**REVIEW** Dr. Miller Miracle Tea (part 1 of 3)

This is one of the reviews that I will have to do in parts. First, I will talk about the product claims and general information. The second post will be about my results after some usage. Finally, I will post my overall experience after I've had time to evaluate my personal results.

So what product am I checking out this time? It's this:

That's Dr Miller Miracle Tea (I don't like calling it "Holy Tea", but I think the name comes from the ingredients, which are listed on the packets.

My niece told me about this tea, then another of my nieces decided to give it a try. I initially balked because of the price, then I realized I had a credit saved up that I could apply to my order. Still, it's not cheap at the full price so I'm going to be very interested in seeing if I can recommend it to anyone else.

To start off with, I am going to have to check with my nieces to see which strength tea they are using. When my one niece got hers in the mail the other day, she told me that the package had (her words here) "Stunk up my whole mailbox!" But when she actually brewed the tea, the smell wasn't bad at all and she liked the taste of it. She said that it even smelled good. Okay.

The second thing I did when I got my packets was to smell them. (First thing, I took photos.) The smell wasn't bad at all in my opinion. The scent is similar to black tea (or any other "regular" and unscented tea) so I don't know what my niece meant.

Oh, here are the packets with the ingredients:

From the product description page on Amazon: "A special blend of Malva leaves, Blessed Thistle, Holy Thistle, Milk Thistle, Marshmallow leaves and Persimmon Leaves." (my underline)

Of course, I wanted to know a bit more about each of those ingredients, so let's see...

• Malva Leaves - This stood out for me: "Malva sp. leaves have been used in the traditional Austrian medicine internally as tea or externally as baths for treatment of disorders of the skin, gastrointestinal tract and respiratory tract. "
• Blessed Thistle - WebMD points out that, among other things, people use it for "loss of appetite," but I always like to pay attention to the notes on warnings and interactions too. Wikipedia has some more info on the medicinal uses and the other name for it: Cnicus.
• Holy Thistle - This is strange because my usual sources show this as being the same as Blessed Thistle so I'm not sure why it's listed twice. At any rate, Wellness Mama cleared up the origin of the name.
• Milk Thistle - Once again, I see that this thistle (or silymarin) is about the same as the other two. What on earth??? I did notice that I see more mention of this as an aid for liver problems.
• Marshmallow leaves - Finally something new. The first uses I saw for this was for pain, swelling and inflammation. Also, the herb is supposed to provide a sense of being full.
• Persimmon Leaves - This one seems to be noted for relieving a strange range of issues, including pollen allergies, bruising and problems with immunity to colds. Okay. 

I suppose mixing the different herbs might have something to do with the benefits, but when I checked on some reviews, I saw that the tea acts basically as a laxative and there are no studies to back up the claims made for the product. On the other hand, my niece did tell me that what she noticed immediately is that she was suddenly very, um... regular. That's a good thing, I guess.

By the way, I was curious about this Dr. Miller. Not to be mean, but his webpage reminds me of the back of a cheap tabloid magazine. From the 70s. (I shouldn't have peeked because now I'm a little skeptical.)

The first niece - who turned us on to the tea - said that she and her husband use the tea every other month or so. They just mix up a gallon and drink it a few times a day until that gallon is gone. She claims that it does help her with the bloating and other effects of lapsing into bad eating habits. Okay.

I made my first batch tonight. I used regular Lipton tea and added the two bags of the Miracle Tea. Maybe it's the after-effects of my last cold, but I don't really smell anything extraordinary. It looks like regular old tea. Of course, it has to sit out overnight, so we'll see what it looks and smells like tomorrow.  I even talked my other niece into agreeing to trying it with me. 

I'm off to bed now. If this tea works the way it's supposed to, I need to rest up for all the exercise I'm going to get from running to the Ladies. LOL

I will post soon as I can (maybe tomorrow) on the taste and what, if any, effects I get with the first cups... So, stay tuned.

Peace
--Free

About Matcha Tea (a pre-review post)

You have probably started hearing a lot about something called Matcha. In my opinion, it's in the category of About to Trend. Hard and heavy.

I've had a chance to try a couple types of Matcha - one sponsored and one that I picked up at my local health food store. Since I'm going to be posting a review of the sponsored product very soon, I wanted to go over some of the basics about Matcha in general. First thing to know is, there's nothing really "basic" about Matcha. I feel like I'm having to learn a new language just to understand this product.

Let's start with a little of what I am coming to understand about matcha:

• Matcha tea is powdered, but not all powdered tea is matcha. 
• Matcha is also, I believe, grown in the shade.
• Matcha is prepped for serving (to drink) than regular tea.
• Matcha tea is from the whole leaf, the tenderest parts of the leaf, and is often used ceremonially.

To make matters  just a little bit more confusing, in addition to the types of green tea, and types of matcha, there are different grades of the teas. Yikes.

I'm determined to kinda, sorta understand this Matcha tea though. If the terminology doesn't trip me up. Here are some of the different types of Matcha:

• Usucha - or "thin" tea, is from sprouts younger than a certain age. (source)
• Koicha - "thick" tea, is usually more expensive because it comes from rarer tea plants.
• Tencha -  In Japan, this is the only tea that qualifies as"true matcha" and it is made from the delicate shade-grown tea leaf trees. (source)

 So... Tencha = Matcha - though in the U.S., the Matcha we get is most likely never Tencha... Yeah, see? Confusing.

Just to take a break, I took a look at a video of Matcha leaves being processed.



When I applied to review the product that I will be posting on soon, I had never tried any kind of Matcha tea, but I picked up some at my local health food store a couple weeks ago. Since I didn't understand that there are different types of Matcha, I was a little bit confused when trying to choose between the few brands available. I ended up with this one, just because of price and convenience. This brand had three different types so I chose the one that sounded most flavorful.

Then I had to look up what "Genmai" means:

Genmaicha is the Japanese name for green tea combined with roasted brown rice. It is sometimes called "popcorn tea". This type of tea was originally drunk by poor Japanese, as the rice served as a filler and reduced the price of the teas; which is why it is also known as the "people's tea".

Okay. So I got a little bit ripped off as the American trying to experiment with a new trend. Let me tell you, at about a dollar per pack - for 12 single-serve packets (0.03 ounces, or 3 grams, per pack), I wasn't getting a "true" (or even near-true) matcha tea.


At least the labelling was honest. The problem was my own ignorance.
















This, by the way, is what the actual tea looks like:

The texture is very grainy and leaves very little film on the plate I had it on. It felt like a fine sand.

And, for comparison, this is what a true matcha powder looks like:

The matcha powder is vibrant green and almost as fine as talcum powder
It's hard to tell from the photo, but you can see some of the texture difference between
the Matcha powder and the Genmaicha (paler) product

To be fair, the Genmai wasn't awful. I think that any kind of powdered (or grainy) tea is an acquired taste. The Genmai had a soil-ish/dirt-ish taste. I was able to cover that with some of the Chaga nectar I used as a sweetener. I also learned that I could just put the Genmai into other flavored teas or beverages.

I will be posting more about the actual Matcha powder when I do my product review. For now, I can tell you that there is a huge  flavor difference between those two products. Huge.

Doing a little research beforehand literally pays (or at lease saves) when trying something new. In the case of the brand of Genmaicha I bought, I couldn't even do much checking on it when I got home. The website printed on the package takes me to a domain that is for sale. After a brief search, I couldn't even find images for the product. I gave up because, for one thing, I won't be buying the brand again and, for another, I want to stick with trying better quality products. Maybe that Matcha Matcha brand has an actual Matcha tea available, but it wasn't one of the choices when I was shopping.

The main thing to know when using Matcha is that you have to read the labels. Make sure that you are getting the best Matcha available.

Next: I will be doing the review for the first organic, powdered green tea I've had the chance to try.

Peace
--Free

Do you Chaga?

Today*, when I visited the Center (Farmers') Market of Alaska-grown products in our Sears Mall, I didn't intend to spend a penny. Actually, I was only at the mall to pick up a few grocery items from Carrs-Safeway... Yeah, well. Send me near a mall and watch what happens, right?

I'm glad I got detoured and took a look at what the vendors had to offer. I discovered something interesting. This:

These are both nectars made from the Chaga mushroom/fungus. Apparently, this is something that grows all over Alaska (and other places, of course) on birch trees. 

I've been in Alaska almost as long as I have been living. Why did I not know about this?

Chaga is something that many indigenous people use as part of their diet and natural medicinal needs. Native Alaska peoples are very aware of the Chaga mushroom and its benefits. Okay. I not only have lived here most of my life, some of my family is Native Alaskan.

Once again, why did I not know about the Chaga mushroom? Well, probably because I didn't pay attention to everything that this dear woman tried to teach me while she was still here on earth:

In her 60's, she would walk for miles like she was 15 years old!

That's Marie. She's the grandmother to some of my nieces and nephews. I should have listened to her That woman could go for walks from one end of town to the other, just because she could. She could outwalk a teenager! Anyway, Marie, I am paying attention. Finally.

So, about the Chaga mushroom, tea, nectar, etc. There are many benefits. Here are some links for more information:

• The history, uses and benefits
• Targeting specific health issues with Chaga
• Anti-oxidant comparison chart
• Eartherbs has some good info
• Some detailed information on the mushroom
• Talk about this being the mushroom of "immortality" (?) Okay...
• This explains why Chaga mushrooms look the way they look

I haven't looked through all this information myself, but I did get an overview of the benefits from a couple of the vendors at the Farmers Market. I didn't get any of the tea because I wanted to start with the nectar. The vendors explained that I can add the nectar to my tea, coffee and cereals. That's an easy way to get started with something I wanted to ease into using.

Since am fighting immune problems, I decided to invest in a jar of the nectar from the first place I stopped at. Then I ended up getting upset with myself for not checking a stall further down. Different shaped jar, but same amount (just around 5oz) of the nectar for half the price. What I realized a few days later is that the more expensive nectar was also much thicker in texture and had a richer taste. I suspect it had more Chaga than the cheaper brand...

Now, about this Ch-ch-chaga. (You knew I had to do it. And I'm silly from being sleep-deprived. Forgive me.) As with anything, we have to be careful to check with our doctors to make sure that something we ingest doesn't interact badly or interfere with any prescribed medicines or medical conditions. That said, I'm not thrilled with the last doctor I saw and I am looking for a new G.P., so I've gone ahead and used the nectar. I haven't had any negative reactions that I can tell and I've had a couple of labs done since then to check my blood and urine.

Before I get to the various pieces of info I did check out online, let me give you my take on the taste of the 2 nectars I purchased. 

The $10 nectar is plain and sweetened (I can`t remember with what, but here is their Facebook page, if you want to ask). It`s pretty yummy. When I taste-tested it on a spoon before I bought it, I expected it to taste like a flavored honey. At room temp, it looks just like honey but with heavier caramel color. It has the texture of honey. I was surprised that it tasted so much nicer than honey. To me, the taste was sweeter and richer. Like the difference between whole milk and cream. When the vendor was suggesting different ways to use it (in coffee and tea and on my oatmeal or cereal), I remember thinking that I could just keep licking it right off of a spoon. (And I have done this a couple of times since I got the nectar.)

The $5 nectar is with honey and ginger.  It has the same room-temp constency (maybe a little thinner than the other nectar) and it`s lighter in color. You can taste a hint of the ginger and lemon flavor, but they are not overwhelming. (I actually accidentally used it in my coffee and, surprisingly, it was fine.) I have also eaten this one right off a spoon. I`ll get to that whole "off the spoon thing" later.

When I commented before about the differences in pricing, I hadn`t had a chance to notice the nectars after they had been refrigerated. The more expensive nectar was thickened 5-fold. The less expensive one was about the same consistency it had been at room temp. It was a tiny bit thicker, but not nearly as much. I don`t know why this is, but I am going to do more research. I mean, is it because there is more Chaga in the $10 item? Or is it because the other item has ginger and lemon added? Curious, right? (By the way, my nephew - who is half Alaska native - told me that this is because there was more Chaga extract in the thicker nectar. Get what you pay for, yes?)

I have learned a bit from digging around online and talking to a person I trust.

The person I spoke  with (I will call her "May") is a Native Alaskan who respects her heritage and has been practicing the use of natural resources from the land. She told me that her people have been using Chaga since forever. They appreciate the antioxidant powers and healing aspects of the Chaga Mushroom. It still amazes me that this nectar was made using a mushroom that I have grown up seeing yet never paid mind to. I have family members who are natives of this land and this is the one thing none of them ever brought up. I realize now that I probably was just not paying attention.

May explained that the Chaga she uses grows on the sides of Birch trees. She said that they are odd-looking and easy to recognize (hard to mistake, as with some other fungi, berries and plants). 

She described them as looking a little like they have a beard. This is when they are ready for picking. And, weirdly, the mushrooms are hard like wood when they are picked and stored. When you hear "mushroom", you`re probably thinking soft and spongy. (When I saw one of the mushrooms displayed by a vendor, I did think it was just a strange-looking piece of wood. That`s what it looked and felt like. If I had been more coherent, I would have noticed that the item was one of the mushrooms the nectar had been made from.)

I forget the rest of what May told me, but she did advise that I could pick my own Chaga Mushrooms and make my own teas. (I will be talking with her later so I can take notes and update this post.) I also am going to speak with a good friend who will probably be able to help me with making nectar from the mushroom.

From searching around online, I have learned that Chaga is not any kind of a mystery to any culture who does pay attention to nature and its benefits to health and wellness. Note some of the info in the links I provided earlier.

I have learned that you can ingest Chaga as a tea or a powder (to add to food and drink); you can add the nectar to almost anything that you want to sweeten. Now that I know I like it in general, I'm going to give the tea a try. By the way, I saw the Chaga items flavored in many ways: root beer, lemon, ginger, peppermint, etc. (I will stick with my lemon-ginger and the plain sweetened flavor for now.)

What I can tell you now that I have been using this for a couple of months, this stuff did increase my energy. I was having one of the roughest weeks of my life and was just ragged out with fatigue. Coffee only works until you get all jittery and sick of it. The nectar was something that I could eat right off a spoon or add to some tart juice (think Cranberry) and it gave me energy that felt more like a second wind than a caffeine hurricane. It didn't give me the shakes, irrita-bitchies or make my heart raise. I just felt like I could get through the next few hours. Of course, I had to crash at some point, but I really appreciated the little boost when I needed it.

NOTE: I first started this post way back in, I think, October. I had to update some of it so forgive me if the post is disjointed. Also, I have since gotten some of the tea in a concentrated form. I add a couple teaspoons of it to my green teas, coffee, or I just make a hot Chaga tea and add some of the nectar to sweeten it. Right after Mike's passing, I wasn't eating for several days at a time and I think drinking the green tea and Chaga kept me from just dropping on my face.

Peace

--Free

Recap: Day One of Detox

(My morning-after recap of Day One - Saturday)

Everything was great until I finished off my first (and only) serving of coffee for the day. The whole time I was writing the intro post, I was feeling mostly very confident. I even wondered if I shouldn't be doing a 14-day challenge.

The first few hours zoomed by while I worked on sorting, packing and labeling boxes for storage. I downed 2 16-oz bottles of water while I did laundry. I was doing great.

Then I started craving a second coffee.

There are lots of days when I don't have a second cup of coffee and never think about it. Saturday was a day when I was thinking about my second coffee before I had finished the first one. It was a day when I began having involuntary fantasies about coffee. I almost had to take a cold shower to get my mind off of coffee.

I made it past the cravings by drinking more water. I was saving the prune juice for later. I decided that I could think of prune juice as a treat. Prune juice is dark like coffee, so I was hoping that I could satisfy my java cravings by visualizing the prune juice as very sweet, creamer-free coffee. How sad is that? Is that normal while in caffeine withdrawals, or is that bordering on needing-help-from-a-professional? (I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I was thinking of ways to add a few grains of coffee to my water just to tide me over. Thinking about it was just getting to be masochistic, so I put my tub of coffee where it was way out of my sight. I need to #SeekHelp.)

After around 2 in the afternoon, I was okay with just water. I wasn't even very hungry, which surprised me since I had been so physically busy all morning. When I was getting weary of the taste of water, I brushed my teeth. I love the taste of water after I brush my teeth. PRO: Helps that I hate the taste of coffee right after I brush. CON: what a waste of energy. What am I brushing off my teeth? The stains of cravings? Whatever.

I noticed something interesting about drinking so much water just partway through the day: I wasn't peeing a lot. Not nearly as much as I expected to, since there was no food intake to absorb any liquid... Maybe because of my java withdrawals, I spent a few minutes in the throes of a hallucination about my kidneys being damaged or my urethra being clogged by my junkie-like need for a hit of Yuban. My brain went into shock from all that damned water and fluoride and I swear I saw Juan Valdez out of the corner of my eye trying to hawk me some coffee like a beloved friend of the worst influence.

Yeah. Things were getting tricky.

The hardest part of the day was when I went shopping with my sister. It was late afternoon, I was starting to think about food more and more often. Bad time to be in the grocery store. If I could have focused more on all the wonderful food I was seeing, I might have given in. Thing is, I had to pee. Every ten minutes. I hate using public restrooms, but for the hour that we were in the store, I used up all the "rest" out of the "room"! I think my brain and bladder were playing Tag with each other. I'd see something edible that made my mouth water and my brain would Tag my bladder. At least being in the restroom so much kept me (temporarily) away from the temptations of food.

Now it's confession time. I slipped up once. Or twice, depending on how you count it.

I blame it on the olive bar at the store. I love olives. I love olives with pits. I love olives stuffed with garlic. I love garlic. This dang olive bar has all kinds of olives. And garlic. So I had an olive (just one) and some garlic (some = two). I hope there is an olive bar in Heaven.

To pay for my slip-up, I drank a whole 16 ounces of water as soon as we got to the car. Sixteen ounces of warm-from-sitting-in-a-hot-car water. Ugh. (And I chewed two pieces of gum. To save some vampires from my breath. My sister gave me the gum. She dang near shoved it into my mouth.)

So. I made it through Day One. I only made it to 3 seconds past 10:30 p.m. (because I hadn't had solid food since the same time the night before), but I made it. Then I broke my fast with a treat that my sister bought me: goat cheese. I never thought I could fall as in love with a cheese as I am with olives and garlic. I never thought I'd want anything to do with nourishment from a goat. (I'll tell you about the goat cheese in a separate post.)

I made myself drink another 16 ounces of water before I went to sleep. That brought my daily total to around 75 ounces. Short of the planned 88 ounces, but I'm okay with it. I'm just happy I made Day One of my challenge (except for the olives and garlic). By the way, I didn't drink the prune juice. I counted the olives and garlic as a replacement.

I had an epiphany while writing this post (as I start Day Two) where I identified my enemy as my habits, not my hunger. Just like everything in life.

I made it through Day One, mainly by keeping busy and focusing on how badly I want to feel well. I have this sarcoidosis that's disabled me, but I don't have to give the disease any more weapons.

My sleep last night would make Rip Van Winkle look like a coke addict. I dozed off knowing that morning was going to be the end of a rainbow where my coffee was waiting. Of course, I woke up about five times to visit the bathroom, but I had no trouble getting back to sleep each time.

This morning, I got out of bed so fast to get to my coffee maker that I almost pulled a ligament. By the way, this coffee... best coffee ever.

Peace
--Free

My Natural Detox Challenge

The past week or so, my body and brain have been feeling sluggish. My water intake has dropped the last few days. Too much going on, what with moving, having my birthday, the Fourth of July celebrations, and family here for a visit from the States.

All of this (except the moving) has been fun, but is starting to wear on me. I think it's just stress and fatigue, so I am trying to cleanse myself from the inside out. I'm going to set myself a challenge to do a 7-day natural detox. I will update here about my progress.

No cheesecake? Well, that sucks.

When I looked at various detox "systems", I decided against anything involving pills and powders. I take enough prescribed meds as it is. This WikiHow lists several natural ways to cleanse the body. I took what I liked from parts of this list into what I think are the best for me:

• Through healthy eating and drinking. I am going to be better about drinking lots of water and I'd like to give the Dandelion tea a try. The Burdock tea interests me, but I'm worried about how will taste... Still not giving up my coffee, but I can limit myself. 
• Specific Cleanses. The only one of these that sound safe for me is the Green Tea Smoothie. Not as tasty-sounding as a Cheesecake Smoothie, but safe. There's no way in Hades I'd ever mess with a "salt-water flush". My blood-pressure would probably shoot up high enough to explode across the sky in sparkles. Drinking salt-water doesn't sound safe for anyone unless their doctor is present with some of those emergency paddles and an ER team.
• Lifestyle Choices. No duh. When it comes to my lifestyle choices and managing my stress, I face challenges every 5 minutes. Water instead of coffee; green and leafy over creamy, sweet and gooey; walking away from an irritating situation instead of facing assault charges. 

Basically, all this is common-sense stuff. Very do-able. I call it "The Spirit is Willing" plan. My weak "flesh" is why I'm looking to detox in the first place.

 ~sigh~

Here's my self-challenge (starting today and ending on Friday the 11th):

Day 1 A (solid) food fast. I'm limiting my non-water liquids to 1 (12oz) coffee with flavored creamer; 12 oz of prune juice.

Day 2 - 4 No "simple" carbs, and no pasta (a "complex" carb). Adding tea to my fluid intake of 100 ounces. (Info on simple vs complex carbs)

Day 4 - 6 Limiting my white bread intake to 2 slices per day. Fluid: 100 ounces (water, teas, prune juice). Unless I'm working off too many calories running to the bathroom with "prune juice issues". Shut up.

 Day 7 Limiting myself to vegetables, fruits, prune juice and 1 8oz coffee with creamer. Fluid: 100 ounces.

Hopefully, on Day 8, I will feel better. During the challenge, I'll post on my mood and energy level and whatever effects I'm feeling.

By the way, about teas: I thought about using Dandelion tea and/or Burdock tea, but some of the warnings are worrying me. Green tea is one that I know is safe for me. I love chai tea, so I should learn to drink more in place of my massive amounts of coffee.

Add a good book & it's a prescription for depression

I figure this challenge is going to definitely be good for my body. That's what I figure. What I know is that I'm going to be resentful every time I see someone else chewing food that I can't have or drinking a really good cup of coffee after I've had my daily limit. What I am hoping is that I will be able to do adopt this challenge into my life on a regular basis. Drinking more water is definitely going to be a constant. I'm shooting for 80 ounces a day.

Also will decrease my lotion budget

I'm tired of being tired. I want to really work on getting well for the long-term. So... here I go, off to my challenge.

I'm almost to the bottom of my 12 ounces of coffee and I keep looking over at that gigantic bottle of prune juice I haven't opened yet. My water jug is waiting, but I refuse to think about it until I've licked my coffee mug free of every last drop of the International Delight Heath bar-flavored creamer. Every. Last. Drop.

Peace
--Free