supplements

>>>I’m gonna get the Goji juice from Michael.
>>>You wrote, “Drink several ounces a day for
>>>several days at first” I was wondering if
>>>you could give more specific advice, how
>>>many ounces exactly would you recommend
>>>I take in the beginning and for how many days?
>>>After that I plan to revert to 1 oz a day…

By the way, I personally recommend the Goji 100 over the Total Goji 100.
Total Goji 100 appears to be better because it is the whole fruit including seeds and skin, but the Goji 100 has been slow-cooked according to TCM to amplify certain potent qualities of the Goji. In particular, the Goji 100 has a dark, almost black color, that resonates more with the internal nature of the kidneys. In total, I find it more of a potent kidney tonic, and better at repairing kidney yin (which are the kidney reserves). But you can experiment with both, and see which one suits you better personally.

I don’t really measure when I pour into a glass.
When I need a kidney boost as I described earlier (and go above the recommended dose), I do the following: I take a 12-oz. whiskey tumbler as shown:

and fill it a little less than half full . . . so maybe 5-6oz? Then I drink it and wash down 3 He Shou Wu capsules with it. I do this on top of my usual daily dose. I do this for about 2-3 days in a row, and usually by that point, my fatigue is gone and I’m feeling somewhat horny. So I sort of know that my kidneys are singing at that point, and just go back to my usual daily 1-2 oz without this extra booster. I only do the “kidney boost” if I’ve been particularly stupid, and wore myself out with too much overwork, stress, and little sleep. [not usually more than once every 2-3 months].

>>>I looked up He Shou Wu on dragon herbs
>>>and it looks really good…
>>>http://www.dragonherbs.com/prodinfo.asp?number=542
>>>my only concern, perhaps, is from the story
>>>on the page that it might increase sexual
>>>desire too much? this would not be a problem
>>>for me usually but since I don’t have a sexual
>>>partner at the moment, I thought maybe this
>>>would make me frustrated?

Yes, but that is one of the signs that your kidneys are healthy!
When your kidneys are healthy, they produce good amounts of sexual jingqi, and they stimulate the liver to express that physical arousal.

Obviously, once you start to get really horny, you can back off it a bit. If you get too horny, you can always masturbate. Just keep in mind that if you masturbate, that unless you either do semen retention–or you consume your semen after you ejaculate–that you will lose some of what you built up through your kidney strengthening. This is why it is best to simply do the kidney building up to the point where you feel really energized and slightly horny, but then to back off when you start feeling strongly revved/horned up. That way you will have a nice energy, but you won’t be so horned up that you are constantly masturbating.

>>>another problem is that I checked out
>>>the entire site and there are a bunch
>>>of their products that I feel like buying!
>>>so, This adds up to 7 products from
>>>dragon herbs)…… if price were not
>>>an issue, would this be too much? are there
>>>any contra-indications to taking so many
>>>supplements? which ones would you choose
>>>if you had to cut it down a bit?

I wouldn’t recommend getting too nuts with herbal supplements, especially right in the beginning. You don’t know how your body will react to these things, and if you take a lot from ground zero, you won’t be able to pinpoint what exactly is having what kind of effect on you. Moreover, if something has a negative effect, you will have difficulty locating the cause. It’s better to only add on a few things, to then see how your body takes to them, and after you’ve settled on a couple, then maybe add another. I wouldn’t recommend more than 3-4 herbal supplements on a daily basis even after having time to settle in . . . anything brought to excess becomes bad, and then your liver gets worked too hard doing daily routine detox (of everything you consume that your body can’t use in that day). Usually for me, I follow “half the recommended dose” for the herbals that I take. Most of the Dragon Herbs capsules say “3 capsules TWICE daily”, and I only take 3 capsules ONCE daily. I only very rarely go for a second set of 3 capsules in a day, and only when I feel I need a boost of a particular type. I don’t want to overstress my liver.

>>>Caralluma – definitely getting this one
>>>http://www.dragonherbs.com/prodinfo.asp?number=529

I’ve never tried this, so I can’t recommend it.
If you get it, I would only experiment with it after you have been doing the Goji and the He Shou Wu for a while (and your body is comfortable with them). My intuition suggests it could have a very strong effect on the body, so if I tried this, I’d only do so tentatively, cautiously, and not with anything else new at the same time.

>>>Spring Dragon Longevity Tea
>>>http://www.dragonherbs.com/prodinfo.asp?number=601

I highly recommend this for EVERYONE. I drink 1, sometimes 2, cups of this every day in the afternoon. I even got my mother drinking this tea. I highly recommend it and I think it is one of a few different contributing factors toward my not getting sick, even so much as a cold, since May 2011. It supports weight loss, so all the better.

>>>Will Power
>>>http://www.dragonherbs.com/prodinfo.asp?number=180

Many of the herbs in this are already in the Spring Dragon Longevity Tea . . . so this product is overkill. It’s not necessarily a bad product based on the herb spectrum, but I wouldn’t necessarily go for it either. In particular, some ingredients could elevate blood pressure. Depending on what a person wants, I think there are other herbal formulations that would support the other herbals of He Shou Wu and the Spring Dragon Longevity Tea better, if one wanted to increase “willpower”.

>>>Wild Reishi Drops
>>>”No herb on earth is more capable of
>>>supporting the development of Shen than WILD Reishi.”
>>>http://www.dragonherbs.com/prodinfo.asp?number=004

Even though I’ve never personally had this, your product is one of the elixir versions of what I take [I get the Duanwood Reishi], so I feel comfortable recommending it. Some folks like the elixirs better, so if you are attracted to this, I’d say “get it”.

>>>Diamond Mind
>>>for Rhodiola Root and Eleuthro Root
>>>http://www.dragonherbs.com/prodinfo.asp?number=160

I’d wait on this until you see how the other supplements work first. In particular, the Spring Dragon Longevity Tea already has Siberian Ginseng, and you don’t want to overdo it on this. I’ve never had it, so I can’t recommend it.

>>>Gecko Rockclimber
>>>http://www.dragonherbs.com/prodinfo.asp?number=018

I’ve never had this, but I know someone who has.
He said that it is really potent, but it can also be “too potent” unless you are out doing a lot of rock climbing and hiking like the gecko. You can start to feel too stimulated otherwise. A bit too yang. If you did get it, I would not recommend it for daily use at all . . . only very occasional use. There is also a lot of herbal duplication with other products, so you run the risk of getting too overdosed on some herbs.

>>>I just realized this formula has He Shou Wu
>>>in the ingredients…. so maybe I don’t
>>>need to get the He Shou Wu separately?
>>>which do you think is better?

I think He Shou Wu is most potent when it is not diluted with other herbs. Washing it down with Goji juice would be a way to super-charge.

>>>Tribulus
>>>http://www.dragonherbs.com/prodinfo.asp?number=557
>>>”the herb has an ability to support healthy hormone balance”
>>>”This first group has an effect on sexual performance
>>>and may promote vigorous sexual health,
>>>sexual energy level and strength by
>>>increasing the percentage of
>>>free testosterone level for men”

Now wait a minute. I thought you were concerned about getting too horned up?
In any case, I’ve never had this, so I can’t recommend it.
I’d really wait until you see how your body handles the other stuff before adding on more.

>>>After making this list, the ones
>>>I think I really want are: Caralluma,
>>>Will Power, Wild Reishi Drops, and
>>>Gecko Rockclimber….. that adds up to 4

I would not recommend this at all. With the exception of the Reishi, the rest is way way too yang in my opinion . . . except in unique situations or occasional use.

If you want my advice, I’d say stick with the Goji 100 and the He Shou Wu. If you want to add on some more right away, get your Reishi drops and the Spring Dragon Longevity Tea. Then no more right now. Just work with that for the time being and see how your body takes to it. After a while, based on how your body feels, re-evaluate at that point. You may want to try to add on ONE of the other things at that stage, or you may realize that you feel so different already that none of them seem appropriate.

At least the four items I listed I can feel pretty comfortable recommending to everybody to take on a daily basis . . . I think they’re pretty safe. The other ones are a little more extreme. They may be right for some, but for others it could have a negative effect. You have to be careful with these things and not go too nuts.

Qi,
Steven

I’d wait more than 2 months, just to give your body time to respond.
Maybe more like 4 months.

You are going to want to look at the herb catalog again at that time, rather than just beginning to add the extra items you list. They may not seem like the right choices anymore depending on how you feel.

PLUS as I said there is a lot of herb duplication in those other formulations, so you may want to adjust your plan (e.g. the Will Power, Gecko Rock Climber, and Diamond Mind all have Eleuthero [Siberian Ginseng] in them, which you are already taking in the stuff you are currently buying!). You don’t want to overload/overdose on this. Ginseng (of any form) is not something I recommend people go too nuts with. I’d really look at the herb spectrum carefully, because if something you want to add has a lot of ingredients already contained in things you are already taking, then you don’t really want to just “add it on”. Even the single herb formulations you listed (Caralluma and Tribulus) appear to my eyes to be quite strong, not something I’d recommend doing on a daily basis.

So please wait at least 4 months, then read the herb descriptions in the catalog again to see if they still make sense. If they do, then double-check to see that you are not duplicating certain herbs. If you are, but you are still interested in the product, look around in the catalog for a similar item that contains similar things, but doesn’t have the herb duplication. Depending on what results you want, I think there may be better choices anyway. Then add ONE only, and see how you respond to it.

I have very good feelings about the four you are currently getting, BUT
Unlike the four that you are getting, I don’t feel entirely comfortable recommending the other choices. So, if you do choose to start getting them at some point, you do so entirely at your OWN risk and I am not responsible! 🙂

Thanks,
Steven

Hi Steven

I’ve found this thread very interesting as I’ve long felt my kidneys are pretty weak. And more recently I’ve begun to think that my symptoms include those of kidney yang deficiency (low energy, cold extremities, aversion to cold, pale complexion, aversion to drinking when thirsty etc).

Would your recommendation for supplements to boost the kidneys be the same whether the deficiency is yin or yang i.e. goji and He Shou Wu? Re Dragon products, would you recommend He Shou Wu over the Shou Wu Formulation?

Thanx

Goji and He Shou Wu are great all-around kidney builders that help support and strengthen your kidneys, regardless of which “type” of weakness it is. I would not try to “classify” which type of weakness it is without being formally diagnosed by a Chinese medical doctor or an acupuncturist, as sometimes symptoms can suggest one version, but they are actually masking the other. Good news is, you don’t need to get into such an analysis to know that both Goji and He Shou Wu will strengthen the kidney system as a whole, so whichever is weak will get helped.

Both He Shou Wu and Shou Wu Formulation are fine products. You can’t go too wrong with either one. I tend to recommend the He Shou Wu alone, for a few reasons. One, the Shou Wu Formulation has Eleuthero in it, which is already contained in the Spring Dragon Longevity Tea which I also recommend (and I don’t like duplicating the same herb in multiple products). Two, Licorice Root in the Shou Wu Formulation can raise blood pressure. Three, if you get “He Shou Wu”, then more of the contents of the capsules are He Shou Wu, rather than it being filled with other herbs. I think Shou Wu Formulation is a great choice, but if I had to pick, I’d go with the He Shou Wu. In fact, I do; it’s the one I take.

S