbladder and digestive tract. It can also be employed as a blood cleanser and diuretic. It has major therapeutic benefits for many conditions including constipation, skin problems such as acne, eczema and psoriasis, and rheumatic conditions, including arthritis and gout. The highly nutritive leaves, which are picked in the spring, can be eaten in salads as a wonderful tonic. The leaves, a powerful diuretic, flush out water-soluble toxins and excess fluids. They can be juiced, eaten raw or dried for use in herbal preparations such as teas or tinctures.

Cleavers or bedstraw (Galium aparine) can be found growing along roadsides and in gardens and is gathered just before flowering in late spring or early summer. Cleavers cleanses the kidneys, blood and lymphatics, and it helps rid the liver, pancreas and spleen of toxic wastes. Cleavers is a gentle, non-toxic medicine that is best used fresh as an infusion or juice, as drying destroys most of its medicinal properties.

Burdock root (Arctium lappa) is one of the foremost detoxifying herbs in both western and Chinese herbal medicine. It is used to treat conditions caused by an overload of toxins, such as infections, boils, rashes and chronic skin problems. Burdock is an effective medicinal that cleanses the liver and kidneys, ridding the body of toxic waste materials and heavy metals. It acts as a strengthening herb for poor kidney function, thereby increasing urine output and decreasing uric acid levels in the blood that can lead to gout. Burdock root can also be eaten as a vegetable, as it is in Japan and France. Because it is the root that is used for medicine, it is best taken as a decoction or tincture. Capsules are not as effective because part of the medicinal action is provided by the bitter taste.

Nettles (Urtica dioica), well known for their sting, have long been appreciated for their medicinal uses. Nettle leaves can be cooked like a vegetable, dried to make tea or taken as a tincture. For maximum benefit, this herb should be juiced. This is a plant that can be consumed in any quantity, the more the better. The key use of nettles is as a cleansing and detoxifying herb, helping to cleanse the body of accumulated wastes. Like most fast-growing weeds, nettles have abundant nutrients such as iron and vitamin C. This makes it a rejuvenating tonic for anemia and other similar debilitated states. In general, it is valuable to consider nettles as a fortifying remedy.

1 2

Next Page >>>

Rob MacDonald is a clinical herbalist in Vancouver. He also teaches at Dominion Herbal College and is on the board of directors of the Canadian Herbalist Association of BC. He can be contacted at 604-682-7413 or herbalrob@yahoo.com.

Source: alive #245, March 2003

Jane Siberry's Healthy Life
It's unbearably hot in a press tent in Edmonton. Jane Siberry's smile is gracious but tired as she greets the last of a number of media representatives who have been vying for a few minutes of her time.

A Little Help for the Liver
The liver is a remarkable organ and is the central chemical laboratory in the body. In a world in which new toxins are introduced daily, it's more important than ever to make sure our livers are happy and healthy.

Stories Skin Can Tell
Some of us might blame our bathroom lighting for the dark circles under our eyes and our pale faces. But eczema, psoriasis, blemishes, blackheads, acne and scarring can't be so easily dismissed.

Eat Away Arthritis
For some sufferers, arthritis is a minor irritation, a stiff finger or a mild ache in a hi.

Liver Restoration
Perhaps because there is no Western orthodox medical treatment for the liver, the liver is, unfortunately, overlooked as the cause of many health problem.

Weed Out Toxins
Tender-handed stroke a nettle, And it stings you for your pains; Grasp it like a man of mettle, And it soft as silk remains. -Old Scottish Ditty Centuries ago, a miser found a pot of gold..

A Prescription for Drug Detoxification
If you've ever taken prescription drugs or are currently taking them, it's time to detoxify! Prescription drugs load the body with toxins. They deplete nutrients, disrupt metabolism and have the potential to cause addiction..

Out With The Old In With The New
Regeneration is the message of spring. Detoxification is one of the central concepts of natural healing. It's impossible to build healthy new tissue without eliminating the old cells and their by-products.

Spring Cleaning
The best support for your liver is to eat 75 per cent of your foods raw, enabling your liver to cleanse daily. Adding liver-loving foods such as fresh raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, fresh-pressed juices, whole grains, bitter greens and culinary and medicinal herbs encourages detoxification and aids digestion..

Liberate Your Colon
"Don't let your health be stolen by a congested colon! If a person is not being rewarded with good health, vigour and energy after proper sleep, good nutrition and dietary supplements, then there must be a thief, stealin.

Essential Oils
An Aromatic Perspective We have just completed a century marked by specializations in almost every field and profession.

Gain Without Pain!
Chiropractic Relieves Pressure Chiropractors are often asked what they can do to help conditions not normally associated with spinal problems, our basic consideration.

Fast and Simple
Summer is in full swing and both markets and gardens are brimming with luscious ripe fruits and vegetables! If you've ever thought about embarking on a cleansing program, now is the time to do it!But what exactly is a c.

Colonics
Cleansing and fasting are wonderful healing opportunities. When you fast, your body uses the energy normally required to digest food to eliminate toxins instead. But fasting may not eliminate the toxins, yeast and other harmful elements quickly enough to promote the healing you are attempting to achieve.

Can My Diet Survive the Shortbread Season?
It's that time of year when all those parties and social gatherings dot the calendar. Everywhere we turn, sweet temptation rears its ugly hea.

Jumpstart Your Body With Lympathic Drainage
Exercise of the lymphatic system is probably one of the most important outcomes of a good physical regimen-and one that we scarcely think about.

Stinging Nettle: A Golden Oldie
Masan was once golden with shimmering leaves and a bright aura. The human beings did not pay their respect to this plant medicine, taking it for granted, passing it by without offering tobacco.

De-Stress Your Digestion
The most common health complaint in North America is poor digestion. Consumers spend billions of dollars each year on over-the-counter medicines and prescription drugs designed to temporarily relieve symptoms of gastrointestinal distress.

Detox the Natural Way
The best time for body cleansing is spring, when new life starts all around us in the kingdom of plants and animals. In spring our bodies also start a new cycle.

Cancer-Fighting Herbs and Roots
Plant roots may be out of sight, but they shouldn't be out of mind when it comes to dealing with cancer. Any physical approach to healing cancer must first concentrate on restoring both the organs of elimination and the circulation of nutrients in the body.

Handy Dandy Dandelions
The British so cherish this dainty plant that they've had it declared an endangered wildflower. And for good reason...

The Best Colon-Cleansing Diet
If you experience constipation, bladder and kidney infections, vaginal yeast infections, bad breath, body odour, abdominal cramps, or toe- and fingernail fungus, your colon may be calling for a cleanse. Some say disease begins in the colon.

Wisdom of the Human Body
You clean your house, wash your clothes and change the oil and filters in your automobile. You wash your hair and you brush your teet.

Spring Clean Your Liver
It may not feel like it yet, but soon the frost will melt and springtime will arrive--a natural time for growth, renewal and regeneratio.

Purify Yourself
Since ancient times, humans have incorporated detoxification practices to cleanse both the body and the min.

Rediscover Fasting
Fasting has been used for thousands of years as a medical therapy to help the body detoxify and rejuvenate from all kinds of health problems. It is defined as "voluntarily not eating food for varying lengths of time.: Many of the world's oldest medical systems have relied upon fasting for healing and as a way to prevent disease..

Scrub Grub
We are exposed daily to hundreds of chemicals ranging from naturally occurring gases and heavy metals to agricultural and household chemicals. We can be exposed through the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat.

Herbal Detox Kits
Detoxification is one of the basic foundations of natural healing. A good detox improves health by cleansing the intestinal tract, urinary tract, liver, gallbladder, blood and lymphatic system of unwanted toxins.

Supporting a Healthy Liver

Stinging Nettle
Sometimes I wonder how many people in today's society are seriously involved in making use of medicinal herbs, collecting them, drying them or making herbal juices.

The Mystery of Oxygenated Water
Water was once considered the most sacred of elements. The foundation upon which all civilizations are built is tied directly to the presence of water.

Medicinal Teas
There is something almost mystically refreshing about a just-steeped cup of tea. Year-to-year tea sales in health food stores tell us that Canadians are looking for more than mere refreshment.

Living in the Fasting Lane
Fasting on water for a period of one to ten days is a safe and powerful way to rejuvenate the mind and body. Long used as the primary detoxification method by naturopathic physicians, there are many benefits to fasting, both emotional and physical..

Rejuvenate With Detox
In today's polluted world, even with the best dietary habits and lifestyle we are susceptible to toxic overload through the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat.

Dandelion Root
The flowers of dandelions aren't much different in appearance from chrysanthemums - and in Japan they're considered just as beautiful! But in North America we soak our lawns in carcinogenic pesticides to destroy them.

It's Spring-Ceaning Time
We live in a toxic world. Trillions of pounds of chemicals are released into the environment each year, and some of them inevitably make their way into your bod.

Eight Weeks to Wellness

By cleansing regularly we can feel healthier, reduc.

The Flaming Heart
We all know what inflammation is. We recognize it as the redness, heat, and swelling that accompany injuries or infections. Although we may not like how it feels, inflammation is actually a beneficial process.

Gut Instinct
Almost all disease can be traced back to poor digestion. Good digestive health is more than just breaking down your food properly-it's essential for nutrient absorption, immune function, detoxification, and chemical and hormone production..

Flush Away Toxins
Imagine what would happen to your car if the exhaust system couldn't remove toxic fumes from the engine. It's the same in our bodies.

Do it Daily

The body works in a cooperative balance. When we aim to detoxify specific organs, we upset that balance and experience upsetting results..

Detox and Weight Loss
What do food additives, caffeine and alcohol, medications, herbicides and pesticides, and household chemicals all have in common? Each must be rendered harmless by your body's detoxification system in order for you to stay lean and healthy.

Parasite Cleansing
Parasites occur not only in Third World countries or in those who have travelled extensively. Eighty-five percent of North Americans have at least one form of parasite. Some authorities believe that the true figure may be as high as 95 percent..

Four Easy Steps
It's springtime and we all have the urge to greet the new season with the best of healt.

Aromatherapy Detox With Essential Oils
Detoxification is a natural and constant bodily process. We are continually eliminating excess toxins through our digestive, urinary, integumentary (skin), circulatory, respiratory, and lymphatic systems.

A Detox Menu
Detoxification can mean different things to different people. A seasonal body cleanse can take a variety of approaches, so I encourage people to find what works for them. It might be simply increasing fibre and fluids in your diet.

A Cleansing Sweat
No doubt about it, exercise makes us sweat. Although uncomfortable to many, sweating is essential to our health. Perspiration helps the body stay cool despite the increased internal temperatures produced by exercise.

Your Detox-Product Shopping List
From the car fumes we breathe to the pesticide residues on our foods, toxic contaminants are, sadly, a daily reality. Your local health food store is your best source of the wide range of natural foods, herbs, and supplements needed to support natural detoxification.

Coming Clean in a Toxic World
Many of the purification rituals used in ancient cultures - water or juice fasts, herbal cleanses, and other more traditional approaches - may not effectively minimize our exposure to the thousands of chemicals in our world today.

Reduce Your Toxic Load
Toxins come in many forms and from many sources. They're everywhere. It's hard to avoid them. They're in our food, water, soil, and air. Toxins are in our pharmaceutical drugs, our bottled drinking water, our children's school playgrounds, and our shiny new cars.

Colon Cleansing Made Easy

Spring Cleaning

Detoxing the Java Junkie

Be Kind to Your Liver This Holiday Season
Nothing leads to a diminished metabolicrate faster than regular alcohol consumption, and for many people alcohol is a bigpart of holiday season celebrations.

Nettles, Beyond the Sting
Last summer a visitor to our herb farm wondered why we let the weed stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) grow liberally. When it "stung him, he suggested we pull it out. I explained that we could never do without the herb stinging nettle because it is a gentle and slow-acting cleanser.

A Cleanse for All Seasons
Cleansing eliminates the toxic effects of our diets as well as the poisons we absorb from the environment. During a cleansing program we clean our body's muscles, organs, and fat tissue. But which cleansing program should you choose?

Love Your Liver
A poorly functioning liver may not always reveal itself to your doctor during a physical examination or through blood tests collectively called liver-function tests.

Drive to Revive
Have you ever noticed that many people treat their cars better than their bodies? If you aren't sure where to look for your body's warning lights, ask yourself a few questions.

Protein Up Your Detox
Most North Americans begin their daily ritual with a shower. We place significant importance on the products we use to brush our teeth, wash our hair, and cleanse our bodies. Yet many of us do not practise the same stringent guidelines when it comes to what we ingest and how we cleanse our bodies from the inside.

Milk Thistle
For hundreds of years, medicinal plants have been used to protect and support liver function. Of these, the best known and currently the most well-researched is milk thistle (Silybum marianum), a rather ominous looking plant covered in sharp spines pointing in all directions.

Natural Products for Detoxification
Cleansing and detox kits line the shelves of health food stores. Every time you walk past them you think, I should do a cleanse...one of these days. Do it soon!

Who're You Calling "Toxic"?
Whenever I hear the words "cleanse or "detox, it reminds me of an old friend. This friend enthusiastically and diligently undertook an intense program of cleansing and near-fasting for a full 14 days.

Get to Know Your Liver
The liver is one of our most vital organs and, next to our skin, the largest. Optimal function is essential to dealing with the abundance of toxins that are processed through the liver.

Renewing Life
In with the good, out with the bad. It's simple physiology, but when the digestive system doesn't function properly, optimum health can be elusive.

More Nutritious than Spinach!
You have a choice. You can be a horticultural extremist, using toxic chemicals to botanically cleanse your yard of the pesky dandelion, or you can thank the universe for this abundantly free harvest of nutritious food and medicine.

Six Steps to Detoxify
Detoxification is a healing technique that has been used for centuries by cultures all over the globe. Through various types of detoxification, we can allow the body to heal itself, thus bringing it to a purer, healthier, and more vibrant place.

Proper Detoxification
We live in an increasingly toxic world. Toxic substances are everywhere-in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink. In addition, we face a dramatic increase in electromagnetic radiation from cellular phones, power lines, and a depleted ozone layer.

Cleansed? What's Next?
Congratulations! You've cleansed your body's vital systems of toxins. Now you're feeling good, and it's time to get back to a regular diet that doesn't include the foods that were responsible for creating toxicity in your body.

Spring Clean Your Body
It's time for spring cleaning, and to tackle this job, many of us will be cleansing, detoxifying, and revitalizing our bodies with natural products. In preparation for detoxifying, common sense dictates we eliminate caffeine, alcohol, and smoking, and incorporate exercise in our daily routine.

The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan
I am partial to books that deliver a heavy dose of practical, useful information. This new book is one of those, and it gets extra points for being easy to follow. Author Schoffro Cook is a natural health professional with many credits to her name.

Detoxification
Did you know that we are exposed to an estimated 600 billion pounds of synthetic chemicals every year?

Spring Cleaning
Good health depends on our ability to effectively eliminate toxins. This is where a cleanse or detoxification program can help.

Top 10 Foods for Detoxing
Pollution kills up to 25,000 Canadians every year. A 2007 UBC study shows that pollution is linked to 24,000 cancer cases and costs our health care system nearly $2 billion annually.

Clean It Up!
With the advent of spring, we seem naturally inclined to freshen and renew ourselves. Internal cleansing and detox systems can provide a convenient and regimented way to support the healthy elimination of accumulated body toxins and waste.

5 Tips for a Successful Detox
Watch late-night television and you'll notice several commercial breaks featuring ads promising relief for digestive woes. Over 20 million Canadians are affected by digestive disorders; tummy troubles cost about $8 billion a year.

Herbal Cleansing
Plants cleanse and revitalize our bodies from the inside. Our body systems are designed to utilize the benefits of plants, and we may suffer chronic illness and premature aging if we do not consume enough botanical bounties.

Milk Thistle
Even though milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is not a new herb to the health food industry, the studies and clinical evidence of this amazing medicinal botanical continue to expand each year.

Support Your Liver & Age Better
Even though the liver is considered essential for detoxifying, it is often overlooked when people consider how best to support their body in healthy aging.

Optimize Your Kidney Function
Often overlooked when starting a cleanse, most people are unaware of the important role the kidneys play in removing toxins from the body.