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The following is an article by John an AdlandPro Community friend. Here are 15 powerful herbs that hold a plethora of natural healing ingredients. By including these herbs and spices into your daily cooking, You will greatly enhance your quality of life...
The 15 Most Powerful Healing Herbs in Your Kitchen
By John Elliott Aka Oaky Wood©2006
Since ancient times our ancestor’s harvested the many herbs and spices that grew wild around them, mixed potions, and treated ailments. Man was after all a hunter-gatherer, and an omnivore, (an organism which gets its food energy from both plant and animal material).
The humble herb and spice rack in your kitchen today need not be just a decorative feature, although they look quite pleasing to the eye hanging on the wall, in both modern and old fashioned styled homes. They can in fact hold a plethora of natural healing ingredients that can also add great taste to the foods you eat every day.
Of all the herbs and spices you can choose from for flavor, there are 15 that are more powerful than the rest. Below is the list and you may well be surprised to learn of the many diverse conditions for which they’ve proven so very useful.
1/. BASILBasil is an herbal carminative, that is, it can relieve gas and soothe stomach upsets. One possible explanation for its calming effect is a compound called eugenol, which has been shown to help ease muscle spasms.
Research is still preliminary, but laboratory studies also suggest that compounds found in basil may help disrupt the dangerous chain of events that can lead to the development of cancer
2/. CAYENNE
Cayenne pepper is a hot red powder made from tropical chilly peppers. It contains alkaloid capsaicin, which relieves pain by blocking the chemicals that send pain messages to the brain. If you eat cayenne at the first sign of any type of headache, with plenty of water as a chaser, this spicy herb may be an effective alternative treatment.
Added to food, cayenne perks up appetite, improves digestion and relieves gas, nausea, and indigestion. The herb also thins phlegm and eases its passage from the lungs, thus helping to prevent and treat coughs, colds and bronchitis.
3/. CINNAMON
Cinnamon bark contains an oily chemical called cinnamaldehyde that kills a variety of illness causing bacteria, including the dreaded E.coli, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus aureas.
Research shows that cinnamon is also able to stop the growth of the Asian flu virus. Herbalists report that cinnamon bark also helps regulate the menstrual cycle and checks flooding during menopause. Also cinnamaldehyde has a tranquilizing effect that helps reduce anxiety and stress.
4/. CLOVE
Oil of clove is 60 to 90 percent eugenol. A potent pain deadening antimicrobal. Clove has earned the official endorsement of the FDA as an effective stopgap measure for tooth pain. Clove is also among the spices that can help the body use insulin more effectively, thus lowering blood sugar somewhat. In one lab study, clove was also found to speed healing of the dreaded cold sores.
5/. DILL
Dill has been used to soothe the digestive tract and treat heartburn, colic and gas for thousands of years. In fact, the word dill comes from the Old Norse word dilla, meaning to lull or soothe. The herb has an antifoaming action that suggests why it might help break up gas bubbles. Like parsley, dill is rich in chlorophyll, which also makes it useful in treating bad breath.
6/. FENNEL
Rich in volatile oils, fennel is what’s known as a carminative herb, meaning that it can ease bloating, gas pains, and digestive spasms in the small and large intestines. Fennel can also reduce bad breath and body odor that originates in the intestines.
Women who are breast feeding may find that fennel, which works in a way similar to the body’s hormones, increases milk flow.
7/. GARLIC
Intact garlic cloves contain an odorless, sulphur-containing amino acid called alliin. When the garlic is crushed, alliin becomes allicin. Research shows that allicin helps lower cholesterol and blood pressure and also helps prevents blood clots. Garlic can also reduce the risk of developing atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).
Compounds in this familiar bulb kill many organisms, including bacteria and viruses that cause earaches, flu and colds. Research indicates that garlic is also effective against digestive ailments and diarrhea. What’s more, further studies suggest that this common and familiar herb may help prevent the onset of cancers.
8/. GINGERWhen it comes to quelling the queasiness of motion sickness, ginger has no equal say herbalists. In fact, researchers have demonstrated that ginger beats dimenhydrate, the main ingredient in motion sickness drugs such as Dramamine, for controlling symptoms of seasickness and motion sickness.
Ginger stimulates saliva flow and digestive activity, settles the stomach, relieves vomiting, eases pain from gas and diarrhea, and is effective as an anti-nausea remedy. This aromatic herb also helps lower cholesterol. Herbalists have also found it to be useful as a pain reliever.
9/. MINTHerbalists the world over use mint, as a premier stomach tonic, to counteract nausea and vomiting, promote digestion, calm stomach muscle spasms, relieve flatulence, and ease hiccups. Menthol, the aromatic oil in peppermint, also relaxes the airways and fights bacteria and viruses.
Menthol interferes with the sensation from pain receptors, thus it may be useful in reducing headache pain. Scientific evidence suggests that peppermint can kill many kinds of micro-organisms, and may boost mental alertness. In one study, people who inhaled menthol said they felt as if it relieved their nasal congestion, although it didn’t increase their measurable airflow.
10/. OREGANO
Oregano contains at least four compounds that soothe coughs and 19 chemicals with antibacterial action that may help reduce body odor. The ingredients in oregano that soothe coughs may also help un-knot muscles in the digestive tract, making oregano a digestive aid. This familiar spice also contains compounds that can lower blood pressure too.
11/. PARSLEY
Diuretic herbs such as parsley prevent problems such as kidney stones and bladder infections and keep our body’s plumbing running smoothly by causing it to produce more urine. They also relieve bloating during menstruation.
Also there’s a reason for that parsley on the edge of the diner plate, its not just there for fancy decoration; it’s an effective breath freshener because it contains high levels of chlorophyll.
12/. ROSEMARYRosemary is one of the richer herbal sources of antioxidants, which have been shown to prevent cataracts, and contains 19 chemicals with antibacterial action that help fight infection.
Traditionally used to ease asthma, this common culinary ingredient has volatile oils that can reduce the airway constriction induced by histamine, that chemical culprit of asthma and other allergy symptoms. Herbalists think that rosemary may also help ease breast pain by acting as a natural drying agent to fluid filled cysts.
13/. SAGE
The oils found in sage are both antiseptic and antibiotic, so it can help fight infections. Sage is effective for symptoms of menopause, night sweats and hot flashes, because of its estrogenic action and because its tannins can dry up perspiration.
There’s also compelling evidence that sage may b of value to people with diabetes for whom the hormone insulin does not work as efficiently as it should. Lab studies indicate that sage may boost insulin’s action.
14/. THYME
Thyme contains thymol, which increases blood-flow to the skin. The warmth is comforting, and some herbalists believe that the increased blood-flow speeds healing. An anti-spasmodic. Thyme relaxes respiratory muscles and is endorsed for treating bronchitis by Commission E, the expert panel that judges the safety and effectiveness of herbal medicines for the German government. Aromatherapists say that thyme’s scent is a mood lifter.
15/. TURMERIC
Many clinical studies agree that curcumin in turmeric has anti-inflammatory effects, including a significant beneficial effect in relieving rheumatoid arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome. Curcumin, which gives this spice its familiar yellow pigment, may also lower cholesterol. Turmeric is also packed with antioxidants, including vitamins A, C, and E, which have been shown to prevent cataracts.
Passed down to us by our forefathers and countless generations throughout the world, these 15 food additives and enhancers are just a selected few that are currently known to have medicinal and beneficial properties, yet represent the more commonly used. By including these herbs and spices into your daily cooking or diet on a regular basis, you will greatly enhance your quality of life, and reduce the need for those expensive, and often damaging pharmaceutical drugs.
To your continued good health
By John Elliott .. Aka Oaky Wood©2006
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John Elliott Aka Oaky Wood is currently the Co-Founder of "The Corner 4 Women©2006" http://thecorner4women.com is a Poet, writer, artist, webmaster and designer. He is also the owner of the Oakwood Grafix©2005 Group of websites http://www.oakwoodgrafix.co.uk/
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Have yourself a Super Thursday!
1 comment:
Herbal therapies have been around for thousands of years and were widely prescribed by doctors until the late 1800s when the American Medical Association (AMA), a trade union of doctors committed to partnership with the budding pharmaceutical industry, used its economic and political muscle to suppress the use of natural substances. The use of herbs once was mainstream medicine but, because there is no great profit to be made from these unpatentable wonder drugs, they have lost their status as mainstream therapies.
Nevertheless, although the AMA, NCI (National Cancer Institute) and ACS (American Cancer Society) would prefer that you not know, several herbs produce patentable derivatives which are mainstays in the orthodox treatment of cancer. These herbs are "messed with," biochemically speaking, to produce unique, semi-synthetic compounds which retain some of the activity of the original herb and yet are patentable. Examples are vincristine, vinblastine and eteoposide. Taxol, a new experimental drug for cancer, is derived from the bark of the Pacific yew tree.
The fear of the cancer establishment is, of course, that people themselves would be able to treat their own cancer at least as well as the approved therapies for a tiny fraction of the cost, simply by finding the proper herb and preparing a tea or by eating the plant. For this reason millions of dollars are poured into the creation of synthetics and into the advertising necessary to convince people that laboratories can improve over nature.
We will focus on only a few herbal therapies, because it is not possible in the confines of this book to cover all the herbal treatments which may be effective in cancer. Besides that, only two percent of the herbs in nature have been tested as possible cancer therapies. It is certain that many effective herbs still lie undiscovered.
Essiac Tea
In 1922 Rene Caisse (pronounced as one would pronounce the words "Rin Case"), a nurse in Ontario, Canada, noticed an elderly hospital patient with a scarred and gnarled breast. When Rene Caisse asked about the scarring, she was told that twenty years earlier the woman had her breast cancer healed by an Indian medicine man using an herbal tea. This woman had been told by doctors that her breast must be removed. She refused this advice and decided to take her chances with the herbal tea. This woman handed over the information on this herbal remedy to Rene Caisse.
Rene Caisse put the formula aside, deciding that if she ever developed cancer she would use it. Two years later, one of her aunts developed stomach cancer and was told she had six months to live. Caisse remembered the herbal formula and, in partnership with her aunt's doctor, Dr. R. O. Fisher of Toronto, gave the herbal tea to her aunt. She recovered after two months and lived free from her stomach cancer for 21 years after that. Following this event, Caisse and Fisher began to treat terminal cases of cancer, curing many of them.
Not knowing what to call the stuff Rene Caisse spelled her own last name backward and came up with "Essiac." It seemed as good a name as any, so this is how it has come to be known. Rene Caisse, beginning in the 1920s until her death in 1978, offered this tea to thousands of people, many of whom were restored to health and many whose lives were prolonged and whose pain was lessened.
By 1937, the fame of Essiac had spread to the U.S. and Caisse was commuting to Chicago to treat patients at Northwestern Medical Center. After a two year evaluation the doctors at Northwestern concluded that Essiac tea eased the pain of cancer and prolonged life.
As with all such discoveries, Rene Caisse was forced to battle the medical establishment. This resulted in the formation, in 1938, of the Canadian "Royal Cancer Commission." Showing up to testify for Essiac were 387 of Caisse's patients. Of these, only 49 were allowed to testify. People who free of tumor after using Essiac after the failure of orthodox treatment were interpreted by the Royal Cancer Commission as "recoveries from orthodox therapies." In cases with no previous therapies, the interpretation was "misdiagnosis."
Rene Caisse, after years of harassment, and fearing imprisonment for her work, closed her clinic in 1942. Over the next thirty years she treated patients in great secrecy from her home, even while under surveillance by the Canadian Health Department, I suppose the "Royal" one.
As with most cancer treatments, orthodox, as well as progressive, some people respond and some do not. Undoubtedly, some people have been made free of tumor with Essiac, and others have died from their disease. As I read the literature on Essiac, it appears that its main use is to cause regression of tumor size and to reduce the pain induced by the tumor. It is thus an excellent adjunct to other therapies. If I had cancer I would choose several progressive therapies and not rely on just one. Essiac would be one of them.
Caisse sold the formula to the Resperin Corporation in late 1977 and died at age ninety just over one year later. It is still possible to obtain Essiac. You can buy Essiac Tea at well-stocked organic groceries. Essiac is, after all, a blend of herbal teas ? not so easy for a government to regulate, although the government of Canada gives it a good try. They forbid the makers of Essiac to use the word "cure," so they simply distribute patient testimonials.
Hoxsey Therapy
Harry Hoxsey, who passed on in 1974 at the age of 73, was not a doctor but rather a self-taught healer who used a combination of herbs which he said was passed on to him by his father... Hoxsey's preparation helped many people with cancer, and his fame spread far and wide. In the 1950s, his clinic in Dallas and its seventeen satellite clinics represented the largest progressive cancer therapy approach in the world.
Naturally, his success drew the attention of the medical establishment and during the McCarthy era in the 1950s, Hoxsey was harassed by the AMA, FDA and NCI. They pronounced his therapy fraudulent without as much as a fact-finding mission to his clinic. (The FDA has not yet gotten the message that the McCarthy era is over.) Hoxsey closed his clinic in 1960 and three years later reopened in a freer country, at least from a medical point of view, Mexico.
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