giving up caffeine and alcohol

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Permalink Reply by Persephone on August 2, 2009 at 1:02pm

Hi Nicole, I hear you on the emotional issues, I kind of went through something similar recently. I haven't had any alcohol in over a year and half but caffeine is difficult for me. Dandelion and milk thistle are two good herbal liver cleansers, you can drink them as teas or take them in capsules. Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Zoe on August 2, 2009 at 1:17pm

St John's Wort too...and there are some great Traditional Chinese Medicine and Aryvedic herbal formulas that work really well, if you have a TCM or and Aryvedic doctor/practitioner near you it is worth a look to see what they have. I have used both before which work really very well, also acupuncture and spinal realignment is a good boost for this type of thing - clearing out energetic/emotional blockages. You can achieve the same effect over longer period with more personal effort through yoga and dancing though...Sunshine, dancing and laughing are also good liver cleansers!

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Permalink Reply by Chicory on August 2, 2009 at 3:46pm

I took an amino acid for a while for a liver detox. it is really inexpensive ( a few dollars) and was very effective for me. N acetyl l cysteine. I took the biotics research corp brand. It is really safe too.... it is often given to children that have od'd on tylenol. It also works as an antioxidant and helps repair lung tissue

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Permalink Reply by Katharine Emily Niebling on August 3, 2009 at 7:10pm

milk thistle * milk thistle * milk thistle! all the way, everyday, twice a day! also good is evening primrose oil!
LIMES are also amazingly helpful to the liver!

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Permalink Reply by mason harding on September 20, 2009 at 10:43am

hey, how is this going for you? I'm doing a similar cleanse/cut back or lifestyle change. I do tend to break from things now and then as my room mate and I home brew beer and every batch must be tasted. But otherwise, I've cut back to a couple glasses of wine a week and maybe one cup of cold pressed iced coffee on a Saturday morning. I do still drink green tea daily so there is some caffeine content in that . I was just wondering if you had found a good balance and what the benefits had been. I have not really noticed a huge difference but perhaps I need to go all out for a time and get strict with it before I realize results. Any advice?

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Permalink Reply by AwesomeUniverse!!! on September 20, 2009 at 11:23am

Yerba mate is great for this - it is stimulating but doesn't have caffeine. It also is a mood enhancer like alcohol. It doesn't taste very good so you need to add rose hips, mint, cinnamon, etc to snaz it up!

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Permalink Reply by Zach Zaller on September 20, 2009 at 7:17pm

I think the only time mate was ever bitter tasting was when I got it in a cafe. Its has its own natural sugars in it but its not noticeably sweet. could be the difference between cold steeping it first. Its really good with a itsy pinch of vanilla bean powder and agave. They have an unroasted one, not sure if it is better tasting though....

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Permalink Reply by Alicia (BarefootHoodoo) on September 21, 2009 at 12:27am

Exactly what you said about the bitterness. Wet the mate with cold water first, then add the hot water. Makes all the difference. The unroasted has a bit more of a grassy taste to me.

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Permalink Reply by ArugulaBugula on September 20, 2009 at 6:09pm

I really like roasted dandelion tea. I realize it is not raw but if you are trying to get off coffee I think this is a great substitute. If you steep it long it definitely has the bitter coffee taste, in a good way. And bonus because it is actually good for your liver.

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