5 Warm And Healing Drinks To Have During Self-Quarantine

The world is going through a peculiar time right now. Coronavirus has claimed many lives worldwide and the numbers are pretty grim back here in kenya too. To address the threat, a nationwide lockdown was announced on 24th March. Everyone is advised to stay indoors and refrain from stepping out for a period of 21 days as a precautionary measure to fight the virus. Practicing social distancing and self-isolation could break the chain of infection soon, as per experts. If you are wondering what can you do to make the most of the self-quarantine, i have some handy tips. Since it is also the time of season change, it is a good idea to tend towards your immunity. Drinking warm and healing beverages is a traditional remedy to keep nasal congestion and risk of cold and cough at bay.

Turmeric Water: Turmeric is amazing for its potent anti-inflammatory properties. It is also packed with antioxidants that help curb free radical activity and strengthen immunity. Curcumin, the active compound of turmeric, also contains anti-microbial properties. It may not be a tasty drink but once you get used to drinking it youl be good.

Warm Water With Honey and Lemon: This potion has all it takes to detox you and give a natural boost to your immunity. Honey happens to be a traditional cough suppressant; it also has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. Lemon on the other hand is enriched with vitamin C that could rev up your immune system. Also, if your looking for a natural glow and even skintone this potion is amazing in doing so. I personal drink warm lemon water daily, without the honey and my overrall health is good.

Green Tea: .Green tea leaves do not undergo oxidation and withering process that is used to make black tea, and are therefore, considered to be healthier than others. It is a zero calorie drink, provided it is enjoyed only with water without milk and sugar. It is also an incredible source of antioxidants, drinking it warm and fresh could have a soothing effect on your nasal tracts. Again, i drink green tea almost everyday, and living in kenya we have some of the best teas all over the world. Kericho gold pure green tea is one of my favorite brands.

Ginger is rich in health-promoting compounds like vitamin C, amino acids, and various trace minerals. Ginger has been used for centuries as a natural remedy for many ailments — it is, in fact, regarded as one of the healthiest spices around! And one of the best ways to enjoy these benefits is by drinking a cup of ginger tea. When making yourself a cup enusre you use fresh ginger as its more potent as opposed the packaged power ginger. Ginger can Soothe an upset stomach, support digestion, ease menstrual pain, regulate blood sugar levels and etc.

Garlic is a popular ingredient in most world cuisines. even in the ancient world garlic was recognized for its infection fighting properties. research suggests that garlic can lower blood pressure and help in slowing down the hardening of arteries. You can eat garlic raw but if the taste is too intense for you, opting to boil water with garlic is an alternative. I have also seen people do garlic shots- so basically you want to blend garlic with little water then drink!

7 Benefits of Dandelion Greens

Here are the top 7 reasons I came up with for getting dandelion greens into my juicing and food plan.

1. They are bitterWhy would that be a reason? The bitters are excellent liver cleansers. Since the liver is considered the ‘engine’ of the body and performs over 500 different functions, keeping it working efficiently is an excellent idea!When the liver becomes sluggish and overloaded, it cannot process fat the way it was designed to do. Cleaning the liver can help unwanted fat melt off of all the right places.
2. Dandelion greens are rich in vitamins and mineralsThe vitamins and antioxidants present in dandelion green make it wonderful for the vision, skin and mucous membranes. They contain more vitamin A than almost any other vegetable.
3. Possible cancer fighterStudies have shown dandelion root tea to be excellent for leukemia patients, triggering a ‘kill switch’ on leukemia cells.
4. Excellent diureticDandelion greens are wonderful for cleaning the kidneys, thus helping flush excess fluid from the body. Herbalists even recommend them for helping relieve kidney stones.
5. Dandelion greens help stimulate bile productionAs I mentioned earlier, dandelion greens are excellent liver cleansers. They also stimulate the flow of bile, working hand in hand to help the gall bladder as well.
6. Digestive AidBy stimulating the production of bile, dandelion greens in turn help serve as a mild laxative. They also help balance the good bacteria in the intestines.
7. Overall immune system boosterBy helping digestion, loading the body with vitamins and minerals, cleaning the liver and kidneys and even regulating blood pressure, dandelion green builds the immune system in numerous ways.

Dandelion Shots: A fast and effective way to get your dandelion greens!

Last year while I was in California, I visited numerous juice bars. One thing they all had in common? Dandelion shots! I had never thought of that before.

My short video shares information on making the best dandelion shots ever! This even has a special ingredient to drive all those vitamins and minerals deeper into the body….can you guess what it is?

How to Cleanse the Kidney

Whenever I am about to work on a part of my body, whether to do a cleanse or just make an organ stronger and healthier, I always find it helpful to think about what that organ does. It motivates me to try harder and put my heart into doing my cleanse or fast.

Every single hour, the kidneys filter every drop of blood in our body.  In one day, the kidneys process roughly about 200 quarts of blood, sifting an average of about 2 quarts of extra water and waste material which becomes urine. In addition to that, the kidneys release hormones that regulate blood pressure, help maintain calcium for bones and stimulate the bone marrow to make red blood cells.

Yet often times, we don’t think about the raw materials we give our kidneys to perform these incredible feats on a daily basis. Drinks loaded with chemicals and sugar are a poor substitute for pure water or fresh vegetable juice.

I like to think of doing a kidney cleanse as sort of an ‘oil change’ for my body. I tend to hang onto my cars for many years, and yet I have already owned several over the course of my life. Imagine going 100,000 miles without ever changing the oil in your car! We get only one body, yet we often don’t even think about doing a flush or a cleanse for an organ designed to last a lifetime.

With all of this in mind, I would briefly like to explain how I do a kidney flush/juice fast.

What You Will Need

In order to do this cleanse, you will need to order a few things ahead of time.

Herbal Items

• Kidney/bladder tea
• Kidney/bladder tincture
• Blood/lymph cleanse tincture
• Superfood (this is an optional green drink powder with wheat grass, chlorella, algae, etc. I prefer to use it to make my cleanse more effective)
• Intestinal #1, if you need help keeping your bowels moving during the cleanse.

Grocery Items

• 5 lemons and 3 limes for the kidney flush drink
• cayenne pepper
• Distilled water
• Produce to juice (this is up to you)
• (optional) Potassium broth produce if you choose to make it (ingredients below)

How long does the cleanse last?

Typically, a kidney cleanse lasts 5 days, and there are two suggestions for how you can do the cleanse. First, you could eat fresh raw fruits and vegetables on days 1 and 5, with a juice fast inbetween (days 2, 3 and 4). Secondly, you could do a 5 day juice fast, consuming only liquids for the entire duration of the cleanse.

The morning kidney flush drink

As soon as I awaken, I typically begin to soak the herbs used for tea in distilled water in a glass bowl covered with a lid or glass plate.

The kidney flush drink is the first thing you would consume. I use a citrus juicer to juice the lemon and lime, but you can use your regular juicer if you don’t have one.

Kidney Flush Drink

• Juice of one lemon
• Juice of 1/2 a lime
• Cayenne pepper to taste
• 16 oz distilled water

Potassium broth

If I choose to use potassium broth, I begin to make it right after I have my kidney flush drink.

• Thick potato peelings
• Thick carrot peelings
• Celery and onion
• Garlic
• Spinach and other greens
• Himalayan salt or bragg liquid amino for flavor
• Jalapenos or cayenne pepper to taste

Kidney/Bladder Tea

Once I have my potassium broth simmering, the next thing I do is have my tea. If you follow the directions on the bag, you should have about two cups of tea at a time, three times per day. From the time I have my tea, I begin going down my typed list of tinctures, water and juice. I space these out to where I am taking something on the list about every 15-20 minutes. I keep everything I need out on the counter and set the timer to remind me when it’s time for the next tea or tincture. It may seem a little overwhelming at first, but by the end of the first day you should have it down quite well. By day 5, you will be a kidney cleansing pro!

How Much Juice Do I Drink While On the Kidney Cleanse?

The big question everyone asks is how much juice to drink in the course of one day. This is a very difficult question to answer, because everyone is different. During a typical juice fast, I try and drink about 80oz of juice (2.5 quarts). I make my juices first thing in the morning for the entire day, having the first juice right out of the juicer.

Finishing each day…

I try to have everything on the list completed by about 6 pm each day. The problem with finishing everything too late is that you may be running to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Getting proper rest is also important for best results during a cleanse.

I also try and get some fresh air and light exercise or a walk during my cleanse. Exercise can be a very tricky thing to decide upon while doing a fast. Some days you may feel fantastic and want to climb a mountain. Other days, your body is trying to heal and rid itself of old mucous and toxins. The important thing is to know your body and listen to what it is telling you.

Juicing vs Blending

Often I’ve been asked, “Shouldn’t I blend my fruit and vegetables so I can keep all of the fiber?” This is a great question worth taking time to answer.

First, I would like to explore the benefits contained in both blending and juicing:

• Both are a wonderful way to get more fruits and vegetables in your diet.
• Both blended drinks and juice are easier to assimilate than solid food because they have been liquified.
• Both are a healthy way to start any day!

Blending

Pros

• Depending on which juicer you may have, it can be faster to make a smoothie.
• Bananas and avocado can be put in the blender, whereas the avocado especially cannot be juiced.
• Because the pulp is still in the smoothie, it can ward off hunger longer than the juice can.
• Most people already have a blender, so start up costs are minimal.

Cons

• Many hard/root vegetables (beets, carrots, etc.) are difficult to blend and taste better when juiced.
• Because of the fiber content in the smoothie, the nutritional value is not as high as a glass of juice.

Juicing

Pros

• Juice has a higher nutritional value per ounce. It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to eat pounds of carrots, beets, and other leafy green vegetables in one day.
• Even if your digestive system is working poorly, you can assimilate almost 100 percent of the nutrients contained in juice. While fiber often takes hours to digest, juice is absorbed into the body rapidly with hardly any strain on the digestive system whatsoever.
• A blender basically chops and mashes the fruits and vegetables. The juicer breaks open the cell of the plant, releasing vitamins, minerals, and life-giving juice. The juice does retain a portion of the soluble fiber, and the discarded fiber has a lot less nutritional value compared to what’s in your glass.

Cons

• Usually involves more clean up time.
• More expensive than blending, as it requires more fresh produce.

Over the years, my main focus has been my juicer, but I still use my Vitamix every week to blend up fruit smoothies or to do watermelon fasts when watermelon is in season. Both juicing and blending have many health benefits, and both can be used to achieve a greater level of health.

The juicer, for me, wins out over the blender and is my constant companion. When I’m doing a cleanse or just want to ‘power pack’ nutrition into my body, I find it a breeze to take in large quantities of fresh juice loaded with vegetables that I rarely, if ever, actually eat. I fill 8 oz canning jars with fresh juice and carry them with me in my cooler, which allows me to juice all day whether I am home or not. I love the rush of energy that juicing brings, and I cannot imagine life without it!

Benefits of Watermelon

When I think of hot summer days and fun, relaxing picnics, watermelon always comes to mind.  Cold and refreshing on a hot day, it’s a seasonal favorite of mine. Discovering the many ways watermelon adds to our health and well-being, however, makes this amazing fruit far more than just picnic food!

Some fun facts about watermelon…

• Watermelon has been referred to as ‘Natures Viagra’. The arginine produced by eating watermelon relaxes the blood vessels, which, in short, is the same basic concept of how Viagra works. The zinc contained in the rind also works to fight impotency.
• Watermelon protects the skin from sunburn – some research shows it reduces risk of sunburn by 40%.  It also feeds and nourishes the skin, preventing wrinkles and keeping the skin younger.
• Watermelon is loaded with electrolytes and vitamin C; and it helps decrease the risk of certain certain cancers.
• Watermelon is rich in lycopene, which is known for preventing plaque build up in blood vessels.
• Watermelon has been shown to promote weight loss.
• Watermelon is an excellent diuretic and is extremely beneficial to the kidneys.

Watermelon and Your Kidneys

When I hear something is good for the kidneys, I like to think about what that actually means. Just stopping to ponder how hard my kidneys work in the body, motivates me to protect and take care of them.  Although the kidneys’ big job is to remove waste and excess fluid from the body, they do a great deal more than some people may realize. For example, the kidneys produce a hormone that stimulates red blood cell production.  They also produce hormones that regulate blood pressure and control the metabolism of calcium. In other words, if you clean the kidneys and improve how they function, you’re doing a tremendous amount of good for the rest of your body as well.

Juicing Watermelon

Juicing the watermelon with the rind offers tremendous benefits. The watermelon rind oxygenates the cells by releasing a free-radical scavenger, which in turn acts as an anti-aging agent. The watermelon rind is loaded with provitamin A, potassium, and zinc. Ninety-five percent of the food value in watermelon is actually found in the rind.

Watermelon Cleansing

One of my favorite cleanses to do is a watermelon fast.  Sometimes I simply put the watermelon in a blender with ice and drink that several times a day. Other times I may just eat watermelon throughout the day or even juice the rind along with the rest of the fruit. Whichever way I choose, I have found it to be one of the easiest ways to cleanse or fast because it is so filling!

Go out and get some watermelon! (If it’s in season!)

Whether eaten throughout the day or used as part of a cleanse, watermelon is a wonderful fruit to enjoy all summer long. I’m heading out at the end of this sentence to get some watermelon and so should you!