Gary Null
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 A decoction, by contrast, is made by taking a pan of water, putting in the herb, bringing it to a boil, and then immediately turning down the heat and letting it simmer for 5 to 15 minutes. Let it stand off the stove for another 5 or 10 minutes before drinking.
Barberry, for example, having leaves that are thick and leathery, requires decoction rather than infusion.
60
Prostate Conditions
The prostate is a small, walnut-shaped gland below the bladder. Its job is to provide the seminal fluid that combines with sperm. The prostate is both a gland and a muscle. |
| Romania is a dark black herb that is high in iron and helps to nourish the blood and improve kidney function.
Dong quai resembles a cross section of the uterus, and has an affinity for this area of the body. |
| Ginseng is the best-known longevity herb. For centuries, the Chinese have revered ginseng for its rejuvenating effects. Research has shown that ginseng can stop free radical damage associated with aging. It helps people focus better when under stress, and increases overall energy levels.
Gota kola. Elephants, who browse on gota kola, are known to have excellent memories and to be long-lived. Gota kola is useful for increasing vitality and endurance, and may lower blood pressure.
Hawthorn berries support circulation and cardiac function.
Milk thistle protects liver function. |
| This formula can be purchased in a Chinese herb store. The usual dose is eight pills, three times a day.
Zinc and Other Minerals_
Anne Louise Gittleman, author of Super Nutrition for Men, who has a private practice and consults around the country, believes that a lack of trace minerals is connected to prostate problems.
First, let us recall the importance of these minerals. They allow us to use ingested proteins by helping produce the enzymes that break down these proteins into amino acids that are usable by the body. |
| These include goldenseal, an herb that has antibacterial properties, the mineral bismuth in a citrate form, and various combinations of homeopathic solutions. Because homeopathic solutions function primarily as transmitters of energy, Dr. Feldman can test the effect of specific homeopathic products on the body's acupuncture-meridian energy fields. healing the ulcer
In addition to removing the bacteria, it's important to help the body heal the ulcer irritation or erosion. Dr. Feldman uses a variety of natural treatments to heal the digestive lining. |
Annemarie Colbin
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 The Law of Remedies
It is important to keep in mind that any remedy, whether drug, herb, or food, can indeed both cause a disorder and heal it. This, in fact, is one of the basic principles of the natural healing system called homeopathy, according to which the substance that causes a certain symptom will cure that symptom if consumed in a smaller quantity.4
An episode from my own experience illustrates this principle most clearly. One day when she was about nine, my oldest daughter suddenly developed a cough. |
| From a diet high in meat protein, fat, sugar, alcohol, and soft drinks, she went to complex carbohydrates (whole grains, beans, vegetables), low fat, little natural sugar (fruit was only an occasional snack), herb teas, and, at times, apple juice. Ah yes, and no milk, butter, cheese, or yogurt either.
I must say she handled the shock well. Only the first day was there a reaction—her bloated hands. But soon the aduki beans went to work, and within two days the bloating had vanished.
On the morning of her third day with us, I gave Elida a Shiatsu acupressure massage. |
| On a hunch, I looked up licorice in an herb book.5 I found that one of the conditions it helps heal is asthma, which of course entails coughing. Therefore I speculated that as my daughter had no cough or asthma that needed curing, the remedy, taken in a rather large dose, had flipped over and caused that very same condition it would normally cure. I felt that if such were the case, it would be out of her body within a day or two, with no further attention. And indeed within a couple of days there was not a trace of the cough left. |
Joseph Glenmullen, M.D.
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 Kava is an ancient ceremonial and medicinal herb of the South Sea islands: Tahiti, Fiji, the Marshall and Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, and Samoa. Kava's Latin name is Piper methysticum, meaning "intoxicating pepper."2 In the South Pacific, kava is served as a drink in coconut shell bowls. Kava has a mellowing effect, inducing a state of contentment and well-being. During social and ceremonial occasions, kava improves conviviality by relaxing people.
The first Western accounts of kava date to Captain James Cook's eighteenth-century voyage to the South Seas. |
Annemarie Colbin
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| Because the effect of a food, drink, or herb varies with the condition of the individual, the effectiveness of "aphrodisiacs" is neither universal nor generally testable. Much depends on the customary diet: If you consume two eggs daily, another egg will not necessarily have a sex-enhancing effect. But if you rarely eat them, a single egg may indeed have a powerful influence. |
| Healing, be it with herb teas or laser beam surgery, is a cooperation between the healer and the "healee," between the doctor and the patient. It cannot be done to us without our consent. In American Indian medicine, the shaman first asks permission "to change the course of this one's life."1 The doctor can be the most consummate expert, cutting and sewing with great accuracy and precision, keeping all life-support systems precisely tuned—but unless the patient cooperates and heals, all the craftsmanship is to no avail. |
| DRY
EXPANSIVE umgs
Alcohol Fruit juices Aromatic herb teas Vegetable juices Tea/Coffee Sugar Spices
Fats and oils Tropical fruits Temperate fruits Sprouts/lettuce Fast-growing vegetables Tubers Bitter greens Sea vegetables Winter squashes Roots Nuts Beans Grains Fish Fowl Beef Eggs Tamari Miso
CONTRACTIVE Salt
Each category also has its graduations, and sometimes more expansive foods of one category are on the same level as more contractive ones of another. For example, although plant foods are more expansive than animal foods generally, some fish can be more expansive than cooked grains. |
Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D., Lisa Y. Lefferts and Anne Witte Garland
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| Brine and smoke preservatives, seaweed and starch thickeners, herb and spice flavorings, plant extract colorings, and flavor enhancers made from dried fish have all been used for ages. It's just that today Nature has been replaced by products from laboratories. Chemical additives are used for various technical purposes:
>• Antioxidants are added to oil-containing foods to prevent the oil from going rancid.
ž Chelating agents trap trace amounts of metal atoms that would otherwise cause food to discolor or go rancid.
>• Emulsifiers keep oil and water mixed together. |
Joseph Glenmullen, M.D.
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| Although an herb may be safer than a prescription drug as an antidote, it is still covering up potentially serious side effects of Prozac-type antidepressants. If possible, stopping the antidepressant is preferable.
Should Children Be Taking These Drugs?
More than half a million children are on serotonin boosters, with the numbers growing rapidly. Doctors prescribe the drugs to allegedly depressed children as young as six and seven years old, even though the FDA has not approved them for depression in children. |
| John's wort studies for the same shortcomings that are found in synthetic antidepressant studies and to give the impression that the herb has not met the "rigorous" standards of prescription antidepressants is spurious. Unfortunately, when the British Medical Journal's coverage of St. John's wort received widespread publicity in the fall of 1996, De Smet and Nolen's criticisms were also reported by journalists who were unaware that the same limitations also apply to studies of synthetic drugs. |
| Where does the herb's name come from? "Wort" is the Old English word for plant. Its yellow flowers begin to bloom around June 24, the feast of Saint John the Baptist.
St. John's wort is also known by its Latin name, Hypericum perforatum, and has been used as a medicinal agent for centuries. Ancient Greek physicians prescribed hypericum for depression, anxiety, and insomnia.7 Hypericum oil was applied topically for wounds, burns, aches, and pains because of its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects. |
| In this study, valerian's effects were seen in the latter half of the month, indicating that the herb's benefits may slowly accrue over time.
A team of German doctors led by H. Dressing compared a mixture of valerian and lemon balm to the Valium-type sleeping pill Halcion. The study was published in the German medical journal Therapiewoch in 1992.16 The valerian-lemon balm combination was as effective as Halcion for inducing sleep. Reviewing the studies of valerian in Psychosomatic Medicine in 1999, Dr. |
| John's wort directly to prescription antidepressants, the herb yielded "comparable results" with far "fewer and milder side effects" than the synthetic drugs.12 Indeed, one study reported, "Notable side effects were not found."13 Said another, "In no case were any undesirable side effects observed."14 In an accompanying editorial, Michael Jenike, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, wrote, "This benign side effect profile may make St. John's wort a particularly attractive choice for treating mild-to-moderate depressions. |
Francois Couplan, Ph.D.
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 It is occasionally found as an escape.
The leaves and flowering tops are an excellent condiment in salads and various dishes, although they are seldom used. They have also been employed for flavoring alcoholic beverages and for making perfume.
They contain an essential oil, tannins, a glucoside, saponin, minerals, and various other substances.
Hyssop is stimulant, expectorant, stomachic, carminative, antiseptic and emmenagogue. Externally it is used as a healing agent.
The essential oil distilled from the plant can, in large doses, lead to severe nervous disorders such as epilepsy. |
| The seeds of several species from Southwestern United States and Mexico were commonly used as food by Indians. They are globally known as "chia" seeds. These small seeds are very nutritious and were often carried on long journeys: A handful was said to be enough to sustain a walking man for a day. Chia seeds were eaten whole, or roasted and ground into pinole. They were also made into a drink: When mixed, whole, with cold water, they swell up into a gelatinous mass which is very refreshing.
The seeds are obtained by gathering the mature heads into a pile, then threshing and winnowing them. |
Textbook of Natural Medicine 2nd Edition Volume 1Michael T. Murray, ND
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| Although glycyrrhiza possesses mineralocorticoid activity (about four orders of magnitude lower than aldosterone) and binds to aldosterone receptors, it is largely without effect in adrenalectomized animals or in patients with severe adrenocorticoid insufficiency. Therefore, it can be concluded that its primary effects are largely as a result of glycyrrhetinic acid inhibiting the breakdown of aldosterone in the liver. |
Andrew Chevallier
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 Cinnamon sticks
Cinnamon powder
Withania (Withania somnifera, p. 150) has been called "Indian ginseng," and, much like ginseng, it is used to restore vitality and treat nervous haustion.
Jequirity (Abrus precatorius, p. 156). The seeds have been used in Asia as a contraceptive and abortifacient.
Soy (Glycine max, p. 215) is a highly nutritious bean that has become a staple crop around the world. Tire beans benefit the circulatory system. |
the Editors of PREVENTION
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 A naturopathic doctor in Portland, Oregon, Dr. Bettenburg isn't in the habit of treating gunshot wounds, but one day she found herself doing just that.
Dr. Bettenburg's patient had taken a bullet in the upper arm 6 weeks earlier when he got in the way of a shootout on the public transportation system. The bullet was still in his arm, lodged against the bone. The doctors at the hospital were afraid of causing neurological damage by trying to remove it, so they had decided to wait for it to heal over.
"The wound was still open and draining when he came in," recalls Dr. |
Textbook of Natural Medicine 2nd Edition Volume 1Michael T. Murray, ND
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| Strength of an extract - the potencies or strengths of botanical extracts are generally expressed in two ways. If they contain known active principles, their strengths are commonly expressed in terms of their content of active principles. Otherwise their strength is expressed in terms of their concentration of the crude drug. Thus a strength of 4:1 means one part of extract is equivalent to, or derived from, four parts of crude drug. A strength of 1:5 represents one part of extract is comparable to 0.2 parts of the crude drug. |
Francois Couplan, Ph.D.
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| It is especially popular in France where the leaves are added fresh to salads, pickles, vinegar, dressings and various sauces. Tarragon is also used for flavoring liquors.
It is aromatic and slightly pungent - our plants range from almost odorless to very strong smelling - but tarragon is one of the few species in this genus not to be bitter.
It contains an essential oil and is stimulant, stomachic, antispasmodic and emmenagogue.
Foliage and flowering heads of all Artemisia spp. are odoriferous, from fragrant to strongly pungent, and many of these plants can be used as condiments. |
the Editors of PREVENTION
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| They are widely available, easy to take, often recommended, and kind of nifty-looking in those smart little dark apothecary bottles capped with droppers.
Alcohol is such an efficient extractor that tinctures are usually more potent than teas. Virtually all of the properties of the plant itself are in the liquid, including the taste. Also, the absorption rate is swift, meaning that the healing constituents get into your bloodstream faster than with, say, pills.
Better yet, alcohol acts as a preservative as well as an extractor, so tinctures are long-lasting. |
George R. Schwartz
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 This definition paves the way for labeling protein hydrolysate and autolyzed yeast as "natural flavoring," a designation that will mislead the average consumer trying to avoid MSG. |
Francois Couplan, Ph.D.
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| Central America. Those of 7.' lucida (m.a.) were used for the same purpose in England, where the plant is cultivated. Their flavor is reminiscent of that of tarragon {Artemisia dracunculus). T. minuta (m.a.) can be used in a similar way, although its odor and taste are not as pleasant as those of the previously mentioned species.
However, since marigolds can be somewhat toxic in large amounts, they must be used only with moderation.
The essential oil extracted from the plants is used externally as a parasiticide. It does not have any internal use due to its toxicity. |
Mark Bricklin
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 Alma Hutchens tells us that in Russia they call camomile by the "tender-sounding name of Romashka." The demand is said to be great, and Russians use it from cradle on for colds, stomach troubles and colitis, as a sedative and a gargle, and topically for eczema and inflammation. In India, Hutchens adds, camomile is called Babunah and is especially valued for women's complaints as well as indigestion and for soothing children. |
the Editors of PREVENTION
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| And unlike its reaction to antibiotics, the bacteria showed no ability to become resistant to garlic.
Now for the taste. Eating raw garlic isn't a pleasant experience for most people. It's hot and it's strong. No problem; mash or crush the cloves as smoothly as you can, then spread the paste on dry toast or crackers. "That masks the strong taste. It's actually pretty good," says Dr. Sensenig.
German Chamomile
Slowly drink one cup of tea three or four times daily. German chamomile is one of the best-known and most versatile medicinal plants, says Varro E. Tyler, Ph.D., Sc.D. |
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