Monthly Archives: June 2017

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How Rhubarb Root is a great Body Cleanser- especially when it’s mixed with 8 other herbs!

24 Saturday Jun 2017

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how rhubarb is a great body cleanser

Things that Make a Difference in How Well Rhubarb Root Works…

  • Rhubarb’s name is from the Greek verb, ‘to flow’.
  • Europeans have used Rhubarb Root medicinally since the 1200s.
  • By the end of the 1800s, it was clear that the medicinal characteristics of rhubarb are affected by the soil composition and climate, so it’s really important to purchase Rhubarb Root from a company which ensures proper soil composition & climate.
  • When Rhubarb Root is combined with 8 other herbs, the synergistic effect is powerful!!  Here’s the only Rhubarb Root I purchase because I trust its safety.

11 Reasons You’ll want to get Rhubarb Root in Your Body Every Night!

1) Rhubarb Root Helps Digestion, constipation & diarrhea!

  • When constipated, the colon is not spontaneously contracting, therefore fecal matter sits and builds in the colon causing the constipation. It’s the purgative actions of Rhubarb Root that will not only move the fecal matter but will also tone the colon so it contracts on its own more regularly.
  • The colon does not become dependent on the Rhubarb Root to contract, so once cleansed, constipation should not return.
  • It’s difficult for the contractions to completely clean the long and winding colon, therefore pockets of debris might be left behind.  This is when the astringent, tannin acid, comes after the purgative action and does a thorough wash of the colon.  It removes any left over pockets of fecal matter or infectious bacteria.
  • It gives us smoother bowel movements!  The A-factors (or anthraquinones) in Rhubarb Root act as a time released healthy laxative which is smoother than other laxatives.
  • Emodin (found in Rhubarb Root) is metabolized by the large intestine’s gut flora to help absorption, secretion, motility & peristalsis without affecting the stomach or duodenum.  1  
  • It’s helped GI bleeds by eliminating blood, bacteria and toxins.  2 , 6, 7

2) Rhubarb Root aids in weight loss!

  • It aids weight loss by dramatically increasing the rate the human burns fat
  • It optimizes metabolism by improving circulation.  The copper and iron in rhubarb stimulate the production of new red blood cells, which boosts metabolism.

3) Rhubarb Root is Antimicrobial!

  • Rhubarb’s anthraquinone has been used as antifungal 16 , 17 and molluscicidal 18 agents.
  • Rhein, from anthraquinone, has in vitro antimicrobial activity against a wide variety of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. 3, 17, 19

4) Rhubarb Root Helps Ulcers (Helicobacter pylori)!

  • Rheum emodi extract was found to inhibit ‘in vivio’ all strains of Heliocobacter pylori (both sensitive and resistant) at a concentration of 10 mg/mL.  The H-Pylori didn’t develop any resistance to the Rhubarb Root after 10 times even though they usually acquire resistance to Amoxicillin and Clarithromycin after 10 passages.  (25)

5) Rhubarb Root Helps the Kidneys!

  • Clinical studies have evaluated rhubarb extracts in patients with CRF and report reduced uremic symptoms and reduced blood urea nitrogen. 13 , 14
  • A number of animal studies have observed the effects of rhubarb in rats with Chronic Renal Failure. Rhubarb Root tannins produced an increase in glomerular filtration rate, decreased levels of uremic toxins, and increased blood flow to the kidneys. 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12

 

 

6) Rhubarb Root Helps us Avoid  Alzheimer’s!

  • Traditional Chinese medicine suggests rhubarb improves the memory in senile patients. 15  This is because it has vitamin K which plays a significant role in brain and neuronal health.  It can prevent the oxidation of brain cells & stimulate cognitive activity to help delay or prevent the onset of this disease.
  • In in vitro experiments, rhapontigenin exerted a dose-dependent protective effect on mitochondrial functioning against amyloid beta (1-42) neurotoxicity. 1 

7) Rhubarb Root Helps Menopause!

  • Rhubarb Root’s lindleyin significantly reduced the frequency and severity of hot flashes in perimenopausal women.  (25, reference 76)
  • Lindleyin has potential beneficial applications as selective ER modulators ‘in vitro’ (25, reference 77)

8) Rhubarb Root Helps Cancer Patients!

  • Apoptosis, as well as anti tumor action, has been demonstrated, and rhubarb extract has been suggested as an adjunct to chemotherapy. 2 , 3 , 4 
  • Rhubarb is anti inflammatory.  Rhubarb extract 20 mg/kg daily administered for 6 weeks to patients undergoing radiation therapy for cancer resulted in a reduction in radiation-induced lung toxicity in a randomized clinical trial. Evaluation of anti-inflammatory markers suggests that an anti-inflammatory action of rhubarb is responsible. 5

9) Rhubarb Root helps Bones!

  • The vitamin K in Rhubarb Root stimulates bone growth & repair.

 

10) Rhubarb Root helps the Heart!

  • It protects against cardiovascular conditions due to the high antioxidant content.

11) Rhubarb Root Helps the Liver!

  • In rats with induced cholestatic hepatitis, emodin caused a decrease in total bilirubin, improvement in the liver enzyme profile & liver regeneration. 20
  • 2 Other great things rhubarb does include anti platelet properties, 21 anti hypertensive effects, 22 anti inflammatory action, 23 and glucose homeostasis. 24

 

 

When Rhubarb Root is combined with 8 other herbs, the synergistic effect is powerful!!  Here’s the only Rhubarb Root I purchase because I trust its safety.

References

  • from Drugs.com
    1. Misiti F, Sampaolese B, Mezzogori D, et al. Protective effect of rhubarb derivatives on amyloid beta (1-42) peptide-induced apoptosis in IMR-32 cells: a case of nutrigenomic. Brain Res Bull . 2006;71(1-3):29-36.
    2. Srinivas G, Babykutty S, Sathiadevan PP, Srinivas P. Molecular mechanism of emodin action: transition from laxative ingredient to an antitumor agent. Med Res Rev . 2007;27(5):591-608.
    3. Huang Q, Lu G, Shen HM, Chung MC, Ong CN. Anti-cancer properties of anthraquinones from rhubarb. Med Res Rev . 2007;27(5):609-630.
    4. Lin S, Fujii M, Hou DX. Rhein induces apoptosis in HL-60 cells via reactive oxygen species-independent mitochondrial death pathway. Arch Biochem Biophys . 2003;418(2):99-107.
    5. Yu HM, Liu YF, Cheng YF, Hu LK, Hou M. Effects of rhubarb extract on radiation induced lung toxicity via decreasing transforming growth factor-beta-1 and interleukin-6 in lung cancer patients treated with radiotherapy. Lung Cancer . 2008;59(2):219-226.
    6. Jiao DH, Ma YH, Chen SJ, Liu CT, Shu HN, Chu CM. Résumé of 400 cases of acute upper digestive tract bleeding treated by rhubarb alone. Pharmacology . 1980;20(suppl 1):128-130.
    7. Fang XL, Fang Q, Luo JJ, Zheng X. Effects of crude rhubarb on intestinal permeability in septic patients. Am J Chin Med . 2007;35(6):929-936.
    8. Yarnell E. Botanical medicines for the urinary tract. World J Urol . 2002;20(5):285-293.
    9. Zhang G, el Nahas AM. The effect of rhubarb extract on experimental renal fibrosis. Nephrol Dial Transplant . 1996;11(1):186-190. Erratum in: Nephrol Dial Transplant 1996;11(4):753.
    10. Yokozawa T, Suzuki N, Okuda I, Oura H, Nishioka I. Changes in the urinary constituents in rats with chronic renal failure during oral administration of rhubarb extract. Chem Pharm Bull (Tokyo) . 1985;33(10):4508-4514.
    11. Yokozawa T, Fujioka K, Oura H, Nonaka G, Nishioka I. Effects of rhubarb tannins on renal function in rats with renal failure. Nippon Jinzo Gakkai Shi . 1993;35(1):13-18.
    12. Peng A, Gu Y, Lin SY. Herbal treatment for renal diseases. Ann Acad Med Singapore . 2005;34(1):44-51.
    13. Kang Z, Bi Z, Ji W, Zhao C, Xie Y. Observation of therapeutic effect in 50 cases of chronic renal failure treated with rhubarb and adjuvant drugs. J Tradit Chin Med . 1993;13(4):249-252.
    14. Bi ZQ, Zheng FL, Kang ZQ. Treatment of chronic renal failure by retention-enema with rhizoma rhei compound decoction. J Tradit Chin Med . 1982;2(3):211-214.
    15. Tian J, Du H, Yang H, Liu X, Li Z. A clinical study on compound da huang (radix et Rhizoma rhei) preparations for improvement of senile persons’ memory ability. J Tradit Chin Med . 1997;17(3):168-173.
    16. Agarwal SK, Singh SS, Verma S, Kumar S. Antifungal activity of anthraquinone derivatives from Rheum emodi . J Ethnopharmacol . 2000;72(1-2):43-46.
    17. Tegos G, Stermitz FR, Lomovskaya O, Lewis K. Multidrug pump inhibitors uncover remarkable activity of plant antimicrobials. Antimicrob Agents Chemother . 2002;46(10):3133-3141.
    18. Liu SY, Sporer F, Wink M, et al. Anthraquinones in Rheum palmatum and Rumex dentatus ( Polygonaceae ), and phorbol esters in Jatropha curcas ( Euphorbiaceae ) with molluscicidal activity against the schistosome vector snails Oncomelania, Biomphalaria and Bulinus. Trop Med Int Health . 1997;2(2):179-188.
    19. Cyong J, Matsumoto T, Arakawa K, Kiyohara H, Yamada H, Otsuka Y. Anti- Bacteroides fragalis substance from rhubarb. J Ethnopharmacol . 1987;19(3):279-283.
    20. Ding Y, Zhao L, Mei H, et al. Exploration of Emodin to treat alpha-naphthylisothiocyanate-induced cholestatic hepatitis via anti-inflammatory pathway. Eur J Pharmacol . 2008;590(1-3):377-386.
    21. Ko SK, Lee SM, Whang WK. Anti-platelet aggregation activity of stilbene derivatives from Rheum undulatum . Arch Pharm Res . 1999;22(4):401-403.
    22. Chen HC, Hsieh MT, Tsai HY, Chang HH, Wang TF, Shibuya T. Studies on the “San-Huang-Hsieh-Hsin-Tang” in the treatment of essential hypertension. Taiwan Yi Xue Hui Za Zhi . 1984;83(4):340-346.
    23. Li C, Zhou J, Gui P, He X. Protective effect of rhubarb on endotoxin-induced acute lung injury. J Tradit Chin Med . 2001;21(1):54-58.
    24. Reimer RA, Thomson AB, Rajotte RV, Basu TK, Ooraikul B, McBurney MI. A physiological level of rhubarb fiber increases proglucagon gene expression and modulates intestinal glucose uptake in rats. J Nutr . 1997;127(10):1923-1928.
    25. Bioactive Foods in Promoting Health: Fruits and Vegetables edited by Ronald Ross Watson, Victor R. Preedy
  • organicfacts.net
    1. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=10rtcRtcCYYC
    2. http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2009/np/b905960a
    3. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022347643800652
    4. http://press.princeton.edu/titles/4992.html
    5. http://www.bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/EP99.pdf
    6. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308814606007060
    7. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0271531705805214
    8. http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-JZYB200303011.htm
    9. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1875-595X.1998.tb00722.x/abstract
    10. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/med.20094/abstract
  • puristat
  • webmd

Posted by | Filed under cleanse daily, digestion, Uncategorized

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Easy Gluten Free Flour Substitutions (that actually work!)

22 Thursday Jun 2017

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flour substitutions & amounts

Here are my favorite all purpose gluten free mixes…

 

1) Basic Baking Gluten Free Protein Flour

  • Life Protein, 1/2 cup
  • coconut flour, 1 cup
  • cornstarch, 1/4 cup
  • oat flour, 1 cup
  • tapioca flour or starch, 1 cup
  • white rice flour, 1/2 cup
  • xantham gum, 3.5 tsp

2) Nearly Normal Gluten-Free Flour Mix from Charlotte

  • white rice flour, 1 cup
  • potato starch (not potato flour), 1 cup
  • cornstarch, 1 cup
  • corn flour, 1/2 cup
  • tapioca flour (or tapioca starch), 1/2 cup
  • xanthan gum, 2 teas
    • Mix & store in airtight container in a cool, dark place

3) Gluten Free Blend from ForkandBeans.com

  • sourghum flour, 3 c
  • brown rice flour, superfine, 3 c
  • potato starch (not potato flour), 1.5 c
  • arrowroot powder, 1.5 c

Posted by | Filed under cooking with nuts, food allergy swap, gluten free, Uncategorized

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6 Surefire Ways to Practice Mindful Eating (so you never have to diet again!)

15 Thursday Jun 2017

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6 surefire ways to practice mindful eating

1) Stop Eating When Full & Listen to Your Body.

It takes 20 minutes to feel full.  The hormone called ghrelin turns on your “I’m hungry” switch.  As you eat, your ghrelin hormone drops.  It takes about 20 minutes for your food to travel from your stomach to your colon.  Here’s where the “I’m full!” switch gets turned on by the hormone peptide yy.  Patiently give your body enough time for it to work!  Find ways to stretch out your eating time so you get only one serving size in the 20 minutes.  Otherwise, you’ll fall into the trap of eating a serving size in the first 5-10 minutes, still feel hungry and eat some more.  The last 10 minutes of intake is overeating because you won’t feel full till the full 20 minutes is up.

You can slow down your eating to give your body time to turn on your “I’m full” switch.  Here are a few ways to slow down:

  1. Drink 1/4 serving of blood sugar balancing protein during meal prep.  It’ll start satiating you in 5 minutes!  By the time you sit down to eat, you’ll only need 5 or 10 minutes & your hunger hormone switch turns off!
  2. Sit down to eat.
  3. Cut up your food into small pieces.
  4. Chew each bite 25 times or more.
  5. Notice the taste of each bite of food.  Savor it.
  6. Set your fork down between bites.
  7. Talk to others while your mouth is empty.
  8. Listen to others while engaging in eye contact.  Eye contact produces happy hormones which allow you to slow down and savor!

2) Eat when your body is hungry.

Know your signals for hunger, emotions & activities.

  1. Hunger signals are: growling stomach, fatigue, low blood sugar headache / spaciness or grumpiness.
  2. Emotional Signals are:  stress, sadness, loneliness, boredom
  3. Activity Signals are: vacations, holidays, birthdays, events, good news, bad news

3) Eat communally at purposeful times & places.

You’re the ‘king of your castle’!  You get to create your healthy eating environments.  Avoid eating straight from the food container & use smaller plates & bowls.  Fill your plate and put away leftovers before you eat.  Keep healthy high protein & fiber, low carb snacks available all the time.  Set up your ‘Salad Bar in the Fridge‘.  Cook your ‘Freezer Fiesta~ a month of meals in a day to save 19 hrs a month!‘  When we eat alone, randomly or sporadically, we sabotage ourselves.

4) Eat nutritionally dense foods that nourish you.

Some foods help you and others are emotionally manipulative.  Fried, sugary, salty and low protein foods rob us from feeling great & manipulate us into eating them by promising lots of pleasure.  Unfortunately, the ‘pleasure’ they provide is so short lived and the ‘pain’ they cause lasts for hours.  Eating them is like putting glue in your fuel tank.  We can tell ourselves stories about how certain health foods don’t taste good.  Yet, when we slow down to appreciate them, our stories can prove to be false.  Take the ‘savor my raison’ activity.  You look at the raison and probably think it won’t be that satisfying.  But, when you suck it, savor it, and see how long you can enjoy it in your mouth, you notice the sweet flavor.  It gets better the longer it’s in your mouth.  Give it some time to satisfy you.

5) Eat on purpose, with intention.

When we multi-task, we diminish our ability to pay attention to whether we’re nourishing ourselves or just shoveling it in.  Our bodies work so hard all day long.  Why do we spend longer making our bodies look good (hairstyle, makeup, outfits) than we spend to make sure we actually feel good?  Have you noticed that well nourished people naturally look better too?  And, they get to feel better the whole day long!  Choose to do this for yourself.  No one else can make this choice for you.

6) Eat gratefully, trusting your needs will be met without waste.

When we’re grateful, we stop grasping for more.  This is true with our eating habits as well as all other areas of life.  Many of us have developed a fear-based coping mechanism regarding food.  Some of us were punished as we grew up by being denied meals or being forced to eat foods we didn’t like.  Some were given unhealthy foods as ‘bribes’ for good behavior.  Others were forced to eat all the food on our plates even when we weren’t hungry instead of just saving the food for our next snack.  These actions can cause us to distrust that our real needs will be met regarding our food.  We’re afraid we won’t get nourished!  When we purposefully stop these behaviors, we’ll begin to trust that our needs will be met with our food.  We won’t waste food anymore by overeating and we’ll feel more satisfied.  The more we make a decision to nourish your bodies, the more we’ll trust our bodies to tell us what they need.  Believe me.

Truly, we don’t have to ‘diet’ to have a healthy weight.  When we refocus our attention on the right things, our bodies will respond.  Trust me.

Posted by | Filed under mindful eating, mindless eating, Uncategorized, weight

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