By Zachari Cahn,
Healthy Path Integrative Health at Seeking Indigo
Herbs have been used since the beginning of humanity because of their effective therapeutic value. What was once a practice based on empirical observation has in the last century transformed into the sharp edged double blind placebo based paradigm accepted by the scientific community. As a result two things have happened regarding herbs in our culture (the World Health Organization estimates that more than 80 percent of the world’s population still uses herbal medicine as a primary system of healing): What our ancestors as close as our grandmothers knew about home health remedies has faded, while at the same time an idea of using natural, non toxic extracted substances emerged in the form of vitamins and supplements.
Herbs:
Herbs and medicinal foods can effectively treat a myriad of symptoms. Our health is not outside our own grasp, it’s in our own garden. Whether we use turmeric as an anti inflammatory, artichoke or the pectin from apples to lower cholesterol, eggplant to lower blood pressure, or green tea, blueberries and pomegranate for their antioxidant properties benefiting heart health and increasing lifespan, or countless other herbs and foods to improve our health, it is an empowering process to grow and utilize our own medicine. Even the simple weeds we remove from our garden are useful. Dandelion for example is very good for liver and kidney health, helps remove water weight without affecting potassium levels, which is crucial for heart health, and helps regulate blood pressure. Plantain is used topically for any type of cut or wound to help disinfect.
Because modern medicine often attempts to validate what our ancestors knew about the medicinal power of plants, most herbs that are used today medicinally have been researched for their pharmacological effects. Astragalus has been used for thousands of years to treat all kinds of prolapse, asthma, and to strengthen the immune system. Research has more recently shown it to be an immuno-stimulant, a preventative herb for asthma and cough and helpful for gastric and rectal prolapse.
There are hundreds of amazing books on medicinal herbs and foods, but we really like “Family Herbal” by Rosemary Gladstar, “Prescription for Nutritional Healing” by Bach & Bach, and “Healing with Whole Foods” by Paul Pitchford.
Supplements:
Supplements are big business now and the large companies have jumped on the band wagon, mass producing low quality, low cost supplements, advertising them for all the health benefits they're supposed to have and appealing to our fears with key phrases like "lower cholesterol" or “benefit heart health.” The truth is however, that quality and absorption are hard things to find in supplements, and you may think you are saving money by buying your multi-vitamin or your omegas online or at a big store, but often you are wasting it. Three concerns to watch out for with consumer grade supplements are:
Politics (& Money):
The active statin in red yeast rice extract that is used in major pharmaceuticals was patented and there was a successful lobby made to illegalize the manipulation of the natural state of red yeast rice to increase the amount of the naturally occurring “lovastatin” that has been proven to lower LDL cholesterol. Because every harvest of red yeast rice is volatile, you cannot standardize the production of it to have a naturally occurring effective level of lovastatin. It becomes very costly and timely to have a red yeast rice product that consistently has the amount of lovastatin needed to efficaciously lower cholesterol. Buy red yeast rice from companies that have in house lab testing, ensuring each batch has the appropriate levels.
Absorption:
Most of the consumer grade multi-vitamins come in pill form making it difficult for your digestive tract to break them down for your body to utilize the active ingredients. Often people pass the whole pill in their bowel movement. For many vitamins it is better to have them in a powder form in a vegetable capsule.
Quality:
EFA's (essential fatty acids) are readily available anywhere you go. And rightfully so, omegas balance hormones and mood swings, regulate skin conditions, reduces hair loss, regulate metabolism, support healthy blood sugar/glucose levels, promote healthy body weight and fat metabolism, promote healthy triglycerides levels, lubricate joints and reduce chronic inflammation. The fish oils that you commonly buy in big stores, however, have little to no Omega 3's. Fish oils need to come from a cold water arctic source. If you buy cheaper fish oils you're likely buying a product that is actually more toxic for you than it is beneficial. Research the companies and spend the money on higher quality.
Dr. Judas Folkman, who first recognized angiogenesis (blood supply) as an important component of cancer had a long and hard battle convincing the rest of the medical world of his ideas, but eventually he won a Nobel Prize for his work. The herbs curcumin and green tea are having equal resistance placed upon them but research is showing that they play a large part in the inhibition of cancer via angiogenesis. This is the process. We slowly learn and research. The empirical science of herbs developed in this way for tens of thousands of years, and supplements serve as a sturdy bridge between the western medical mindset and ancient herbal wisdom.
Zachari Cahn L.Ac. M.A.O.M. and Tatianna Sanabria L.Ac. M.A.O.M. are Licensed Acupuncturists & Herbalists with Masters in Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine (M.A.O.M) available at Seeking Indigo.
Stop by and visit our remedy market, the newest addition to Seeking Indigo, where you can have an herbal remedy custom blended specifically for YOU! Please call 843.725.0217 to make an appointment for acupuncture or stop by Sundays from 12-4pm or Mondays 10am-6pm for a consultation.
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