How did you come to know and love tea?

I grew up with a mom who always created an herb garden wherever she has lived and helped me develop a taste for herbal brews early on starting with spearmint sun tea and catnip.I learned so much about tea in the town I lived for medical school – Portland, Oregon. They actually have tea shops and tea shops within Chinese gardens. My Chinese Medicine teachers always packed their traveling suitcases with tea and spices. The ah too true joke with them is that packaged teas that we drink in this country are the sweepings off the factory floors from their country. I choose bulk tea from high quality vendors and use a tea pot with strainer or french press.  I add hot water until the liquid is near to colorless. Any extra tea can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days.

What is your favorite tea or tea blend for Winter?
My go to winter tea is chai or a spiced bone broth

Click to learn how to free the medicine in leaves, roots, barks and berries in this week’s Cultivating Wellness blog http://drsaritaelizabeth.com/brewing-teas-free-their-medi…/

Below is an easy Bone Broth preparation for you to enjoy.

Simple Slow Cooker Bone Broth

Crockpot, Pruning shears, Ladle, Skimmer, Mesh strainer, Freezer containers

Instructions

Fill crockpot ¾ of the way full with bones. Add dried spices/herbs. Add salt/seaweed. Add vinegar/lemon juice. Add just enough filtered water to cover the bones. Cook on low 18-72 hours

Add vegetables, skins/ends/stems at any time during the cooking process. Skim fat/gelatin and retain for later use. Fill containers with broth. Freeze for later use.

Soup = cooking liquid for gains, vegetable simmers, tea, gravy

Five Element Analysis

Soups, especially broths are Water Element nourishment. Each type bone directs the energy to more specific Elements

Pork, Deer, Turkey or Duck to Water to nourish the Kidney, Bladder & Adrenals

Chicken to Wood to nourish Liver & Gallbladder

Beef to Earth (and Water) to nourish Stomach, Spleen & Pancreas as well as Kidney, Bladder & Adrenals

Base for 7 soups:

Onions: sweet, white or yellow – 7 medium

Garlic: 2-3 heads

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Alternate base:

Bone broth, Vegetable stock. favorite tea bags: chai, ginger, etc

7 days of soup (Fresh Vegetables)

Lung/Large Intestine

• 1/2 head Cauliflower
• 1/2 head Green Cabbage

Stomach/Spleen

• one large Butternut Squash

Heart/Small Intestine

• bunch Asparagus
• 5 Turnips

Bladder/Kidney

• 1 cup Lentil
• 1 bunch Cilantro

Gallbladder/Liver

• 3-5 Parsnips 
• 3-5 Beets 

Triple burner/ Pericardium

• 1 large bunch Kale, Spinach or Chard

Lung/Large Intestine

• 5 Carrots
• 2 Leeks
• knob Ginger

Liver/Gallbladder 

• 3-5 Parsnips 
• 3-5 Beets 

Spices:

Sea Salt, pepper, chili, cardamon, rosemary, nutmeg, etc

Optional toppings: miso, almonds, ground flax seeds

The tips are appropriate for seasonal wellness and are helpful all year long for constitutional Element Earth types.

Want to establish or return to care with Dr Cox? Book here!

Whole food is medicine.  Processed food steals your vitality. Ultra processed food creates chronic disease, offers pharmacy and invites slow death.

One of the top three outcomes of the lockdowns of 2020/2021, in my opinion, was the return to or beginning of cooking at home.  We can choose better quality products than most restaurants are able to provide on small margins.  We are, therefore, improving our economic health while improving our physical health.

Let food be thy medicine, let medicine be thy food.

~Hippocrates

The Basics: Where? When?  How?

Where? Where we acquire our food matters. Ideally, we hunt and gather or eat from a garden – our own garden or from our local farmer’s or brick and mortar vegetable markets.  When we shop at a conventional grocery store, shop the perimeter. 

In an ideal world, our foods are free from harmful chemicals, pesticides and pharmaceuticals (antibiotics, antifungals, growth hormone). Animal (and animal fats) are raised in their natural environments. Soils are replete with the broad spectrum of minerals and micro-organisms that render our foods nutritious.

When? Foods should be consumed or preserved in seasonal time. In a world which offers food from all corners of the county during all seasons – choose seasonal and buy local. The choices in your neighborhood may not be perfect, or we may not be able to allocate our resources to only organic and farm raised products. But we can educate & inform ourselves of the best options available today. Consume or process the foods for later consumption as soon after acquisition as possible.

How?  Make the best choices possible.  I hope this link will help you make the best choices available to you. This list from the Environmental Working Group is updated yearly: Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen

One of my favorite resource books is Healing with Whole Foods written by Paul Pitchford. Learn more here:

Meet Fresh Ginger.

Nature: warm

Taste: slightly sweet, acrid

Action: releases exterior, disperses cold: stops cough, alleviates vomiting, regulates migrating motor complex of Small Intestine

Skin: promotes urination, reduces edema

Affinity:  Lung, Spleen & Stomach

According to eastern dietetics & herbalism – foods, spices, herbs and medicine have a distinct nature, action, direction & affinity with one or more organs.  

As we become more familiar with these qualities in some of our familiar foods, we begin to fine tune our eating & drinking to the dynamic rhythms of the season.  We also eat to support our five element constitution or balance our acute imbalances which manifests as dis-ease. For example, ginger should be used sparingly or avoided when signs of heat are present. Conversely, it is advised when cold signs are prominent.

During this seasonal transition time, I invite you to enjoy some of my favorite ways to spice it up with Ginger and support your digestion.

Preparation Tips: Peel ginger with a spoon & store any overages in the freezer. Microplane rasp is the grater of choice.

Easy Adds: Grate ginger directly into salads or salad dressing, sauces, stir fry or smoothies. Slice very thin into hot water.

Carrot-Ginger soup is ideal nourishment for the Earth/Metal transition.

Find the recipe here!

Earth time is gut time. Did you know that the estimated number of gut microbiota exceeds 10 x 14th power? This superorganism holds 100 times more information than our DNA code. Pretty Wild Wonderment! These bacteria, archaea and eukarya strengthen gut integrity, shape intestinal epithelium, harvest energy, protect against pathogens and regulate host immunity.

I invite you to feed your gut with ferments: miso, kimchee, tempeh, raw sauerkrauts and pickles, kavass, jun, etc!

I invite you to feed your soul. Find your wildest, most exquisitely free self. Roam the woods, sing to the plants, listen to the rocks, dance with the wind, talk with the birds, play with light and shadow, hug the trees.

For best practices to support your seasonal wellness journey, draw from or purchase an Eath/Transition Element Wisdom Card Deck. See link in bio for more information
#earth #equinox #dna #microbiota #elementwidsomcards #wild #ferments #southernwoods #healthcoach #naturopathicdoctor

A Haudenosaunee “Thanksgiving” Prayer:  
A Native American Traditional Blessing

Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as People.

Now our minds are one.

The Earth Mother

We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time. To our Mother, we send greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

The Waters

We give thanks to all the Waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms – waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of water.

Now our minds are one.

The Fish

We turn our minds to all the Fish life in the water. They were instructed to cleanse and purify the water. They also give themselves to us as food. We are grateful that we can still find pure water. So, we turn now to the Fish and send our greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

The Plants

Now we turn toward the vast fields of Plant life. As far as the eye can see, the Plants grow, working many wonders. They sustain many life forms. With our minds gathered together, we give thanks and look forward to seeing Plant life for many generations to come.

Now our minds are one.

The Food Plants

With one mind, we turn to honor and thank all the Food Plants we harvest from the garden. Since the beginning of time, the grains, vegetables, beans and berries have helped the people survive. Many other living things draw strength from them too. We gather all the Plant Foods together as one and send them a greeting and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

The Medicine Herbs

Now we turn to all the Medicine herbs of the world. From the beginning, they were instructed to take away sickness. They are always waiting and ready to heal us. We are happy there are still among us those special few who remember how to use these plants for healing. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the Medicines and to the keepers of the Medicines.

Now our minds are one.

The Animals

We gather our minds together to send greetings and thanks to all the Animal life in the world. They have many things to teach us as people. We see them near our homes and in the deep forests. We are glad they are still here and we hope that it will always be so.

Now our minds are one.

The Trees

We now turn our thoughts to the Trees. The Earth has many families of Trees who have their own instructions and uses. Some provide us with shelter and shade, others with fruit, beauty and other useful things. Many peoples of the world use a Tree as a symbol of peace and strength. With one mind, we greet and thank the Tree life.

Now our minds are one.

The Birds

We put our minds together as one and thank all the Birds who move and fly about over our heads. The Creator gave them beautiful songs. Each day they remind us to enjoy and appreciate life. The Eagle was chosen to be their leader. To all the Birds – from the smallest to the largest – we send our joyful greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

The Four Winds

We are all thankful to the powers we know as the Four Winds. We hear their voices in the moving air as they refresh us and purify the air we breathe. They help to bring the change of seasons. From the four directions they come, bringing us messages and giving us strength. With one mind, we send our greetings and thanks to the Four Winds.

Now our minds are one.

The Thunderers

Now we turn to the west where our Grandfathers, the Thunder Beings, live. With lightning and thundering voices, they bring with them the water that renews life. We bring our minds together as one to send greetings and thanks to our Grandfathers, the Thunderers.

Now our minds are one.

The Sun

We now send greetings and thanks to our eldest Brother, the Sun. Each day without fail he travels the sky from east to west, bringing the light of a new day. He is the source of all the fires of life. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Brother, the Sun.

Now our minds are one.

Grandmother Moon

We put our minds together and give thanks to our oldest grandmother, the Moon, who lights the night-time sky. She is the leader of women all over the world, and she governs the movement of the ocean tides. By her changing face we measure time, and it is the Moon who watches over the arrival of children here on Earth. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Grandmother, the Moon.

Now our minds are one.

The Stars

We give thanks to the Stars who are spread across the sky like jewelry. We see them in the night, helping the Moon to light the darkness and bringing dew to the gardens and growing things. When we travel at night, they guide us home. With our minds gathered together as one, we send greetings and thanks to all the Stars.

Now our minds are one.

The Enlightened Teachers

We gather our minds to greet and thank the enlightened Teachers who have come to help throughout the ages. When we forget how to live in harmony, they remind us of the way we were instructed to live as people. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to these caring Teachers.

Now our minds are one.

The Creator

Now we turn our thoughts to the Creator, or Great Spirit, and send greetings and thanks for the gifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on this Mother Earth. For all the love that is still around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our choicest words of greetings and thanks to the Creator.

Now our minds are one.

We have now arrived at the place where we end our words. Of all the things we have named, it was not our intention to leave anything out. If something was forgotten, we leave it to each individual to send such greetings and thanks in their own way.

Now our minds are one.

We invite you to stay in touch. xoxoxo Sarita