Dara Dietz Blog

Not everyone can swallow a handful of capsules, and the herbs in a good lower bowel formula are bitter. Here is a simple way around both problems: make the powder into coconut oil squares. The coconut oil masks the bitter taste, and small chunks go down easily with a swallow of juice.

A dear doctor friend of mine, who practiced well into her nineties, made these squares for all of her patients who needed a lower bowel formula. She bought the powder 30 pounds at a time.

What You Need

LBF #1 powder in a glass bowl beside a jar of coconut oil

1 pound of lower bowel formula powder (see Helping Sluggish Bowels Move Again for what goes into it), 1 cup of coconut oil, and a foil-lined cookie sheet.

Making the Squares

Melted coconut oil being poured into the powder

Melt the coconut oil and pour it into the powder.

Whisking the powder and oil until smooth

Whisk until it is completely smooth, then pour it onto the foil-lined cookie sheet and spread it evenly.

Chill it just until it is firm enough to hold a knife line but still soft: about 4 to 5 minutes in the freezer, or 15 to 20 in the refrigerator. Then score it into squares. I always did 14 cuts the long way and 10 the short way. Whatever size you choose, cut it the same way every time, so every square holds the same amount.

Put the pan back in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight. The squares will break apart evenly along the score lines. Store them in the dairy compartment of your refrigerator.

Taking Them

Build up just as you would with capsules: 1 square the first day, 2 the second, 3 the third, and so on, until your bowels are moving well. Once you know how much you need, you can cut future batches to suit your own dose.

Don’t try to swallow a whole square; it can get stuck in the throat. Cut each square into small chunks with a paring knife. Put a spoonful in your mouth and wash it down with a swallow of Superfood or juice. They float right down, and you will hardly taste the herbs.

The finished pan of squares on the counter

This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.

Herbal Healing, Women's & Men's Health

An Herbal Bolus for Weak, Sickly Female Organs

October 5, 2026 Dara Dietz

When the female organs are weak and sickly, they become a dumping ground for toxic waste from the rest of the body. Endometriosis, cysts and many other female problems grow out of that toxic load. An herbal bolus works right where the trouble is, feeding and strengthening the female organs and drawing out what has settled there, as part of a full healing program.

Start with the Bowel

The bowel sits right against the female organs. Any constipation held in the bowel presses on them, and the waste seeps into them and pollutes them. A constipated bowel destroys the female system. So before anything else, and all the way through, keep the bowel open and moving well; see Helping Sluggish Bowels Move Again.

What a Good Bolus Formula Contains

A good bolus formula might contain equal parts of these eight herbs, all powdered:

Squaw Vine. A classic female herb, used to tone and strengthen the uterus.
Slippery Elm Bark. Its soothing mucilage protects tender tissue and helps hold the bolus together.
Yellow Dock Root. A blood cleanser, used to help draw out toxins.
Comfrey Root. Known as “knitbone,” used to support the growth of new cells and tissue.
Marshmallow Root. Softens and soothes irritated, inflamed tissue.
Chickweed. Used to help dissolve unwanted growths and deposits.
Goldenseal Root. Long used to support the mucous membranes and keep tissue clean.
Mullein. A gentle drawing herb for the glands and lymph.

Making the Bolus

Powdered herbs in a glass bowl beside a jar of coconut oil

Work the powdered herbs into coconut oil until it reaches a pie-crust consistency: firm enough to hold its shape, soft enough to roll. Roll it into sticks about as thick as your finger and cut them about 1 inch long. Chill them until firm, and keep them in the refrigerator.

Using It

Melted coconut oil being poured into a bowl of powdered herbs

Insert one bolus at bedtime, and wear a sanitary pad, not a tampon. Leave it in through the next day; a little coming out in the morning is normal. In the evening, douche to clean out the area before inserting the next one. A pint of warm water with 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice or raw apple cider vinegar works well.

Use it 6 nights a week, resting over the Lord’s day.

Feeding the Female System from the Inside

The bolus works from the outside in. Pair it with the formulas that feed the female system from the inside: Rebuilding a Worn-Down Female System and Food for the Female System.

This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.

Herbal Healing, Infection, Colds & Flu, Skin, Wounds & First Aid

A Simple Drawing Poultice: Charcoal and Flaxseed

October 5, 2026 Dara Dietz

Some of the best tools for infection are the simplest. Two ingredients from your kitchen shelf, activated charcoal and flaxseed, cooked into a thick black paste and laid on warm, will pull infection, boils and toxins right out of the body. I have used this poultice for boils, earaches, tooth and gum infections, vertigo, swollen glands, and stings and bites.

You can watch me make it here:

And for more ways to work on an infection from the outside, here is my video on topical applications:

What You Need

1 cup of water, distilled if you have it.
3 to 4 tablespoons activated charcoal powder.
3 to 4 tablespoons flaxseed, freshly ground.
A piece of old cotton sheet, about 12 inches square.

Making It

Grind the flaxseed, then whisk it with the charcoal into the water in a small pot. Bring it to a boil and stir until it thickens to a paste about like toothpaste. If it isn’t getting thick enough, add more flax, or more of both. Spread the hot paste in the middle of the cloth and fold it up like a burrito so the filling is completely contained. Let it cool just enough to be comfortable, then lay it on while it is still quite warm. The heat opens the pores so the infection can be drawn out. Plastic wrap and a washcloth over the top keep it warm longer.

Leave it on overnight, or at least 2 to 4 hours during the day. Then throw it away. Never reuse or reheat a poultice; it holds what it has pulled out.

Where It Goes

For earaches and vertigo, always put a poultice over both ears, even when only one is affected. I recently discovered that two wide sweatbands, angled low around the head and over the ears, hold them in place beautifully. A pair of pantyhose works too: wear the seat like a shower cap and tie the legs over the poultices. Nylon stretches rather than tightens, and children take well to it. For children, always use the pantyhose rather than sweatbands; the bands are too large for them and could slip down around the neck. And any small child wearing a pantyhose cap overnight should sleep with a parent, or be watched through the night in shifts.

For a tooth, gum or mouth infection, lay it on the cheek over the sore spot and hold it the same way, 4 to 6 hours or all night. For boils, sores, stings and bites, place it right over the area; you can make it as small as a Band-Aid or as big as a sheet. It is good over swollen lymph nodes in the neck or armpits, and over the liver, changed daily until the bad odor is gone for two days running.

Before you work on healing an ulcer or a deep wound, always use this poultice first to clear any infection; then move on to the healing poultice in Filling In Deep Wounds and Ulcers.

Why It Works

Activated charcoal adsorbs. Toxins cling to its surface by an electrical attraction, which is much stronger than simply soaking something up. The flaxseed holds the heat and moisture against the skin while the charcoal does its work.

A Tip from My Own Kitchen

When I needed this poultice recently for an infection in my mouth and the vertigo that came with it, I learned to grind a supply of flaxseed ahead of time. It saves a step when you need the poultice in a hurry, but keep the ground flax in the freezer. It loses its value quickly sitting out in a warm room.

The Key for My Own Gums

Dara wearing charcoal and flaxseed poultices over both ears, held with wide sweatbands

After a broken tooth was pulled, a pocket of infection in my gum would not clear with all my regular infection work, and I was fighting vertigo at the same time. When my left ear began to ache, I put a poultice over both ears, held with two wide sweatbands, and changed them every 4 hours over two days. The first few made my ears sore, as if the tissue itself was full of toxins; a little healing salve took care of that. The pocket on my gum began clearing with the very first poultice, and by the fourth it was completely gone, and my dentist’s x-rays later showed me infection-free. I was surprised that a poultice over the ears would pull infection from the gums, but it was the key. The whole story is in Herbal Aids for Clearing an Infection in the Teeth and Gums, and the vertigo side of it in Natural Support for Vertigo.

A Toe That Was Saved

Years ago I met a woman whose big toe was scheduled to be amputated the next morning. An infection had set in after an ingrown toenail was removed, and nothing the doctors gave her had touched it. I made her one of these poultices for her whole foot, and she wore it all night. The next morning she came by to show me: the redness and tenderness were gone, and so were the blue streaks that had been running up her leg.

Work from the Inside, Too

A poultice draws from the outside. Support the body from the inside at the same time; see Our Two Infection Fighters, Echinacea: Telling the Immune System to Gear Up and Getting the Herbs to Where the Infection Lives.

This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.

Herbal Healing, Skin, Wounds & First Aid

Filling In Deep Wounds and Ulcers

October 5, 2026October 5, 2026 Dara Dietz

Some wounds need more than closing. A deep gouge, an ulcer that has eaten into the flesh, a bedsore, or any serious injury where tissue has been lost has to fill back in from the bottom up. For these, I reach for a healing poultice: a blend of powdered herbs packed right into the wound, where it forms a protective herbal scab and feeds the body the raw materials it needs to grow new flesh. The wound grows shallower as the tissue fills in, healing from the inside out, often with little or no scarring.

First, Clear Any Infection

Before you begin, the wound has to be clean. Infection left in a wound will keep it from healing no matter what you put in it. So any time you are working to heal an ulcer or a deep wound, use the charcoal and flaxseed drawing poultice first, to be sure the area is clear of bacteria and infection. Once it is clean and clear, start the healing poultice.

What a Good Healing Poultice Contains

A good healing poultice might contain these five herbs, all powdered:

Slippery Elm Bark, 4 parts. The heart of the blend. Its soothing mucilage binds the paste together, protects tender tissue and nourishes it.
Plantain, 2 parts. A classic wound herb, used for generations to draw out infection and support healing.
Goldenseal Root, 1 part. Long used to keep tissue clean and support it against infection.
Comfrey Root, 1 part. Known as “knitbone,” used to support the growth of new cells and tissue.
Cayenne, a pinch. Brings circulation into the area and helps stop bleeding.

“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for every herb.

Making and Applying the Paste

Mix a small amount of the powder with distilled water, aloe vera juice or aloe vera gel into a stiff, mud-like paste. Once any bleeding is under control and the wound is clean, fill the open wound with the paste and cover it with gauze or another natural-fiber bandage. Natural fiber lets the skin breathe; under plastic, the cayenne can feel hot.

As it dries, the poultice often hardens into a protective herbal scab. Each day, take off the bandage and soak or rinse the area during the daily bath. If the poultice washes out, pack the wound again and cover it. If the scab holds, just add more paste on top as needed. Don’t worry if some of the material stays in the wound; the body takes it in and uses those nutrients to grow new flesh.

Ulcers and Bedsores

Ulcers and bedsores need circulation brought back into the area. Before each application, soak the area in hot cayenne water, made with ½ teaspoon of cayenne tincture to each gallon of hot water. Feet can soak right in it. For sores on the back or bottom, soak a towel in the hot cayenne water and lay it over the area, changing it as it cools, for half an hour. Alternating hot and cold, 7 of each, during the daily bath helps too.

Infection salve around the top edges of the ulcer speeds the healing. Keep it to the edges, though; the oily salve makes it hard for the poultice to stay in the wound.

Here is my video on caring for wounds and bedsores:

This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.

Fall color on Grandfather Mountain from the Blue Ridge Parkway

1 Corinthians, Bible Studies, Spiritual Healing

Free to Choose

October 5, 2026 Dara Dietz

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 10:23

“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.” (1 Corinthians 10:23, KJV)

When I laid this verse out across my translations this morning, something unusual showed up. The translators split almost evenly between two readings. Some take it as being about what our choices do to us: not everything is good for us, not everything builds up our character. Others take it as being about what our choices do to others: not everything is good for others, not everything helps them grow stronger, not everything helps the building of the community.

So which is it? I believe Paul means both, and he deliberately moves us from one to the other. The word translated “expedient” means profitable or beneficial, and in the very next verse Paul says, “Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth.” He ends the chapter with the same word turned outward: “not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many” (10:33). What benefits me and what builds up others are not two separate questions. They meet in the heart.

A Time and a Place Under the SON

In God’s universe we have the freedom to do anything we want, but not everything is healthy or in harmony with God’s design. There is a time and a place for everything under the sun. This from Solomon, the wisest and most foolish man to live under the SON.

The intent of the heart is the key to the benefit or harm of our actions, upon ourselves and upon those in the sphere of our influence. Our intentions, coupled with the wisdom that comes from maturity in our relationship with the Lord, allow the mind of Christ to be in us. The actions that flow from a wise and loving heart and mind will always build up those affected by them. Evil actions are the evil of the heart flowing out in the works of the hands.

The same action, seen through a different understanding of the heart behind it, can prove to be either a curse or a huge and lasting blessing. And if this is true of our actions, it is even more true of God’s. How we read what God has done depends on whether we know His heart.

The Flood Through the Eyes of Love

The history of God’s dealings with this fallen world gives us an example. One action in particular has been used to put God’s character of Love in the worst light: the worldwide flood that destroyed every living thing on the planet, except for eight souls and the animals safely riding out the destruction in the ark.

How could this be anything other than God throwing up His hands, saying “I give up!” and in a hot temper killing off His entire creation? Or do the eyes of Love see our loving God holding on until the last possible moment, the moment when only one human heart on the entire planet was willing to work with Him? Only one human left for God to pour His healing, restorative truth into. He had to keep the door open for Christ to come, be born, and restore humanity to a healing relationship with God.

For 120 years the entire world was warned that it was destroying itself. Just like the nation of Israel later in history, they absolutely refused to hear, or were so sealed in their hearts against God that there was nothing more He could do. So He let them go. The God of Love withdrew His protection, and the results of all their choices came crashing down upon them. Whether they brought it on themselves, or God withdrew His hand from nature and allowed the waters above to come down upon the earth, the result was the same: the destruction of every breathing thing that had not entered the ark.

This was the only way forward for our loving God. The heart of Love could see no other way to save humanity from destroying itself, so in Love He changed everything. God had the same freedom each of us has, and in His freedom of choice He chose the only action that would preserve the opportunity for each soul on earth to choose for himself to live or die. He chose this knowing He would be misunderstood, knowing Satan would strut around gloating, “I told you He could not be trusted! I never said He was not powerful, but can we trust Him with all that power?”

Free to Choose, and to Live With It

So the story of humanity goes on. The ability to choose is still ours; the ability to become who we will be is still up to each one of us.

Yes, you have the right and the God-given ability to choose to do anything. You also have the right and the God-given ability to live with the results of all your choices. You cannot avoid the results, the truth of who you are and what you have chosen to do with your life. You can only delay the day you deal with yourself.

If you deal with yourself here and now, while there is still the opportunity to overcome and grow up into the truly great creation God made you to be, the rewards are truly fantastic: heaven here on earth, and a never-ending eternity to keep growing and discovering even more. Or you can choose to deny, to blame others for your sorry life, and to develop a heart and mind that would find an eternity of Truth and Love everywhere to be pure hell.

So yes, there is a time and a place for everything under the SON. Everything is good in its proper place when it comes from a heart intent on blessing itself and everyone in its sphere of influence. The good or bad of a thing is all in the timing and the intent of the doer of the deed.

Laws for the Immature Heart

Concrete laws are for the immature in heart and mind, those who cannot yet be trusted to do right regardless of the cost to themselves or what others will think of them. Paul calls the law our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:24), and tells Timothy that “the law is not made for a righteous man” (1 Timothy 1:9).

The mature do what is right because it is right. They have a real, deep relationship with their Creator, whom they have known by experience can be trusted. To break faith with God, with Christ, the One who gave you life and then restored that life to you again, is to break faith with yourself and with every creation in the vast universe. All of creation is pulling for each and every lost soul on this sick planet.

The Freedom Love Requires

In the things God has left to our freedom, our personal choices and what we choose to believe, He will not manipulate us, for to force the will would be to destroy the very person He created. You cannot force someone to love you. You can love them and create an environment that makes them as comfortable and happy as possible, but you cannot make them love you; that has to come from them. We are free to choose what we will.

When we stop believing that someone has our best interests at heart, as Adam and Eve stopped believing that God had theirs, the circle of Love and trust is broken, and the immediate result is fear and selfishness, the need to protect self. Adam’s first words after the fall were “I was afraid, and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10).

The whole history of mankind is God showing us in every way possible that He can be trusted, that He is not the manipulating, vindictive God Satan has claimed He is. And in that freedom, nothing is evil except the intentions of the evil heart.

Cleansing & Flushing, Herbal Healing

Clearing Heavy Metals from the Body

October 4, 2026October 8, 2026 Dara Dietz

Heavy metals and other pollutants get trapped in our systems from the world around us and from what we put into our bodies. Clearing them is not a quick job, but it can be done. It takes an herbal combination that draws the metals out, a routine of hot mineral baths, and a bowel that is open and working so the metals have a way out of the body.

That last part matters more than most people realize. The bowel vacuum, the absorbing fiber blend in A 911 for Vomiting and Diarrhea, should be used the entire time you’re working to clear heavy metals. People using it found their hair samples showing a decrease in heavy metals within a few weeks.

What a Good Heavy Metal Formula Contains

A good heavy metal formula might contain these three herbs:

Bugleweed, 3 parts. The lead herb, long used to draw out minerals, drugs and other pollutants trapped in the system.
Yellow Dock Root, 3 parts. A strong blood purifier that helps the liver and bowel carry the waste out.
Lobelia, 1 part. Relaxes and opens the body, and carries the other herbs where they need to go.

“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for every herb. By weight, that’s 3 ounces each of Bugleweed and Yellow Dock, and 1 ounce of Lobelia.

It is paired with a Chaparral extract. Chaparral is one of the strongest blood-cleansing herbs there is.

Putting It Together

The heavy metal extract: Put the dry herbs in a glass jar and pour in 80-proof vodka. Once the herbs have settled, you want about 60% herb sediment on the bottom and 40% liquid on top. Shake the jar every day. The traditional timing follows the moon, from the new moon to the full moon, about two weeks. I prefer to let my extracts sit a full three months, which makes them good and strong. Then strain and bottle the liquid.

The Chaparral extract: Make it the same way, but use a 50-50 mix of 80-proof vodka and apple cider vinegar instead of straight vodka. A few herbs respond better to that mix, and Chaparral is one of them.

How to Use It

The tea: ½ teaspoon of the heavy metal extract and 1 teaspoon of the Chaparral extract in a cup of hot water, three times a day.
The baths: every other day, soak in a tub of hot water with 1 to 3 pounds of Epsom salts. Keep up the baths for three weeks, then rest from the baths for a week while you keep taking the tea. See The Detox Bath.
The bowel vacuum: keep it going the whole time, with your lower bowel formula alongside it so the bowels keep moving well.

Two or three cycles of baths is a good place to begin. How many you need really depends on how bad things are, and on whether you’ve cleaned up your life so the cleansing is actually working.

Lay the Foundation First

Before beginning the baths, the foundational work should already be in place:

Bowel cleansing. See Helping Sluggish Bowels Move Again.
Boosting with Echinacea, so the immune system stays on top of the die-off as the metals come out. See Echinacea: Telling the Immune System to Gear Up.
The food program, with Superfood and fresh juicing to give the body the massive nutrition it needs to clear waste and rebuild. See Superfood: Raw Material for Healing.

It’s also good to have at least one week of liver flushing and kidney flushing under your belt. See Week 2: Liver Flushing and Kidney Flushing Light to Intense.

Then, all the way through the program, do at least one ELF liver flush a week. It keeps the liver cleared so the waste can move out freely, and leaves the liver free to pull toxins effectively.

For the full routine as I taught it in class, see Clearing Heavy Metal Class.

This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.

Digestion & Gut, Herbal Healing, Skin, Wounds & First Aid

A 911 for Vomiting and Diarrhea

October 4, 2026October 4, 2026 Dara Dietz

This fiber blend does two very important jobs. In a bowel cleansing program it is the bowel vacuum, pulling inflammation from the bowel walls and carrying out the waste the body releases as it heals. And every home should have a jar of it on the shelf for the middle of the night, when a stomach bug or a bad bit of food has the body purging from one end or the other. Then it soaks up the acid, bacteria and poisons that are causing the trouble, and it soothes the raw tissue while it works.

What a Good Absorbing Fiber Blend Contains

A good absorbing fiber blend might contain these nine ingredients, all powdered:

Psyllium Husk Powder, 8 parts. The bulk of the blend. It swells into a gel that firms up loose stool and carries waste out.
Flax Seed, 2 parts. Soothing, lubricating fiber.
Apple Pectin, 2 parts. A gentle, binding fiber long used to settle diarrhea.
Bentonite Clay, 2 parts. Draws toxins and bacteria to itself and carries them out of the body.
Activated Charcoal, 2 parts. One of the great absorbers. It soaks up poisons and gas in the gut.
Slippery Elm Bark, 2 parts. Coats and soothes raw, irritated tissue all the way down.
Marshmallow Root, 2 parts. Another soothing, coating herb that calms inflamed membranes.
Peppermint, 1 part. Settles the stomach and eases cramping.
Plantain, 1 part. A healing, drawing herb for irritated tissue.

“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for every ingredient. By weight, that’s 8 ounces of Psyllium, 2 ounces each of the next six, and 1 ounce each of Peppermint and Plantain. Mix the powders well and keep them in a tightly closed jar.

The Bowel Vacuum

This is the blend’s most important work. As part of a bowel cleansing program it acts as a bowel vacuum. It pulls inflammation from the bowel walls, and it helps carry out the toxic waste the liver dumps when the body is going through a healing program.

Because it is so absorbing, it needs a lower bowel formula working alongside it, or it can stop you up with a brick in your bowels. So the lower bowel formula of your choice comes first (see Helping Sluggish Bowels Move Again). Spend about a week finding your number of capsules, and if your bowels still aren’t regulated, give it another week before moving on.

When your bowels are moving well, increase your capsules by 1 or 2 the night before you begin the vacuum the next morning. Someone already taking 10 or more capsules may need 2 or more extra to pass the vacuum well. It all depends on the person, their size, and the state of disease in the body. Then take 1 rounded teaspoon about every 3 hours through the day, which comes to five doses a day, for a two-week bowel cleanse. A rounded teaspoon is right for almost everyone. For someone very large, or with serious bowel disease, a bit more may prove helpful. If your bowels seem too tight at the end of the day, add another capsule. If they’re a bit too loose, drop one. You are in charge. The lower bowel formula keeps the bowels moving well while the vacuum does the heavy cleansing and healing work.

Drink plenty of liquid during the cleanse: an extra glass of water after each dose, and lots of pure water, herb teas and diluted juices through the day. It makes the whole program work better.

And what are we aiming for? A healthy bowel moves once for every meal you eat. If you eat three meals, you should have three bowel movements.

For someone with Crohn’s disease, colitis or irritable bowel syndrome, where loose, irritated bowels are the problem, it may be necessary to back into the healing program by starting with this blend first. Sometimes the lower bowel formula isn’t used at all, because the bowels are so sick and loose that they just need this blend. Taken daily, it soothes the bowel and firms up the stool. Some find one teaspoon a day does the job, others need three, and it can be used for as long as it’s needed.

I know this one firsthand. In the late ’90s I was working in social service, and my own bowels were a real mess: horrid cramps one day and constipation the next. That’s when I first discovered this blend. I took it for nine months. I wasn’t perfect with the dosing, but at the end of those nine months the cramping and constipation stopped. My bowels have never worked quite right, but they are healthy now, and I don’t suffer, as long as I take my poop pills.

In an Emergency

The blend thickens fast. Put it in water or juice in a jar with a lid and shake it. Don’t expect to stir it, because it won’t stir. Then drink it all at once, before it sets up. Water or juice is fine either way. If blood sugar is a concern, water the juice down.

Cramping bowels. If the bowels are crampy, even if you’re not passing anything (the old folks called it griping), shake one rounded teaspoon in about 6 ounces of water and drink it down. In about ten minutes your bowels will be right as rain.

Wet, crampy stool. If you’re passing wet, solid stool with cramping, take the same rounded teaspoon each time the bowels produce the crampy stool. Usually one dose clears it, but if you need more it is not a problem.

Watery diarrhea. If you’re passing water from the bowels, shake a full tablespoon in 12 ounces of water and drink it all at once. Repeat each time you pass water. This can be repeated as long as needed to tighten the bowels back up. Drink extra water along the way to replace what you’re losing.

Don’t get ahead of the problem. Don’t anticipate and take more than you need, because it can over-tighten the bowels. Take another dose only when the bowels produce the problem.

For Vomiting

Shake a full tablespoon in 12 ounces of water and drink it all at once. It absorbs the acid or bacteria in the stomach that is making your insides want to purge. Either it settles the stomach, or it comes back up. Most people throw it up rather quickly, but it comes up like applesauce and is not harsh on the tissue in the throat.

Once it has come back up, the stomach-settling herbs will now work very well. Peppermint tea, an ounce of ginger root juice, or a teaspoon of a good digestive tonic in a cup of hot water all help. The digestive tonic can also be mixed in equal parts with a liver and gallbladder formula. See Fast Relief for an Upset Stomach and Cleansing the Liver and Gallbladder, and Clearing Parasites.

For Children

Dose children by weight. Put the child’s weight over 150 pounds, and give that share of the adult dose. I round their weight to make it easy: a 50-pound child gets a third of the adult dose, and a 75-pound child gets half.

My Own Night of Food Poisoning

I had a case of food poisoning myself over twenty years ago. I ended up using nearly an 8-ounce jar of this blend during the night, taking a dose each time my bowels let go, and drinking extra water since I was dumping so much from my bowels. Finally, around 5 a.m., I passed solid waste, and that was the end of the event. I was exhausted, but my bowels were fine all day. I was not constipated, and there were no leftover issues in my bowels at all.

For everyday bowel support, see Helping Sluggish Bowels Move Again and A Fiber Blend That Heals While It Works.

This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.

Cleansing & Flushing, Digestion & Gut, Herbal Healing

Helping Sluggish Bowels Move Again

October 4, 2026October 5, 2026 Dara Dietz

Everything we eat that the body can’t use has to leave through the bowel. When the bowel is sluggish, that waste sits. If you hold a cesspool in your middle, the blood that travels through every part of you picks up that poison and carries it throughout your entire system. What can you expect but to develop issues in every part of the body? Supporting the body to remove its waste every day is one of the most basic, most important things we can do for our health.

Over the years I’ve come to rely on two bowel formulas. The first is fashioned around the formula Dr. Schulze used to make. The second I put together for myself nearly twenty years ago, fashioned around Dr. Christopher’s lower bowel formula. So many people have come to love it that it’s made right alongside the first.

What a Good Lower Bowel Formula Contains

A good lower bowel formula might contain these eight herbs:

Curacao and Cape Aloe, 2 parts. A strong bitter that wakes up the muscles of the bowel wall and gets things moving.
Cascara Sagrada Bark, 2 parts. Tones the muscle of the bowel and helps it find its own natural rhythm again.
Senna Pods, 1 part. A dependable bowel stimulant, the gentler part of the senna plant.
Senna Leaves, 1 part. Adds the stronger push of the senna leaf.
Ginger Root, 1 part. Warms the bowel and eases the cramping that can come as it starts to move.
Barberry Root Bark, 1 part. Stimulates the flow of bile from the liver, which is the body’s own natural laxative.
Garlic, 1 part. Cleanses and fights the bacteria and parasites that thrive in a sluggish bowel.
African Bird Pepper, 1 part. Brings fresh circulation and carries the other herbs where they need to go.

“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for every herb. By weight, that’s 2 ounces each of Aloe and Cascara, and 1 ounce each of the rest. Powder the herbs, mix them well, and fill capsules.

With or Without the Cayenne

I make this formula two ways, with the African Bird Pepper and without it. If you find you need more than five capsules a day, the cayenne can upset your stomach or burn a bit. It can feel like acid reflux, especially if you take the capsules without food in your stomach. For anyone who needs a larger number, leave the pepper out.

An Extract for the Very Sensitive

Some people can’t swallow capsules, and some bowels are so sensitive that even a small amount of the powdered herbs sends them into cramps. For them, the same formula without the cayenne can be made into an extract.

I had a woman who could not move her bowels, but even a quarter of a capsule would rip her up. She’d be in horrid cramps. We made the extract, and she needed only one or two drops a day. Without that little bit of help her bowels were just too tight, but with it she was fine.

Put the dry herbs in a glass jar and pour in 80-proof vodka. Once the herbs have settled, you want about 60% herb sediment on the bottom and 40% liquid on top. Shake the jar every day. The traditional timing follows the moon, from the new moon to the full moon, about two weeks. I prefer to let my extracts sit a full three months, which makes them good and strong. Then strain and bottle the liquid. Start with a single drop a day and adjust from there.

A Second Formula: Heavier on the Cascara

Senna has been given a bad name over the years, and some people find it harsh. Some simply respond better to a different set of herbs. For them, a good alternative formula might contain these five herbs, with no Senna and no cayenne:

Cascara Sagrada Bark, 4 parts. The heart of this formula. When I built it for myself I tripled the Cascara, because that was what my body responded to. It appears a good many other people like it too.
Barberry Root Bark, 1 part. Gets the bile flowing.
Ginger Root, 1 part. Warms the bowel and eases cramping.
Curacao and Cape Aloe, 1 part. A bitter that wakes up the bowel wall.
Turkey Rhubarb Root, 1 part. Moves the bowel, then gently tones it afterward.

By weight, that’s 4 ounces of Cascara and 1 ounce each of the rest.

How Much and How Often

Both formulas are used the same way. Take 1 capsule with dinner the first day, 2 the second day, and 3 the third day. Keep adding one capsule a day until you find your number, the amount that gives you good, easy movements.

The average person lands between 3 and 5 capsules a day. There are a few poor souls who need 10 or more. I need many times the average myself, and my body is grateful for every one. There is no limit. The goal is to support your body in removing its waste, however many capsules that takes.

Working Alongside the Fiber Blends

These formulas get the bowel moving. Fiber gives it something to move. In a bowel cleansing program, a lower bowel formula is always established first and kept going, so the bowel keeps moving well while an absorbing fiber blend, the bowel vacuum, does the heavy cleansing work. For a healing fiber blend, see A Fiber Blend That Heals While It Works, and for the bowel vacuum itself, which doubles as a 911 for vomiting and diarrhea, see A 911 for Vomiting and Diarrhea.

If capsules are hard for you to swallow, or the taste is too bitter, see Bowel Formula Squares: An Easier Way to Take Your Herbs.

This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.

Herbal Healing, Weight Loss

A Steady Herbal Help for Weight Control

October 4, 2026 Dara Dietz

This is not a crash program for fast weight loss. It is a formula for gradual, steady loss that doesn’t rob the body of the nutrients it needs, the way so many fad diets do. Combine it with the mucusless diet and you have a winner.

It works on several fronts at once. It purifies the blood, helps the kidneys release excess fluid, feeds the body to relieve the nervous tension that dieting so often brings, takes the edge off the appetite, and feeds the thyroid and other glands, so the body can settle into a healthier state for holding its weight.

What a Good Weight Formula Contains

A good weight-control formula might contain these eleven herbs:

Chickweed, 6 parts. The lead herb, long known as the classic herb for weight loss. It helps the body break down and clear fatty deposits.
Safflower Flowers, 4 parts. Supports digestion and the body’s use of fats.
Burdock Root, 3 parts. One of the best blood purifiers in nature, and a gentle help for the kidneys.
Parsley Root, 3 parts. Helps the kidneys release excess fluid.
Kelp Blend, 3 parts. Atlantic Kelp, Irish Moss and Dulse in equal parts, feeding the thyroid, the body’s metabolic engine. See Kelp: Food from the Sea for the Thyroid.
Licorice Root, 2 parts. Supports the adrenals and steadies blood sugar.
Fennel Seed, 2 parts. Takes the edge off the appetite and keeps digestion comfortable.
Echinacea, 2 parts. Supports the immune system and the lymph while the body clears waste.
Black Walnut Leaves, 2 parts. Cleansing and toning, and rich in organic iodine.
Papaya Leaves, 2 parts. Aids digestion.
Hawthorn Berries, 1 part. Feeds and strengthens the heart.

“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for every herb. By weight, that’s 6 ounces of Chickweed, 4 of Safflower, 3 each of Burdock, Parsley Root and the kelp blend, 2 each of the next five, and 1 of Hawthorn.

Putting It Together

How Much and How Often

2 to 4 droppersful morning and evening. If you find you need more or less, adjust to what works best for you.

Several of these herbs gently move water through the kidneys, so drink plenty of water while using this formula. If you feel foggy or drained, cut back the dose. Some people, especially those already on a very clean diet, may simply need less.

For a gentler formula that steadies the appetite without any fluid-clearing herbs, see Taking the Edge Off Between-Meal Hunger, and for the bigger picture, my weight-loss series starting with The Weight Behind the Weight.

This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.

Herbal Healing, Pain, Joints & Injuries

Clearing and Rebuilding Painful Joints

October 4, 2026October 13, 2026 Dara Dietz

Arthritis seems to be everywhere right now. A joint that has become hot, swollen and painful is usually a joint where waste and mineral deposits have built up: calcium the body accepted but never assimilated, settling where it doesn’t belong. Clearing that takes time, but it can be done.

This formula brings together herbs that detoxify; herbs that act as a solvent for those calcium deposits; herbs that relieve pain; herbs rich in organic calcium the body can actually use; and herbs that fight fungus and infection. Relief is not immediate, because there is a long rebuilding job to do. Gradual relief can come, and full recovery, if the program is followed faithfully. Dr. Christopher taught that it should be made both as a salve and as an extract, and we make it both ways.

What a Good Joint Formula Contains

A good formula for arthritic joints might contain these thirteen herbs:

Hydrangea Root, 6 parts. Dr. Christopher called it the solvent of solvents; there was no greater aid, he taught, for getting rid of stones and inorganic mineral deposits throughout the body.
Yucca Root, 4 parts. Long used to ease arthritic pain and reduce swelling and inflammation in the joints. See Understanding Yucca, An Herbal Support.
Mormon Tea, 4 parts. An aid for reducing swelling and inflammation, long used as a blood purifier and for rheumatism.
Chaparral, 4 parts. A strong blood purifier and anti-rheumatic.
Black Walnut Hulls, 3 parts. A powerful cleansing herb rich in organic iodine, antiseptic and antifungal.
Burdock Root, 1 part. One of the best blood-purifying herbs in nature; it increases the flow of urine and relieves congestion in the lymph.
Sarsaparilla Root, 1 part. A tonic blood purifier, useful in rheumatism that stems from impure blood.
Wild Lettuce, 1 part. A mild, calming herb long used to ease pain.
Valerian Root, 1 part. A nervine that calms and feeds frayed nerves and eases pain.
Black Cohosh, 1 part. A nervine and antispasmodic that feeds and strengthens the nervous system.
Lobelia, 1 part. Removes obstructions and congestion within the body, especially in the blood vessels.
Wormwood, 1 part. The most bitter herb there is, a stimulating tonic and antiseptic for the whole system.
African Bird Pepper, 1 part. Brings fresh blood to the joint and carries the other herbs where they need to go.

“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for every herb. By weight, that’s 6 ounces of Hydrangea, 4 each of Yucca, Mormon Tea and Chaparral, 3 of Black Walnut, and 1 ounce each of the rest.

Putting It Together

The extract: Put the dry herbs in a glass jar and pour in 80-proof vodka. Once the herbs have settled, you want about 60% herb sediment on the bottom and 40% liquid on top. Shake the jar every day. The traditional timing follows the moon, from the new moon to the full moon, about two weeks. I prefer to let my extracts sit a full three months, which makes them good and strong. Then strain and bottle the liquid.

The salve: fully extract the herbs in extra virgin olive oil in a 150-degree oven for three hours, swap the spent herbs for fresh, and do it three times through. Strain and thicken with beeswax.

How to Use It

The extract: ½ to 1 teaspoon in a cup of hot distilled water, two to three times a day.
The salve: apply as a pack over the painful, inflamed joint. Spread the salve on flannel, lay it over the joint, and hold it in place with Press’n Seal wrap. Dramatic results often appear when the pack is left on overnight.
Kidney bean pod tea: 1 to 2 quarts a day.
Apple cider vinegar: a tablespoon in a glass of water three times a day helps clear uric acid from inflamed joints, and soaking the joint in hot water with apple cider vinegar brings relief.

This formula takes down the inflammation so healing can begin; the bone, flesh and cartilage formula in Knitting Bone, Flesh and Cartilage Back Together knits the damaged joint back together. The two work very differently, and together. Pair them with the mucusless diet and the foundational programs; see Arthritis.

For an overview of how I use herbal salves as topical applications, here is my video:

This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.