study notes 1/3-7/2011

This is how I look for hours every day.

The week is spread before me in joyful anticipation. I spent the morning organizing my study schedule. Absolutely loving how these little maps keep me moving forward without stress.

Update: would babysitting my angelic granddaughter 5 hours per day be considered a side track. Maybe, but what a wonderful blessing.

Update: It's only Wednesday and I've finished everything on the list for this week except 52 pages in Durrant and 1 ch. of anatomy. I start studying around 8 and go to 11 each day. My desire to accomplish this goal is very high as is my desire to be a great grammy. It seems on a good week, I can do both. We'll see what happens during a face plant week. But hurray!

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy + Bluestockings Economics-The wage/price spiral is a result, not a cause of inflation. Inflation is caused by printing more money. the level of wages and prices cannot rise unless someone creates more money. Wage/price controls never work because they don't stop the money supply from increasing. Large increases in the supply of money are always followed by a rise in wages and prices, while large decreases in the supply of money are always followed by a fall in wages and prices.

The socialist/communist idea of taking from each according to ability and giving according to need cannot work. Highly productive individuals are and have always been the minority. The less productive are the majority. After some time, the high producers tire of pulling the low producers along. The high producers become low producers. Who wants to work hard if it gets them nowhere? Authorities institute punitive, compulsory labor laws. Socialism is a living death for all except the authorities and their pets. A better plan is liberty and enterprise, where each person is free to chose and responsible for those decisions. Highly productive and enterprising individuals get ahead and employ those not so willing to take risks. Of course those that take the risks get further ahead than those that do not, but that is the payoff for taking risks.

Runaway inflation is hyperinflation, where priced rise rapidly, every few hours.  Depression is the correction period following an inflation and usually includes a lot of business failures and unemployment. Recession is the beginning of a depression that never went all the way.  Deflation is a decrease in the amount of money and usually causes depression and falling prices.  The business cycle is the see-saw activity of government inflating and deflating the money supply.

Roots of American Order-"Someone said, 'The dead writers are remote from us, because we know so much more than they did.' Precisely, and they are that which we know." T.S. Elliot  Aristotle and Plato believed there existed not real dividing line between politics and ethics. The community of friendship advocated by Aristotle is an American ideal--reconciling of the classes and interests an objective of both. Aristotle's praise of the middle class was a kind of endorsement of American society. America was held together by a religious bond stronger than any the Greeks or Romans had known; by a Christian faith that worked on individual and family, rather than through a state cult.

Memmler's Human Body in Health and Disease-I'm still in the review stage of my learning with this book and took only a small portion of time reviewing my 2 chapters this week.

A Basic History of the United States Vol. 1/Clarence Carson-Recent history is not more important than the distant past, because it is impossible to tell how one got somewhere without knowing where one came from. All events and circumstances play a part in future events and circumstances, culturally, religiously, ethically, and so on. Long past events hint at what will happen in the future. The colonial period lasted some 169 years or approximately eight generations from the first English settlement to American independence.

People are considered civilized, when they subscribe to order. Usually, those considered civilized have some type of city at their center.  Civilizations throughout history rise, decline, decay, and disappear. This has been evident with Greek, Roman, Persian, Aztec, and other traceable civilizations. In the Middle Ages a high civilization did exist, as evident in the writings of Dante and Assisi and the building of great cathedrals. It was the time of the first reformation. The Renaissance paved the way for the second Reformation, because this was the time of individualism. People learned to speak Greek and read original Greek manuscripts. Later editions of original works may become corrupted. Classes tended to disappear on some levels during this time in Europe, because of the growth of trade and cities. Living in towns, men were freed from serfdom. Trade often brought wealth and independence.  Because men saw themselves as individuals instead of parts of larger groups, they were free to explore new worlds and discover new things. Also religious reformation caused great contentions among citizens, thus providing colonists for newly discovered lands. Columbus was a success. Although he has been much maligned in late years, he did much for the expansion of civilization. True, like his Spanish royal sponsors, he wanted wealth. But unlike them, he sailed unknown waters for a higher purpose to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Right or wrong, he succeeded in the latter. Although it wasn't his goal, he found lands that were rich in culture, plants, and natural resources much more valuable than gold.

The Five Thousand Year Leap-According to Samuel Adams, one way to identify a true friend of liberty is to identify one who promotes civic virtue and only votes for wise, virtuous people. "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." Proverbs 29:2  The founders wanted citizens to qualify themselves for public office with public virtue backed by private virtue or natural aristocracy, an aristocracy of virtue, talent, and patriotism. The founder's view of the whole subject of politics was best put into words by Cicero: "For there is really no other occupation in which human virtue approaches more closely the august function of the gods than founding new States or preserving those already in existence." Benjamin Franklin described the biggest weakness that tempt people in public office, money. Franklin prophesied what would most likely happen to paid public officials over time; they would oppress the people with high taxes. "There is scarce a king in a hundred who would not, if he could, follow the example of Pharaoh--get first all the people's money, then all their lands, and then make them and their children servants forever. The founders' efforts to prevent public offices from become monetary attractions was to keep the salaries low and to encourage gratis public service.

The Story of Civilization Volumes 1-11 by Durrant (Durrant is not recommended for young people, since the world view is on the atheist side. Adults who have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ will not be harmed by the thorns among the roses here. The writing style is delightful this time through. The first two times I read it, I could not concentrate at all. This time it flows melodically and makes me laugh. So far the first 20 pages don't offer anything new except entertainment. Because I need to read 54 pages per day, this is really great.

The development of civilization is presented in an atheistic world view. Since I am a Christian, I do not agree with the author's scheme of evolution of these institution. The Biblical tradition of the family from the creation of Adam and Eve is my truth, whereas Mr. Durrant's examples drawn from primitive societies, is speculation. Does this guy really believe all this negative stuff about marriage? If so why was he married to the same woman for 70ish years. Did he really believe that monogamy was and is slavery? I tire of Mr. Durrant's conclusions with very little evidence at the beginning of this book and will be glad to get to the real history parts based on original documents and not speculation.

Botany in a Day

Botanists and scientists use Latin for naming plants, because it is not an evolving language. A single initial in front of a species name (Example: E. angustifolia) indicates an abbreviation of the genus name. The abbreviation spp (Example Pinus spp.) is used to indicate species plural. An herbalist uses the classifications of subfamily or tribe if the family is especially large or its members are sufficiently distinct.

Different habitats support different life forms. Changes in climate and other changes make conditions suitable for different forms. 90% of plants associate with fungus in the soil.  80% of plants could not survive without this relationship. Earth is covered with 2/3 water and 1/3 land.  Land contains twice as many plant species as the ocean.

Mosses and liverworts are in the Bryophyta division. One medicinal use of a plant from this division is club moss spores or vegetable sulfur. This waxy, water-repellant, sooling substance is soothing to diaper rashes, bed sores, and herpes eruptions.

Pine, cycad, cypress, ginko, and sequoia are some plants in the Naked Seed division. Their seeds are slightly exposed to the air and are fertilized by pollen landing directly on their surface. Flowering plants have an ovary and become “enclosed seed plants.” Some plants produce fruits for seed transportation.

             

The dicotyledonous class has the largest number of species.  Aster is the most advanced dicot plant family.   

           

When attempting to identify a plant, it is important to determine if it is in the Composite (Aster) family first. The aster family is the largest family of flowering plants in the northern latitudes. Important details to write down in order to identify a plant later are: division of the plant kingdom, monocot or dicot, aster or not, and flower profile. Flower parts always occur in rings, and always in the same order.  Flower parts in the order they occur are sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils.It is possible to have sepals and no petals in a plant.

5.  Botanists and Herbalists use plant keys to correctly identify plants in the field.  Pay special attention to the plant you are trying to identify and note the flower parts, leaf configuration, and color.  Determine the family and compare with example members.  

Lichens are a symbiotic relationship between algae and fungi. Club moss of the fern division have homeostatic properties. Horsetail produces fertile grass joints and infertile horse tails. 3 medicinal actions of Horsetail include diuretic, astringent, and nutritional (calcium.) Cones, needle leaves, and resinous are words used to describe the Pinaceae family. Most pines are expectorant. Dr. Christopher uses, Juniper, a member of the Cypress, in his kidney bladder combination. Juniper's medicinal action is diuretic.

study notes 12/27/-31/2010

woman reading in a study by Mary Ferris Kelly

I got to study 6 hours this week. Things are looking up.


Memmler's The Human body in Health and Disease Anatomy is the study of body structure. Physiology is the study of body functions. Pathology is the study of disease.

Cell-living matter is derived from simple chemicals which are formed into complex substances that make living cells. Tissue-specialized groups of cells Organ-tissues that function together System-organs that work together for the same general purpose.

Integumentary or skin-protection-as Dr. C would say it is a hermetical seal against unwanted invaders.

Skeletal-support and protection

Muscular-movement

Nervous-coordination and control

Cardiovascular-circulation of nutrients, chemicals, and oxygen

Lymphatic-circulation, brings fluids back into the blood, helps with absorption of fats

Respiratory-nutrition-takes in oxygen and eliminates carbon dioxide

Digestive-nutrition and fluid balance-intake nutrients to feed cells of the body

ATP, Adenosine triphosphate, is bodily energy currency.

Homeostasis occurs when the body maintains a state of internal balance: temperature, body fluid composition, heart rate, respiration rate, blood pressure, and elimination. Homeostasis maintained through feedback, a control system based on information returning to a source.

The three main body planes are frontal or coronal, which divides the body posterior and anterior, sagittal which divides the body in half right and left, and transverse or horizontal, which divides the body top and bottom at the navel.  

The term metabolism refers to all life-sustaining reactions that occur within the body. The reactions involved in anabolism assemble simple components into more complex ones. The reactions of catabolism break down substances into simpler components, generating energy in the form of ATP. THis energy can be used to fuel cell activites. The maintenance of a constant internal body state, now as homeostasis critical for health. Different body parameters, such as body temperature and blood glucose concentration, are kept constant using negative feedback. conversely, positive feedback does not keep a body parameter constant. Instead, it reinforces the stimulus. This form of feedback facilitates dramatic events, such as childbirth. Tissues function together as organs. Glands that produce hormones belong to the endocrine system. The eyes are located superior to the nose. Fluids contained with cells are described as intracellular. The cavity that contains the mediastinum is the ventral. The foot is located inferior to the knee. The levels of organization in the body from simplest to cmost complex are molecule, cell, tissue, organ, organ system, and organism.

The nervous system and endocrine system are used to coordinate and control stimuli in the body. The nervous system made up of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves make up a complex network wherein the body controls and coordinates sense organs and receives outside stimuli. These electrical impulses are sent to the brain for processing and direction. Memory and reasoning are also part of this system. The endocrine system encompases several glands that share a similar function, producing and regulating hormones to control groth , metabolism, and reproduction.

An internal state of balance is maintained in the body by homeostatis. Homeostatis uses a method called negative feedback similar to a home thermostat. when the temperature falls, the thermostat triggers the furnace to turn on and increase the temperature; when the house temperature reaches an upper limit, the furnace is shut off. In the body, a center in the brain detects changes in temp and starts mechanisms for cooling or warming if the temperature is above or below the average set point of 98.6. When glucose increases in the blood, the pancreas secretes insulin, which causes body cells to use more glucose. Increased uptake of glucose and the subsequent drop in blood sugar level serve as a signal to the pancreas to reduce insulin secretion. The secretion of insulin is reversed because of the insulin's reaction. The self-regulating feedback loop is used in the endocrine system to maintain proper levels of hormones.

The ventral or anterior cavity contains the thoracic cavity diaphragm, abdominal cavity and pelvic cavity. The Dorsal or posterior cavity contains the cranial and spinal cavities.

A disease at the chemical level can affect organ system functions. For instance, if the body cannot assimilate iron, it cannot make adequate blood. This in turn starves the cells of nutrients and oxygen. This may cause difficulties for the heart, brain, or any other major organ system.

I love Dr; Fuhrman's member center lectures. This particular one happens to coordinate with my anatomy/physiology class. Reviewing the Basics of Metabolism, Hunger and Catabolism: Understanding the critical relationship between hunger and food addiction. DF explains that anabolism means to build things up or sort of fill up the gas tank. Meaning, we eat a meal and fill up our metabolic tank. Catabolism breaks things down. Like a car it uses the stored energy from the fill-up to make the body go. Also like a car catabolism produces toxic by-products that need to be eliminated from the body. If we try to eat again before catabolism is complete again and again, we produce toxic symptoms in the body that many believe are signals of hunger: stomach discomfort, head ache, irritability, dizziness, fatigue, and nausea (sounds like what many of us believe is hypoglycemia and is not). True hunger is signaled by a subtle discomfort in the top of the body centered around the throat. It is a good thing to allow our bodies to work through toxic hunger into true hunger. Drinking additional water and fasting helps with this process and allows the liver to clear itself of stored glycogen and other toxins. Additionally, the cells are allowed to release excess toxic materials. Once the body detoxifies, it is entirely possible and desirable to live on less food less often. Also building muscle mass helps to alleviate toxic hunger symptoms as does reducing body fat.

herbal, nutrition, and other study notes...12/13-17/2010

I have to finish 4 short essays on any herb I want to know better, focusing on history and usage. I'm choosing Ginger, Cinnamon, Sage or Thyme, and Elecampane. 

Ginger · Zingiber officinale Family: Zingiberaceae

Although I’ve always known about Ginger because of my love of curry, stir fry, and gingerbread, its use as a medicinal herbal was unfamiliar. Because we are namesakes, this knobby root is special to me. While most believe medicinal herbs come from the garden and wilderness, like chaparral, valerian or comfrey, we can look to our kitchens for remedies, too. Cumin, cayenne, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, parsley, and so many common food flavors are there for our easy use. Let’s explore ginger. 

Ginger has been used for centuries as a medicine and is native to Asia. Scribonius Largus, the military surgeon of Emperor Claudius, carried it the Roman expedition to Britain in 43 AD. Francisco de Mendosa, successfully naturalized it to America, spurring a new industry that in 1547 exported 22,053 cwt. to Europe. Why is ginger so valuable that Spaniards and Romans carried it with them on perilous journeys?

Ginger is used for variety of medicinal purposes, and is additionally used as a delicious addition to the diet as a preventative. Antibacterial, antiviral, circulatory stimulate, anti-inflammatory, diaphoretic, antispasmodic, antiemetic, antifungal, anti-clotting, carminative, anti-arthritic, analgesic, and anti-tussive, ginger can also act to kill E. coli, salmonella and shigella present in foods. Curry, a dish that depends highly on ginger, was developed in various warm climates where food-born pathogens thrive. Microscopic life perishes in the presence of ginger and other picante spices.  In cold climates, ginger serves a different purpose. It makes a warming tea that can prevent colds and flu by stimulates immune activity. Ginger is expectorant, thinning mucous, reducing inflammation, relieving pain, producing sweating, stimulating white blood cells, and finally clearing respiratory infections. Amazingly, burns respond very well to a fomentation of the juice of ginger, which relieves pain, reduces inflammation, and provides antibacterial protection to broken and blistered skin.

As with garlic, ginger reduces hypertension, removes plaque build-up, reduces serum cholesterol, thins blood by inhibiting platelets from adhering, and diminishes atherosclerosis. Remarkably, ginger dissolves plaque and blood clots with the enzyme zingibain. Similar to pineapple’s bromelain, enzymes from ginger have anti-inflammatory properties. Nutritionally, its antioxidant activity rivals vitamin E. Similar to cayenne, a daily cup or two of grated fresh ginger steeped in honey and lemon juice can virtually eliminate digestive issues such as parasites, sour stomach, nausea, and constipation. Its capsaicin and curcumin also relieve the pain of arthritis, blocking prostaglandins and leukotrienes, when applied as a topical salve. 

Although ancient Asians and Roman armies probably didn’t understand all the properties of ginger, they knew it helped stomach aches and cured colds. Spaniards may not have been aware that it protected the heart, but they knew it helped to hide the flavor of spoiled meat. In this day of scientific research, we are learning more and more of the benefits of this wonderful plant. God placed it on earth for the benefit of man for different reasons in different locals. It is easily obtainable and ought to become part of every medicine chest and daily supplement plan. Lets eat all the spicy Thai Tofu Curry and Punjab Moong Dal we can!

Cinnamon (Laurus Cinnamomum, Cinnamomum aromaticum, Cinnamomum cassia, Cinnamomum zeylanicum) 

Family: Lauraceae 

Another common kitchen spice that doubles as a medicinal herb is cinnamon. Cinnamon is an anciently discovered joy. Stories tell of colossal birds, known as Cinnibird, Cynnamolgus, Cinnamologus or Cinomolgus, that brought cinnamon to the earth. An Arabian ledgend tells the story that these birds built their nests into cliffsides using sticks of cinnamon they brought from the land whence they came. The Arabians were enchanted by the smell of the cinnamon sticks. Tricking the Cinnibirds with a free lunch of huge chunks of oxen meat layed near the nests, the Arabians hoped the weight of  the meat would cause the nests to fall and allow them to plunder the captivatingly scented sticks. Because both Aristotle and Pliny the Elder wrote about the legend, cinnamon was obviously part of Greek and Roman life.

When we are done baking cinnamon rolls (with the mucusless diet, we’ll never bake them again), we can use this yummy spice for medicine. Cinnamon is analgesic antiseptic, astringent, anti-spasmodic, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-microbial, anti-parasitic, anti-viral, anti-nausea, anti-flatulent, anti-diarrheal, carminative, hypoglycemic, promotes perspiration, sedative, and stimulates the uterus. Like Ginger cinnamon can have different uses in different areas of the world. It is a main ingredient in curry dishes of India, where keeping meats fresh is a problem. Not only does it hide the taste of spoiled meat, it kills the pathogens that grow on raw meat such as E. coli, salmonella, and so on. Since it is warming and combats flu and colds, it is no wonder that Western Cultures us it for baked goods that are traditional during winter months.

An infusion of cinnamon bark makes a delicious alternative to hot chocolate that prevents and heals most winter time ailments. Since it promotes perspiration and is quite warming, cinnamon helps build a fever, when the body is invaded by pathogens. Some herbal infusions and decoctions are horrible in taste; these useful but difficult herbs are helped by using cinnamon as a base to mask the taste. Additionally, herbs used to fight winter ailments including boneset, catnip, echinacea and goldenrod are all improved in flavor and medicinal value with a bit of added cinnamon.  To aide poor digestion such as, constipation, gas, cramping, indigestion, nausea, and diarrhea, try an infusion of ginger and cinnamon with honey and lemon. Because cinnamon increases circulation to the digestive tract, it feeds and soothes the muscles that help everything move along. The same infusion or one made simply of cinnamon also stimulates circulation in the outer extremities, which alleviates the pain of Renault’s syndrome and warms chronically cold hands and feet. It chases away the awful chills of cold and flu. Gum disease, toothaches, tooth decay, discoloration of the teeth, and bad breath are improved, when cinnamon is consumed regularly and used as a tooth powder. Because cinnamon is a uterine stimulant it should not be used medicinally by pregnant women. However, it is wonderful to drink cinnamon infusion during labor to increase the quality of contractions.  It is a miracle for menstrual and afterbirth cramps.

Whether the ancient Arabs discovered cinnamon by tricking mammoth birds or not, delicious cinnamon has been part of the culinary and herbal tradition of many cultures worldwide for millennia. Spice traders made a killing fighting for control of the cinnamon trade. As late as the eighteenth century, the Dutch monopolized the trade of wild cinnamon. The year 1776 not only saw the declaration of American freedom, it was also the year of cinnamon freedom or the year cultivation of cinnamon was successfully carried out.  Cinnamon has a long, delicious, and glorious tradition.

nutrition, herbal, and other study notes 12/6-10/2010

Green Pharmacy- Chapters 21-30-The Industrial Revolution brought the poor working class out of the slums and away from herbal medicine. Legislation on public health and sanitation became a major factor in the late 1800's for the decline of infectious disease. Older village women used herbs as medicine in England during this era. Horehound, marshmallow, agrimony, elecampane, coltsfoot,  garlic, and comfrey were deemed obsolete, quaint or trivial medicines by Dr. Mushet in his article in “The Practitioner.” The AMA got most of their funding from the Carnegie foundation. This same Carnegie Foundation paid for the Flexner Report, which contained biased and greatly exaggerated claims against Eclectic medical schools.The main focuses of the Allopathic educational curriculum were laboratory sciences especially pharmacology, anatomy, bacteriology, physiology, and pathology.  Botany and nutrition were ignored.The Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations fund a significant portion of the allopathic cause today.

Compound 606—a dye containing arsenic—was used to treat syphilis in the early 1900's.  Jaundice, kidney disease, optic atrophy, anaphylactic shock, arsenic dermatitis, and death were side effects discovered after numerous people had been treated with this compound. There was not much difference between the drugs used in 1870 and the drugs in 1932, fifty years later. The most urgent problem facing the doctors in the early twentieth century was infection. Sulfa drugs signaled the beginning of “the great drug therapy era.” In 1928 Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. Four of the “magic bullets” that came out between 1939 and 1949 were streptomycin, aureomycin, chloramphenicol, and cortisone. In America, war with Germany (WWI) and the nullification of several German patens because of the war triggered the competition between pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs. In the late 1990s, the cost of bringing a new chemical drug to market $260,000,000 and took 10-15 years. In the opinion of the medical profession on the use of herbs for syphilis and acute infection, plants would not continue to provide badly needed drugs.  Plant research was not funded, because it could not be patented and exploited. There was no profit in it. In the New York Metropolitan Hospital study, garlic worked the best against tuberculosis out of the 56 treatments studied. Because it had been so thoroughly exploited and debased by the patent-medicine vendors of the nineteenth century, being associated with Indian medicine give herbs a bad name.  

Maud Grieve and Hilda Leyel were responsible for the “gentle revolution” in England that brought herbal remedies to the forefront once again. There was a crucial shortage of herbs in England after 1914, because they didn’t grow many of their own but relied on imports from the continent. Garlic was praised to the skies as an antiseptic by medical doctors during this time. Sphagnum moss used for surgical dressings during the war. Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich, enthusiastic for all things Aryan, raised fold traditions, including herbalists and alternative medicine, to nearly religious status. The drug-plant industry was encouraged as a patriotic duty, new chairs in pharmacognosy were created in universities, and learned papers explored its significance. In 1933, a law was passed granting to naturopaths and herbalists almost equivalent status with qualified doctors and surgeons. The American Medical Association claimed they spent ‘fortunes’ on its national congresses on health quackery by 1968.It is quite strange how the medical establishment in the United States acts in a gestopo like fashion against anyone who dares teach against pharmaceuticals.  Nathan Podhurst ran a little herb shop for his deceased brother’s widow in San Francisco, where the brother’s-in-law book on the use of said herbs was also sold. The FDA raided the shop and burned the books. Additionally, forced him to remove one after another herbal tincture and remedy from his shelves. The herbal industry treated with such prejudice, because it takes customers away from the multi-billion dollar prescription drug industry which underwrites the very existence of the AMA. The AMA has successfully brainwashed generations of doctors into believing that outside drug oriented orthodox medical thinking lie only the grey realms of quackery. The acronym G.R.A.S stands for Generally Recognized as Safe. In the notorious sassafras case, the FDA fed massive amounts of Saffrole, the extracted oil of Sassafras, to rats. This experiment produced liver cancer in the rats. All sales of sassafras tea were banned. However, since saffrole is not water soluble, it is not present in sassafras tea. Interestingly, saffrole is found in minute amounts in nutmeg, star anise, pepper and regular tea. In 1979 the Medical Letter ran a story headed ‘Toxic Reactions to Plant Products Sold in Health-Food Stores.’  No scientific ‘evidence’ supported these claims, invalidating them. Mexican yam was used to synthesize progesterone and testosterone. A researcher made a mistake that cost a pharmaceutical company $500,000.  He marked the plants by writing an identification number on a leaf of each plant. When the poorly packed plants crumbled, so did his identification system. 

 The main problem with the miracle drug thalidomide is that it caused the absence or vestigial development of limbs, when taken by pregnant women. Rene’ Dubos, a professor at the Rockefeller Institute,  said the possibility of producing a drug without toxicity “is an impossibility, because absolute selectivity is a chemical impossibility.”  With the advent of new drugs that mimic the body’s own functions, we might expect alterations so profound that they might be characterized as metabolic toxicity…a deep-seated and sometimes irreversible change involving the whole bodily mechanism. “Iatrogenic disease” refers to doctor induced illness. 1/7 of hospital days were devoted to this illness in 1969. A committee of drug experts met to review drug side effects in 1976 and came to one conclusion. About the safety of drugs, they said “Medicines can never be entirely safe. Despite extensive testing and monitoring, unforeseen and unpredictable adverse reactions will continue to occur.” When a patient reported side effects to his doctor, the doctor often under-reported the side effect. No doctor wants to believe that a drug he has himself prescribed can make his patient worse instead of better. Also they leave themselves open to malpractice suits. The British Herbal Medicine Association protected the freedom to choose herbal medicine in the United Kingdom. If an herb and been used safely and effectively for a long period of time or appeared in a standard reference book and not poisonous, it would be deemed acceptable.

Messegue’s practice included simple ordinary herbs such as marshmallow, thyme, plantain, dandelion, and hawthorn, which he learned from his father and grandmother. This knowledge was family lore passed from one generation to the next. Although he charged large fees for personal consultation, he freely shared his knowledge of simple diet and plant cures in his books. Aroma therapy with essential oils was a big part of his practice. Egypt used Aromatherapy. When Valnet served in Indo-China as a medical officer, he learned the remarkable efficacy of essential oils as antiseptic agents, the speed with which new wonder drugs bred resistance, and observe the local traditional medicine in action. Lapraz dissatisfied with chemical medicine, because he saw that chemical medicine in every day practice didn’t work. People relapsed, suffered side effects, and developed new illnesses. Also he didn’t feel he was making personal connections with his patients.Nebulisat is an alcohol or water extract of a plant that is spray dried at high speed to produce a powder and sealed in a gelatin capsule. Nebulisat made phytotherapy fast medicine by concentrating the herb and providing instant absorption.  The undoing of phytotherapy was brought about by its success and the fact that the government would not reimburse the public for using plant medicines.

It is difficult to test herbal products in double blind studies, because the costs are astronomical.The Natural Medicines Society formed in 1988 to there were no representatives of any of the therapies: herbal, homoeopathic, antrhoposophical or biochemic. The reasoning behind comfrey regulation was similar to the sassafras debacle. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids were injected into laboratory animals in high doses, which caused liver damage. The expert defense of comfrey was based on the fact that apples, almonds, pears, tea, mustard, radishes and hops all contain the same alkaloids, which if extracted would give the same results of the test. Also the amount fed to the laboratory animals was equivalent to 24 times their body weight daily. The presence of toxic constituents does not prove plant toxicity. Comfrey has been used for thousands of years safely. The current view of Herbalism in England is legal and eager participation.  Herbalists are accepted as professionals.

Dr. Vogel was a famous natural healer in Swizterland.  Describe his procedure for the young Swiss farmer only given 10-15 days to live.  The farmer suffered from septic kidney which manifested with profuse sweating, pallid skin and low pulse. The Dr. lined his bed with cabbage leaves and covered him with the same. On top of the cabbage was placed warm blankets and hot water bottles. Dr. Vogel successfully used sunlight, fresh air, exercise, sleep, raw foods, juices, clay, medicinal plants, and hydrotherapy  in his mountain clinic. Dr. Vogel discovered the uses of Usnea lichen by observing deer eating it in the winter.

St. Johns Wort is a better choice than prescription anti-depressants, because of the lack of side-effects. Schwabe discoverd in the mid to late fifties that ginkgo biloba increases blood flow to the brain. Low blood flow to the brain has been linked to memory loss, dizziness, depression, head ache, and mild dementia.  More than 80% of German doctors prescribe phytomedicines. Phytomedicine flourishes in Germany. When a plant-based drug is evaluated there, the extract itself as a whole is considered to be the compound or active ingredient instead of isolating each chemical compound as in the US.  

Ethnobotany is the study of how people of a particular culture and region make of use of indigenous plants for food, shelter, medicine, clothing, hunting, and religious ceremonies. In the context of this study it is the relationship between science, indigenous healers, and natural healing. The current state of tribal knowledge about medicinal plants is rapidly disappearing under Western influence. Perhaps as many as 250,000 flowering plants are estimated to exist on the world today. Nearly half occur in tropical rain forests. Because they live in a constant, relentless struggle for survival, the silent botanical warfare of tropical plants produces many powerful chemical compounds designed to fight off predators. This modern pharmaceutical companies. At least 100 acres per minute of rain forests of the world are being burned. Since synthetic chemistry cannot supply anything like the structu4ral variety found in the natural products, sending research teams into the tropical rain forests to search for these medicinal plants is not a practical option.

Near the end of his life Louis Pasture had eye opening things to say about the futility of the germ approach to disease. “The germ is unimportant: it’s the terrain which matters.” Hawthorn, milk thistle, turmeric, cranberry, and many others have gone through extensive testing and have been proven useful as phytomedicines. There are at least three impressive things about phytomedicines. They perform well in trials, are less expensive, and have few to no side-effects. With surgery, treatment of trauma, and control of infectious disease allopathic techniques work but are not necessarily holistic. Western medicine is ineffectual in treating disorders of the circulatory and digestive systems, migraine, multiple sclerosis, parkinsons, mental illnesses, acne, eczema, psoriasis, AIDS, and degenerative diseases. In 1958, Mao Tse Tung changed Chinese medicine, when he repealed the 1929 law making it illegal to practice traditional medicine. He then combined the practice of Western and Traditional Chinese medicine. The medical system in China uses both traditional and non-traditional forms of medicine with a class of paramedical practitioners.

Herbal medicine has had a long and proud past, checkered with defiant people who stood up for what they knew was right.  Presently, this same struggle continues with corporations, governments, and the medical community trying to control herbology’s rebirth.  The future for herbal medicine is a bit shaky.  With the current trend to strictly control every aspect of life in America, herbology might fair better if it is taught and practiced as it has been traditionally.  As we’ve seen with midwifery and regulation, it is better to stay unregulated. It is better to grow your own medicine under your own fig tree and treat your own family and friends. Of course those friends might include the ones who find your back door open accompanying someone that has already been helped by your knowledge of nutrition and herbal foods.  Any reasonably intelligent person can read books and learn to identify plants and change their diet and achieve vibrant health.

Dr. Fuhrman Member Center Lecture-1) Growing More of Your Food and 2) How to Save Money on Your Food Bill-Nothing really new for me here except that kale grows even under a blanket of snow. He talked about indoor gardening for greens in winter, which I find very rewarding. He talked about the frugal benefits of beans and seasonal produce. Harvesting fruits in season and freezing them for winter use is another idea. Cold frames, green houses, landscaping with edibles, composting, and all the like were addressed. Buckwheat and sunflower greens cut the green smoothie bills by about 75 % in the winter. 

Dr. Fuhrman's Nutritional Education Training Certification Program-This is an exciting nutritional education and counseling program that I'm considering. It's similar to Personal Exercise Training.

Nutrition, Herbal, and Other Study Notes 12/3/2010

Considering that I didn't figure out my new plan until late this morning and I only got 45 minutes in, this isn't too bad. I'm resolved to study in my suite each morning from 4-10.

Green Pharmacy- Chapters 19-20-John Skelton received his early training at the side of an old village doctors and midwife, his grandmother. The main issue in the feud between Dr. Coffin and Mr. Skelton seems to have been a bit of greed and jealousy.  In the Coffin/Skelton debate, Skelton was victorious. Skelton believed in progress through scientific research.  Also, a party locked into attitudes of resentful opposition and hostility could never make headway, but merely evoke the same hostile stance in reply. Potent alkaloids were extracted from whole herbs in the early 1800's.  The first two alkaloids discovered in opium were morophine and narcotine. The botanical source of aspirin is willow bark. Many herbalists insisted on gathering herbs only at certain times and under specific conditions to assure its potency. According to Skelton, the animal body is built up and sustained  nutritive forces should be derived from organized life, and that all violations of this law tend to disorganize and destroy the living structure. Skelton and his groups defeated Brady’s Medical Reform Bill by orchestrating a deluge of petitions to Parliament from all over the country, protesting against the attempted monopoly of medicine.   

The American Medical Association voted into existence on 7 May 1847. The homeopathic movement enjoyed great success starting in 1844, because it had elegant, educated physicians—many of them converts from the ranks of the Regulars—appealed to the highest in the land, the refined, the learned and the wealthy. In 1835 Dr. King produced two plant resins that were very active; he then failed at his attempts to make others.  The plant resins he successfully produced were may apple and black cohosh root although and black root and goldenseal failed. When these new concentrated resins and chemicals didn’t work, Scudder and Newton turned to alcohol tinctures. Lloyd, Scudder, and King learned an important lesson about extracting single derivatives from plants.  As far as medicinal plants go, the parts are not greater than the whole. By design plants are placed on earth to gently cure the body. The physicians of the mid 18^th century were not practicing blood letting any further, because they claimed that the types of fevers had themselves undergone a change from an excitable inflammatory nature in which bloodletting could only do good. They had mutated to a typhoid kind in which it would be disastrous.


I'm sneaking in a few more minutes right now.

Religions of the World: A Latter-Day Saint View-Buddhism has been a religious force in Asia for 2000 years. Opposed to Hindu hereditary bloodline social positions. Interlaced with many superstitions, folk deities, charms, legends, amulets, and magic. Teachings don't tell how to live in the world but how to attain release from the cycle of rebirths that bind them to the world.

Nutrition and Herbs Notes-11/15-20/2010

All I need is a black bag and her lovely blouse.

I love what I'm learning about natural healing from study and experience. But I never knew how sad and frustrated it would make me to see people I love refuse to listen that tradition and continue to partake of the burning, cutting, poisoning that traditional "doctors" dish out. Herbs and diet are so easy, inexpensive, and side-effect free it is hard to believe they work, but they do. Changing the diet and taking herbs to correct a situation can cure, yes, cure any disease with two exceptions. Some people thrive on being sick and don't want to get well. God has a time appointed for each of us to die. That's it.

Anyway I've gotten very little studying done this week with traveling and caring for loved ones. Don't get the wrong impression, I love to serve my family. I just have some new things to work out. After this rant I'll post my study notes from this week.

Green Pharmacy: The History and Evolution of Western Herbal Medicine-Purging with copious amounts of senna and bloodletting were the practice of Gui Patin. Frogs, vipers, ants, worms, skull bones of dead humans, human blood, human toe nails, manures of various types, and pearls are some of the strange ingredients that were used in seventeenth-century prescriptions. Mother’s milk was not always recommended for children.  A mixture of cereal and cow’s milk was used instead. Hmmmm….not so different than the junk fed to babies in bottles today. Antimony is a powerful irritant poison. It questioned as an effective treatment because of the terrible side effects including death.  

The desire of the average physician to administer powerful and active drugs is only equaled by the desire of the average patient to have powerful and active drugs administered to him. Renaudot’s ‘L’Antimoine Justifie et l’Antimoine Triomphant’ illustrated a curious fact about the use of powerful and potentially dangerous drugs in  medical treatment.  This article stated that antimony was a sovereign cure for anything from asthma, catarrh, colic, fistulas, and ulcers to weaknesses of the stomach, and women’s complaints…Renaudot endorsed antimony for a surprising amount of ailments, including asthma, catarrh, colic, fistulas, and ulcers to weaknesses of the stomach, and women’s complaints. King Louis XIV’s  physicians hesitant in using antimony when he fell dangerously ill in 1658, because too much was at stake in the person of France’s most important patient.

The Seventeenth Century woman played many roles in the household.  Family doctor was her most important job, because professional physicians were few and far between and even the nearest apothecary might be a day’s ride distant.

Nicholas Culpeper’s practice was unique, because he was more interested in teaching people to use local herbs than exotic drugs. The physicians of Culpeper’s time despise him, because he was highly educated before stooping to the lowly profession of apothecary and he translated the London Pharmicopoeia from Latin to English for the benefit of others not so highly educated in the profession. Throughout the translation, he included his own explanations, descriptions, uses, and common names of herbs, opinions, and cautions. His translation made the established medical community furious. Two years later he published a second book, Physical Directory, “a complete method of practice of physic, whereby a man may preserve his body I health or cure himself when sic, with such things only as grow in England, they being most fir for English bodies”

In North American in the early 1600's the native’s state of health was nearly perfect. The Indians had their own health care system.  Describe their diet included fresh meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and pristine water.  They cared for the sick by cleaning the digestive tract, hot/cold hydrotherapy, and a large pharmacopeia of native herbs. The Native American philosophy on mind, body and spirit is that they are inseparable.

The settlers faced weakness, fever, and scurvy from the long ocean voyage plus exposure and starvation from lack of shelter and waiting for harvest upon coming to the new world.The English housewives brought many medicinal plant seeds with them to start their gardens in the New World, including mullein, plantain, and pennyroyal. Although the settlers were surrounded by Native American medicinal plants, they still relied upon their European medicines. They could not identify the plants and their uses.

If you were sick in the seventeenth century almost everyone you met would give you health advice.  Health was such a universal concern to the people of the time, because doctoring then had an appallingly bad reputation. Physicians gave many reasons for medical bloodletting, namely reducing vascular pressure, evacuated peccant humors, diminished the violence of the arterial action, and eased distempered bodily organs. 

 “Profit has nearly always been a more decisive factor than human misery in medical issues.According to Barbara Griggs, the business of modern pharmacognosy is to determine and isolate chemically a plant’s active principles, examine its structure, and determine its mode of action. During an outbreak of the black plague, the general population’s confidence in chemical medicine began to falter.  Over 26,000 people died whether they used chemical remedies or not.  

The Native American treatment for Malaria was Peruvian bark from which quinine is derived.

During the eighteenth century, more than 70 percent of the herbs stocked by apothecaries were exotic foreign imports. European people preferred these expensive imports instead of using local herbs for medicine, because the exotic origin of these drugs gave them the respectability of distance as well as the appeal of novelty. According to Robert Boyle, the Art of Physic might be improved if physicians were a little more curious, to take notice of the observations and experiments of midwives, barbers, old women, empirics, and other illiterate persons.

The cause of scurvy is a lack of vitamin C, resulting from a lack of fresh fruits and vegetables. It first appeared among sailors on long voyages and city dwellers, both of whom had little access to produce. The eventual cure came from a  weed nicknamed scurvy grass that contains as much vitamin C as oranges. It took the British Royal Navy nearly 300 years to accept this evidence?

The North American Indians ward off scurvy even in the long winter months by drinking the vitamin C rich decoction of pine or spruce twigs.Three medicinal herbs that early botanists discovered from the New World include pink root (Spigelia marilandica), poke root (Phytolacca americana), and wild geranium (Geranium maculatum).The medical practice of the American colonies was called an “English practice” , because they used violent remedies-bleeding, vomiting, blistering, purging, anodyne, repetendi, and murderandi. American Ginseng (Panax ginseng) was given to a  Jesuit missionary in Tartary in the mid-eighteenth century fro exhaustion. He learned that it was used by the Chinese similarly. It was then dicidedly desirable in Europe. Later, a French Jesuit was given  (Panax quinquefolim) Asiatic ginseng with similar properties. The French made a fortune shipping it to China. The natives did likewise collecting it.

Two effects of foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), as found by William Withering, are diuretic and emetic. Druggists did not sell simple, British herbs that could be found nor did they serve an apprenticeship in the preparation and identification of drugs. The hospitals of Wesley’s time were hesitant, when asked if they would participate in a clinical trial of his tar water against their medicines. No doctor or hospital was prepared to run the formidable risk of their treatment actually probing inferior. Two major factors finally drove the colonies into accepting native herbs into their pharmacopeia. The American Revolution lit the flame of American nationalism and made doctors aware of the inconvenience of relying on imported medicines. The Napoleonic Wars including the war of 1812 made the import of drugs nearly impossible and quite expensive.

Because George Washington was delivered of 4.5 pints of his blood and given massive amounts of mercury drugs during a bad cold or pneumonia, he died. Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, trained 75% of the physicians in America. He believed that all sickness was caused by irregular arterial action, which was always relieved by bloodletting and a dose of calomel (mercury).

Because Samuel Thomson was healed by the local herbalist after doctors had failed him, his curiosity about herbs and natural therapies began. Samuel Thompson discovered the medicinal usage of Lobelia by tasting the leaves. Samuel Thompson’s mistrust of the medical community was cemented when the doctor attended and butchered his wife during child birth and nearly caused the death of his two year old daughter a few years later. Lobelia, cayenne, bayberry, myrrh, sumach, sweat baths, showers, and cold rubdowns were treatments Samuel Thompson used in his medical practice.  He believe about the human body?

Over 3 million practitioners were faithful to the Thompsonian method at its peak in 1839? Like cures like is the premise of homeopathic medicine. The idea behind the practice of Eclectic medicine was to study patients not books. The downfall of Thompson’s popularity in America, because distant ills seem to be worth risking for the sake of present comforts.

herbal/nutrition study notes 11/8-12/2010

Dr. Ginger, Medicine Woman (ya, it's really me in the picture...not really)

Dr. R. Schulz Herbal Therapy Lectures-I spent most of the week listening to these lectures as part of my course work for The School of Natural Healing. Wonderful. I solidified so many ideas I've been learning this year. Great series.I feel so blessed to be able to learn the art of herbal healing. Like Dr. Christopher, I wanted to be a doctor from a young age but not give shots and such. When the time came for choosing, I decided to be a homemaker instead. Although this was a good and fulfilling career, I learned anatomy and the names of things all along the way. I wish I would have had this knowledge while raising my children. Things would have turned out so much differently. 

Eat For Health-Dr. Fuhrman's research and those of others into the Nutrient Density of food includes, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and fiber, can help everyone, healthy or not, leave nutritional ignorance, obesity, and self-inflicted health maladies behind. Nutritional Density helps us understand which foods to choose to maintain proper functioning of the immune system, enable our body’s detoxification, and repair cellular mechanisms that protect us from chronic diseases as well as find joy in the God given sense of taste.

Over and again science has demonstrated what God told us all along.  Vegetables and fruits provide protective compounds. Science is still in the midst of discovering and naming phytonutrients. It's enough for me and quite comforting that these two authorities agree. Eat your veggies and fruits in all their varieties to ingest protective compounds and prevent the common diseases that afflict Americans. Interestingly and sadly, government sponsored propaganda encouraged a low-nutrient eating style since about 1940 that has led to an obese, nutritionally ignorant America, causing our medical costs to spiral out of control.

Some brilliant scientists, doctors, and alternative health providers decided not to sit back and watch the destruction any longer. Dr. Fuhrman developed a scoring system to guide people toward the most nutrient dense foods, ranked according to ratio of nutrients to calories. It doesn't take into consideration phytochemicals, because they are still in the process of being discovered and measured. However, usually the foods highest in phytochemicals are also highest in vitamins, amino acids, minerals, and fiber compared to processed foods and animal products..

We must keep in mind that nutrient density shouldn't be the only factor that determines what we eat. If we tried to stick to foods above the 300 level on the chart, we could not get enough calories and fat to maintain weight. Consequently, we pick a few healthy choices of lower nutrient density to add in  such as a few nuts, flax seeds, and rice, oats, or yams to guard against becoming too thin. It is so easy to achieve permanent weight control and optimum health by eating mostly non-starchy, mostly vegetables, fruits, and beans garnished with nuts, seeds, starchy vegetables and/or grains.

Cholesterol Protection for Life-War, terrorism, and violent crime are always in the news, because they are fear inspiring, graphic, and even fascinating. News producers push these things, because people buy it.  Shows and articles on heart disease give mediocre returns as people say ho-hum not that stuff again. But heart disease kills many more than war terrorism, and violent crime.

Over 1.5 million people heart attacks yearly, 1 million dying as a result. This equals one death every 30 seconds. Most believe that heart disease is nearly unavoidable because of family history. Others think drugs and surgery are a good defense. While angioplasty and bypass surgery help some, they have several significant adverse outcomes. Heart attacks, stroke and death are a few. Sadly such interventions are not a cure and those that submit to these procedures often continue to suffer and die from heart disease. There are safer, more effective options.

Without cutting a person or using expensive and risky prescription drugs, we can help them. In order to successfully, overcome heart disease we adjust the diet for specific goals: 1) LDL cholesterol of 100 or lower, 2) healthful weight, and 3) unmedicated, normal blood pressure.  A high-nutrient, vegetable-based diet enables people to remove cardiac risk factors and take their health into their own hands. Anyone can make a difference in their health and pocketbook by choosing what they will or will not put in their mouths.

What causes high blood pressure and other heart diseases?

As Dr. Christopher of the School of Natural Healing said (and now many scientist are echoing) 90% of all disease is caused by constipation. By that he didn’t necessarily mean constipation of just the bowel but entire bodily congestion: liver, kidneys, veins and arteries, lymph glands, and cells. Cholesterol, a waxy fat animal fat, plus saturated and trans fats, coat the insides of the veins, arteries, capillaries, and heart along with plaques of excess calcium, sodium, and other minerals. The narrowing of the arteries and veins with minerals and cholesterol causes the heart to pump harder, which in turn increases the pressure in the vessels Eating cholesterol, which is only found in animal products, raises blood cholesterol. The human body converts saturated fats and trans fats to cholesterol as a way to cope with and get rid of them.

Another consideration is animal protein and its significant effect on blood cholesterol. A low-fat diet, which includes animal protein, will do provide desired cholesterol lowering unless the diet also greatly reduces the low-fat animal products including low-fat dairy and skinless white-meat. Any animal products, lean white or lean red meat, skim milk, fish and so on, in the diet raise cholesterol levels.

The China Study looked at populations with few or no heart attacks consume less than 10% to no animal products, while Americans and other Westerners consume 40% or more of their calories from animal products. When populations have animal product consumption of 10% or less of total calories, high fiber vegetables, fruits, beans and raw nuts increase and high blood pressure and other heart diseases almost disappear. "Heart Healthy” programs should reduce both refined carbohydrate and animal products. Heart disease is a condition is reversible through aggressive nutritional intervention and cholesterol lowering.

Because plants have negligible cholesterol, they are considered cholesterol–free. A nutritarian diet, vegetable, fruit, nut, and bean-based, is the most effective cholesterol-lowering dietary approach and can potentially save millions of lives and billions of dollars. Why then is it virtually ignored by the mass media? With this dietary approach, most patients drop their total cholesterol below 150 and LDL below 100, without the need for medications.

The Herb Walk and The Herb Walk Manual-Mousy order, ladder like cavities in the roots, and the reddish purple spots on the stem is used to distinguish poisonous Hemlock from other look-a-likes. Water Hemlock’s odor resembles parsle- like.  Sweet cicely with a licorice like odor medical herb has white umbel flowers and a hairy stem. They are very tall as opposed to the 1-2 feet of the carrot family the previous plant from other members of the carrot family? Lovage produces the oldest known salad leaf? Cow parsnip has the largest leaves in the carrot family? The smell of Angelica’s flower resembles honey-like odor. The main differences between Lobelia inflata and other Lobelia species the color. Mint claims Skullcap as one of its members.  Skullcap is used as a sedative. Many poisonous plants, such as Wild Tobacco, belong to the tomato family?  Some distinguishing characteristics glandular hairy erect stems and a strong odor of nicotine.

The identifying aspects for Burdock are bristly, purple flowers, leaves large hairy cordate, and downy grey underneath. The leaves of the Rhubarb are not edible.Comfrey belongs to the Borage family.  Comfrey’s distinguishing characteristics include very large, hairy leaves with veins that stand out although not as much as burdock or rhubarb.  It has downy pale-yellow to purple bell shaped flowers that hang down in clusters. Fox glove resembles Comfrey in some stages of growth.

The best time to harvest bulb like plants in the wild is when in bloom for accurate identification. You be sure you are harvesting Wild Onion and not Death Camas because WO flowers do not appear until Death Camas is through blooming. The main differences in leaf and flower structure between Feverfew and Chamomile are the leaves of Feverfew are cut or dissected and the flower petals are longer. The chamomile leaves are highly dissected giving a filmy or lacey appearance and the blossoms have a cone-shaped yellow middle; the petals grow downward as they mature.   

Two identifying factors for herbs in the mint family heart shaped leaves and square stems. You can tell the difference between Spearmint and Peppermint. Peppermint has an oval, smooth, dark  leaf, while the Spearmint has leaves that are sharply toothed and lancelet. Catnip gets its grayish-green appearance from downy grey hairs. It also has heart shaped leaves. Penny royal, also of the mint family, must be used with caution, because it may induce abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. The physical features of Horehound’s stem are erect, square, wooly, 3-feet tall, and whitish-gray. The main differences between 

Wild Sunflower and Jerusalem Artichoke are that the Wild Sunflower has a widely branched stem and a brown seed-bearing disk and the Jerusalem Artichoke has an edible tuber. 5 common vegetables that belong to the mustard family are broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, Brussels sprouts. Pepper Grass leaves used for salads. Alfalfa is a good source of: vitamins B, C, D,E, potassium, phosphorous, iron, chlorine, sodium, silicon, magnesium, protein, and calcium. Amaranth is high in two nutrients: iron and vitamin C.

Three medicinal uses for Bugloss are alleviating fevers, headaches, and nervous complaints, and its leaves are entire, lanceolate, rough, and 5 inches long, stem spotted and red, flowers tubular and blue. The different parts of Chicory are used: roots=roasted and ground for coffee, leaves and shoots in salad, roots syrup for laxative. Chicory’s flower closes at night. List three uses for Red Clover? Dandelion is high in vitamins a and c.One of the richest sources of vitamin C is elder berry. Some uses of Gum Weed (Grindelia Squarrosa) are whooping cough, bladder and uterine problems, eczema and allergic dermatitis, cold sores, and mucus of the kidneys.

Jimson Weed causes death if the flowers are sucked for nectar. Mallow’s leaves are nearly round, seed are shaped like a wheel of uncut cheese, and flower are pink or white with pink veins. Four traditional uses of Motherwort are producing normal menstrual flow, easing painful menstrual flow, congested or inflamed genital area, and associated nervous orders.

Mullein’s flowers appear in the second year’s growth. Common Plantain has ovate leaves and English Plantain has lanceolate leaves. Four several medicinal properties of Plantain are wounds, bites, burns, and expelling worms. Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is used for food. Rose is the only plant that produces a hip, which is high in vitamin C. The hip begins to develop after the petals drop in the late fall. Two uses for St. Johns Wort are skin irritations and insect bitesSt. John’s Wort’s flower is yellow with black dots at the margins. The main medicinal use for Shepherd’s Purse is stop hemorrhage from internal organs including the uterus.

The tender young stalks and leaves of the Stinging Nettle are edible when added to soups, teas, and salads. Stinging Nettle is high in several nutrients: vitamins a and c, protein, and iron. Vitamins C, B2, E, and D are found in Water Cress. Wild Lettuce is sometimes called the compass plant, because its leaves turn and follow the sun’s light.

Two medicinal uses for Wild Lettuce are diuretic and emollient.The pink, yellow and white flowers of Yarrow all have the same medicinal properties of stanching bleeding. Yarrow’s leaf is delicate and feathery. A high percent of prescription medicines are derived from the plant kingdom.

Deadly Nightshade grows near under the shade of trees or on wooded hillsides. The berries of Belladonna are poisonous. Blessed Thistle’s flower is yellow. “Cohosh” means rough. The Blue Cohosh rhizome sends up a bluish stem with a single, large unfolding leaf halfway up. It has 3 leaflets, appearing to divide again. Flowers are yellowish-green and present in small clusters. The fruit appears in pairs of 1/3 inch in length, is soft textured and resembles a berry. The leaves of the Bugleweed herb are rosette-like; the upper ones presenting as toothed and elliptical, while the lower leaves spatula-shaped with wavy edges. Cayenne’s flower are white or yellow. Chaparral’s natural environment is desert regions of the US. Chickweed’s flower is white and star-shaped. Elecampane has a stout, course, wooly, round stem 3-6 feet high. It’s leaves are large, ovate, serrate, olive-colored with white stems. Flowers are large, yellow and grow in solitary or paniculate clusters. Gentian is a valuable tonic medicine because of the bitterness of the root. Wild Geranium sometimes called Cranesbill, because the fruit looks like a crane’s bill.

Ginger’s flower is tiny, dark, reddish-brown, 1-inch diameter, found at the fork of the two leafstalks, and hidden by the leaves. The life span of the average Ginkgo tree is 2-4 thousand years.To identify American Ginseng, look for a slender stem that is simple, erect,, and approximately 1 ft. tall, bearing three leaves divided into 5 finely-toothed oblong leaflets and a single terminal unbel of small greenish-yellow flowers. The fruit is a cluster of bright red, edible, drupe-like berries.

Goldenseal’s fruit looks like a raspberry. Mayapple’s fruit is lemon yellow, while the flower is white. Brigham Tea grows 4 ft. tall. Poison Ivy either grows as a low woody bush or a creeping climber on trees. Its leaves are bright, ovate, and tri-compound with small yellowish-white flowers and ¼ inch smooth, white berries. Psyllium has tiny, round, glossy seeds and  is used for an intestinal lubricant and laxative. Raspberry’s main is a uterine tonic. Sarsaparilla’s flowers are small and greenish.The fruits of the Sassafras tree are pea-sized. Senna’s leaf consists of 8-10 oblong, pointed leaflets. Sumac usually grows 15 feet tall. The tumbleweed survives because it is drought resistant and needs little moisture for a new crop. Yucca has gray-green, stiff, sharp pointed 1-2 ft. leaves that narrow to the tip and attach in a basal rosette. Scapes grow 3-12 feet high with creamy, white, cup-shaped flowers.

Gathering and using wild plants

White berries are not usually edible.

To ensure your safety, before eating plants in the wilderness chew a small part without swallowing. If there is burning, stinging, or numbness in the mouth, try cooking it and trying it again. Often cooking neutralizes toxins. However, if the sensation remains after chewing but not swallowing a small part, do not eat the plant.  If there is no sensation, swallow a small amount and wait a few hours to overnight. If no problems follow, slowly introduce the item with more quantity each time until you are sure there are no ill effects. 

The Green Pharmacy by Barbara Griggs-Chapter 5-Kings, apothecaries, country herbalists, and every housewife in the kingdom had herbal knowledge at the time of King Henry VIII.Legislation was passed in the 1540's in order to control the practice of medicine gave physicians authority over surgeons and apothecaries in London, placed surgeons and barber surgeons into one category, and forbade barbers from practicing surgery.The Act known as the “Quack’s Charter” legalized a class of common practitioners who used herbs without formal training.  This was necessary to keep designing men or jealous physicians and surgeons from hauling them into court. According to Griggs, three things were remarkable about the “Quacks Charter.” 1) The herbalists were allowed to do more treatments than the surgeons. 2) Surgeons had to accept referrals from herbalists.  3) Herbalists had friends in high places. Henry the VIII supported this Act. Physicians were threatened by this Act, because even untrained nobodies could treat diseases and maladies that they failed to cure.

Chapter 6-Vesalius and Paracelsan medicine threatened the Galenic medical establishment in the early 1600's.Early chemists tried to find the “active principle” of plants in many different ways.  Most of the time they were not successful.  They couldn’t reduce scurvy grass down to its active principle, because the process of burning the plant to get the chemical salts destroyed the vitamin C that made it cure scurvy. Personal physician to three kings, Mayerne’s medical practice was decidedly chemical with usage of high doses of mercury, while still relying heavily on Galenical compounds.  His contemporaries did like him.

Chapter 7-Purging with copious amounts of senna and bloodletting seem to have been the practice of Gui Patin. Frogs, vipers, ants, worms, skull bones of dead humans, human blood, human toe nails, manures of various types, and pearls are some of the strange ingredients that were used in seventeenth-century prescriptions.Mother’s milk was not always recommended for children.  A mixture of cereal and cow’s milk was used instead. Hmmmm….not so different than the junk fed to babies in bottles today. And that's the end of the Google book. I guess I'll have to buy it.

Herb Energetics with Kiva Rose

Tasting is the primary way in which we perceive the energetics of an herb. Organoleptice means learning through all the sense of the body. In the context of herbal energetics, the flavor and sensation of a flower, leaf or  root will give us excellent insights into whether they are cold or hot, dry or moist, and what actions they might have on human physiology.  The taste of a plant gives us insight into its effects as a medicine, therefore we pay attention to the initial taste bitter, sweet, salty, sour, spicy, or aromatic. Often plants have a combination. The first impression may be sweet, move into bitter, and possibly a third or after taste. These tastes hint at what plants, including spices, vegetables, and fruits, are used for medicinally. For instance, I am a cold, dry person, with a propensity for poor circulation. So I would pick a warming food such as cayenne or cinnamon to warm and increase circulation but also add a sweet-moist plant like fennel, when chilled. This is why I love Indian curry and Italian marinara so much. A cup of warm cinnamon infusion with a bit of honey is the very best choice for a chill. That doesn't mean I should stay away from other plants, just that these things will help with my general constitution. Illnesses change a person's general constitution, sometimes a person is chill and damp, other times feverish and dry. I love how this compliments my studies with The School of Natural Healing. Learning the properties of herbs in different terminology helps me see the whole picture. Journaling them just as I did with homeschooling nature study has made it possible to connect the dots between book and practical knowledge. Fun stuff.