DANDELION ROOT + LEAF

TARAXACUM

“ Dandelion root is…. a possible preventative for breast cancer.” Michael Tierra, Herbalist

General Benefits

  • Protects, heals and tones the liver.

  • Protects the immune system

  • Promotes restful sleep

  • Supports the liver with it’s 500 functions

  • Stimulates the flow and production of bile from the liver and gallbladder

  • Relieves chronic constipation

  • A preventative for virtually every disease

  • Great for the prostate

  • Helps with the effects of chemotherapy

  • Tones the liver, spleen, stomach, pancreas, kidneys, skin, nervous glandular , digestive and urinary , circulatory and immune and lymphatic system. 

  • Eliminates free radicals

  • Dandelion leafs are incredibly nutritious and wonderful for promoting lymph and blood flow

  • The leaf is an incredible digestive bitter

Women’s Health Benefits

  • Wonderful for the prevention and treatment of various breast diseases and conditions; benign cysts, tumors of various kinds, cancer, fibroadenomas, lumps, sore breasts, inflammation, suppressed lactation, and swollen breast lymph glands.

  • Due to its detoxifying effects, dandelion is great for conditions that involve heat like an inflamed breast cyst.

  • It’s a great breast lymph detoxifier.

  • Eases breast congestion.

  • Stops cancer promotion

  • Reduces abscesses.

  • Dissipates nodules in breast tissue.

  • Improves water retention associated with breast tenderness.

  • Stress of pregnancy

  • Protective against the effects of chemotherapy

  • Depending on your imbalance, dandelion root and leaf are used for different things. In the case of  shrinking breast growths, you’ll want to use the root most of the time. Dandelion leaf, however, is great for reducing water retention which leads to pain and swelling during your menstrual cycle.

  • Tinctures, infusion, even juice are  wonderful for nourishing the breasts, uterus and ovaries. 

  • Sips of fresh tea after delivery helps with expulsion of placenta

  • Along with ingestion, use  fresh and grated roots when healing breast sores, tumors, cancers, cysts, or impacted milk glands. 

  • Dandelion leaf helps richen breast milk

  • Use dandelion leafs during last two months of pregnancy, throughout nursing and during menstruation

“80% of patients treated with dandelion root preparations in Chinese hospitals recovered rom appendicitis without surgery.” Adele Dawson

Dandelion Plant

One of the most amazing things about dandelion is that every part of the plant can be used: root, leaves, flower and even stem.  Each part has a different degree of bitterness which corresponds with areas of the body that need various types of cleansing. The dandelion’s bitterness increases as you go down the plant. 

  • Flowers |Some bitterness - Cleanse hollow organs like the stomach, intestinal tract, heart, uterus, bladder, lungs and gallbladder. 

  • Leaves | Their bitterness squeezes toxins out of the lymphatic system, idea for swollen lymph nodes and edema. The phytochemicals in the leaves purify blood and are great for circulatory issues.

  • Stem | More bitterness that leaves and flowers. Great for cleansing dense organs like the liver, spleen and brain, by pushing out bile that’s no longer useful. 

  • Root | bitterest part of the plant. Detoxifying deeper into those dense organs. Forces the organs to purge on the deepest level for a intense purification.

Emotional Support

  • Regular use of dandelion helps ease our emotional and mental frustrations.

  • Nourishes the first, root, chakra.

  • Strongly nourishes and energizes the solar plexus

  • Helps to restore a sense of belonging and connection.

  • Gets rid of blockage, resistance and doubt.

  • Dandelion root , like all roots has a centering action. Roots focus generally on the solar plexus and help to ground and focus emotions that are too scattered.

  • The root is incredibly supportive of women who live their lives serving others: mother of small children, carers of the sick and elderly, social workers, nurses, etc. Dandelion helps these women reclaim their needs and to take necessary action to have these needs met.

  • The root being bitter works on feelings of bitterness and hostility. Resentment and anger often get stuck in the liver and if not processed can turn into depression and self-hatred. All liver supporting herbs work on physical and emotional congestion.

  • Dandelion helps give the person stronger sense of self, strengthens the emotional body

  • Supports a clearer self image and more power to resist the influencing power of others.

Spiritual Support

  • Wonderful for those who want to feel whole, it’s a great unifier because it’s truly all one with itself.

  • If you feel incomplete, less-than, like an over-achiever, need to prove yourself by being first, dandelion’s lesson is that is comes back around (it comes around in the spring and then back agin in the fall) and that we can find contentment and peace in not always being first, since there are always new chances around the corner. 

Use

  • Fresh leaves and flowers can be eaten freely

  • Cooked greens

  • Dried root infusion

  • Infused oil of fresh flowers

  • Dandelion root: best for breast and liver health

  • Dandelion leaf: water retention

  • Regular use internally before meals and externally before sleep helps keep breasts healthy, stops promotion of oncogenes and reverses cancerous changes

  • Results in breast tissue take about 6 weeks to become evident.

Synergy

  • Works well with burdock, milk thistle, nettle

  • For the hard jobs, combine with burdock

Infusion

If you’re suffering from any kind of breast health conditions and imbalances mentioned above drink the following infusion daily, 2-4 cups. This isn’t a quick fix and you should do this for a minimum of 3-6 months depending on the severity of your imbalance.  

You can keep this recipe simple by simply decocting dandelion root. Decoctions are a more powerful extraction method to get the medicinal constituents from roots, barks, twigs and berries.  You simply simmer the root in boiling water. Whereas an infusion is made like tea. The boiling water is poured into a pot or cup with some herbs and steeped.

For the following recipe, once you’ve decocted the dandelion root and the water has finished simmering and is beginning to cool, you can add nettle and violet leaf for additional benefits.

  • Drink 2-4 cups of dandelion infusion a day

  • Dandelion root (1.5 tbsps to 750ml of water)

  • Place the dried dandelion root in a saucepan. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 20 – 30 minutes until the liquid is reduced by one third .

  • As mentioned above if you want to add nettle and violet, wait till the water has finished simmering and beginning to cool before adding them.

  • I like to fill a 1L mason/canning jar and have it infuse for 4-8 hours and drink it throughout the day. You can also use a french press which makes it much easier to steep, pour and drink throughout the day.

  • Or you can buy dandelion root and leaf tea ready to go. This is a great blend.

Tip

Toxicity

  • None