Herbs For All

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Tuesday, September 30, 2014

"The Missing Link To Optimum Health” Includes Herbs



 Jo Robinson’s fascinating new book, Eating on the Wild Side, does indeed provide “The Missing Link to Optimum Health” by finally giving us the information we need for “a radical new way to select and prepare foods to reclaim the nutrients and flavor we’ve lost”. She does this by using scientific and historical analysis to explain what sorts of phytonutrients (phyto means plants) have been lost from our ancestors’ ancient wild foraging days and compares them to what is available in the produce section of grocery stores of today.  Get ready to cringe, but take heart, she also has plenty of suggestions that food shoppers, gardeners and even botanists will like, and she even includes recipes.


This book sounds the wake up alarm and school bell, finally giving consumers necessary education they can take to their grocers, gardens and seed catalogues to begin making better choices in the food they choose with the goal in mind of bringing not just better nutrition, but more complex phytochemicals into their diets. These are important compounds like antioxidants, flavonoids, catechins, carotenoids, polyphenols (the list is estimated to be more than 4,000) that help to neutralize free radicals, protect cells, reduce cholesterol, inhibit tumor growth, etc. and have been bred out of our fruits and veggies for the sake of taste, appearance, shelf life and marketability.
Robinson carefully explains that once people started cultivating their own food, they began breeding for what tasted best and produced the most and tried to get the unpleasant flavors of sour, bitter, and astringent out of everything we ate. Those very same flavor constituents that create those “nasty” flavors have the most cancer fighting power and contribute to the plant’s ability to resist pests and disease, and when we consume them naturally, the plant passes that benefit on to us humans. We can pile our plates high with a rainbow of produce from the grocery store, but Robinson’s message is that we are not getting the very important health protective benefits from food because it has been so severely, nutritionally degraded. As a matter of fact, when food gets genetically altered for the sake of salability, nutritional analysis in not even considered as part of the evaluation.


There is one glaring omission in this book, HERBS! There is not even a listing for them in the index. Herbs should never be an afterthought in the diet. True, she writes a great chapter on onion and garlic chives, both native to the Old and New World. Many people are familiar seeing them pop up in abundance in meadows of different bioregions in the early spring. She explains their very significant antioxidant and medicinal value and even cites a study that shows they act as aphrodisiac in rats. Other than this, however, she does not take on the nutritional and antioxidant value of herbs more broadly. I believe they deserve much more praise and attention for many reasons.
Allow me to offer an example of just how powerful they are. Many herbs are antimicrobial and antifungal and if you want to pest proof your garden from either insects or the four legged kind, plant herbs. Just the essential oils in herbs discourage them from munching their leaves and roots. These critters do not eat lavender, sage, oregano, chives, mint, rosemary, salad burnet, calendula, St. John’s Wort, Echinacea, the list goes on and on. You can even pest proof your drawers with lavender and your cupboards with bay leaves. According to the author, when ingested, the defense system of plants often translates similarly in our bodies to ward off foreign attack from outside and within that can cause illness.


As for the nutritional value of herbs, just one cup of fresh parsley is superior and much less expensive than a head of any kind of lettuce. (nutritiondata.self.com) The really good news is that herbs have not been genetically altered to the extent that our food has.


I can only hope Jo Robinson with her wealth of scientific research and knowledge has a sequel to this book called HERBS: Additional Essentials for Optimal Health.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Keeping Kids Healthy

Question: The kids have been in school for only a few weeks but already have runny noses and coughs. Are there any herbs that would help to keep them healthy and resist all the new bugs they get exposed to in the classrooms?
Changes of season and exposure to new kids and germs in the classrooms make keeping our children healthy a challenge. Preschoolers and kindergarteners seem to pick up everything and some kids are more susceptible to illness if they have preexisting conditions such as asthma and allergies.

I have previously recommended taking Echinacea before an airline flight to help boost immunity, and I think the same would be good for kids before or just as they are starting the school year. I make a formula of Echinacea combined with Astragalus and reishi mushroom to support the immune system. It can be taken for several weeks or at the first sign of a cold until symptoms diminish. Regarding what types of preparations are best, I recommend teas, chewable tablets and glycerine preparations rather than alcohol tinctures.

For the sniffles, I like to make a tea of Mormon tea (Ephedra viridis) which grows here in Utah and does not contain the "speedy" ephedrine found in the Chinese plant, Ephedra vulgaris. Peppermint and ginger can slightly increase secretions to work as a decongestant. Marshmallow root tea can help ease a scratchy throat.

For chest congestion, garlic can be useful. In the same way that its odor comes out of our skin and breath, it also gets excreted through the lungs, which will move any congestion. Osha, licorice root, pleurisy root and elecampane can help more severe bronchial problems, but a qualified practitioner should recommend and adjust dosages. Children from 2 to 7 should take 25% of the adult dose; between 7 and 12, 50%. If the condition worsens or creates concern, consult a doctor.

I know I’m recommending a lot of herbs and combinations you may not have on hand or perhaps you may not feel comfortable blending a formula or tea. In that case find a qualified herbal practitioner. The American Herbalists Guild, of which I am a professional member, lists qualified herbalists by state. It will give any parent peace of mind to know the right combination of herbs has been created for your child or family.

Don't forget to consider food as medicine and keep plenty of culinary herbs stored in glass jars out of direct light in the cupboard to boost your family's nutrition. Mountain Rose Herbs is a great resource for fine quality, dried, medicinal and culinary herb, and you can purchase as little as a quarter pound. Extra dried parsley, oregano and garlic added to an ordinary jar of spaghetti sauce will never be noticed by the kids, and a mild curry blend to sprinkle on rice and in creamy soups and sauces offers a nice taste alternative. Consider teas instead of juices or even blend the two.

We can do a lot for our kids by providing a whole foods diet and making sure they get the good rest and exercise essential for health. Digesting processed foods and “bad” fats taxes the body and creates extra physical stress. Sugar, food colorings and additives like MSG can cause wide energy swings and might interfere with learning ability. Even mild food allergies to dairy or wheat can interfere with a child's health.
If your child is one of the many with asthma and allergies, take extra care to avoid the triggers. An ear, nose and throat doctor told me that he has seen the frequency of sinus and ear infections go up with the increase in pollution. A new study reported on National Public Radio showed that kids exposed to diesel fumes on the bus are more prone to get chest colds. I suggest using appropriate herbs at the first sign of a flare up. Depending on the case, I might recommend yerba mansa, licorice, goldenseal, dandelion leaf and lobelia.

With hectic family schedules, social challenges on the playground and scary events like September 11th, we need to do all we can to ease our children's stress. I especially like to use lemon balm to relax and calm a child, when sleep won't come because of a busy mind.

Our kids are being bombarded from all directions. The best defense is to address and manage the small ills before they get bigger. Herbs are good for that.

Friday, September 5, 2014

Herb Tips

I've worked for year to compile more than 400 helpful herbs tips like the following:



Be sure to cut your lavender sprigs when only 2-3 blooms have first opened. It is the bud that makes the dried plant so pretty. If you wait until it is in full bloom, the flowers will fall off and you will be left with a bare stem.



Comfrey leaf and root applied topically as poultice or compress will help heal injuries such as sprains and bruises. Its common name is “knitbone” and was thought to even be useful to heal broken bones.



Tasting something bitter before a meal can aid the digestive process by stimulating secretions in the right order. Try using bitter lettuces, mustards, dandelion, a few drops of tincture of gentian, Oregon grape, golden seal or barberry. 

You can get more herb tips by signing up for your free Herb Tip of the Week at www.millcreekherbs.com.