Dara D Dietz is co-founder with her Husband of H.E.A.L. Marketplace, a private Natural Healing Association. As a teacher and counselor she has been supporting the members of H.E.A.L. with Natural Healing information and herbal supports since 1998. She continues to maintain strong ties to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Since healing her own kidney ailments she has assisted thousands of people in discovering and using natural herbal remedies. Dara has written and compiled numerous articles on a wide variety of natural healing topics. Drawing from her own healing experiences and borrowing from the vast wisdom of natural healers long departed, she continues to provide H.E.A.L.’s international membership with down to earth natural healing wisdom in H.E.A.L.’s bi-weekly newsletters. Dara and her husband currently reside in Rutherfordton, North Carolina.
My mother used to joke that when puberty hit it knocked me out. She was right. It seemed I could not get enough sleep. On a typical day I’d drag myself out of bed in the morning. Somehow I’d manage to get through school without falling asleep, come home, sleep on the couch until dinner, take a bath, and crawl back to bed, where I’d sleep until morning when I’d do it all again. Sometime during the fifth grade my parents took me to a pediatrician and discovered my low-functioning thyroid. The doctor prescribed thyroid medication, which she said I’d need for the rest of my life.
Life began to get interesting after I woke up. I faithfully took my little pill every day. I noticed even one day without my medication would bring on a brain fog along with the urge to sleep the day away. After giving birth to my daughter the brain fog was more dangerous. If I missed a dose I noticed I did not have the mental ability to keep up with my active toddler. She could wander away from me and I would not even know she had gone until a crash or some other heart-stopping noise made me aware of her whereabouts. It began to bother me that I was only me when I took my pill.
Discovering the Power of Kelp
Kelp came into my life through the suggestion of a trusted friend. She said kelp would safely provide me natural energy. I was very interested. Several years earlier I had experienced the consequences that follow overdosing on caffeine. The energy needed to maintain life as a single parent and full-time student was enormous. I would have done anything short of taking illegal drugs for more energy. My friend shared that she had used kelp pills freely for years. This sounded too good to be true, but also too good not to check out. I began taking four or five kelp pills a couple of times a day. Right away I noticed I did have more energy. This was great! I also did not experience the crash that usually followed after hopping myself up on caffeine.
After using kelp freely for over a year I experienced heart palpitations one morning after taking my normal thyroid medication. The emergency room doctor checked my blood levels and found my thyroid functioning within the normal range. This was shocking information; I had understood there was no healing my thyroid condition. At twenty-five years old I had taken my last thyroid pill.
Kelp has continued to be an important part of my daily food program. After founding HEAL Marketplace I experimented with combining the different kelps until I found a combination that suited me well. We call this our Super Kelp Blend, a mix of Atlantic Kelp, Irish Moss and Dulse. These herbs are excellent food for a malfunctioning thyroid; it does not matter if the thyroid is over producing or under producing. Kelp is God’s gift, His master herb for the thyroid gland.
More on the Thyroid
Thyroid Ailments (the full picture: causes, supports and a healing plan)
Underactive and Overactive Thyroid, Hashimoto’s and Graves’, Goiter, Nodules and Thyroid Cancer
Understanding the Condition
The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland at the base of the throat. Its two lobes sit on either side of the windpipe, joined by a narrow bridge, just below the voice box. When it is working properly, we are hardly aware it exists.
Small as it is, the thyroid sets the pace for the whole body. It stores practically all of the body’s iodine and uses it to make thyroid hormone (thyroxine, called T4, and its more active form, T3). That hormone tells every cell how fast to burn its fuel. It governs body temperature, energy, heart rate, digestion and the speed of the bowels, growth, the menstrual cycle and fertility, and, to a great degree, mental and emotional balance.
The thyroid does not work alone. The pituitary gland in the brain acts like a thermostat. When the body needs more hormone, the pituitary sends a signal called TSH, and the thyroid answers. When there is enough, the pituitary eases off (see the picture below). Iodine from food is the raw material the thyroid needs to answer that call.
How the thyroid is kept in balance. Simplified diagram drawn for H.E.A.L.
How It Develops
Thyroid trouble usually creeps in slowly. Because the hormone touches everything, the early signs are easy to blame on something else for months or years. It tends to go in one of these directions:
Short on raw material. Without enough iodine coming in, the thyroid has to work overtime to make its hormone. It often enlarges in the effort; this swelling in the neck is a goiter. Function slowly drifts low.
Underactive (hypothyroidism). Too little hormone, so everything slows down: tired even after 12 hours of sleep, cold hands and feet, weight gain, constipation, dry skin and cracked heels, brain fog and poor memory, thinning hair and eyebrows, heavy periods, puffiness in the face, depression, and cholesterol that climbs. It has been called “the unsuspected illness” because it is so often missed. Today the most common cause is Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, where the body’s own immune system slowly attacks the gland.
Overactive (hyperthyroidism). Too much hormone, so everything speeds up: a racing or pounding heart, trembling hands, feeling hot and sweaty, weight loss even while eating well, anxiety and irritability, trouble sleeping, loose bowels, and sometimes gritty or bulging eyes. The most common cause is Graves’ disease, where the immune system over-stimulates the gland.
Nodules and lumps. One or more lumps can form in a gland that has struggled for years. The great majority are never cancerous. Some “hot” nodules start making hormone on their own, apart from the rest of the gland.
Thyroid cancer. Most often it grows out of a nodule or a long-troubled gland rather than healthy tissue. The common types grow slowly, and caught early, while still inside the gland, the outlook is very good. It needs medical care (see the box below).
Women are affected far more often than men. Thyroid changes often first show up at turning points in a woman’s life: puberty, pregnancy, after childbirth and at menopause. The blood tests a doctor runs (TSH, free T4, and thyroid antibodies for Hashimoto’s) show which way the gland has gone and are the best way to measure your progress.
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. Long-held feelings settle into the body, and the throat is where we speak up and express who we are. Louise Hay, in her book Heal Your Body, ties thyroid trouble to the sense that life keeps passing us by, that our own turn never comes. Healing the thyroid often means also giving ourselves permission to speak, to create and to live our own life.
Thyroid in general: feeling humiliated, held down, always waiting for your turn. Turn it around: I move past old limits and let myself express who I am, freely and creatively.
Underactive (hypothyroidism): giving up; feeling stifled with no way out. Turn it around: I build a new life on terms that truly support me.
Overactive (hyperthyroidism): rage at being left out or overlooked. Turn it around: I am at the center of my own life, and I approve of myself and what I see.
Goiter: resentment at having things forced on you; feeling like a victim, thwarted and unfulfilled. Turn it around: I am in charge of my own life, and I am free to be myself.
Throat problems (a lump, hoarseness, trouble swallowing): not speaking up for yourself, swallowed anger, stifled creativity. Turn it around: It is safe for me to speak up. I express myself with ease and I am willing to change.
Emotional patterns paraphrased from Louise Hay, Heal Your Body (Hay House).
Areas Affected & Opening the Way to Healing
Look at the picture below and notice what the thyroid is wrapped around and pressed against. It hugs the front of the windpipe, with the food pipe just behind. The nerve that runs the voice box travels up behind it. Four tiny parathyroid glands, which manage the body’s calcium, sit on its back. The great blood vessels on either side carry its hormone to every part of the body, and the lymph nodes of the neck drain the area.
Where the thyroid sits, and its neighbors. Simplified diagram drawn for H.E.A.L. (not to scale).
Why the neighbors matter. A swollen gland presses on its neighbors: a feeling of a lump in the throat, trouble swallowing, a hoarse voice or a tight, full neck. The rest of the body matters too. Much of the hormone the thyroid makes (T4) has to be turned into its active form (T3) in the liver and the gut, so a congested liver and a backed-up bowel leave the body short even when the gland is working. And a slow thyroid slows the bowel, which adds to the load. That is why bowel cleansing and liver flushing are part of every thyroid program.
The Parathyroids: the Calcium Regulators
The four parathyroid glands sit on the back of the thyroid, each about the size of a grain of rice. They share the neighborhood but not the job. The thyroid sets the pace of the body; the parathyroids guard the calcium in the blood, which the heart, nerves and muscles depend on. When blood calcium dips, they release parathyroid hormone (PTH), which draws calcium out of the bones, tells the kidneys to hold on to calcium, and turns on vitamin D so the gut absorbs more. When calcium is back up, they ease off.
Overactive parathyroid (hyperparathyroidism). Most often one of the four glands has grown a small, non-cancerous lump and keeps making hormone even when calcium is already high. Calcium is pulled out of the bones and builds up in the blood. The old saying is “stones, bones, groans and moans”: kidney stones, thinning bones, aches and belly troubles (constipation, nausea, heartburn), and tiredness, low mood and foggy thinking, often with great thirst and frequent urination. Many people have few signs, and it is found when a routine blood test shows high calcium.
When the glands are working overtime for a reason. Low vitamin D, poor calcium absorption or failing kidneys keep calcium low, so the parathyroids work harder to make up for it. Here the glands are answering a need, not causing the problem, and the healing is in feeding the body and caring for the kidneys.
Underactive parathyroid. Uncommon, and usually follows surgery on the neck. Calcium runs low, bringing tingling around the mouth and fingers and muscle cramps. It needs medical care.
Not the same as an overactive thyroid. With an overactive parathyroid the thyroid labs are usually normal; the blood calcium and PTH tell the story. Bugleweed and the kelp guidance on this page are for the thyroid. For the parathyroids, Dr. Christopher used parsley root tea: the root brings calcium, B vitamins and iron that nourish these glands. Pour a quart of boiling water over a cup of firmly packed fresh parsley, steep 15 minutes, strain and refrigerate. Because high calcium so often ends in kidney stones, keep the water coming in and the kidneys flushing well. A true overactive gland is a medical matter: a doctor will confirm it with calcium and PTH tests, and it is usually treated by removing the one enlarged gland.
That is the short version on the parathyroids. For the full picture, see my Parathyroid Ailments sheet. Now, back to the thyroid.
Opening the Way: Fomentations and Warmth
Gland Formula fomentation. Dr. Christopher’s glandular formula, mullein and lobelia, is the first support for a malfunctioning thyroid, whether it is underactive or overactive. Make a tea of three parts mullein to one part lobelia, soak a flannel in it as hot as can be tolerated, and lay it around the throat over the thyroid. Cover it with plastic and leave it on all night, six nights a week, until relief is obtained.
M&L Salve pack. The same two herbs in a salve, without the mess. Spread the M&L Salve on flannel, lay it over the throat, cover with plastic wrap and a towel, and add gentle heat. The heat drives the herbs into the surrounding tissue so they can do their work more quickly.
Gland Formula as a tea or extract. Alongside the fomentation, drink a cup of the mullein and lobelia tea two or three times a day, or take the Gland Formula extract, 2 to 4 droppers (½ to 1 teaspoon) three times a day.
Gentle hot and cold. Alternating hot and cold compresses over the neck bring circulation to a sluggish gland. Be generous with the warmth and keep the cold brief, especially if the heart is racing from an overactive thyroid.
Feeding the Thyroid
Super Kelp. Kelp is the master herb for the thyroid. It feeds the gland the iodine and trace minerals it is short on, and in Dara’s experience it helps whether the gland is over-producing or under-producing. Super Kelp is HEAL’s blend of Atlantic kelp, Irish moss and dulse. Dr. Christopher suggested 10 to 15 kelp tablets a day if there is any sign of a thyroid problem, or 2 or more a day to keep the gland in good condition. Dara takes 10 capsules in the morning and another 5 later in the day.
Kelp in the kitchen. Use kelp powder in place of table salt, on salads and in cooking. A money-saving tip from Dara: buy Super Kelp powder by the pound and blend it with coconut oil into small chunks, so you get your kelp and coconut oil at the same time.
Thyroid greens. Dr. Christopher fed the thyroid with parsley, watercress, romaine lettuce, turnip tops, Irish moss and Iceland moss. Put the greens on your plate and in your juices every day.
Bugleweed for a racing heart. With an overactive thyroid, bugleweed is the traditional herb for calming the gland and the racing, pounding heart that goes with it. Dr. Christopher’s sources call it a superior sedative: it lowers the pulse without bad side effects, steadies heart palpitations, calms the nerves, and helps with the insomnia and worry that so often come with an overactive thyroid. Use bugleweed tincture on its own: ½ teaspoon stirred into a glass of juice, or into a cup of hot water as a tea with a touch of cayenne for more heart support. It is a support herb: take it as needed when the heart races or the nerves are on edge, and keep using it until the need for it clears. It is meant to quiet an overactive gland, so it is not for an underactive thyroid or Hashimoto’s, during pregnancy or nursing, or alongside thyroid medication without someone watching the labs.
Rest. The pull toward sleep with an underactive thyroid is real. Honor it rather than pushing through with coffee or other stimulants; rest gives the gland room to rebuild.
Using Kelp With Care
Kelp is a food, and for most people it can be used freely. Because it brings real iodine, a few situations call for starting low, going slowly and having the labs checked:
On thyroid medication. As kelp feeds the gland, it may start making more of its own hormone, and the medication dose can become too much. Dara’s own story below shows this: palpitations one morning once her thyroid had healed. Keep taking your medication and have your levels checked every few months, so your doctor can lower the dose as you need less. Don’t stop or change it on your own.
Hashimoto’s, Graves’ or an overactive thyroid, or a thyroid nodule. Start with a small amount and build slowly, with your labs checked along the way.
Before a radioactive iodine scan or treatment, stop kelp and other sea vegetables for one to two weeks.
Kidney disease, pregnancy and nursing: use food-level amounts only.
Herbs are support alongside medical care, not a replacement for it. Get prompt care for: a lump in the neck that is growing, hard or fixed in place; hoarseness that lasts more than a few weeks; trouble swallowing or breathing; chest pain or a racing, irregular heartbeat; or eyes that become painful, red or bulging. Have a high blood calcium followed up, since it points to the parathyroids.
Emergencies. A very high fever with a racing heart, agitation or confusion (an overactive thyroid out of control), or extreme cold, drowsiness and confusion (a severely underactive thyroid) need emergency care right away, as do signs of very high calcium: confusion, vomiting, extreme thirst or an irregular heartbeat.
Thyroid cancer needs a medical team. The supports on this page can be used alongside their care.
Level of Commitment
How much work the thyroid takes depends on how long it has been struggling and which way it has gone. Be honest about where you are:
Gentle support. For a tired, cold, sluggish body with labs on the low side of normal, a family history of thyroid trouble, or simply keeping the gland strong. Super Kelp daily, kelp in place of salt, thyroid greens, and real rest. Most people can live on this for good; Dara has for over 40 years.
Focused cleansing. For a diagnosed underactive or overactive thyroid, Hashimoto’s, Graves’ or a goiter. Add the Gland Formula fomentation or M&L Salve pack six nights a week and the Gland Formula tea or extract by day; bowel cleansing; and weeks of liver flushing alternated with weeks of kidney flushing, so the body stays on top of the healing. Bugleweed for a racing heart. Have your labs rechecked as you go.
Incurables Program. For thyroid cancer or a long-standing, serious thyroid condition. The thyroid supports on this page (fomentations, salve packs, the Gland Formula and Super Kelp) continue, while the full Incurables Program, which includes cleansing the bloodstream with HEAL’s Blood Purifying formula, is done hand in hand with your medical team. Blood Purifying contains chaparral, which has long been regarded as one of the strongest blood purifiers in herbal use. It has had years of bad press, but used wisely it supports the body in clearing cancer, and over the years many members have used it to eliminate tumors. Use with care: take Blood Purifying in courses, not continuously: two dropperfuls 4 to 6 times a day for a week at a time, in a few ounces of grape juice, while drinking 64 to 128 oz. of liquid a day. Avoid it during pregnancy or nursing and with existing liver disease. If the skin or the whites of the eyes turn yellow, the urine turns dark, or there is pain under the right ribs, stop and have the liver checked.
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, and bowel cleansing with LBF). Have your thyroid labs done so you know where you are starting.
Start feeding the gland. Begin Super Kelp. If you have Hashimoto’s, an overactive thyroid or a nodule, or take thyroid medication, start with a small amount and build up slowly. Use kelp in place of salt and add the thyroid greens.
Open the way. A Gland Formula fomentation or M&L Salve pack over the throat at bedtime, six nights a week, with the Gland Formula tea or extract two or three times a day.
If the thyroid is overactive: add bugleweed for the racing heart, keep kelp modest, and work with someone who is watching your labs.
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.
About 3 months: Check your progress. Have your labs rechecked. If you take thyroid medication, check sooner and more often, since the dose may need to come down as the gland heals. Then keep kelp as part of your daily food for life.
Stories from the Work
Dara: A sleepy fifth-grader
My mother used to joke that when puberty hit it knocked me out. She was right. It seemed I could not get enough sleep. I’d drag myself out of bed in the morning, somehow get through school without falling asleep, come home and sleep on the couch until dinner, then crawl back to bed and sleep until morning. Sometime during the fifth grade a pediatrician discovered my low-functioning thyroid and prescribed thyroid medication, which she said I’d need for the rest of my life. I faithfully took my little pill every day. Even one day without it would bring on a brain fog along with the urge to sleep the day away. After my daughter was born, missing a dose meant I could not keep up with my active toddler. It began to bother me that I was only me when I took my pill.
Dara: Twenty-five and off the pill for good
Kelp came into my life through the suggestion of a trusted friend, who said it would safely give me natural energy. I began taking four or five kelp pills a couple of times a day, and right away I had more energy, without the crash that always followed caffeine. After using kelp freely for over a year, I had heart palpitations one morning after taking my normal thyroid medication. The emergency room doctor checked my blood and found my thyroid working in the normal range. This was shocking; I had understood there was no healing my thyroid condition. At twenty-five years old I had taken my last thyroid pill. Kelp has been an important part of my daily food ever since. After founding HEAL I experimented with combining different sea plants until I found the blend that suited me, our Super Kelp. Kelp is God’s gift, His master herb for the thyroid gland.
“If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?” (1 Corinthians 10:30, NIV)
Paul ate with a clear conscience. He thanked God for the food, and gratitude settled the matter between him and his Lord. The Remedy puts his stance simply: he would not be held hostage by the opinions of others.
The opinion of others is never meant to shape our actions. But the heart of someone searching for truth should always be a soft place in our souls.
Sometimes the person criticizing us is that searching soul. They don’t yet have the understanding, experience, or relationship with the Lord to sort out the truth behind everything they believe. It takes time and maturity before they can look at those they admire in the faith and comfortably let each person walk their own journey. We are not all learning the same things at the same time. A truth one soul finds a glorious comfort, another must struggle to accept.
So be slow to judge and slow to criticize. Trust what your past experience with someone has shown you about their heart, and give them room to explain their current choices. If something directly affects your life, ask your questions in Love, ready to hear the best answer. Don’t shy away from the questions that need asking. And when offense is given, be ready to do whatever you can to make it right. When it’s your responsibility, own it, fix it, and move on.
There will be many times we stand alone in our decisions, alone except for God. What a great exception He is. These are the times to know yourself and to know your God and Friend, the One who guided your life to that very decision. Stand firm. Know what you know. The Lord will give you the strength and wisdom to continue in the truth He has shown you.
But standing firm is not the same as closing your ears. The most valuable piece of wisdom I can offer is this: remain teachable. We can fool ourselves into believing the Lord led us to a decision simply because it makes sense to us. Stay willing to hear truth from people you respect who have also been walking with the Lord.
If God really has shown you something others don’t yet understand, their objections won’t change it. In fact, you need their objections to refine that truth even further.
Your only safeguard against fooling yourself is to stay in a truly teachable spirit.
“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.
