I’ve explained the importance of warming food and drink in the cold season in How to Eat Right in Winter for your Ancestral Body Type. So in this article, I will be sharing my own quick and easy recipe for a favourite warming drink that, if your body is anything like mine, will transform your energy first thing in the morning and get you sparking on all cylinders.
It gives me the feeling that I can do “a million things before breakfast” as Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland Queen would say!
And I call this nectarous beverage Bright Star of the Morning, which some of you will know is a Biblical soubriquet for the planet Venus. Venus is the goddess of love and I think your body will certainly love you for giving it the catalyst it needs for getting the sparks flying on cold winter mornings.
It does take a little bit of organisation the night before, but otherwise, it is simple to make with just a few easily available ingredients, and if you can’t get them locally, I’ve given some links where you can buy them online.
So let me give you the ingredients first – and then I’ll show you how to make it. After that, I’ll go on to explain why I find Bright Star to be so instantly transformative.
Ingredients
- One dessertspoon of barley grains or pearl barley
- One dessertspoon of dried rosehips
- Five stars of star anise
- One tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
Method
- Put the grains, rosehips and star anise in a tall glass, and then fill to the top with water, cover, and leave overnight.
- In the morning, give it a good stir. The liquid should turn a gorgeous dark honeyed colour from all the healing phytonutrients the softened grains and spices have released into the water.
- Strain half the cold liquid into another tall glass. (Put the rest in the fridge for tomorrow.)
- Fill the other half of the glass with boiling water from your kettle, so that the drink is warm, but not too hot to drink.
- Add the apple cider vinegar.
- Drink, and enjoy the wonderfully smooth, appley-aniseed flavour!
So how does it work?
There are tons of beneficial phytonutrients in Bright Star – too many to list here and so I’ll leave you to Google them if you want to. Otherwise, I’m just going to concentrate on some of its key benefits that you might not find on more orthodox sites and that are do with energy and rejuvenation.
The inner fire
I have talked elsewhere about the inner fire of the body, which Chinese alchemists know is vital for sparking into life our chi or energy, so that it can move more easily around the body with its rejuvenatory and healing lifeforce.
For any fire to ignite and then stay alight, it needs air, or oxygen. The inner fire is no different, and this why oxygen deficiency leads to so many illnesses.
“We can look at oxygen deficiency or oxygen starvation as the greatest cause of all disease.”
Stephen A Levine: Antioxidant Adaptation: Its Role in Free Radical Biochemistry.
In Chinese medicine, oxygen is considered to be a yang force that is carried in the blood to kill dangerous free radicals that lead to so many age-related conditions. In this way, it strengthens the immune system and prevents cancer. They also say that someone whose blood is filled with enough oxygen feels and stays younger for longer and has more energy which makes them more outgoing and charismatic. Star quality, you might say!
A great way of getting more oxygen production in the blood is via the trace element germanium, which mainly comes from mushrooms that grow on the trunks of decaying trees.
However, more easily available to us in modern life is barley, which you can buy in most stores. Along with being a staple ancestral food that our body will happily recognise and process, barley is stacked full of germanium. Of course, you could eat the grains cooked and whole, but I don’t eat carbohydrates … so Bright Star is my go-to for getting my germanium.
You can buy organic hulled barley here on Amazon #ad
Oxygen is also needed for the body to be able to process Vitamin C, retard the breakdown of collagen and prevent premature ageing. This brings us on to the rosehips, which are a great way of getting Vitamin C in winter.
You can buy dried rosehips here on Amazon #ad
I find rosehips to be the perfect remedy for the beginnings of my rheumatic arthritis which had been making my thumbs ache, particularly when the weather was cold and damp. I can’t say that the rosehips have absolutely cured my arthritis – but they do contribute significantly in keeping the aches on the down-low.
The star anise, I must admit, I just started adding for the flavour. When I eventually looked up what it was good for, I found that it addressed the same processing of Vitamin C concerns that are so important to me. It is also high in antioxidants which fight the free radicals responsible for so many diseases associated with ageing. So this is an example of when following your instincts about what to eat and drink pays off!
You can buy whole star anise here on Amazon #ad
Finally, I add the apple cider vinegar because it is perfect for stablising and balancing the hydrochloric acid in the stomach. This acid is vital for breaking down the food in the stomach. However, it can be become lower as you get older … and especially after a night’s sleep. This can lead to all sorts of digestive-related complaints which could be easily sorted with just one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in the mornings.
You can buy organic apple cider vinegar here on Amazon #ad
So I hope you enjoy my Bright Star of the Morning drink and that it benefits you as much as it does me! If so, do keep checking back here as I will be sharing more of my own personal recipes for optimal health and wellbeing as time goes on.
About the author
This article is by Annie Dieu-Le-Veut, an author of books on shamanism, Earth magic, Christian mysticism, the Grail Mysteries, the spirit of Sovereignty and sacred sexuality. You can read more about her books here.
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