Showing posts with label boil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boil. Show all posts

Friday, August 21, 2009

How To Prepare Herbal Medicine At Home

My uterus is feeling rather tender today. Feels like there's something going on in there... Hopefully the sperm and my egg are having a party in there! I didn't have any symptoms like that at all last cycle. With the absence of ovulation, it felt like there was nothing in there at all- no uterus, no hormones, no nothing! So what a difference this cycle feels. I guess my hormones are finally kicking in. And I hope all these herbs that my husband and I are taking everyday are creating super soldiers and super eggs!

It does take quite a bit of time & effort to prepare the herbs everyday - it is a commitment. And this is how I do it. You don't need any fancy equipment -- just a pot and a stove. You could use a stainless steel pot, but usually a non-reactive material like ceramic, glass or earthenware is recommended. A glass pot like Visionware or ceramic Corningware with a lid is fine, which is what I use.



Some people rinse their herbs first, but I don't bother because it's an extra step and you may lose some precious ingredients while discarding the water. For example, some herbal preparations come with ground medicinal powder which you may accidentally rinse out.

Place the herbs in the pot and pour the water in. My TCM doctor recommends using 5 cups of water, boiled and reduced down to 1 cup.



Some herbal preparations are quite big, volume wise, so they may need more water. Whatever the case, it is safe to aim for enough water to cover the dried herbs with at least 1 inch of water above it. Bring to a boil, and then turn down the fire to a simmer. Stir once half way through to make sure all the herbs have a chance to be submerged in water. The process of boiling them (about 1 hour) extracts the nutrients from the herbs. When you've boiled it down to about a cup of liquid, pour the herbal tea into a cup or bowl through a strainer to separate the solids.

And voila! Your herbal medicine is ready! It is important that you remove the herbs from the liquid as soon as it is ready as leaving the herbs in the tea will cause the extracted nutrients to be reabsorbed back into the herbs. And the herbal tea should be drunk warm.


Then repeat everyday until desired pregnancy is achieved ;-D