This broth has a place in EVERY home and I reckon has to be one of my most used recipes.

Why? Cause it’s so versatile and super quick hands-on time.

I love versatile recipes cause when you make them regularly you get to go on auto-pilot which reduces overwhelm and simplifies herbal medicine-making in your busy life!

Today we’ll talk about my immunity broth version – and some of the herbs you might want to include. At the end I’ll talk about how I like to use this broth

Benefits of herbal immunity broth

The benefits will depend on which herbs you use, but some herbs I always like to include:

Astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus) Astragalus has an affinity for the immune system and is an immunomodulator herb, meaning it brings the immune system into balance – whether it’s under or over-functioning (learn to decode herbal jargon around immunity in this article (click here).

I was taught that Chinese grandma’s would start adding Astragalus to the stock pot in autumn, to build immunity ahead of the winter cold and flu season. And that’s what I do too. It doesn’t stimulate the immune system acutely, but it works as a deep immune tonic, improving immune function when used over time.  

But it’s not just for prevention – astragalus is also a deeply supportive herb to use after illness. It’ll help you recover more fully so you don’t go down the route of recurrent infections.

NOTE – In Traditional Chinese Medicine, astragalus is contraindicated when you’re acutely sick.

Shiitake (lentinula edodes)– another immune superstar, shiitake is both an immunomodulator herb with antiviral and antimicrobial actions. See this article for more info (click here)

Seaweeds: seaweeds are a great source of bioavailable nutrients and will aid in recovery after an illness, or anytime you’re needing extra nourishment and support.

Nettle (Urtica dioica) is another great herb to add if you want a nutrient-dense broth.

Pungent herbs: garlic, onion, cayenne

Depending how you want to use your broth, you can either add these or leave them out. If I’m making a mild broth to cook rice in, or hide in foods, I’ll leave out these stronger tastes. The benefits of adding them is they warm the body, and stimulate the immune system. They’re great to add if you’re sipping on broth to support a fever as their diaphoretic action will help bring the fever to the surface. More info on supporting fevers in our Building Immunity course (click here)

Herbal Immunity Broth Recipe

Base Ingredients

I’m providing this recipe as a starting place for your herbal immunity broth adventures! Adapt to use what you’ve got on hand, and what health outcomes you want to support. Tweak the ratios to match the pot you’re making your stock in. A general guide is to fill about 1/3 – 1/2 way up your pot.

🌿 3 cups* mixed vegetables – I usually include carrots, celery, sweet potato, capsicum, onion (usually steer away from cruciferous ones, although I do use broccoli stems)

🌿 ½ cup shiitake (Lentinula Edodes)

🌿 1 dessertspoon – 1/4 cup astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus)

🌿 Few cloves of garlic, roughly chopped. (leave out if making mild version)

🌿 2 tablespoons fresh chopped or 1 tablespoon dried turmeric

🌿 1 tablespoon thyme (thyme vulgaris)

🌿 1 tablespoon fresh chopped ginger (can add more to your taste or leave out for mild version)

🌿 Salt and pepper

*Depends on your pot size, you might use up to 5 cups if a 12 litre stockpot

Method

🌿 Add all the ingredients to the pot and fill pot almost to the top with water (leaving room for it to gently simmer without overflowing)

🌿 Put lid on and bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.

🌿 Simmer for 1 – 4 hours or up to 12 if using chicken bones

How To Use Herbal Immunity Broth

This is a mild, palatable broth, easily hidden in foods and great for kids. You can drink warm, or use it in your cooking. You can certainly amp up the pungent herbs to make it a spicier, more flavourful sipping broth.

I like to make a big batch and keep it in the fridge to use in cooking,. You could also freeze as ice cubes to have on hand when illness strikes (just make sure you’re not drinking a broth with astragalus in if you have acute infection).

Prevention: use in cooking all autumn/ winter as a base for stews, soups, as the water component in curries or when cooking rice.

If you feel yourself coming down with something, you can add the pungent herbs to warm you up and stimulate the immune system – make it according to your taste.

Acute illness: sip when feeling rough, especially if you’re not up for eating, a nourishing broth can give your body some nourishing support without adding digestion to your body’s to-do list.  Nettles, seaweeds and bones (if you eat that) are really good additions if you’re relying on your broth for nutrient support.

Note- make sure your broth doesn’t have astragalus during acute phase of illness.

Recovery: this broth can be a star in your recovery as you add herbs to help you kick of the last of the infection, rebuild your strength and focus on nourishment.

Cause yes, you can sip it as a drinking broth, but you can also use it as the base for soups and stews, the water component in curries, or when cooking rice.

Learn more

Get this as a recipe card, as well shiitake and astragalus in the DIY Immunity Kit (click here)

This broth is technically a herbal decoction – a specific way of making tea! The Mastering Herbal Teas in 5 Minutes a day self-paced course is your ultimate roadmap to make effective healing teas at home that you and your family actually want to drink!

In easily digestible videos, with printable cheat sheets and much more, you’ll what equipment you’ll need, the 3 ways herbalists make teas, as well as recipes and a simple framework to start making your own teas at home — I am so proud of this course and I hope it’ll help tea become a simple, fun enjoyable daily habit in your home! Learn more (click here)

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1. Strengthening Immunity Like a Champ

Let’s kick things off with a round of applause for shiitake mushrooms’ incredible immune-boosting abilities. These little guys are packed with beta-glucans that help make your immune system stronger by acting as a deep immune tonic – ie restoring the overall function of your immune system. Shiitakes are an immunomodulating, not immune stimulant herb which means they bring your immune system into balance, but aren’t useful to ramp up your immune system when an acute illness strikes (this is a really critical distinction to understand with herbs that are ‘good for the immune system’ and I’ve got a whole article about it – read it here)

• Keeping Hearts Happy and Healthy

Shiitake mushrooms aren’t just good for the immune system, they’re also champions of heart health! With their fiber-rich goodness and special substances like eritadenine, shiitakes can help lower cholesterol levels and keep our blood pressure in check.

• Soothing Inflammation

Like most herbs, shiitake mushrooms are experts at calming inflammation. Thanks to their abundance of antioxidants, these mighty mushrooms help our bodies combat oxidative stress and inflammation, leaving us feeling rejuvenated, and ready to tackle whatever life throws our way.

• Stand up to cancer:

Some of the medicinal benefits of shiitake mushroom revolve around their use in cancer treatment. Some parts in shiitakes, like lentinan, might help stop cancer tumours from growing. They’ve been used in adjunct cancer therapy in countries like China and Japan since the 1980s!

• Digest well

Shiitakes are a great support for digestive weakness that can show up as poor appetite or bloating. I’d say this they’re more indicated for this when there’s signs of longer-term digestive weakness. Short-term, acute digestive issues are easily remedies with warming carminative herbs, or bitters before meals.

Learn to use shiitake mushrooms in your home

It honestly amazes me that this humble mushroom can do so much and this is why shiitake is one of six all-star immune system herbs in our DIY Immunity Remedy Kits (click here)

With the Kit, you’ll learn to make:

🍄shiitake honey pearls,

🍄shiitake immunity broth and

🍄Asian Greens with shiitake (dinner and medicine in one – win!)

Along with shiitake mushrooms, 3 shiitake-packed recipes, you get 13 other recipes and 5 others herbs with all the bits and bobs you need to just get started. It’s easy peasy and super practical – you’ll never want to learn herbal medicine any other way!

🌿Check out the DIY Immunity Kit – it’s your ticket to feeling awesome all winter long! 🚀

Building Immunity Course

If you really want to learn the medicinal benefits of shiitake mushrooms, you’ll love our Building Immunity course. This 4 week online course dives deep into understanding how to build immunity in daily life, use herbs to support immunity and breaking it down into actionable steps so you feel confident which remedy to reach for when. Learn more about the Building Immunity Course (click here)

So, in conclusion, shiitake mushrooms aren’t just a delicious addition to our meals – they’re also nature’s secret weapon for promoting health and wellness from the inside out. Whether you’re sautéing them up for a savory stir-fry or simmering them into a soul-soothing soup, be sure to give these marvelous mushrooms the spotlight they deserve.

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To work out what you need – there’s two parts to consider.

Part 1: How to assess your risk and susceptibility

Everyone is different – are you the person who always catches every cold or do you rarely get sick? Do you have overstuffed schedules and are tired and run down? Do you have an issue – relational, financial etc that’s causing a lot of stress? Are you sleeping well? Are you moving every day?

All of these directly impact your immune system function and how effectively your body can mount an immune response. Take a moment to take stock of your overall level of health and lifestyle pillars as one factor in your susceptibility matrix.

And what’s your exposure like? Are you in contact with a wide range of people every day, or work in a place where people are regularly sick?

This all paints a picture of your level of susceptibility.  If your risk level is higher, or you have an intense work period, you might like to draw on more supports. If you know you’re pretty strong and healthy, have great lifestyle foundations, then you might only want to take one herb or supplement…

And know –  it will change over the months that cold and flu season last. So when considering what herbs, supplements,  lifestyle/ self-care habits to incorporate, reflect on your current risk and exposure levels.

Part 2 – Prevention Strategies – what can I take or do?

When it comes to prevention, there’s a host of strategies and I like to categorise them in 4 ways.

1. Physical prevention. Our physical body is our first line of defense and there’s lots of simple strategies we can use:
   • Hand washing (not antibacterial, just soap is fine)
   • Nasal oiling (an ayurvedic practice)
   • If you or others are actively sick, maybe don’t go too close, or meet up outside — but not from a place of fear and worry – use common sense and have faith in your immune system
2. Good foundational lifestyle pillars- immunity is built on good nourishment and having a healthy gut, quality sleep, adequate natural movement, reducing stress, sunlight and enjoying life (there’s more, but you get the picture)
3. Supplements
   • A, C, E, D NAC and Zinc – just a personal opinion, but unless there’s a specific need, I don’t believe in just supplementing (everyone’s got a different opinion on this, and there def, initely is a case for some supplements – ie. Magnesium or individual health history – so decide what you think and your preferences). Hopefully you’ll get most of these nutrients through nourishing whole foods. At times of greater exposure or susceptibility you may want to take Vit C, NAC and Zinc. If you know you’re more likely to have sub-optimal Vitamin D levels, it’s a good idea to supplement with that or commit to increasing your sun exposure (which can be hard at really southern latitudes).
4. Herbs
   • Immunomodulator  or immune tonic herbs– build resilience and overall function of the immune system over time. It’s good to be taking these herbs regularly over autumn and winter and they’re often easy to incorporate into your everyday food – taking a simple food as medicine approach (see previous blog for more info)
   • Immune stimulants – good to take when you know you’ve been exposed as they directly increase immune function in a variety of ways. (see this article for examples)

(and I want to mention, there are other strategies –  you can turn to yoga, qi gong, breathwork, bodywork, homeopathics etc but I don’t know specifics on these)

This is a long list though. How do you CHOOSE which ones to take, or do you take them all?!

Firstly, without knowing you –  you mostly likely DON’T need to take them all. We can get a bit carried away with supplementing and believing ALL THE THINGS are better than just a few.

We know all of these are effective, so we can trust our remedies and find what works for you and then leave the rest.

To find what works for you, there’s a few things to consider:

1. What’s your susceptibility today?
2. What actually helps you to not get sick? Track your experience over time
3. What are your preferences? ie. do you prefer herbs or supplements, or supplements only when you’re acutely sick?
4. What fits in your daily rhythm so you actually take it – it might mean you can take capsule Vit C but not powdered, or maybe you prefer powdered reishi to pop in your hot drink
5. Know that not all herbs and supplements will suit us. I don’t know why, but my body doesn’t like reishi even though it’s a super trendy and an effective immune herb. So just because it works for everyone else doesn’t mean it’ll work for you, and that’s ok, we’ve got so many remedies to choose from.

Hope you find this list helpful and stay well this winter!

If you want to learn to use herbs – I’d love to support you practically –

Check out the DIY Immunity Remedy Kit –you get the herbs and recipes in one handy box!

The post What do I take to prevent colds/ flus naturally? appeared first on Everyday Empowered.

When you first start out it can be like listening to a foreign language. But then, as you walk along your {home} herbal path, your ears start to pick out some words… then one day, magically you’re fluent – or comfortable swimming in those waters at least.

To start our series about Immunity – we’re decoding herbal jargon around the immune system. Knowing these terms, you’ll build mastery and confidence understanding your herbs and your remedies.

A quick note – immunity is best built holistically. This article focuses just on herbal actions that directly support immune function. To truly build holistic immunity in our modern age, you will need to support the body in other areas – such as lymph, digestive, sleep, reducing stress and supporting the nervous system, toning respiratory system etc. Some of these systems will be more or less relevant for different people – more on that next article.

So – herbal actions to build immunity.

Immune stimulants – herbs which stimulate the immune system against various pathogens.

Immune stimulants are traditionally used during the active stage of infection; most effective when taken at the first sign of getting sick. They are generally used short term for this purpose (although there will be overlap and may be taken longer because of other herbal actions).

There also seems to be a bit of debate in the herbal world as well. As to which herbs are true immune stimulants and which are immunomodulators – so you might come across people using and understanding the herbs differently.

These herbs can be contraindicated or cause flare-ups in people with an already overactive immune system, such as autoimmunity or allergies.

Immune stimulant herbs include: Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea or E. angustifolia), elderberry (sambucus nigra), garlic (Allium sativum) etc

Immunomodulators – herbs which bring balance to the immune system rather than stimulating or subduing it.

I tend to think everyone should incorporate these herbs at various times of the year to proactively build immunity. These (along with immune tonics) are the ones that will generally enhance your overall immune function when taken over the longer term. Note  – longer term doesn’t mean continuously, but if you know you’re vulnerable at particular times of year, I’d start using these herbs regularly in the lead-up.

These herbs are particularly useful for chronic low immunity such as frequent or recurrent infections, and overactive immune systems (allergies, autoimmunity).

Immunomodulators include: Astragalus (Astragalus membranaceous), shiitake (Lentinulaedodes) or other medicinal mushrooms, tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum), licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis).

Antimicrobials – these are herbs that fight against specific pathogens and infections.

Often when we’re sick, we’re turning to antimicrobial herbs to fight the invading infection, whether it be viral, bacterial or fungal. This is a broad class of herbs and whilst all the examples below are antimicrobials, some will excel as anti-fungals (calendula for example) or antivirals (ie. elderberry), so it’s good to get to know each herb and understand its specific use.

Antimicrobial herbs include: elderberry (sambucus nigra), thyme (thymus vulgaris), olive leaf (Olea europaea ) calendula (calendula officinalis), yarrow (Achillea millefolium) etc.

These terms are some of the most common herbal jargon you’ll encounter when learning to ‘boost’ your immunity with herbs (not that it’s all about ‘boosting’, more about bringing balance really).

Stay tuned – the next article will be about taking a holistic approach to immunity.  And I’d love to help you deepen your understanding. Use the contact form to send through any questions you have about the immune system and how you can care for yourself at home.

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