Herbs for People Who Love Wine
Drs. Ralph & Lahni de Amicis
Working in wineries can be wonderful, but it also carries some hidden risks, both dietary and environmental. On the dietary level there is the exposure to excessive amounts of wine without the buffering influence of food.
When you come right down to it, wine is food, and when consumed with a meal it provides multiple health benefits; the alcohol acts as a purifier, the acid acts as a digestive, the fruit provides anti-oxidants (read anti-aging), it is relaxing, and it lowers insulin resistance. That final benefit, in these days of escalating diabetes and heart disease, is a wonderful contribution. While ‘too much’ is still ‘too much’, moderate wine consumption with some meals is a wonderful life style to adopt.
But, when you are sampling wine without food, the alcohol is dehydrating to the mouth and the overall system, it impacts the liver and kidneys, and it affects the sugar levels which can cause headaches and promote yeast and fungus.
What can you do to help your body deal with the dietary stress of sampling wines on a daily basis, as is required in many winemaking and tasting room positions? Here are just a couple of great solutions!
The best, and most documented herb for protecting the liver, and in fact restoring that vital organ is Milk Thistle. The active ingredient Silymarin not only protects the absorption of toxins but stimulates the production of new protein to rebuild the liver. The Time Release Milk Thistle #4071-9 from Nature’s Sunshine Products is especially good for folks in the wine industry because it spreads its protection over a larger part of the day.
Take one or two in the morning and throughout the day your liver will be better protected from the alcohol and other potentially harmful components that you might be exposed to. It is our theory that this impact on the body is part of reason for the high turnover rate in many tasting rooms. Liver stress causes tiredness, crankiness, anger, and blood issues. If you start feeling angry all the time it makes it hard to be friendly and charming to customers.
Helpful hint: Don’t take Milk Thistle or other liver herbs like dandelion in the evening before bed; it results in violent dreams. The Liver is where the body holds onto anger, and when it is stimulated while you are sleeping it will come out in your dreams. The one good thing is that normally, in the dream, you’re the one holding the ax.
In the wine industry we are more sensitive to issues of alcoholism than most people. What most people don’t realize is that the irresistible cravings that alcohol satisfies is the body asking for the particular type of glucose that feeds the brain.
The brain places big demands on the body, using more blood and more glucose than any other system. It also demands large amounts of amino acids that are used in the manufacture of the neurotransmitters that make us ‘feel good’.
One of the most important amino acids for the brain is l-Glutamine. It is so important that when the brain runs low on glucose it will start consuming that l-Glutamine instead. This is the amino acid that helps maintain memory, and when the brain is low in l-glutamine the memory suffers.
The fastest way that we know to turn off alcohol cravings is by opening a capsule of l–Glutamine #1776-0, and putting it under the tongue. It is one of the few amino acids that taste good. Within five to ten minutes the craving is gone.
We use Nature’s Sunshine Products almost exclusively because their quality is the best, they test extensively and their products actually work!
We have lots more nutritional and environmental solutions for people who work in the wine industry. Check back here and of course you can contact us for advice and consultations. You can buy NSP products from us through our website www.MyNSP.com/motivatedhealth
© 2009 Drs. Ralph & Lahni de Amicis
|