| Chewing on ginger sticks or drinking ginger tea has been recommended by herbalists. Also, honey, nutmeg and mace are potentially helpful.
For the child who gets carsick, a family trip can turn into an unpleasant experience unless the child is given a front seat in the car. Exactly why this is so remains unknown, although it seems to be related to the fact that seeing through the front window provides relatively stable, or nonmoving, objects on which to focus {New England Journal of Medicine, November 8, 1979). |
| Raspberry-leaf tea also is highly regarded for relief of morning sickness. Many herbalists recommend drinking a cup of raspberry-leaf tea every day all through pregnancy. If you have some wild raspberries growing near your home, use them, because their medical value may be greater than the cultivated variety. This seems to be true of most herbs. One herbalist suggests mixing a decoction of raspberry leaves with cream.
Basil is another favorite. Conway claims that a cup of basil tea "will quell the most violent vomiting and nausea. |
Bradley J. Willcox, D. Craig Willcox, and Makoto Suzuki
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 In fact, before the spread of Western medical practices, most traditional societies harbored a wide variety of health-care practitioners including magico-religious healers (shamans), herbalists, acupuncturists, midwives, and diviners. Often the functions of these healers overlapped. The shaman, for example, was often an herbal specialist as well as a spiritual adviser. Although Western medical thinking has now infiltrated almost every corner of the earth, people in most societies worldwide continue to rely upon such folk healers either exclusively or in tandem with Western-type health care. |
Lesley Tierra
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 Harvesting According to the Moon
Many herbalists attach further astrological importance to the actual month and day that is optimum for harvesting individual herbs. |
| Bulk herbs are preferred by the Chinese and some Western herbalists who believe that cooking the herbs a long time and then taking them as teas is the most effective form over all others. The Western tradition uses tinctures more while Ayurveda prepares pills and pastes from the whole herbs.
When purchasing bulk herbs in any of these forms, you'll either need to place the desired amount in a bag provided near the herb jars, or take the jars themselves up to the counter to be weighed out by a sales person. |
| John Christopher (one of the foremost herbalists in this country at the start of the herbal renaissance) and has since been known this way even though the herbs may somewhat vary. The powder is comprised of several very stimulating herbs which activate the circulation, open the pores and cause sweating to occur. As such, it is valuable in preventing and healing colds, flus, sore throats, coughs, bronchitis and other lung and mucus conditions. It is most effective when taken directly as a powder mixed in hot water and sipped slowly. It may also be taken in capsule, pid or tablet form. |
| Yet, it also concentrates any chemicals they possibly contain if they are not organic, such as pesticide and herbicide residues, sulfites and bacteria. Some herbalists believe the medicinal action of die plants themselves helps ameliorate this, but for those who have environmental sensitivities, it can be a problem unless organic herbs are used.
Like powders, more surface area of the herbs is exposed in dry extracts, and thus some people believe they lose their potency faster than other preparations. Others think that because the moisture is taken out of the herbs they preserve well. |
Daniel B. Mowrey, Ph.D.
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 See Also fevers & infections; weight loss; fatigue; thyroid; diabetes; environmental pollution; mental alertness/senility; pain; infertility; heart; blood purification/detoxification
BLUE VERVAIN is valued by many herbalists as an agent that will help to rectify poor circulation problems (15). But among its many uses, this is perhaps its most obscure, a practice cherished by those who use it, but ignored by others. I am aware of no published research, experimental or clinical, that bears directly on this particular use of Blue Vervain. |
Berkeley Holistic Health Center and Shepherd Bliss
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| The big issue at this time was the licensing of physicians: The first state licensure laws allowed herbalists to practice, but forbade them from collecting fees for their services. Needless to say, this did not please the Thomsonian naturopaths and they began a campaign to repeal medical licensure—a campaign that succeeded. By the time of the Civil War, the practicing of medicine was open to anyone—a policy that brought in the snake oil era of patent medicine. |
James A. Duke, Ph.D.
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 Variation: Sometimes I'll mix in one or more of the following ingredients, which folk herbalists have long recommended for prostate and urinary problems: cucumber seeds, watermelon seeds, sunflower seeds, peanuts, almonds, sesame seeds, soybeans, flaxseeds, walnuts, and carob powder. Experiment to get the flavor that you like best. those taking the placebo, 31 percent reported improvement in their symptoms. Among those taking pygeum, that figure rose to 66 percent. |
Gary Null
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 One person who has is Letha Hadady, one of the leading herbalists in the United States.
She says most Americans do not go to the doctor when they are a little sick; they wait until they are really suffering. They might have chest pains, difficulty breathing, but they generally are not going to the doctor and, of course, not to their herbalist. They say, "I'm tired; I'm under stress," and ignore it. But that is a terrible approach because some of the underlying problems of heart disease are the ones they are complaining of: fatigue, stress, and poor digestion. |
| Cinnamon was also used by the Eclectics—a school of 19th century American herbalists devoted to the specific, proven use of herbal remedies—as a first aid remedy to treat mild, passive hemorrhaging, such as blood in the urine or sputum. Many midwives swear by cinnamon for postpartum hemorrhaging. Of course, never attempt to treat any serious bleeding in this way without consulting a doctor first.
COMFREY {Symphytum officinale) is an ancient healing herb. It has a soothing effect on the stomach lining. |
| Even in Britain, the National Institute of Medical Herbalist (created in 1864 as the National Association of Medical herbalists) is a flourishing—and scientifically respected—body.
The Practical Use of Herbs_
You don't have to be an herbalist, know complicated formulas, study the chemistry of plants, or learn the Chinese philosophies of herbal medicine to enjoy the benefits that herbs can bring into your life. If you are a novice in the world of herbs, go to a bookstore or library for books in their health and diet sections. |
Joseph Glenmullen, M.D.
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 Whether Andean Indians chewing coca leaves, Chinese herbalists prescribing ephedra, or North American Indians ceremonially smoking peyote, these low-potency, naturally occurring agents have always been used in the context of complex rituals and close cultural ties. Today, we use much more dangerous, potent, synthetic drugs to treat individuals who very often are isolated, making the setting all the more important for safety.
What is the setting in which patients have been prescribed serotonin boosters? |
| John's wort contains more than a dozen physiologically active agents. herbalists point out that the idea of a single active ingredient that can be extracted from a plant is a tenet of Western, allopathic medicine and is anathema to holistic clinical practice. In holistic medicine, the synergistic, balanced effects of multiple components of a natural plant product are considered crucial to its beneficial effects.
Couples Therapy
By mid-March, three months into treatment, Lydia was feeling considerably better than when she first came to see me. Her mood and energy level had improved. |
Velma J. Keith and Monteen Gordon
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| It is an herb many herbalists would choose if they could only have one herb. It is found in many combinations with other herbs because it acts as a catalyst.
— nutritional as well as medicinal.
— builds up the body's resistance. High in Vitamin C, good to take at the beginning of a cold.
— one of the best general stimulants. Stimulation is the key to healing. When the body and its organs are properly stimulated, they will heal, cleanse and begin to function normally. If taken regularly it will reach every part of the body. |
| Chinese Herbal and Flower Oils-
The Chinese are some of the greatest herbalists. They have been using herbs and handing down their remedies from generation to generation. Some of these exclusive oil formulas are now available in the U.S. The Chinese believe when one uses the oils either externally or internally they generate an energy that helps the body in healing and relieving pain. One of the main uses for oils has been for headaches, even migraines. They have also been used for: Allergies, colds, coughs, cuts, bleeding, long distance driving, motion sickness, muscle pain, and others. |
Berkeley Holistic Health Center and Shepherd Bliss
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| There are probably as many systems for using herbs as there are herbalists, because herbalism is more an art and a tool of divine nature than a science. You will probably discover the "magic" of herbs after you get involved in the gathering, growing, and use of them.
From The Way of Herbs © Michael Tierra. The complete booklet may be obtained by mail from the author at 3254 B Mission Drive, Santa Cruz, CA 95065.
Herbal traditions vary from one culture to the next, both in the specific herbs used and in their application. |
| Today, nurses who are frustrated with distorted images and narrow definitions of both healing and their own roles are taking action on several fronts: They are looking outside the familiar medical model for alternatives, and in doing so are rediscovering nursing's roots in the centuries-old tradition of women lay healers, herbalists, and mid-wives. They are looking to holistic and preventive medicine for a focus on health as wellness instead of as absence of disease, and for techniques and strategies to help people achieve wellness. |
| The holistic practitioners of the 19th century were homeopaths, herbalists and osteopaths. The Empiric practitioners of the 21st century are the holistic practitioners
Note 3: Most scientific research concerning stress has been conducted in the context of stress-related pathology. An example of holistic research into stress may be seen in Peter Levine's work which evaluates stress as a function of the dynamic capacity of an organism to interact with its environment. It is measured in terms of homeostatic resiliance on motoric, automatic, and metabolic levels.
Levine, P. |
Earl Mindell and Hester Mundis
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 BLESSED THISTLE
Used in its proper proportions in teas to break up coughs and relieve congestion, blessed thistle is known by herbalists to live up to its name. But this is not an herb for amateurs, and unless you know how to brew it properly?don't. High doses can cause diarrhea as well as burns of the mouth and esophagus.
CHAMOMILE
Frequendy the tea of choice before bedtime because of its sedative, stomach-settling properties, it should be drunk in moderation. |
Berkeley Holistic Health Center and Shepherd Bliss
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| Samuel Thomson, a poor uneducated New Hampshire farmer, studied with the local herbalists and developed a variety of gentle, naturopathic home remedies as alternatives to the harsh chemicals popular with the physicians of the time. Thomson used such herbs as cayenne, lobelia, and red clover to cleanse and remove toxins from the bloodstream in an attempt to restore metabolic balance to the body.
The Shaker community was the first group to produce and distribute herbs on a national basis. |
Gary Null
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| Puotinen notes, "The American herbalists don't make fine distinctions between these ginsengs. They feel their effects are all more or less the same. Some people use both Siberian and American ginseng at the same time; others will start with one and then switch to the other if they are not achieving a good effect. According to Chinese medicine, though, each is different in its effects."
Herbalist Amanda Crawford has some additional advice. For one, she thinks it would be better if we were all eating a more Mediterranean diet. |
Richard Gerber, M.D.
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 The prototype example of today's drugs borrowing from yesterday's herbal medicines is the foxglove leaf and its primary active agent, digitalis. herbalists in the late 1700s knew that the foxglove plant was efficacious in the treatment of fluid retention due to heart disease. Later, twentieth-century scientists discovered that digitalis was the active ingredient in foxglove which endowed the plant with beneficial cardiac effects. By utilizing modern research techniques, doctors have come to understand the cellular and molecular effects that enable digitalis to assist the failing heart. |
David Heber, M.D., Ph.D.
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 Since the 1700s herbalists have been using St. John's wort for this purpose, but its medicinal use for wound healing, as a diuretic, and for nerve compression such as sciatica dates back to the time of Galen and Hippocrates in ancient Greece. There are over four hundred species of this plant distributed worldwide. In the United States, this plant is especially abundant in northern California and southern Oregon, from which it derives its common U.S. name, Klamath weed.
There is still controversy on the mechanism of action of this herb. |
Kenny Ausubel
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 He vigorously targeted homeopaths, herbalists, osteopaths, chiropractors, and the diverse array of "irregular" practitioners who populated medicine at the time. Some were coopted through admission to the AMA, and the many who were excluded found themselves increasingly restricted from most medical practice.
Simmons set up the Department of Propaganda for Reform, later to become the Bureau of Investigation, to catalog all irregular practitioners. |
| The derivation of the word quack originated with herbalists who described doctors using mercury and mineral poisons as "Quacksalvers" for their affinity for quicksilver.16 Even other physicians held these mineral medicines to be the most odious expression of quackery, and dragged fellow doctors into star chambers—secretive tribunals acting as kangaroo courts—to seek censure against their brethren's mercury madness.
Nonetheless, by the late 1500s most surgeons were enthusiastically adopting the mineral poisons. They added arsenic, lead, and copper to their armamentarium of mercury and antimony. |
| One of the central consequences was the wholesale loss of the folk medicine traditions carried by women as village herbalists and midwives. When the church condemned their therapeutic craft as black magic, it subsumed medicine as its nearly exclusive domain, often along with the property these women owned. The notion of the high priests of medicine was not metaphorical. |
Ruth Winter, M.S.
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 The leaves of this dwarf evergreen contain antioxidants and are considered by herbalists as an antibiotic. The leaves are ground and may be used in a tea or in capsules. It is used for blood purification, cancer and tumors, antioxidants, arthritis, colds and flu, diarrhea, and urinary tract infections. The American Indians used it to treat arthritis. A modern Argentine study showed that the primary constituent of chaparral, NDGA (nordihydroguaiaretic acid), an antioxidant, possesses pain-relieving properties and blood-pressure lowering properties. |
| It is used by herbalists to treat liver problems, constipation, and arthritis. CHIMYL ALCOHOL • Obtained from shark liver oil and other fish oils. Used as skin conditioners and emollients. CHINA CLAY • See Kaolin.
CHINESE ANGELICA ROOT • Aralia Chinensia. An Asiatic shrub with prickly skin and a long inflorescence. Used in "organic" cosmetics. CHINESE HIBISCUS EXTRACT • From the leaves and flowers of Hibiscus rosasinensis.
CHINESE MAGNOLIA EXTRACT • From the flowers and buds of Magnolia biondii or other species of magnolia. |
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