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 used to treat and prevent illness; botanical means derived from plants. In every society, indigenous fruits, berries, flowers, leaves, bark, and roots of plants have been used to strengthen, soothe, alleviate, and cure. Many pharmaceutical drugs doctors prescribe today are plant extracts. Most of us know some of them.
Scurvy afflicted sailors and explorers on long journeys if their meat and beans diet was not supplemented with fresh fruits and vegetables. The British Royal Navy is credited with learning that fresh lemons and limes could prevent illness and death from this deficiency disease. The vitamin C content of citrus fruits was discovered later.
People may need to know the healthful resources of field and forest someday, as they did during the world wars. The English scoured the hedgerows for rose hips, the red seed pods that are rich in vitamin C and bioflavanoids. They grew carrots for the fighter pilots who needed excellent night vision, and supplemented their own meager rations with dandelion greens and other field and roadside weeds. Ranchers watched the wild animals and learned which tree bark would eliminate worms in their horses. Desert dwellers harvested aloe and jojoba and feasted on many kinds of cactus.
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 today should be ignorant about plants that can serve as food and medicine in emergencies. Learning about the benefits of plants make gardening more fun and a healthy life more possible. The world of growing things is just waiting to be explored and exploited. There are books on the subject, a lot of informative websites, and a long, long tradition of herbal lore to inspire you in this do-it-yourself health program.
Medicine is used to treat and prevent illness; botanical means derived from plants. In every society, indigenous fruits, berries, flowers, leaves, bark, and roots of plants have been used to strengthen, soothe, alleviate, and cure. Many pharmaceutical drugs doctors prescribe today are plant extracts. Most of us know some of them.
Scurvy afflicted sailors and explorers on long journeys if their meat and beans diet was not supplemented with fresh fruits and vegetables. The British Royal Navy is credited with learning that fresh lemons and limes could prevent illness and death from this deficiency disease. The vitamin C content of citrus fruits was discovered later.
People may need to know the healthful resources of field and forest someday, as they did during the world wars. The English scoured the hedgerows for rose hips, the red seed pods that are rich in vitamin C and bioflavanoids. They grew carrots for the fighter pilots who needed excellent night vision, and supplemented their own meager rations with dandelion greens and other field and roadside weeds. Ranchers watched the wild animals and learned which tree bark would eliminate worms in their horses. Desert dwellers harvested aloe and jojoba and feasted on many kinds of cactus.
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 today should be ignorant about plants that can serve as food and medicine in emergencies. Learning about the benefits of plants make gardening more fun and a healthy life more possible. The world of growing things is just waiting to be explored and exploited. There are books on the subject, a lot of informative websites, and a long, long tradition of herbal lore to inspire you in this do-it-yourself health program.
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