Soothe your head the morning after with some gentle natural remedies to detoxify your liver and restore vitality.

A night on the town with good friends and a few drinks (too many) can be fun until we wake up in the morning with and awful hangover. Why you feel so terrible is, your body's way of telling you not to treat it so badly in this way. In the meantime, there are some things you can use to get you back to your best.

Excessive alcohol consumption speeds up your production of urine as your body tries to expel toxins, leaving you feeling thirsty and dry mouthed. The resulting dehydration causes headaches, depression, irritability and insomnia. The symptoms can be combated with herbal remedies but the easiest way to avoid a hangover is to consume alcohol moderately.

IMPORTANT NOTE: ALWAYS READ THE ENTIRE LABEL TO MAKE SURE THE MEDICINAL HERBAL PRODUCT DOES NOT CONTAIN SOMETHING THAT YOU MAY BE ALLERGIC TO AND WON'T MIX WELL WITH OTHER MEDICATIONS YOU'RE TAKING.

Little known facts

Some believe the Greek words for lion and tooth led to the first part of the dandelion's botanical name, "Leontodon".

It is also believed that the French, 'dent de Leon' (teeth of the lion) led to the name, "Dandelion".

The term, blow ball is another name for dandelion. It comes from a myth that if a person blew on the matured seed head of a dandelion and counted the number of feathery seeds left on the stem, that person would know how many kids they were going to have.

As a poultice, dandelion has been used in the treatment of breast cancer.

Living up north seems to afford me with an endless amount of opportunities. One of them being experiencing all four seasons of the year, and yet another is appreciating the ground cover that each season brings. Unfortunately, part of the ground cover involves weeds in my yard and garden. But lately, I have discovered a newfound respect for one of the weeds known as the dandelion.

The dandelion is a puffy yellow weed that finds no problem in spreading itself over lawn and other areas, and manages to survive even in the driest, or wettest, of conditions. The name dandelion means lion's tooth, because of the jagged edges of the leaves, and how they resemble teeth.