natural-remedies

Elderberry Recipes

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 20:58:55 +0100

I wanted to share my elderberry recipes, after the last post where we explored this awesome herb, and the many uses of elderberry (click here to see that post.) These are the recipes I used to make my cold and flu busting syrup this year. It's a crock-pot recipe, so if you can make chili in the crock pot, you can make this too. It's really simple!

And to make it even EASIER for you to make one of these elderberry recipes, I'm GIVING AWAY a $25 store credit to Savvy Teas & Herbs! My first giveaway, y'all! I've loved everything I've purchased from Savvy Teas and Herbs, so I'm super excited to share this with one of you! Entry instructions are at the bottom of this post.

I bought all of my herbs from Savvy for these recipes, as well as some yummy teas, and they have GREAT herbs and blends! Check them out! I like it that I can get a variety of sizes, from small 4 oz. bags for things I just want to try, to big pound bags of herbs that I know I'll use more of.

Today, I'm gonna share two elderberry recipes and dosage instruction. You'll find a basic syrup recipe (with an optional tincture of echinacea root), and a deluxe elderberry recipe that includes more herbs, that crank up the effectiveness. The basic is a great place to start if you need something on hand quick, and just want to keep it simple. The deluxe syrup, which is what I used this year, includes additional herbs, and an elderberry vinegar infusion, which I told you about in the last post. A couple of these components require more time to make. But don't let that discourage you...go ahead and read over it, and you can start the tincture or vinegar infusion now if you're interested, and have it ready for your next go-round.

Don’t be intimidated! It’s FUN to play around with herbs. There’s lots of room for tinkering with herbal recipes, and you can't go wrong using these ingredients. I doubled the amounts for my batch. Next year, I'm at least tripling it. The amounts below will yield almost 4 cups of homemade elderberry syrup. MUCH cheaper than the health food store price of $15 for 4 ounces.

Basic Elderberry Syrup
printable elderberry recipes (black and white or color)

2 cups dried elderberries - around 1/2 pound, or 8 oz. (I got mine at Savvy Teas and Herbs!)

1 qt boiling water (4 c.)

Juice of 2 lemons

½ c. raw apple cider vinegar

1 c. raw/unheated honey

Put 2 cups of dried elderberries into your crock pot, and cover with 1 quart boiling water.

Cover and let sit overnight. The next morning, set the crock pot on low, and let it simmer for several hours. I got busy and kept it on warm for a couple days. Whatever works for you...it's a flexible process. Because I let it simmer for so long, I added more water when it looked like it was getting a little low. You want a very wet mash...but not a soup. You may also do this whole thang on the stove top using a saucepan, let sit overnight, and then simmer for 30 minutes. Allow to cool, and strain/press out the berry mash, keeping the dark, berry infused liquid.

The straining can be frustrating & messy, but I think I figured out a good way to do it so you get the least mess, and the most juice out of your herbs and berries. This is is how I did it:

Place a large strainer over a bowl that you'll catch the juice in. Lay a clean tea towel over the strainer, and then line that with paper towels or a coffee filter. The paper layer makes clean up SO much easier! Dump your berry mash in onto the paper liner, and gather up the towel with all of it inside. Begin to squeeze the berry mash, while twisting the top of the towel and forcing the mash into a tighter and tighter ball--squeezing out all that good juice into your bowl. You should get around 2 cups of liquid. When you've gotten out every last drop, all you have to do is drop the spent berries inside the paper liner into the trash. Your towel will be nice and purple, but it won't be covered in gunk. If you're doing a large or double batch, just squeeze/strain in batches.

For every 2 cups of juice (give or take), add the noted amounts of apple cider vinegar, fresh lemon juice, and raw honey, and mix well. You can adjust the lemon and honey to taste at this point.

If you have more than 2 cups of juice, then adjust the amounts of lemon/honey/vinegar accordingly. If you have closer to 3 cups of juice would be 3 lemons, ¾ cups of vinegar, and 1 ½ cups of honey; for closer to 4 cups of juice, you'd just double the original amounts. Stir well, adjust lemon and honey to taste, and then store in clean, glass jars or bottles in the fridge.

Dosing and Usage:
For herbal preparations like this, that contain what I consider to be food as opposed to strictly medicinal plants, I'm not so picky with dosage amounts. Here are the dosages amounts that we use, and what is recommended by this great clinical overview of elderberry:
Adults: 2 teaspoons 4 times daily (at sign of first symptoms)
Children: 1 teaspoon 4 times daily (at sign of first symptoms)
For daily maintenance, three to five days after first symptoms occur:
Adults: 2 teaspoons daily
Children: 1 teaspoon daily

We will also take a dose or two over the course of the day whenever we are around illness, as a preventive; or if a member of the family is trying to come down with something.

Adding Echinacea:

Echinacea is a classic immune booster. It is a great companion herb to elderberry, and is often found in commercial preparations. Originally, I had wanted to include it in my recipe, but after researching, I chose to make a tincture of it separately instead of steeping it in with my other herbs for a few reasons. First, steeping root material takes a LOT longer than berries and leaves, and also, the water can pull out components from the echinacea root that make it unwise to use over extended periods of time. But using a high-proof vodka infusion (a tincture) of the echinacea root makes it stronger *and* safe for everyday use…according to the owners of Beeyoutiful, the manufacturers of Berrywell. I put the Echinacea root in a jar with rum or high proof vodka for a month or more. This creates a "simple" or one-herb tincture that can be taken alone, or given with the elderberry syrup. This gives me a lot of flexibility, as I can enhance the elderberry recipes with this tincture…AND it can be limited to older kids and adult use, since it’s vodka based. I'll post next week with the measurements and 'how to' of making a tincture with echinacea.

Deluxe Syrup Elderberry Recipe:

Follow directions above, but add 1/2 cup of any of the following herbs to your berries:

chamomile
astragalus root
rose hips
nettle
cinnamon (sticks or powdered will both work)

For each additional 1/2 cup of herbs, add another cup of hot water and let rest overnight, then proceed with the original recipe. Any or all of these herbs are great herbal companions, adding minerals and additional antiviral properties. I'll tell you more about what they do in the "star ingredients" section below. I opted to use three supporting herbs with the elderberries. Aren't they pretty together!

Clockwise from top: astragalus root, rose hips, elderberries, and dried nettle leaf. All from Savvy Teas & Herbs.

To pull even more medicinal properties from the elderberries, you may also make a vinegar infusion, using the method I discussed here. Vinegar pulls out an even broader range of beneficial properties from your fresh or dried elderberries. I used my infused vinegar in lieu of the plain vinegar called for in the basic recipe. I like to let the fresh or dried berries steep for 6 weeks or longer. If using dried berries, I would soften them with a splash or two of boiling water before adding the vinegar.

Star Ingredients:
These are from my notes, and I didn't note sources on them...sorry!

lemon juice: adds a high concentration of vitamin C and flavor. Vitamin C is excellent for colds and flu. Antibacterial, protects mucous membranes and helps heal ulcers of the throat/mouth. High in antioxidants.

raw apple cider vinegar: Along with the lemon, the raw cider vinegar ups the acidity of the mixture, which helps support the ph of the digestive system. It's considered to be anti-microbial, and is full of live enzymes that support immune health and digestion. As far as the flavor goes, it adds just a touch of tang, but doesn't overpower the berry flavor of the syrup.

raw honey: Anti-Bacterial, anti-Viral, AND anti-Fungal. Used to treat coughs/upper respiratory infections (a famous voice soother used by professional singers)
Raw, unprocessed honey is a superfood that provides antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, amino acids, enzymes, carbohydrates, phytonutrients, and has strong antimicrobial and antibacterial properties. It soothes tissues, while strengthening the white blood cells to destroy bacteria and viruses. Most households currently use processed honey, which has been heated and pasteurized, and can contain botulism and High Fructose Corn Syrup, (HFCS). Processed honey is not as antibacterial as raw honey, and is dangerous for diabetics.

elderberry: Elderberry recipes have been a folk remedy for centuries in North America, Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa, hence the medicinal benefits of elderberries are being investigated and rediscovered. Elderberry is used for its antioxidant activity, to lower cholesterol, to improve vision, to boost the immune system, to improve heart health and for coughs, colds, flu, bacterial and viral infections and tonsilitis. Bioflavonoids and other proteins in the juice destroy the ability of cold and flu viruses to infect a cell. People with the flu who took elderberry juice reported less severe symptoms and felt better much faster than those who did not. Elderberry juice was used to treat a flu epidemic in Panama in 1951.
Elderberries contain organic pigments, tannin, amino acids, carotenoids, flavonoids, sugar, rutin, viburnic acid, vitaman A and B and a large amount of vitamin C. They are also mildly laxative, a diuretic, and diaphoretic. Flavonoids, including quercetin (an anti-inflammatory), are believed to account for the therapeutic actions of the elderberry flowers and berries. According to test tube studies these flavonoids include anthocyanins that are powerful antioxidants and protect cells against damage.

At the Bundesforschungsanstalt (say that 5 times fast!) research center for food in Karlsruhe, Germany, scientists conducting studies on Elderberry showed that elderberry anthocyanins enhance immune function by boosting the production of cytokines. These unique proteins act as messengers in the immune system to help regulate immune response, thus helping to defend the body against disease. Further research indicated that anthocyanins found in elderberries possess appreciably more antioxidant capacity than either vitamin E or vitamin C.

nettles: Nettles contains natural antihistamines and anti-inflammatories (including quercetin), that open up constricted bronchial and nasal passages, helping to ease hay fever, and nose & sinus type allergies symptoms.
Nettles have been used as a tonic for the female system as far back as Native American women, who used it throughout pregnancy and as a remedy to stop hemorrhaging during childbirth. It is considered one of the best all round women's tonics.

rose hips: A high source of natural vitamin C, and packed with biofavaniods, rose hips are a great addition for immune boosting and cold remedies.

chamomile: Chamomile tea has antiseptic properties, making it a great herb to use as a mouthwash for healthy gums, or an as eye bath for an infected or inflamed eye. Its antiseptic capabilities are up to 120 times stronger than sea-water. It also promotes relaxation, reduces pain, and is an anti-inflammatory.

cinnamon: Cinnamon is an excellent herb to treat colds, coughs and fevers. It is anti-microbial, and is known to kill a variety of illness-causing bacteria, including E. coli, salmonella, and staph. Cinnamon increases blood circulation, the production of digestive fluids, promotes sweating, relieves smooth muscle spasms, and increase urine output. Plus, it tastes yummy!

astragalus: Astragalus stimulates the activity of white blood cells…these are an important component of the immune system in fighting infections. It’s considered an antiviral herb, as well as an immune stimulant, so it's got a similar and supporting function to elderberry. According to Savvy Teas and Herbs, it’s safe for pregnancy or nursing Moms.
There are a few concerns with this herb. It’s not recommended for long term Lyme infection cases, and for those who are allergic to the legume family. Also, it may interfere with some medications such as beta blockers, anti-coagulants, and certain diuretics, and cyclophosphamide, a medication used to reduce the chances of rejection in transplant recipients.

Which reminds me. Please be sure to do all of your own homework on herbs before taking or giving them to anyone. They contain potent medicinally active compounds! Even though I consider herbs to be a MUCH safer alternative to over the counter or even prescription drugs, due caution and research should be applied, especially when using medications *and* herbs.

OK...now for the fun part!

THE $25 HERB GIVEAWAY!!!
I'm a total newby, so I don't know all the right stuff to say for a giveaway. But here's what's going down:

To enter, leave a comment below, telling me what your favorite cold remedy is...herbal or not!
For bonus entries leave a comment telling me that you've done any of the following:

I shared the link to this post on my Facebook Profile
I was the *first* person to post this link on a facebook group!
I reblogged this link, or shared it on my blog
I tweeted about this contest link

Please just enter once for each type of entry per person. You've got a total of 5 possible entries if you do all of the bonuses! Don't forget to give me your e-mail address in the comment. It won't show, but I'll need it to contact the winner. The contest runs from Monday, 3/12/2012, through Friday, 3/16/2012. The winner will be announced on Monday, 3/19/2012 using random.org to choose the winning blog entry.
The store credit is compliments of Savvy Teas & Herbs, and their terms and conditions apply.

Good luck, y'all!

Update...We have a WINNER!

Congratulations to Heather Barnes, the winner of the Savvy Teas & Herbs $25 give away! The number of entries was entered into random.org, and comment number 34 was selected. Thanks to all who participated! I will try to host more give-aways in the future...it IS fun to give stuff away. :)

Full disclosure: I buy herbs from Savvy Teas and Herbs. I like to buy from family owned, small businesses, and have enjoyed her products a lot. So I asked the very sweet owner if she would be interested in sponsoring a give away here on my blog. She was very kind in providing a prize for the winner! I received no compensation for this give away, and I have no idea how to blog properly, because I've never taken a class, and I'm probably doing it wrong. But I enjoy it. :) The end, and Amen.

Elderberry Herb, My New BFF

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:47:03 +0100

Meet elderberry. This is not a highly attractive pick for a best friend forever. I mean, the berries really don't even taste all that fantastic...sort of bland. But I'm now totally committed to this little berry. We have a date to make syrup every fall, from now until forever.

I'm gonna tell y'all the truth, and you may not believe me, because I almost don't really believe it myself. But this year, we've been using some elderberry syrup I've made and we've had no colds. As in, the number below 1.
ZERO.
None.
That's all 6 of us, and we live active, social lives around people who are experiencing and sharing colds with us. So it's not for lack of trying on the part of the cold germs. We've been exposed and started coming down with them multiple times...as usual. But after a dose or tree with elderberry syrup, the cold is just stopped in its tracks. (My easy elderberry recipes are here)

THAT, my friends, is how to win friends and influence people! So, it's the basis of a new herbal friendship here in this house.

Today, I'm going to give you a good visual, practical, and historic tour of elderberry and elderflower.

Discovering Elderberry
I'm embarrassed to say that it took about two years for me to finally appreciate this herb for what it has to offer, especially since it's so common, easily available, and has such a rich history.
This is a nice stand that I discovered in early June, two years ago, growing along the road.

This is what elderberry looks like...sort of a gangly, weed-bush-tree, with big white flowers. Pretty much just a common roadside weed here in Georgia. Check out this native plant map to see if it grows in your state!

I found some growing here...

This is what elderberry looks like...sort of a gangly, weed-shrub, with big white flowers. Pretty much just a common roadside weed here in Georgia. This is a nice stand that I discovered one June a couple of years back. In the winter time, you wouldn't even know it was there at all, as it dies back to the twigs.

Elder prefers sunny spots with damp ground, and can often be found on the edge of wooded areas, or along the banks of sunny creeks and rivers. In the wintertime, you wouldn't even know it was there at all, as it dies back to the twigs. Elderberry plants are in the honeysuckle family, and are very hardy. A friend of mine even has some growing in her backyard that came up on its own.

There are many varieties of elderberry, but this one is VERY common over most of the US and Canada. It is known as American Black Elderberry, or Sambucus Nigra. Some of the other varieties, like the red elderberry are not as tummy friendly or as effective in regards to antiviral activity, so be sure to positively ID your find before using it. (more on that below in the warnings)

As you can see, June is too early to harvest the berries, but it's the perfect time to gather some of the beautiful flowers, which was my first goal.

Isn't it gorgeous! It's like a giant Queen Anne's Lace flower!

My sweet husband was willing to let me cut some of the flowers, so we pulled off the road into a safe spot, and I hopped out with my scissors and a shopping bag, and harvested several large blossoms. My main goal, though, was gathering the berries, so I left most of the flower heads intact to bear fruit…I’ll be back for those later.

The flowers are the gentlest part of the elderberry plant, medicinally speaking,¹ which is why they are perfect to use for children. I let the flowers air dry, and then stored them in a jar. I toyed around with making a tea blend with them. The blossoms are bitter, but blended with peppermint it had a nice flavor that even my kids like. The tea was pleasant, but making cup after cup of tea for hourly dosing just wasn't going to be practical for me. I still love the idea of using the blossoms, and have some of the dried flowers still on hand to play with. What I really wanted were those berries.

Eventually, the whole flower head is transformed from an arched umbrella of flowers into a heavily drooping cluster of lovely ripe berries. Two years back, I missed the best harvest time, and was only able to get a handful of berries, but wasn’t sure what to do with them. This past summer, I made a point watch for them, and harvested about 1/2 of these, leaving the rest to reseed and for the birds and animals to enjoy. Important Note: Only the blue or purple berries of elderberry are edible. The red berries of other species are toxic and should not be gathered.¹

I wasn't quite sure what to do with the fresh berries, since we usually aren't battling colds in July. I’m not set up with juicing equipment, and I felt like it would probably ferment by the time we needed it. I know that I can order dried elderberries, so I really wanted to take advantage of the properties of the fresh berry. That’s when this recipe for elderberry shrub, caught my attention. A shrub is an old fashioned sparkling drink based on a vinegar extraction of elderberries, that’s sweetened with sugar and mixed with sparkling water.

The first part of the recipe describes how to make a strong elderberry vinegar, which brought to my mind a couple of articles that I'd read about different substrates to extract the properties of herbs. Water, glycerin, alcohol, and vinegar are common substrates used in extracting herbs, and each one pulls different qualities. The water or glycerin pull out the gentler, nourishing properties of the herb, like water-soluble vitamins and minerals. Alcohol extracts the stronger, medicinal properties of the herbs, but I’m not as comfortable using this with my kids for daily dosing. But vinegar pulls out a good mix of both medicinal and nutritive properties. And with vinegar extraction, there is no heat required…the acetic acid acts on the berries (or other herb) over time, so you get best of both worlds. Yes!

So, I tossed my fresh berries into a jar of cider vinegar, and shook them up. I let the berries sit in the vinegar at room temperature for a few weeks until the it turned very dark, shaking daily (or as I remembered), and then I tucked the jar away in the fridge labeled “Elderberry Vinegar”. And you’ll hear more about that in my next post. I think I’ll do the same thing next year with my harvest!

The History of Elderberry

Historically, they are used both as a food, and as traditional ‘medicine’ by many native cultures. In the kitchen, elderberry and juice has been used to make jellies, jams, pies, wine, juice, and even flower fritters, made by batter dipping and frying the flower heads!¹ Elder is derived from the word ‘ellen’, an Anglo-Saxon word meaning kindler of fire.¹ The dry branches and pith from the hollow core make excellent kindling, apparently enough so that the plant was named for this.¹ The edible berries and flower have long been used for folk medicines, and the stems are used to create a rich black dye used for basketry, arrow shafts, and many other wooden items.² The wood is hard and was often fashioned into many different items, including combs, spindles, pegs, arrows, and more. The hollow stems make it especially useful in constructing flutes, clapper sticks, and blowguns or water guns.¹

Using Elderberry for Health and Beauty

Almost all the parts of the plant may be used for various remedies for nearly every part of the body, and the plant has been considered a valuable healing plant and food source in many folk medicine traditions worldwide.¹The plant was considered to be a sort of cure-all, engendering loyalty among both the common folk, and the respect of respected men of medicine. One famous doctor was said to never pass a clump of elderberry without tipping his hat!² Historically, elderberry was used for a number of actions: to purge or stimulate waste removal systems and secretions, as an anti-inflammatory for swelling (especially edema), as a soothing agent for the skin and digestive tract, and for it’s amazing ability to enhance the immune response and eradicate viruses and infections.³
And though we often hear “There is no cure for the common cold,” even the modern Medscape Reference lists elderberry to be efficacious against “the severity and duration of cold, flu, cough and mouth ulcers”, as well as combating the damaging effects of LDL cholesterol.⁴
Let’s take a look at the different parts of the plant, and how they may be used.

Flowers

The dried flowers are the gentlest part of the plant, and are often prepared as a tea, which is “used to break dry fevers and stimulate perspiration, aid headache, indigestion, twitching eyes, dropsy [edema or swelling], rheumatism [arthritis], appendix inflammation, bladder or kidney infections, colds, influenza, consumption [pulmonary tuberculosis], and is helpful to newborn babies” (Hutchens 1991).¹ Another reference suggested that small doses are useful for clearing nasal passages of infants.³ According to the Kings American Dispensory from 1898, a warm infusion of flowers promotes sweating/cooling, and gently stimulates the waste removal systems of the body.³ These would include the intestines, kidneys, lymph, liver, sinuses, etc. A cooled tea, however, was considered diuretic, “blood cleansing” (stimulates the liver), and cooling.³ This preparation is good for edema, liver based problems, and specifically for rashes. Dr. specially the rash caused by strep throat called St. Anthony's fire and similar skin eruption³ that often extend from liver stress or illnesses (bacterial, viral, or even fungal infections).

Elderflower is one of the ingredients in a classic “Children’s Composition” that has been documented as far back as the Iriquois and pioneer families.⁵ It contains elderflower, yarrow, and peppermint blended together. Lemon balm is another good addition to this mix. The blend can be steeped as a tea, or made into a glycerite. (see More Than Alive in the resource links below for more recipes and information on this blend.) It is generally used for colds and fevers, as well as an upset stomach.

The anti-inflammatory and healing properties of elderflower tea make it very useful for external remedies, and has been used as a wash for wounds, sprains, and bruises, as well as for sores on domestic animals.¹

Elderflower’s astringent properties even make it a good addition to a beauty routine, as it’s been used to tone and soften the skin, and lighten freckles or dark spots.¹

"Wild grapes" at Conner Prairie living history museum in Fishers, Indiana.

Photo shot by Derek Jensen (Tysto), 2005-September-03

Leaves and Twigs
The leaves, twigs, and stems have a stronger action than the flowers. Care should be taken not to ingest the leaves or twigs/stems or leaf buds, which may induce vomiting that “sometimes acts with violence”.⁴ There are even reports from history of boys becoming “ill” after using the fresh branches for whistles. (Am I scaring you yet? Good. We can be scared together.)
However, just like the flowers, the leaves, bark, and twigs all have valuable anti-inflammatory properties for external use.¹ In fact, the inner green bark and young leaf buds are thought to contain very high concentrations of the effective alkaloids, it was the preference for external uses, which included poultices/compresses, strong teas (decoctions), and ointments.³ Apparently, the inner green bark is so potent, that even boiling only tames down its purging qualities. One preparation says to make an infusion (tea) of it in cider or wine.³ Doses of this preparation, from ½ to 1 ounce, were prescribed to “purge moderately”, but small doses were used as an expectorant and as an effective diuretic to treat cases of edema.³ I’d definitely leave the internal use to a professional herbalist, but it’s interesting to note its effectiveness and uses.

For external use, the method of preparation suggested is to make a strong tea by combining 2 oz. of the inner green bark in 1 quart of water, and boiling it down to a pint.³ This was also used to create an ointment “beaten up with lard or cream” to treat a variety of skin conditions.³Burns, scalds, cradle cap, excema, rashes from diseases (Scarlet Fever is mentioned), old ulcers with weepy swollen edges, and areas of the body that are effected by edema or water retention. Much mention is made, in Kings, of elder being very effective in cases where you find fluid retention or weeping of the skin or tissues, and also in the case of rashes caused by fevers or diseases.³

One use that really stood out to me was that it was effective against cradle cap,³ which, according to my husband’s dermetologist is caused by the same stubborn fungal infection as dandruff or seborrheic dermititis. It’s something that we’ve dealt with here, and I realized that the break outs had stopped a few weeks back…and after reading this, the lightbulb went off that it disappeared during the time that we were all taking elderberry syrup regularly. After doing a bit of digging around, I see several dandruff preparations offered for sale featureing elder, so I’m excited to tinker around with using leaves and stems to create a preparation for this as soon as I can get my hands on some fresh elderberry. I’d love to test its effectiveness on excema, as well with my niece and nephew.

Chamomile or Plantain are excellent companion herbs, mixed half and half with elder in anti-inflammatory poultices or compresses. A blend of these herbs, crushed and dampened with hot water can be applied in a clean cotton tea towel on the skin for swelling, soreness, inflammation, stiffness, and to reduce the swelling of insect stings.¹ Medscape also notes that the leaves are used for “bruises, sprains, wounds, & burns.”⁴

Another impressive use for the leaves is in repelling insects, both on humans and plants. One of the defining characteristics of elderberry is that the leaves have an offensive smell when crushed, which may be useful for this application. A tea made of the leaves is supposed to deter mosquitoes and flies, when rubbed into the skin.² In the garden, elderleaf tea has been used to repel aphids and small caterpillars from delicate plants and blooms. Historical notes have also been made on the use of elderleaf and shoot to repel blight from fruit trees, cabbage, corn and turnips. A recipe is given in Chemist and Druggist, January 6, 1923 for one such concoction:

“A liquid preparation for preventing, and also curing, blight in fruit trees, wherein the base is a liquid obtained by boiling the young shoots of the Elder tree or bush, mixed with suitable proportions of copper sulphate, iron sulphate, nicotine, soft soap, methylated spirit and slaked lime.” ²

Berries and Juice

The berry juice has really been my main focus and experience with elder.

First, let me warn you of the effects of the raw berries and juice. The raw juice has been used since at least the time of the ancient Greeks, as an excellent laxative in small doses (1/2-1 oz),^1,3 and is known to cause significant ‘purging’ in larger doses.^2,6 Larger amounts of fresh juice have also been used² to induce vomiting, with the effects increasing with the amount ingested.⁶ These actions were recently proven to be highly effective, much to the chagrin of a religious group in Monterey, CA who served raw elderberry punch one afternoon.⁶ So if you’re into raw foods, I’d steer clear of elderberries in the smoothie, unless you’re looking for a good double cleanse.

The prepared/cooked berries and juice is where it’s at. These have been enjoyed safely for centuries in treats, and also as a much respected and beloved ‘universal remedy.’² Kings Medical Dictionary references the “expressed juice of the berries” to be beneficial in cases of tuberculosis that has settled into the lymph glands of the neck, skin diseases, syphilis, and arthritis/joint pain.³ But the more modern focus, and how the common housefrau used elder back then,¹ have been on using the juice to foil colds and flus.

I have been so impressed with the elderberry syrup I made (recipe coming next!) I have personally experienced the effectiveness of elderberry syrup in shutting down colds and viruses in our family this year. It’s really amazing, and has worked very quickly to allay respiratory inflammation, congestion, and even the aches and pains of fever if taken at early onset of symptoms.

Elderberry juice is also very soothing for the digestive tract, and is very useful in inflammatory bowel diseases.⁸ Internally, it calms cramping, inflammation and diarrhea.⁸

Science

So, how does this work, exactly? Well, that’s the beauty of using herbs, in my opinion. Medications are generally built around just a few or even just one active ingredient. Herbs, however, are just teeming with compounds that act upon one another and the body in such complex ways that even modern science has not yet been able to unravel all their secrets. What we do know is that the actions of elderberry in the body can be seen, felt and observed. Modern science has also taken a look at elderberry, and is finding that the actions that we read about in old medical texts can be measured, observed, and replicated in scientific studies. Based on what researchers are seeing, elderberries contain compounds that inhibit cold and flu viruses from adhering to and entering our cells to reproduce.^8,9 One double-blind, placebo study, looking to assess the usefulness of elderberry extracts against the flu, found that in the group of flu patients that were taking the elderberry extract were reporting the maximum level of improvement of symptoms within 3-4 days of the onset of the symptoms, while the group receiving the placebo felt well again on average of 7-8 days.⁹ The elderberry group reported 9 out of 10 in improvement in aches and pains, quality of sleep, mucus discharge in the respiratory tract, and nasal congestion by day 4.⁹
In my experience, I’ve found that if I take it at the very first sign of an illness, I can often completely bypass any symptom development. In the one case where I got sick overnight, I was able to control symptoms by taking the extract regularly, and was completely well in 3-4 days.

Let’s take a look at the just a few of the discovered compounds in elderberry. Alkaloids are compounds that work strongly within the body, displaying medicinal, chemical, and/or even poisonous actions in some cases. They are often studied with the intent of using the compounds to develop drugs/medications. The active alkaloids at work in elderberry are hydrocyanic acid and sambucine…these are the chemicals that cause nausea when ingesting raw elderberries and juice.¹ Other compounds that have been identified are rutin, which is used to strengthen capillaries, and flavanoids, which are the pigment in elderflowers. Both of these are known to improve immune function.¹ The flowers also contain tannins, which are bitter, astringent compounds that aid in digestion and tighten and tone tissues. The tannins are probably responsible for the effectiveness of elder to reduce bleeding, diarrhea and congestion. Elderberries are also a great source of vitamin C.¹

Warnings & Contraindications:
I hope that I’m not coming across as being negative about this amazing herb with the emphasis on warnings. I just feel that it’s super-duper important to really *understand* and respect that herbs have strong medicinal actions. The actions that I am presenting as warnings are valid, medicinal uses…they were used by doctors to induce vomiting in instances when that was the desired and necessary treatment. So, these are not “negative” actions, unless you’re not on the market for a “violent purge.” In which case, I’d love to help you avoid that.
So, let’s review. Only the dark black or blue elderberries are edible, and, as we’ve seen previously, eating the berries raw or drinking raw juice may cause nausea or stomach upset (especially if eaten or taken in large quantities). Cooking deactivates these compounds, however, and cooked elderberry juices and dishes have been enjoyed for centuries with no unpleasant side effects.¹
Ingesting stems, shoots, leaf buds and leaves will also cause nausea in even small doses, and is capable of more “violent purges” depending on how much is ingested. A tea, made from the inner green bark being most noted for it’s ability to produce a laxitive effect quickly. The compounds that cause purging are highest in the young leaves and shoots. For this reason, do not eat the leaves, roots, or young shoots of the elderberry plant.⁶ I think it’s wise to try to remove most of the stems and all of the leaves from your berries before cooking them down or juicing them. It is speculated that under certain circumstances⁶, a mild cyanide toxicity may result as the body breaks down the alkaloyd and glucosides, thought this process is not yet fully understood by modern science.¹⁰ The internal uses of anything but cooked berries, in my opinion, are best left to very experienced herbalists. Of which I am not.

A very serious warning is also necessary for those who are looking to identify and harvest wild elderberry. In the past, it has been confused with a similar looking plant with white flowers that is *very* poisonous: Water Hemlock, Cicuta Mexicana. These plants share an affinity for damp growing conditions, and are very similar in growth habits, so you’ll want to pay careful attention to details in identifying true elderberry.

Water Hemlock is herbaceous (think a large weed) and not a tree or shrub, so it does not have a woody or bark covered stem.¹¹ They will often have purple stripes on the stems, and the stems are hollow inside,¹⁰ though I would be highly cautious to even touch the plant with gloves on. The veins of the Water Hemlock leaf extend all the way to the toothed edges of the leaf, and are well defined. A few (reputable!) websites mention that Water Hemlock can be identified by its alternate leaf spacing, while Elder has leaves that are opposite one another…but all of the photos that I’ve found of Water Hemlock show the leaves directly opposite one another. I *would not* use the leaf position as a guide to rule out water hemlock.

Elderberry, on the other hand, is a shrub, with stems that are woody and contain a white or light gray pith in the center when cut in half. The veins of elder leaves are less pronounced, and they fade before they reach the toothed edge. Elder foliage also has a “rank, acrid odor when crushed.”¹⁰ Here are some illustrations of both plants…they may look very similar at first, but can you see the differences?

This is an excellent webpage from forager Green Deane, with more images that help you see the differences between elderberry and water hemlock. As Deane points out in the article, once you get to ‘know’ elderberry, and your eye is trained to it, the water hemlock will no longer look similar. It’s very important to properly identify a wild plant before using it for any purpose, but if I am unsure of what I’ve found, I will take photographs of it, and study it further before touching the plant, just to be on the safe side.

Conclusion

Elderberry is an amazing herb. The juice of the berries is a very effective treatment and preventative for the common cold, as well as the flu, and the rest of the plant has strong medicinal actions as well, but it’s safest to use these externally. It’s historically been used for several common, but difficult to treat skin conditions, such as eczema, cradle cap, and rashes. Elder is common throughout Europe and North America, and has a long history of use both as medicine and food. And after our winter of no colds...well, let's just say it will have a long history of use in this house as well!

Many thanks to the following resources:

http://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs_sanic4.pdf
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/e/elder-04.html
King's American Dispensatory, 1898, Harvey Wickes Felter, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D.

http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/kings/sambucus.html

Turmeric: a spice worth knowing

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:24:47 +0100

If you read the turmeric in a ‘nutshell’ article a while back, then you've just been given a brief introduction to this incredible herb. It begs for a more comprehensive article to really do this amazing spice/root/herb justice. Turmeric is truly an important and versatile herb that is a powerhouse anti-oxidant, among other things...it “has been shown [in studies] to possess a multitude of beneficial effects in the treatment of cancers, cardiovascular disease, and inflammation.”¹ And I have personally field tested this amazing spice on more common household illnesses and injuries with exciting results!

Known as Haldi in India, it is not only an important spice in their culinary culture, that boasts thousands of years of safe use, and is an often reached for home remedy.²

powdered and fresh turmeric

There are a lot of very interesting studies on the actions and healing potential in curcumin, the active constituent of turmeric. Researchers (and the drug companies funding them) are very interested in this one compound, as it shows significant promise in treating a variety of diseases. As I was researching, I found it really helpful to look up ‘curcumin’. I found LOTS of published research and studies that helped me learn more about turmeric’s properties! So much so, that I am very excited to incorporate this spice even more into my cooking and my medicine cabinet this year.

At the bottom of this article, I'm including a printable, and downloadable herbal notebook page for you.

The Most Common Ways We Use Turmeric:

encapsulated with pepper
in my homemade honey-lemon cough syrup
in foods, beverages, marinades and salad dressings...there are recipe links below!

Why and How We Use Turmeric:

Headaches: Turmeric is effective at reducing inflammation, and we’ve found that
4 capsules of turmeric (with a hint of black pepper) will resolve most of our headaches here. My herbally-skeptical husband now prefers it to Tylenol.

Cuts/Bleeding: Turmeric has styptic properties. This is a common kitchen remedy in India for minor cuts.² We have also stopped bleeding from minor cuts and wounds quickly by dusting them with turmeric powder. I was SO happy to learn this tip, because the only other styptic herb I had heard of was cayenne, and I am a big scardy-cat about hot things in my mouth or on my bleeding wounds. Turmeric doesn’t hurt or sting, but it leaves a yellow tinge to your skin.

Allergic Reactions: I’m interested in using turmeric as a histamine mediator for internal and external allergic reactions. I read that in animal studies, “turmeric prevents the release of histamine from mast cells (Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, September 2008). If it works similarly in humans, this would prevent allergy symptoms from developing.³ Now that’s worth looking into! I think I would experiment with capsules for this application as well.

Muscle Pain From Inflammation: I recently used a blend of turmeric, powdered hot peppers, coconut oil, peppermint essential oil and spearmint essential oils for a back muscle that has been knotted for weeks. It resolved in three applications, in less than 48 hours! Warning: In India, they use turmeric oil topically before baths, as it is said to ‘make your skin glow.’ And by ‘glow’ they mean that your skin will turn neon yellow for a few days. Not such a big deal on a back muscle, but possibly not the best choice for an acne treatment before prom night.

Cold and Flu: “A March 2009 study reported in Emerging Infectious Disease reported that laboratory cells treated with curcumin reduced virus replication by over 90 percent. Curcumin appeared to both decrease the amount of viral replication in infected cells, as well as decrease the number of cells that were infected by the virus to begin with." ⁴ Sold. I’ve found that the earlier you catch the first signs of a cold or flu coming on, the better the results you get with using antiviral herbs. In fact, I’m working on putting together an herbal first aid kit for my husband at work, so he’ll always have a supply of turmeric when he needs it. We love the results that we’ve had in using turmeric for colds in my honey-lemon cough syrup. I also want to try the Turmeric Chai recipes (links below) at the first signs of a cold or flu.

Coughing: Both the inflammation and anti-viral components make turmeric a natural choice as a cough remedy. Many friends have used this, and reported the same thing we’ve found…turmeric is GREAT for soothing coughs! See my cough remedy with turmeric, posted earlier on this blog.

Minor Burns: Turmeric is commonly used on burns in India.² In my house, I always, always remove all clothing and treat the area with cool water immediately before treating with anything else. I do think a paste made with turmeric powder and either cold aloe gel a cold pureed cucumber, or just cool water would be very soothing on a burn! See note above on ‘glowing’ skin.

Disease Prevention: Turmeric shows great promise for long term disease prevention and brain protective properties.⁵ I'm very interested in incorporating it more in our weekly diet in things like salad dressing (it’s especially yummy with ginger!), stir fry, stews/soups, curry, etc. See the recipe section below for some ideas and links!

Turmeric’s Actions in the Body:
Anti-inflammatory, and choleretic…these are just fancy words for reducing swelling, and increasing the bile flow through your liver. These important actions in the body, as well as many others translate into some really impressive research progress in major diseases in the US, including preventing and slowing cancer growth. Turmeric even shows promise for use with some very difficult to treat cancers. Turmeric is commonly used for digestion problems (bile production is a major factor in digesting fats), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), arthritis, ulcerative colitis, and even for memory problems! ⁶

I’m also very interested in a study done on obese and diabetic mice, who were genetically predisposed to have poor blood sugar regulation and high levels of belly fat. The mice that were fed a diet of the essential oil and curcumin portions of turmeric did not have high blood sugar, nor belly fat, as a result of gene ‘up-regulation’ from the turmeric components. In other words, the turmeric *repaired* the genetic issues that caused them to be obese, diabetic mice. That's just amazing! Using these two components separately didn't have nearly the same effect. The “control of both blood glucose levels and abdominal adipose tissue masses…results suggest that the use of whole turmeric oleoresin is more effective than the use of either curcuminoids or the essential oil alone.⁷ (Please see my note below about using the whole herb as opposed to individual components).

How Much To Use?

The daily diet in India is estimated to be around 2.5 grams (which equates to about 60-100 mg. per day), with no known negative side effects.¹ This is roughly equal to a little over a teaspoon of turmeric per day.⁸ Personally, I’d feel comfortable using turmeric at this level for anyone in my family at any age (of food eating persons), and at any time.
Studies have been done to establish a safety level for high doses of curcumin. Doses starting at 1 gram (1,000 mg) per day, and even going up to 8 grams (8,000 mg) per day show no negative side effects.¹

Very Useful Tips For Using Turmeric
-Using just a bit of black pepper with turmeric increased absorption and bioavailability, by 2000% in studies, with no adverse side effects! That’s TWO THOUSAND percent.⁹ I just put a pinch right into my turmeric jar, so I don’t even have to think about it.

-Absorption (blood levels) after oral administration was highest 1-2 hours after dosing and decreased to undetectable after 12 hours.^{1, 10}

-Turmeric contains both water based and oil based compounds that act as anti-inflammatory substances.⁶ Taking or eating turmeric at the same time that you eat or drink something with some fat in it will increase absorption. Traditionally, it is often blended into whole milk as a ‘tea’ or drink in India.

Recipes That Use Turmeric:
I’ve been digging around for recipes to incorporate this spice into our meals more frequently. I have begun to add a teaspoon of turmeric to my rice cooker, with a tablespoon of my homemade ranch dressing mix, a few chopped cloves of garlic and a finely diced onion for a fast and yummy yellow rice dish. I also plan on posting my Dijon Vinagarette recipe soon, which is another way we enjoy turmeric at our dinner table! I’ve found turmeric root at our local Korean grocery store, and I’m interested in incorporating it into egg rolls and stir fry as well. It has a flavor and texture that is similar to ginger, and has more of a fruity/lemony flavor in the fresh form than the powdered.

Here are a few other recipe ideas that I have bookmarked to play with:
Turmeric Chia Tea Recipes: http://meghantelpnerblog.com/2010/02/05/tea-time-with-turmeric/
or

http://frugallysustainable.com/2011/12/building-your-medicine-chest-turmeric/

Marinated Peanut Chicken http://allrecipes.com/recipe/marinated-peanut-chicken-a-la-laura/detail.aspx

Oven Baked Indian Cauliflower: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/indian-cauliflower/detail.aspx

Peanut Rice: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/peanut-rice/detail.aspx

Spicy Potatoes and Scrambled Eggs: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/spicy-potatoes-and-scrambled-eggs/detail.aspx

Warm Jalapeno Cheese Dip, by USA Weekend columnist Pam Anderson…this one looks GREAT! It’s a party cheese dip made with real cheese.:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/warm-jalapeno-cheese-dip/detail.aspx

Freezer Pickles…who’d have thunk it!?!! They look easy, and I’m always game for a good crunchy pickle recipe!
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-freezer-pickles/detail.aspx

Contraindications:

Though I feel very comfortable in using turmeric as a 'food', there are some instances when using turmeric medicinally in very high doses is not advised. Turmeric is contraindicated in early pregnancy, and possibly with certain medications. It may possibly change the body’s absorption rate for some medications, noteably anticoagulant or antiplatelet medications.^{9, 10} Please check with your doctor before using turmeric in therapeutic (high) doses.

A Note on Using A Single Component Of An Herb:

Within each herb or food, there are literally hundreds and sometimes thousands of different compounds and constituents that work together in and for the body. As you can see from the study I referenced above about the diabetic mice, a single ingredient often times behaves differently in the body without the natural co-factors to interact with it as it’s digested. The reason that single compounds are of interest to the scientific community is because spices in their whole form cannot be patented. However, refining and isolating these powerful compound out of the spice or herb allows them to be patented and turned into profitable medications, so herbal constituents are commonly studied by the scientific community. This does make great business sense for pharmaceutical companies and scientists. However, it makes way more sense to me to use the whole herb, since it’s been used safely as a food source for thousands of years. Plus, you can often grow or buy the herbs in the grocery store, thereby skipping the whole Doctor-Prescription-Insurance Company merry-go-round. I believe that the whole herb, in most cases is the wiser choice for my family. Most especially for minor illnesses and wounds that I can treat at home, and for the long term disease preventitive effects of using healthy, whole foods and herbs. I love the old saying "Let your food be your medicine."

There are some exceptions where there are substances that need to be removed from a food or herb because they can be or are toxic. Just a friendly reminder to encourage you to do your own thorough research on herbs and foods before adding them to your diet, especially in therapeutic amounts.

Here is your printable/downloadable notebook page, to keep this information handy!

Turmeric: A Spice Worth Knowing

Resources: Thanks to the following articles and links for the information that I used in this article!

1. http://www.pureprescriptions.com/expert_opinion/curcumin-turmeric.asp General article about turmeric.

2. http://www.medindia.net/alternativemedicine/turmeric.asp Use in India.

3. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/may/11/health/he-pharmacy11 Allergy/antihistamine effectiveness.

4. http://www.livestrong.com/article/185134-antiviral-properties-of-turmeric/ Antiviral

5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18022680 Neurologically protective

6. http://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/herb/turmeric great research summary of turmeric

7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17117790 diabetic mice study abstract

8. http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/cooking-conversions/cooking-conversions-calculator.aspx?t=t&foodg=200&foods=turmeric&fno=2043&foodq=2.5&foodf=0&foodt=2#food gram to teaspoon conversion

9. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9619120 bioavialability with pepper added

10. http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/phytochemicals/curcumin/ blood concentration and medication warnings.

As always, I welcome your comments, questions, corrections, experience, and ideas on using turmeric!

Book Review: The Edge Effect

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:56:57 +0100

To say that The Edge Effect by Dr. Eric Braverman was an eye opening read would be an understatement. For me, this book caused a paradigm shift in the way I understand illness, aging, paranoia, ADD, memory and focus issues, hormone imbalance, and a whole host of other health problems that I just couldn't seem to wrap my brain around. And it gave me a whole new appreciation for the importance of good quality foods as the basis for regaining your 'edge'. Because I'm SO excited about the things that I've learned in the Edge Effect, this post turned into a *little* bit more than just a 'book report'. Somehow, I have accidentally written my thesis on the brain in here, just to be sure you're following along, with added pictures and links to the quizzes in the book. Sorry if I'm way too wordy, but I'm super excited to share this info, and wanted to lay a good groundwork so you can understand the basis of The Edge Effect, and get excited about it too. I highly recommend owning this book!

The What What?
The title threw me a little...I didn't get it, until he explained it in the book. The 'edge' is how you feel when you're at your best, mentally and physically. It's where we all want to be, health-wise. The premise of the book is that losing that 'edge' is a oftentimes a slow, progressive process, like a cascade of dominoes falling, and that often, the 'standard' American medical system sees and treats the symptoms of this regression as separate and unrelated health issues. Dr. Braverman offers a unique perspective on 'the first dominoes' to fall, and traces the regression of health back to the health of the brain.

Dr. Who?
Dr. Braverman graduated from the New York University Medical School, and then continued his studies on the brain at Harvard Medical School and the Princeton Brain Bio Center. His interest was piqued by some studies done by his mentor, Dr. Pfiefer, that linked psychological problems and hypertension to nutrition and diet ***based on how nutrition and diet affected brain health***. Let me restate that last part...what people were eating affected the health of their brains, and that was showing up as psychological problems and high blood pressure. Whoa. This piqued Braverman's interest, and he began looking into other common health conditions, such as diabetes, obesity, and even common conditions like menopause that seemed to 'cause' health problems. He also studied Eastern and alternative medicine extensively, and incorporates this along with nutrition, traditional medical treatment, and his understanding of brain health into the care model that he offers at the PATH medical centers. The Edge Effect is the 'users guide' to the brain, with lots of practical advice on how to maintain your brain health and regain your 'edge'.

"Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain!"
"You know," quips Dr. Braverman, “medical science has made a remarkable anatomical discovery. For most people, the head is attached to the rest of the body.”

So, why is it that we know and hear so little about the function and role of the brain when it comes to health? I had a pretty elementary understanding of the role of the brain...it's the main control and memory center for the body, right? And I had a vague idea that personality may be somehow also part of the brain's 'job'. Why would the brain be an important focus for 'unrelated' health issues like joint pain or high blood pressure?

According to Dr. Braverman, brain health has a 'global impact' on overall health.

Part I of the Edge Effect gives you a 'tour' of the brain, and outlines it's function as the 'electrical circuit box' to the body. When you plug in a lamp, the circuit box in your home provides power to make the lamp function. In the same way, the human brain transmits the energy and electrical signals that supply power to the whole body, so that all of the organs, muscles, and cells work together as a healthy and whole living unit.

Just as the lamp plug is the 'connection' between the appliance and the power source, we also have a point where the body 'connects' with the brain. This is one area that he considers 'the edge'...when the connections are functioning, we are working in harmony. When they are not functioning properly, we begin to experience 'shorts' in our wiring.

Our 'wiring' happens to be called the nervous system...it's made up of the spinal cord, and nerves. The nerves are made up of individual nerve cells, called neurons. What's amazing is, that the nerve cells don't actually touch one another...and that's part of the incredible design. Each of us has an intricate network of over 100 trillion synaptic gaps.

These tiny, yet critical spaces between each nerve cell allow the 'flow' of electrical messages too and from the brain throughout our bodies in a coordinated, controlled and precise manner. This is where the 'connections' that I was just talking about take place. Below is an illustration of nerve cells sending a message through electrical impulses, with the insert showing a magnified synaptic gap, or synapse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chemical_synapse_schema.jpg

Meet the Cast
See the little red bouncing balls in the illustration above? Those guys are neurotransmitters, and THIS is where things get interesting. Within each of the synaptic gaps, there is a supply of four key electrochemicals that 'ferry' the messages across the gap.

I'll be brief here, because I've been so wordy above, but the neurotransmitters are created in the brain (each one is created in a different lobe or area of the brain). They must all be available and work in harmony with one another for our bodies to function properly...however, we each are born with a unique proportion of each of these neurotransmitters. And this is where the book starts to blow my mind.
Figuratively, of course.

The neurotransmitters you are dominant in basically lay the groundwork for your nature or personality.

Seriously. The neurotransmitters are responsible for your inborn 'nature'.
Here are the 4 primary neurotransmitters, and what they do:

Dopamine: Power/drive, focus, motivation, metabolism, blood pressure, digestion.
Acetylcholine: regulates brain speed, sensory processing, smooth thought processes, feeling based thinkers, empathy/sensitivity, coordination, lubricates the nervous system, and a building block for myelin (the coating that protects and prevents 'shorts' in the nerves).
GABA (Gamma AminoButyric Acid): stabilizing/calming, inhibitory/rhythmic brain waves, dependable, schedule oriented, objective, values organization.
Seretonin: Regulates sight and regulates output of all other neurotransmitters; sense of healing, nourishing, satisfied feelings to the whole body, allows you to rest/regenerate. Playful, realist, great coordination and enjoys challenges and play, love excitement and parties.

The Fun Part of the Book: The Quizzes!
The Edge Effect lays a LOT more ground work about the brain and personality, but if you'd like a quick look at your potential dominant nature, then you may want to try this quiz: the Braverman Nature Assessment

My husband and I took the quizzes on a road trip over the holidays. Essentially, you count up all of your True answers at the end of the test. Allow me to save you a lot of time and paper and brain cells:

You're welcome.

After learning your basic personality balance, the next quiz shows you which of the neurotransmitters you may be deficient in. While there is some 'crossover' in the symptoms of one or more deficiencies, one of the fascinating things that Dr. Braverman has discovered is that a deficiency in any one of the neurotransmitters affects the body and organs in a precise and unique way. Repairing this deficiency through diet, supplements, and lifestyle/exercise choices that support the neurotransmitter(s) that you're deficient in can address these symptoms, which can restore positive health. Our traditional American healthcare system, on the other hand would 'see' each symptom as a separate and unrelated issue that requires medication and diet changes...oftentimes signing up the patient for the 'prescription merry go round' that does not actually address the underlying causes for declining health.

Click here for the deficiency quiz, on Dr. Braverman's PATH medical center website.

What Next?
After taking the quizzes, my husband and I both felt that we'd been 'pegged', and a certain sense of hope and relief that the symptoms we had puzzled about in our family were not just random and unfixable 'fluke' problems that had previously been explained away with vague answers like 'age' and 'stress'. We were ready to address the problems stemming from our deficient neurotransmitter levels.

Part II of The Edge Effect is a thorough look at each one of the four natures. Braverman addresses each nature in even more depth, as well as common illnesses and health/memory/focus issues. He follows a typical 'case study' in each chapter, with a patient who is experiencing the 'domino effect' of a decline in their health, and shows how these problems stem from a deficiency in their primary neurotransmitter 'nature'. He then follows them through to the resolution of symptoms by increasing their neurotransmitter output. Each chapter also outlines 'friendly' medications for that biochemical, in cases where a health issue is preventing you from making progress in your health. I love it that he is open to medications, but mainly as a 'patch' to get the patient to a point where they are able to recover their neurotransmitter levels through specific supplements, diet changes, and exercises.

Diet
When I say 'diet' here, I don't mean 'weight-loss-through-calorie-counting'.
One of my favorite parts of the book are his descriptions of how certain nutrients support brain health. The neurotransmitters are made up of specific protein building blocks, called 'amino acids', and these are the raw elements that our bodies *need* to create these vital chemicals that regulate our health and mood. Including foods in your diet that are rich in the specific amino acids is very beneficial to rebuilding healthy levels of your deficient neurotransmitter. I found the food lists to be very practical and intriguing, though I would have enjoyed an even more comprehensive list of foods and herbs (which he mentions only briefly in the supplement recomendations).

There is also a three day diet plan to help you envision what it would look like to eat in the way he prescribes. Braverman suggests that food choices alone are generally not sufficient to turn the tides of a moderate to severe deficiency, and supplementation, along with other treatments should also be used in tandem.

Hormones
The role of hormone balance is also addressed. Each neurotransmitter has a family of hormones associated with it, that move in to 'bolster' the body when the neurotransmitter becomes deficient. This creates hormone imbalances in the body, and eventually 'burn out' of the adrenals if it goes unchecked. For instance, dopamine, the 'go getter' neurotransmitter is related to cortisol, the 'fight or flight' hormone. When the body is low on dopamine, it ratchets up cortisol production to provide you with the energy to keep going. This type of emergency balancing act by the body does NOT provide a sense of wellness, but at least you're still on your feet, right? Seretonin is related to progesterone, and so on. These hormones naturally decrease as we age, anyway, but running on a constant deficiency will burn you out much faster. Dr. Braverman suggests that hormone levels, and replacement therapy should be overseen by a medical professional.

And More...
Certain types of exercises are recommended for each nature, as well as positive lifestyle changes. He also includes a chart of supplements and dosages that may be used to correct a mild, moderate, or severe deficiency. Braverman mentions his unique supplement blends, which I finally located, at his website: here.

But What If I'm Already Sick?
Part III of The Edge Effect covers a variety of states of imbalance, including illnesses, the general ages and systems that begin to fail, as well as addressing overall dietary and theraputic ways of regaining balance and prolonging optimum health. Many specific states of disease are discussed, as well as potential treatments and therapies that are beneficial. There is also a very helpful section on personality balancing that covers how a person may see themselves, and how others may perceive them.

Conclusion
Overall, I give this book very high marks. It's one of the most eye opening reads on overall health that I've come across, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in combining alternative and traditional medical care, or who is looking for answers for seemingly unrelated mental/psychological and physical symptoms.

A few other links and articles that might be of interest to you are below:

Dr. Braverman and the Edge Effect interview, Douglas Labs Newsletter. Spring, 2005

When the Brain Goes, So Goes Your Health, Dr. Eric Braverman, the Huffington Post. March 16, 2009

An alternative 'deficiency' quiz.

So, what do you think? Is this mind blowing to anyone else?
If you'd like to own a copy of the book, I bought mine through Amazon.com for $10.36 with free shipping, here:

Align Your Spine-Part 2

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 04:20:41 +0100

So how do you align your spine using your muscles? I'll show you what has worked for me, and kept me pain free, and going strong for over 3 years now.

In Part 1 of Align Your Spine, I shared my story of a debilitating hip pain, and how my cousin was willing to help me with physical therapy exercises using Postural Restoration techniques. The idea behind it is that you trigger the opposing back muscles to pull the spine back into alignment. Here are a couple of things that he had me do...

First, lets check see if you're out of alignment: lay on a flat surface, and poke your elbows straight out to the sides and lift your hands toward the ceiling.

Totally relax your arm and let your left hand drop toward the floor (toward your feet). You should be able to touch the floor with your fingers. Now repeat with your right hand.

If you are out of alignment, it will not be able to go all the way to the floor. See how my daughter's left hand is touching down to her middle knuckles, but the right the fingertips just barely graze the floor? Her right side has a lot more tension...she's out of alignment.

Realign Your Spine: Simple Floor Exercise

This is an easy exercise that triggers the back muscles on the left side, causing them to pull against those overly tight right side muscles. Put your foot up on a surface so that your knees are at a 90* angle. You can use your couch, a footstool, or anything that's the right height. We're using a little stepstool. You can leave your right leg on the floor, or prop both legs up on the surface, but we're only really going to be using the left heel.

Push straight down with your left heel, as if you are trying to push your foot to the floor. Focus on really contracting the muscles on the back of your left thigh. Now, take a DEEP breath, way down into your tummy...this activates the diaphragm (the sheet of muscle that lays just below your lungs, separating your upper chest cavity from the intestinal area). Properly activating the diaphragm through deep breathing further activates the back muscles to realign; when you breathe in deeply to your diaphragm, your tummy should pooch out instead of your rib cage. Hold that deep breath for a count of 5, and then relax your leg and exhale. Repeat this 5 times.

This is such a simple exercise, but it can really help pull things back into place. I can usually recheck my alignment afterwards, and my hands will touch evenly.

More Resources & Exercises

My cousin did some further stretches to my spine, but these are the main exercises that he had me do. He also had me look up the Postural Restoration Institute website, so that I could see other suggestions for movements and positions that would help 'balance' my body, so that I wasn't constantly over-using the right side. This PRI Position Poster was a very helpful tool for me:
http://posturalrestoration.com/media/pdfs/Position_Poster.pdf.
I found the sleeping position, and sitting with your left hip pulled back to be very helpful, as well as consciously switching my weight to my left leg whenever I remembered to do so.

He also shared with me that you can bite down on a wooden popsicle stick on your back left molars to get a similar effect on the neck muscles. I have done this a few times when I've had a stiff neck. Once I woke with a stiff neck, and had done this...a couple of hours later, I was just walking through the house and I suddenly felt my neck spontaneously pop back into place. The muscles did their job gently, but persistently, and it fixed my stiff neck!

In addition to using these PRI exercises, I've also found that T-Tapp exercises have been great to strengthen my back and improve my posture and alignment. I think that they are great complements to one another, covering both prevention and restoration of back issues caused by posture and muscle tension.

My Happy Ending!
Within a few days of starting these exercises, I saw major improvements, and by the end of a few months, I was having NO hip pain at all! In fact, I never had another debilitating 'fall to the floor' incident since the night that he showed me the exercises! I'm also much more aware of how my back should feel, and can usually tell right away when I'm 'out'...and these exercises are what I turn to to align my spine!

Find a PRI Provider
Another great thing about PRI techniques, is that often physical therapy is covered under insurance, whereas chiropractic care may not be. After this experience, I highly recommend Postural Restoration physical therapy techniques. It's what I would turn to if I ever was in an accident or had more significant back injury. Every back pain case is different, and I don't recommend attempting to fix your own back injuries without professional help, but I've found these simple exercises very beneficial for nerve type pain in the hip and knee especially.
If you're interested in finding a physical therapy group that uses PRI techniques, check the Postural Restoration website for practitioners in your area.

Align Your Spine- Part 1

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 04:25:06 +0100

If you had to align your spine due to persistant pain or nerve injury, where would you turn? This is where I found myself during my pregnancy with my 3rd baby. By the time I'd reached the 'waddling' stage, I began to have recurring trouble with my right hip. Of course, I attributed this to the 'normal' aches and pains of pregnancy. If I was on my feet a lot, and especially if I walked a lot, I began to 'feel' my right hip joint. Then, at other times, seemingly out of the blue, I'd be walking along and my hip would just give out, and I'd have to hop and hobble to the couch. It felt as though the lining of my hip joint had been stripped away, and my bones were grinding against one another. NOT fun. After laying down for a while, it would be sore, but I could walk again. I was just SURE that this was pregnancy related, and that it would go away once I had the baby...but it didn't. I continued to have hip problems, and the episodes of my hip refusing to cooperate became more worrisome, since I was now carrying a newborn in my arms, and was less capable of grabbing the wall to catch myself. I really felt like an old woman at times, hobbling along.

I was pretty sure that the pain was nerve related, because, even though exercise aggravated my condition, it would also come on suddenly with no provocation at all, like someone flipped a switch. It felt like the inside of my hip joint had been stripped of the cushion of cartilage, and my bones were scraping together with each step. The episodes of nearly falling began to happen closer together, and were now occurring once a week at least. This clearly wasn't getting better on its own as we'd hoped.

My husband and I were both concerned enough to seek some help, and we visited a local chiropractor who did an evaluation. He showed us a 3-D model, similar to the diagram above, and explained that the bones of the spinal column are stacked up, with soft cushions of cartilage between them so that they can move and bend. The hard bone protects the spinal column...the thick bundle of nerves that is the superhighway of nerve signals, that transport messages to and from the brain to every organ and muscle in the body. The nerves branch out from between each vertebrae, where they branch out as a living network that coordinates every muscle, tissue, and organ in your body. If the vertebrae or disks begin to compress on the nerves, you begin to have issues like I was describing...or worse.

I heard "Serious issues...three visits a week for a month, and then one visit per week for up to six months to clear this up." We left the office, slightly dumbstruck, and contemplating the impact of that much money flying out of our savings account. As much as I didn't want to be an old hobbled woman, I wasn't ready to commit that much of our hard earned savings just yet...I still felt pretty normal most of the time. But we both new that *something* needed to change, we just didn't know what. Or how.

A couple of months passed, and we found ourselves at a family Christmas gathering. My cousin was sharing about his job as a physical therapist, so I pulled him aside and asked him about my hip. Providence.

He listened and was sure that he could help me. "We practice a form of physical therapy called 'Postural Restoration'. The idea behind it is that we use the muscles to move the bones back in place." Then he went on to explain to me that almost all of use overuse or favor one side of our bodies. This overuse of the muscles on that side causes compression of the spine over time, which can press on your nerves and cause problems. In other words, your OWN muscles pull your spine out of alignment!

How in the world does this happen? Well, if you're a child of the 80's, then surely you remember the 'cool' stance of jutting your left foot out slightly to one side? There you go. All the weight is on the right hip. A decade of coolness, a decade of carting toddlers and laundry and groceries, and a MOM sized bag on my right side...my spine was paying the price.

Imagine doing push ups and curls with only your right arm for a few months. What would happen? The muscle on that side would become MUCH stronger than the left arm. Now imagine that you're asked to hold a large board up over your head for a while. Odds are, the left side is going to start struggling to hold up its end of things. This is exactly what happens with the back muscles. The compressed, uber ripped, right side back muscles had pulled my spine into a subtle, but debilitating S curvature that was pinching a nerve and causing my hip problem. Pretty much all of us have this type of spinal curvature to one degree or another, depending on your level of coolness. : ) For some, even the right shoulder is lower than the left.

Now, a chiropractor will look at crooked bones, and crack those suckers back into place. Only problem is, they're still attached to those super-pumped right side muscles, that simply pull the bones right back out of alignment. That's painful. And it requires 3 visits a week for up to 6 months, and thousands of dollars. Rats.

The beauty of Postural Restoration is that there are stretches, exercises, and simple things you can do to target train the left side of the spine to pull your vertebrae back into alignment! Tomorrow, I'll post a simple diagnostic exercise so that you can tell if you're out of alignment, and show you the simple exercise that 'cured' me of my painful hip problem in just a couple of weeks!

Part 2 of Align Your Spine

Turmeric in a nutshell

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:56:47 +0100

Turmeric is a really excellent herbal remedy and spice that has earned a permanent place in my pantry. This is just a short ‘nutshell’ article, to cover the basics. If you’re interested in reading a more thorough review of it (with links to the source article) go here (I'll post the link here when I post the article later).

Turmeric is a bright orange root that has been used since ancient times as a food flavoring and medicinal herb. It’s one of the key flavors of curry, and has a warm, peppery flavor. And it stains like the dickens. Indians eat around a teaspoon of turmeric a day in their food.

I buy bulk, powdered turmeric, so that I can use it in cooking, as well as put it into capsules as a supplement. Mixing in a pinch of black pepper into a cup of powdered turmeric really boost the body's ability to absorb the curcumin...the active anti-inflammatory.

My herbal home remedy kit will always contain turmeric for treating inflammation (swelling), allergies, and coughs. I use it in my honey cough syrup remedy here. In fact, it’s the main component that kicked our persistent whooping cough, and we now use it when we feel a headache or allergic reaction coming on, or just after an injury. For the most part, reasonable amounts of turmeric can be taken without concern to side effects for healthy, non-pregnant individuals who are not on prescription medications.

Using larger doses (more than about a teaspoon per day) is not advisable for pregnant women or those on prescription drugs.

For more information on turmeric including additional uses and studies, stay tuned for my upcoming full length article!

pssst...hey, y'all, what do you think about the 'nutshell' sized articles? Should I continue to offer this series for quick reference?

Bladder Infection Remedy

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:27:34 +0100

I received a bladder infection remedy question yesterday from a friend, and so I wrote back several things she could try to ease her discomfort. I realized that I had promised long ago to write up some remedies for bladder infections, so I thought I'd take care of that today.

Causes of a Urinary Tract Infection
There are two possible causes that I know of for bladder infections. The first, and probably most common is the bacterial bladder infection. It will culture positive at the Dr's office, and an antibiotic may work to cure it. The problem with bladder infections is that, since the bladder is the last stop before leaving the body, most meds are already broken down to the point where they don't do much good by the time they land in the bladder. This is why there are limited antibiotics for UTI's...and it's pretty common to have recurrence after a round of antibiotics, unfortunately, and antibiotics hinder all the bacteria throughout your digestive system, including the beneficial ones that aid in digestion.

The other type of bladder infection will not show up on the cultures...they are caused by yeast. Some may experience yeast bladder infections after taking an antibiotic. This type of bladder infection is difficult to treat, and staying away from sugar, processed foods, and carbohydrates is critical to weed it out of your system.

Fortunately, there natural bladder infection remedies that help with both types of infections.

My Favorite Bladder Infection Remedy

My favorite natural remedy for bladder infections is called D-Mannose. It's my silver-bullet for bacterial bladder infections. D-Mannose is a naturally occurring sugar that is found in minute amounts in cranberries and a few other foods. It's also available in 'pure' form in either powder or capsules, so you can *just* get the benefits of it without having to drink gallons of unsweetened cranberry juice.

Unlike most other forms of sugar, D-Mannose is *not* metabolized or broken down by our digestive tracts, so it leaves the body intact, and does not affect the blood sugar levels. When it passes through the bladder, the bacteria are highly attracted to it, and will attach to it, and are carried out in the urine. It is available in health food stores, and online. I buy my D-Mannose 500 mg - 120 Caps here at Amazon (and I get free shipping with a $25 order!)

I will *never* be without D-Mannose in my medicine cabinet. Ever. I even have a little handful of capsules in my first aid kit in the car. Just in case.

Natural Remedies for Bladder Infections

Since my friend is out of the country, and is unable to get her hands on D-Mannose quickly, here is what I wrote to her about other natural bladder infection remedies. This is also what I would do for yeast based infections, besides the 'normal' routine of lots of water and unsweetened cranberry juice.

"I had a bladder infection two years ago, I woke up with blood in my urine. All I knew to do at that time was the French Onion soup, and oral raw garlic (blech!)...I didn't do any of the other things I will list for you below, and almost all the symptoms went away.

I finally went in to see the doctor a few days later, because I still 'felt it' a little after I would pee...I still had a little inflammation. My doctor did the culture and said "You must have just come down with this, because you're urine isn't even throwing nitrates yet." Meaning, that the bacteria start creating nitrates as the infection sets in. She was stunned that I'd had it for several days, but was keeping it under control with garlic and french onion soup! :)
I'm almost positive that I could have kicked it if I had known about using garlic externally, and onion presses as an anti-inflammatory.

Here are the things I would do now, if I couldn't get my hands on any D-Mannose:

1. take a bath and use baking soda in the water. Swish into the general area. (this changes the ph to be unfriendly to bacteria)

2. Use an onion press on the area...this is how, from my blog: http://www.gwens-nest.com/natural-remedies/onion-remedies
I'd also probably throw in some garlic cloves for extra anti-biotic boost: http://www.gwens-nest.com/natural-remedies/garlic-remedies

3. Eat as many onions and garlic as you can in everyday foods. In ways that you *enjoy* eating them. I made a BIG pot of french onion soup when I had my bladder infection, and ate it several times a day. Salsa would also be a great way...however you can think to get it into your diet in good quantities will help.

4. NO sugar. No dairy. No meat, processed foods, or wheat products. The sugar, carbs, and dairy put sugars in the bloodstream, which feed the bacteria. The meat is hard to digest, thus using up the body's energy and resources, and processed food is just junk. Dairy can also cause excess mucous production, so it's best to skip it when you're not feeling well. Cultured, unsweetened diary is fine, and homemade bone/meat broths are excellent...very easy to digest and nutritious.

5. Up your vitamin C intake. Products like Emergen-C are excellent for this.

Anything you can do to boost your immune system, and get the anti-inflammatory properties of onion and the awesome natural antibiotic (and anti-fungal/ properties of garlic into your blood stream are going to be really beneficial for you."

The MOST Important Thing About Treating a UTI
The best time to treat for any infection or illness is *as soon as* you begin to notice the first symptoms. Allowing yeast or bacteria to multiply overnight, or even for a few hours can make a big difference in how quickly you can bounce back. Home remedies work best if you begin treating at the first signs of a problem.

Bladder infections can be really serious, so be sure to treat early, and aggressively, until you have no more symptoms, and then treat a wee bit longer just to be sure. If you are not seeing good results using home remedies to prevent a UTI, then please see your doctor.

Here are some additional ideas from my naturally minded friends to chase off a bladder infection:

"When I can feel a UTI coming on (Slight burning while urinating), I drink at least a gallon of water with lemon in it through out the day. You spend a lot of time on the potty but it flushes the infection out. I also take cranberry and marshmallow root caps ever hour. Usually by the time I go to bed, there is no more burning. I follow the same protocol the next day just to make sure.

If I missed the "beginning signs" I break out the D'mannose and take a dose every hour with the about water and supplements. Again, it is usually gone by the end of the day.

And if I really wait too long, I get an Rx b/c UTIs are painful and can be serious." ~Jessica Y.

My friend Joan K. suggests: Peeing after 'relations'.
Water.
Cranberry juice.
Garlic.
D Mannose.

"Plain cranberry pills haven't failed me yet." ~Jennifer J.

"BEER! When I was a kid I got them all the time and the doctor finally told my mom to give me a beer and chase it with several large glasses of water right when I start to feel one coming on and it would take care of it. She didn't do it for a long time, but finally gave in after I had a month where we'd been to the doctor 3X for UTI's and voila! No more bladder infection. It was my #1 go to remedy until I found out about D-Mannose. When I was a kid I only drank about half, after a full meal. Now I just hold my nose and down one." ~Delois M.

Have you had good results treating a UTI with a home remedy? What works for you?

Ear Infection Remedy

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:11:27 +0100

A traditional ear infection remedy is to put a half on onion over your child's ear, or to put a few drops of onion juice into the ear. This makes a lot of sense when you consider the properties of onions. They contain the same strong antibiotic/ antiviral, and anti-fungal ingredient found in garlic, called allicin. But onions also contain a larger dose of a natural anti-inflammatory than garlic, which explains why they are preferred over garlic for ear and chest/congestion complaints.

There seem to be two different forms of ear infections. One is the result of fluid behind the ear drum, and the other is an inflammation of the ear canal, often called "swimmers ear". Onion juice is a good traditional ear infection remedy for both kinds, in our experience. I've heard of numerous ways to extract onion juice, from grating and squeezing, to using a garlic press. It's not an easy task to extract juice, because onions usually aren't really all that 'juicy', and you don't want pulp go down into the ear.

Here is my solution...the easy ear infection remedy that I just used tonight, when my daughter was complaining of ear pain.

Onion Juice Ear Infection Remedy:

First, I checked her ear, and made sure that the eardrum was intact...the ear canal looked red and swollen.

So, I cut the root end off of an onion. Then I held the onion on its side. Using the tip of a spoon, I scraped up the newly cut end until I had several drops of onion juice in the spoon.
She tipped her head, and I dripped the juice right into her ear. She kept her head tipped so the juice would stay in, and covered it with a cotton ball. In just a few minutes, her pain was gone, and she was able to turn over and go right to sleep.

***Update*** If you're going to treat one ear, go ahead and treat both. That would have saved us both some sleep. I did repeat the remedy the next morning as well, but we have not had to repeat again.

We have used similar remedies before, with great results, but this was even easier (and less stinky) than holding a cut onion over the offending ear. Onion juice is a very safe remedy, and can be repeated as needed.

Treating ear pain at home can be nerve wracking, because it's hard to see what is going on in there. Last year, I finally broke down and bought an otoscope, which is the little light thingy that Doctors use to look in ears. It has been a very worthwhile investment in my first aid kit. I have used it for ear checks, as well as to inspect sore throats, and other dark and dangerous places where a kid might hide a bean or pea. This is the one I purchased:

Please note: never put anything into the ear if you suspect that the ear drum has burst, and/or if you see blood coming out of the ear. Please use your own best judgment when using home remedies, and consult your doctor as you deem necessary. I am just a house-frau, not a doctor. :)

Click here for more ear infection remedy ideas and tips.

Cough Remedy

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:23:51 +0100

If you're thinking this cough remedy recipe looks familiar, then you're right! It's actually the same picture that you'll see in the cough and cold remedy post, but for good reason. You start with that recipe as the base.

After you make up the honey, lemon, ginger mix put together, you'll just need two more ingredients to turn it into a really great cough kicker...and you may already have these ingredients in your spice cabinet!

Worst case scenario, you'd have to go to the local grocery store to pick them up...but you won't need to wait for something to be shipped from the far corners of the earth. Convenience is key when you're not feeling good.

The first thing you'll need is turmeric. It's really a wonderful spice, and I plan on writing more about it in an upcoming post, in the 'remedies you may already have in your kitchen' series. Turmeric has a warm, peppery flavor, and is one of the key ingredients in Indian curries. It is an anti-inflammatory, and a histamine blocker. So if your throat is swollen and irritated, it is a great pick. You may remember that I wrote about using turmeric in the series on Whooping Cough. It was amazing how quickly this humble herb quelled a terrible cough that had been plaguing my kids for weeks!

Another thing you should know about turmeric. It is *yellow*. And anything that touches it is yellow, from henceforth and forever. It is actually used as a dye. (I have gotten it out with Oxygen Bleach stuff, but I don't recommend getting on clothing that you plan on keeping!)

If you're stocking up, then I recommend getting the organic turmeric powder, here:

To about one cup of your base recipe, add 2 teaspoons of powdered turmeric.

And there is one more secret ingredient that you want to add to your cough remedy.

black pepper

Just a pinch has an amazing effect on your body's ability to metabolize and absorb turmeric. Black pepper increases your body's ability to absorb turmeric by 2000%. That's not a typo! Two-thousand percent.

That is significant.
(I'll give you references on the turmeric post that I'm working on, but this number was confirmed in a study.)

Admittedly, this combination is not as tasty in a sugary, lemony, nummy way. It's more of a savory flavor when you add the turmeric. But my crew tolerates it well, and definitely see a difference in using it. In fact, my toddler really, really liked it, and would ask for it often.

Dosage: Once you've stirred in the turmeric and a pinch of black pepper, use just a spoonful as often as needed to calm coughing.

Alternative: If your kids refuse to touch the turmeric, then you can sub cinnamon in the recipe (and omit pepper).

Please let me know if you use this cough remedy, or if you have any questions. Have you ever tried turmeric as a cough suppressant? Did it work for you?

Learn more about turmeric's properties here.