I find the chosen title of this article, those big bold words above, to be educational all by themselves. WOW! Caring for our lymphatic systems is precisely what we are doing during a ‘cleanse’, even if that cleanse is meant to target the intestinal tract specifically. Every alternative method of eliminating allergies that works recognizes this and works to cleanse and strengthen this vital system.
Your lymphatic system is a vital part of your circulatory and immune systems. It consists of a network of lymphatic vessels, lymph nodes, and lymphatic organs, including your spleen and tonsils.
How do I adequately describe our lymphatic systems without needing as many pages that I take up when teaching about this body-wide system when teaching anatomy during Foot Zone therapy classes?
Let’s begin by imagining a team inside your body that is constantly working to keep everything—and I do mean everything!— in balance. That is our lymphatic system!
Unfortunately, the amazing lymphatic system has a downside, as well. Bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells that enter the lymphatic vessels can—and sometimes do, if the system is not healthy and working properly—use this system to travel throughout the body. This danger is supposed to be kept to a minimum as lymph fluid passes through the many lymph nodes situated throughout the body. If the immune system is healthy and the lymph fluid is moving as it should be, all will be well. Even cancer cells will be eliminated in an early, unnoticed stage. If not . . . .
Our lymphatic systems also contribute in very important ways to our ability to absorb dietary fats and fat-soluble vitamins. In addition, our lymphatic systems also transport cellular waste, debris, and toxins away from tissues, thus protecting tissues and organs throughout our bodies.
A Few Ways to Get Your Lymph Moving
- Breathe deeply. There is approximately three times more lymph fluid moving through the body than there is blood, but the lymph has no pump to keep it moving. Deep breathing—the kind in which your abdomen moves with each breath—stimulates the flow of lymph and energizes the immune system.
- Add exercise to your breathing, and you will have turbo-charged your lymphatic system and increased, in beneficial ways, your immune responses. A rebound exerciser is believed to be particularly good for your lymphatic system. Whole Body Vibration (I call it being jiggled and I love it!) seems to make my lymphatic system very happy. Involuntary muscle movement promotes lymph flow.
- Drink plenty of water. Room temperature, or even hot water, sipped frequently throughout the day will re-hydrate the body and get the lymph moving.
- Alkalize your diet. Simply eat more alkaline foods than you do “junk” or highly acidic foods. Avoid as much as you can sugary treats and beverages. Lessen the amount of meats, breads, grains, dairy, and processed foods that you consume each day. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Green, leafy vegetables provide chlorophyll, which will purify your blood and cleanse your lymph.
- Add a few good-quality nuts to your diet. Raw, unsalted nuts and seeds are powerhouses of minerals, vitamins, protein, unsaturated fatty acids, and antioxidants.
- Make herbs, especially lymph-building ones, to your life on a daily basis. A few suggested herbs include: astragalus, barberry, calendula, dandelion, echinacea, elecampane, garlic, ginger, goldenseal, myrrh, rosemary, sage, thyme, and white oak bark.
- Use essential oils regularly. Regular use of essential oils helps to cleanse the body from toxins, free radicals, cellular debris, heavy metals, petrochemicals, bacteria, and a host of other unwanted things. Suggested oils include cypress, orange, grapefruit, rosemary, peppermint, lemon, and blends such as Butterfly Express LeSolace, LeAgeless, LeCherish, LeCinnamonBear, LeEndoRelief, LeLiteN, LeReflections, LeMillenia, LeRevitalize, LeSunburst, LeSynopsis, LeUnDone, and LeVitality. Which oil to use will depend a lot on where in the body the lymph clogging is most prevalent and what else needs to be accomplished.
- Clay baths and foot soaks use the pores of the skin, especially the large pores of the feet, to cleanse the liver and move lymph fluid.
- Gentle massage. It is believed that a gentle massage can push up to 75% of stagnant lymph back into circulation, freeing up trapped toxins.
- Keep your skeletal structure aligned through chiropractic and/or the regular use of LeMillenia essential oil. LeMillenia, added to the bath or shower, can help the body realign itself or maintain a chiropractic alignment for a much longer time.
- Dry skin brushing, especially before showering. Use a natural bristle brush. Brush your dry skin in circular motions upwards from the feet to the torso and from the fingers to the chest. The point is to work in the same direction that our lymph flows—toward the heart.
- A shower in which hot and cold water are alternated every few minutes. (Sorry, this one is not for me!) Heat dilates and cold contracts. The lymphatic and circulatory tun alongside each other in the body. Alternate hot and cold increases both circulation and lymph drainage. Contraindicated for pregnancy and heart conditions.
I am so excited about this new monthly Butterfly Foot Zone Focus. I have spent more than 25 years creating and then using Butterfly Products as I learned bit by bit what worked for what during a Foot Zone Session. (I even got a vote on what would be featured in this first month’s specials, ha ha.)
As fall rolls in and the air turns crisp, it also brings along an unwelcome guest—“sickness season.” Cooler weather means respiratory viruses and other illnesses tend to pop up more often. Kids in school are exposed to all kinds of germs (and generously share them at home). Plus, when it’s chilly outside, we spend more time indoors and closer to others, making it easier for germs to spread. To make matters worse, cooler temps and drier air create the perfect environment for viruses to stick around longer, both in the air and on surfaces.
The best way to stay healthy is to give your immune system a boost before sickness season kicks into high gear. That way, you can avoid, or at least lessen, the bugs that come your way. But life happens, and sometimes those best-laid plans don’t pan out. That’s where the products in this blog come in. They can help you stay well, bounce back faster, and make those symptoms a whole lot easier to handle.
Essential oils, herbs, and homeopathic remedies can be great natural options for keeping your skin safe in the sun and keeping bugs away. Products like lavender essential oil and Neutralizer help soothe sunburns, while things like Sun Shade lotion offer sun protection. For bug bites and stings, herbs like calendula or plantain can calm the itch, and essential oils like citronella, catnip, and kanuka help keep mosquitoes and other bugs at bay. Homeopathic remedies like Apis or Ledum can also help with swelling and itching if you do get bitten. It’s a simple, natural way to care for your skin and stay comfortable when you’re outside.
The digestive system is a very intricate and complex system. To my mind, it is much like a fragile ecosystem. There is a constant need for balance in the digestive system, just as there is in nature. The balance between the organs and among the different types of healthy bacteria found in the digestive system is absolutely essential to good health. When the digestive system is not working properly, the body becomes either malnourished or toxic. As a result, all the woes of poor nutrition and/or a toxic system eventually show themselves in the overall health of the body and mind.
Due to the many different organs included in the digestive system and their specific roles in the body, there are a lot of essential oils and herbs which have an ability to impact this system and bring about improvements. This month’s newsletter targets only a few of them. (I know from the length of the article that it seems like we surely must have mentioned them all. Not so—but it did feel like that to me as I wrote it.) I hope you find something useful to you or your family in the information I have tried to present here.
I was absolutely delighted to see what had been chosen for this month’s topic! February can be such a hard month for so many people, and this coming one promises to be harder than usual for me and those around me. As some of you may have heard, our family experienced the devastating loss of a dear loved one recently. I am very grateful for the opportunity to refresh my own mind, study the remedies that deal with depression, grief, and other emotional and mental issues a bit deeper and then share with you what I know and learn. The use of some of these remedies has already had a profound effect on my own mental health recently.
On a lighter note, my older brother, an advanced mathematics professor, told me once that his classes in February were simply used to play fun (and mildly educational) number/math games. Why? Because, he said, students are just up to too much else in February and they need a bit of fun to cheer them up! I suspect that the darker days of winter and, perhaps even in sunny climes, the let down following the holiday season affects us all. See the full list of topics.
Are you ready for some summer fun? There are so many fun things to do and places to go. Are you traveling, camping, or just getting out in the sun? Summer can be full of bugs, sun, scrapes, and bruises so we are focusing this month’s blog on some of our favorite Herbs, Essential Oils, and Blessed Waters that help us to be PREPARED for the fun of SUMMER. There are some amazing products you need to know about and then we will talk about things for Sun Safety, Building Immunity, Camping and First Aid, and Traveling.
In July, we will be talking about DEHYDRATION and MINERALS. We are all aware that when you are extremely dehydrated, it is a serious situation. However, most of us do not realize how important it is to avoid being even slightly dehydrated. We also don’t really grasp how minerals work to help us stay hydrated. Water is only part of staying hydrated. Join us as we talk about the importance of minerals, and electrolytes. We will also talk about essential oils, herbs, and blessed waters. See the full list of topics.
In June, we will be talking about SUNBURNS, CAMPING & HEAT EXHAUSTION. I love summer and all the fun that comes with it. Cuts, scrapes, sunburns, etc. are inevitable and I am so glad that I have my natural remedies to help my body and my children to heal faster and avoid infected cuts and scrapes. Join me and learn about my favorite Oils, Salves, and Blessed Waters for summer. See the full list of topics.