Healing Herbs: Your Plain & Simple Guide to Plant-Based Remedies for Common Ailments

Introduction

There have been many books written on herbal medicine. My book differs from most because it is based on the empowerment model, which focuses on helping people to take responsibility for their own health. This book will help you tackle everyday ailments by taking the guesswork out of which herbs to use to keep you feeling well. Herbal medicine is useful for a range of common complaints, and gentle and effective herbs can offer benefit where conventional medicine sometimes fails.

In a world where we have become more illness and disease focused, and where insurance can be costly, it is clearly becoming important for individuals to become knowledgeable regarding natural therapies, and to take their health into their own hands. The emphasis here is placed on prevention rather than cure. The use of traditional herbalism can help you attain and maintain a high level of well-being. I hope my book will stimulate your interest in the use of natural therapies for home use, and encourage you to research herbalism further.

In Healing Herbs I discuss the herbs in context of the body system they benefit—herbs for circulation, herbs for the respiratory system, and so forth. I tell you a little about each herb’s history, and follow this with the medicinal benefits and how it can be used. You will see that many herbs can be used to help the same conditions, because they do not contain just one active property, but several substances. You will therefore find some herbs recommended for more than one ailment, because a single herb can have a diversity of health benefits.

Disclaimer

The statements in this book are based on my studies, experience, and personal research into traditional herbal lore, undertaken over many years. Although I hold a doctorate degree in nutrition, I am not a medical doctor. My expertise is in nutrition and traditional herbalism.

The information in this book is intended for educational purposes only and not as medical advice. The information in this book is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, nor to provide individual recommendations. Not all herbal remedies mentioned in this book have been scientifically evaluated, and the information provided is based on traditional herbalism and use. The information should not be considered as medical advice, as it is for general information only; the health claims for each herb are anecdotal, and should be used as a guide only. Consultation with a professional herbalist or a medical doctor is recommended for any health problem.

Although all of the herbs mentioned are understood to be safe, they should be taken as directed and prescribed by a qualified medical herbalist. Herbal remedies come in various forms: tablets, capsules, tinctures, and teas. Please note that some herbs and essential oils may now only be available from qualified medical herbalists

Warning: Pregnant women should not take any herbs or use any aromatherapy oil without consulting a medical doctor. The same applies for anyone with a serious medical condition or on medication.

PART 1

HERBS AND HEALTH

CHAPTER ONE

A HISTORY OF HERBALISM

A weed is a plant whose virtue is not yet known.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Flowers, barks, and roots have been used for their therapeutic properties in the treatment of disease as far back as the time of the ancient Sumerians. Simply put, for thousands of years, plants have shown their efficiency as natural healers, and traditional herbal medicine can rightly be called The People’s Medicine. Herbalism is the oldest form of medical therapy in the world. It has no starting point in history, and no culture or country can claim ownership. It just evolved; therefore it can be called a universal medicine. Before the advent of modern medicine, people routinely used plant power to maintain their health and ensure their survival, and herbalism is still in use today in many parts of the world. According to the World Health Organization, there are still around eighty percent of people worldwide who rely on plant medicines to treat and cure disease.

The early history of traditional herbalism and medical botany in the Americas dates back to the early native peoples; in the United Kingdom, we know it dates back to the time of the Druids, who used the simple herbs of the fields, woods, and meadows to cure various human ailments. They believed that the benefits of healing plants were governed by the sun, moon, and the stars, and that the remedies were prepared for mankind by nature herself.

Archeological evidence shows us that early man had an array of herbal cures, and it is from their ancient sacred texts and herbals that many modern medicines have developed, just like modern chemistry, which has its roots in alchemy. The high priest/physicians of Ancient Egypt had a sophisticated knowledge of healing methods, and the Ebers Papyrus, a seventy-foot long parchment written in 1500 BCE, contains references to more than seven hundred herbal remedies. Evidence of medicinal herbs was excavated in 1960 in Northern Iraq in a burial ground dating back thousands of years, and it is amazing that many of these herbal remedies are still in use today, proving that their efficacy has withstood the test of time.

Today we are using the wisdom of the ages when we turn to herbs and plants for our health and well-being. By making a connection with the world of nature we are moving toward a more holistic approach to health care and we are returning to our roots. We have inherited this understanding from a time when no manmade drugs were produced and when drug companies did not obtain the active ingredients, extract them, and then sell them in a marketable form. Herbal knowledge of healing has been built on the successful experience of working in harmony with nature, and today there is a growing awareness that to be healthy we have to make healthy choices and to live within nature’s laws.

We have begun to grasp the fact that most minor or major illnesses don’t just happen out of the blue or because of bad luck. They are the body’s reaction to poor living habits and lifestyle choices. Sometimes there are genetic factors, but we are not under the tyranny of our genes as much as was once believed. With their gentle but profound action, herbal remedies are the ideal solution for many common afflictions such as colds, flu, irritable bowel syndrome, insomnia, and stress.

Much herbal wisdom was lost during the witch hunts of the 17th century, which meant that knowledge of natural medicine went underground, but a useful body of herbal knowledge survived. Medicine advanced and herbalism took a back seat until the New Age era of the 1970s, when people began to reconsider the idea of living within nature. A rebirth in the use of plant medicines has seen people take back their power—and take control of their own health. Pharmaceutical medicine just cannot deal with every demand that is made upon it, and in some areas, society has out-stripped its ability to pay for everything that is needed.

Despite continuing disregard from the medical world, herbs have always had a part to play. The pharmaceutical drug digitalis is derived from the foxglove plant, and is used in the treatment of heart problems. Two successful cancer treatments, Vincristine and Vinblastine, are derived from the rosy periwinkle shrub, which is native to Southern Madagascar, and these alone have saved the lives of many children with leukemia. How many other plants are waiting to be discovered to be used therapeutically? I would say many, since Mother Nature has not yielded up her many secrets and if these are explored, many more healing plants may be discovered.

The ancient herb doctors had sophisticated medical theories of how the human body worked, and they developed a complex set of ideas for the use of medicinal plants. Based on a different philosophical system of hot and cold, herbalists would use hot herbs to treat what was deemed a cold condition and cold herbal compounds in order to cool a system down. In traditional Chinese medicine, this concept of hot and cold herbs is still used.