Spring Has Sprung! Early Spring Blooms

April 11, 2022April 11, 2022 MstldelanoLeave a comment

I spent part of my week bemoaning the haggard look of my yard. With the warmer weather and more sunshine, my grass has been flourishing… And so have my “weeds”.

I’m inclined to quickly schedule someone to tend to the yard but, as a baby herbalist, I know that the new growth cropping up in my yard has a purpose. I also know that it’s to my benefit to be very familiar with local “weeds”, especially the ones in my own yard. So, before I get the first lawn mowing of the season, I decided to learn more about these early spring weeds.

I have a ton of purple dead nettle in my yard. These pretty little plants are among the first to shoot up when the seasons change. I harvested some and dried them, and I plan to try making a tea with them. These are purported to help with seasonal allergies and are also supposedly anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, diuretic, purgative, etc.,. Luckily, these plants – and their lookalike, henbit – are edible. Unluckily, I dislike the flavor of fresh purple dead nettle. I’m hoping that the dried leaves can be combined with another herb to make a pleasant tea.

I found a narrow leaf plantain coming up near my driveway. I don’t plan on doing anything that requires me to use plantain, as this is commonly used to numb the sting from stinging nettle and from insect bites and stings. But, it’s good to have it nearby, just in case I get a bug bite that needs attention.

My yard also gets quite a few mock strawberries (snake berries) later in the season. These little devils are harmless and edible but they have no flavor. For now, I’m seeing their pretty flowers and sighing about how those little tasteless berries will be popping up soon. Though the resulting fruit tastes like water, the blooms are sunny spots in my yard.

Finally, my favorite weed has appeared! Violets are all over one particular patch of grass, and I love it! These delicate blooms add such pretty colors to my yard. I have “confederate violets) a cultivated subgroup of the larger blue violet family. These are edible but I’m not interested in consuming them: I just love to look at them.

I’m looking forward to seeing what will bloom at the end of this month, and in May. I planted a few seeds, so I’m hoping that those flowers will be blooming in a few weeks.

Did you do any planting or foraging yet? I’d love to hear all about it!

health · life curation

Fibro Friday – Let’s Talk About Soursop

March 11, 2022March 10, 2022 MstldelanoLeave a comment

Happy Fibro Friday! I hope you all have had a great week. I’m recovering from a mild flare and I’m finally coming out of it, which makes me happy. This is one of those unavoidable things that comes with fibro: even when you’ve done your best to manage your symptoms, you may still have occasional flares. My flare was triggered by inconsistent weather patterns, because when the air goes from hot to cool to warm to cold, my body goes haywire.

Part of what really helps with my flare is getting enough rest, but, as you all know, rest can be challenging when you have fibro. One of the things I use to help get deeper, more restorative sleep is soursop leaf tea. There are a lot of benefits that you can reap from drinking soursop leaf tea, because it’s a highly nutritious plant. The fruit of the soursop plant is delicious and there is a strong case for it being antibacterial, antimicrobial, and anticarcinogenic. But we’re not talking about the fruit: the leaves are what interest me most (when it comes to fibro).

I first learned about soursop leaf tea from Debbie over at The Jamaican Cooking Journey. I’m inserting her video about soursop tea for your convenience:

When she mentioned that soursop tea is good for your nerves, I knew I had to try it! So I did, and I’m so glad that I took a chance on it. It helps me to sleep like a baby! Remeber, fibromyalgia is a neurological issue, not a musculoskeletal one, so by address nerve dysfunction, you can reduce or eliminate most of your symptoms.

Because I love science, here are some articles about soursop (graviola) that are worth checking out: WebMD article; Anti-microbial Efficacy of Soursop Leaf Extract (Annona muricata) on Oral Pathogens: An In-vitro Study; Anticancer Properties of Graviola (Annona muricata): A Comprehensive Mechanistic Review. I believe in doing due diligence and seeing what the science says, and I encourage you all to do the same.

I am posting my video that I did on this topic, and in that video, I share my results from consuming soursop leaf tea:

Please note, I am not a doctor and I’m not offering medical advice or solutions. That being said, I’ve enjoyed using soursop leaf tea as part of my regimen to encourage deeper and more restorative sleep. Try it and let me know your results!

life curation · relaxation · style

Making a House a Home

August 30, 2021August 30, 2021 MstldelanoLeave a comment

Happy Monday, friends! I trust that your weekend was safe, happy, and relaxing. It was another hot weekend in Virginia (my favorite type of weather!) so the weekend started and ended on a great note, as far as I’m concerned.

Today’s post is the first domestic one that I’ve done in quite some time. There would have been far more of these sort of posts this summer, but I ended up not planting my garden, so there were no flower or herb pictures to share. Also, a lot of my time during the pandemic was spent care for my grandmother and great-aunt. For that reason, I didn’t have much time to focus on the “fun” domestic activities that I’ll be talking about today.

That being said, my life is returning to normal. My grandmother and my great-aunt returned to their home, my health started to improve, and I finally had more free time to explore my creativity leanings. This newfound time freedom gave me the space to play around with craft ideas that, at one time, I didn’t think I’d have the time or energy to do.

So, in the upcoming weeks and months, I’ll be sharing all sorts of domestic posts and videos. I have an upcoming video where I feature a do-it-yourself autumn wreath that is beautiful, easy and inexpensive. I’ve also been tinkering with some foraging and wildcrafting recipes that I’m eager to share with you all. Today, however, I’m going to share a super-simple autumn-inspired tea recipe that I filmed last year, that will be perfect once the air starts to cool and the leaves start turning to red and gold.

I hope you all enjoy the video! I’ll talk to you all tomorrow. Take care!

health

Fibro Fridays: The Singh Khalsa Protocol

July 2, 2021July 2, 2021 MstldelanoLeave a comment

It’s another fabulous Fibro Friday, and I’m excited to bring you another protocol that may offer you (and me too, hopefully) some additional insight into how to best treat and minimize your fibromyalgia symptoms. Last week, I shared the Liptan Protocol, as promoted by Dr. Ginevra Liptan. This week, we’ll examine the protocol of another health expert.

The Singh Khalsa Protocol is the recommended routine as taught by Karta Purkh Singh (KP) Khalsa, former president of the American Herbalist Guild. He is a dietitian-nutritionist and herbalist, with over 45 years of experience as an herbalist. Within herbalism, his specialty is ayurveda, and many of his teachings reflect ayurvedic principles, especially when it comes to personal constitution (whether someone is vata, pitta or kapha) and conditions within the body (dampness, dryness, etc.). Singh Khalsa is also a published author, focusing on healing the body and improving overall quality of life.

I first learned about Singh Khalsa through a free webinar as published by the American Herbalist Guild. Since it was designed as instructional material, it is quite a bit longer than the video posted about the Liptan Protocol. Due to the length of the video, I will highlight some key takeaways from the video, as well as share a briefer interview with Singh Khalsa, where he discusses the treatment of neurological disorders (which most experts agree covers fibromyalgia).

As noted by Singh Khalsa, some aspects of his approach to treating fibromyalgia are as follows:

Understand that fibromyalgia IS NOT an inflammatory condition in and of itself (though there may be some concurrent inflammation that makes pain symptoms worse).
An elimination diet can help reduce food allergies and food sensitivities, which can exacerbate symptoms. He recommends an oligoantigenic diet to start the food elimination journey.
Fibromyalgia is considered a “cold” disease per ayurveda.
Symptoms can be improved through a variety of herbal preparations, including extracts from meadowsweet, hops, notopterygium root, kava root and others.
Effectively managing fibromyalgia requires a total lifestyle change.
His approach addresses treating the nervous and endocrine systems, where the actual dysfunction (disorder) is rooted. He remains adamant that treating the syndrome like a musculoskeletal issues ensures a far less effective treatment results.
His treatment approach is THRIVE: Touch (massage and bodywork), Herbs and hormones, Rest, rebalance and sleep, Immunity, Vitamins and nutrition, and Exercise. He prioritizes sleep over all other treatments, and recommends that people with fibromyalgia “bank” sleep (sleep more than the amount that the patient feels is needed), because more sleep helps to heal the body.

As you can see, many of the aspects of the Singh Khalsa Protocol are similar to the Liptan Protocol (especially as regards the emphasis on sleep and overhauling the patient’s lifestyle). I love that both protocols complement one another, and there are no points that are in conflict. I’ve taken some notes from Singh Khalsa (as well as Dr. Liptan) and I’m encouraged by the fact that he and Dr. Liptan both seem fairly confident that, by adhering to their protocols, it is possible to restore the body to it’s pre-fibro level of functioning, though, as Singh Khalsa mentions, the person may be a bit more “fragile” after recovery. The overall end goal is to live a full and happy life without pain, and it is possible according to Singh Khalsa.

Here’s the lecture taught by Singh Khalsa at Loyola Marymount University:

Reviewing this protocol has given me much food for thought: it’s a good thing that this is a holiday weekend! I hope you all have a safe and fun Fourth of July (for my USA friends) and a great weekend, no matter where you are. Take care, and I’ll talk to you all on Monday!