GREEN BLESSINGS
And let's take some simple herbal helpers with us on our menopausal journey. Their abilities are subtle and far-reaching. They can help us ease symptoms, provide us with optimum nourishment, help us create healthy hearts and healthy bones, and open us to the uplifting power of Nature.
Nourishing herbal infusions provide an abundance of minerals, vitamins, proteins, and phytoestrogens (plant hormones that are similar to estrogen) at low cost and with little effort.
To make a nourishing herbal infusion:
- Place one ounce by weight (about a cup by volume) of dried herb (do not use fresh) in a quart jar and fill to the top with boiling water.
- Cover tightly and allow to steep for at least four hours. Overnight is fine.
- Strain and refrigerate.
- Drink 2-4 cups a day, hot or cold, mixed with other liquids (water, juice, rum, coffee for example) or taken neat.
I rotate through four nourishing herbs: oatstraw, stinging nettle, red clover, and comfrey leaf. Each herb has special benefits for menopausal women. These four herbs, taken one at a time, and infused in water, are completely safe to use. (They may not be safe if taken in tinctures or encapsulated). I have drunk nourishing herbal infusions on a daily basis for more than twenty years.
But before we go further, let's talk about the purpose of menopause.
Kristen Hawkes, 1997
THE PURPOSE OF MENOPAUSE
Menopause may be a prime factor in women's greater longevity.(1)
Dr. Kristen Hawkes of the University of Utah reports that Hadza women in their 50s, 60s, 70s, and beyond gather more food than men or women of other ages and they are as important to the survival of their grandchildren as the children's mothers are.(2)
The postmenopausal woman is the one who has the stored wisdom to help her community survive. She is the Wise Woman, the one who gives us all a survival edge. Dr. Jared Diamond of the University of California at Los Angeles Medical School maintains that menopause is "among the biological traits essential for making us human."(3)
Dr. Hawkes believes that not only did prehistoric women survive past the age of menopause, but that they were instrumental in freeing our ancestors to exploit new habitats, explore new places, and ultimately to spread across the entire planet.(4)
