Herb-Infused Oil Recipe

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An effective way to prepare herbs for topical use is to infuse herbs in oil so that the properties of the plant can be extracted into the oil.  Basically this means covering fresh or dried herbs with oil and allowing them to sit in the oil for a length of time and then pressing out the plant material.  The oil then can be used directly on the skin, or used in a lotion or salve.
Below are a couple of different methods for making an infused oils.  Some common plants used to make these oils are calendula, comfrey, plantain, St. John’s wort, cottonwood (poplar) buds, arnica, rosemary, chamomile, and lavender.

Although I am focusing in this article on herbs for topical use, you can use this same recipe to infuse herbs in oil for cooking with, such as rosemary, basil, garlic, and lavender.

Stovetop (Quick) Method:
Use a double boiler or a metal bowl sitting over a pot of water or a heat-tolerant measuring cup partially submerged in water in a pot.
Cover herb of choice with just enough oil to cover and bring the water beneath the container to a hot temperature, below a simmer.  Heat the oil for 60 minutes or more, stirring often and not allowing the oil to bubble/boil.

Slow Macerating Method:

Add ~ 1 – 2 ounces (30 – 60 grams) of dry herb (ideally ground or chopped into smaller pieces) in each cup of fixed/carrier oil in an uncovered container or in a crockpot/slower cooker at its lowest setting, a dehydrator, a yogurt-maker, etc. finding a temperature of 115-120 degrees.  You can also try placing in the oven on the “warm” setting – very low heat.  You may need to leave the door of the oven open.  Using a cooking thermometer, check that the oil heats to between 115-120 degrees (F).  Allow to macerate for at least 3 hours and up to 14 days at this low heat, checking the temperature and stirring frequently.  For fresh herbs, the heating method works great to evaporate off the water and discourage spoiling. 

You can also macerate the herbs in oil in the Sun.  For fresh herbs, you must allow for evaporation of water, so cover with a screen or cheesecloth in a jar in the sun.

In order to use and store the oils, carefully press out the plant material and preserve the oil.  Allow to sit and separate from any water that may still be in it and pour the oil off into a bottle, being careful to allow no water into the bottle.  Store away from heat and light.

Calendula flowers infusing in Apricot Kernel Oil
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Short Detox "Tune-Up" Using Foods, Juices, Teas, & Herbs

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I am going to do a 5 day “Cleanse” or Detox this next week, and I thought I would share what I personally will be doing with those who are interested.  I am not a proponent of intense cleanses, ie those that involve fasting or laxatives, although they may be appropriate for certain people.  And I also am a busy working business owner who doesn’t realistically have the time to take 2 or 3 weeks out of my life to do a more involved detox program.  So I’ve found something that works well for me, while still maintaining my other duties and without starving myself.  I do this regimen when I feel like I’m getting sluggish, whether with low energy or when my digestion is not doing well, which usually go hand in hand together for me.  My skin is not looking so good, my digestion is tending toward bloating, I am feeling down because of the gray, rainy weather…  And I know a 5-day Detox program will do me some good!
So, here it is, folks.  This is Katya’s Detox Regimen, including a day-by-day food schedule, herbal additions, and a shopping list.  The key, I’ve found, is to prepare ahead of time.  If you don’t, you’ll get hungry and cranky and eat whatever is convenient and right at hand.  So, make a plan, a shopping list, and make sure you have everything you’ll need easily on hand, and perhaps anything tempting out of the house or easy access.  This is my plan; modify it to suit your needs!  You’ll notice it avoids all of the major allergens: wheat, dairy, corn, eggs, and soy (except for tamari).  It also does not include any refined sugars.  The idea is to eat as clean and purely as possible for 5 days (or longer, if you so choose).
Please see my other post, Is a Cleanse in Your New Year’s Resolution?, for information on the Cleanse Kit and the detoxification herbs I’ve developed at Herban Wellness.
Day 1:
Upon awakening: squeeze 1/2 a lemon into warm water and sip.  Shake 1 Tbsp fiber blend (Herban Wellness Fiber Blend with Psyllium and Beet) in 1/2 cup water and drink.
Breakfast: 1/2 a grapefruit (or other fruit) and quinoa cooked in almond milk with cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom.
Lunch: Brown rice with steamed broccoli, beets, onions, garlic, and a little tamari/soy sauce.
Mid-afternoon: Green powder blend (Herban Wellness Great Green Nutritional Powder Blend) – 1 Tbsp – shaken in 1/2 cup water or apple juice.
Dinner: Simple lentil soup with potatoes, onions, and turmeric powder in veggie broth.
Snack: raw almond butter and granny smith (or other variety) apple
Beverages through day: 1 quart of Cleanse Tea (Herban Wellness’ Rebalancing Cleanse Support Tea), water with fresh lime juice, Detox Drops (liver cleanse tincture) in a little water before each meal.
Day 2:
Upon awakening: squeeze 1/2 a lemon into warm water and sip.  Shake 1 Tbsp fiber blend (Herban Wellness Fiber Blend with Psyllium and Beet) in 1/2 cup water and drink.
Breakfast: 1 grapefruit and a mango.
Lunch: Large salad with spinach, arugula, pumpkin seeds, avocado, cucumber, and marinated beets, drizzled with flax seed oil and fresh lemon juice.
Mid-afternoon: Green powder blend (Herban Wellness Great Green Nutritional Powder Blend) – 1 Tbsp – shaken in 1/2 cup water.
Dinner: Roasted vegetables (pan-roasted in olive oil with rosemary and thyme) including sweet potato, beets, jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes), and onions
Snack: celery, carrot slices, sugar snap peas
Beverages through day: 12 oz fresh veggie juice, 1 quart of Cleanse Tea (Herban Wellness’ Rebalancing Cleanse Support Tea), water with fresh lime juice, Detox Drops (liver cleanse tincture) in a little water before each meal.
Day 3:
Upon awakening: squeeze 1/2 a lemon into warm water and sip.
Breakfast: Fresh grapefruit juice and 1 quart water with lemon juice, maple syrup, and a pinch of cayenne pepper sipped on through the morning.
Lunch: 16 oz fresh veggie juice.
Mid-afternoon: Green powder blend (Herban Wellness Great Green Nutritional Powder Blend) – 1 Tbsp – shaken in 1/2 cup water.
Dinner: 16 oz homemade veggie broth
Snack: veggie broth as needed.
Beverages through day: juices, broth, 1 quart of Cleanse Tea (Herban Wellness’ Rebalancing Cleanse Support Tea), water with fresh lime juice, Detox Drops (liver cleanse tincture) in a little water before each meal.
Day 4:
Upon awakening: squeeze 1/2 a lemon into warm water and sip.  Shake 1 Tbsp fiber blend (Herban Wellness Fiber Blend with Psyllium and Beet) in 1/2 cup water and drink.
Breakfast: 1 grapefruit and a pear.
Lunch: Seaweed salad (rinsed seaweed mix from PCC), tossed with spring green lettuces, cucumber, bell pepper, and a drizzle of flax oil, sesame seed oil, and tamari/soy sauce and lemon juice to taste.
Mid-afternoon: Green powder blend (Herban Wellness Great Green Nutritional Powder Blend) – 1 Tbsp – shaken in 1/2 cup water.
Dinner: A baked potato with flax seed oil and spices to taste and a cucumber, tomato, onion salad with flax oil and lemon juice.
Snack: celery, carrot slices, sugar snap peas
Beverages through day: 12 oz fresh veggie juice, 1 quart of Rebalancing Cleanse Support Tea (Herban Wellness cleanse tea) water with fresh lime juice, Detox Drops (liver cleanse tincture) in a little water before each meal.
Day 5:
Upon awakening: squeeze 1/2 a lemon into warm water and sip.  Shake 1 Tbsp fiber blend (Herban Wellness Fiber Blend with Psyllium and Beet) in 1/2 cup water and drink.
Breakfast: 1/2 a grapefruit (or other fruit) and quinoa cooked in almond milk with cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom.
Lunch: Nori rolls with brown rice, avocado, and cucumber wrapped in nori seaweed sheets with tamari/soy sauce and wasabi.
Mid-afternoon: Green powder blend (Herban Wellness Great Green Nutritional Powder Blend) – 1 Tbsp – shaken in 1/2 cup water.
Dinner: Simple lentil soup with potatoes, onions, and turmeric powder in veggie broth.
Snack: celery sticks with raw almond butter
Beverages through day: 1 quart of Cleanse Tea (Herban Wellness’ Rebalancing Cleanse Support Tea), water with fresh lime juice, Detox Drops (liver cleanse tincture) in a little water before each meal.
Shopping List:
– Cleanse Kit from Herban Wellness with Rebalancing Cleanse Support Tea, Detox Drops, and Fiber Blend with Psyllium & Beet
– Great Green Powder Blend
– 6 lemons
– 3 limes
– 4 grapefruit
– 3 apples
– 1 pear
– 1 mango
– 3 yellow onions
– 3 red onions
– 3 heads garlic
– 1 sweet potato
– 1 bunch beets (3-4 beets)
– 3 large florets broccoli (one bunch)
– 1 head cauliflower
– 2 avocados
– 2 cucumbers
– 1 bell pepper
– 2 sunchokes
– 1 celery root
– 4 potatoes
– 1 bunch (or about 1 lb.) carrots
– 1 bunch celery
– 3 cups spinach
– 3 cups spring salad greens
– 1 cup arugula greens
– 2 cups sugar snap peas (or other edible peas)
– 2 on-the-vine tomatoes
– 1 package of edible seaweed (dry or refrigerated)
– 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
– flax seed oil
– 3 cups dry lentils (any type)
– 3 cups dry quinoa
– 3 cups brown rice
– raw almond butter
– nori seaweed sheets
– wasabi
– tamari (or soy sauce)
– maple syrup
– almond milk (or make your own with raw almonds, soaked over night, blended and strained)
– cayenne powder
– turmeric powder
– cardamom
– clove buds
– cinnamon
– rosemary
– thyme
– 1.5 quarts fresh veggie juice (either from a fresh juice bar or from your own juicer) with less of the sweet veggies (carrot and beet) and more of the greens: kale, spinach, celery, cilantro, parsley, etc.  OR as much as you’d like to drink through the duration of the cleanse!
– make up a pot of veggie broth with onions, garlic, celery root, celery stocks, carrot, beet, seaweed (kombu, kelp, etc.), cook down, and strain to have on hand
– make up a pot of lentil soup to have on hand.
– make up several cups of quinoa & brown rice to have on hand if possible.
– make up fresh almond milk to have on hand.

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Protecting yourself from Radiation – Good advice for health in general!

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This has been a thought on many health-conscious people’s minds: how do I protect myself from this invisible, potentially toxic, radiation that is drifting our way via air and water from Japan as I write.  I think it is a question worth asking, even though there are those who scoff.  I especially think it’s important when prevention and acting “as if” in sensible ways could only provide health benefits. From what I can find, iodine-131 has a half-life of 8 days, the radioactive element that can most effect/damage the thyroid gland, but cesium-137 has a half-life of 30 years!  It also mixes easily with water and acts similarly to potassium in the body, and so is taken up and processed by the body similarly.  Cesium and uranium both have the most potential to negatively effect the kidneys.  Therefore, it appears that the thyroid gland and the kidneys are the most susceptible to nuclear radiation.
The problem with radiation  in general is that we don’t really know what damaging levels are, and our exposure has gone up as more radiation is continually being emitted around us, from electronics, cell phones, etc.  With the exposure to nuclear radiation through this current crisis,  we may not notice immediate health problems but could experience higher cancer rates years down the road.
How do we protect ourselves?  The reading that I’ve done now points to several things you can do right now, that are generally really good things for the body all the time.  Some of this is based on scientific studies that looked at mainly animals, but people as well, during and after radiation exposure, to nuclear radiation as well as radiation from cancer treatment, x-rays, etc.,  and some is based on information we know about how radiation is processed in the body.
Antioxidants:
Makes sense, right?  Radiation causes free radical damage and antioxidants can help reduce that damage.  Some antioxidants to consider: turmeric (or curcumin at 2-4 g/day, a compound extracted from turmeric, which has been shown to protect the body from breast cancer after radiation exposure), Ginkgo biloba (protective after radiation exposure), rosemary, beta carotene (from carrots, kale, tomatoes, blue-green algae, etc.), vitamin E, glutathione (a powerful antioxidant made up of the amino acids cysteine, glycine, and glutamine;  found in high amounts in barley and watercress, but otherwise is synthesized by taking the amino acids in supplement form or applying a glutathione cream), superoxide dismutase (SOD) (another powerful antioxidant that you can take in supplement form and is found in horseradish), selenium cysteine (found in high amounts in broccoli and garlic), and the brassica family plants (broccoli, kale, cabbage, brussel sprouts, etc.).
Mushrooms:
These wonderful fungi can help protect the body from radiation, probably partly because of a compound called beta-glucan, which is particularly protective to the bone marrow after radiation.  Mushrooms such as reishi, shiitake, and cordyceps are also immune supportive and have many anticancer/tumor properties.  How much do you need to take to be effective?  A typical dose would be 1-2 g twice/day of the powder, capsules, or tincture.  You can also incorporate some mushrooms (shiitake, maitake)  into your food.
Sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda):
This substance appears to bind to both uranium and cesium and minimize their damaging effects on the kidneys, which have to excrete them.  One source I found suggested 1/2 tsp, twice/day away from food.
Adaptogens:
This powerful category of plants is protective and supportive to the body in general.  Particularly of note are Panax ginseng (Asian ginseng), Panax quinquefolius (American ginseng), Rhodiola,  Eleutherococcus (Eleuthero), and Holy basil (Tulsi).

A therapeutic dose of these would be 2 dropperfuls (about 60 drops or 2 millileters) 2-3 times/day of the tincture (1:2 extract would provide 1 gram of herb per 2 ml of liquid ingested), 2-3 cups of tea at 1 Tbsp/cup simmered for 20-30 minutes for the roots and steeped 20 minutes for the leaves (holy basil), or 2 grams of the powder/capsules, twice/day.
Algae & Other Chlorophyll-rich greens:

Chlorella & Spirulina in particular are detoxifying to the body and known to carry radiation out the body, partly due to the chlorophyll content and due to carotenes and minerals in these superfoods.  Wheatgrass is also very high in chlorophyll and shown to help with radiation.
Iodine & Seaweed:
Iodine can compete with iodine-131 for use by the thyroid gland, therefore limiting radioactive exposure.  Although potassium iodide is recommended for high levels of radioactive iodine exposure, it is not recommended for long-term use.  Seaweed and other iodine-containing substances (fish, iodized salt) are better long-term sources.  Kelp, kombu, bladderwrack, and other “brown seaweeds” are considered the best for protecting the body.  They also are a source of trace minerals that are helpful for metabolic processes in the body and have antioxidant effects.  3-5 g/day is recommended, with 3 g amounting to about 1 tsp of kelp powder.
Vitamins & Minerals:
Vitamins E, D3, C, and A are all antioxidants and vitamin D3 has been shown to support immune function, so all of these are potentially helpful.  The minerals selenium, iodine, & magnesium are most cited for their potentially beneficial effects during this time.
What would a good approach be?
I’ll tell you what I’m doing.  I take a tincture (a liquid extract) combining several herbs, including Adaptogens & Antioxidants.  Mine includes adaptogens (American ginseng & Schisandra berry, which protects the liver) and antioxidants/liver support (Turmeric, Rosemary, & Ginkgo).  I take 60 drops (2 dropperfuls) twice/day.  I take 2 – 500 mg kelp capsules twice/day, so 2 grams/day.  I also take 1 Tablespoon of a green powder blend once/day that contains chlorella, spirulina, kelp, alfalfa, and nettle.  I take about 5000 IU vitamin D3 once/day.
It may sound like a lot, but it takes me 5 minutes out of my day to do.  I put 2 squirts of my herbal tinctures in a little water, 1 squirt of my liquid vitamin D3, &  toss it back with my kelp capsules with breakfast.  At some point during the day I shake up my green powder in about 4 oz of water in a jar and get it down as quickly as possible (you could alternatively take this in a smoothie or with juice).  I then take 2 more squirts of my tincture and 2 more kelp capsules with dinner.  And I’ve done my best at getting in some good nutrients for the day, including broccoli and kale.  I was, by the way, doing all of this except for the faithful taking of my kelp capsules, before I found out about the nuclear radiation from Japan.
My hope in sharing this information is to empower you with tools you can incorporate into your life to help protect you from the radiation we are going to be exposed to in some degree over the weeks/months to come.   It is better to act than to ignore this potential danger or to freeze in fear.  Please give feedback/insights and feel free to ask questions.

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Why and who uses herbs?

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Herbs are plants, and contain many compounds, so unlike most pharmaceutical medications, they often do not have as dramatic an action, but they also usually don’t have as many negative side effects.  As humans, we have co-evolved with plant life for thousands of years.  Our bodies recognize and respond to plants because of this and so can use them for our benefit because of historical use and knowledge gained from modern research, if we so choose.
In herbal literature and in my personal use of herbs, I have found that herbs can act to strengthen and balance the body.  They can act as anti-inflammatory agents, have antioxidant effects, and are able to protect, support, and balance organ systems, such as the liver, heart, and adrenal glands.  In this way, they can actually work with the body to restore or increase health, which is where the body naturally wants to be.
In my shop, I would say my customers come from 3 camps: (1) those that already prefer a more natural approach to managing their symptoms, and/or would like to do more to address the “root cause” than treat symptoms; (2) those that are currently on medications and would like to get off of them because they are concerned about the long-term implications or because they do not like the negative effects of the drug; (3) those that are not really being helped by anything and are willing to try something like herbal medicine that they may be quite skeptical about.
The most common things people come in for, and the most common complaints herbs are often able to help with, are nervous system imbalances, like anxiety and insomnia;  digestive problems, such as acid reflux, irritable bowel complaints, indigestion; stress-related imbalances, such as adrenal fatigue and low immunity; cardiovascular problems, like high blood pressure and cholesterol, sluggish circulation; and much more!  It is very gratifying to be able to help someone feel better because of my knowledge of how herbs can help and their willingness to take them and give them a chance to work.

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What is herbal medicine?

Let’s begin at the beginning, where all good stories begin.  Herbal medicine is the use of plants for therapeutic purposes, and human being have been using plants this way for as far back as we can tell.  Afterall, we share our planet with literally billions of plants and millions of different plant species all around our globe.  When human beings lived and foraged outside, their experience of plants for food, shelter, ritual, and medicine was even more intimate.  We have co-evolved with plant life, as I like to say, and therefore have unique mechanisms in our bodies and digestive systems for utilizing the compounds plants contain.   The history of medicine, therefore, is the history of herbal medicine!  Many of our modern pharmaceutical compounds are synthesized and derived from plant constituents, but long before that process started, herbs were used for a myriad of medicinal purposes, including for topical use in poultices, salves, soaks & washes, and internally as infusions (teas), wine & beer, and much more.  Despite being relegated to a place of near obscurity in the 19th and 20th centuries in the West, much of the world has had a much longer, unbroken tradition of using plants of medicine.  Just look at the Chinese, Indian, and Latin American cultures to see this is the case.
Today, herbal medicine is gaining ground again in the West as a legitimate form of healing and the interest has been renewed.  This is partly due to an increasing awareness that pharmaceutical medicines don’t always achieve desired results and can have many undesirable and potentially harmful effects.  Also, modern research, in its quest for compounds that will help decrease inflammation, increase immunity, prevent cancer, etc. has given indications as to how herbs can effect health in a positive way.  Plants also offer the ability to support and renew tissues and organ systems, and balance the body in ways that pharmaceutical medicines cannot.

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