Rimedi Naturali con le erbe medicinali

Herbal remedies for irregular menstruation

If ailments are not severe and the gynaecologist doesn’t decide to intervene with “massive-dose therapy”, then you can use herbs for small adjustments.

Low menstrual flow - decotion: 10 g (0.35 oz) of fennel seeds boiled in 400 ml of water for 10 minutes. Let infuse for 8 minutes, drain and drink 3-4 cups per day.

Amenorrhea (if menstruations do not appear for some months but you are not pregnant) - tincture: 20 g (0.70 oz) of yarrow blossomed ends to soak in 100 ml of 95% alcohol for 8 days. Drain and take 20 drops, 2-3 times per day, one hour before main meals.

Very abundant flow - decotion: boil 100 g (3.52 oz) of fresh equisetum in a covered pot for 30 minutes. Drain and drink half a cup during the day.

Irregular and painful menstruations - infusion: 35 g (1.23 oz) of capelvenere leaves, 25 g (0.88 oz) of sage leaves and 10 g (0.35 oz) of mint. Mix and use 5 g (0.17 oz) of this mixture with 150 ml of boiling hot water in a tea cup. Drink 2-3 tepid small cups per day after meals.

A remedy against menopausal disorders

To fight melancholia, hot flashes, dizziness and other troubles typical of this delicate period, here are some great plant remedies:

Infusion: 35 g (1.23 oz) of passionflower plant, 15 g (0.52 oz) of absinth ends, 15 g (0.52 oz) of orange flowers and 15 g (0.52 oz) of chamomile. Mix and put 5 g (0.17 oz) of this mixture in a cup with 250g of boiling hot water for 20 minutes. Drain and drink two small cups per day.

Decotion : 25 g (0.88 oz) of ash leaves, 20 g (0.70 oz) of asparagus root, 15 g (0.52 oz) of mistletoe leaves, 10 g (0.35 oz) of cuscuta. Make boil 10g of this mix in 350g of water for 10 minutes.
Drain and drink 2 cups per day between meals.

Tincture: soak 15 g (0.52 oz) of passionflower in 100 ml of 65% alcohol for 8 days. Drain and take 20 drops three times per day.

Remedy against insomnia with basil

Basil Infusion: Put 6 g (0.21 oz) of basil flowers and leaves in a cup. Pour 200 ml of boiling hot water and let infuse for 15 minutes. Drain and drink 2-3 small cups per day.
Or even: with the same quantity of water you can use instead 10 g (0.35 oz) of veronica leaves and ends.

Or even decotion to sleep well: 5 g (0.17 oz) of chamomile, 5 g (0.17 oz) of hop flowers, 5 g (0.17 oz) of hawthorn flowers. Mix and boil 4 g (0.14 oz) of this mixture in 100 ml of water for 5 minutes, cover and let infuse for 10 more minutes. Drain and sweeten with honey. Drink it hot before going to sleep.

Or even tisane of flowers: 40 g (1.41 oz) of linden flowers, 40 g (1.41 oz) of chamomile, 40 g (1.41 oz) of primrose flowers, 40 g (1.41 oz) of lettuce leaves. Mix and pour 5 g (0.17 oz) of this mixture in 100 ml of boiling hot water. Cover and let infuse for 20 minutes. Drain and sweeten with milk. Drink one cup before going to sleep.

Flu treatment and the cold at early symptoms

At early symptoms: put 3 g (0.10 oz) of chamomile flowers in a cup. Pour 250 ml of boiling hot water and cover. Let infuse for 8 minutes, drain and drink 3 cups per day. To increase its effectiveness, add a spoon of cognac to this infusion.

As treatment: 10 g (0.35 oz) of rosemary, 10 g (0.35 oz) of sage leaves, 1 spoon of honey, 500 ml of white wine. Boil for 10 minutes in a bain-marie, drain and drink 50 g (1.76 oz) per day.

if you have cold too: one or two coffee spoons of laurel berries per day. Put directly into your mouth and swallow.
Or even: 10 g (0.35 oz) of eucalyptus leaves in a cup. Pour 200 ml of boiling hot water and let infuse for 15 minutes. Drain, sweeten with honey and drink two hot cups per day, in the morning and at night.

Natural healing remedies for children

A baby’s red bottom, a sudden bellyache, the acetone or a grazed knee. These disorders are very frequent during childhood and can be healed with natural remedies. And our babies will prefer them to “real” medications.

Acetone
If your baby is predisposed to acetone, there will probably be recurring attacks.

How to prepare herbal remedies

The first thing to know to learn healing yourself with natural products is the difference between a tea and a decoction, a juice and an extract. Here is how to move deftly among leaves and dried flowers, strainers and mortars.

TEA
The word refers to the kind of preparation which extracts active ingredients from the plant. There are three main ways of preparation: infusion, decoction and maceration.

The sage that saves

This is an aromatic plant which can be found in every kitchen garden and can be grown also on your windowsill. Only leaves and flowers are the parts used.
The name sage comes from “saving” and, consequently, it’s normal to expect this herb to be helpful.
Sage actually can be used as stimulating for blood circulation; it favours nervous system equilibrium: it should be used by people suffering from anaemia, nervous breakdown and convalescent people.
For its astringent properties, it’s used against every type of haemorrhages.
But that’s not all; it heals gout, kidney disorders, rheumatism, oedemas, urinary retention.
Sage has antiseptic and healing properties. Therefore it heals injuries, gingivitis, tonsillitis, teeth abscess, sores and it’s also a good febrifuge.
However we must not forget it also makes your skin beautiful and is useful also as tonic lotion for rubbings against hair loss.
Finally a sage leaf rubbed on you teeth whitens and makes them shine.
You can find fresh sage, from spring to autumn at every market gardener; you can always buy dried sage at the herbalist’s. However, growing it at home is not difficult; it’s necessary to have a small place in the sun.

How using it

A remedy for constipation

Costiveness:
In the night, before going to sleep, put on your bedside table a glass of tepid water and soak 3 or 4 dried figs in it (or even prunes).
The following morning, drink the water and eat the fruits.
After few days of this treatment, you will feel much better and completely healed!

The numerous virtues of garlic

In the Middle Ages it was used to fight fever, to heal deafness and phthisis. Do you think it’s too much?
The truth is that where garlic is mostly used people are healthier, long-lived and less subject to severe affections.
Garlic, actually, is an excellent antiseptic and is able to kill bacteria as no other vegetable.
It’s also a good regulator of gastrointestinal functions and can be used against diarrhoea, stomach cramps and difficult digestion.
It’s an effective vermifuge acting against tapeworm, ascaris and pinworms.
Reputed regulator of blood circulation, garlic effectively fights high blood pressure and arteriosclerosis; it reduces cholesterol and is a good antidote against nicotine poisoning and all the pollutants we breathe today.
That’s not all: garlic is excellent to heal liver disorders, gout, sciatica, dizziness, “hot flashes”.
Excellent regulator of hormonal glands, it acts in a very wide range of cases helping our physical equilibrium.

After so many praised virtues here is the defect: its odour, which gets acrid and intolerable when it is exhaled in breathing. What can we do?
The simplest remedy is

Remedies for rheumatism with heather

Calluna vulgaris is also known as common heather, ling or simply heather.
Its flowers have a corolla divided into four parts and enclosed in a lilac-purplish calyx, which is then enclosed in a green calyx. It’s the most widely known species, the one covering granitic areas like a carpet in autumn.
Heather is a cure against rheumatisms and to eliminate the surplus of uric acid, due both to a bad functioning of kidneys and kidney stones, even when joints are already affected. Moreover, heather can be helpful in many cases of urinary ways infection (cloudy urines, cystitis, blenorragia, painful disorders, suspect leaks).

Harvest
Heather can be found along the roadsides, in the woods or in uncultivated fields at the end of autumn. Gather flowers when they are still in bud: they can be kept very well for months if you arrange them in bunches and hang them in the attic. Heather can be grown in the garden too, in spring in a sandy and rich of humus soil.

Preparation and use

Precious onion - syrup healing colds

Onion, a humble bulb, is very precious plant.
It’s stimulating for gastric functions, disinfectant for the bowel and an excellent remedy for people suffering from liver disease.
Onion is used to prepare a syrup healing colds, raucousness and similar disorders.

Onion syrup: Boil 40 g (1.41 oz) of onion in 100 ml of water. Let it simmer. Then drain the liquid and sweeten with honey. Put on a low fire and cook until getting a syrup.

A remedy against sore throat

Here is a precious recipe if you want to avoid taking usual drugs, when you have a sore throat:

boil 100 g (3.52 oz) of rose leaves in 1 l of water and add 100 g (3.52 oz) of honey.
Use this decoction to have a gargle and to drink it hot.
Suggested doses are 4-5 cups per day.

The mistreated stinging nettle

The so much despised stinging nettle (Urtica), easily recognized by everybody, has many reputed virtues.
It’s excellent to rub tired hair. Boil nettle roots with a bit of vinegar.

Excellent also for gourmands if used to cook an omelette: boil 300 g (10.58 oz) of nettles in a little salted water. Drain and chop them.
Break 6 eggs in a bowl, add 50 g (1.76 oz) of parmesan, salt and pepper.
Whisk carefully and add chopped nettle. Cook into a non stick pan with 30 g (1.05 oz) of butter.
Very good!

Medicinal Herbs to be banned in Europe on May 1st 2011? The Italian Herbalists Federation point of view

Here I issue a press release written by FEI (Federation of Italian Herbalists) through which it aimed at settling the growing concern about the Directive 2004/24/EC of the European Parliament and Council of 31 March 2004 following the alarming news spread on the Internet and that are now spreading on social networks too, such as Facebook.
This is FEI point of view:

Purifying cure for eczema and the whole body

The Dulcamara is a plant with deep green leaves, 5 petaled violet flowers (in June-July), and small red berries in autumn.
Plant apreciated already from 500bc, when the ladies used it to make their skin whiter.
It is harvested in autumn, taking the older, woody branches with yellow-green bark, dried and kept in an airtight container.
The decoction is purifying, remedies chronic phlegm and eczema.

It is prepared by putting in a quart of water 20 grams of the plant's twigs cut into half and lengthwise. The twigs are boiled and left to infuse for 20 minutes. You can drink a glass with an empty stomach and the rest during the day.
Those who suffer from chronic catarrh, or eczema, should use this decoction in spring and autumn.
You will see soon that the cough disappears, the kidneys reoperate and your skin will be smooth and clear.
The name is dulcamara (bittersweet), and you will notice that the taste is just that, sweet and bitter together, not good, and difficult to counter, but that's the only drawback.

Recover from a hangover with onions

If you have drunk too much, the onion has the property to combat the effects of excess alcohol.
For this reason, the workers in the market of Paris were accustomed, in the cold nights when they drank a little too much, to close the evening with a great onion soup.

Swollen legs and water retention .... onion again

The properties of the onion are so many, that you can add one at a day to the list.
In fact, in quality and quantity the onion properties are not inferior to those of the garlic, from which differs in its strong diuretic action.
Eating several times a day onions raw or cooked (never fried) has a diuretic effect, ideal for those who suffer from fluid retention, and resulting problems such as the swollen legs,ankles and feet.

Remedy for sweaty hands

One of the many properties of the sage (the Greeks called it "sacred herb"), is also to limit the perspiration due to weakness.
In order to avoid the embarrassing inconvenience of wet hands, you can make a decoction by boiling a handful of sage leaves in a quart of water. Pour the fluid into a container with hot water where you will soak your hands 2 times a day, morning and evening.

Lighten your freckles with erica carnea

Make a decoction with 5 pinches of heather flowers in a pint of rain or distilled water, and apply on freckles, it has the power to minimize them.
If the heather flower doesn't grow in your region, replace it with asphodel: wich you will pound to a pulp and apply with a gentle massage on you freckles.

Erase dark circles, traditional folk remedy

Usually after a sleepless night there are two purple bags under the eyes.
The remedy to erase dark circles is a classic popular cosmetic, buffer your eyes with cotton pad soaked in tilia tea (known for its decongesting properties).
The infusion can be made by adding 2 pinches of dried flowers of tilia in a cup of boiling water, leave to cool, filter and it's ready to be used.

Against dandruff and hair loss

To stop the formation of dandruff and hair loss, and also to increase hair growth, you can soak for 20 minutes a handful of nettle leaves in a quart of hot vinegar.
Use this lotion by rubbing it on your hair after shampooing.
For those who live in the city you can use instead of leaves dried nettle roots, that you will let macerate (about a handful) in a liter of grappa under the sun for 15 days.

A "Magic Potion" for the cough

Mix 35 grams of dried figs, 20 grams of lemon balm leaves, 15 grams of flowers of Centaurea, 15 grams of sage and 15 grams of licorice root.
Boil 10 grams of this mixture in 300 grams of water for 10 minutes.
Drinking 2 cups a day between meals, is a magic way to alleviate cough.

Decrease the onion smell

Since we often mention the onion in our recipes, here is a method to reduce the only drawback of this vegetable, when used in the kitchen, which is the smell, caused by the high content in sulfur.
Just leave the onion slices in water acidulated with lemon for several minutes.

Keep your tan, a herbal method

A natural way to keep your tan, or delay the fading, is to apply warm compresses soaked in a strong infusion of black tea twice a day.
After the application dry very well and moisturize your skin.

Looking tired, remove the signs of exhaustion

The new year's partying can certainly leave a mark on your face, shadows, wrinkles ... not to mention the rest of the year.
To restore the skin's freshness, make an infusion with a handful of thyme leaves in a quart of boiling water and leave it for a while to brew. Then apply with cotton pads on your face, erasing the traces of fatigue.

Asthma, smoke datura stramonium

Stramonium is a herbaceous plant with smooth, cylindrical and branching stalk, the leaves are large with irregular teeth.
The flowers are large white, funnel-shaped.
This herb is useful in case of asthma, in fact, the whole plant, dried, can be smoked in a pipe as a sedative for bronchial asthma.
You can also mix dried sage leaves .
Be careful, stramonium is toxic.

Sweeter lactation

The mothers that eat fennel produce sweeter milk for their children.

foto under CC by Island Vittles

Herbalist in kitchen - taraxacum

The dandelion is very good cooked, boiled and eaten with oil and lemon.
You can also drink a glass of the remaing water with an empty stomach, it's purifying.

Heal cracked, cut and dry lips

To cure dry lips and cuts that may appear due to the cold dry winter, mix a drop of lavender essential oil with one teaspoon of honey.
Massage the lips with the paste to help them absorb it. Keep it on as long as you can and wash it off with a damp cotton pad.