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| Be Your Own Herbal Expert - Part 1 | |
Herbal medicine is the medicine of the people. It is simple, safe,
effective, and free. Our ancestors knew how to use an enormous variety of
plants for health and well-being. Our neighbors around the world continue to
use local plants for healing and health maintenance. You can too.
Learning About Herbs
Information on herbs and their uses has been passed down to us in many ways:
through stories, in books, set to music, and incorporated into our everyday
speech. Learning about herbs is fun, fascinating, and easy to do no matter
where you live or what your circumstances. It is an adventure that makes use
of all of your senses. Reading about herbal medicine is fascinating, and a
great way to learn how others have used plants. But the real authorities are
the plants themselves. They speak to us through their smells, tastes, forms,
and colors.
Anyone who is willing to take the time to get to know the plants around them
will discover a wealth of health-promoting green allies. What stops us?
Fear. We fear that we will use the wrong plant. We fear poisoning ourselves.
We fear the plants themselves.
These fears are wise. But they need not keep us from using the abundant
remedies of nature. A few simple guidelines can protect you and help you
make sense of herbal medicine. This series of short articles will offer you
easy-to-remember rules for using herbs simply and safely. When you have
completed all eight parts of this series, you will be using herbs
confidently and successfully to keep yourself and your loved ones
whole/healthy/holy.
Survival is a Matter of Taste
Virtually all plants contain poisons. After all, they don't want to be
eaten! Because we have evolved eating plants, we have the capacity to
neutralize or remove (through preparation or digestion) their poisons. Not
all poisons kill, and even poisons that are deadly often need to be taken in
quantities far larger than can easily be obtained from foods. (Apple seeds
contain a lethal poison but it takes a quart of them to cause death.)
Our senses of taste and smell are registered in the part of the brain that
maintains respiration and circulation - in other words, the survival center.
Plants (but not mushrooms) advertise their poisons by tasting bad or
smelling foul. Of the four primary kinds of poisons found in plants -
alkaloids, glycosides, resins, and essential oils - the first two always
taste bitter or cause a variety of noxious reactions on the oral tissues,
and the last two usually do, especially when removed from the plant or
concentrated.
Sometimes the taste of the poison in a plant is hidden by large amounts of
sweet-tasting starch. Fortunately, human saliva contains an enzyme that
breaks down these carbohydrates, exposing the nasty taste of the poison.
Since even tiny amounts of some poisons can have large effects, for safety
sake, take your time when tasting.
Safety First
Because our sense of taste protects us against poisonous plants, it is
always best to take herbs in a form that allows one to taste them. Consuming
just one plant at a time, with as little preparation as possible, gives us
the greatest opportunity to taste poisons and is therefore the safest way to
use herbs.
One herb at a time is a "simple." When we ingest a simple herb - raw, cooked
as a vegetable, brewed fresh or dried in water as a tea or infusion, steeped
in vinegar or honey, dried and used as a condiment - we bring into play
several million years of plant wisdom collected in our genes. When we ingest
many plants together, or concentrate their natural poisons by tincturing,
distilling, or standardizing, we increase the possibility of harm. Powdering
herbs and putting them in capsules is one of the most dangerous ways to use
them, especially those containing poisons. For ultimate risk, play with
essential oils; they are far removed from the plant, very concentrated, and
as little as one-quarter ounce can kill.
Safety Second, Too
In the next installments we will continue to learn how to use herbs simply
and safely. We will explore nourishing and tonifying herbs, the difference
between fixing disease and promoting health, how to apply the three
traditions of healing, and how to take charge of your own health care with
the six steps of healing.
Experiment Number One
You will need the following plants, all of which contain poisons that you
can taste: a head of lettuce (taste the leaves and the core separately),
some black or green tea (unbrewed), a fresh dandelion leaf, strong chamomile
tea (steep it overnight), a can of asparagus, some fresh mint, a spoonful of
mustard seeds, and a bottle of vanilla extract.
Approach tasting a plant as you would tasting a wine. Begin by inhaling the
aroma. Release the bouquet by squeezing the plant until your fingers are
moist (or chew briefly and spit into your hand). Do you feel enticed,
repelled, or neutral? Does your mouth water? Does your throat clench?
Observe how you react to the smell. Does it sting your eyes? Irritate your
nasal tissues? Do you want to taste it?
We do not gulp our wine, nor do we merely wet our tongues; for best effect,
taste and smell a reasonably large piece, but don't stuff your mouth. As you
chew, move the plant material around in your mouth. Roll it around with your
tongue. Make contact with it for a full minute but DO NOT SWALLOW. No, no,
spit it upon the ground, or into your hand, or the sink, or wherever you
can, but do not swallow. SPIT IT OUT.
What do you feel now? In your stomach? Your throat? Your head and nose?
What is your gut feeling? What sensations accompany the taste of this plant?
It is best to wait until the previous taste is completely gone before going
on to the next plant. If you are doing advanced work with wild plants, wait
at least a day before you use or consume the plant in case you have a
delayed reaction to some component.
Experiment Number Two
Taste as in experiment one, but use these inedible (poisonous) parts of
common foods: lemon inner rind, apple seeds, rhubarb leaves, lettuce root,
the inner soft pit of a peach.
Experiment Number Three
Taste as in experiment one, these poisonous plants (fresh or dried):
wormwood leaf, goldenseal root, yellow dock root, Echinacea root, eucalyptus
leaf, motherwort leaf.
Experiment Four
Aromatic plants are rich in essential oils. We often use them to season and
preserve food. In small quantity, these oils are not harmful, but
concentrated, they threaten the liver, kidneys, and life itself. Smell and
taste, as in experiment one, as many aromatic plants as you can: thyme,
rosemary, oregano, lavender, sage, orange peel, cloves, cinnamom, nutmeg.
Brew strong teas (steep overnight) of these plants and taste. Can you see,
smell, or taste more essential oils? Smell or taste one drop of the
extracted essential oil of any of these plants.
Further study
1. What is an alkaloid? Medicinal plants often contain groups of
alkaloids. Name seven plants rich in alkaloids (specify the part); then name
at least three of the alkaloids in each plant.
2. What are glycosides? Name at least four glycosides and describe
the effect each has. Name seven plants rich in glycosides; specify the part
of the plant and the kind of glycoside.
3. What are resins? Name four or more plants (specify part) rich in
resins.
4. What are essential oils? Name a dozen or more plants rich in
essential oils (specify part).
5. What is the difference between a poison and a medicine? Are all
drugs poisons?
Advanced work
² Give the botanical name (genus and species) for each plant you named
in the further study section.
² Taste a variety of plants that grow around you. Warning: It is
possible to experience uncomfortable or harmful effects from this
experiment. A book on poisonous plants can reassure you that the plants you
taste will not kill you. It is best not to put plants such as poison ivy or
poison oak in your mouth. DO NOT TASTE HOUSEPLANTS.
Susun Weed
PO Box 64
Woodstock, NY 12498
Fax: 1-845-246-8081
Visit Susun Weed at: www.susunweed.com and www.ash-tree-publishing.com
For permission to reprint this article, contact us at: lynpb@powerup.com.au
Vibrant, passionate, and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an international
reputation for her groundbreaking lectures, teachings, and writings on
health and nutrition. She challenges conventional medical approaches with
humor, insight, and her vast encyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine.
Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and enthusiastic lectures are engaging
and often profoundly provocative.
Susun is one of America's best-known authorities on herbal medicine and
natural approaches to women's health. Her four best-selling books are
recommended by expert herbalists and well-known physicians and are used and
cherished by millions of women around the world. Learn more at
www.susunweed.com
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RESOURCE BOX - Susun S. Weed
Be Your Own Herbal Expert - Pt 1
by Susun S. Weed, author and herbalist. Write to: lynpb@powerup.com.au for
permission to reprint this article.
Visit http://www.herbshealing.com for 300+ pages of women's health articles,
recipes, and women's wit and wisdom.
Menopause Metamorphosis. http://www.menopause-metamorphosis.com Gentle solutions
for body, mind, and spirit: alternative approaches, herbal remedies, wise
woman support. Your body knows more about menopause than your doctor does!
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