As we leave behind the dark depths of winter our body readies itself for springtime and a return of vibrant life.
In the modern western world many of us have disconnected from our natural circadian rhythms but they are vitally important.
We are better off closing our doors and getting a good night’s sleep when winter draws in. There is a reason midnight is called MID-NIGHT. It is meant to be the middle of the night.
Yet how many of us go to bed just before or just after the middle of the night?
I suspect that if we all went to bed a bit earlier and woke a little earlier we would get better quality sleep and become more productive through the day.
Sadly the pace of modern life appears to be at odds with these natural rhythms, to the detriment of our health our families and our communities.
Even the plants have rhythms of life that seem to there to help us.
Take nettles for instance:
Nature begins to let the nettles show themselves again in early spring and their tender young leaves are excellent for cleansing us. At the other end of the year nettles produce nutritious protein packed seeds that nourish us before the onset of winter but for now the divine circle of life and nature brings us a much needed clean up.
Fortunately, you do not have to go hunting too far to find nettles and if push comes to shove you can buy excellent nettle tea from a good health food shop, or nettle tinctures.
Nettle has a wide variety of uses from helping prostate health to supporting our blood pressure balance with its diuretic action. It can also aid our liver health. Truly it is an unsung hero of a healthy diet.
You are talking about plants on a carnivore website!
Well we are not strictly a carnivore website even though we recognise the benefits of eating meat. I have seen herbal medicines help my children when they have been poorly and do not feel we have to be so extreme that we avoid the myriad of useful properties that come from plants.
You may wonder why I am suggesting plant based remedies on a site that bows down to the power of eating all things animal based BUT I consider plants to be wonderful when used as medicines. Especially in the hands of a skilled medical herbalist.
Using plants for medicine is not the same as using plants as a food. Whether we should base our diets on plants or meats is a separate question but for now I consider plants to be excellent tools to help illness when used carefully.
Other cleansing remedies
Another cleanser is milk thistle which can be bought in tablet or tincture form. Vogel do an excellent product. It helps liver function which is the great detoxifying organ of our body. Milk thistle has anti viral properties, can help gall bladder problems and can even protect your brain against age related decline.
I know plenty of people who use milk thistle when they have a hangover although I would never advocate getting a hangover in the first place!
Activated charcoal is another safe and effective remedy you may want to try at this time of year. Whilst many use it for the relief of flatulence and abdominal bloating it has detoxifying qualities.
It is used in heavy metal detox protocols as it appears to draw the toxins to it which are then bound to it and excreted. If you buy it as a powder you can use it to give your teeth a superb clean. The slight granular feel of it is very useful for cleaning your pearly whites, even if it looks rather odd when you have black charcoal in your mouth as you brush.
You can also mix activated charcoal powder with water or coconut oil, make it into a paste and put it on your face. It is an excellent facial cleanser and helps remove toxins from your face.
People often talk about doing a detox diet which may simply mean being miserable for a few weeks as you try to exist on goodness knows what drinks and potions but never forget that the most potent detox action comes from your liver so make sure you look after it.
I would rather advocate a healthy wholefood diet with the right balance of protein, fat and unprocessed carbohydrates than a gimmicky ‘cleanse’ diet.
These days of course, I tend towards a more carnivorous diet but accept that this is not something everyone wants to do, even though I believe it would be profoundly beneficial to most northern Europeans.
If you are putting the right foods in, then your body can do all the detoxing without the torture of a detox diet!
Not only that but with the right foods will come vibrant energy and good health that will see you through the winter fit and strong and with little need for cleansing.
Of course, even with the right diet for you there are environmental toxins that are hard to be avoided. What pollutants are there in the air these days? What about the invisible bombardment on our systems of electro-magnetic radiation, the so called ‘electro-smog’.
Such things are hard to avoid so ensuring that as many factors in your life point in the direction of good health as possible is a useful way of creating resilience to the factors we cannot control.
And actually, in my opinion the key to a good detox is to start putting in the right fuel, begin the discipline of fasting regularly and your body will then get to work doing its own spring clean because you have allowed it the space to repair and cleanse itself.
Wishing you all well as we race through another year, chin up, it will soon be Christmas, sorry, I mean Spring!
