Natural herbal remedies, a traditional medicine: July 2011

Prepare an after-dinner drink and an appetizer with marjoram

Marjoram blossomed ends are gathered between July and September, cutting the plant at 10-15 cm from the ground.
Marjoram is well-known for its digestive properties, its stimulating effect for gastric juices and appetite, its ability to stop fermentation and relax painful contractions due to colitis and gastritis.

You can use it to prepare a digestive wine: let blossomed ends dry, grind them up and soak in 1 l of white wine for 5 days. Drain and keep in closed bottles.
Drink a small glass of it before meals as appetizer, or after meals as digestive wine.

Getting rid of under eye dark circles

Compresses of rose water warmed in a bain-marie are a simple but effective remedy to reduce dark circles around your eyes.

Face lifting with sorrel

Rumex Acetosella is very commonly found in the gardens and looks like clover.
As for cooking tips, use it mixed in salads to replace lemon juice.
Or flavour your dish putting a handful of sorrel in rice soup.

As mouth disinfectant: chew some sorrel leaves.

To make your face skin firmer and avoid its wilting: make a decoction boiling 40 g (1.41 oz) of sorrel acetosella root in 1 l of water for 5 minutes and then let it stay for 5 more minutes.
Drink a cup in the morning, 1 during the day and 1 in the night for 20 days.

Check contraindications and do not overdose or use it longer than necessary since sorrel can be toxic.

How to treat asthma: a prodigious method

As already stated before, herbal remedies can quite always reduce the symptoms of a disease, while the causes must be surely found elsewhere. If we are convinced that we started having that rash after a negative feeling, or that blood pressure increased as a consequence of a stressing period, or that taking a drug to heal an allergic asthma we are treating the symptom but not the cause of this allergy which suddenly appeared in our life for no apparent reason; then, if we realize all these things, our suggestion is to study properly, and if possible in depth, the themes covered by the fascinating theories of Doctor Hamer New Medicine.

Then, since we are dealing with the way to treat and heal more or less severe symptoms and disorders, I suggest you a very effective remedy against asthma. However, since I do not deal with phytotherapy, I refer to the twin website (automatically translated by Google): Effective remedy for asthma

Stomach upset and cold shocks: the typical “Canarino” (lemon decoction)

In case of cold shocks to the stomach or congestions, what is better than the classic recipe based on lemon, known as “canarino”? (Typical lemon infusion, italian name).
With this classic remedy success is assured.

So, if after a meal you feel sick, dizzy and pale, you probably have a stomach block; if you also feel nausea, headache, then you quite surely have had a cold shock blocking your digestion.
Actually, in this case, the most helpful thing you can do is drinking a canarino: it’s a decoction prepared with chopped pieces of lemon peel (paying attention to strip off the white part) boiled in a pot of water. Drink it very hot. It’s very effective.

Drugs-herbs deadly pairings

Here we deal with the possible harmful interaction between normal drugs (which you are probably taking for a particular therapy) and herbal active constituents, which are almost the same of those present in drugs and will consequently multiply their effect.
If you occasionally use phytotherapic remedies or you make a “light” use of them, that is you prepare infusions, macerated herbs ecc…, then you will not have great problems. The problem arises in case of prolonged use and dried extracts, nux vomica and Chinese herbs.

However, be careful about deadly pairing (starting from analysing this article). The most dangerous are the following:

If you are taking aspirin or other anticoagulants, - DO NOT use Ginkgo Biloba – since it would increase the anticoagulant effect by causing a risk of haemorrhage.

If you are taking anticoagulants such as warfarin – DO NOT use garlic often and repeatedly, DO NOT use Dong Quai (angelica sinensis), DO NOT use Danshen (Chinese sage) – since, in this case too, you could risk haemorrhages.

If you are taking corticosteroids or diuretics – DO NOT take liquorice, since in the first case it would cause high blood pressure while, in case of diuretics, it would cause water retention.

If you are taking corticosteroids, anticoagulants, oral antidiabetics (such as chlorpropamide or metformin) or estrogen hormones (like those used to treat menopause) – DO NOT use Ginseng – since associated with corticosteroids administration, it would cause very serious side-effects too; associated with anticoagulants it would cause risks of thrombosis; associated with antidiabetics it would cause glycaemia and finally associated with estrogens administration it would increase their effects.

If you are taking antidepressants (such as fluoxetine or paroxetine) – DO NOT take hypericum –
since it would cause very serious side-effects. In case of association of cyclosporine with hypericum there would be rejection effect.
It’s reported to have interactions with indinavir, warfarin, digoxin and theophylline. Do not use in case of oral contraceptives intake too since they could loose their effect (cases of recovery of periods are reported).

If you are taking antidepressants – DO NOT use Yohimbina – since it would cause high blood pressure.

The list of harmful interactions with drugs is much longer. These are only the most deadly pairings. Thus, it’s always better to consult the doctor to explain him the phytoterapic therapy you want to start.

A diuretic remedy to purify kidneys and heal the gout

Use dried birch leaves to prepare a homemade and great diuretic having no side-effects and causing no dangers to kidney. Let leaves dry in the shadow.
It’s an infusion increasing urination and it heals gout and dropsy.

Diuretic birch infusion: 50 g (1.76 oz) of birch dried leaves chopped in 1 l of boiling hot water.
When the infusion is warm, add a tip of a tsp of baking soda which helps the extraction of birch active ingredients.

A remedy against stomach swelling

Fennel seeds infusion is a classic remedy for stomach swelling.
Boil a tbsp of seeds in a cup of water, drain and drink it everyday after meals. A one week long treatment will be enough.

Miraculous appetizer and after dinner-drink with yellow gentian

Yellow gentian, which is not the one with beautiful light blue flowers, is a perennial plant growing to 1 m tall, with a green and erect stalk.
Flowers are yellow and grow at the top forming narrow petals. They blossom between June and August and fructify in September. It grows on calcareous soils, on mountains or hills.
It’s gathered in autumn and spring and the root, which can be of a length of 60 cm and yellow inside, is mostly used.
The root must not be washed and it must be dried in the sun. After rubbing it, to throw ground away, cut into pieces and bind into bunches.
It’s kept then in hermetic pots in dry places, since with humidity and water, the gentian acts like salt, that is it absorbing.
It has eupeptic properties and stimulates appetite. Therefore, it’s really good to drink macerated as appetizer or as after-dinner drink after meals.

Appetizer and digestive infusion (maceration): in a glass of cold water, let 5 g (0.17 oz) of gentian root standing overnight. The morning after it will be ready and you can sip it during the day.

This drink will surely have a very bitter taste. That’s why someone may prefer
bitter wine: 30 g (1.05 oz) of gentian root, 60 ml of alcohol, 60 ml of wine in a glass pot. The day after, add 1 l of white or red wine and let it soak for 10 minutes, shaking sometimes. Drain and put in a bottle.
Drink a small glass of it before meals as appetizer and after meals as after-dinner drink.

photo by anisn.it

Garlic natural antibiotic properties

After big meals, chewing some pieces of garlic can be a remedy if you feel bloated and nauseated. The effect is assured but the odour in your mouth will last for some hours.

Garlic is then a potent natural antibiotic: the principles of garlic kill viruses and let body necessary bacteria untouched. Actually it’s very helpful to prevent and treat the early symptoms of flu, cold and sore throat.

Rubbing garlic on the skin helps against swelling and insect stings pain, but it’s also a way to prevent them.
If repeatedly rubbed on the skin, it allows a rapid healing of spots and injuries.

Mallow to eliminate fats

Besides its therapeutic properties and mainly disinflammating applications, mellow can be used in cooking. You can eat its leaves as spinach, or use it to prepare a salad or an omelette.

As for the diet, mallow eliminates fat: for example, make a decoction with a handful of fresh leaves boiled for 5 minutes and drink it on an empty stomach.

Mint to stimulate your mind

Mint can be successfully used in cooking: for omelettes, fried courgettes, sauces and tea.
One of its effects is “activating” the mind but it’s not stimulating.
Dried and powdered mint can be sniffed to treat colds.

How to reduce swelling with mountain celery: recipe

Mountain celery (levisticum) is a potent diuretic, more effective than common celery. Its roots are slimming.

Diuretic Infusion: a handful of celery leaves in 1 l of boiling hot water for 20 minutes.
Drink a cup of it before meals and one in the morning on an empty stomach.

A handbook on some officinal plants toxicity

Even though people often think that “natural means safe”, officinal herbs too have their side-effects and their toxicity. Particularly, it’s necessary to be careful about their interaction with drugs taken at the same time, and patient’s potential pathologies must be taken into consideration. Thus, on the one hand herbs can treat a disorder but, on the other hand they can also cause complications.
Patients allergic to aspirin, for example, must not take compounds based on Willow, Poplar and Birch, just because they contain acetylsalicylic acid.
Therefore always get first medical advice on the suitability of a phitoterapic treatment in relation to your pathologies and, if not possible, be always careful about the general indications of this handbook before using a recipe you think may be suitable for you.

Let’s pass to analyse the side-effects of the most widely known medicinal plants.

Garden sorrel, simply called sorrel (acetosa), is used to treat the skin for its purifying and remineralizing action; roots, leaves and stalks are the parts used.
Its leaves can also be used to flavour food, such as meat, fish, tomatoes, lentils, eggs, potatoes…
Do not cook sorrel into iron pots.

Sorrel is not recommended for people suffering from gout, arthritis and rheumatisms.

Infusion to treat acne: 20 g (0.70 oz) of fresh leaves in 1 l of boiling hot water for 10 minutes. Drink a cup in the morning and one in the night.

Soup for fever: boil 40 g (1.41 oz) of sorrel leaves, 20 g (0.70 oz) of lettuce and warts, 10 g (0.35 oz) of spinach and chard.
After cooling, add a pinch of salt and 20 g (0.70 oz) of butter.
It’s a recipe dating back to Renaissance.

photo by Marinella Zepigi

A remedy for stinging nettles

In case you get stung in the nettles, wild spinach leaves (called Paruk in the valley of Bergamo - Italy and maybe also elsewhere) are a handy remedy.
The floury part of the leave rubbed on your skin can alleviate pain.

Alcoholic after-dinner drink based on peppermint

50 gram (1.76 oz) of carefully washed mint leaves (it grows in the meadows, along roadways, in the gardens and can stay in a pot) 250 g (8.81 oz) of sugar, 1 l of grappa. Put these ingredients in a dark bottle for 20 days and shake it every 1-2 days. Drain and drink as digestive-drink after meals.

Plastering cracked ribs

Using pine resin: it’s gathered from spring to summer from cut branches, or making a small cut in the bark (a small one, since making it bigger the pine would die). Let it leak for some days, then collect with a knife and put in a container where it will last for years.
In case of cracking ribs or bones (not broken), or even in case of infections due to thorns, take a little bit of resin, put in a small pot with a little bit of wine and make it fluidify on a low fire. When it becomes liquid, pour it on a wool cloth. Put it warm on the sore part and bind to keep it steady.
The resin hardens, absorbs the pain and acts like a plaster allowing the movement. According to the tradition, it comes off only when “pain goes off”. Throw the cloth away.
The resin can be used also as a plaster for backache (once again the tradition says the resin can move up and down but it must not be touched since “it’s following the pain”).

An excellent after-dinner drink with gentian and sage

Soak 80 g (2.82 oz) of sage leaves and 20 g (0.70 oz) of gentian root in 1 l of white wine for 10 minutes.
Drain and you will get a very good after-dinner drink. Drink a small glass after meals.

Sun-rash healing with cucumber

In case of burns, peel a ripe cucumber and rub the inner part of the skin on the burn. It will give you relief.
It’a a great classic of cosmetics: squeeze a cucumber, take the juice, apply it with a gauze to your face in the night. It’s a real beauty mask.

Mallow makes life longer

Mallow leaves and flowers have soothing and calming properties.
Ninon de Lenclos (who lived in the XVII century), who was famous for her untouched beauty and for fascinating a lot of suitors even when she was 80 years old, assured that this privilege was due to the fact that she used to drink a mallow tea every night.
Was this an anti-aging elixir?
Anyway mallow action clears the complexion.

How to treat psoriasis

It’s not easy and taking some drugs is not enough.
On the contrary, since we are dealing with this disease, the most important and honest suggestion I can give you is reading carefully all the information you find in the link of the section “Friend Link”, called Doctor Hamer New Medicine.
Maybe there you will find some answers and enlightenments on the possible causes… here, on the contrary, we only deal with the annoying symptoms which can be soothed.

Hoping it has beneficial effects, I suggest you to drink 3 or 4 cups of this tea every day. It’s prepared with a handful of chamomile, one of dogtooth and one of sage, infused in 1 l of boiling hot water for 5 minutes.
The same infusion can be used in warm compresses to put on the skin affected by psoriasis.

Stimulating baby’s appetite

Your baby doesn’t want to eat? Here is an empiric method you can try: finely grind some chamomile flowers and add sugar for half the weight of flowers.
A tsp of this powder dissolved in some water and given to the baby before meals, will act as an appetizer and will stimulate his appetite.

Anti-stress treatment

Try to prepare this calming tea if you feel really stressed and exhausted, rather than taking a tranquillizer:
This mixture is made up of:
4 parts of orange leaves and flowers, 3 parts of passion flower, 1,5 parts of linden, 1 part of chamomile flowers, half a part of fennel seeds and half a root of valerian.

Buy and gather these herbs. Then keep them in a wooden box or a matt glass pot. Pour 2 tsp of this mixture in a cup of boiling hot water, cover and let it stand for 5 minutes.
It’s recommended to drink a cup of this infusion twice per day, in the morning on an empty stomach and in the night before going to sleep.

And then, twice per week, you can have a bath adding linden flowers decoction (boil a handful of linden leaves and flowers in 1 l of water for 10 minutes), which acts on skin nervous endings and makes wrinkles disappear.

Blackheads and excessive transpiration: sage remedies

We have spoken a lot about sage action for liver, bowel and stomach disorders, as well as for throat, teeth and gums inflammation (external use for gargles).

And it’s also used as cosmetic remedy for your face care (applying an infusion), in case of asphyxial skin and blackheads.
Sage bath is very refreshing, deodorant and calming for excessive transpiration.

By the way, in case of insect stings, rubbing a leave is enough to give relief.

To fight face fluff with celandine

Celandine is also called tetter wort since, as widely-known, the yellow juice coming out of its stem, is a very good remedy against warts and verrucas.

However, here we deal with the cosmetic properties of this herb which can be used against face fluff: rub the fresh juice on the face and let it act for some hours. Then rinse with abundant warm water and rub your skin with some rice starch talc or with hypericum oil and chamomile.

Pot marigold against age skin spots and diseases

Calendula is a big daisy growing in the fields and phytotherapy uses all its parts: flowers, leaves and stems. However, it’s effective only when it’s fresh. It has always been known for its astringent, perspiratory and diuretic properties. It has recently been acknowledged to be effective also for some serious disorders.
Used externally, it often treats skin diseases for which antibiotics and corticosteroids were ineffective.
It can treat skin ulcers and verrucas.
As for cosmetics, the application of fresh pot marigold juice on your hands makes them velvety and helps removing age spots. On the contrary, using the oil every night helps healing chaps.
Pot marigold bath is moisturizing.

Menopause and skin irritations: yarrow remedy

Yarrow tea (achillea) can be very helpful against irregular menstruation flow, whites during the age of development, and above all disorders of menopause such as irritability and moodiness. It’s prepared with fresh or dried flowers, gathered when it’s very sunny (sunlight increases the quantity of essential oil).

Yarrow bath, together with balm and lime, soothes skin rashes and irritations.
Yarrow oil, on the contrary, is very good to rub on the skin affected by rosacea.

Natural herbal remedies, a traditional medicine