Because a low crap diet is as much concerned with what we eat, as with the medicine we take, I thought it timely to repost my article on Dandelions written a couple of years ago. This paper deals only with the root, but Dandelion medicine can also be found in its leaves and flowers. So stop cursing and poisoning this herbal friend, and make Dandelion part of your low crap lifestyle.

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Dandelions are everywhere. And people hate them. Yet hating dandelions is not a natural state. Have you ever had an enthusiastic five year old bring you a bouquet of bright yellow dandelion blossoms? Children who haven’t yet learned to judge, instinctively know the virtues of this innocent plant. Alas, somewhere along life’s path we start to believe that dandelions are an enemy.

But I have a different theory. I believe that the dandelion has a job to do, and we are making it very difficult for dandelion to fulfill its destiny. The dandelion is here to help us heal … and it isn’t about to give up on us. Have you noticed that no matter how much we curse, poison or dig out this plant, it just keeps reappearing … everywhere.

I invite you to take a journey with me to discover just how simple it is to cooperate with the dandelion and help it do its job. So grab a pitch fork and find yourself a dandelion patch in a chemical free bit of ground, preferably away from roads and highways. If you are unsure how to identify the dandelion plant, do a Google Image Search for ‘Taraxacum officinale’, dandelion’s botanical name.

Dandelion is one of those plants that has a very long tap root that is able to push its way down past the topsoil and into the hardpan, accessing minerals and nutrients otherwise unavailable to us. This strong tap root is also part of what makes dandelion’s personality a little challenging for the impatient … its not easy to dig out a complete dandelion root.

For medicinal purposes, we want the roots that have some meat to them. Two year old roots are ideal. But don’t worry; you don’t have to keep track of what plants are last years, and what belong to the year before. Dandelion is generous in its offerings … its unlikely you will run out of plants to dig.

I find that a pitch fork works best as it’s less likely to break the root. But a shovel will do the job just as well. Dig down as far as you can until the soil is loosened around the root, then gently tug until it lets go of its cozy home.

When you start to get bored with the digging process, you have probably gathered enough roots for today. There will be always be more dandelions patiently waiting their turn to be able to serve you with their health enriching goodness, so don’t feel you have to harvest them all at once.

Next step is to remove the tops and wash off the soil. Use a bucket of water to wash  the soil off the roots, then dump the muddy water onto the compost. A final rinse with the hose and then you can step back and admire these beauties.

Those shiny, fresh, vital roots represent improved digestive health, nourishment for ‘good’ intestinal bacteria, gentle liver and kidney support, antioxidants, soluble fiber and a source of micro nutrients.

All that without any capsules, pills, or plastic bottles!

For today’s project, we’re going to prepare the roots for use as a beverage. So, the next step is to cut the roots into small pieces so they can dry more evenly. First slice each root lengthwise, then dice into bits.

As you are working at this task, nibble on a small piece of root. Taste the subtle sweet and bitter flavour. Savour the fresh juicy crunch. Connect with the vital earth energy that the root brought with it from its home below the surface. This is the food of our ancestors.

Once they are all sliced up, place on a cookie sheet and put into a low temperature (150F) oven for a few hours. Turn the roots once or twice to ensure they are drying evenly. You will know they are ready when there is a gentle sweet smell in the kitchen and the root pieces snap easily. Let the roots cool, then use a clean coffee grinder or blender to reduce the roasted roots into a powder. Don’t worry if you can’t get the pieces ground into a really fine  powder, small chunks will work as well.

To enjoy dandelion’s offering, put 1 teaspoon of the ground, roasted roots into a coffee cup and fill with boiling water. Find a quiet spot to sit and drink this nurishing liquid. And when you are done, remember to use a spoon to get at the solid bits at the bottom of your cup. After all you wouldn’t leave vegetables at the bottom of your soup bowl; so don’t leave dandelion goodness at the bottom of your cup.

Limit yourself to one cup of dandelion root tea per day. That’s all you need year round to benefit from dandelion’s enhealthing properties.

Getting to the root of dandelion’s existence wasn’t so hard. All it takes is an open mind, a pitch fork and a willingness to accept enhealthment from the abundance of nature.

Now that you know dandelion’s secret, you’ll notice those sunny flowers winking at you; and you will feel compelled to respond with a nod of thanks for its perseverance in trying to get our attention.
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The information contained in this paper is for educational purposes only. It is not meant to be of a diagnostic nature and does not replace the advice of a qualified health care practitioner. Please seek medical attention as required.

What’s so bad about junk (aka processed) food? We all know the answer. The bad part of junk food is excess sugar, fat, salt, and chemical preservatives – all the things that invite fat, clog arteries, interfere with metabolism, and keep us sluggish, irritable and constipated. Not to mention all that plastic, foil and cardboard packaging … but that’s a subject for another post.

So we know junk food is bad for us. We’ve heard all about it from our parents, health experts and well-meaning friends . . . blah blah blah

But do you really know why junk food is so bad?

Here’s my take on it.

Junk foods are freeloaders in the body. They are the unwelcome house guests that eat all the food and leave a mess in the bathroom. They make you feel good by promising to help pay the bills. They even promise to clean up when they are finished watching the game. But they never do, and you are left feeling frustrated, empty and tired.

You see, Nature, in her infinite wisdom, builds into each food she manufacturers the enzymes, vitamins and minerals necessary for that particular foods processing and digestion within the body. When you eat foods in their whole state, its like invited guests arriving on your door step with their own supply of food and bedding or buying a new electronic gadget with the batteries included. But as soon as whole food is processed and denatured, the enzymes, vitamins and minerals required to process and digest that un-whole food must be pulled out of the body’s stores … in other words, your guests arrive unannounced, empty handed and hungry … the batteries are not included.

Let’s take an example of one tiny little teaspoon of sugar. Did you know that it takes approximately sixteen feet of sugar cane to produce one teaspoon of refined white sugar? If you sat down and chewed on sixteen feet of sugar cane, you would be ingesting all the enzymes, vitamins and minerals your body requires to digest that teaspoon of sugar … no problem.

But when you ingest a teaspoon of refined sugar in the form of soda pop or candy, your body must remove the equivalent of the enzymes, vitamins and minerals found in 16 feet of sugar cane from storage places within the body. How many enzymes, vitamins and minerals do you think are in sixteen feet of sugar cane? I don’t know either, but I bet it’s a lot. So its no wonder that 30 minutes after consuming refined sugar, your immune system is compromised by as much as 50% as your body scrambles to deal with the freeloaders digging into your enzyme, vitamin and mineral stores.

There are thousands of specific examples like this illustrating how the ingestion of highly processed foods force the body to supply the enzymes, vitamins and minerals required just to deal with the junk, in the same way that free-loading house guests happily sit down for meals you’ve prepared, but never offer to buy the groceries or do the cleaning up.

In addition to using up the body’s supply of enzymes, vitamins and minerals, eating junk food is kind of like that freeloading houseguest throwing a party for all their belligerent friends, while refusing to invite your friends.

For example, in order to make delicate and fluffy pastries and breads, the outer portion of the wheat kernel is removed, and the leftover inner portion of the grain is refined into white flour, which in turn is processed into delicate pastries.

Whole grains contain zinc in their outer portion and cadmium in their inner kernel. During digestion zinc competes with cadmium for absorption into the cells. But if the outer portion of the grain (the part that contains the zinc) has been removed, the cadmium from the inner kernel has no competition and can freely absorb into the body. Excess absorption of this non-essential element is still being studied, but preliminary results suggest that, among other things, cadmium may be a factor in kidney disease.

And to make matters worse, by not consuming the outer portion of the wheat kernel, the body’s zinc stores are quickly depleted. Zinc is a critical requirement of over two dozen digestive and metabolic processes as well as being very important in the development of the reproductive organs and for normal functioning of the prostrate gland. Zinc also supports the immune system and protects the body from free radicals.

So the next time you are eating donuts, potato chips or candy bars, think about the enzymes, vitamins and minerals found in whole grain, whole potatoes, cocoa beans and sugar cane. And then think about where those enzymes, vitamins and minerals will be pulled from and what repair process, tissue re-growth, or bone strengthening that will not happen because your body has to deal with unwelcome, freeloading houseguests.

Clean food refers to food that is as close to its natural state as possible. The closer a food is to its natural state when it meets your digestive system the more able it is to deliver life giving vitamins, minerals, enzymes, proteins and oils.

Our bodies know how to process “natural-state” or “clean” food. Our digestive system can easily extract what it needs because it recognizes everything as coming from an organic source. Clean food has not been denatured and there are no chemical fillers and other additives to get in the way.

When we eat processed food our bodies have to carefully sort through the sludge, extract the usable bits and somehow dispose of all the waste. This requires extra energy and since we are getting less energy from processed food already you can start to understand why eating processed food is life-depleting rather than life-giving, slowly eroding our health and vital force.

Eating processed food is kind of like panning for gold. You have to swish around a lot of mud before you find a usable nugget. Fresh natural-state organic food is like pure gold to our digestive system … all the bits are usable. 

Eating food in its natural state or close to a natural state is not only better for your body and soul,  but it is a responsible way to practice stewardship of our planet. Fresh produce from your back yard or local farmers market doesn’t require plastic, Styrofoam, or cardboard packaging. In fact all those produce trimmings (natural packaging) can be composted to create organic soil for next year’s crop.

Whatever you want to call it, low crap, clean or natural-state, this is the food that will heal disease, repair injuries, and keep you young and alert.