Nature's Medicine Cabinet

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Nature's Medicine Cabinet - Alternative

Avenue to Recovery

 

Nature's Medicine Cabinet - Alternative Avenue to

Recovery JoAnn

Guest Aug 04, 2005 12:49 PDT

Herbal remedies provide alternative avenue to recovery

 

By Eric T. Rezsnyak

---

 

 

When Leslie Noble catches a cold, the Syracuse

resident doesn't bother

with the brightly colored pharmaceutical packaging

lining drugstore

aisles.

Instead, she turns to the beige-colored extract of

echinacea, a

brilliant purple flower found to fend off colds and

various forms of

flu

by bolstering the immune system.

 

To Noble, trying this herbal remedy isn't just New Age

mumbo-jumbo. It

works.

" These herbs are here, and so is the knowledge of

hundreds, if not

thousands, of years, " says Noble, who was recently

shopping for her

herb-based remedies at Discount Natural Foods on

Burnet Avenue.

 

" There's no harm in trying them for illness, for more

day-to-day

healthful living. I'm a true believer. "

She's not the only one. Approximately 60 million

Americans have jumped

on the herbal remedy bandwagon, spending $12 billion

last year on these

natural feel-goods.

 

For nearly every common ailment, it seems some root,

leaf or berry

holds

the key to a relatively side-effect-free recovery.

 

 

Naturally Nurturing

Someone who knows all about the healing nature of

herbs is Sandra

David, herbalist and owner of Biogardens, a

Liverpool-based " liquid

pharmacy " where she produces more than 170 herbs in

fluid form. David

sells her liquid remedies, called tinctures, to the

general public and

is working on having them carried by a retail store.

 

Crediting herbs

and other alternative medicines with saving her life

after a

debilitating accident several years ago, David says

herbal remedies

have definite benefits. " They are conservative,

non-invasive and have

few negative side effects, " she explains.

 

According to David, herbal remedies have reduced side

effects because

they are generally sold in their natural form without

synthetics or

additives.

 

" Because an herb has all of its constituents, it

reduces the

side effects, " she says.

 

" If you isolate one single part of the plant,

maybe it needs that vitamin C or B-12 to work with to

reduce the

vomiting, hair loss, or whatever. "

 

Aspirin provides a good example.

 

Synthesized from the bark of white

willow, the drug can cause stomach irritation and

other side effects.

Not so when taking the extracts of the bark itself,

David says. " In its

natural form, the side effects are nowhere near as

dramatic, " she adds.

 

Another benefit of using natural remedies is that they

work with the

body to fight disease, not against it, David says.

While traditional

decongestants and cough syrups used to fight colds

seem to work, they

actually go against the body's natural defenses, such

as mucous

production and coughing, and suppress the immune

system. " Bad, bad,

bad, " she says. " You're causing the disease to go

deeper into the

body. "

 

Instead, herbs support the immune system by letting

your body do its

thing, David says. " The most valuable cold remedy is

the human body, "

she explains. " It's a magnificent machine.

 

It works very hard to work

through a cold by raising your temperature, sweating,

creating mucous,

etc. "

 

There are things you can do to enhance your immune

system with

herbs, she says. " You can take a natural antibiotic

that doesn't

compromise your immune system. Try Echinacea,

periwinkle or

nasturtium. "

 

The way David sees it, people should give their bodies

what they need.

Herbs do that by increasing nutrients and elements

that synthetic drugs

often do not

 

" If we were talking about a Jaguar, you would put the

proper fuel in that car, the proper oil to make it run

right, " she

points out. " Now, with our bodies, we're not doing

that.

If you put the

proper things in the body, it will run a lot better,

and a lot longer. "

 

Herbs also offer users greater personal involvement in

their health

care, says Pam McNew, herbalist at Natur-Tyme Discount

Vitamin Land,

527 Charles Ave.

 

" Herbs give an involvement that is appropriate in

health, " she says.

 

That involvement includes finding what herbs or

combination of herbs

work for you, as well as knowing exactly what they

do.

 

" Getting a pill from the doctor's office or off the

shelf without

understanding what it does, you don't have any feeling

or appreciation

of where it came from, " McNew says. " When we have some

kind of

imbalance in our system, and we can know why it came

about and prevent

it, that's something wonderful. "

 

" The main thing that concerns me is that people find

quality products, "

says Christine Carlson, certified nutritionist and

director of the

Center for MindBody Integration on Walton Street.

" There's such a large

increase in usage that {companies} are producing a lot

of products, and

many are not of good quality. "

 

Natur-Tyme's McNew says quality can be compromised in

a number of ways,

including using old herbs and irradiating them. " You

can have products

with the name only and with no real medicinal value, "

she says. " There

are companies in any field where if they can make

cash, they jump right

in. That's the same in the herbal world, too. "

 

To ensure good quality herbs, Carlson suggests

shopping for products

from established companies.

 

" I try to deal with herbal companies that

have been around awhile and who have founders with

herbal backgrounds

and good ethics, " she says.

" People are individuals and need to be aware of their

own problems. "

She adds that

herbs and natural remedies cause only 1 percent of

adverse reactions to

medications around the world, and many of those are

mild

 

 

Patient, Heal Thyself

Even if the benefits of herbal remedies seem enticing,

finding exactly

what herb you need can be difficult, especially since

many labels do

not list the intended effect. Even finding a remedy

for something as

simple as the common cold provides a plethora of

options. Several herbs

have been found to help, including echinacea,

astragalus and propolis,

a substance found in beehives. They are also available

in a number of

forms, such as pills, tinctures or even lozenges.

Knowing what herb and

in what form is right for you can cause some shoppers

to run screaming

for the Tylenol gel-coated hills.

 

But according to Carlson, doing a little legwork can

clear the

confusion. " People can do a lot of research themselves

by calling herb

companies, or by going to a trained herbalist or

nutritionist, " she

says. " You have to do the work, just like anything

else. " She suggests

books by noted herbalists Michael Murray, David

Hoffmann and Joseph

Pizzorno are a good place to start.

 

" If you're interested in learning about herbal

medicines, extracts or

teas, why not go buy a book so you can have a

fingertip guide to what

you're taking? " agrees Biogarden's David. " Find out

what you're doing.

 

Knowledge is power. "

 

And buying herbs is now easier than ever, thanks to

the industry's

increased media exposure. Supermarkets such as Wegmans

in DeWitt now

sell a variety of natural products, including remedies

and organic

foods. Established in 1995, the Wegmans' Nature's

Marketplace

department was only the second in the chain, but it

now has more than

40. According to Tracy Ballers, manager of the DeWitt

Nature's

Marketplace, it's the fastest growing area in Wegmans

history, with a

30 percent growth each year in her store alone. " There

was a

health-food segment in the company 20 years ago, and

it just didn't

fly, " Ballers says. " People weren't ready for it then,

but they are

ow.

 

More and more people are coming in who have heard

something about

the herbs, and it appeals to them. "

 

 

Despite increasingly easy access, herbalists still

believe it is

important to take the remedies seriously in order to

get their full

effect. " There is such a concern about people using

natural remedies

like they used to use over-the-counter medicines, "

says Carlson. " That

can be done a little bit, but herbal medicines can

involve so much

more. "

 

David also says that, when trying herbs, it is

important to give them

time. " Don't expect miracles with one try, " she says.

" It's not the

answer to all of your problems.

 

They may lie in what you have created as a habit. Take

more

responsibility. You can change many things,

certain aspects of disease by changing your lifestyle,

the foods you

eat and what you drink. "

 

While most agree that a healthy lifestyle and

responsibility are

important, giving herbs a try for non-life threatening

diseases may be

worth a try. " They're available for everyone, and

there's an herb out

there for everyone, " says David.

 

" I don't know who would be eliminated from herbal

treatments. I can't

think of one person and situation. It's something

worth exploring. "

 

--

 

 

For more information on Man-to-Man, contact Winans,

633-8013.

--Eric Rezsnyak

 

http://newtimes.rway.com/1999/wellness99/coverc.shtml

 

 

 

 

AIM Barleygreen

" Wisdom of the Past, Food of the Future "

 

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