Drink to eliminate

Our kidneys work hard to evacuate the waste constantly transported by blood circulation. Some plants facilitate this elimination task, by increasing urine volume and by speeding up the removal of substances such as urea, uric acid, metabolism-generated toxins, acid radicals.

Water retention and cellulite are two extremely common conditions that indicate an accumulation of waste that the kidneys have difficulty disposing of.

Water retention, in particular, manifests with a tendency to retain fluids, with weight variations due to the hormonal fluctuations of the menstrual cycle, with a feeling of heaviness and, sometimes, with digestion disorders.

Cellulite, more correctly ‘fibrosclerotic panniculopathy’, is the result of the accumulation under the skin of a gelatinous substance, as a consequence of a disorder of the connective tissue and of microcirculation due to elimination difficulties. The skin takes on the characteristic ‘orange peel’ appearance. Cellulite blemishes are due to progressive disposal issues.

Plants to drain excess fluid

Drinking at least 1.5 litres of water, not cold and preferably natural mineral water, per day between meals, encourages diuresis and promotes the elimination of excess salts.

Certain medicinal plants with diuretic properties, such as Birch, Melilot, Orthosiphon or Java Tea, Solidago or Goldenrods, promote the elimination of excess fluids, acting in synergy.

In the 1920s, the French doctor Leclerc suggested the use of Birch as a basic remedy against cellulite, due to its purifying and diuretic properties.

Melilot encourages drainage in the lymphatic vessels and helps eliminate the trabeculae and septa of the connective tissue that are responsible for cellulite’s fibrotic process.

Pilosella, pointed out as early at the twelfth century by Hildegard of Bingen, has since been used for its diuretic properties. We should point out that only the fresh plant displays the full range of these properties, due to a hydroxycoumarin (umbelliferone).