All through history, people have sought ways of staying healthy or recovering from illness. Our rich herbal tradition is testimony to centuries of experimentation, observation, and conclusions. As medical doctors and drug manufacturers began to dominate health care, this ancient wisdom was dismissed as 'folk lore'. However, continues use as well as scientific research continues to validate the benefits of botanical medicine.
Medicine is something used to prevent and treat disease. 'Botanical' means derived from plants. In all cultures, people have discovered that flowers, leaves, berries, roots, and bark have strengthening, soothing, and curative properties. Many pharmaceutical drugs prescribed today are derived from plants. Most of us are familiar with some botanical remedies.
Other remedies are familiar. Limes and lemons were discovered to prevent and reverse scurvy, an illness that affected sailors on long sea voyages or explorers in arctic regions. Long before Vitamin C was isolated, citrus fruits were carried along to prevent bleeding gums, loosened teeth, muscular weakness, and eventual death from this deficiency disease. This disorder was unknown to people on shore who had access to fresh fruits and vegetable.
During war time, rose hips (red seed pods) were collected and used as a source of Vitamin C, the nutrient that prevents scurvy. Carrots were fed to fighter pilots to boost their night vision. These were local and renewable sources, as were dandelion greens and other wild foods. Ranchers in the American west used the bark of certain trees to worm their horses. Desert peoples found aloe soothing for the skin and healing for the stomach.
Today there is a large market for herbal remedies. Midwives send mothers-to-be to health food stores for red raspberry tea (uterine toning), ginger (morning sickness), or herbal iron supplements. Nursing mothers take fenugreek to boost milk production. Insomniacs seek out chamomile, passion flower, and hops. People fight fatigue with blue green algae, guarana, ginseng, and gota kola.
Tea tree oil from Australia is almost a household word today. Neem from India, cat's claw from South America, chlorella from Japan, eleuthero from Siberia, olive leaf from the Mediterranean - the list is seemingly endless. Every country has its natural wonder drugs from the fields and forests.
Plants are food as well as medicine. Herbs are essentially vitamin and mineral rich plants that have properties that can boost or restore well-being. There is an old saying: 'Food is the best medicine'. This is true, especially when people take the trouble to learn which foods are truly nutritious. In general, eating plants in their fresh, whole state or in carefully prepared dried or extract form is best. When foods are processed, maybe to make them more palatable or shelf-stable, they often lose their beneficial nature.
No one, even the medical profession, denies that plants are medicinal. Learning which garden-grown or wild-gathered plants are good for us - and good for what ails us - is sensible and may even one day be life saving.
Medicine is something used to prevent and treat disease. 'Botanical' means derived from plants. In all cultures, people have discovered that flowers, leaves, berries, roots, and bark have strengthening, soothing, and curative properties. Many pharmaceutical drugs prescribed today are derived from plants. Most of us are familiar with some botanical remedies.
Other remedies are familiar. Limes and lemons were discovered to prevent and reverse scurvy, an illness that affected sailors on long sea voyages or explorers in arctic regions. Long before Vitamin C was isolated, citrus fruits were carried along to prevent bleeding gums, loosened teeth, muscular weakness, and eventual death from this deficiency disease. This disorder was unknown to people on shore who had access to fresh fruits and vegetable.
During war time, rose hips (red seed pods) were collected and used as a source of Vitamin C, the nutrient that prevents scurvy. Carrots were fed to fighter pilots to boost their night vision. These were local and renewable sources, as were dandelion greens and other wild foods. Ranchers in the American west used the bark of certain trees to worm their horses. Desert peoples found aloe soothing for the skin and healing for the stomach.
Today there is a large market for herbal remedies. Midwives send mothers-to-be to health food stores for red raspberry tea (uterine toning), ginger (morning sickness), or herbal iron supplements. Nursing mothers take fenugreek to boost milk production. Insomniacs seek out chamomile, passion flower, and hops. People fight fatigue with blue green algae, guarana, ginseng, and gota kola.
Tea tree oil from Australia is almost a household word today. Neem from India, cat's claw from South America, chlorella from Japan, eleuthero from Siberia, olive leaf from the Mediterranean - the list is seemingly endless. Every country has its natural wonder drugs from the fields and forests.
Plants are food as well as medicine. Herbs are essentially vitamin and mineral rich plants that have properties that can boost or restore well-being. There is an old saying: 'Food is the best medicine'. This is true, especially when people take the trouble to learn which foods are truly nutritious. In general, eating plants in their fresh, whole state or in carefully prepared dried or extract form is best. When foods are processed, maybe to make them more palatable or shelf-stable, they often lose their beneficial nature.
No one, even the medical profession, denies that plants are medicinal. Learning which garden-grown or wild-gathered plants are good for us - and good for what ails us - is sensible and may even one day be life saving.
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