June 18, 2008

Herbs for a Hospital Stay

Hi All!

Well, I just spent the last two days in the hospital for some minor surgery. I'm not a big proponent of hospitals or doctors, but sometimes, they are necessary. It occurred to me that others who want to keep their bodies as pure and unpolluted by pharmaceuticals as possible may face a pending hospital stay with some trepidation.

Not to worry. There are several things you can do to help your body heal faster and get you back to a state of balance and wellness quickly.

First, always let your doctor know of ANY herbs you take on a regular basis or are taking for something specific, like hawthorn for your heart. It's important that they know this as herbs can have interactions with pharmaceutical medications.

Prior to my stay, I made sure that I built up my immune system with some of my favorites like echinacea, goldenseal and holy basil. I also take plenty of vitamins A, C, E and selenium, as well as zinc every day, so I increased these a little two weeks before my scheduled stay.

I stopped all herbal formulas 72 hours before the surgery. During my stay I made sure that I drank plenty of water to keep my system flushing.

After returning home, my regimen consisted of eleuthero root, which helps facilitate recuperation during convalescence. I also add ginseng and schisandra which are adaptogenic and help support the body's resistance to stress. In addition, I am eating plenty of raw yogurt to get the beneficial bacteria that the antibiotics killed back into my system. Any time you take antibiotics, they kill not only the bad bacteria, but the good as well, so make sure you replace them with acidophilus supplements or pure, raw yogurt.

Lastly, I am in the process of a short, 2 week liver cleanse made up of burdock root, dandelion root and milk thistle to help the liver purge all the impurities.

The doctors were amazed at how quickly I was up and about and my vitals were normal from the time I came out of the operating room. It helps to have your body in top condition before you go in and to get it back into a state of balance as soon as possible when you return.

There are many herbs that can help with this, but if you have questions, or need a custom formula to get you ready for a hospital stay or just back on your feet afterward, send me an e-mail. Until next time, Be Well!

Karen

June 13, 2008

All Goode Gifts New Blog!

Hi Everybody!

I'm so excited about our new blog! This is something I've been wanting to do for ages, but just never got around to it. After some encouraging from a very dear friend, here we are!

This blog will not only keep you up to date with what All Goode Gifts is up to, but will provide answers for many of your herbal questions as well as occasional recipes, new featured products, pictures of our home in the "Great North Woods" or anything else I can come up with.

If you have questions you'd like to see answered or addressed here, please e-mail me at allgoodegifts@yahoo.com and we'll get them up there.

Keep coming back!