Detox With Ear Acupuncture And Herbal Tea

In Chinese medicine, ear detox treatment consists of five points, which balance and support detox organs and systems of detox. We needle shen men, which balances the nervous system, sympathetic point, which balances the endocrine system, and then the 3 organs of detoxification; lungs, liver and kidneys.

These points can help when the body is detoxing from anything physical to emotional. These points are used in hospital detox clinics as part of the support for people detoxing from drugs and alcohol. They can also be used when people are detoxing from sugar, caffeine, nicotine, wheat, dairy, or even unhealthy relationships, lifestyle choices, or toxic thoughts and self-talk. Needling these points bring immediate and lasting balance and relief.

Another way to support the body with detox is with herbal tea. We can choose herbs which mirror and support the points and organ systems chosen:

• oatstraw for the nervous system
• cleavers for men and red raspberry leaves for women, to support the endocrine system
• nettles to support the kidneys
• dandelion to support liver
• mullein to support lungs

We can choose one at a time, mix and match, and add things like lemon balm, spearmint and peppermint for flavor.

Many of these plants can be found right outside most people's doors. They can be harvested, dried and stored to have available year round. We have a sister website, Food Under Foot, filled with information, pictures, videos and recipes for identifying and using wild plants. Cleavers, nettles, dandelions and mullein are easy spring weeds to find.

Be well,
~ Melissa and David Sokulski
Acupuncturists

Read these articles by Melissa Sokulski, L.Ac. in Natural News for more information:

• Safe Nutritious Purslane Proves To Be As Powerful As Western Drugs

• Wild Burdock Root Cleanses Blood, Clears Acne and Speeds Weight Loss

• Rejuvenate Your Liver This Spring With Dandelions 

Foraging Friday: Cracking Black Walnuts

Here is our first video! We wanted to show you how to get into those black walnuts that you may have foraged last month. We hope you enjoy it:



Also, our November e-newsletter is due out any day! If you are not on our email list, please sign up now! We will also be sending subscribers a special report: The Ten Most Important Things you can do to Improve Your Health within the week, and you won't want to miss it.

Thanks so much!
~ Melissa

Foraging Friday

It's foraging Friday, and today we did indeed go foraging. Above is a picture taken a week or so ago of me and Ella cracking into our black walnuts (she with a hammer, me with a rock)...I LOVE them!

Today we hiked around Frick Park and not only found an enormous abundance of black walnuts, but we finally came across (and tasted) some hickory nuts. To me, they tasted like black walnuts, only a bit sweeter.

And, we have to send a special thank you to our friend Grace, who graciously called to offer us some deliciously ripe paw paws that her friend Taylor had found while in Berkeley Springs, WVa! Thanks for sharing!

Foraging Friday: Staghorn Sumac

Today we went out and gathered staghorn sumac, to make a lemonade-type of drink for people to sample at the Wild Edibles Walk tomorrow. (We forgot the camera when harvesting, but the above link takes you to Wikipedia...great pics and info.)



Above are the sumac clusters on the table, and below I've put them in a jar.



I'm filling the jar with cold water (cold water preserves the vitamin C). I'll fill the jar to the top and let it sit overnight. Tomorrow morning I'll strain and add sweetener like honey, agave nectar or maple syrup to taste.



The Wild Edible Walk is tomorrow (Saturday, September 27)! We will have the walk rain or shine, unless it is a total downpour or there is thunder and lightning. We're meeting at 10 am on the south side riverfront park...the upper trail. If you have a question about the weather and the walk, call our office after 9 am Saturday, and we'll have a message on the machine letting you know whether the walk is on or not.

We hope to see you soon!

~ Melissa

Way down yonder in the paw paw patch...

We found paw paws today! We were in the patch yesterday, but didn't see any. We double checked that the trees were paw paws, then went back today with our good friends Wendi and KDCat from purejeevan.com, and we struck gold!



Here are three paw paws - all were soft and ripe and delicious! Most others we found weren't ripe yet, still too early. The ripe ones were sweet and soft and tasted like cardamom with a hint of lemon.



Yesterday I found some interesting information on paw paws on line, in this blog.

I do still have one unripe paw paw that Dave knocked off the tree (thinking it was ripe) that I will bring with me to the Wild Edible Walk on Saturday, Sept. 27. They look like green mangoes, but are actually native to this part of the world. It's so nice to eat delicious, seasonal, local, native, WILD fruit!!

...It is curious that I've never seen paw paws, mulberries, or black walnuts - all local - at any farmers markets or even the coop. Yet bananas, of course, are everywhere, all the time. Hmmmmmm...

Black Walnuts

Wow, a whole week went by since the last post? How did that happen?

This past week we foraged for Black Walnuts, which are in season right now! They are falling off their trees and they look like tennis balls on the ground (same color, shape and approximate size.) Unfortunately I didn't take pictures (I will next time!) but you can find out more about harvesting black walnuts from wildman Steve Brill's website (pictures, description, recipes - click plants, then black walnut.) There is also good info with pictures on black walnuts here.

You can actually make a little money gathering these and selling them to hulling stations: about $10 - $13 per one hundred pounds (hulled). However, if you take the time and energy to shell them, you can actually sell them at markets and such for $10/pound. (We just plan on eating ours.)

We found them in our neighborhood around the South Side Slopes, and today we went to Schenley park and found a great tree there (on a little out of the way path by a creek, so beautiful!)

We step on the green shells to get the walnut out, then we gathered them into a bag (wearing gloves, and even so, my fingers got stained.) We'll dry them and then get a nutcracker and nutmeat pick to open them and extract the meat.

We'll have some to demonstrate at our Wild Edible Walk this coming Saturday, September 27! Unfortunately we didn't see any Black Walnut trees down on the southside riverfront trail, but we'll bring the green walnuts and once you see them you'll be able to find them yourselves...they are very easy to spot once you know what you are looking for!

And there a still a few spots left in our Raw Foods Dinner and Demo, coming up this Wednesday, Sept 24. Please give us a call if you want to come: (412) 381-0116. I really feel it will be a very fun evening! The menu is:

• green smoothie
  
• butternut squash soup
  
• raw burritos with spiced nutmeat, corn salsa, and guacamole
  
• tomato basil salad
  
• nutmilk chai
  
• fruit with chocolate sauce
  

Finally, a woman contacted me who REVERSED her diabetes at the Tree of Life Refuvenation Center in Patagonia, AZ. Her acupuncturist has some reservations about staying on an all raw diet through a cold winter, and she wanted input from me (as an acupuncturist familiar with raw foods.) You can read about her and my response here.

Til next time ~ (which will hopefully be sooner than this last time, and include pictures!)

~ Melissa

Foraging Friday - Monday Edition

We had such a beautiful time camping at Raccoon Creek State Park this weekend for Ella's birthday. Yesterday we went on a hike to find the Healing Mineral Springs, a spa destination site of the 1800's. On the way we were all stung by this plant:



Ella got welts on her leg, Dave on his arm. I was stung as I pinched the flowers in my fingers, explaining why it was not nettles, even though it looked like it. Well, it IS nettles! The nettles I am familiar with have flowers that bloom up and down, while these flowers spread out. So, I learn something new every day.

We rubbed plantain leaves on the stings and welts which caused the pain and itching to stop and the welts to disappear. The book at the part office said you could rub jewelweed on as a remedy as well. Once we found the iron-rich cold mineral springs we went under them and any residual anything completely disappeared.

But we were more careful walking back, as the mile+ trail was literally overgrown with flowering, stinging NETTLES!

Foraging Friday: Plantain leaves - Plantago

Plantain (Plantago) is one of the most common edible and medicinal weeds around. It is definitely in your yard (unless it has been chemically treated to kill weeds.) It's along roadsides, growing through the cement, and anywhere you find grass. There are two common kinds around here: Plantago major, with broad round leaves and a long green flower stalk (flowering now), and Plantago minor, with thinner leaves and a long stalk which has a smaller top, encircled by little white flowers (like a UFO).

Plantago Major:



Plantago minor:



Pictures aren't totally clear...you may do better with an internet image search, or Wikipedia. The blue flower in the background is not plantain...it's a bachelor button that found it's way into the picture. (Also edible.)

The leaves are edible and can be used in salads, though now that the plant is flowering the strings in the leaves get tougher and they are less tender and enjoyable for salads. I marinated this bunch that I picked the other day:



...and put them in the dehydrator for delicious chips. (Marinade = olive oil, lemon juice, tamari, garlic and chili powder.) I have also been adding them to smoothies. Notice the parallel veins of the leaves - that is one way to identify them.

Medicinally they can be chewed up and then placed on bee stings to take the pain away. You can also steep the leaves in olive oil for 2-6 weeks. The oil is very soothing to the skin and relieves itches; great to put on insect bites. In Chinese medicine the seeds are used to treat urinary and bladder infections, and also for constipation.

The book Edible Wild Plants by Elias and Dykeman states that there are no poisonous look-alikes. Still, it is best to have someone show you the plant before you begin to use it if you are unsure about identification. Plants are powerful medicine! Please visit our services page if you'd like me to come and show you and your family and friends what is growing near you.

(By the way, this is different from and unrelated to the plantain that is like a banana. That genus is Musa, while the genus of the green I am talking about is Plantago.)

Foraging Friday: Super Greens!

Here is a mix of greens, weeds, and edible flowers that I have been making green smoothies with every morning and evening! For people who read both my journals, I won't repeat myself here, but if you want to know more about what is in the mix of greens and wild edibles, or know more about the green smoothie challenge, please visit Melissa's Raw Food and Juice Journal.

At the moment, I am eating lots of wild greens: lamb's quarters, shepard's purse, red clover (greens and blossoms), and lady's thumb...which has sparked a bit of interest around here when I noticed it is the same genus as He Shou Wu (or Fo Ti), which I am also taking as a Chinese Herb. Hmmmm, and here it is growing wild all over my garden (not he shou wu, but it's relative, lady's thumb.) So I am looking more into that and how it is and isn't similar. From the picture in my Chinese Herb book, he shou wu looks more similar to another relative that grows like a weed (it is a weed!) around Pittsburgh: Japanese Knotweed. So I will study further and report back. I'll also take pictures.

He Shou Wu (Fo Ti) is Polygonum multiflori, and has lots of those anti-aging properties I talked about in an earlier blog post, and I am taking it specifically for those properties of helping kidney energy: reproductive system, teeth, and early graying of the hair. (The name translates as "Mr. Wu's black hair".)

Lady's thumb is Polygonum persicaria and that has been going into my smoothie.

Japanese Knotweed is Polygonum cuspidatum, I have not eaten this yet, but we see it all along the roadside and riverside around here.

Have a great weekend!

Foraging Friday (Sunday edition) - Mulberries!

It's mulberry season!

Pittsburgh is so full of mulberry trees, it is amazing. Though the really amazing thing is that no one knows about them. When you find a tree, it is likely to be full of ripe, unpicked berries, waiting just for you! They look just like blackberries, (but they are on a tree). The seeds aren't nearly as big as blackberries though (so don't get stuck in your teeth) and mulberries are even more sweet. When you come across an area of ground stained with purple berries, look up, because you've likely found a mulberry tree. There are lots along the river trail on the south side (between 18th street all the way to Hot Metal Bridge). If you are unsure about identifying them, please consult a guide book, or ask someone who knows. I am available to lead wild edible walks...if you and some friends want me to come and show you what is edible near you, just check out our services page. I love doing these walks, they are really lots of fun.

I just wrote all about the herbal uses of the mulberry tree in our June newsletter (just sent out). If you'd like to be added to our mailing list, click here.

Here is an excerpt:

In Chinese medicine, the mulberry (the actual berry), sang shen, is considered a blood and yin tonic - very nourishing and strengthening overall. It is used to treat dizziness, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), insomnia...and premature graying of the hair. Other parts of the plant are also used medicinally: The leaf - known in Chinese as sang ye - is used to treat cough with sore throat and fever, while the mulberry twig - sang zhi, is used to treat painful joints/arthritis, especially in the upper extremities. The bark, sang bai pi, is used to stop coughing and wheezing while also promoting urination to treat edema. Finally, the silkworm, whose only food is the mulberry tree, is also used as an herb in Chinese Medicine. Silk Worm, or jiang can, is used to treat seizures and facial paralysis, especially in children.

In Chinese Medicine, most herbs are used dried (versus fresh from the tree - mainly for the convenience of having herbs at your disposal year round) and in formulas, which are prescribed by an acupuncturist or herbalist and filled at an herbal pharmacy. You then cook the herbs into a strong tea called a decoction, and drink a cup twice a day (unless other specific instructions are called for.) When you have fresh mulberries on hand, there is nothing better than eating them right from the tree!

Also included in the newsletter was an article about the fire element (Heart and Small Intestines) and how to keep it in balance, and an article about goji berries.

Below is a picture of Dave and Ella picking mulberries from a tree in Polish Hill (taken two years ago! Time flies...)

Foraging Friday: Juice Feasting and Wild Foods

Below is a blurb from the blog I've been keeping to follow my juice feast: Melissa's Juice Journal. Today was the six week mark! The top picture below was taken today, the one below it was just six weeks ago, before juice feasting. If you want to know more about the what, why and how of what I'm doing, I hope you'll check out the blog.





Top: Today, after 6 weeks of juice feasting; Below is the before picture

Today's weight: 161 lbs
Starting weight: 182 lbs

Today's juices:

• almost a quart juice of a bunch of oranges with water and bee pollen and chlorophyll.
  
• 1 quart beet, carrot, apple and greens with hemp (very good)
  
• 1 quart watermelon with chlorophyll
  
• 1 1/2 quarts green veggie juice: greens (I'll write about them below), yellow pepper, ginger, garlic, onion, tomato, cucumber, celery, cilantro, parsley.
  

Above are my garden greens and weeds that went into my juice today. You will see some nice big red clover blossoms on top! Today I've included information about some of the herbal greenery that goes into my drinks: comfrey, plantain, borage, red clover, lamb's quarters.

Comfrey: Peter Holmes, in The Energetics of Western Herbs Volume II, writes: "There is no doubt that Comfrey has always held pride of place as the foremost botanical for promoting tissue healing." It is mainly used for treating bone fractures, hemorrhages, wounds and ulcers, as well as all types of lung ailments, especially bronchitis. It is also particularly effective in treating painful arthritis, gout and the like.

Plantain: In Holmes' book plantain is categorized as "clears heat and toxins, reduces infection, inflammation and relieves swelling; promotes detoxification, removes lymph congestion and benefits the skin."

Plantain: Plantago Minor

Borage: Similar to comfrey, borage also clears heat in the lungs. It also relieves constipation and promotes lactation (great for me!), supports the heart and lifts the spirit. Nice. I had some in my juice today...I'll be sure to add some more leaves tomorrow. (The blue star shaped flowers haven't bloomed just yet in my garden.)

Red Clover flower: According to Holmes, red clover flower promotes detoxification, clears damp (a term used in Chinese medicine), dissolves deposits, relieves eczema and reduces tumors; promotes urination and relieves irritation.

red clover blossom on the left, lamb's quarters to the right

Lamb's Quarters: my herb book does not contain lamb's quarters...but this is one of my favorite edibles! Here is what wildman's website says: "This European relative of spinach and beets, which grows throughout the North America, bears large quantities of edible, spinach-flavored leaves you can collect from mid-spring to late fall. It's one of the best sources of beta-carotene, calcium, potassium, and iron in the world; also a great source of trace minerals, B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, and fiber."

close up of lamb's quarters