Sunday, 8 November 2015

BURDOCK ROOT- How to prepare as medicinal delicious french fries



Burdock root is known since ancient times as God’s healer stabilizer for the large intestine or colon.  It is the main ingredient of Essiac tea available in many cancer clinic and health food store in North America.
It is an extremely yang root, long and thin…it cleans the blood, liver and restores the vitality to our colons.

*Alkalizes the blood   *Restores Mental Clarity   *Prevents Colds/Flu
*Curbs sugar craving   


Do you remember the days when running through the fields you would get purple burrs stuck to your pants?  Those were burdock burrs.  The plant has huge elephant ear-sized leaves.  You need a tree spade/pic/sharp trowel to dig up the root so you don’t snap off this long root.  If you choose to dig it up, please, do it with respect and do not take all that is there.
If you buy it from Choice’s health food store or an Asian market where it is often called GOBO.

 To prepare the burdock root as medicinal delicious food 
"More delicious than French Fries."

1.  Wash and cut in the heaven and earth cut which is on a diagonal.
     Use a sharp square vegetable knife as this root is dense and solid.
     Cut burdock root in diagonal slices about l/16” thick. 
2.  Prepare a cast iron frying pan by heating on medium until hot.
3.  Add 3 tbsp of toasted sesame oil
4.  Add ¼ tsp of grey sea salt.  Cover with lid that fits inside the      
     Pan.
5.  Cook for approximately 7 minutes. 
6.  Add pinch of grey sea salt.  Add l tbsp of water if burdock root is
     woody or is sticking to pan.  Cover and cook another 7 minutes.
7.  Add pinch of grey sea salt.  Cover and cook another 7 minutes. 

Add 2 tbsp of cooked root to miso soup for a delicious rich flavour.
Add to stir fry or as additional vegetable to your dinner.
My students often say it tastes like a delicious salty sweet potato fry.

Caution: This root is very powerful so no more than 2 tbsp a day or you will find yourself evacuating more than you want to.
It is high in potassium in its raw state so when cutting the burdock root do NOT put your fingers to your eyes or face.  It will cause an allergic reaction.  Be sure to wash the cutting board and knife 
In Edmonton, you can buy commercial GOBO (Burdock root) at Lucky Supermarkets, TNT, and organic at Planet Organic.

BURDOCK ROOT HEALTH BENEFITS



DESCRIPTION AND USE

Long, brown root with a savory-sweet flavor.  Grows wild everywhere.
It keeps for several weeks, wrapped in clothe, brown bag and refrigerated.
Burdock is the main ingredient of most health food store cleansers.

TRADITIONAL BENEFITS

1.      Cleanses the blood
2.      Tones and strengthens intestines
3.      Improves Mental Clarity
4.      Alkalizes and highly mineralized, an excellent booster food when feel run down from a cold or flu or stress

5.      Eat often to help reduce sweet craving


ARTHRITIS, KIDNEY FUNCTION AND SALT BATHS

George Oshawa, the grandfather of Macrobiotic suggests the Number 7 Food regime to relieve arthritis.  To change the condition will take your body the time it needs to release all toxicity in the kidney/blood systems.  By changing your foods to the ‘easiest’ to digest and the ‘highest’ in nutritional value for all organs; you will completely cure yourself in six months.

If hip or knees are consideration and you have cartilage challenges…just know cartilage grows and becomes bone every day.  (teeth, different)  In other words, bone is the final development of cartilage. 

Look for dislocation of hip bone or pinched nerves in the spine affecting the endocrine system which passes through the spine.  The resulting disturbance of hormone function may be caused by weakened kidneys that start to malfunction.
WEAK KIDNEYS CANNOT KEEP CALCIUM in the blood which is needed for bone formation.  Then, degenerative arthritis develops.

Weak kidneys cannot maintain blood alkalinity; causing the blood and other body fluids to become acidic.  If the body fluids become acidic, available calcium is used from your bones and teeth to neutralize acidity and calcium will be lost from bone and cartilage.

Dietary suggestions

Staple foods
50%                whole grains
20-30%          vegetables (avoid potato, eggplant, tomato)
5-10%             sea vegetables (these contain calcium and magnesium-
                        Strong bones)
5%                  raw vegetables (optional)

1-2 cups         Miso soup every day-good blood formation
2-3 pcs           pickles (rice bran pickles-best)
2-3                  times/month beans
1-2 tsp            sesame/olive oil/day

Foods to Avoid

Sugar, sugary foods, cakes, sweetened drinks, alcoholic drinks, drugs, pain killers, high protein foods including tofu, cheese, eggs, high fat foods such as butter, coffee and spices. 



STRENGTHENING THE KIDNEYS

Strengthening the kidneys is the first step to strengthening bones and bone cartilage.

  1. Yuen method-major detox triad, strengthening……..
  2. Drinks as little as possible so that you urinate 3-4 times maximum per day.  If you urinate more often than that you are drinking too much unless detoxing.
  3. Apply a hot ginger compress over the kidneys 2-3 times/week.
  4. Massage your spine from neck to hip bone with a ginger juice/sesame oil mixture (1 tsp ginger juice with 1 tsp sesame oil)
  5. Dry far infra red sauna to sweat.  If cannot do sauna, do sea salt baths.
  6. Take a salt bath every other day.  To make salt bath:  Add 2 lbs of coarse salt to 24 gallons of warm-hot water and stay in 20-30 minutes.

What I have discovered from clients over the years:

  1. Clients are afraid of salt….delete all misinformation again around salt.
Dr. William Conners of the Oregon Health Sciences University showed that salt in the diet actually reduces high blood pressure.  He was able to show that those that did not have salt in their diet; their blood pressure was not reduced.
  1. Salt deficiencies look like:
insomnia, kidney pain, fatigue, chronic low-grade infections, lack of digestive juices in the stomach or allergy symptoms.
  1. If one of my clients has eaten meat or salty foods for a long time; they
May also develop kidney weakness.  Medications create kidney weakness.

What is the function of kidneys in the body?

The body produces waste substances as carbohydrates, protein and fats are metabolized.  Every second 280,000 cells die which also produces waste products.  If these waste substances stay in the body they will make the body fluids acidic causing nerves malfunction and vital organ malfunction.

The composition of blood must always remain constant.  Blood volume must also remain constant.  If blood volume is too high, heart failure might result.  Just know that our blood is used over and over again.  Some blood is eliminated and replaced but not much.  The blood has to be purified and kept constant in composition and volume.  Body function can’t be suspended even for one minute for the blood to be cleansed.  All repairs and adjustments to the blood must be made while the engine is still running.


Blood enters the kidneys and passes through many ducts and tubes and circulates around tissues and membranes that are capable of reabsorbing or passing dissolved solids, water, minerals and glucose.  In adults, 125 milliliters (1/8 quart) of liquid per minute is filtered through the kidneys, about 180 liters or 45 gallons a day which 178 liters or 44.5 gallons must be reabsorbed.

Weak kidneys means that the membranes in the kidneys have become weak and can’t do the job reabsorbing essential substances such as minerals.  So, too much of these essential substances are lost.  These membranes become weak from being overworked by too much fluid to process or too many waste products to eliminate.


Another function of the kidneys related to reabsorbing minerals is maintaining an alkaline condition in the blood.  Calcium, magnesium, potassium and most importantly, sodium have to be reabsorbed by the kidneys to maintain an alkaline condition in the blood.  If the kidneys are weak, these minerals are lost in the urine.

The Health Benefits of Fresh Ginger Root




In Chinese medicine, fresh ginger root is a catalyst or stimulant for our body’s circulation system and blood.  It is used to activate medicines in the roots and foods.  It is delicious in small finely grated form as a topping on salads and foods and will increase your warmth in the cold seasons.

The elder generation use ginger root by soaking their hands and feet in hot water with ginger to stimulate circulation. This helps with treating arthritic conditions.

1.        Aids in digestion                *Perhaps the best root for digestion
2.       .Alleviates High Blood Pressure

**improves and stimulates circulation and relaxes the muscles surrounding the blood vessels, facilitating the flow of blood throughout the body.

**Pregnant Women—ginger treats nausea and Morning sickness.  Ginger root is world re-known for treating sickness. Ginger relaxes the stomach and relieves the feeling of nausea.  Remember, the abdominal area is our second brain.  It is comprised of 20 million neurons behind the stomach.

3.       Lower LDL Cholesterol* reduces (bad) cholesterol, reducing the risk of heart dysfunction.
4.       Helps treat ulcers
5.       Anti-inflammatory
6.        Helps arthritis
7.        Colds, Flu
8.        Immunity Boosting.








Monday, 14 September 2015

Behavioral Barometer-Depression and Mental Illness

Behavioral Barometer

1.        This is the instructions for the tool I spoke about for easily eliminating the negative emotional experiences you have had.  Please google behavioral barometer; it will come up.  The Color images are too small for copying but will come up for you and you can enlarge the size.  Hold in your mind, this question: “What is the priority negative experiences that needs to be cleared?”

2.        Ask your Higher Self (Divine Intuition) or God for guidance or muscle test or use a pendulum to determine what your negative emotions are. Just sit with the colored chart (Behavioral Barometer) in front of you. Take  3 deep breathes into the belly to relax and clear yourself.  When you open your eyes and you will go right to the negative  belief program that needs to go.  Trust, it always works.

  Remember, the first color you see is the section you are working within.
Once, you find the right section, notice there are 8 items. 
Let a number from 1-8 pop into your mind. You read the barometer words, left (1) to right (2), down one line- left (3) to right (4)etc.

Once you find the right negative emotion to clear:

4.       Hold your head on your center line.  Place your entire palm across your forehead and the other hand on the back of your head.  Chin level.  Slowly circle your eyes in a 360 finding the eye direction which strains the eye muscles or vision blurs or goes dark.
5.       Then say for 1-3 minutes; I FEEL------------------------, BIG BREATHE, I FEEL-------------.
6.       Take some water.
7.       Same eye direction…..Hold the eye and head direction and say the OPPOSITE WORD (on the left hand side of the Barometer)      I AM--------------for 1-3 minutes.
8.       Big breathes between each I AM statement.

Please note that usually people feel light headed during this process; have no fear…you are creating new neural synapses pathways and getting out of the old ruts and connections.  Water is needed to facilitate this change as the neurotransmitters move of the medium of water.  As you know, we are at least 73% water.  A fantastic medium.  Have fun!   This process will always bring you back to peace and strength.

Sunday, 13 September 2015

Depression/Mental Illness-Autumn Chinese element of Metal



Hello friends…Welcome to Autumn!  I promised you more on Depression.  In Chinese medicine, Grief and depression are a part of the Autumn or Lung and Colon Season-Autumn.   The seeds we have sown, now we shall reap.
Autumn is a season of gathering nature’s product before winter’s rest.  Autumn marks the beginning of a cycle of personal turning within; its first official day is September 23.  The equinox day, when’s night’s darkness equals the length of day.
Metal element in Chinese Five Element theory is associated with autumn and represents the mineral ores and salts of the Earth.  These function in creating structure and communication.  For instance, metal wires establish connections and conduct electricity.  Your brain and nervous system is analogous to electrical wiring.  Metal in Chinese system is similar to aspects of Air in astrology.  Both Air and Metal energies are expressed in the inner workings and activities of the mind, developing ideas, writing and speaking.  Degrees of mental clarity can be compared to Metal’s varying forms, which range from crude, impure and dense or to a shining, crystal clear gem.  Whiteness in the facial pallor can represent a metal imbalance, mainly seen in the skin around the eyes and cheeks.  This may be especially noticeable in someone who has had a bad cold, or acute or chronic lung problems or in someone who has recently been experiencing great worry, grief or sorrow, the emotions corresponding to the Metal element.
These feelings can be a healthy response, but if extreme or prolonged may injure the lungs or large intestine, the Metal organs.  Worry may cause poor, shallow breathing or the holding back of proper elimination, both important functions of the lungs and large intestine.  The sense organ for the Metal element is the nose and associated sense is smell. 
Metal’s body fluid is mucus and the climate is dryness.  However, extreme dryness can injure this element, as can its opposite climate, dampness.  The mucous membranes contain 2 types of cells:  serous-producing a watery fluid and mucous cells, which produce a thicker secretion.  It is the mucus that protects and coats the mucous linings, while the serous fluid helps wash debris and bacteria from these sensitive membranes.  Normally, there is a higher percentage of serous cells along the linings.  Excessive mucus is actually a relative state of dryness from inadequate water intake, too much mucous producing food or a Metal imbalance.
You have a choice, you can be open and joyful, welcoming each breathe and each change in life by looking toward the new experience and growth it will bring.  Or if you dwell on sadness, you are open to injure the Metal element and in turn to colds, lung ailments and digestive problems.  Your bowel habits reflect your approach to change; you hold on to fecal matter until you even experience pain or you can freely let go of your waste products.  The “holding on” occurs not just in the rectum but throughout the body, involving muscular tightness, mental tension and other restrictions of bodily functions.  If you are “holding on” please re-train yourself to more easily and efficiently process your foods, thoughts and emotions.
Regular bowel movements occur naturally after eating a meal since the gastrocolic reflex causes contraction of the rectum in response to distention of the stomach.  This is true particularly in children.  Congesting diets high in meats, dairy and refined foods and poor eating habits, like fast foods interfere with our regular bowel movements.  Congestion of the large intestine often leads to the displacement and loss of tone of this organ and is the cause of many pains and illnesses.  General abdominal discomfort and low and mid-backaches are often referred from the distention of the large intestine.  In the Chinese metal system, congestion in the large intestine manifests in the neck, head, nose and sinuses.  Pressure in the head and sinuses, headaches, sore throats as well as crankiness, lack of energy and even lack of enthusiasm for life can come from a back-up in this organ.
This is exactly how I developed cancer.  My large intestine was not releasing the waste products so my blood became highly acidic.  Within 2 years of changing my diet and life perspective, my blood was restored to alkaline and I loved life.  You must be aware by now that cancer cells cannot form in alkaline blood.  We are designed to be 7.3 ph alkaline.  We are healthy and happy.
This Depression/mental illness information will continue so in the meantime:
1.    Detox your body-In Autumn, the body automatically goes into detoxification   whether you realize it or not.  Why not support this process and recover your mental clarity.  Please see YOU ARE ALL SANPAKU (brown rice fast) ebook on karencruickshank.blogspot.ca
2.    For detoxifying yourself of negative emotions stay posted for the Behavioral Barometer as it is such a quick and easy tool to eliminate these past negative experiences.
3.    To regain the tone of the large intestine, please chew at least 32 times.  Please read Power Eating by Muramoto on the blog.
4.   If you want a quick way to establish your Acid or Alkaline level of your body; you can buy Litmus paper strips either at the drug store or at a nursery.

Sending you Divine Love and light til next time.