Shopping List for a Clutter-Free Medicine Cabinet
May 11th, 2008
UPDATED May 11, 2008
There are so many products on the market claiming health benefits, immune system boosting and antioxidant prowess that it’s difficult to know how to make sense of it all. Here’s a no-nonsense summary of Best Practices for building an arsenal of healthy herbal and supplemental products. It’s not a complete list, by any means, and it does not cover food, but it’s a good foundation for any health-oriented kitchen.
Berry Juice: Find yourself a quality antioxidant-rich berry juice that contains juices from dark purple and red berries, as well as carotenoids from orange veggies. One good product is “Berry Young Juice” from the Young Living group. These types of juices are excellent for restoring antioxidant power to your immune system to fight free radicals, slow aging signs, and increase immunity to viruses and other pathogens.
Green Drink: To compliment the antioxidant juice, add a healthy green drink that combines a number of green substances and superfoods. Some of the best include spirulina, chlorella, seaweed (kelp), spinach powder, olive leaf, and kale. Many of these beverages also contain bee pollen and probiotic cultures and should be kept in the refrigerator after opening. The green drink will add protein, balanced carbohydrates, and mineral nutrients to your diet even if you don’t get them from your food — and you will require fewer vitamins and minerals as a result.
Vitamins & Supplements: The basics that work for just about everybody include plenty of vitamins C and E. A good liquid B-complex is also a staple, as many Americans are B deficient. Get about 10-15 minutes of unblocked sunshine every day for the best source of D vitamins. These will help you stave off colds and fight cancer. One of the most important supplements to add to your health cabinet is a high-quality CoQ-10. Don’t bother getting the crummy stuff ad Walmart or the local drugstore…you’ll be wasting your money. Do your health a favor and invest in a high-quality brand. I use Q-Gel from Tishcon Corporation of Japan. They are on the top of the CoQ-10 game with their products.
Water: A good source of clean, filtered water is essential. If possible, add liquid oxygen or activated carbon to your water for better molecular absorption in the body. Enhanced water can help hydrate your body, clear your intestines and rid your organs of toxins. Another thing to consider in the wate department is a good alkaline water, which keeps your pH more alkaline, which helps to prevent disease. You can find alkalizing water filters or water with alkaline added, such as with calcium, potassium, and cesium.
Fatty Acids & Anti-inflammatories: Keep a healthy supply of fish oils and the spices tumeric, cayenne and garlic oil. These will help with all sorts of joint and back pain, reduce risk of heart disease, and help normalize blood pressure. Always use hemp oil and/or flaxseed oil for salads, baked potatoes and steamed veggies. Alternate these for best results, because each of these, besides being anti-inflammatory, has its own special properties. Garlic is antifungal, cayenne helps fight cancer, and fish oils provide omega-3 fatty acids.
Extracts & Essential Oils: Some of the most important super-supplements to keep on hand include olive leaf extract, cordyceps mushroom powder or extract, and picnoginol (or pine bark extract). These are all super immune boosters. Pine bark extract also provide antioxidants and mushrooms help with brain function and so much more. To these top choices, you can add St. John’s wort for antiviral and antibacterial uses (good for stopping itchy throat), dandelion extract (good all-around health tonic), and liquid Echanacea (immune booster and helps fight colds and infection). Some essential oils to have on hand include tea tree oil (antifungal, antibacterial, antidepressant, grounding), lavendar oil (antifungal, antiviral, anti-stress, fever reducer), and oregano oil for fighting fungus and bacteria (great for skin fungus).
With these basics in your alternative medicine cabinet, you’ll be well nourished with a minimum of confusion and excess bottles in your cupboard.
Bottle photo by http://flickr.com/people/strph/
Read More On: health, herbs, oils & extracts, sensible health, supplements



3 Comments Add your own
1. Adam | May 31st, 2008 at 11:47 am
Hi. I really like this blog. Great work!
I’d like to know what you feel about alkaline diets. I’ve been trying to treat my acid reflux by changing my diet and have been considering an alkaline diet of some kind. By recommending an alkaline water in the passage above I assume you recommend some level of alkaline supplement. I wonder if you could write a post in more detail.
I can’t find very consistent or well resourced data to validate the use of alkaline diets although it seems to make sense. The multitude of
charts found on Google (showing alkaline foods vs. acidifying foods ) seem to be poorly edited and contradictory in many cases.
Thanks!
2. admin | June 21st, 2008 at 4:03 pm
I do plan to do more on this subject, but I’ve been occupied with the green drink craze that’s happening. A couple of initial thoughts:
1. Green superfoods and green leafy vegetables are all alkalizing. These are your best foods for alkalizing your blood. The best way to get this is with green superfood drinks.
2. Besides the above, an infused or treated water is probably the next best thing. You can use a combination of additives (usually calcium and magnesium) and water treatment.
3. Avoid sugars, fats, and meat if you want to increase alkalinity in your blood.
More to come…
3. Adam | June 30th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Thanks. I look forward to it.
I have been experimenting with green drinks. Perfect Food Brand is a nice complex of superfoods, is bright green and drinks down smooth. A major turn off is that is tastes and smells like fish food (probably due to heavy amounts of kelp etc). Mixing with OJ helps but increases your daily cost.
I am now trying Amazing Grass Green Superfood which is lower cost (~$25 for 30 servings) and tastes much better. Its major problem is that it separates out of the liquid rapidly leaving a thick sludge to chug at the bottom and is dull green. My girlfriend hates it because of the sludge.
And finally Delicious Greens 8000 tastes great and mixes well in water. Major drawback is that it is more pricey $43+ for 30 servings. I’ve only found it online.
Thanks!
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