“I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience?” (1 Corinthians 10:29, NIV)
Paul anticipates the objection. If I know an idol is nothing, and the meal in front of me is good food, why should someone else’s conscience limit what I do?
His answer isn’t that your freedom is wrong. You remain free. The question is how Love chooses to use that freedom when someone is watching who doesn’t yet understand. The Remedy puts it plainly: the confusion isn’t yours, it’s theirs. They still believe the idol has power, and you don’t want them to think you believe in their god.
This is what Love does. It protects and cares for those who lack understanding.
Think of how we raise children. Some things we model, and we smile when they try to mimic us, because their efforts build the ability to do it one day. Other things we forbid them to touch. Hand a young child an ax or a power tool, and the gift of your skill becomes a danger to them. They don’t yet have the understanding to respect the tool, the maturity to give it full attention, or the strength to handle its blowback.
Our infants in the faith need the same care. A new believer will naturally copy their mentor, even when they don’t understand what they are stepping into. Sometimes experience is how they grow. Other times, wisdom says not to introduce a truth too early, before they have laid a solid foundation to build that belief on. Wisdom and Love advance no faster than the soul can follow.
So don’t run ahead and leave your child stumbling around in confusion while you enjoy good company and a well-prepared meal. There’s no sin in that meal for the mature in faith. But your child is still on infant formula. Because you love them, you’ll share their fare and change your plans to give them time to grow up.
Stay aware of the people in your sphere of influence. The Holy Spirit, or the energy you sense in a person, or both, along with your own experience and wisdom, will guide your attention to a soul struggling alone in a moment of distress. Sit beside them. Ask why they’re troubled, and point them in a better direction. Stay a while, answer their questions, and enjoy their eager discovery of new life in Christ.
This is our work: what Love can see and do for each other.
Kidney issues seem to have always been a part of my life. Kidney infections started in my childhood, and by sixteen an infection and high fevers put me in the emergency room in convulsions. Until I was introduced to herbs and natural healing in the early 1990s, prescribed antibiotics were a regular part of my life; I lived on them for fifteen years.
Since discovering the healing power of herbs, I have taken no prescribed drugs for infection. Combining the infection-fighting herbs into herbal extracts for my infections has proven effective every time I have used them. Kidney Support in my Kidney/Bladder Tea, along with my Hot Lemonade, have been my daily supports ever since, and I haven’t had a kidney attack or kidney pain in over 20 years. I know my kidneys are a weak spot, so I keep animal proteins very low, and I have no soda, sugary drinks or junk food. The body just doesn’t need that stuff.
Care and Feeding of the Kidneys
Kidneys or My Back?
During this time of my life, when my back began to ache there were three possible reasons. One was my cycle, which was easy to rule in or out. The other two were trickier. In 1985 I was in a car accident that fractured my lower back. I could go long periods without any discomfort, then out of the blue it would begin to spasm. Since the fracture was in my lower back, right at the same level as my kidneys, I needed to figure out which one was talking to me. When my back began hurting I would do the three kidney drinks. Within an hour, if it was my kidneys, the discomfort would be gone. If it did not go away, I knew it was my back, and I began using the BF&C formula for my back along with Lobelia for the spasm. We were not yet making salves, so my only relief was hydrotherapy and the extracts.
Ground-Up Rocks and My Kidneys
Regular calcium supplements are nothing but ground-up rocks, and my kidneys cannot take that at all. A friend told me about a high-quality calcium supplement that would never affect my kidneys. Within four hours of taking only one capsule, I could not even walk straight; my kidneys were completely spasmed. I had to drink emergency kidney teas and Hot Lemonade to clear the congestion and calm it down. I never touched those capsules again. Then I discovered Dr. Christopher’s Calcium extract. My mentor at the time talked me into making it, as I was very leery. It has been amazing: no kidney issues.
Michael’s Kidney Stone on the Road
My husband, Michael, and I made a weekend trip to Dr. Tim Jennings’ class in Collegedale, Tennessee. While we were there, Michael had a kidney stone attack. He admitted to feeling a little discomfort before we left but did not think it would become a problem over the weekend. The lack of proper fluids during the four-and-a-half-hour car trip likely set the active stones off.
One of the worst things you can do with a kidney stone is let yourself become dehydrated. The walls of the vessels in the kidneys are lined with nerve tissue. When the fluid in the kidneys falls off, the vessels collapse around the stones, and all the rough edges rip and tear into the nerve tissue as they pass through. Staying hydrated fills the vessels with fluid, keeping the stones buoyant and floating in the center, with much less ripping and tearing.
I learned a lot over two days in a hotel with a husband passing a kidney stone. First, hot fomentations can be done very effectively in a hotel room. I wet and wrung out two small hand towels and put them in the microwave for a minute and a half. That made them steaming hot, and by the time they made it across the room to the bed they were the perfect heat to lay over his kidneys. The stone began in the back and moved to the front over the next few hours. The wet heat kept the kidney calm and the pain all but gone. He also took some Advil, an over-the-counter pain reliever, which was an added help with the pain. I massaged the area with our Anti-Spasmodic Salve too. Our M&L Salve is normally perfect for muscle spasms, but the Anti-Spasmodic Salve is a bit stronger and proved helpful that weekend.
Friday night into Saturday morning he slept well, but the pain began to build again in the morning, likely because he had not kept up his fluids while he slept. The hot fomentations were what really eased it. He has said they were the only thing that truly helped.
Michael’s pain routine. Michael has given birth to many, many stone children over the years, and he has worked out his own routine for the pain. When a stone starts moving, he takes a nighttime pain reliever, either ibuprofen or Aleve. If there’s no relief in an hour, he takes two gel Tylenol and waits another hour or so. All the while I’m keeping hot fomentations over his kidneys, or he’s soaking in a very hot bath. He usually only needs to go through the routine once or twice per stone attack, and between the heat and his routine he can get the pain under control without breaking into the heavy-duty pain pills. Those save us trips to the ER and those awful bills.
This is what works for Michael, whose kidneys are otherwise healthy. Ibuprofen and Aleve are hard on weak kidneys, so anyone with kidney disease should ask their doctor what is safe for them.
One of Michael’s “stone children,” passed in 2013, beside a dime and a ruler. Photo: Dara Dietz, H.E.A.L.
The Night at the Cabin Door
One night my husband’s boss showed up at our cabin door in severe kidney stone pain. His nephew was on the way to take him to the emergency room, but it would be over an hour before he arrived. I was setting him up for hot fomentations when he threw up blood all over my bathroom. I gave him an ounce of fresh-squeezed ginger root juice and an ounce of Cayenne extract. His stomach settled and the bleeding stopped. I left the mess, got him into bed and put the hot fomentations on his kidneys. About 15 minutes later he had fallen asleep, relaxed and exhausted from the pain. When his nephew arrived, he drove him, now comfortable, to the emergency room, where they could find no hole in his stomach lining and no internal bleeding at all. He later told me there was no way he had thrown up blood in my bathroom; I assured him I’d had to scrub the proof off the walls and floor. For as long as I knew him, he joked that I had tried to kill him with that ounce of Cayenne. It was the only part of the whole night he remembered. It worked.
I have had people rolling on the floor in agony from a kidney stone who were comfortable in 15 minutes or less with hot fomentations over the kidneys. They are so helpful.
A Member’s Bright Idea
So many of the healing truths I have learned have come from our members. A member called to order a Kidney Stone Dissolve Kit. When I asked if her stones were coming back, she said no: her blood pressure was ticking up without a real reason, and she knew that clogged kidneys full of sediment make the heart work harder to push the blood through. She wanted an intense kidney flush. What a brilliant thought, an ELF for the kidneys! That is how the Ultimate Kidney Flush was born.
This post gathers my kidney flushing routines and class videos in one place. For the full picture of what is happening in the kidneys and a loose healing plan, start with my Kidney Disease information sheet.
From Light to Intense
Kidney flushing runs from a light daily or seasonal flush all the way to an intense flush used to lower rising blood pressure, dissolve kidney stones, and help the renal system clear edema. It is part three of the Incurables Routines, and it goes hand in hand with liver flushing: every week of liver flushing should be followed by a week of kidney flushing, so the body can stay on top of the healing.
Light: Hot Lemonade every day, Kidney/Bladder Tea with Kidney Support, and plenty of distilled water.
Moderate: a full Kidney Flushing week, alternated with liver flushing weeks.
Intense: the Ultimate Kidney Flush, also known as the Stone Dissolve Routine, below.
Kidney Flush Class
Download the handout from the Kidney Flushing Class here:
Using the Hot Lemonade as a daily kidney flush is an excellent idea. Those who have suffered through kidney stones will want to keep up with this routine to keep new stones from forming. In a 16-ounce glass of hot water: 1 teaspoon cayenne, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, and fresh lemon juice and maple syrup to taste.
Learning to Use Cayenne: Hot Lemonade
The Ultimate Kidney Flush & Stone Dissolve Routine
So many of the great healing truths I have discovered have come from our members. The idea of using the Kidney Stone Dissolve Routine as an extreme kidney flush came from one of our brightest members, whose blood pressure was ticking up without a real reason. She understood that clogged kidneys, full of pus or sediment, make the heart work harder to force the blood through, and she wanted an intense flush. What a brilliant thought: an ELF* for the kidneys! (*ELF = Emergency Liver Flush.) It quickly clears excess sediment from the filters, and when the kidneys are free and clear the heart does not need to work as hard. All flows more freely.
This routine does not take the place of the daily Hot Lemonade for preventing new stones, but it quickly flushes the kidneys so they can filter better. Uric acid crystals dissolve quickly. Small calcium gravel and plaque dissolve faster than one large stone. Whatever the size of your crystal and rock collection, if you have or even suspect sediment, gravel or stones in your kidneys or bladder, it is time to get to work.
98 ounces organic, freshly juiced apples (use the tartest available, such as Granny Smith)
10 ounces organic, fresh-squeezed lemon juice
10 ounces organic, fresh-squeezed lime juice
10 ounces organic, raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar
8 ounces of dry Kidney/Bladder Tea (unbrewed)
A 2-ounce bottle of Kidney Support (added after the dry herbs are strained out)
The routine takes 3 days and can be repeated.
Day One: Combine everything except the Kidney Support in the gallon jug. For a stronger brew, run it all through a blender to break down the herbs. Let it steep at room temperature for 24 hours, shaking for a minute or two every couple of hours.
Strain through a stainless steel strainer, or squeeze it through a clean cotton T-shirt. Add the 2-ounce bottle of Kidney Support. Keep the strained brew in the refrigerator until it is gone.
Days Two and Three: Drink 4 ounces every waking hour, each followed by a glass of distilled water (or an ounce every 15 minutes). At 4 ounces an hour over a 16-hour day, you will drink about 64 ounces a day, so the gallon lasts almost two days.
Drink up to 64 ounces of distilled water a day along with it. Only distilled water, the emptiest water, is allowed. It acts like a vacuum, the universal solvent for unwanted mineral deposits. Just drinking distilled water regularly helps dissolve stones and keep new ones from forming; added to this routine, you have a real winner. Repeat at one-week intervals if needed; one large stone dissolves more slowly than many small ones.
Hydrangea, the gravel remover. There is much disagreement about hydrangea’s stone-dissolving properties. Most authorities agree it removes stones, but not all consider it a solvent. Dr. Butler affirmed that it relieves the pain of passing stones. Dr. Shook explained that the sharp pain of gravel comes from the crystal’s sharp points piercing the kidney or ureter; when those points are even partly dissolved, the pain, bleeding and inflammation subside and the stones often pass with just a stretching of the tubes. He asked how else to account for stones that x-rays showed with sharp points, yet passed smooth and round after hydrangea. His clinical evidence, he said, proved hydrangea a true stone solvent.
Kidney Infections
If you have back pain and are not sure whether it is your kidneys, try my three drinks (Echinacea, Herbal Aid 1 and Hot Lemonade), explained on the Kidney Disease sheet. If you determine you have a kidney infection, the Infection Program has proven very helpful in aiding the body to clear it.
Infection Program: Light to Intense
Feeding the Kidneys and Salve Packs
Care and Feeding of the Kidneys
A hot herbal fomentation brings healing herbs right into a struggling kidney, but it is messy and time-consuming, and few people will set one up. A salve pack does the same work without the hassle: spread the salve on flannel, lay it over the kidneys, and cover it with plastic wrap, a towel and a moist heating pad. For the Kidney Salve herbs, proportions and how to make it, see A Salve Pack for Struggling Kidneys.
Topical Application: Herbal Salve Overview
When to Get Medical Care
Herbs are support alongside medical care, not a replacement for it. Get prompt care for fever and chills with back or side pain, blood in the urine, being unable to pass urine, stone pain that is severe or comes with vomiting, or swelling with shortness of breath. These routines are not for anyone on dialysis or with kidney failure.
Infection, Inflammation, Gravel & Stones, and Failing Kidney Function
Understanding the Condition
Dr. Christopher called the kidneys “the filters of the blood,” and that is exactly what they are. Every drop of blood in the body passes through them many times a day, roughly 45 to 50 gallons of blood filtered every 24 hours. Each kidney holds about a million tiny filtering units called nephrons. In each one, a little knot of blood vessels (the glomerulus) strains the blood, and a long, thin tubule then takes back the water, minerals and nutrients the body needs to keep. What is left, the waste, acids and excess fluid, becomes one to two quarts of urine a day.
The kidneys do more than make urine. They keep the body’s water, salt, potassium and acid balance steady; they help set the blood pressure; they make the hormone that tells the bone marrow to build red blood cells; and they turn vitamin D into the form the body uses for strong bones. When the kidneys struggle, all of these jobs slip, which is why kidney trouble can show up as tiredness, anemia, high blood pressure, swelling, cramps and weak bones long before anyone thinks of the kidneys.
How It Develops
Kidney disease is seldom one sudden event. It is usually a slow wearing-down of the filters, and it tends to move through stages (see the picture below):
Overload. The most common beginning is simply not drinking enough water, combined with a heavy load for the filters to handle: lots of animal protein, salt, soda, coffee, alcohol and processed food. Urine becomes dark and concentrated, and minerals and uric acid begin to settle out as fine sediment.
Irritation and infection. Sediment and concentrated urine irritate the delicate tubules. Bacteria, most often climbing up from the bladder, find a home there. The tissue swells and heats, bringing the deep back ache, fever and burning that go with a kidney infection (pyelonephritis). Inflammation of the filters themselves is called nephritis; the old books call long-standing nephritis Bright’s disease.
Gravel and stones. Left in place, crystals grow into gravel and stones. Their sharp points tear at the lining of the kidney and ureter, which is where the terrible pain and the blood in the urine come from. A stone can also block the flow of urine, backing pressure up into the kidney.
Scarring and lost function. Each round of infection, inflammation or blockage leaves some nephrons scarred. Nephrons do not grow back, so the ones that remain have to work harder. Over years the kidney can shrink and lose function. This is chronic kidney disease (CKD). The two biggest causes today are diabetes and high blood pressure, both of which damage the tiny blood vessels of the filters; long-term use of some pain relievers and other drugs is another.
The hard part is that, as Dr. Christopher said, “our kidneys cannot talk.” Chronic kidney disease is usually quiet until much of the function is gone. Early signs are easy to brush off: tiredness, a dull ache across the lower back, restless legs and night cramps, puffy eyes or ankles, foamy or very dark urine, getting up often at night, itching, and blood pressure that creeps up for no clear reason. The simple blood and urine tests a doctor runs (eGFR, creatinine and urine protein) show how well the filters are working, and they are the best way to measure your progress.
How kidney trouble builds. Simplified diagram drawn for H.E.A.L.
A real kidney stone, passed by Dara’s husband in 2013, beside a dime and a ruler: about 3/8 inch across, with rough, jagged edges. Photo: Dara Dietz, H.E.A.L.
The Emotional Side: the Energy Work
Healing the whole person. We are body, mind and spirit, and all three must heal together. When one part is neglected, the other two cannot find complete healing. A person can follow a perfect herbal program, but if she stays in a life that keeps wearing her down, or never makes time to care for herself, the body will keep losing ground. Healing the body often means facing what is happening in the heart and spirit as well.
The body and the heart are not separate. The kidneys sort what we keep from what we let go, and feelings we hold on to instead of releasing can settle here too. Louise Hay, in her book Heal Your Body, ties kidney trouble to old hurts, disappointment and anger that never got cleared out. Letting those go is part of the flush.
Kidney problems: criticism, disappointment and a sense of failure; shame; reacting to life like a hurt child. Turn it around: Everything happening in my life is working toward good, and good comes from every experience. It is safe for me to grow up.
Kidney stones: hard lumps of anger that were never dissolved. Turn it around: I let go of past problems easily.
Emotional patterns paraphrased from Louise Hay, Heal Your Body (Hay House).
Areas Affected & Opening the Way to Healing
The kidneys sit high in the back, tucked under the lower ribs on either side of the spine, with the adrenal glands resting on top of each one. Two thin tubes, the ureters, carry urine down to the bladder. Look at the picture below and notice what sits around them: the liver over the right kidney, and the colon lying in front of both.
Where the kidneys sit, and their neighbors. Simplified diagram drawn for H.E.A.L. (not to scale).
Why the neighbors matter. The kidneys never work alone. The liver breaks down poisons and hands much of that waste to the kidneys to carry out, so when the liver is cleansed, the kidneys get extra work. That is why every week of liver flushing should be followed by a week of kidney flushing, so the body can stay on top of the healing. The bowel matters just as much. A backed-up colon sends its waste back into the blood the kidneys must filter, and a full, heavy bowel presses on the ureters and bladder. Keeping the bowels moving is part of every kidney program.
Opening the Way: Flow, Circulation and Warmth
Water first. Fluid is what keeps the filters open and keeps sediment floating so it can pass. Steam-distilled water was Dr. Christopher’s choice, and HEAL’s; it is “empty” and picks up mineral deposits on its way through. A common guideline is at least half your body weight in ounces each day; Dr. Christopher recommended up to an ounce per pound. Let Kidney/Bladder Tea carry much of that amount. (This sheet is not written for anyone on dialysis or with kidney failure; see the box below.)
Kidney Salve pack. Parsley root, juniper, marshmallow, ginger and burdock in a salve, spread on doubled flannel, laid over the kidneys on the back, covered, and warmed with a heating pad for 45 minutes to an hour at bedtime, then left on all night. It does the work of a fomentation without the mess. Alternatives: a hot fomentation of strong Kidney/Bladder Tea, or fresh cabbage leaves laid over the kidneys overnight.
Hot and cold. Hot and cold showers two or three times a day bring circulation through the back and pelvis. For the pain of a moving stone, hot fomentations over the kidneys (wet hand towels heated in the microwave, wrung out, laid over the kidneys and changed as they cool) give the most relief. It needs nothing special; you can put it together in a motel room that has a microwave. In Dara’s practice, people rolling on the floor in agony from a stone have been comfortable within 15 minutes. When urine is held back, alternating hot and cold fomentations over the kidneys and groin can help break up the blockage.
Keep the bowels moving. Lower Bowel Formula (LBF) and plenty of fiber, so the colon is not adding to the load.
Feeding the Kidneys and Helping Them Clear
Kidney Support and Kidney/Bladder Tea. The foundation. Kidney Support (juniper, uva ursi, parsley root, corn silk, goldenrod, horsetail, pipsissewa, burdock root and seed) is food for the whole renal system. Add ½ teaspoon to each 8 ounces of Kidney/Bladder Tea, hot or iced, and drink freely. The tea adds hydrangea and gravel root to discourage stones, and marshmallow to soothe.
Hot Lemonade. In a 16-ounce glass of hot water: 1 teaspoon cayenne, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, and fresh lemon juice and maple syrup to taste. Once or more a day. It keeps the urine from becoming a breeding ground for stones and gets circulation moving.
Parsley. Fresh parsley, parsley tea and parsley in green juices; one of Dr. Christopher’s greatest kidney herbs.
Marshmallow root. Soothing and coating for raw, burning or inflamed tissue, and it helps gravel pass smoothly. Slippery elm does the same job.
For active infection. Herbal Aid 1 is the formula Dara uses for kidney infections; it works best for clearing them. Use it on the schedule from the HEAL Infection Program: 1 teaspoon in hot water every three waking hours for a mild infection, every two hours for a moderate one, and every hour for a serious one. Add 1 ounce of Echinacea in a mug of hot water once a day (once or twice for a serious infection), garlic paste on the feet as needed, and an ELF every few days, or five nights in a row for a serious infection. Keep Kidney Support and the tea going alongside. If you have taken antibiotics again and again for the same infection, expect the clearing to take anywhere from two weeks to three months.
For gravel and stones. Hydrangea root and gravel root, used in HEAL’s Stone Dissolve Routine (Ultimate Kidney Flush). Fresh juices: carrot and cucumber, celery and parsley, or watermelon.
For a Kidney Pain Attack: Dara’s Three Drinks
Kidney pain often feels like a stiff, aching back, so bad you hold onto the furniture to get around. But the kidneys sit at the same level as the lower back, so an ache there can be hard to place: is it the kidneys, or the back itself (or, for a woman, her monthly cycle)? These three drinks answer the question. Drink them one right after the other. As the fluid filters through, it calms spastic kidneys: if the kidneys are the trouble, the ache will be gone within about an hour. If it does not let go, the trouble is most likely in the back, and you can turn to back support instead.
Echinacea: 1 ounce of Echinacea in 16 ounces of hot water.
Herbal Aid 1: 1 tablespoon in 16 ounces of hot water, with honey.
Hot Lemonade: a 16-ounce glass, made as above.
Pain with fever, blood in the urine, or pain that won’t let up still needs medical care (see the box below).
Taking Away the Burden
Careful with rock-based minerals. Most ordinary calcium supplements are ground-up rock (limestone, oyster shell) that weak kidneys cannot handle. Dara’s kidneys went into spasm within four hours of a single capsule. Dr. Christopher’s herbal Calcium extract has given her the calcium she needs with no kidney trouble.
Keep animal protein low, cut out soda, sugary drinks and junk food, go easy on salt and coffee, and avoid alcohol. Ask your doctor about long-term use of over-the-counter pain relievers, which are hard on the kidneys.
When to Get Medical Care
Kidney disease can become serious quickly. Herbs are support alongside medical care, not a replacement for it. Get prompt care for: fever and chills with back or side pain; blood in the urine; being unable to pass urine; stone pain that is severe, does not let up, or comes with vomiting; a sudden drop in how much urine you make; or swelling with shortness of breath.
Not for dialysis or kidney failure. This sheet is not written for anyone on dialysis or with kidney failure. Their care is managed by their medical team.
Level of Commitment
How much work kidney healing takes depends on how long the trouble has been building and how much function has been lost. Be honest about where you are:
Gentle support. For a tired, achy back, dark or cloudy urine, a history of bladder and kidney infections, or simply keeping weak kidneys strong. Daily Kidney/Bladder Tea with Kidney Support, Hot Lemonade, plenty of distilled water, a salve pack when the back aches, and taking away the burden foods. Most people can live on this for good; Dara has for over 30 years.
Focused cleansing. For gravel and stones, recurring infections, swelling, or blood pressure creeping up. Add a full Kidney Flushing week (the Kidney Flushing Schedule: the Kidney Flush Drink three times a day, Detox Formula, and 16 ounces of Kidney/Bladder Tea with Kidney Support every three hours, on fresh juices). Alternate it with liver flushing weeks so the body stays on top of the healing. For stones, add the 3-day Stone Dissolve Routine.
Incurables Program. For diagnosed chronic kidney disease, nephritis, or kidneys that are failing. The full program: a flush every morning for the first 30 days, alternating a week of liver flushing with a week of kidney flushing; up to six cups a day of Kidney/Bladder Tea with Kidney Support; the cold sheet treatment at least weekly; salve packs nightly; and a clean, plant-based diet. This level is done hand in hand with your doctor and your lab work.
More Is Not Faster
These doses are set to what the body can clear. Taking more stirs up more than the bowels, liver and kidneys can carry out, and that is when cleansing starts to feel like poisoning. Healing the body requires steady, consistent nutrition and action, not a bigger dose.
People are different, and now and then someone reacts poorly to a particular herb. If that happens, stop it. What I offer here is a guideline. You are the one living in your body, so work with the Holy Spirit and the wisdom the Lord has given you to apply these supports in the best way for your life.
A Loose Healing Plan
Weeks 1–2: Build the foundation. Start your Foundational Program (Superfood, Echinacea, Vitamin C, bowel cleansing with LBF). Begin Kidney/Bladder Tea with Kidney Support every day and work up to your fluid goal. Hot Lemonade each morning. Drop soda, junk food and most animal protein. Kidney Salve pack at bedtime if the back aches.
If there is infection: start Herbal Aid 1 right away on the Infection Program schedule, with Echinacea and garlic paste on the feet; use the three drinks for a pain attack, add marshmallow root tea for burning, and keep the fluids up. If there is fever with back pain, get medical care the same day.
Week 3: Kidney Flushing week. Five days on the Kidney Flushing Schedule, on fresh juices if you can, with hot and cold showers two or three times a day.
Weeks 4 onward: Alternate. A week of liver flushing, then a week of kidney flushing, for as many rounds as your level of commitment calls for, with gentle-support weeks in between.
For stones: do the 3-day Stone Dissolve Routine. Repeat at one-week intervals if needed; one large stone dissolves more slowly than many small ones, and some cases take two or three rounds.
About 3 months: Check your progress. Have your kidney labs and blood pressure rechecked so you can see what has changed, then settle into gentle support for life.
Stories from the Work
Dara: A lifetime with weak kidneys
Kidney infections were part of my life from childhood. By sixteen, an infection and high fevers put me in the emergency room in convulsions, and I lived on antibiotics for the next fifteen years. When I discovered herbs, I finally began to clear the infections from my renal system completely. Kidney Support in my Kidney/Bladder Tea, along with my hot lemonade, have been my daily supports ever since. I haven’t had a kidney attack or kidney pain in over 20 years. I know my kidneys are a weak spot, so I keep animal proteins very low, and I have no soda, sugary drinks or junk food. The body just doesn’t need that stuff.
Dara: Ground-up rocks and my kidneys
Regular calcium supplements are nothing but ground-up rocks, and my kidneys cannot take that at all. A friend told me about a high-quality calcium supplement that would never affect my kidneys. Within four hours of taking only one capsule, I could not even walk straight; my kidneys were completely spasmed. I had to drink emergency kidney teas and hot lemonade to clear the congestion and calm it down. I never touched those capsules again. Then I discovered Dr. Christopher’s Calcium extract. My mentor at the time talked me into making it, as I was very leery. It has been amazing: no kidney issues.
Dara: My husband’s kidney stone on the road
On a weekend trip to a class in Tennessee, my husband had a kidney stone attack. He had felt a little discomfort before we left, and the lack of fluids on the four-and-a-half-hour drive likely set the stones off. One of the worst things you can do with kidney stones is let yourself get dehydrated. The vessels in the kidneys are lined with nerve tissue; when the fluid falls off, the vessels collapse around the stones and the rough edges rip and tear as they pass. Staying hydrated keeps the stones floating in the center, with much less tearing. Hot fomentations over his kidneys were what really eased the pain. He said they were the only thing that truly helped. He has given birth to many, many stone children over the years, and the stone pictured on this sheet is one of them.
Dara: Kidneys or my back?
During this time of my life, when my back began to ache there were three possible reasons. One was my cycle, which was easy to rule in or out. The other two were trickier. In 1985 I was in a car accident that fractured my lower back. I could go long periods without any discomfort, then out of the blue it would begin to spasm. Since the fracture was in my lower back, right at the same level as my kidneys, I needed to figure out which one was talking to me. When my back began hurting I would do the three kidney drinks. Within an hour, if it was my kidneys, the discomfort would be gone. If it did not go away, I knew it was my back, and I began using the BF&C formula for my back along with Lobelia for the spasm. We were not yet making salves, so my only relief was hydrotherapy and the extracts.
Dara: Hot fomentations for stone pain
I have had people rolling on the floor in agony from a kidney stone who were comfortable in 15 minutes or less with hot fomentations over the kidneys. They are so helpful.
Dara: The night at the cabin door
One night my husband’s boss showed up at our cabin door in severe kidney stone pain. His nephew was on the way to take him to the emergency room, but it would be over an hour before he arrived. I was setting him up for hot fomentations when he threw up blood all over my bathroom. I gave him an ounce of fresh-squeezed ginger root juice and an ounce of Cayenne extract. His stomach settled and the bleeding stopped. I left the mess, got him into bed and put the hot fomentations on his kidneys. About 15 minutes later he had fallen asleep, relaxed and exhausted from the pain. When his nephew arrived, he drove him, now comfortable, to the emergency room, where they could find no hole in his stomach lining and no internal bleeding at all. He later told me there was no way he had thrown up blood in my bathroom; I assured him I’d had to scrub the proof off the walls and floor. For as long as I knew him, he joked that I had tried to kill him with that ounce of Cayenne. It was the only part of the whole night he remembered. It worked.
Dara: A member’s bright idea, the Ultimate Kidney Flush
So many of the healing truths I have learned have come from our members. A member called to order a Kidney Stone Dissolve Kit. When I asked if her stones were coming back, she said no: her blood pressure was ticking up without a real reason, and she knew that clogged kidneys full of sediment make the heart work harder to push the blood through. She wanted an intense kidney flush. What a brilliant thought, an ELF for the kidneys! The stone routine quickly clears sediment from the filters. When the kidneys are free and clear, the heart doesn’t need to work as hard, and everything flows more freely.
From Dr. Christopher’s files: The marshmallow root
One of Dr. Christopher’s students had a teenage son who teased her for studying herbs. One day he was brought home from football practice doubled over in pain, unable to pass his urine. She ran out to the irrigated field and pulled up marshmallow plants, root and all. Too desperate to wait for tea, he asked for a washed root and began chewing it. Within seconds he straightened up, went to the bathroom, and was relieved. He never teased her about herbs again.
“Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.’” (1 Corinthians 10:25–26, NIV)
The church in Corinth had a real dilemma. Much of the meat sold in the city’s markets had first been offered to pagan gods. Was it safe for a Christian to eat? Paul’s answer was simple: buy it, eat it, and don’t worry about it. Everything on this earth was made by God and still belongs to Him.
Dr. Tim Jennings’s paraphrase, The Remedy, puts the reason plainly: physical matter cannot soil the conscience. So don’t waste your emotional energy and time worrying about things that have no ability to affect your heart, mind, or body. The demons cannot affect God’s creation. They are not gods; they cannot create or change created matter. Just like us, they cannot effect a single change to a hair on their own heads.
It Starts in the Mind
The demons must live and move in the laws of reality just as we do. Food offered to an idol is physically just as it was before it was offered. It is the value we place on the act of offering a sacrifice to demons that affects us.
The effect takes place in the mind first, and then how the mind is affected transfers into the body. We can affect our own physical bodies for good or ill by the way we choose to assimilate and process the events of our life. Our past history and the way we were taught to approach an event all play a part in how something will affect us emotionally, and then move into the physical part of our lives.
But we are also free to examine our beliefs, to understand the science, truth, and reality behind an event, and to reapply it to our heart and mind. This changes how things are able to affect us.
Far More Than Food
This applies to far more than food. Think of the death of a beloved pet. A constant companion for a decade or longer cannot vanish from your life without a feeling of loss, an empty space right next to your heart. Yet the reality is you will have the company of your beloved pet again.
The Lord who loves you, and who created that creature to fill your heart and life, will return him to you with all the love he had for you when he fell asleep. So the event, though sad, is not an eternal loss for someone trusting in the Lord. You now have a deposit waiting for you in heaven. Like the loved ones we say goodbye to in this life who fall asleep trusting Jesus, he will at last be reunited with us.
An event in this life only carries the emotions, for good or ill, that we personally give to it.
We Still Choose the Good
That doesn’t mean anything goes. The food we eat and the places we go still need to be healthy for us in reality. Praying over unhealthy food, or before going into a place of entertainment that is not good for the mind or heart, will not change the effect it has on your body. Unhealthy food is still unhealthy, and mind-numbing entertainment will not become enlightening and uplifting.
You have to choose the good for yourself, and know that the devil has no ability to touch the good you choose or how it blesses you. It is your mind and your choice how you take in reality and apply it in your own heart.
We Are Free
We can live knowing the devil has no power to taint the heart and mind that trusts in the Lord, regardless of what another misguided person might do or think. Even Job, who lost nearly everything at the devil’s hand, was not touched where it counted.
We are free to live walking in heaven, surrounded each day by the glories and protection of heaven. We are free to move through this world, never needing to ask questions or be concerned with what the devil or someone else has done before us.
“But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake.” (1 Corinthians 10:28, KJV)
Paul has just told the believers in Corinth that they are free to eat what is set before them without asking questions. Then he adds this: if someone at the table tells you the meal was offered to an idol, don’t eat it. The Remedy puts it plainly: not because there is actually anything wrong with the food, but to avoid confusion.
Our choices matter. Someone is always watching. We need to be aware of the effect our actions have on the babies in the truth, those just learning about the freedom they will find in a relationship with Christ.
We know in our own hearts that demons have no power to change the value of our food. The only effect Satan has is on our mind and heart, and the only power he has in our life is the power our belief gives him. But the person just coming out of that belief doesn’t know this yet. For him, the meal is still tangled up with the lie.
The way out of that lie is to know the real God, and that is exactly why Christ came. He lived as a human, right among us, eating what we eat, confined to the same body we live in, all to reveal one thing: who God truly is. Christ Himself said, “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). If we do not know the god we worship, we do not have life eternal. This is huge. And it tells us that today, two thousand years later, we can actually know the God revealed in the life Christ lived.
As we become more aware of this actual Person who is with us every day, right beside us where He has always been, we become more aware of who we actually are. His acknowledged presence in a life is uplifting and ennobling. We become more caring of others, more useful, more loving to those in our charge. We become servants, as Christ was a servant. This is our happy duty.
So when the child in the faith speaks up and tells us the food was offered to an idol, everything about the meal changes. The food is no longer something we are free to consume. The man is now our focus.
So we walk away from the food, sit down with the man, and tell him about the freedom he truly has in Christ, slowly and with wisdom, as he is able to take it in. His warning told us a great deal about him. He was seeking truth. He wanted to know if we understood it too. He was asking for our understanding. These are questions he is ready to hear the answers to; they have been asked.
The Lord has brought you your work for the evening.
Fresh garlic, onion, horseradish, ginger and hot peppers in raw apple cider vinegar
Supertonic is a fiery, fresh-vegetable tonic for the first sign of a cold, flu, sore throat or sinus trouble. It is made the same way as an herbal extract, except the herbs are fresh vegetables and the liquid is raw apple cider vinegar instead of alcohol.
What Goes In It
Fresh garlic. A strong natural antibiotic, antiviral and antifungal. Unlike drug antibiotics, it does not wipe out the friendly bacteria the body needs.
Fresh onion. Garlic’s close cousin, with a similar but milder action. The two work as a team.
Fresh horseradish. Opens the sinus passages and moves circulation through the head and chest, where colds and flu so often take hold.
Fresh and dried cayenne, fresh ginger root. Drive circulation and carry the other herbs throughout the whole body.
Parsley leaf. A diuretic that also makes Supertonic taste great as a salad dressing.
Raw apple cider vinegar. Draws out the strength of the fresh vegetables and preserves the finished tonic.
Making It
Everything is fresh, so you can find it at the grocery store. If you don’t see fresh horseradish, ask your produce person to order it in. Supertonic sets just like an herbal extract made in alcohol.
The formula: 4 parts garlic to 1 part each of onion, ginger root, horseradish and parsley, with fresh and dried cayenne to taste.
A “part” can be any size, from an ounce to a pound. I make a pound per part, which gives me 7 to 10 gallons.
Peel the garlic, onion, ginger and horseradish. Wear gloves for the hot peppers, and work in a well-aired room. The horseradish and peppers will make your eyes run.
Blend everything with raw apple cider vinegar and mix it well in a large pot.
Fill clear glass jars about two-thirds full with the mix and top them up with more vinegar. When it settles you want about a 70/30 split. Vinegar eats metal, so use a plastic lid or put wax paper under a metal one.
Set it as you would an extract: shake it every day for about two weeks.
Strain through a cloth and squeeze out every drop. Fresh vegetables squeeze off very well. Bottle in amber glass and store in a cool, dark place.
How to Take It
1–4 squirts in a shot glass. First-timers may want to mix it half and half with water. Whether you dilute it or take it straight, gargle with it for a minute, then swallow.
A word to the wise: Supertonic is hot. Start small, keep it diluted until you know how you handle it, and take it with a little food if your stomach is tender.
This information is for education only. It is not meant to diagnose, treat or replace care from a qualified health professional.
Herbal Air is one of those things members fall in love with. It is nothing but pure essential oils in a spray bottle: no water, no alcohol, no fillers. Fresh Eucalyptus leads, brightened with four citrus oils, and a few spritzes freshen a whole room.
We have made it for years, but five pure essential oils make it expensive to produce, and we have decided to stop making it. It is simple to put together at home, though, so here is the recipe for anyone who wants to make it for themselves.
What Goes Into It
A good batch of Herbal Air contains these five pure essential oils:
Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus), 12 parts. The heart of the blend. Its clean, penetrating scent has long been used to clear the air and open the breathing passages.
Grapefruit, 4 parts. Bright and uplifting.
Lime, 3 parts. Fresh and sharp.
Lemon, 1 part. Clean and cheerful; a classic for freshening the home.
Sweet Orange, 1 part. Warm and sweet, rounding out the blend.
“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for every oil. A handy batch is 12 teaspoons of Eucalyptus, 4 of Grapefruit, 3 of Lime, and 1 each of Lemon and Sweet Orange. That makes about 3½ ounces, just right for a 4-ounce spray bottle.
Putting It Together
Pour the oils into a glass spray bottle; amber or cobalt glass protects them from light. Pure oils can break down plastic, so glass is best. Cap it and give it a gentle shake, and that is all there is to it. Keep it tightly capped in a cool, dark place. Citrus oils fade with time, so mix a batch you will use within a year.
How I Use It
Spray a few times into the air, toward the middle of the room. Because it is pure oil, a little goes a long way.
In a sickroom during colds and flu, it clears the air and helps open a stuffed-up head.
At bedtime, give your pillow a light spritz. Members tell us they sleep amazingly well.
I like to spray it on the towels hanging in my bathroom. It keeps the whole room smelling comfortably fresh.
Use It with Care
These are pure oils, so treat them with respect. Spray into the air, never onto skin or toward the eyes. Keep it off polished wood, painted surfaces and plastics, since pure oils can mark them; a light spritz on cotton pillowcases and towels is fine. Keep it away from cats, who are especially sensitive to eucalyptus and citrus oils. And keep it out of reach of children and away from open flame.
This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.
Some formulas earn their place by how well they work, not by how pleasant they are. This is one of them. Dr. Christopher put it together in response to a patient in real distress, to help with kidney stones, infection and sediment in the prostate gland. It brings together seven herbs for the whole urinary tract: kidneys, bladder and prostate.
It is also one of the most bitter teas you will ever drink, and one of the most expensive to make. That is exactly why you won’t find it on many shelves, and why I want you to know how to make it yourself.
What a Good Formula Contains
A good formula for the prostate and urinary tract might contain these seven herbs, all powdered:
Goldenseal Root, 3 parts. The backbone of the formula. A powerful, very bitter herb, long used to support the mucous membranes and the body against infection.
Gravel Root, 1 part. Its name tells you its traditional use: helping the body clear gravel and stones from the urinary tract.
Marshmallow Root, 1 part. Soothing mucilage that coats and protects irritated tissue and eases the passage of whatever needs to leave.
Parsley Root, 1 part. Gets the fluids moving and flushes the kidneys.
Juniper Berries, 1 part. A traditional urinary antiseptic that wakes up sluggish kidneys.
Lobelia, 1 part. Relaxes spasm and tension so the passages can open.
Cayenne, 1 part. Drives circulation and carries the other herbs where they are needed.
“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for every herb. A handy batch is 3 tablespoons of Goldenseal and 1 tablespoon each of the other six, a little over half a cup in all.
Putting It Together
Stir the powders together until they are evenly blended, and keep them in a tightly closed glass jar. For a cup of tea, stir 1 teaspoon of the powder into a cup of hot water, let it steep a few minutes, and drink it, powder and all. If the bitterness is more than you can face, fill #00 capsules with the powder instead.
How to Take It
For daily support, take 2 capsules in the morning and 2 at night. When the need is urgent, drink half a cup of the tea frequently throughout the day.
Why It’s Worth Making Yourself
Goldenseal is one of the most expensive herbs there is, and this formula uses a lot of it. Most people only need it now and then, so a large batch sits for years before it is used up. It makes far more sense to mix a small batch yourself when you need it. Don’t let the cost or the bitterness talk you out of it. This is a valuable formula, and it does help.
Every so often someone asks me to leave the yeast out of their superfood. They have been told that yeast is bad for them, especially if they are fighting Candida. I understand the worry, but it comes from mixing up two very different things. The yeast in a good superfood blend is not the yeast that raises your bread, and it is not the yeast that overgrows in the body. It is a food, and one of the most nourishing foods we have.
Three Kinds of Yeast
Baker’s yeast is alive. It is sold active, so it can feed on sugar and give off the gas that makes bread rise. This is the yeast people picture when they hear the word.
Brewer’s yeast is left over from brewing beer. It is usually deactivated too, but it often tastes bitter from the hops.
Nutritional yeast is grown on purpose as a food, usually on beet molasses or cane sugar. When it is ready, it is heated enough to stop all yeast activity, then dried into golden flakes. It cannot grow, multiply or ferment anything. It is no longer a living yeast at all.
Why It Is Not a Candida Problem
Candida is a different organism altogether, one that overgrows in the body when the diet is full of sugar and refined foods and the bowel is sluggish. Nutritional yeast is not Candida, and because it has been deactivated, it cannot feed Candida, join it or start an overgrowth of its own. Eating it is no different from eating any other cooked, dried food. What feeds Candida is sugar and white flour, not a spoonful of golden flakes.
A true allergy to yeast is a different matter, and it is rare. Someone who truly reacts to yeast proteins should leave it out. But that is not the same as being afraid of yeast because of Candida.
What Nutritional Yeast Gives You
Complete protein. About half of it is protein, with all the essential amino acids the body needs to rebuild itself.
B vitamins. It is one of the richest sources of B vitamins we have, the vitamins the nerves, the brain and the energy of every cell depend on. We use a fortified flake, which adds B12 as well.
Minerals. Iron, zinc, selenium and many others.
Beta-glucans. A special fiber in the yeast cell wall that supports the immune system.
That is why nutritional yeast is the largest part of our superfood blend. Leave it out, and what is left is mostly green herbs and peels, good in themselves but missing the protein and B vitamins that make the blend a real food. See Superfood: Raw Material for Healing.
A Warm Flush
A fortified yeast is rich in niacin, one of the B vitamins. At a larger serving, some people feel a warm, tingling flush in the skin for a little while. It is harmless and passes on its own; if it bothers you, use a smaller amount and build up.
How to Enjoy It
Stir it into your superfood drink, or sprinkle the flakes on popcorn, salads, potatoes, soups and steamed vegetables. It has a rich, cheesy, nutty flavor, which is why so many people who avoid dairy love it.
This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.
