Posted on 03/19/2019 5:52:42 PM PDT by little jeremiah
What is your D level?
Haven’t had it tested in a long time. Used to be sort of okay before taking D3 but after cancer diagnosis my doc who is a naturopath recommended I take it.
I take 10,000 a day and my level is 78.
Anything 30 or under is low, my reading tells me it should be at least 50.
Once the vitamin d level reaches 32 ng/ml, the body starts inactivating it.
When the vitamin d level is 32 ng/ml, testosterone is higher than at any other level.
For thease reasons, I think 32 ng/ml is the optimal level and higher is excessive.
The science of vitamins is too much for me so I pretty much stick to herbs, as they are basically foods, and I have studied and practiced with them for so long am much more familiar with their uses and cautions. I take minimal D3 since hanging out in sunlight just doesn’t work for me.
Others who know about vitamins can post here and help others of course.
I take minimal D3 since hanging out in sunlight just doesn’t work for me.
- - - - - - -
According to my argument, what you take might be too much. It’s too much if it causes the vitamin d level to be more than 32 ng/ml.
Since you consume turmeric, I suggest you do an iron stores test. A person with blood ferritin less than 70 ng/ml has an iron deficiency.
I only take D about 3X a week. Eventually I’ll probably get some blood tests but that means $.
I got this Elderberry recipe from a long time herbalist (non-professional but years of experience). I don’t necessarily follow utterly precisely. Last time I made it I didn’t have as much honey on hand as I usually do so added a bit more alcohol, which I do not like (affects me badly) so I put 1 T syrup in a cup and add very hot water to evaporate some alcohol. Friends and others who have had this batch said it’s just fine.
Note: I use dried berries and some berries are not cleaned very well – some batches are better than others. Go through your berries - I go through bit by bit on a plate and search through for stems or off colored berries. Then I sift through a strainer to get smaller debris out. It doesn’t take too long to do a pound, and it makes a better product.
I make a pound at once, I put all berries into a large pot, cover with water, and let sit for 24 hours, then strain out the liquid and save it, then pour boiling water on the berries again just to cover, let sit until cool, and strain again. I twist the berries in a piece of fine cotton cloth to extract every bit of juice.
Next I warm it up enough so that the honey (or sugar) will dissolve. Really the proportions of juice to sweetener to alcohol are not carved in stone, each time I make it is slightly different, always good and never goes bad.
Keep in mind that elderberries could probably be used as a natural dye, any cloth it touches is forever.
If you make a whole pound, you will need several bottles. I store in Clear Springs 180 proof grain alcohol bottles, or glass juice bottles. Also, I did not follow her recipe precisely, I used just less alcohol (I use Clear Springs which is twice as strong) and a little less sweetener. I have used either raw sugar or honey depending on honey price.
Keep in mind that the honey or sugar acts as a preservative, and if you use much less it may go bad. You only take 1 Tablespoon at a time though. If you don’t want to use much or any sweetener, than you have to make a tincture, which uses a lot of alcohol. I did elderberry tincture once and much prefer making the syrup.
Original Elderberry Syrup Recipe
My method above has a lot more juice per recipe and a bit less alcohol and stays good for at least 2 years in a cool dark place.
7 cups elderberry juice
8 ¾ cups honey
3 cups 80 proof vodka
Warm the elderberry juice to “hot, but not boiling” temp… between 150 and 180°F should be plenty. Stir in the honey and stir until it’s completely dissolved and blended.
Remove from the heat, and stir in the vodka.
Pour into sterile jars or bottles (sterilize them by boiling for 5-10 minutes in boiling water, then let drip dry upside down until filling)
Cap and LABEL. Store in a cool DARK place (or bottle in dark brown glass)
Standard dose for adults would be:
Prophylaxis (prevention) 1 tablespoon 2x a day. If there is active flu in your office or family, double that, or take more often.
Treatment: 1-2 tablespoons every 3-4 hours
Children under 12: half the adult dose
Toddlers and infants: Talk to your doctor! But, lacking that, 1 tsp at similar intervals to the adult dose should be adequate.
There is NO way to overdose on this! Put it in juice, jello, pour it over ice cream- any way you can get the kids to take it is fine.
Alternatives:
If you do not want to use any alcohol in the syrup, use
7 cups elderberry juice
14 cups honey
Proceed as above, ignoring the reference to the vodka.
If you don’t want to use honey (probably best to NOT use it for babies under 1 year)
7 cups elderberry juice
11 ½ cups sugar
I’ve gotten my elederberries from Starwest Botanicals and consider them very good. No doubt other places have them. I got locally picked once and could not get enough worth making syrup from.
https://www.starwest-botanicals.com/category/elder-berries/
I have bought herbs from this company and they have good quality, just never bought elderberries from them.
https://www.herbco.com/p-1336-elderberry-whole-organic.aspx
Thanks LJ
Bkmk elderberry
THANK YOU! Would you like to cross post that on the weekly gardening thread?? This weeks theme is medicinal herbs.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4033639/posts?q=1&;page=1
It would be most appreciated.
I’ve got tech issues and some other stuff I have to attend to, you are welcome to copy and paste it anywhere you like! You can put the link so if people want more herb info they can look around on this thread as there is a lot on herbs.
thanks good idea!
Elderberry syrup mark. Thank you!
Does the alcohol do anything but act as a preservative?
If you can have sugar but dont like the alcohol then why not just make syrup, as in elderberry pancake syrup. Just make elderberry jelly and then accidentally on purpose dont put in enough pectin or use weak old pectin.
“...and your father smells of elderberries” because he was making wine with them. If its the strength of the alcohol rather than the presence then why not try some Englishmans Port. Elderberries are every bit as good as grapes for making wine and the product and process can be as simple or refined as your palette requires while still delivering all that elderberry goodness.
No doubt there are many ways to make elderberry syrup; this is just the method that has worked for me. I have made fruit syrups (non-medicinal!) like raspberry, for pancakes and the like, certainly could be done with elderberry. The amount of alcohol for preservation, along with using honey, is not very large; and people can try all different ways.
Thanks for posting L. J.! Appreciate it!
I dug a bottle out after it was mentioned on the thread a few days ago and DH and I are taking it daily. We usually do in the winter but I forgot about it.
I have been buying Sambucol, but might look into making it.
(I hope DH’s eye is better?)
Thank you - DH’s eye is much improved. I was seriously worried for a couple of days! His vision is just slighly blurry sometimes but clearing, and pain is minimal. He bought some good safety goggles for $20 (his old ones weren’t much good plus uesless if not worn ahem!) and next time he went out to do log work he wore them plus hard hat. So he learned a good lesson.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.