illness

Showing posts with label illness. Show all posts. The posts are listed in chronological order. Click the post title to read more.

Thursday, December 19, 2013 in , , , , , , , , , , ,

How to make Elderberry Extract - boost your immunity and skip getting sick with the flu



Vitamin C is great stuff but sometimes it's just not enough.  You need a variety of healthy options you can reach for when you feel a germ coming on.

 Elderberry extract is an effective and tasty herbal remedy that you can use to boost your immunity during cold and flu season.  It's part of my family's herbal arsenal and we use it every year.  I thought you might like to see just how easy it is to make and use.  Kids will even drink it in their juice, and who doesn't want a better way to keep your littles happy and healthy?


Elderberry syrups are common at health food stores and great to use if you can.  They can get a little pricey to use on a regular basis for a whole family, though.  Elderberries work by preventing the influenza virus from being able to attach and replicate within host cells in your body.  That means even if you manage to catch a bug if you start treatment with Elderberry you can shorten the time you are sick.  If the virus can't replicate it can't make you so miserable.  Treatment with elderberry syrups has shortened recovery times to as little as 2 days - it really works! Read up on more information about elderberries, a wellness herbal treatment that has been used for generations.

Elderberries are also rich in antioxidants, so they provide anti-aging benefits to your body as well.  The rich purple color is from anthocyanins.  They're anti-inflammatory.  This little berry has a lot to offer.

I did the math really quickly, so I ended up with my recipe being a little more liquid than wanted to fit in my quart jar due to the fact that alcohol is lighter than water and therefore takes up more volume.  Whoops!  I should have accounted for that to start with.  Use these numbers instead to fit it all in.  It's a 50% alcohol solution.

Supplies you'll need: 
A clean quart glass jar
Measuring cups
Digital scale
Wire mesh strainer for when the extract is finished


 Elderberry Extract Recipe at 5:1 concentration 
28 oz / 812 g total weight:

135.3 g dried, ripe elderberries
676.7 g sustainable or organic vodka
OR
338.3 g filtered water and 338.3 g Everclear or other 95% pure ethanol

Directions: Measure and combine all ingredients in the jar.  Allow to steep for 2 to 6 weeks in a cool, dark place.  After steeping strain out the berries using the mesh strainer.  Use 15 ml (1 Tbsp) of extract in a cup of juice or smoothie each day to provide antioxidants and immunity boost.  It's also tasty in a cup of plain green tea or Matcha green tea too.

You can get bulk organic elderberries by ordering online or from your local herb shop.



If you have any auto-immune conditions or are on immune suppressing drugs you may wish to consult your doctor or naturopath before taking Elderberry.  See a list of precautions and possible interactions online.

 For most adults and children this is a very tasty, safe way to stay well during flu season and, of course, totally natural.  Skip the synthetic colored cough syrups and enjoy elderberry instead.

I also adore Gaia Herbs products.  When I'm on the road and away from my bottle of elderberry or just needing the additional support I take their liquicap extracts.  Their Echinacea/Goldenseal combination is in my cabinet every year.  They also make capsules for Elderberry and plain Echinacea in case the bit of St. John's Wort in the combo capsule just isn't for you.  The liquid extracts they produce are just more effective than most powdered extracts and they put a huge amount of time and effort into both their cultivation, extraction and science.  I can't recommend this brand highly enough. (and no, they do not pay me or sample me even, I just love what they do)  I purchased these capsules myself and their Migraprofen capsules have thwarted many migraine headaches for me.  All things Gaia Herbs are good in my opinion.




Monday, January 21, 2008 in , , , , , , , , , ,

Stress Less and Stay Well - Aromatherapy Winter Wellness #2


The other day as I was swiping my nose and snuffling through congestion I thought to myself this has certainly been one of my sickest winters in a long time. I am largely convinced that this is due to the fact that Tru has started preschool and has been little more than a walking petri dish. She has been sick with something at least every few weeks, and as mom I get the lovely job of sleeping with the unhappy, germ-infested child. It isn't easy to avoid catching whatever she might have when she is breathing on me all night... I try valiantly but it is a difficult fight to win.

There are many things that can make us susceptible to germs. Stress has been getting some attention in recent years as a cause of chronic illnesses as well as the average cold. All of us are affected by stress in some way. How we manage it can help stave off the sniffles or something much more serious like cancer. The Garvan Institute in Australia was responsible for correlating a key stress hormone called neuropeptide Y (NPY), and its interference with immune response.

According to their website, and related articles on Wikipedia neuropeptide Y is a hormone that is released from neurones when the body is under stress. Neuropeptide Y is also involved with the activation of immune cells that are our first line of defense against pathogens. The immune cells activate the lymph nodes, where the body's response to the pathogen is determined. If NPY is being emitted on a chronic and regular basis it deactivates the second phase of the immune response that would actually eliminate the invaders. The immune system has a cycle that must be followed and reset. That reset is not possible if the initial hormones remain elevated.

Sheldon Cohen, a psychologist for Carnegie Mellon University has been able to correlate stress with the onset of depression and worsening of cardiovascular disease. View an article about his research on Science Daily . His research encompassed 2 facets of why stress impacts health: behavioral, and hormonal. The behavioral aspect has to do with the fact that stressed people often do not take proper care of their bodies - indulging in greater excesses of drinking, food, and smoking and not sleeping or exercising properly. The hormonal aspect is exactly what the Garvin institute was concerned with.

If you read my post about scent and memory during the holidays you'll probably remember that scent affects the limbic system. The limbic system is directly linked to your adrenal gland, the pituitary and hypothalamus. These glands function together to control crucial functions like heart rate, breathing, mood, and, yes, stress. This is a key part of your "fight-or-flight" response. You sense your environment, the body prepares itself for action, and you act based on your excitement, fear, or happiness. The scent of smoke, for example, should provoke you to move quickly to evade fire. This system was not designed to be in a state of constant excitement. Much like the "Little Boy Who Cried Wolf", if you are constantly under stress your system may not be functioning well when you really need it the most. Pathogens represent a specific kind of stress to the body. To be able to fight them off we need all our body's resources available.

So, what can you do?
Check out my next post on how essential oils can help you reduce stress and stay well.

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