Healing Herbs
As a trained
Clinical Herbalist I have been using Healing Herbs for over 20 years. I have
seen people improve their health even when doctors did not know what the
problem was.
So what are Healing Herbs? We think of herbs as being mainly culinary and indeed healing herbs includes most of the culinary herbs. The parts of the herb that taste and smell great usually have potent healing properties too, making them healing herbs. However, we also find healing herbs in vegetables, fruits and most especially in many wild plants from all over the world. The richness and variety of healing herbs on the planet is simply mind-boggling. People from all cultures have been using healing herbs for centuries; in fact it is only in the last 100 years that drugs have taken over as the primary source of treatment.
Many modern drugs come originally from healing herbs. Aspirin for example comes from Willow bark and Meadowsweet - or at least that is where it originated. The salicylic acid in these healing herbs was found to help reduce inflammation and pain in rheumatic conditions. When it was isolated to make a 'drug' it was found to be way too corrosive to be used alone. Finally, after 10 long years of research, scientists came up with acetyl salicylic acid, which is still available today as aspirin. Unfortunately it is still somewhat corrosive and known to cause stomach ulceration. In my practice I actually used Meadowsweet to TREAT stomach ulceration! So what makes it so different from the isolated form? Well, quite simply, the plant used as a whole also contains tannins and mucilages that protect the stomach while still allowing the salicylates to reduce inflammation and pain.
Healing Herbs have been used for thousands of years for a very good reason - they WORK! They can be used just to treat symptoms, but they are best used to bring the body back into balance. When the body is in balance, it heals itself. Maintenance of balance is the true forte of healing herbs. The beauty of healing herbs is that you don't even need to know WHAT is out of balance always (although that helps), some healing basics of supporting liver and kidney function always helps.
I will be adding some of my absolute favorite combinations of healing herbs in the next few weeks. In the meantime I HIGHLY recommend you get my FREE ecourse entitled 10 Helpful Health Tips. These are simple things you can start doing today to improve your health. Most of them cost nothing to implement but don't be fooled by that - they can still have a profoundly beneficial effect on your health.
So what are Healing Herbs? We think of herbs as being mainly culinary and indeed healing herbs includes most of the culinary herbs. The parts of the herb that taste and smell great usually have potent healing properties too, making them healing herbs. However, we also find healing herbs in vegetables, fruits and most especially in many wild plants from all over the world. The richness and variety of healing herbs on the planet is simply mind-boggling. People from all cultures have been using healing herbs for centuries; in fact it is only in the last 100 years that drugs have taken over as the primary source of treatment.
Many modern drugs come originally from healing herbs. Aspirin for example comes from Willow bark and Meadowsweet - or at least that is where it originated. The salicylic acid in these healing herbs was found to help reduce inflammation and pain in rheumatic conditions. When it was isolated to make a 'drug' it was found to be way too corrosive to be used alone. Finally, after 10 long years of research, scientists came up with acetyl salicylic acid, which is still available today as aspirin. Unfortunately it is still somewhat corrosive and known to cause stomach ulceration. In my practice I actually used Meadowsweet to TREAT stomach ulceration! So what makes it so different from the isolated form? Well, quite simply, the plant used as a whole also contains tannins and mucilages that protect the stomach while still allowing the salicylates to reduce inflammation and pain.
Healing Herbs have been used for thousands of years for a very good reason - they WORK! They can be used just to treat symptoms, but they are best used to bring the body back into balance. When the body is in balance, it heals itself. Maintenance of balance is the true forte of healing herbs. The beauty of healing herbs is that you don't even need to know WHAT is out of balance always (although that helps), some healing basics of supporting liver and kidney function always helps.
I will be adding some of my absolute favorite combinations of healing herbs in the next few weeks. In the meantime I HIGHLY recommend you get my FREE ecourse entitled 10 Helpful Health Tips. These are simple things you can start doing today to improve your health. Most of them cost nothing to implement but don't be fooled by that - they can still have a profoundly beneficial effect on your health.