The Healing Tree of Life
How to Savor Every Last Drop Your Placenta Can Offer
Placenta encapsulation is a process that involves steaming, dehydrating, and transforming your placenta into a fine powder that is placed into capsules form. Hopefully, you take all your pills until they run out, but then they are gone! Thankfully, there are a few other ways to process the placenta that will allow you to utilize the entirity of it's nourishing benefits and prolong those benefits .
In this post, I’ll introduce placenta tinctures, broths, salves and smoothies. You’ll learn what each of them are, their specific benefits and uses, and why you should have them made along with your capsules!
A Placenta Smoothie is just what it sounds like! It is a small, walnut size piece of the raw placenta blended with fruits, veggies, and nuts to create a delicious postpartum recovery drink. It is a great way for your body to absorb the nutrients and benefits of the placenta quickly and directly. I often recommend making one within the first several hours of labor, if possible. Some folks are often concerned that eating raw placenta will have an unpleasant taste. However, using the the right recipe, the taste of the placenta isn’t even noticeable (use avocado!).
Making a Placenta Tincture from your raw (or dehydrated) placenta, is a great way to preserve your placenta's nutrients for a very long time. A tincture is created by steeping a piece of the placenta in a high alcohol solution for 6 weeks, then straining it and can be used by the mother for emotional or physiological support during times of transition, illness, or stress long after her capsules are gone. It can also be a savior for PMS or menopause! If diluted in water, you can even give the tincture to the child when they are getting sick or in transition times - it seems to reset the child back to balance. The tincture can also be used to create the perfect homeopathic constitutional remedy for the child.
A Placenta Broth is a beneficial byproduct of the Traditional Chinese Medicine method of encapsulation; the steaming process creates a broth that can be ingested to reap every last benefit from the placenta. Within Chinese Medicine, it is thought that after birth, the woman is left “cool” because she has lost Qi in the birthing process. She needs to be warmed by drinking teas, stews, and soups. Harvesting the broth from the TCM encapsulation is a great way of doing this! The broth is filled with vitamins and minerals that can aid in recovery. It is the same idea as steaming veggies where a portion of their nutrients ends up in the steamed water! Use the broth to make a cup of tea or freeze the broth in ice cube trays and drop a few cubes in when you’re making chili or other dishes!
Making a Placenta Salve is great way to continue to experience the amazing and rejuvenating effects that placenta has on ones skin. While taking their capsules, frequently folks notice that their skin looks amazing and are upset when they run out! In many luxury skin care and anti-aging products, “sheep placenta” is an ingredient. A similarly healing salve can be produced from your placenta in combination with herbs and a nourishing base of coconut butter and almond oil. Not only is this a wonderful all purpose skin-care salve, but something you can use to promote the healing of surgical or cesarean scars, perineal tears, or diaper rash.
Love,
North Bay Placenta Services
Marin County, Sonoma, San Francisco, East Bay, and South Bay
