As the sun warms the frozen soil, something inside of us awakens. Our bodies are drawn to the outdoors like magnets, and the smell of grass and sea and forest is the healing balm we yearn for.

The gifts of Spring are all around you! Spring brings about a wealth of abundant greens, eggs, milk, and wild edibles. After the hibernation of winter, the earth is providing exactly what we need to nourish our blessed bodies. If you have arrived at the advent of Spring feeling a little weary, creaky, restless, or deficient, there is so much that we can do to build health and invite in wholeness.

Read on to learn all about the most nutrient-dense foods, herbs, and revitalizing tonics to fill your cup this season!

The importance of minerals

Some of our most mineral-dense herbs pop above the soil this time of year. These minerals help build our blood (literally) and provide the building blocks to fuel all functions of our body. Mineral deficiency is common in many Western cultures, and anemia is a silent epidemic in the United States, especially among females. Building a relationship with mineral-rich foods, both wild & cultivated, can give us the energy and homeostasis we desire. When we are properly mineralized, we can sleep, metabolize, and regulate our hormones optimally, ushering in abundant energy naturally.

A word on Anemia

A study done in 2016 found that 5.6% of the U.S. population had moderate to severe anemia — that’s a lot of folks! Anemia is defined as a lack of healthy red blood cells in the body, and can lead to serious health issues if left untended. Red blood cells are responsible for providing adequate oxygen to all tissues of the body. The presence of hemoglobin, an iron-rich protein, is what makes a red blood cell, well, red, as opposed to white. Hemoglobin is produced in the bone marrow of our body, and requires adequate amounts of iron, folate, and Vitamin B-12 to be present in our system for this production.

The body is an efficient, conservative organism, and if we are not providing enough of these nutrients to our body, it will limit the production of healthy red blood cells, putting us into an anemic state. Plants and animals offer us many ways to nourish ourselves back into health and bloom our way out of the wilt of an anemic constitution.

Many people who seek help for anemia get vague instructions about “changing the diet” and are sent on their merry way. In this article, I offer you specific foods and how to prepare them to maximize nutrient absorption. We will also discuss various herbs that can help quite literally “build your blood” with Iron, minerals, and vitamins, as well as some affirmations you can incorporate into your life to change your mental ruts around nourishment.

Nutrient-dense foods for building strong bodies

Fad diets are just that: fads. Restrictive diets are, well, restrictive, often do not provide the full scope of nutrients required for optimum health, and can be serious impediments to the path of joy. If you feel like food has gotten unnecessarily complicated, you are not alone! Food is big business, and without going too deep into this topic, suffice to say that you can’t always trust the “experts” on what to eat, especially if said expert is funded by a big corporation or personally selling their miracle supplement/meal plan/90-day detox program.

Now, I’ve tried just about every diet there is, vegan, gluten-free, paleo, you name it. It all just ended up in noise, noise, noise and not health. Some of these ventures were actually dangerous for my health and harmed my body considerably. Cutting out the noise and simplifying my meals into the most nutrient-dense foods has been the most sustainable, joyful, and doable way to eat for me. So, here’s the bottom line from not just myself, but many others who have sought to simplify their lives by eating real food in reasonable amounts.

Best food Sources of Minerals, including iron:

Dark Leafy Greens, cooked for at least an hour*: Kale, Collards, Nettle, Dandelion Leaf, Amaranth, Lamb’s Quarter, Plantain. Eat every day, or something close to it. *It is important to cook your greens well to break down the tough cell wall of the plants and make the nutrients bio-available for your non-ruminative digestive system.
Seaweeds: Hello, sushi! If you are a sushi lover, go for it. The combination of seaweed and fatty fish like salmon and tuna is a win-win for you. I also love to cook seaweed in my rice, make Dashi broth, and use seaweed in soups. You can grind seaweed and combine it with sesame seeds and salt to make a tasty seasoning for your foods.
Meats: If you are severely or chronically anemic, please consider eating some organ meats ASAP. Other animal meats high in iron are beef. You don’t need to eat a lot — and quality matters. Go for the higher priced organic and grass-fed meats from as local a source as you can find, and eat 1-2x a week, or as often as you crave it. Soups are a great way to replenish your system. Bone broths are excellent for re-building your blood.
Beans, Peas & Lentils: Get those legumes in! Try using dried beans or lentils and cooking them yourself, but canned is better than not at all. Eat Beans and lentils several times a week, cooked well with herbs and spices that please you.
Whole Grains: Brown Rice, Whole Wheat, Oats, Quinoa, take your pick! Just get them in! 2-3 servings of 1 cup per day is wonderful. Our ancestors have been relying on grains for thousands of years, so seek what yours would have eaten. Refined grains are not only useless nutritionally, but are harmful to your system, so, whole is the way to go.

Sources of Folates:

Dark Leafy Greens
Local fruits in season. Juices are fun, in small quantities and from sources that are “just juice”, no added sugar. I drink a 1/2 cup of juice diluted in bubbly water. Yum!
Beans & Lentils (are you noticing a pattern here?)
Kidney beans
Whole grains

Sources of B-12:

Dairy products. Only Organic, full-fat, as raw as you can find it. Cheap cheese and processed milk is upsetting to the system. Fresh whole milk, yogurt and cheeses are wonderful. Make friends with a dairy farmer!
Organ Meats
Red Meats
Seafood: Salmon, Tuna, mussels
Eggs. Organic, certified humane. If you are sensitive to eggs, try boiling or poaching them, this kills the protein that some people react to.

A note on animal products: Ethics are important. Using your voice as a consumer to buy high-quality animal products pushes the market in that direction far more than not buying them at all, in the same way that voting for the people and measures you want influences the system far more than not voting at all. Food for thought!

To summarize, the most nutrient dense foods that will maximize your investments of time and money are:

Cooked dark leafy greens
Seafood: Fatty fish, Mussels, Seaweed
Red Meats, Organ Meats
Whole grains
Beans, Peas, and Lentils
Wild Spring Edibles
Raw or Organic Dairy (Full-fat)
Organic eggs
Seasonal fruits, emphasis on Berries

Spring Tonic Herbs for Building Wellness

The most nutrient-dense foods are wild foods. And come Springtime, the vibrant green heads of mineral-rich, tonifying herbs pop above the soil and (ideally) onto your plate. I’ve also included Astragalus in this list, as it is a supreme immune tonic; in these trying times of viruses and stress to the immune system, this shield herb from Traditional Chinese Medicine is well worth the time and investment.

Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica)

Nettle is one of the most renowned herbs for building the blood. It provides more Iron to the system than most other foods, and provides a host of other minerals and vitamins to your body. Nettle as a Nourishing Herbal Infusion has anecdotally shown itself to be effective in anemia that does not respond to other methods of raising iron levels. To learn more, check out my recent article all about Nettle .

Nourishing Herbal Infusion. Steep 1 oz of dried nettle leaf into 1 quart of just boiled for 4-8 hours or overnight. Sip throughout the day. Do this 3x per week or more for 3-12 months to see an increase of Iron in your system. For more information on Nourishing Herbal infusions, click here.
Nettle Soup. Boil harvested leaf tops of Stinging Nettle with Mushrooms, Astragalus Root, or any other vegetable of your choice to make a nourishing soup. Excellent with a scoop of Miso in your bowl.

Yellow Dock Root (Rumex spp.)

Yellow Dock is a prolific weed that loves waterways. Find it in fields, creeksides, garden beds, or near groundwater. The root provides moderate Iron, and most importantly helps the body absorb Iron exponentially. Regular use has been shown to increase the Iron levels in the blood 2x faster than Iron supplements.

Vinegar: Fill a jar with fresh chopped root that has been washed. Pour pasteurized Apple Cider Vinegar up to the top. Cap with a non-metal lid and extract for 6 weeks. Strain and drink 1 tablespoon per day until iron levels increase and remain steady.
Tincture: Same method, but with vodka. Drink 5-20 drops per day diluted in water.

Astragalus Root (Astragalus membranaceus)

Astragalus builds the blood as well as nourishing the immune system. The medicinal constituents of this herb are best extracted with hot water. A supreme soup herb.

Dried Root: Throw in 3-5 strips of dried astragalus root into soups, cooked grains, or anything else you cook in water for more than 30 minutes.
Powdered root: Mix into hummus, dips, yogurt, cereal, etc. for an extra boost.
Tea: Decoct dried root by simmering 1 tablespoon per 1 cup of water in a small pot. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, then cover and steep for 15 minutes more. Drink 1-3x per day for several weeks as a tonic.

Cleavers (Galium aperine)

Cleavers is one of the first Spring greens to appear. It is a wonderful lymphatic full to the brim of minerals and is a great source of Vitamin C. Cleavers help move the waters of the body, reducing swelling in the legs, feet, hands, or lymph nodes. It is an anti-inflammatory specific for the kidneys and the prostate.

Herbal Pesto: Include this in your Spring Pesto for a mild flavor and tantamount health benefits.
Herbal Vinegar: Cleavers makes an excellent mineral-rich herbal vinegar extract, see above for instructions on making your own.
Tincture: In my FLOW tincture blend designed for lymphatic movement, tincture of cleavers is a prime ingredient. The tincture can be taken alone or with other herbs.

Chickweed (Stellaria Media)

A cooling, soothing herb, chickweed is the little star lady responsible for so much nourishment. Mineral-rich and full of water, chickweed provides hydration that can be easily absorbed by our systems. A strong mover of the lymph, chickweed can move stagnant lymph in the form of cysts, fibroids, or swelling.

Poultice: An external poultice of fresh chickweed draws out infection and soothes hot, irritated skin conditions. Smash the chickweed until the juices are extruding, wrap in a cheesecloth and apply to the irritated area for several hours, changing every 1-2 hours.
Salad: One of the favorite wild greens to eat raw, Chickweed is absolutely delicious in salads or in place of sprouts. Eat your weeds!
Herbal Oil: The infused oil of Chickweed can be used topically to nourish the lymph and hydrate the skin, getting things moving and cleared out!

Horsetail (Equisetem arvense)

This ancient plant once grew hundreds of feet tall, towering at the height of our redwood trees. Horsetail is a prime source of silica, and is especially nourishing for the bones, hair, teeth, and nails. This marsh plant can be found near the water’s edge. For wild harvest, only take the female sprigs whose leaves are pointing up to the sky. Later in the season as the needles droop down, the silica in the plant increases to the point that it may be irritating for the kidneys.

Horestail Tea: A grassy, fortifying tea herb that is pleasing to the palate. Regularly drinking horsetail tea has helped many a person with low bone density or bone breaks that need healing.
Herbal Bath: The best way to nourish the skin is to immerse your body in the herb! To prepare an herbal bath, make 1-2 quarts of strong horsetail tea, strain, and pour into the warm bathwater.
Herbal Vinegar: Are you sensing a theme here? Indulge in the rich mineral content of horsetail with an acetum, which is fancy herb-speak for an apple cider vinegar extract.

Affirmations for Accepting Nourishment

Wellness bubbles up from a source deep inside of you, it is not given to you by an outside source. Feed this source. Your blood is your life source. Your life source is never-ending. You do not need to prove that you deserve to be alive. You simply need to accept that you are, indeed, ALIVE.

“I accept abundant nourishment as my holy human right”

“I love to nourish myself”

“I gift myself nourishment freely”

“I accept rest as necessary and nourishing”

“I am grateful to be alive”

Healthy, Heal, Whole

Health is wholeness, nothing more, nothing less. Health is not gained, earned, or deserved. It is a state of existence as natural as breathing. Nourishment builds wholeness, integrating the elements of the Earth into our bodies, building wellness one cell at a time.

Springtime reminds us that we do not observe nature, we are nature. So get out there and visit our spring herbal allies, saying hello to you!

To learn more about Wild foods & herbal medicine, check out the exciting Spring series of classes I have! Visit the Classes page to learn more!

This information is of an educational and general nature and should not be construed as legal advice. You should consult appropriate written and professional sources to answer questions related to your individual situation. Exercising one's rights often entails some element of risk, and you should verify all information relevant to your situation before acting; the author and publisher disclaim any responsibility or liability for any loss incurred as a consequence of the use of any information herein.

Foods & Herbs to Revitalize Your Body this Spring