David Hoffman, FNIMH, AHG
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 In addition to these herbs, raw cabbage juice is an effective traditional treatment. Similarly, demulcent foods such as plantain banana and even potato can help.
As mentioned, newer research suggests that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori is implicated in the development of many gastric and duodenal ulcers. This may help explain why Hydrastis canadensis (goldenseal) can be so effective against ulcers, even though digestive bitters are generally contraindicated in this condition due to the fact that they stimulate gastric secretions. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Amazon herbs - Great ethics, outstanding products, green corporate culture. Headed by Amazon "John" Easterling, a pioneer in Earth-friendly corporate stewardship. Potent rainforest medicinals.
Nordic Naturals - Fish oil products for adults and kids, including DHA products (great for brain health). Pure source, great flavors for kids.
Recommended personal care product companies
Dr. Bronner's - Champions of health freedom and the TRUE organic movement. Outstanding soap products. Don't buy anything else.
Pangea Organics - They do everything right, from the source to the customer. |
American Medical Publishing
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| That means if you take other drugs, such as aspirin, and other herbs, such as gingko, you are doubling up on blood thinning agents. This can lead to cuts that won't stop bleeding. Also, if you are scheduled to undergo any kind of surgery, including dental surgery, you could easily bleed to death if your doctor or dentist is unaware that you are taking blood thinning agents such as garlic and others. |
Barnet Meltzer, M.D.
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 CHILIES, herbs, AND SPICES
1. Celery
Awed by his powers, the ancient Romans dedicated celery to the god Pluto. Their folklore had it that "... if women knew what celery did to men, they would go and get some from Paris to Rome." In the Middle Ages, couples looked to celery when they wanted to give birth to a boy, with the pregnant wife placing a stalk underneath her pillow each night.
For men interested in attracting women, celery is the ultimate nutritional pheromone. It's as close as you can get to a spray-on aphrodisiac. |
| GENERAL GUIDELINES
In general, keep the following guidelines in mind when combining foods
Maintain an alkaline-to-acid ratio of 3:2; preferably 2:1
Maintain a raw-to-cooked ratio of 1:1, and up to 2:1
Eat at least 25-30 grams of fiber daily
Balance colors: Prepare visually appealing high-performance meals
Flavor: Use herbs to make food taste great
Step 3: Take Consistent Positive Action
In our super-commercialized society, we are constantly bombarded with misleading information from the profit-focused food industry. |
American Medical Publishing
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| But mixing herbs and prescription drugs is even more dangerous for seniors than for others because they tend to be in more frail health than younger people who can more easily fight off dangerous side-effects and recover from potentially bad reactions.
For example, drugs used to treat high-blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease — all more common ailments as people get older — should not be taken with products containing ginseng or ephedra (also called Ma Huang). Chemicals in these plants can increase blood pressure. |
Barnet Meltzer, M.D.
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| Add celery, carrots, onions, mushrooms, and herbs to the brew for a savory vegetarian stew.
Get to know your legumes. Other members of the family share the same traits as the soybean and lentil, and all help to ground the metabolism and safeguard the body against erratic, destabilizing food swings. For variety, occasionally substitute soybeans or lentils with some of the following legumes. All are high in protein, low in saturated fat, and high in fiber.
Pinto Beans: Pinto beans are the basis for the classic Mexican dip and make the best tostadas and burritos. |
American Medical Publishing
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| Ephedrine alkaloids in dietary supplements are usually derived from one of several species of herbs of the genus Ephedra, sometimes called Ma huang, Chinese Ephedra and epitonin. Other botanical sources include Sida cordifolia. Ephedrine alkaloids, as they are known, are amphetamine-like compounds with potentially powerful stimulant effects on the nervous system and heart. Hundreds of consumer illnesses and injuries associated with the use of these products have been reported. |
John R. Smythies
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| Rich sources of these agents are tea, garlic, olive oil, and many herbs, fruits, and vegetables. It has been estimated that the average daily intake of total flavonoids in the United States is about 500 mg. They act in several ways—by mopping up reactive oxygen species and toxic heavy metals, by preventing the formation of reactive oxygen species and fat oxidation, and by protecting other antioxidants such as vitamin C. They also inhibit LDL (bad cholesterol) oxidation, thereby sparing the precious vitamin E. |
| For example, it has been shown that some flavonoids, like quercetin, gossypol, chrysin, and apigenin, bind to a certain receptor in the brain to which benzodiazepine tranquilizers, such as Valium, usually bind. The herbs from which these compounds are obtained (such as passiflora coerulea and matricaria recutitis) have been reported in folk medicine to have sedative and pain-relieving properties. A synthetic derivative from these flavonoids has been produced that is one hundred times as potent as Valium [137]. |
| Of course, they also eat a diet rich in protective fruits, vegetables, herbs, garlic, and olive oil.) Red wine contains powerful antioxidant flavonoids (in particular quercetin, rutin, reservatol, and catechin). White wine contains lesser amounts. These chemicals are also found in tea, onions, and apples. However, it is possible that the French paradox may also be due in part to the higher intake of vitamin E, especially in the form of sunflower seed oil.
(31) Hertog et al. in Zutphen, Holland, studied 805 men aged 65 to 84 for five years [86]. |
J. E. Williams, O.M.D.
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 If it is a viral sinusitis, she will not use an antibiotic as the first measure, but she might prescribe a nutraceutical antiviral medication like echinacea, along with a natural decongestant, dietary restrictions, and an immune-enhancing regimen of vitamins, minerals, and herbs. She might also refer George for nonspecific therapies that promote health and are not focused on the treatment of a specific disease, such as treatment with Chinese medicine to strengthen the body's energy, or prescription of stress reduction therapies like yoga or meditation. |
J. Robert Hatherill
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 Skip fatty buttered dressing and sprinkle with lemon and herbs. Or use a nonfat butter substitute. Shun high-fat condiments, instead top your baked potatoes with low-fat yogurt, chives, salsa, or low-fat cheese. |
| In fact, many herbs and spices are naturally rich in antioxidants.
Cayenne pepper (capsicum) is an extremely hot spice—so hot that a concentrated version of it is used in the weapon pepper spray. At lower doses cayenne protects against stomach ulcers, decreases platelet aggregation, and hinders the formation of strokes (antithrombotic).
Curcumin is a plant spice and a major yellow coloring agent. The dried, powdered form is known as turmeric, used as one of the major coloring agents in curry. Turmeric has been used for centuries as a spice, food colorant, and food preservative. |
Andrew L. Stoll
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 New studies suggest that the omega-3 s may at least partially protect us against the onslaught of debilitating brain illnesses like Alzheimer's or the permanent damage that results when, due to stroke or other vascular insults,
12
Psychopharmacology and the Health Food Store feS53 The notion (correct or not) that we can avoid drugs and their negative side effects through the practice of natural, or alternative medicine (also known as complementary medicine)— herbs, acupuncture, hypnosis, and other popular remedies—has taken the West by storm. |
J. E. Williams, O.M.D.
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| A cure might require an antibiotic to kill excessive bacterial growth that our immune systems cannot fight off on their own, nutritional supplements to improve our immune status, antiviral herbs, or other treatments and therapies.
Curing is what is done to us when we are sick, while healing is stimulated from within our bodies, minds, and spirits. You can both heal and cure yourself by following the ten steps to viral immunity outlined in part 2. |
Robert Hass, M.S.
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 Achieving a long-term or permanent remission is far more involved than simply self-medicating at a salad bar, but the basic fact is that specific phytonutrients found in vegetables, fruits, seeds, herbs, and plants provide the most potent force in nature to send cancer and other life-threatening disease into a state of suspended animation.
Phytonutrients are also the most powerful means we have to prevent cancer. Even if you eat a less-than-optimal diet, phytonutrients can still help to forestall the biochemical events that turn healthy cells into cancer cells. |
J. Robert Hatherill
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| You don't have to learn to eat weird herbs or strange mushrooms; in fact, chocolate, red wine, and licorice can be part of the regimen! Also, with Eat to Beat Cancer you don't have to restructure your diet entirely. If you must have those ballpark hot dogs, just make sure you take an extra dose of vitamin C in order to block the formation of the cancer-causing chemicals used in cured meats.
No matter what your age, eating from the Super Eight Food Groups will improve your quality of life, health, and longevity. |
American Medical Publishing
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| You can find all of these herbs in your health food store. Search them out and try them out for at least three months:
Devil's Claw Tumeric
Bilberry Hawthorne
Bromelain Hawthrone Berry
Burdock Root Yucca Powder
Sarsaparilla Root Ginger Root Willow Bark Ginseng
Eat a lot more of these foods
1 R-3
Pineapple
Pineapple juice Brazil nuts Salmon Broccoli
Garlic
Herring
Onions
No. 47 — Atrovent — This is a drug used to treat bronchospasm that is related to lung diseases, such as bronchitis and emphysema. It is also prescribed for allergies and the common cold. |
John R. Smythies
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| Antioxidant phenols include thymol and carvacuol (thyme), ferulic acid (many herbs), gallic acid (mitgall), hydroxytyrosol (olive oil), fisetin, morin, and many others. Antioxidant polyphenols are found in oranges (as cryptoxanthin) and many other fruits, tea, coffee, chocolate, licorice, and white wine. Other related plant antioxidants include rhein (rhubarb) and aloe-emodin (aloe). Antioxidant peptides (small, proteinlike molecules) include camosine (which is particularly associated with the glutamate receptor in the brain) and anserine. |
Barnet Meltzer, M.D.
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| And by using a variety of herbs and seasonings, you can prepare smart food to fit your tastes. To tempt your palate, think of: tomato-basil-mushroom pasta; rich minestrone soup; thick guacamole, chunky salsa, and creamy hummus dips; nutty soy spreads; veggie pizzas; plus an assortment of Indian and Chinese dishes.
Here's what I tell my patients: As long as your senses are intact, you can have an exciting, uplifting, emotional relationship with smart food. Deprivation is a relative concept. If you were blind, and could not see food, you would be visually deprived. |
Simon Mills and Kerry Bone
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 HOW DO herbs DIFFER FROM CONVENTIONAL DRUGS?
While many conventional drugs or their precursors are derived from plants, there is a fundamental difference between administering a pure chemical and the same chemical in a plant matrix. It is this issue of the advantage of chemical complexity which is both rejected by orthodoxy as having no basis in fact and avoided by most researchers as introducing too many variables for comfortable research. |
| These prostaglandin-decreasing herbs are not powerful analgesics, so it is best to start their use about a week before menstruation. Cimicifuga (black cohosh) is an antiinflammatory and hormonal herb which is also indicated and Corydalis is a useful analgesic.
Abnormal uterine bleeding
Excessive or abnormal bleeding from the uterus is a symptom, not a disease. The pattern of bleeding can vary, as can the cause. Metrorrhagia, where the bleeding is irregular in amount, acyclical in nature and often prolonged in duration, is usually due to a pathological condition of the uterus. |
| Difficulty with conception
This has a number of causes, many of which are not treatable by herbs. It should firstly be established if the problem truly exists with the women. If this is the case, the cause or causes should be isolated, if this is possible. Endometriosis is a common cause which will be treated as a separate subject.
Some categories of difficult conception are listed below with the corresponding herbal approach to treatment.
• Excessive anovulatory cycles. Treat with Chamaelirium luteum (helonias root), Vitex (chaste berry) and nervine tonics. |
American Medical Publishing
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| A recent report on ABC World News Tonight said that many people bleed to death during routine or even minor surgery because the doctor did not know that the patient was taking blood thinning herbs, such as garlic or gingko biloba. The herb you are taking may have no interactions with other drugs, but you can never be sure, so don't take that chance. Tell you doctor, even if you fear he or she will disapprove. You would rather face a little criticism from your doctor than end up losing your life over an accident that could easily be avoided. |
Simon Mills and Kerry Bone
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| These herbs cannot be included in over-the-counter products without prior evaluation by an expert committee.
References
In order to save space, references for the monographs are provided in an abbreviated form.
Andrographis
(Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Nees)
SYNONYMS
Chiretta, king of bitters (Engl), kalmegh (Bengali, Hindi), kirata (Sanskrit), chuan xin lian (Chin), senshinren (Jap).
WHAT IS IT?
Andrographis, commonly known as kalmegh (meaning 'king of bitters'), is grown in hedgerows and gardens in India where it is highly valued by the local people as a medicine. |
American Medical Publishing
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| An herb expert or "doctor" may be competent in the use of herbs to treat illness, but a true medical doctor has the training and the tools to make an accurate diagnosis, and is also more competent at making sure you don't mix things up in a dangerous manner.
• Use according to label directions, unless directed by an herbal specialist. Don't over use! Once again, the temptation when dealing with "natural" herbal remedies is to believe they are completely safe, and that doubling up. or even taking 10 to 100 times the recommended dose is safe. |
John R. Smythies
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| Rich sources in the diet are herbs, spices, barley, rice bran, olives, wine, eggs, dairy products, and certain essential oils used in flavoring. Isoprenoids in animal experiments also lead to the increased production of a group of enzymes that detoxify many environmental poisons. Isoprenoids also increase the liver output of two enzymes concerned in antioxidant defenses. Thus, isoprenoids have indirect antioxidant properties. Not all beneficial agents in fruit and vegetables are antioxidants. |
J. Robert Hatherill
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| Nature provides an extensive menu of chemopreventive agents found naturally in fruits, vegetables, tea, spices, and herbs. Fresh fruits and vegetables are rich sources of vitamins and other non-nutritives (some of which are not yet identified, and others that may never be), and have proven to be powerful in suppressing the rates of most cancers.
Proteins
A chemopreventive diet may require not only the addition of certain foods to your menu but the subtraction of others. Some of the things you should think about eliminating in part or entirely are things you once thought were good for you. |
the Editors of PREVENTION
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 A poultice is little more than mashed or ground herbs in the form of a soft, semi-liquid, pulplike mass that is usually spread over wounds, bites, or sores and held in place with a bandage or cloth.
Compress. Here's another simple concept that can work. All we're talking about here is a cloth or pad that you press to your skin. As an herbal remedy, you will probably soak the material in a tea or a water-diluted tincture and then hold it near the source of inflammation or muscle pain. If it's hot, it may be called a fomentation. |
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