“Dandelion”  Health Benefits

Dandelion As A Diuretic For Weight Loss

Dandelion (Taraxacum Officinale)

Dandelion is such a pest as a weed that its often forgotten for what it is - a nutritious healing herb, for more than a thousand years.

Dandelion

Animal studies show dandelion does indeed have diuretic action which may help relieve the bloated feeling of PMS and can help eliminate water weight. Physicians sometimes prescribe diuretics to treat high blood pressure and congestive heart failure. These conditions are serious and require professional treatment. Use dandelion in consultation with your physician and use it in addition to standard medication.

Dandelion also may help reduce the amount of sugar in the blood. Some studies also suggest that dandelion root has anti-inflammatory properties, suggesting possible value in treating arthritis. A Japanese study showed some anti-tumor activity as well. All indications of the health benefits of herbs.

German studies suggest that dandelion stimulates the flow of bile, which helps digest fats. Using dandelion as a diuretic for weight loss can be dangerous; as with any diuretic, weight loss using diuretics almost always returns. Diuretics also deplete the body of potassium, an essential nutrient. People taking diuretics should be sure to eat foods high in potassium, such as, bananas and fresh vegetables. Fortunately, dandelion causes less potassium loss than other diuretics because this herb itself is high in potassium.

Dandelion flowers have a lecithin concentration of 29,700 parts per million; soybeans, the traditional source, came in with a count of 15,000 - 25,000 parts per million. Lecithin is a term used by scientist to denote phosphorus fatty acids produced inside the body by the liver. It helps in the metabolism of fats, so they don’t accumulate within the liver or heart, and is also concentrated in the myelin sheaths of our nerves, protecting them from stress and infection.

Harvest young leaves as they develop. As the leaves mature, they become unpleasantly bitter. Harvest the root at the end of the second growing season. To prevent spreading, clip the flowers before seed tufts form.

The stem of the dandelion contains a milky fluid. When a little of this is rubbed onto a wart several times each day, the wart will usually begin shriveling up and soon disappear.

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