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5 Awesome Insights on Nettle for Total Health

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Nettle is a Protein Powerhouse

Containing all nine essential amino acids, nettle is a great source of protein.  The nine essential amino acids are histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tyrosine and valine.  Nettle is about 47% protein by dry weight so that applies to nettle powders and teas.  Nettle is a bout 20% protein by weight when you buy or pick it fresh.  Nettle contains the gut-healing amino acids that bone broth is famous for so is a great alternative.  Despite what “they” say there are alternatives to bone broth and its healing nutrients CAN be found in other foods, nettle is one example.  These gut-healing amino acids are glutamine, alanine, proline and glycine.  Nettle tea is a good alternative for replacing those amino acids.  It doesn’t have quite the same levels of these amino acids cup-per-cup but if you’re like me you make it strong and you can drink a lot more nettle tea than broth on a regular day.  The vitamin C in nettle can also help to form collagen necessary for our guts, skin and joints.

Nettle and Brain Healh

With its vibrant amino acid profile nettle can provide many of the raw materials we require for our neurotransmitters.  We need phenylalanine to make serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline.  In other words we need phenylalanine to chill out and be happy!    Nettle provides us with that.  Nettle also contains choline which is essential for our brains and acetylcholine which is the compound that helps the nerve signals in our bodies be transferred and received at their end destination.  Nettle uses this to help us feel its sting more.  Ouch.  Um thanks a lot.  But our nerves use this acetylcholine to talk to our muscles.  For example we need acetylcholine for our brain-gut connection, for our digestive motility and for the smooth muscle movements in the gut to be coordinated.  Nettle also contains 108% of the RDA of vitamin A in a three cup serving of the fresh plant (that’s 5369 IU) which is good for our brains and is very high in lutein/zeaxanthin which is often sold as a supplement to reduce brain inflammation.  Of course this is a vitamin A precursor (vitamin A listings can be misleading) and needs to be converted but this is still a great source.  Skip the supplements with me and get some nettle tea.

Nettle and Calcium

Our three cup portion of nettle contains a whopping 1284.27 mg of calcium.  This is more by far than the amount of iron in there. Steaming 3 C raw nettles will take the sting out and leave the calcium.  The tea contains a good amount of calcium too, especially if you make it strong.  I use about a cup of dried nettle leaves for about 1.5 litres of water in my nettle infusions, remembering that all minerals are concentrated in dried plants.  Nettle contains a good amount of copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus and potassium.  Nettle also contains vitamin C which helps us with our calcium utilization.  Just make sure to store it well and buy reasonably fresh dried nettle as it will have a better chance of retaining the vitamin C.  See if you can ask where/when it was harvested from your supplier.

Nettle and Vitamin K
Three cups of steamed nettle contains 1331.4 mcg (1665% of the RD) of vitamin K.  Vitamin K is essential for healthy blood clotting and for preventing the mineralization and hardening of arteries.  K1 can be converted into K2, a vitamin with many forms, in the body though the mechanism is a bit complex.  K2 is the vitamin that helps mineralize our bones and teeth.  I often assume that my cup of dried nettle that I’m adding to tea contains about half of this amount of K1 but there is no guarantee with dried herbs.  The best of course is to dry them yourself so you know when and how they were stored.  Still a cup of dried nettle is not bad!  Nutrition calculators really are not programmed for these wild foods and if they are there are many errors that I have noticed.  AND of course everything depends on the environment in which the food was grown.
No matter what you are getting an abundance of nutrients in your nourishing nettle infusion.  Many authors write about K2 being an important and common deficiency.  One way to increase the K2 levels in our bodies is by including green foods that are absolutely replete with K1 like nettle.  Another way is to use nettle in fermentation and make a nettle natto.  Or any kind of natto.  Because the Bacillus bacteria in natto make K2.  Yup.  That’s right.  We do this in the Friendly Flora Collective and you can do this at home too.  You can actually use the bacillus bacteria for a variety of ferments but soy beans are traditional, anyway black beans and nettle work, believe it or not.
Inflammation Modulation
Extracts of nettle (tinctures or extract capsules) can help to reduce the COX1, COX2 and arachidonic acid cascades in our bodies.  These are our inflammatory pathways.  Some inflammation is good, like if you just broke your leg.  All inflammation serves a purpose, to protect our bodies short term and, if long term, alert us that something is getting in the way of healthy functioning.  BUT inflammation anywhere in the body, for example digestive inflammation, can turn on these inflammatory pathways and thereby increase inflammation everywhere else in the body.  This can worsen joint pain and more, making daily life more challenging.  So while you’re tackling the root causes of inflammation in the body (ahem… the gut) it can be nice to know nettle extracts have been shown to reduce inflammation via COX1 and 2 and reduce arachidonic acid.
So if you’re considering adding some nettle, dried nettle or nettle powder into your diet and you’re wondering HOW here are a few ideas:
Make a nettle tea and use it as a base for your almond milks, soups, dips or dressings.
Nettle pairs well with lemon, olive oil, basil, blueberry, artichoke, rosemary, pine nuts, aged “cheeses”, cauliflower, mushrooms, leeks, parsnips, potatoes and more.  Choose one or two feature flavours to pair with the nettle and see what you come up with.  It’ll be like “iron chef”.  Or should I say calcium chef.
I love to use nettle, fresh, frozen or dried in pestos and dips.  You can use nettle powder in the place of gluten-free flour in breads, wraps or pancakes.  How do you get nettle powder?  Buy cut/sifted nettle that is used for tea.  You can get this on Amazon HERE.  When you are ready to use it powder some of the nettle in your dry blender jug.  It’s better to powder herbs like nettle right before using them to reduce oxidation and degradation of the nutrients in there.  I would replace up to 1/4 of the gluten-free flour in a recipe with nettle powder.  This is handy for me because some of my family still enjoy bread.  If you’re going to bake you might as well sneak in a load of protein and minerals!  Adding the nettle powder greatly increases the protein content of foods.  Does make them green though!

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The Good Side of Ghrelin

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Whoever named the hormone ghrelin seriously made it sound like some kind of evil elf monster.  Well it’s not.  I believe this hormone is largely misunderstood and we are missing the boat by working so hard to suppress it.  Maybe folks don’t realize how many benefits this hunger hormone has for our bodies.  Maybe folks making weight loss supplements have different priorities than we do.  By the time you’re through here you’ll be the village expert on the benefits of hunger and how to leverage it for yourself.  It may help you to think on the bright side when your table is yet to be served or you are skipping the snacks between meals and get the rumbly tummy.
Ghrelin is the hormone released in our stomachs that sends a signal to our brains telling us we’re hungry!  There are also small amounts of this hormone released from the brain itself, the small intestine and the pancreas.  There has been much popular press about ghrelin, teaching us how to suppress this hormone, blaming it for weight gain.  I do not believe our hormones are inherently good or evil, but that they are necessary messengers in our bodies.  Perhaps if we were eating the right amounts of the right things for our bodies and we were able to metabolize the carbs we were eating we wouldn’t be so eager to find someone to blame.
Ghrelin has been found to improve neuroplasticity, decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s and increase learning and memory by helping to build the hippocampus.  Yup.  Every time you are hungry you are actually building your brain power and improving your memory.  The addition of injected ghrelin has even been found to improve the conditions of many types of mammals who were already suffering from memory loss.  Could there be a biological need for us to be smarter when we’re hungry?  I think so.  Now if only we could use our brains when we’re eating….
Neuroplasticity is a big deal.  This is our ability to form new neural pathways, repair damage and learn new things.  Have you known someone who had a major head injury and then a new area of the brain developed to compensate for the change?  Neuroplasticity.  And ghrelin can help us with that.  Who knew?  Being hungry can help our brains.
So this is great until you reach the point where your blood sugar is so low that your body releases cortisol, damaging the hippocampus.  So be hungry.  Be hungry before each meal, wait a bit but not long enough to get into crisis and then you can reap the benefits without so much risk.
I love this.  I like compromises and moderation when we use our brains to come up with the solution in the first place.  There is a great deal of research on ghrelin’s ability to help the brain.  As you know I prefer studies on human beings for ethical and practical reasons but check out a summary of some of this research in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences HERE
Ghrelin signals the release of growth hormone all over the body.  This hormone (HGH) signals growth and repair, cell reproduction and regeneration, increases calcium retention and may help with bone density.  It also stimulates the immune system and helps to grow and repair our internal organs and helps the liver to stabilize our blood sugars.  Many of us have lower than optimal amounts of growth hormone in our systems because it is suppressed by insufficient sleep, stress and blood sugar dysregulation.
What if simply avoiding mid-morning snacks and allowing ourselves to become hungry could increase growth hormone in our bodies?  In fact it does.  In two different ways.  When our blood sugars and insulin are high we do not release growth hormone so we need enough time after meals for them to go back to baseline and the growth hormone to rise.  And for a double-awesomeness attack our hunger hormone ghrelin signals the release of even more of this powerful regenerating hormone.
Ghrelin has benefits for the digestive system too.  It builds the digestive mucosa.  This is a protective lining on the surface of our inner skin, our stomachs, small and large intestines.  We have mucosa in our lungs and kidneys/bladder too, all of those spaces that seem to be “inside” our bodies but are really on the outside, hollow spaces inside our bodies.  They need to be protected.  Some cases of extreme damage to the digestive mucosa include ulcerative colitis, where the mucosa and intestinal lining get damaged by our own immune systems.  Our mucosa can also be damaged by rough foods, by fasting, by bacterial imbalances or through nutrient deficiencies.
We are making and replenishing this mucosa constantly, every day.  This is why people enjoy taking slippery elm, marshmallow and aloe internally, they protect this important lining.  Our mucosa houses our digestive immunity, makes and stores enzymes to digest medium chain carbohydrates and releases other digestive hormones too.  It protects us from unwanted food and bacteria making their way into our bodies.  How great to know that when we are hungry within reason, when we allow ourselves to grumble a bit for food, we are actually signalling healing and protection for our small and large intestines!
Ghrelin has amazing benefits for our digestive tracts, our whole bodies and our brains.  The next time you’re hungry think to yourself:  I’m SO SMART right now and my body is healing itself 🙂  My body is a genius.

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5 Ways Rosemary Helps Your Liver

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I love taking a deeper look at the herbs and plants in my spice cabinet. Partly because it makes me think differently about how I use food and partly because these herbs and spices are so delicious it is a delight to include them in everything from tea to dessert. In rosemary’s case it is truly enjoyable to let MEDICINE be our FOOD.

Rosemary is directly stimulating to our stomach acid and liver enzymes through its flavour. It’s important to remember foods with pungent and bitter flavours stimulate our stomach acid. When our stomach acid is ample our liver gets stimulated too.  So the first way that rosemary helps our livers is by encouraging stomach acid and bile production.  There is a chemical signal from the taste of rosemary, indicating to our stomachs that there will be minerals to break down so we will need hydrochloric acid.

Rosemary contains many volatile oils. In fact I listed over 70 of them in a recent paper I wrote. Wow! That’s a lot of plant constituents, whole lotta chemistry going on!  One of the main volatile oils in rosemary is D-limonene. The same limonene that is found in the peels of citrus fruits. Limonene is a big part of how many essential oils help us to clean our homes and yes, also clean our bodies.

D-Limonene has been shown to help reduce fatty buildups in the liver (fatty liver). Isn’t this awesome! Not to mention limonene tastes and smells amazing. Check out the recipe for Rosemary Citrus Marmalade for a delicious way to make a limonene-rich condiment in your kitchen. If you’re looking to citrus for limonene remember it’s in the peel. (The coloured part, not the white part which has benefits of its own). Limonene is also in many plants with needles, especially rosemary and the fir family. This plant constituent is responsible for the citrusy freshness of rosemary’s flavour.

Third, rosemary works to detoxify fats in the body by stimulating the liver in both phase 1 and 2 detoxification. This is partly due to the limonene again. It helps us to increase the enzymes responsible for both phase one and two detox in the liver. For some people phase two can become sluggish which leads to a buildup of toxic metabolites. Importantly, slow phase 2 detox can lead to symptoms like headaches, skin issues and exhaustion. Sometimes when people encourage phase one liver detox they feel worse. This is one of the reasons I love rosemary, because it encourages both phase one and two. AND if you’re eating the whole food rather than using a tincture or oil you will get more stimulation for bile production, which is the liver’s way of actually getting rid of the substances it detoxifies.  Double win!

The constituents of rosemary can help to up-regulate the CYP1A1 gene which helps with our detoxification of harmful estrogens and xenoestrogens.  This is deeply connected to our risk of hormone-related cancers.  Say no to plastic and say yes to CYP1A1 in every way you can.

Rosemary can also help to increase our absorption of other herbs. Pairing rosemary with other liver herbs can help them be more effective or available, making a super-liver partnership.  Rosemary has been shown to increase the anti-inflammatory effects of turmeric through both increased absorption and by adding rosemary’s bouquet of chemistry to the table.  Since turmeric is also a great help for phase two liver detoxification this would be a great pair.  Remember that the metabolites of phase 1 detox are damaging to the liver as they wait to go through phase two so a formula like this is liver protective.  Our liver is known as our second heart, give yours some lovin’ and throw some rosemary on that salad.

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Parfait with Lemongrass, Lime, Basil, Coconut, Pineapple and Ginger… and Key Benefits

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I love this recipe with just a tablespoon of fresh ginger juice added to the yogurt but I felt it may be too spicy for some so made the ingredient optional. This recipe of course has many benefits but for the gut I wanted to highlight the lemongrass with its microbe-modulating actions and its strong anti-fungal properties.  The basil, too, can help to reduce unwanted small intestinal bacteria.  If you are using a bifidum-only or a non D-lactate producing blend you may be able to tolerate yogurt parfaits, especially with the addition of basil and lemon balm even if you have symptoms of SIBO.  In prevention, the ginger with its motility enhancing properties paired with the good bacteria in the yogurt (keeping bad bugs at bay) AND the antifungal/antimicrobial properties of lemongrass and basil you have powerful food here.  Look below the recipe for some more specific benefits of each of these herbs.

Ingredients:

Coconut Yogurt 1 C
Lime,
1/2 Lemongrass,
1 stalk Basil, chopped fine,
3 T Pineapple Pieces, 1/3 C
1T Ginger juice (optional)

The recipe is served with pomegranate. See the full recipe HERE.

Each of these ingredients is beneficial across the body systems and each has a long history of use. Let’s get started!

Lime

Lime?  Yes, lime.  Really lime is not as fancy of an herb or may not be as much of a powerhouse as some of the other culinary herbs we talk about. But lime is so easy to incorporate into desserts, main dishes, drinks and more and its benefits, while subtle, cover some of the most important elements of our digestion, absorption and health. Lime can increase our stomach acid production when drank in water before a meal. Better stomach acid means better breakdown of minerals and proteins, leading to better nutrition! Increased stomach acid can also lead to better bile production which helps our bodies rid themselves of fat soluble toxins, can help with digestive motility, reduce opportunistic bacteria in the small intestine, decrease fungi and more. Better bile production means better digestion of fats. Lime is rich in antioxidants including many flavanoids and also vitamin C. This can help with free radicals anywhere in the body, for example in the skin. Lime and lemon can also be used for a gentle liver support by drinking citrus in water in the morning before taking any food. Be cautious if you have a history of digestive pain if you are starting this in large amounts however.

Lemongrass

Lemongrass has anti-fungal and antibacterial properties like many of the herbs mentioned here (I prefer to say microbe-modulating), but is particularly strong in the antifungal department. This makes lemongrass a great seasoning or herb to consider using whenever working to balance yeasts in the body. Lemongrass has also been found to lower cholesterol and also decrease the spread of cancer. Just as I like to reframe how lemongrass works with fungi in the body I like to view “anti-cancer” as lemongrass altering the conditions within us that encourage the growth of cancers.  Doesn’t mean it’s curing anything or that it’s anything near a holistic remedy.  It’s just one food.  Lemongrass has been shown to reduce inflammation and pain. I love lemongrass in green juice, in desserts and in thai curry kale chips.  Yum.  I know you want some!

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Basil

Basil is a carminative herb which means it can reduce spasming of muscles in the digestive system, thereby relieving gas/bloating/pain and more.  Surprisingly many people experience digestive pain because the smooth muscles surrounding the digestive system are tight in one place, uncoordinated or just in spasm.  Basil, along with other herbs like cardamom and peppermint can relieve this problem as a mild relaxant (AKA carminative).  Basil seeds have been found to have blood sugar lowering effects.  Basil has been found to have anti-inflammatory properties and can also lower the acid-producing bacteria that upset the digestive balance. Basil and the diluted oil of basil have been found to reduce P. acnes, the bacteria that contribute to acne. There are many studies about the antibacterial properties of basil essential oil and there is a time and place for that however it is great to incorporate the whole plant as much as possible into foods. Who doesn’t love a good pesto? Or a basil ice cream – don’t knock it until you try it! Don’t confuse basil with holy basil, they are different plants though related.  I enjoy adding basil to green juices with celery, lime and cucumber. There are many savoury and sweet ways to enjoy this powerful herb.  Ice cream tho….

Coconut

Wow. Coconut. This is a powerhouse seed full of amazing properties that are just too much to mention in this article. The oil of coconut can provide short term energy, is easier to digest than many fats (um tastes awesome) and has proven benefits to the brain. In numerous studies the medium chain triglycerides have been found to improve cognitive performance of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, notably one published in Neurobiological Aging in March of 2004.  But there have been dozens of similar studies.  Caprylic acid and Undecalynic acid, both found in the oil of coconut have anti-fungal properties and in fact are arguably the two strongest anti-fungal substances in the western canon.  Coconut has been found to lower LDL cholesterol, raise cholesterol in people who have it too low, decrease blood pressure and help with skin conditions.

Again, wow. Coconut oil can also help to increase our conversion of ALA fats up to 10 times – like converting flax oil to EPA and DHA which we need for brain, skin, inflammation reduction and metabolic health (and more). One word of caution about Coconut oil though… it’s not the best oil for the face as it can clog pores. If the nutrient rich coconut water is too sweet for you try fermenting it into a Coconut kefir (just do a google search).  The coconut water will not have those fatty acids but will have healthy minerals.  If you love coconut water try it with a splash of lime and some ginger, it’s amazing!

Pineapple

You probably know pineapple contains bromelain which can be a helpful digestive enzyme and also can be good for the skin in some people. But did you know that it was almost 30 years ago that Bromelain, both heat treated and raw, was found to reduce the spread of lung cancer? Bromelain was found to actually increase the survival rate of all sorts of cancers in animals (except melanoma). It has been found to benefit sinus congestion, inflammation, swelling in different parts of the body, inflammatory bowel conditions and more. Bromelain may benefit the liver. It is also a strong exfoliant and can be irritating for some people so is either amazing or a bit too much when applied topically to the face and hands. I love the dichotomy of this fruit being so sweet, too sweet for many people, and also at the same time reducing inflammation. Also with Bromelain’s anti-fungal properties this is a very interesting fruit. If you find pineapple too sweet on its own for your blood sugar tolerance try alternating it with bites of something fibrous and mineral dense like kale or romaine.  We have really bred our fruits to be crazy sweet.  Whether you find a way to enjoy pineapple in its whole, natural form or you prefer to use the proteolytic enzyme Bromelain I hope you continue to love this ingredient as I do.

Ginger

When I lived in China one of my friends commented that I was always drinking ginger tea and that I was using Chinese medicine. I said “no. I just like ginger.” They argued with me for several minutes, explaining that whether I intended to utilize the medicinal benefits of ginger or not I was still benefiting from all of the biochemical actions of the plant and from the long history of its use in Chinese medicine. Looking back on this conversation I laugh because indeed it would be impossible to escape the many benefits of ginger.

Has been shown to help with menstrual pain
Has been shown to reduce pain and have anti-inflammatory properties in hundreds of studies.  By increasing Serotonin in the digestive system, ginger is able to help with small intestinal motility. For some folks with SIBO 1000 mg of ginger or more can significantly increase small intestinal migrating motor complex and decrease their bloating and symptoms.

Ginger has been used worldwide as a remedy for nausea for literally thousands of years.  Ginger is a carminative herb which means it can relax spastic muscles in the digestive system, often relieving gas and bloating.  Ginger was found in a study published in the Saudi Medical Journal, 2008, to lower LDL cholesterol.  Ginger was found to lower fasting glucose, C reactive protein, triglycerides, hemoglobin A1C, insulin and more type-2 diabetes markers significantly in the International Journal of Food Science in 2014

Anyway I highly recommend you make THIS recipe and add ginger to it. Or maybe add it to everything?
🙂

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Cultured Christmas Yogurt Starters

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I like to make liquid “starters” for my yogurt by culturing the original powdered starters, this makes it easier to mix into a yogurt recipe, makes the bacteria more active for the yogurt ferment and saves money with very little prep, especially if plant-based yogurt is something you want to have in your home available for breakfasts, sauces, dips and other creations.  So I start with the powder, make a liquid starter and then use one litre of that to start eight to sixteen batches of yogurt (depending the strength).  Watch the video to learn how to make a starter.

Find out more about A Cultured Christmas by clicking HERE

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