A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.
Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)
Currently we have many food, health and fitness ‘experts’ telling us what to do to get healthy, thereby creating the perfect life for ourselves. Some say it’s all about green smoothies, or super foods, others are spruiking different fad diets. I went to prodiets.org and found the best diet plan for me and have since lost 8 pounds.
Presently The ‘Paleo Diet’ is leading the pack when it comes to what we’re eating. Paleo’s tell us to cut out all grains and legumes, as they’re highly acidic thanks to the phytic acid they contain and to eat more animal protein. This has been such a popular diet that there are more and more Paleo café’s and restaurants popping up around the western world daily, food lines and many Blogs. Not only is eating more animal produce detrimental to our health but agriculture creates more green house gases than all of the gases created by all types of transport on the planet combined. How are we to survive as a species if the 7billion people soon to populate our planet went Paleo? How does being on a diet, any diet, aid our wellbeing, our oneness?
It’s not just Paleos’ who reckon they’ve got it right. There’s special diets like the Fodmap and GAPS aimed at treating conditions like fructose malapsorption, SIBO, Candida, Crone’s Disease, IBS, ADHD, cancer and so on. Seriously fruits and vegetables are not the problem. This Fructose- free craze that seems to be dictating the way western world is eating in the 21st century. Or it was unil we realised it’s not the answer either. When was fruit ever a problem for our ancestors? Especially if it’s organic. (The chemicals our food is grown with is a whole other matter, which is why I am a great believer in organic food. Yes most of us can afford it. More on this later.) I think we all agree processing fruit into a high fructose or corn syrup is nasty, and seriously bad for our health, and the planet. Yes avoid processed and refined foods, not wholefood in their original state, unless there’s an allergy or severe intolerance present of course. And in this case, the offending food will usually only need to be removed until the gut is repaired.
We hear the good and bad of buying organic food, of GMO technology, others are telling us how awful palm oil is and the detrimental health and environmental effects trans-fats and GMO foods are having. Who’s right?
We’re also hearing how an ‘alkaline’ diet is better for our health. This means acidic food, which are animal products, most fruit and veggies, grains, nuts, seeds and legumes – are all bad for us – causing acidosis. Yet there’s no real evidence to support this. There is also a school of thought (evidence needed here?) that the way we eat has much more of an effect on our health than what we actually eat. Are we stressed when we’re eating, are we eating too fast, too much, too late at night, when we’re not hungry? Does chewing alkaline our food, making it easier to assimilate/digest?
Many of us are worried that we’re doing the wrong thing, that we’re making all the wrong decisions concerning our health, especially since we heard that perhaps margarine isn’t so good for us and may potentially be detrimental to our health. This is a good example as we were told that butter is unhealthy and margarine the king as it will lower high bad cholesterol that will lead to heart disease. Imagine if the Paleo Diet was around then? They put butter in their coffee it’s apparently so good for you, and now, the result? We’re freaked out. It’s understandable that some of us have decided it’s all too hard, sticking our heads in the sand, making no positive changes at all. Why bother when they don’t even know what’s good for us?
I remember the days when the only evil was gluten, and before that MSG. Now it’s the toxic form of folic acid that’s been added to our wheat grain (and other packaged food) since the early 90’s in Australia and NZ, or the negative effects of consuming highly processed cow’s milk and its products. And what about sugar, or ‘white poison’ as it has become known? How much of this can we actually consume without turning into an acidic cookie monster on a blood sugar see saw?
Then there’s sulphur dioxide that is added to pretty much everything with a long shelf life in the supermarket. Sulphur extends the shelf life of food, and preserves its colour. Many of us are highly sensitive to this naturally occurring, acidic substance and anything it’s in.
We are told what to do, we believe it, and then we obey. ‘Why would ‘they’ lie to us?’ That is until we realize the food (or action) in question was never properly researched and really isn’t that healthful. Or as bad – the food we were told to avoid, is actually what we should be eating after all – better for the planet and us.
What’s the deal with all of this conflicting information? It’s not only easily available, but constantly being delivered to our phones and computers via text, social media or email. Is it that we are getting the info’ from too many different sources including Dr. Google, Apps, TV, on-demand viewing, social medias and print media? Or is it that some celebrities have a bigger voice and brand than others? Does anybody really know?
All of this has led to mass confusion, which has led many of us into anger then resignation, then increased illness. It’s keeping us from addressing the real reasons why we are sick and getting sicker. It’s not spray-free fruit that’s the problem.
Food it seems is the one thing in our generally disempowered lives that we have some control over. And control we want.
You can eat a fully organic, well balanced and mostly plant -based diet and still get cancer. Or you hear of some people living to 100 years old, having a few drinks everyday, eating the fatty bacon on white bread with butter, and perhaps still smoking. Why? Is it where they live, having their own spray-free veggie patch, the water they drink, their genes, how well they compartmentalise their thoughts and feelings, how much surfing they’ve done and do. Do they practice mindfulness or other forms of meditation, how well they love and are loved in return, is their default emotion set on love instead of fear?
Putting your own oxygen mask on first is an old adage that expresses this. Do we feel we own our own lives? That we’re in control of it thereby feeling safe.
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul.– WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY
Being in of state of ‘fight or flight’ means your sympathetic nervous system is turned on. Parasympathetic means ‘rest and digest’. Love is yin, as is yoga when practiced in its true state. Hatred stimulates our sympathetic nervous system, as does stress of any kind. Getting away from a saber tooth tiger is one thing. Survival stands between you and it, so stimulating the stress hormones adrenalin and cortisol is a matter of life and death. But unnecessary stress has become a habit, a bad one.
An imbalance in both is disempowering. We have the greatest resilience when they’re balanced. A martial artist knows this, as does nature.
Blood pH doesn’t change much. It’s controlled by kidney and lung and in Traditional Chinese Medicine the kidney stores the emotions anxiety and fear, and the lungs – grief and sadness. All of these emotions take our nervous systems into a sympathetic state. If prolonged – illness follows. All diseases, and ageing and death, come from oxidation – an inflammatory state/environment in the body. This is one reason we want to increase oxygen in our cells – to fight free radical – the bad guys. To do this we need exercise, cetain supplements, meditation, happiness, and foods high in anti-oxidants.
Man-made chemicals are toxic endocrine disruptors, affecting all organ systems.
Occasional and short-lived stress is not such a bad thing though – it gets us out of a situation that isn’t working for us. Distress on the other hand is not ok. Distress is when we feel we have no control over our lives; that someone else is running the show and we can’t do a thing to get out of the situation; we can’t make the necessary changes. Research tells us that this is a very dangerous place to be, emotionally and physically. Feeling that you have a lack of control causes adrenalin and cortisol to be released – as long as you’re feeling this way you’ll be releasing these stress hormones. This then causes and an inflammatory response in our system – releasing cytokines, (inflammatory agents) – due to the constant ‘fight or flight’ response associated with complete disempowerment.
We’re empowered when we feel we have power over our world. Everything is interconnected. Acting with this knowledge alone is empowering. And the bonus is that it’s in everyone and everything’s best interest, not just yours. All of nature – the birds, bees, soil, water and air.
We get sick when our bodies are inflamed for too long. Food is just one part of our lives that can cause inflammation, and that can happen simply by not chewing it. Eating highly processed or heavily sprayed food, or eating when you’re stressed. You can drink all the green smoothies you like but if you’re in a job you hate, a destructive personal relationship or dealing with a traumatic event from childhood, or indeed your entire childhood. If this is the case then chances are your body is going to be inflamed.
Greed, anger, resentment, overwork, jealousy, fear and grief are all things that can cause too much inflammation in our system. Love, peace, babies, prayer and mediation on the other hand take us the other way, towards good health. According to Prof Bruce Lipton. There’s nothing in between. Ether you feel good or bad. He says…
He says that the cells in our body are like people in the world. They make up the whole. We are the cells.
‘When you look at yourself you see an individual person. But if you understand the nature of who you are, you realize that you are actually a community of about 50 trillion living cells. Each cell is a living individual, a sentient being that has its own life and functions but interacts with other cells in the nature of a community. If I could reduce you to the size of a cell and drop you inside your own body, you would see a very busy metropolis of trillions of individuals living within one skin. This becomes relevant when we understand that health is when there is harmony in the community and dis-ease is when there is a disharmony that tends to fracture the community relationships. So, number one, we are a community.
Everything in the universe is now understood to be made out of energy; to our perception it appears physical and solid, yet in reality it is all energy and energies interact. When you interact in your environment you are both absorbing and sending energy at the same time. You are probably more familiar with terms such as “good vibes” and “bad vibes.” Those are the waves at which we are all vibrating. We are all energy. The energy in your body is reflecting the energy around you because the atoms in your body are not only giving off energy, they are absorbing energy. Every living organism communicates with these vibrations. Animals communicate with plants; they communicate with other animals. Shamans talk to plants with vibrations. If you are sensitive to the differences between “good” and “bad” vibrations, you would always be leading yourself to places that would encourage your survival, your growth, your love, et cetera, and staying away from situations and places that would take advantage of you or cancel who you are.’
– Prof. Bruce Lipton.
So if you’ve been burning the candle at both ends for too long, emotionally, physically or both and have possibly been doing this because sub-consciously you’ve been avoiding dealing with your painful divorce or sick child – now we have double trouble. Running on empty for too long leads to adrenal fatigue, then exhaustion, then collapse – then disease.
And what about the water we drink? It needs to be at a pH of around 7 (neutral) or slightly alkaline and often it’s not. Ideally, we want water, or a filter that gives an alkaline pH in the beneficial range of 8 – 10.
Toxic chemicals also cause inflammation – in many of our cosmetics, pharmaceutical drugs, cleaning products, soft furnishings, electrical chords, carpets and other household items like room deodorisers, and insect and rodent traps and sprays and all those bottles, sprays and liquids for the garden and in the garage.
Then there’s the potential fallout from our computers and mobile phones, all causing inflammation in our bodies. So considering how much our bodies have to deal with, where do we start? With us, what we choose to put in and on our body, what we inhale ingest and absorb.
Anta Moorjani, author of ‘Dying To Be Me’ – chose to eat an organic diet because she was so completely afraid of getting cancer. Yes she got cancer – Non-Hodgkin’s’ Lymphoma that had metastasized, and was given months to live. She had a NDE, (Near Death Experience) and has ‘returned’ to tell us of her experience. What she learnt from this extraordinary experience was that her lack of self-love, her duality, her lack of trust and belief in herself, her self-loathing was the reason she got sick. Upon regaining consciousness she had a ‘spontaneous healing’ and now travels the world speaking about the importance of self- love and belief – understanding the reason why we do things. Of ‘oneness’.
‘The only purpose of life is to be our self, live our truth, and be the be the love that we are.’
– Anita Moorjani
‘Once I was no longer expressing from a state of duality, I realised there is no separation between the within and without.’
– Anita Moorjani
It’s ok to get ‘appropriately angry’ from time to time, but the trick to good health/wellness is to get out of that state as soon as possible; not to be hanging around there as this provides the internal environment for disease.
Wellbeing – health plus happiness – seems to be a lot more about not what you do but the way and reason you do it. It’s not about eating an organic diet because you’re scared to death you’ll get cancer if you don’t. It’s about eating an organic diet because it empowers you to do so, knowing you’re giving your health and that of the planet the best chance at living a long, healthy and happy life.
Doing for others is more empowering than doing for yourself. What’s best for yourself is right for you, your community, the environment, your family, friends, the birds and the bees.
Once we know this stuff, how to live better – our life becomes a powerful and positive experience instead of a pessimistic, lonely and disempowered one. By actively responding to a situation you find unacceptable, you not only become an example to others, but it will give your whole life more meaning and purpose. Positive action – apart from having widespread beneficial repercussions, is one very good way to feel personally empowered.
Our whole life is a vehicle for advocating global change that is desperately needed in these times. Everything we do has a global effect; it influences the norm in society. Every action has an effect. From how people look at you when you’re experiencing ‘good vibes’, to what comes after that. Whether it be deciding to ‘vote with your wallet’ and spend a bit more on organic food for example. Our buying behaviour affects corporate decisions and investments. Poisonous food has a long lasting effect – long after you’ve taken it home.
‘Healthy’ you do on your own. Wellbeing comes from how positive the way you’re living is for you. Who you live with, where you live, and what service you’re providing to others – great and small. Do you feel good about yourself and how you’re living?
Do we decide it’s more important to look good in a swimsuit, which is a self centered way of approaching things, and not as empowering long term, or live in a way that benefits all?
“Be the change you want to see in the world.”
– Gandhi
Once we decide we want to be a vehicle of social change – the 100th monkey effect* – then we become an example of conscious living, positively affecting others by empowering and influencing them in a positive way, whilst at the same time empowering yourself. You then become a role model for a conscious and much needed change on the planet.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
― Marianne Williamson,
Empower yourself now in the knowledge that every thought, deed and action you take is affecting a whole lot more than you’re your world/yourself. Choose to make a positive difference in the world. All it takes is first to make the decision that you choose service, then awareness in all that you do, think and feel.
The hundredth monkey effect is a studied phenomenon in which a new behavior or idea is claimed to spread rapidly by unexplained means from one group to all related groups once a critical number of members of one group exhibit the new behavior or acknowledge the new idea.
In self love, and oneness,
Janella[/private]
To enjoy a 15% Janella discount on your @TheHerbFarmskincare order, use this code JANELLA15 and watch your skin take a deep sigh of relief.
Antioxidants are a generic term that describes the mopping up of free radicals (the bad guys) in your body – by increasing oxygenation.
Modern food far from existing in its original state, the stress of living in today’s world, strenuous exercise, sun exposure, pollution, chemicals used to grow our food and make our cosmetics, computers, TV’s and carpets, smoking, and bacterial infections can all cause a rise in free radicals to dangerous levels. This results in damage at a cellular level resulting in premature ageing like wrinkles, bad skin, black rings under the eyes and sometimes, serious illnesses such as cancer.
Many antioxidants are vitamins like C and E, but Carotenoids are the most powerful anti oxidants known. Along with chlorophyll, carotenoids are what give plants their colour. The most powerful carotenoid is Astaxanthin (blue-green algae), and the next is Beta Carotene, of which Spirulina is the richest known natural source. There are other foods high in different antioxidants. This is where you’ll find lots of them –
Astaxanthin
This little known carotenoid is now believed to be the most powerful antioxidant by far. There are only two natural sources of natural astaxanthin—the micro-algae that produce it, and the sea creatures that consume the algae (such as salmon, shellfish, and krill). Astaxanthin is 65 times more powerful than vitamin C, 54 times more powerful than beta-carotene, 550 times more powerful than Vitamin E. No adverse reactions at all have been found for people taking Astaxanthin. It’s perfectly safe. You’ll find astaxanthin in supplement form on line.
You may have heard of astaxanthin before. The synthetic version made in a laboratory is commonly used worldwide to give farmed fish, especially salmon, its pinkish red colour. You really do want to avoid man-made astaxanthin as it’s made from petrochemicals, which makes it a toxic hormone disruptor.
Cacao
According to a study in the “Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry” published in 2003, researchers compared the antioxidant capacity of black tea, green tea, red wine and cocoa, concluding that cocoa has the highest antioxidant activity among the four products and the greatest potential for health benefits.
Garlic and its juice
Garlic is one of the best medicines in the world. It has natural ‘germanium’ and is anti-fungal and antibacterial (just to name a few of its actions). If you’re cooking your garlic, crush it up and let it sit for ten minutes before adding it to your recipe. It has to sit so that the enzymes can create the healing phyto-chemicals we need.
Dried Fruit
Goji berries have an enormous amount of antioxidants, yet dried Pomegranate seeds, (also expensive) have almost double the amount. And then comes dried Indian Gooseberries that have around 10 times more than Goji berries.
Green Super-Foods
Spirulina, chlorella and barley grass are chock full of minerals and enzymes. The enzymes are both anti-mycotoxin (mycotoxins are released by yeast/fungal infections) and antioxidants.
Matcha
This premium green tea powder from Japan is used for drinking as tea, or to use as a vibrant, green ingredient in recipes. Other green teas are grown throughout the world, but Matcha is unique to Japan. One cup of Matcha contains as much as 10 times the antioxidants of one cups of brewed green tea.
Quercetin
An antioxidant belonging to a class of water-soluble plant substances called flavonoids. Some research has shown quercetin-rich foods, such as apples, berries, red grapes, red onions, capers and black tea, are ‘natural antihistamines’ as they prevent histamine release. Quercetin is also available in supplement form.
Selenium
Sources include wheat germ, garlic, Brazil nuts, eggs and brown rice. Brazil nuts are perhaps the best source of this important mineral, and eating just 3-4 Brazil nuts per day may provide adequate intake for most people to maintain levels. Although, a supplement may be necessary if levels are low.
Vitamin A
Is found in dark green leafy veggies such as kale, rocket, baby spinach and all your Asian greens and any fruit or veg’ that is green, yellow, red or green in colour – so pumpkin, carrots, capsicum and broccoli, and spirulina has an enormous amount.
Vitamin C
This vitamin has long been known to battle the effects of ageing and disease. Like Vitamin E, Vitamin C is an effective antioxidant so it will help to reduce free radicals. Most fruits especially guava and paw paw are good sources of Vitamin C as are vegetables like kale, broccoli, cauliflower, tomato, Brussels’ sprouts and cucumber. Goji berries, Gubinge and Camu Camu have more Vitamin C per weight than most other foods on earth.
Vitamin D
Different from other vitamins because our bodies can make most of what we need with exposure to sunlight, unlike having to get it from our diet. In fact most foods aren’t great sources of vitamin D, and there are only a small amount to choose from. The best sources are cod liver oil, sardines, wild Alaskan salmon, mackerel and mushrooms. Sunlight is the best way to get your Vitamin D as it promotes this vitamin’s synthesis from cholesterol in the skin.10-15 minutes a day is enough, and allowing the sun to shine on as much of you body as you can is the way to go.
Vitamin E
Found in olives, nuts and seeds oils, wheat germ and leafy greens.
Zinc
Good sources are oysters, organic red meat, wheat germ, miso, pumpkin seeds, alfalfa, sardines, legumes, mushrooms, pecans, organic soybeans, sunflower seeds and whole grains.
Herbs + Spices
Extremely high in antioxidants, in fact at least 10 times higher than the foods above per weight, and the herbs and spices below are in a class of their own when it comes to antioxidants. Add these foods to your meals but you can also use them as essential oils and some of them as herbal tinctures. Look for 100 percent pure (therapeutic grade) oils, which are highest in antioxidants, and organic or at least wild-crafted herbal medicine. From the highest are cloves, cinnamon, rosemary, oregano, turmeric, cumin, parsley (dried), basil, ginger and thyme
Many of us are now aware that some things are better for our microbiota than others, and to varying degrees. Antibiotics and laxatives, as well as medications against fever and pain, contraceptive hormones (The Pill), or those to alleviate menopausal symptoms all negatively affect gut flora composition. Antibiotics when prescribed responsibly are obviously life saving. They have saved countless lives and wiped out many diseases. But, there’s a price to pay for everything, and in this case the over- use of antibiotics has gotten us into some serious strife.
These days however, it’s pretty hard to avoid them. Even if you’re a raw food vegan who’s never sick, you’re still likely to be exposed to antibiotics. 80% of the antibiotics manufactured world wide are for animals for food, so we’re constantly being exposed to antibiotics, every time we eat or drink, as the manure your veggies are grown with comes from animals that have been fed antibiotics. Antibiotics are in our food and in our water.
Studies are showing that small amounts of antibiotics given regularly, is a whole lot worse than one big hit when you’re sick and you actually need them. Antibiotics are not meant for prevention, but it is a billion dollar industry, so making changes to the system is, well, tricky.
It’s encouraging to see that more and more conscious farmers are using herbs and essential oils like oregano oil to replace expensive and damaging antibiotics that are so commonly and mindlessly used in commercial farming. The over-use of antibiotics both for us and in our food is destroying our gut flora, reduces immunity, increases anxiety and depression and keeps us susceptible to everything. Not to mention the damage they’re doing to our animals and our planet.
So far, western medicine’s answer has been to prescribe yet more drugs, so that now we have arrived in a scary place called ‘antibiotic resistant’. This is now at crisis levels, meaning some infections are becoming untreatable. What we’ve basically done is coat our world in a bubble of antibiotics by our overuse and inappropriate use of them. And antibiotic use is in Australia, which directly affects the development of antibiotic resistance.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), is a type of staph’ that has developed resistance to a family of antibiotics similar to penicillin. When we take an antibiotic, the drug kills many bacteria, but a few survive. These surviving bacteria are now resistant to that antibiotic, and then they multiply. What this means is, every time a patient takes an antibiotic, he or she is creating more drug-resistant bacteria. The growing number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria poses a very serious and immediate threat to our health as a species. In 1974, MRSA infections accounted for 2% of the total number of staph infections; in 1995 it was 22%; in 2004 it was 63%. These bacteria were once mainly found in hospitals, doctor’s surgeries and nursing homes, but recently they’ve been showing up in gyms, schools, sports clubs, and other places where people are in close contact.
Two-thirds of the children today have already taken a course of antibiotics by the time they are 12 months old. Antibiotics have been shown to affect the childhood microbiome causing changes associated with allergies, obesity and autism – three of the biggest childhood issues in developed countries. This means long-term health implications for these children. While this link is still being researched, the evidence is mounting.
Bacterial infections need antibiotics, as the infection will only get worse, if it’s not treated. Examples of serious infections that arguably need antibiotics under one year of age are meningitis, whooping cough, pneumonia, infection in the blood and urinary infections. Antibiotics are ineffective for common viral infections however, so treating these with antibiotics results in none of the benefits and all of the disadvantages. These include most respiratory infections – for example of the ear, throat and chest, yet we are still constantly being prescribed antibiotics for these conditions. There are many effective alternatives to synthetic antibiotics. Herbal medicine and essential oils have both undergone much research and the results are exciting.
A recent British report estimated that antibiotic and microbial resistance could kill an extra 10 million people a year and cost up to $100 trillion USD by 2050 if it is not brought under control, and soon.
Btw, scientists often modify seeds using antibiotic-resistant genes in the genetic engineering process. Some people wonder if there’s a link between these GM Frankenfoods and the ever increasing rates of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Castor Oil – coming from the seeds (or beans) of the Ricinus communis plant, is an oil rich in antioxidants and Ricinoleic Acid (RA) and also contains small amounts of linoleic, oleic and stearic acid. The healthiest and safest version of castor oil comes from de-hulling the bean, then cold-pressing the seeds to produce the rich and viscous oil.
Castor oil packs have been used by healers to help reduce a variety of health conditions for many generations. Placed over your abdomen or liver, these packs are used to improve liver detoxification, breakdown kidney stones, reduce period pain, reduce symptoms of autoimmunity, support uterine and ovarian health, improve lymphatic circulation and reduce inflammation.
To DIY: Mix two to four drops of an essential oil – depending on what you’re treating – with enough warm castor oil to lightly soak a piece of cloth, (either a lightweight tea towel, or a piece of linen, or even a face washer). Castor oil has a rather strong smell, so be ready.
Btw, you can buy packs that include a piece of flannel cloth and a pack, with straps – so you’re all sorted. Just Google ‘castor oil packs’. (See images.)
Wring out the cloth to remove any excess oil, then place it over your abdomen or liver for at least 30 minutes, with a heat source like a wheat pack or hot water bottle over the top of it. This helps to stimulate lymph and liver function. Lie flat in bed, and perhaps cover your eyes with an eye pillow and use this time of quiet relaxation to go within.
Placing the pack on the right side of the abdomen or the whole abdomen will help support the liver and digestive systems, as well as reproductive and colon health. These packs are used also to relieve pain. Aim to do it 3 times a week, and relax.
Castor oil packs can be a bit messy, so I wrap mine in a plastic-free cover like a bees wax wrap, or an apron. Be aware of any skin sensitivities, so avoid applying the oils directly to your skin.
Side note – I was once at a sanitarium (health retreat/hospital) in Austria, and part of the program was a daily liver pack, such as this one above. Instead of the oil-soaked cloth though, they used flaked pieces of dried burdock root (a great liver herb) that had been warmed and stuffed in a plastic zip lock bag. It was delivered to my room like this, so all I had to do was lay down on my bed, put a light towel over my abdomen and then the compress over the top. Gawd it was nice. And I really did feel the benefits. Gut and reproductive pain, as well as pent up anger and resentment – all but disappeared using these packs daily for the 5 days I was there.
Either way you decide to do it – it’s going to help.
