Tinctures are not just for when you have a cold or the flu.  They can help you in your every day life, even when you are not sick. Three of my favorite wellness tinctures are Digest-Ease, Tooth and Gum and Kidney Klean.  Here are a few of the benefits that using them will give you:
 
Have you ever eaten a meal and the food tasted so good that you ate a little more than your stomach could comfortably hold?  Then you feel very full and wish that you had saved half of your food for later!!  What can you do to feel better right away?  You take one or more dropperfuls of Digest-Ease tincture in a little water or juice.  It helps your digestion and makes everything go back to normal, fast.  You can also take Digest-Ease whenever you feel queasy due to motion sickness.  It’s amazing how much it helps.  Half a dropperful in a mouthful of water gives you a fresh taste in your mouth and quiets your stomach down.
 
Tooth and Gum tincture helps give your mouth that squeaky clean feeling when you haven’t been flossing your teeth as often as you know you should.  You put a dropperful of the formula right on your gums and massage it in vigorously with your finger so that it gets into all the spaces where bacteria can hide.  You can also put a dropperful of the tincture in your water-pik.  Regular use of Tooth and Gum will help your next dental checkup be more enjoyable by making your gums less likely to be tender.
 
And last but not least, Kidney Klean is a great tincture for preventive maintenance.  The herbs in this formula are specifically chosen to help your kidneys, bladder and urinary system and you may have used this formula once in a while to do a cleanse.  However, you may want to consider taking it more often.  Your entire pelvic region can benefit from taking this tincture on a regular basis.  It helps strengthen the muscles you use to do your Kegel exercises and keeps your urinary elimination system in top shape.  Just drink down a couple of dropperfuls in some water or juice once or twice a day.

Have you ever felt a tiny soreness in your throat when you swallow and thought “Uh oh”?   You’ve worked at boosting your immune system and stayed away from sick people but somehow you feel like something has gotten through.  What do you do to get rid of the sore throat fast before it turns into something worse? 
 
Here’s the answer:  Gargle with Cayenne Tincture. 
 
Here’s how to do it: 
 
- Add 10 – 20 drops of Cayenne Tincture to a quarter cup of warm water or apple juice and mix well.

- Gargle it all, a little at a time, making lots of gargling noise so it goes deep in your throat.   

- Spit it out when you’re ready, swallowing a little bit of the cayenne mix. 

You can swallow it all but you will feel a burning sensation in your stomach if you do. (Your mouth may burn a little afterwards, so rinse with cold water and the burning will go away soon.)  Repeat every few hours until the sore throat is gone.
 
This even works on really sore throats that have been getting worse for a few days.  You can intensify the dosage of Cayenne Tincture and you can repeat the process every 15 minutes if you really need relief fast.  You may experience increased discharges of phlegm during the process.  It’s okay – that means it’s working!

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about tinctures.

WHAT ARE TINCTURES?

Herbal tinctures are what you end up with after you take parts of herbs or plants and soak them in alcohol for a few weeks.  (Non-alcoholic tinctures are made from herbs soaked in glycerin, water or apple cider vinegar.) After you strain the plant material out of the mix, you have a concentrated extract of the herbs or plants.  Depending on what combinations of herbs you use, tinctures can be therapeutic, medicinal, preventive or even life-saving.

For example, one of the most important first-aid tinctures is Cayenne.  This tincture may be able to help stop a heart attack, slow or stop bleeding and revive someone from unconsciousness. 

 WHY USE TINCTURES?
 
Tinctures are an easy way to get a concentrated dose of the healing properties of the herbs you are using.  Especially when the herbs are extracted in a base of 80 – 100% alcohol, your body can absorb the tincture quickly and put it to work!  When I feel myself coming down with something, the first thing I reach for is my bottle of Immune Boost.  It helps me fight off all the bad bugs fast!! 

Another of my favorite tinctures for fighting colds or flu is Super Force, which is onions, garlic, horseradish and peppers soaked in apple cider vinegar.  I even take it when I’m not sick because I like the taste of it so much.  Some people I know will mix it with olive oil to make an immune boosting salad dressing.

WHAT KIND OF TINCTURES SHOULD I USE?

Always look for tinctures where the best, organic and wild-grown herbs and plants are used.  That way you can be sure you are not getting any herbicides and pesticides along with your extracts. 

Next, make sure that the tinctures are full strength, not diluted or watered down so that you receive the full benefit from taking them.

You can easily make your own tinctures at home if you have the time.  There are many different websites explaining how to do this.  If you are short on time, you can order them for very reasonable prices from Marilyn Farms, with the full assurance that you are getting a product that is safe and full-strength.

For those of you who didn’t get to participate in our last webinar, Immunity and Your Immune system: Unleash the Natural Killer in You, I thought I would share one of the tips Jessica presented for working with your immune system to help protect against flu and the H1N1 virus.
 
One of the ways a virus can enter your body is through your nasal passages or mouth, so irrigating your sinuses or gargling with salt water can help ensure that nothing takes hold if you are exposed to the flu virus.  I can personally vouch 100% for the neti pot!  Like many of us, I sometimes push myself a little too much and put my immune system to the test, but time and time again the neti pot has come to the rescue and turned what could have morphed into a full blown sickness to a brief inconvenience.
 
Here are some simple instructions for nasal irrigation. It’s a quick and easy remedy and well worth the time.  Make it part of your daily health routine!  And, if you don’t have a neti, Marilyn Farms sells several styles, now 10% off!  Click here to view.

1. Mix 1/4 teaspoon of finely ground non-iodized salt with 8 oz. of water. Use the purest salt available because impurities in the salt can be irritating. 
2. Lean forward and turn your head to one side over the sink, keeping the forehead at the same height as the chin, or slightly higher.
3. Gently insert the spout in the upper nostril so it forms a comfortable seal.
4. Raise the Neti gradually so the saline solution flows in through your upper nostril and out of the lower nostril.  Breathe through your mouth.
5. When the Neti is empty, face the sink and exhale vigorously without pinching the nostrils.
 6. Refill the Neti and repeat on the other side. Again, exhale vigorously to clear the nasal passages.