Due to the recent comments made of a fellow webmaster at Doc1vitamins who sell vitamin supplements, I decided to talk about making sure your body has the vitamins and minerals that it needs. I admired that Doc wrote a blog stating a fact that if you aren’t deficient in vitamins in your body taking them isn’t going to do much for you. This is why I don’t really condone a multi vitamin as you would be better off testing your body for what your missing and work on helping your body assimilate what it needs. Should you be deficient in Vitamins in your body, change your diet and supplement when needed. What seems to be the blatant total overlook in developed countries is that our soil is quite deficient in minerals. So unless you grow your own food, you are missing out on minerals that are very important to bodily functions like metabolism, something everyone wants seeing how 33 million was spent on weight loss pills in the US. In reality, there should be just a great a concern to analyze your mineral content as vitamins. You should make sure you get your Minerals, just as you do with Vitamins. Well, here is a way to take in an easily assimilated mineral content of Iron, Calcium, Silicon, Magnesium, Potassium, Sulfur, Iodine, Zinc, and trace minerals. Here is what you need:
14g of each of the following herbs-
Parsley Root
Yellow Dock
Nettles
Irish Moss
Horsetail
Comfrey Root
Watercress
Kelp
Add all these herbs to a quart of water and simmer for 45 minutes. Strain liquid in a bowl and add another quart of water to the herbs and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain the liquid in the bowl with the other liquid, discard the herbs and throw all the water back on the heat simmer down for another 45 minutes and you should end up with say 3/4 of a quart or so now. If you want to get the full benefits of this and include the iron you have to add in Blackstrap Molasses. Just double the liquid of Blackstrap Molasses not going over 8oz. The molasses will also preserve what you have just made and will now keep for a couple months in the fridge! Take a tablespoon 3 times a day and that’s it!

Okay, so now your all full of minerals and have officially tasted some pretty nasty stuff, Sean how can we just keep up on our minerals? Well, you didn’t really ask that question because you love my blog and read the last post about sea salt. The SEA is where the minerals are! Seaweeds become tasteless and leave all of their minerals behind when slow cooked in something. I recommend Wakame, but Kombu is another good choice and is a better detox, but adds a touch of slippery texture to your food. Take a pinch of your favorite seaweed and add to your broth, soup, crockpot, chili, or anything your slow cooking. I recommend a small pinch per serving your making. Wakame can also be found in miso soup, a broth that is taken before meals to make sure you take in your minerals and warm up your digestive fires.

Note 1: Kelp is a secret weapon of mine for weight loss. Kelp adds delicious minerals to foods and can be taken often in capsules too.
Note 2: I would be more than happy to pack up and sell anyone a pack of mineral herbs to be made exactly as this recipe! The total is 4oz of herbs, you would need to supply the molasses. Email me at sean@blogofherbs.com if you would like to order some packs of these mineral herbs.

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Salt has gotten a bad rep dating back from somewhere around the 50’s when no food could go without a bunch of salt and pepper. Well, all of these guys turned out to have issues with blood pressure and cholesterol to name a few. Sodium is a VERY important part of a diet. It keeps homeostasis in your blood. Turns out your cells allow water to enter and exit them with the way its permeability is. This also requires no energy as it is balanced based off of water taking its natural equilibrium state. Salt affects your blood pressure by effecting your water and blood movement, as blood cells will expand and retract.

So enough of the technical mumbo jumbo, lets get to the reason your reading this, you love salt. Man does salt make things taste good, if you don’t believe me read the back of a ‘Healthy Choice’ meal and see how much salt it takes to make it taste good! Your normal table salt is extracted from a mountain, possibly in Colorado, and is processed down to a little granule and sold to you. This salt is basically a bunch of unhealthy sodium and the reason your doctor tells you to lay off of the salt. It gives you very little nutritional value. Sea Salt on the other hand is basically salty water dried out to just get the salt out of it. The difference here is that the Sea contains a huge array of minerals, that most WOULD be in vegetables if our soils weren’t so depleted. Now I know many of you probably take vitamins, which I DO NOT, I really must tell you that eating proper food will give you proper vitamins that are assimilated properly. Rather than eating a synthetic vitamin that you pay alot of money for and basically pee most of it out, you can just change to a healthier diet (whole grains!). What you probably wont get from this diet change is the minerals you need. As I said soils around the world are very depleted of minerals in them, but the sea has them all. This is no secret, and the reason there is seaweed on all of your sushi rolls. The Chinese and Japanese eat alot of seaweed, and this allows them to intake a generous amount of minerals. Seaweed not your bag, baby? No problem, lets get back to the sea salt. Salt isn’t exactly something you should really go through really fast, so i recommend spending a little money on some quality sea salt. I have been enjoying naturally dried Hawaiian sea salt, and its great. By getting natural stuff you know its not processed and hasn’t lost its nutritional value.

So go ahead and sprinkle some salt on your dishes! I actually recommend that you cook with the salt and not really add it directly to your dish, this will help you control your sodium intake. Here is a great way to cook broccoli with sea salt and make it delicious, I do not like boiled broccoli.
Cut up your broccoli and set it aside, my measurements are based on about 3 cups of broccoli.
Heat up a wok and squirt some sesame oil in there and add some some minced garlic (ginger too if you want).
Let the garlic cook for about 5 seconds and add the broccoli. Stir this around and add 2 pinches of organic sugar and about 2tablespoons of sea salt (I actually use my palm and eye it, so im not that good at measurements, but 2-3tablespoons should be good).
Stir this around until the broccoli gets dark green, about 3-4 minutes.
Take half of cup of water and pour it in the wok and cover it. Broccoli can steam that way for 5-10 minutes. This will yield delicious crisp broccoli that is cooked through, instead of soggy steamed or boiled broccoli!

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My favorite healthy food is Congee. Congee is basically a porridge made of white rice cooked over several hours. Dispite what you think or what you have read white rice is quite good for you. The important part of white rice in this recipe is to have a soup that is as easy to digest as possible. Many things can be added to the simple medium of congee, its like a casserole add anything you want to it. Here is the basic recipe:

Add 2 cups white rice to 18 cups water in a crockpot and let slow cook for about 7 hours.  

If you are not sick in anyway, then brown rice may be substituted. Now for the additives-
Mung Beans- I always recommend these be in Congee as they are good for the entire body in any condition. Add 1/2 cup pre-soaked beans.
Immunity/Longevity/Health/Vitality: I recommend this combination be added to congee always as it is general health building and a tonic! 6g Ginseng, 12g Codonopsis/Dang Shen, 9g Dang Gui, 9g Goji Berries/Gou Qi Zi/Lychii Berries, 9g Huang Qi/Astragalus, 10-20 JuJube Dates/Da Zao, and 4g Ginger. That will make a very nice base for your congee!
Adzuki Beans: Use these beans for bladder or kidney problems including water retention. These are sometimes called small red beans.
Add barley, wheat germ, fennel, brewers yeast or anything else to get vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber!
Add any vegetable you like for vitamins, minerals, and their individual properties.

This is traditionally taken as a breakfast. Organic brown sugar may be added after the cooking process for extra energetic properties in the morning. If you are frail, weak, or sick you may take the congee through the day for several days until you feel better. You will be surprised how well you feel after you eat the congee and how easy it is to keep down. For degenerative diseases and after times of chemotherapy Add 9g of Chen Pi/Citrus Peel to the formula and take as all your meals for 7days (or as long as you can make it!)
This recipe will make a generous amount of congee for you and your family, so enjoy!

Feel free to ask any questions or get help on a congee recipe.

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Since I first started in Chinese herbs, before using any Western herbs, I never really gathered much information from sources many other people do: friends, media, publications. I was surprised to find how many people where familiar with Valerian. It appears that many people are familiar with Valerian because many people have problems going to sleep and staying asleep. Valerian is, to me and most people, a very nasty tasting and not so good smelling herb. For most people Valerian in a tsp tincture or a couple large pills will put them to bed in 20 minutes and keep them asleep. Valerian also does a great job of sedating pain, so I use this herb allot in my First Aid dealings as well. Now let me get on my usual soapbox. Valerian is a heating herb and has warm properties. This means that if you are suffering from heat conditions, Valerian can actually cause insomnia! Not to confuse you with all the Chinese Medicine terms, but its just another example of remembering to use synergy and combine herbs appropriately. Preferably herbs would be prepared for every person individually, but this is just not possible. I try to balance things as best as possible while still making formulas as potent as possible. What I do with my Valerian is also combine it with Skullcap. Skullcap is quite similar to Valerian and is what you would give to heat conditions. This help balance the formula for a wider variety of people. I also add Mu Li for its anchoring effects on the person, this also adds calcium and magnesium to the formula. My formula is called SYRENITY available at Dimmakherbs.com if you would like to try it.

Also remember herbal formulas aren’t using chemical actions on you, so you are able to control the effects. For instance Valerian can be used for anxiety, calming, ADD, cramps, and emotional problems taken is smaller doses. It is quite difficult to take a small amount of prescription sleep medication to calm anxiety, however herbs are quite the opposite. Take a single pill or 10-30 drops of tincture as needed.

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