| The fiber crop is cut before or at time of flowering. herbal genotypes, on the other hand, are planted with wide spacing so they branch profusely and the flowers are harvested. Due to elevated cannabidiol (CBD) levels, smoking a fiber variety produces a headache and would be a potent discouragement to youthful experimenters.122 The general populace recognizes this and it is usually treated as a joke. Yet, after 1937, all types of cannabis were labeled drug plants. |
Dr. Gary Null
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 Other therapies that help lymphatic conditions include rebound exercise, ozone therapy, enzyme therapy, colon hydrotherapy, deep breathing exercises, and a good vitamin and herbal program.
Patient Story
SUSAN
I had been overexposed to the sun and wound up with a severe toxic reaction. It was sun poisoning that went one step further and became lymphedema. Instead of just having blisters on the surface of the skin with lymphatic fluid in them, my lymphatic fluid was backed up. The lymph nodes weren't clearing them up, and it wasn't coming to the surface the way it should. |
Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D.
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 Ginseng is a tonic herb designed to enhance health and well-being. In herbal language, ginseng is an adaptogen—a word used to describe supplements that help the body perform at optimal levels and counter the ill effects of stress. Numerous studies have shown that ginseng can increase energy and alertness, strengthen immune function, and help relieve stress. It can also inhibit the growth of cancerous tumors in animals. A rich source of phytoestrogen, ginseng is used by many women to counteract the symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes. |
Kathi Keville
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 One report from that country details the herbal treatment of a woman suffering adrenal deficiency from extreme stress. She had undergone a lot of emotional stress in her life and had just had a very hard pregnancy and labor. Instead of following the usual medical method—cortisone and ACTH, a pituitary hormone that stimulates the adrenal glands—her doctor gave her licorice to promote cortisone production and ginseng, which researchers believe stimulates ACTH. The combination worked. |
Prevention Magazine
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 Brown, a naturopathic doctor and instructor at Bastyr University in Seattle and author of herbal Prescriptions for Better Health.
Of all the healing herbs, garlic is perhaps the best-studied, and with good reason. This pungent bulb contains compounds that have been shown to lower cholesterol and high blood pressure, two of the leading risk factors for heart disease. In a landmark study, for example, people in two groups were given 2/2 ounces of butter for several weeks, which raised their cholesterol levels. |
Rowan Robinson
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| In China, the oil of hemp in a mixture of herbal extracts is widely sold for use as a laxative.1
Both the ancient Ayurvedic system of Indian medicine and the Arabic Unani Tibbi system make extensive use of hemp for healing. Usually, it is mixed with other vegetable, mineral, and animal substances that neutralize the narcotic effects and enhance the therapeutic powers. The tenth century treatise Anandakanda describes fifty preparations of bhang for cures, rejuvenation, and as an aphrodisiac. |
| Nicholas Culpepper (1616-1654) advised in his herbal that "an emulsion or decoction of the seed . . . eases the colic and always the troublesome humours in the bowels and stays bleeding at the mouth, nose, and other places."
In the middle of the nineteenth century, Dr. William O'Shaugh-nessy, a professor of chemistry at the Medical College of Calcutta, helped introduce cannabis, which he encountered as "bhang," to European medicine. As he described it,
The Majoon or hemp confection, is a compound of sugar, butter, flour, milk, and siddhi, or bhang. . . . |
| Yet, despite all the suppression, propaganda, and denials by the United States
Woodcut of hemp as illustrated in the herbal kreuterbuch of leonard Fuchs, 1543.
Cannabis and Night Vision
M. E. West of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of the West Indies confirmed the Jamaican folk belief that a rum-extract of cannabis improves night vision when he accompanied the crew of a fishing boat on a dark night: "At daybreak it was impossible to believe that anyone could navigate a boat without compass and without light in such treacherous surroundings. |
| References to ritual incense abound, and the early Jews were no less likely than other early peoples to inhale herbal smoke for its psychoactive properties. Dr. C. Creighton, a British physician writing in 1903, maintains that the "honeycomb" in the Song of Solomon (5:1) and the "honey-wood" in 1 Samuel 14:25-45 are cannabis. In the latter reference, Jonathan dipped a rod in the honeycomb and "put his hand to his mouth and his eyes brightened. |
Glenn W. Geelhoed, M.D. and Jean Barilla, M.S.
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 Many health and herbal remedy stores now sell empty gelatin capsules in either the .35 gram ("0 size") or .5 gram sizes ("00 size"). Simply fill them with finely powdered mixtures of herbs, and you've got a wonderful, portable way of taking your herbs with you wherever you go! Try not to make more than you'll use in a week, though — herbs lose their potency fairly rapidly, even when confined to a capsule. Try powdered ma huang or ginkgo for pep, pollen for overall health, or mint for heartburn or gas.
Infusions and Decoctions for Your Outsides! |
| So if you want a little something extra to get you (or that special someone) in the mood, try sipping on this traditional herbal preparation called French "Love Wine."
Pour 2 parts good Chablis into a container with a lid and add the following:
¦ 1 oz. vanilla bean, crushed
¦ 1 oz. cinnamon chips or broken cinnamon sticks
¦ 1 oz. dried rhubarb
¦ 1 oz. dried ginseng
Mix well and put in a cool, dark place for 2 weeks, remembering to stir it once a day. Serve chilled, after straining through a piece of cheesecloth to remove the bits of herbs and spices.
Chinese and American ginseng. |
| We've added a glossary, a section on herbal preparations, and many, many recipes — for everything from love potions to bug repellents to energy shakes. And though you'll find just about every ingredient mentioned in your own garden or kitchen cabinet, we've included pages and pages of listings to help you find any items that might not be available locally.
As you can see, we've done the work for you. Now all you have to do is take advantage of this world of collective wisdom.
Alternative Healing Methods
Not so long ago, if you had a taste for international cuisine, you were out of luck. |
| Drink plenty of fluids to help loosen the stuffiness, and take advantage of the following herbal remedies to ease your discomfort.
BASIL In the 16th century, Europeans made a tea to treat the stuffiness caused by inflamed mucous membranes by steeping 5 grams of fresh basil in a cupful of water. The Japanese use basil tea for this same purpose. Pungent oils such as thymol and camphor in the plant help open clogged passages. fenugreek When someone in Greece comes down with a bad cold, he or she promptly boils the seeds of the fenugreek plant into a tea. |
| Finally, you don't have to immerse yourself completely in order to get the maximum benefit from an herbal bath. Sitz baths, where you merely cover the lower portion of your body in the water, are great remedies for cystitis, prostrate problems or hemorrhoids. If you want something extra special, add some Epsom salts for added benefits.
Cream
Creams and salves are made by heating herbs and oils together in a pot for a few minutes. Once the herbs have had a chance to infuse themselves into the oil, add a few ounces of beeswax, pour into a jar and allow to cool. |
Christopher Hobbs
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 As for the historical literature, I have chosen works from the Institute for Natural Products library which most epitomize the written record of herbal use throughout the ages. For instance, the works of Hippocrates, Dioscorides, the Pen T'sao, Gerard, Parkinson, and the Eclectics were reviewed for relevant information on medicinal mushrooms. Obviously many of the historical uses for mushrooms are very general and often based on a specific aspect of the appearance of a species (such as the phenomenally phallic stinkhorn). |
Prevention Magazine
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| Back to Basks
Today, of course, it's much easier to find over-the-counter drugs than herbal remedies that do the same thing. But more and more Americans are putting drugs back on the shelves in favor of a more natural way of healing.
One advantage of using herbs is that they tend to cause fewer side effects than modern drugs. Drugs are highly concentrated, which is why taking one tiny pill or capsule can have such dramatic results. |
Hemp TodayEd Rosenthal
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| Furthermore, they demonstrated that recognized fiber and herbal types clearly separate for percent THC.
Recently, Dr. Avram Goldstein in his book, Addiction, has acknowledged that "The THC content of the leaves varies greatly; most wild cannabis is derived from plants originally grown for hemp fiber, which contains less than one percent THC."133 N. W. |
Prevention Magazine
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| Ginger is the one herbal treatment that's pretty widely accepted as effective," says Marvin Schuster, M.D., director of the Marvin M. Schuster Digestive and Motility Disorders Center at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore.
While fresh ginger is effective, it's really too spicy to use to get the amounts that are necessary for healing. An easier strategy, says Dr. Schustei, is to brew a cup of ginger tea. Grate 2 teaspoons of fresh ginger and let it steep in hot water for 10 minutes. Strain the tea, then drink it until you feel better. |
| Even today, people in Germany, France, and other European nations use herbal medicines nearly every day. "In this country, however, we've pretty much cast them aside—until now," says Dr. Keller.
Doctors are discovering that many herbs work as well as drugs for relieving common conditions, and for a very simple reason. The active ingredients in herbs may be virtually identical to the chemicals found in drugs. When you take an aspirin, for example, you get the benefit of a compound called acetylsalicylic acid, which eases pain, lowers fever, and reduces inflammation. |
Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D.
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 Switch to herbal, decaffeinated teas and decaffeinated coffee. Watch the cola drinks—they can be a hidden source of caffeine.
Exercise—As I explained, one of the reasons stress exacts such as steep toll from us is that stress hormones rev us up for action, but we do not follow it through by doing anything physical. Regular exercise is a great way to relieve stress and is a natural mood elevator.
Earl's Rx
B complex: One 50 mg. tablet twice daily with food.
St. John's Wort: One capsule up to three times daily.
Siberian ginseng: One capsule daily between meals.
Ginkgo biloba: One 60 mg. |
Jean Carper
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 The lack of sound information and the abundance of misinformation in the herbal field cause normally well-informed critical consumers to become lost in a jungle of exaggerated claims and unsubstantiated assertions."
THEY DO IT RIGHT IN GERMANY
Much of the twentieth-century scientific knowledge about the amazing powers of plant medicines comes from Germany, where the scientific and governmental attitude toward such remedies is entirely positive. |
| We talked to leading herbal authorities, naturopathic doctors, professors at universities, and highly regarded industry representatives who make the natural remedies in the United States and in Europe.
It was exhilarating, inspiring, informative, enlightening, and often discouraging and disheartening. As a mainstream medical journalist, I was both wildly enthusiastic about and sometimes appalled by the claims for some remedies. |
| German urologists recently found ginkgo a good treatment for male impotence; the herbal treatment stimulated blood flow through penile arteries, promoting erections. Indeed, 78 percent of fifty men suffering from "arterial erectile impotence" improved after taking 240 milligrams of ginkgo biloba extract daily for nine months, researchers found. Blood flow to penile arteries generally improved after three months. Twenty men regained spontaneous erections after six months. Nineteen men regained potency when ginkgo was given with certain drug injections. Eleven remained impotent. |
| And he uses botanicals as warranted, such as echinacea, dong quai (a special Chinese herbal formula), and a concentrated mushroom powder that he developed, to stimulate immune functioning and increase the effectiveness of conventional drugs while diminishing their side effects.
To Block there's no question that lifestyle, which helps trigger cancer, also promotes its progression and recurrence. Thus changing diet and infusing the body with natural cancer-fighting compounds makes sense in recovering and remaining free of cancer. |
| Tyler, precisely because its government's regulatory system actively encourages natural remedies, making research worthwhile for consumers and doctors and profitable for companies that make and test herbal products. Much of the high-quality testing of natural remedies used in the United States and throughout the world, including St. John's wort (an antidepressant herb), valerian (an antianxiety herb), and echinacea (an antiviral herb), has been conducted in Germany.
In Germany the scientific-regulatory establishment simply has a different attitude toward the possibilities of natural remedies. |
Christopher Hobbs
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| It is not certain what the significance of many of the therapeutic results or toxicological effects noted in studies with animals have in human medicine, and if an herbal extract shows positive results when administered by injection, it does not necessarily mean that it will be active when taken orally.
Keeping the above discussion in mind, I invite the reader to use her or his own discretion and imagination when evaluating the possible uses and future potential, whether in medicine in general or for personal use, of the many species of mushrooms presented in this work. |
Glenn W. Geelhoed, M.D. and Jean Barilla, M.S.
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| However, as anyone who's ever visited a spa knows, herbal wraps, masks and baths also can be very relaxing (and good for the complexion!).
Foods can also be great stress-reducers. Did you know that lettuce contains a substance called lactucarium which functions as a gentle calming agent? In fact, many common plants such as mint, onions and even oats can help you calm down after a stressful day. The best thing about using nature's remedies is that they are almost always very gentle, non habit-forming and free of many of the side effects too often found with chemical tranquilizers. |
the Editors of FC&A Medical Publishing
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 For thousands of years, it's been an herbal superstar. People from all over the world have relied on it to aid digestion, improve circulation, calm nausea, and soothe headaches and other pain. It works so well that one pound of it was once worth the price of a sheep.
Ginger is much cheaper nowadays, but it still works wonders on everyday ailments. Incredibly, ginger might also be a powerful weapon against more serious problems, like cancer and heart disease.
Now you know about them, take advantage of ginger's spicy powers more often. |
Dr. Gary Null
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| Effect of Mentat, an herbal Formulation, on Experimental Models of Alzheimer's Disease and Central Cholinergic Markers in Rats," Fitoterapia 67, no. 3 (1995): 216-22.
Ten Alzheimer's patients with sleep disturbances were given bright light exposure for 2 hours per day between 7 and 9 p.m. for 1 week. For 8 out of these 10, their sleep-wakefulness patterns improved.
A. Satlin et al., "Bright Light Treatment of Behavioral and Sleep Disturbances in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease," American Journal of Psychiatry 149, no. 8 (August 1992): 1028-32. |
Robert S. McCaleb, Evelyn Leigh, and Krista Morien
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 New York and London: The Haworth herbal Press, 1999.
State of Knowledge: Five-Star Rating System
Clinical (human) research * *
Laboratory research * ? *
History of use/traditional use * * *
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Part Used: Leaf Primary Uses
• Migraine headaches
• Fever (traditional)
• Menstrual cramps (traditional)
• Arthritis (traditional) ometimes called the "aspirin of the eighteenth century," feverfew has been rediscovered by modern people with migraine. |
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