Understanding Body Cleansing: The Process of Elimination

Herbs can have what herbalists call a cleansing effect on the body. Herbs that cleanse are herbs that help the body to eliminate built-up waste materials—some people refer to these waste products as toxins. When toxins build up in the body, they can be the cause of many irritating and depleting ailments. Many times, by just cleansing the body, the ailment you were suffering from disappears. This is basically what a cleanse is.

When we cleanse, the toxins will exit the body faster than normal. Therefore, you might expect some extra activity at your body’s exits! These exits are the four elimination channels, which carry off waste products:

1. The bowel
2. The lungs
3. The kidneys
4. The skin

The skin eliminates uric acid waste products through the pores of the skin; the urinary tract carries off liquid waste products; the respiratory system (lungs and sinuses) carry off gaseous wastes and excess mucus; and the bowel eliminates solid waste matter.

This natural elimination process not only speeds up through an herbal cleansing, but it also speeds up naturally if the body is trying to rid itself of a foreign invader, such as a cold virus, bacteria, or a parasite.

The process of cleansing, eliminating, or detoxing may include a variety of symptoms, including a runny nose, a rash, or diarrhea. The mistake that many people make is to stop this natural process with a medication designed to stop or suppress these annoying symptoms. By medicating the symptoms, however, you are actually plugging up the elimination channel and allowing the bug that caused your body the problem to stay inside your body. This can allow the toxins to settle back into your body tissues and cause another problem sometime later. I see this constantly with people who experience recurring sinus infections. When you help the body eliminate its invader, you will help put a stop to this vicious cycle.

Many times a cleanse offers a breath of fresh air to organs that have been suffocated with mucus build-up. The colon, for instance, can harbor wastes that can fester in the body for years—and sometimes even decades. Most people who are in general good health can benefit from an herbal cleansing before starting on a nutritional/herbal program.

Cleansing the bowel and digestive tract periodically will help ensure that nutrients will be more efficiently absorbed and properly utilized by the body. Natural cleansing can consist of a three-day cleanse or several weeks, depending on the type of cleanse and how toxic your body tissues are. The act of cleansing first and then building is like cleaning out your refrigerator before going shopping for more food. Ridding yourself of old, moldy cucumbers and cleaning the bins before you put new, fresh foods back in is a good idea for your body, too.

Many cleansing herbs will be bitter to the taste and are best taken in a pill form.
Examples of some cleansing type herbs include:

• Cascara sagrada Helps clear the bowel
• Burdock root Helps cleanse the blood
• Yellow dock Helps cleanse the blood, liver, and bowel

Building: We’re Going to Pump You Up!

The herbs you use to build the body can also be used in smaller doses to maintain your results. You can use the herbs as foods and nourishment to build and maintain your immune system so that you keep yourself from getting ill in the first place. When you’re weak and need nourishment, you’ll need more nutrients than when you are just maintaining your health. Be ready to take a lot of herbs until you reach that level.

Using herbs as nutrition will help build up and maintain your body and will help protect you from being vulnerable to disease. Most herbs considered building or nutritive herbs will be salty to the taste, which means they have a high mineral content. Minerals nourish your body and help build strong bones, hair, skin, and teeth.
A few examples of building herbs include:

• Alfalfa Rich in minerals; great for structural system
• Horsetail Rich in silica; feeds structural system, hair, and nails
• Kelp Rich in iodine and other minerals; nourishes and builds the thyroid

Usually you will build up with herbs after you go through a cleansing stage. Once the body has rid itself of the old toxins and irritants that were making you feel sick, you are in a much better position to be able to use herbs as foods to nourish your body and maintain your health and vibrancy. So let’s talk about cleaning out those pipes!

Activating Properties

Herbs have activating qualities to them, also known as stimulation. This activation may be needed when an organ of the body is functioning sluggishly or under par. Some herbs have tonifying properties, meaning that they tone the glands or functioning of the body, much like exercise tones your muscles. Some herbs can actually stimulate and support your body to help it do its job better. Activating herbs have a stimulating effect on the body organs and can give you a jump-start on health. This effect might be compared to the feeling of suddenly being pushed into an icy cold pool on a hot summer day. (Now that’s activating!)

These activating herbs are not necessarily used long-term, but they can be a catalyst to helping you recover.
An example of some stimulating herbs include:

• Capsicum Stimulates blood circulation
• Horseradish Stimulates respiratory passages
• Peppermint Stimulates alertness and digestion

How Herbalists Seek Their Answers?

Many herbalists that I know got their start by first seeking answers to their own health issues and found herbs to be their solution. Their experience engaged them in a passionate study until folks began seeking them out for their knowledge and understanding of how herbs can also work for them, too. So, I guess it was about “thyme” for a resurgence of nature and a rediscovery of our responsibility to take care of our families and ourselves. This is one of the reasons why herbs are back in the spotlight once again.

Looking at this table you might think, “Why take all those herbs when I can take a drug in one pill?” There are two answers to that question. First, most companies will offer you herbal products that combine several herbs geared toward a certain condition into one pill. Granted, you will need a few of these pills every few hours, versus one of the OTC (over-the-counter) drugs, but the effects herbs have on your body are positive. Synthetic drugs of any kind can have permanent negative effects on your body and can lead to a damaged liver, kidney failure, decreased immune, and even death.

Second, take a look at the long list of ingredients listed on the back of that package of drugs you wanted to take. You are not getting just one ingredient, but also several chemicals, dyes, and synthetic materials (mostly words you never knew existed) all combined into one pill or dosage. You will also see a list of warnings and cautions to take into consideration. Are you really taking that for your health or for convenience? Why not bear through what you can, while helping your body get well with the use of herbs? Consider using medications when you feel that you must stop your symptoms immediately. Then get home as soon as possible, get some rest, and take your herbs!

Herbs Are Popular Again—It’s About Thyme!

Why we are turning back to home remedies? My guess is that, just like in the pioneer days of the West, people around the globe are realizing that there is not really any magic pill to cure all ills. They may be realizing (if even subconsciously) that we are products of nature, and that surgery and medicines do not change that fact. Many people begin to look for answers elsewhere when their medical treatments don’t prove effective or when physicians do not have all the answers. They seek a kinder, gentler approach to health. Herbs and nutritional information is widely available and is a healthy and safe solution for many.

Since herbs are a safer alternative to medications, many times you’ll get well before you run out of patience and get a prescription for your ailment. Unlike synthetic materials, the body can eliminate herbs if they are not able to be utilized.

If you do experience “side effects” when using an herb, the effects are usually a result
of your body rapidly eliminating wastes. Unless you have a kno

• Headaches: Circulation has been stimulated before the body has been cleansed.Work with your herbalist to go through a cleanse before you begin any herbs designed to increase your circulation. Blood carries waste materials to the head area.
• Rashes: Usually because the blood is eliminating wastes. Try going on a bowelcleansing regimen first before working with herbs that cleanse the blood. wn allergy to an herb, herbs are generally safe. Some common herbal cleansing side effects you could experience include:
• Sinus drainage: Herbs can loosen long-standing mucus deposits. Drainage is common especially if you have had a history of sinus or respiratory conditions. A client of mine went on an herbal program and began feeling mucus draining from her nose, inside her ears into her throat, and experienced many odd sensations in her head, despite the fact that she hadn’t experienced allergies in a few years. After one week of copious drainage, her long-standing congestion was gone for good!
• Nausea: Cleansing of the digestive tract—predominately the liver—is taking place too rapidly. Cut back on the cleansing herbs slightly to slow your cleansing process.
• Vomiting: Cleansing is taking place to rapidly. Handle the situation the same as you would for nausea.
• Diarrhea: Too much of the bowel stimulant herbs can cause diarrhea. Loose stool is different than diarrhea, however, and is a positive cleansing sign. Diarrhea is characterized by griping pain in the intestines, and the stool is predominately liquid.

Herbs with Medicine: Making It Complementary

Herbs work differently than medications. Sometimes herbs have a cleansing or a detoxifying effect (detoxing means to remove toxins from the body). Toxins can be construed as anything toxic, poisonous, or of no positive value to the body.

By strengthening you, herbs can make your body more effective at eliminating foreign substances from your system. Some medications have byproducts that are unnatural to the body (synthetic materials), so the cleansing herbs may lessen the effect of your medications by pushing out these foreign substances.

Conversely, some herbal properties have the same effects as medications and can actually enhance the effects of each other. This can also be a cause for caution. Make sure your prescribing doctor monitors your prescription dosages if taking herbs and medications together. It is always wise to let both your prescribing doctor and your herbalist know any and all supplements and medications you are taking to avoid unpleasant interactions.

I have found that many of my clients who have been on medications when starting on an herbal program have been able to cut back or even eliminate their medication. This has happened with synthetic thyroid medications, insulin, and even antidepressants. However, do not attempt this yourself—supervision by a competent physician is important when working with herbs and medications together. It’s exciting to see how herbs can strengthen the body and lessen the need for drugs. The body is truly a sufficient manufacturing plant, which requires the correct raw materials to keep it running smoothly.

The Difference Between Herbs and Medicines

Fundamentally, the body (via the brain) knows what to do and how to process a whole food, such as an herb, but a drug is a more aggressive substance that forces a chemical change in the body. This is why drugs need to be administered by doctors: They can be dangerous and are deadly substances if used incorrectly. Herbs are much more forgiving. If you overdose on an herb, the worst you may experience is vomiting and a headache. In contrast, drugs need to be taken with much more caution and regulation, as they can cause death when taken in the wrong combination or dosage.

Be smart when taking herbs and medications. Although your herbs may make you feel like you do not need your medications anymore, it is very important to never go off your medications without working with your prescribing doctor. Let me explain why this is so important. Let’s say for example that you suffer from high blood pressure. First of all your body is raising your blood pressure in an attempt to improve your circulation that is being inhibited (many times due to fat clogging the arteries).

Then the doctor gives you a blood pressure medicine that blocks the mechanisms that allow your blood pressure to raise. This is an artificial cure, because now your body really wants to raise your pressure in an attempt to get the nutrient, oxygen-rich blood to all areas of the body. In a sense, your body works harder and pressure builds as the medication works against your body’s natural process. If you suddenly discontinue your medications, the cork can be blown out, so to speak, and your blood pressure can rise to dangerously high levels very fast. (I liken this example to pushing hard against a door to open it and suddenly someone opens the door.)

It is so much wiser and easier use herbs first, to get to the source of your problem, (in this case, cleaning the cholesterol) and have your blood pressure return to normal as your body was designed to do in the first place. This is the natural approach to health and is where many medical doctors and holistic practitioners differ.

Unlike using a synthetic medication designed to suppress a symptom immediately, nature tends to have her own time schedule. Depending on your genetic makeup, you will have to wait for the results, which vary from person to person. Sometimes you will use an herb that works overnight for you, and other times it will take a much longer time to notice changes.

Our bodies all work a little differently. For one person, an herb will work within 20 minutes; for you it might take two weeks. Remember, however, that your body is sick because it usually is missing one or many nutrients. How fast you will notice healing evidence depends on the extent of your deficiency and how long you have been deficient.

Remember that nature takes her time, so hang in there and continue feeding your body the nutrients it needs to heal itself!

Understanding herbs is important

Herbs are beneficial because:

1. Supplying the missing element(s) such as vitamins, minerals, enzymes, essential fatty acids, and other phytochemicals in a concentrated form.
2. Helping the body eliminate built-up toxins that could be causing our ailments. Herbs may aid the body in eliminating these toxins by stimulating the release of excess mucus, urine, compacted bowel material, flushing cholesterol from arteries, and increasing perspiration.

As products of nature, herbs will first go to the area of your body that needs it most. This means that your symptom (the reason you reached for an herb in the first place) may not be eliminated immediately. When using herbs, as with any nutrition, you will have to be patient and know that Mother Nature works on her own time schedule.

On the other hand, I have seen the right herb(s) taken at the right time bring almost instant relief. Either way, most herbs you purchase that are produced by a reputable manufacture are going to be safe to use and experiment with if you are a generally healthy adult. (“Experiment” means that if you are not seeing results, you can try taking more than what the bottle recommends).
This blog been created to help you avoid the hit or miss game:

• To help you understand the possible cause of your ailment(s).
• To introduce you to a new herb for each ailment; you will be introduced to about 100 herbs by the time you are through.
• To help you choose the right combinations of herbs and supplements to ease you through many illnesses.

In the coming pages you will be introduced to many herbs using their most commonly used name, but all herbs have a Latin or scientific name, too. When you are first introduced to specific herbs beginning, you will also be given its Latin name in parenthesis. This is so you can be sure the species that you are using matches the common herb being described. Most herbalists, however, will refer to an herb’s common name.

You can also use this blog as a reference for occasional illnesses after you find yourself a good herbalist to help you create a personalized, daily herbal program. This blog is made to empower you so that you won’t have to call your doctor or your herbalist for every little ache, pain, and sniffle!

Of course, medications have their place in humankind and are responsible for saving lives. However, many medicines fix the symptoms but don’t reach the true source of the problem. The way I see it, you need to cover your bases first before using medications.

Assess your symptoms and see what you body is trying to tell you before you stop your body’s natural processes with a chemical drug. If you have a runny nose, is there something in your environment irritating your sinus cavities? Or did you inhale an incoming bacterium that the nose is trying to rid itself of? Using herbs will help you and your body communicate and will help you become more empowered to take care of yourself.

You should engage yourself in understanding how herbs work with your body so that you can get the most out of your herbal remedies. Sometimes just understanding a little about how herbs versus medicines work might give you the patience you need to get back to health instead of just covering up your symptoms. Remember that herbs give your body the opportunity to heal itself.

The Philosophy of Herbs and Medicines

These days, thousands of people are using herbs before, after, and during theirregular medical treatments to not only enhance their recovery but also to help prevent disease in the first place. Just as we can eat the right foods to help us stay healthy, we can take herbs to produce the same effect.

The only difference is that herbs can usually bring us quicker results, so they need to be used with discretion. The difference in choosing herbs or synthetic drugs to heal the body is really in the philosophy of the user. Herbs are foods that help your body to do what the body is supposed to do naturally. Synthetically derived drugs many times have properties that force your body into a chemical reaction to change, stop, or suppress your normal bodily functions or symptoms.

Many people run to the doctor with every ache, pain, and sniffle, for which the doctor really doesn’t have a cure or a medicine. This is where herbs come in as medicines.
Most of our aches, pains, and sniffles can be effectively “cured” by utilizing some
simple herbal remedies. Herbs can be a safer, healthier, and usually are a less-expensive

solution to many ailments. However, because herbs are not medicines, they will not
necessarily work like you expect a medicine to work. Therefore, you need to understand how herbs do work for you to fully take the ime to benefit from them.

First, we need to have a little different view of our odies. To use herbal remedies, you will need to rust in your body’s innate intelligence. o not take for granted that your body takes over o do its best to digest, assimilate, and eliminate after you eat something. Just think if you had to consciously learn the exact chemistry, physiology, and anatomy that it would take to teach your body and all your cells how to do their jobs. And think of the time that it would take to oversee that process—I’ll bet we would all eat much less if our digestion required a conscious process!

The point is that our body works hard for us every day doing things that we could not conceive of doing if we were suddenly handed the job. When we become more conscious of how hard our body tries to keep us healthy, then we might become a little kinder to it and learn about what we put into it and the effects it will have on us.

People of the Herb in the West

Everyone has a father, and to many Western herbalists, Samuel Thomson is known as the father of herbology. His gift was a deep understanding of nature and Indian folk medicine.

Thomson, born in the 1700s in New Hampshire, was instrumental in leading the public (at least two million followers have been accounted for) in the successful home use of herbal remedies. However, as no good deed goes unpunished, this had its consequences from physicians of the day. Those physicians who were using mercury, arsenic, and other known deadly poisons in their practice—and who were sometimes bleeding people to death—accused Thomson of poisoning people with herbs, many of which are still used safely today. Thomson served at least one jail sentence during his lifetime of helping others.

Thomson believed in nature and people’s capacity to take responsibility for their own health. He had faith that people were intelligent enough to judge for themselves whether a remedy was helpful or hurtful to them—and the people (at least back then) agreed. Thomson cured many with his herbal remedies and was in such demand for his cures that he obtained a permit for his herbal formulas and methods and sold family rights to millions to teach them to use herbs correctly. Thomson’s influence is the basis of much of today’s Western use of herbology.

Another well-known herbalist who was certainly influenced by Thomsonian methods is Dr. John Raymond Christopher (1909–1983). As a baby, John Raymond Christopher had his work cut out for him. He was born with advanced rheumatoid arthritis and walked with a cane and was often confined to a wheelchair. He became interested in natural healing while witnessing his mother’s sufferings with dropsy and diabetes. He once told his mother that he would find a way to heal people without the use of surgery.

With his life filled with unfortunate accidents and ailments, Christopher had plenty of opportunity to experiment with natural herbs and remedies. His faith in the power of herbs was certainly strengthened when he used only natural methods to cure himself of cancer. After years of study obtaining a Master Herbalist designation, naturopathic doctor degree, and an herbal pharmacist degree, he founded the School of Natural Healing in 1953.

This school is currently directed by his son, David Christopher, and is responsible for making Master Herbalists out of thousands of motivated pupils. Dr. Christopher’s herbal formulas are sold by at least five of the largest herb manufactures in the United States, and his life still serves as an inspiration to many.

Herbs Around the Globe

Ancient Egyptians’ favorite laxatives were figs, dates, and castor oil. More than 500 drug remedies were used in Mesopotamia, some of mineral origin. Hebrew medicine included dressing wounds with oil, wine, and balsam. Ancient Hindus discovered the calming effects of an Indian plant that was later made into one of the first tranquilizers in modern medicine.
Indeed, many modern medicines of today were originally made from herbs. Here are few:

• Quinine, derived from the bark of the cinchona tree, was used primarily to cure malaria before the production of synthetic drugs for this use. In 1944, the American chemists Robert Woodward and William Doering managed to synthesize quinine from coal tar.
• Digitalis is a heart-stimulating drug made from the foxglove plant.
• The bark of the white willow tree contains a compound known as salicin, from which a synthesized version has been made called acetylsalicylic acid, commonly known as aspirin.
• Local anesthetics, such as the numbing shot given to you by your dentist, originally was derived from the leaves of the coca plant.

Maybe it was because of China’s ancient religious beliefs against cutting open the human body that propelled them so far into healing with natural medicines. They excelled in acupuncture, herbs, and the understanding of “chi”—life force energy. Today the Chinese still take natural healing very seriously.

Chinese herbal medicine schools are equivalent to the West’s medical schools, requiring years of intense study. Natural methods and more conventional methods of healing are utilized side by side. So why didn’t everyone’s natural health philosophy evolve together and happily integrate with our medical procedures just like the Chinese? Well, the answer is too long to be contained in a fortune cookie, but let’s take a look at how medicine and health care evolved over time.

In the eighteenth century, there began a shift dividing the use of nature as a cure and the use of complicated medical procedures as two philosophies that arose from differing German physicians. One approach believed that the soul is the vital principle and that it controls organic development; the other considered the body a machine and life as a mechanical process. The mechanistic beliefs eventually overpowered German universities and put to rest the philosophy of the four elements and eliminated this idea from medical schools.
Let’s take a look at some of the influential people who popularized herbal remedies in the West.

The History of Herbs and Medicine Around the World

Herbs are used as medicines and nutrition all around the globe. Each culture seems to have its own philosophy and approach to herbal medicine, based on individual cultures and belief systems. And, of course, in different parts of the country, different plant species thrive, so each culture has its own selection of herbs considered sacred or common.

We are lucky to now have the use of transportation channels that provide us unique herbs from all parts of the globe, and we can study or utilize herbs from around the world when we visit our local health food store or herbalist. Some people seem to respond better to traditional Chinese herbs, whereas others do best on Ayurvedic remedies from India; still others respond most to traditional Western herbs. Let’s take a look at a little history from a few places around the globe.

Unmasking Nature’s Secret Codes

Take a moment to look around your yard and outdoor surroundings. If you live in a rural, mountain, or agricultural environment, take a little walk around and see what plants you can identify. The herbs that grow will be herbs that are ideal for your particular area, climate, and soil type. This can teach you something about what you might need since you also live in the same environment. For instance, how many of you have dandelions growing in your pretty green lawn? Plenty I’m sure! But did you know that the dandelion can be used to cleanse the liver, support the urinary system, and work as a mild laxative?

Your liver is a major filter of the body. On a daily basis the liver has the job of filtering environmental toxins, pesticides in your food, chemicals in the water, air pollutants saturated fats in the diet, and excess hormones in the blood. Do you think Mother Nature could be trying to tell you something when she offers dandelions at every turn? Is this her way of subtly offering her help for your liver? Could be, after all, Mother knows what’s best for us.

Of course, before we had advanced technology synthetics and a greater understanding of the body we had nature to look to for answers. Today we have research and science to back up and validate that herbs do in fact work through chemistry. In early days, we relied more on our observations, trial, and error. Technology is finally catching up to what many herbalists have believed and practiced for years and years. Let’s take a look back and see how they came up with some of these uses.

The Doctrine of Signatures philosophy dates back as early as the 1600s and was popularized in the medical field by Paracelsus. This philosophy, now considered nonsense by the medical community, put forth the theory that an herb or plant had a certain characteristic or set of characteristics that would reveal its value to the thoughtful observer. The signature was recognized as several different characteristics of the plant, including its color, texture, shape, and/or the environment where the plant grew.

It would be nice if this theory was completely valid—it would make learning herbology much simpler to the thoughtful observer. However, don’t throw the entire theory away just yet. Coincidences or not, some things can validate this thinking and also help you remember the medicinal value of an herb or plant. For instance, hawthorn berries are bright red berries that are shaped like a heart, and hawthorn berries have been used by many to strengthen and build the heart and circulatory system. We can take many factors into consideration when contemplating an herb and how we might find its value by looking at nature. Some native tribes believe that plants that are poisonous to man will crop up in areas where the soil needs to be replenished.

These plants serve to protect the earth by repelling man. These herbs keep both man
and woman away!
On the other hand, herbs that are extremely resistant to poisons and toxins—including the herb milk thistle, a tall, very prickly plant—grow plentifully in heavily polluted areas, such as near nuclear testing sites. Ironically, milk thistle is used medicinally to help rebuild the liver, which has the job of filtering out poisons and toxins from
our body. Some herbal teachers are very philosophical in nature, and others tend to make herbology more clinical. You can choose to see herbs in whatever way suits you. The important thing to remember is that foods can be your medicine, and herbs are foods.

Water, How Dry I Am

Most of us suffer from chronic dehydration and are not even aware of the problem. Dr. F. Batmanghelidj’s clinical research showed that many ailments—including adultonset diabetes, stomach ulcers, headaches, depression, and general aches and pains—come from chronic dehydration alone.

He discovered that he could cure most of his subjects of their chronic ailments using only water. Here’s a general formula for how much water you need daily: Divide your body weight by half; that number is how many ounces of water you need every day. Remember that a cup of water equals eight ounces. In addition, if you are drinking diuretics such as coffee or beer, you need four cups (or 24 ounces) to every one cup (eight ounces) of diuretic. This is on top of the daily water intake!

This formula is a rough estimate, but it is designed to keep a body hydrated. We loose up to three quarts of water every day just from our breath and our skin. We need to replace that water to remain healthy—most of us are all dried up!
One good thing that herbs will do if you take them in pill form is get you to drink more water! It is imperative that you do drink more water any time you are feeling ill. The extra water you drink will help your body to flush out the toxins, bacteria, and waste products and will help you heal more quickly. Water helps herbs do their job more efficiently, so drink up!

Don’t Eat That!

I also believe in under-eating occasionally. Under-eating occurs when you may want more food, but you discontinue eating anyway. Most of us eat more than we really need, and it takes a lot of energy for your body to digest and assimilate food. Taking a load off your digestive organs once in a while by under-eating or fasting can—and will—help you feel better and will enhance your health.

When you fast (abstain from all food), your body has the opportunity to cleanse itself of toxins rapidly. If you begin to cleanse too rapidly, however, you may feel extremely ill. The toxins from your body may get stuck and form obstructions that can be fatal. So, although fasting is extremely beneficial when done correctly, you should know what you are doing or seek supervision before attempting a long fast. Under-eating by eating about three quarters to one half of your normal portions is a safer way to give your body a break occasionally and will help you maintain your ideal weight.

Some herbs can easily be taken on an empty stomach, just as you would eat a salad; others may make you nauseous. It depends on the herb. Teas seem to work best on an empty stomach. For best results, try eating lightly just before or after you take your herbs, especially if they are in a pill form. This will help you feel the subtle changes that the herbs will have upon your body, too

You Are What You Graze Upon: The Right Diet Helps

Herbs are nutrients, and your body will use what it needs from them. However, herbs should not be thought of as a miracle drug that forces your body to do something or stop doing something that it wouldn’t do naturally. Herbs are your assistants.

They need your cooperation in order to get the best results, so think of herbs as your partners in health. Not that downing your handful of herbal pills with your beer and pizza doesn’t have any value at all, but your herbs will be better utilized if you take them with a proper diet. What do I mean by a “proper diet”?

The simplest way to think about eating healthy is to think whole, raw, fresh, vineripened, organic fruits and vegetables; grains such as rice, millet, barley, and rye (don’t eat wheat as your only grain—mix them up!); and organic, raw (if possible) dairy products in moderation.

Herbs or Vitamins: What’s the Difference?

Vitamins are important in many cases—in fact, I have included a few helpful supplements for each ailment discussed in future chapters because many herbalists use other supplements in their practices along with the use of herbs. These supplements may be used in cases of great deficiency, or may even add an enhanced effect to your herbal program. Other natural supplements that will be mentioned in this book you might consider along with your use of herbs are:

• Bacteria (usually referred to as acidophilus or bifidophilus)
• Enzymes
• Essential oils
• Homeopathics
• Vitamins
• Minerals

Because herbs are plants, they contain vitamins and minerals. Therefore, once you recover from your ailment, your need for the extra extracted vitamin supplements may decrease if you are using herbs as a part of your daily nutritional program.

Next let’s check out the real difference between a vitamin supplement and an herb.
Foods from the earth are whole foods, which contain all the elements needed to sustain our body and maintain health. Herbs contain usable forms of vitamins and minerals from nature. For instance, natural forms of vitamin C can be found in many herbs, such as rose hips; rose hips provide many other substances such as vitamin A, vitamin E, rutin, B-complex sodium, calcium, selenium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin D, and zinc that herbalists believe enhance the positive effects of the vitamin C. Vitamins, on the other hand, are extracted from the whole plant and are used as an isolated substance.

Herbs provide the entire plant and all its constituents (minus the bug parts). In other words, you get Mother Nature’s full meal and not an extracted piece of it. So trust in your “Mother” to feed you correctly and provide you with everything you need to nourish your body. Mother Nature has lots of things to teach you, so honor thy mother if you know what’s good for you!

Herbs as Nutrition

As foods (or wild vegetables), herbs contain nutrients and phytochemicals just like any other plant food.
Phytochemicals is a fancy word for chemical compounds from plants, such as plant hormones and other food substances, that we obtain nutritionally when we ingest the plant.

Because we rely on our foods to provide the body with the right chemicals needed for fuel and nourishment, it is important that our plants get what they need to be healthy so that they, in turn, will become nutritious foods for us. If you are what you eat, then why eat a plant that is lacking? Unfortunately, we are finding that the majority of our commercially grown fruits and vegetables are an “empty harvest” and lack significant nutritional value.

To sustain the growing population, farmers have resorted to mass produced agriculture, which depletes the land of top soil. Top soil is where most of the nutrients and minerals are located to nourish growing crops. This problem is why many are turning to herbs to supplement their diets. Even when our diets are considered “good” diets by American standards (that is, diets with lots of fruits and vegetables), the majority of us realize this is just not enough. Growth hormones used to genetically alter fruits and vegetables are not producing more nourishment—they are producing more fiber.

Have you ever compared the taste of a homegrown tomato and a commercially grown one that has been genetically altered to look pretty, grow quite large, and be almost un-squashable? Which do you think tastes the best? Which do you believe provides you with more nutrients? These altered fruits and vegetables are produced to be larger, firmer, and brighter than what nature provides. If these foods provided everything you needed for health, then none of us would be experiencing as many ailments as we suffer from these days, nor would herbal remedies, supplements, and natural health care be such a growing industry (no pun intended!).
The good news is that herbs serve as concentrated forms of nutrition and can help make up for many food deficiencies.