Herbs That Promote Prostate Health

What do these well-known men all have in common?  Actor Bill Bixby, poet Robert Frost, novelist Langston Hughes, 1960s counterculture icon Timothy Leary, poet Pablo Neruda, actor Jerry Orbach, Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling, guitarist Johnny Ramone, actor Telly Savalas, Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, and musician Frank Zappa.  Yes, they all died from prostate cancer.
Although cancer of the prostate is certainly not a new disease (though until recent years was rarely openly discussed), many specialists in this field note what they believe to be a sharp increase in incidence of this often-deadly illness.  Read more . . .

Herbs That Boost Testosterone

From the time of birth, testosterone plays a key role in the development of male reproductive tissues such as the testis and prostate, as well as contributes to behavioral patterns and sense of individuality.  In adolescence, testosterone is responsible for promoting secondary sexual characteristics such as increased muscle, bone mass, penis and gonad size, sperm development, facial and pubic hair, a deeper voice, and of course, sex drive.  Read more . . .

Kosher, Iodized, Sea: What's the Salty Difference?

“Kosher” salt, (a term recognized as primarily American in usage), is a variety of edible salt with a much larger grain size than that of most common table salt.  Like common table salt, kosher salt consists of the chemical compound sodium chloride, but unlike table salt, kosher salt typically contains no additives such as iodine–although some brands include anti-clumping agents in small amounts. (The Salt Institute, located in Alexandria, VA, claims "Kosher salt contains no additives".)  Read more . . .

Herbs That Promote Ear Health

A middle-ear infection is one of the most common and troublesome childhood health issues, and is often a baby’s first significant illness.  Often seeming to establish a life-long trend, chronic ear infections can plague many individuals, leading to a near-endless succession of doctor visits and medications.  With ear illness and hearing problems exacerbated by exposure to loud noises, high fever, nerve damage, infection, drug use, and smoking, more and more herbalists, nutritionists, and medical specialists are advocating the use of particular herbs known to cure common ear ailments, maintain good ear health, and prevent or reduce the progression of hearing loss.  Read more . . .

Herbs That Promote Eye Health

For at least 2000 years, various herbs have been utilized throughout the world to promote eye health–consumed regularly to prevent failing eyesight, and prepared as topical infusions to treat everything from common eye strain to glaucoma.  While there is little modern evidence to support many of the documented and anecdotal claims concerning some of these traditional herbal remedies, others have gained considerable supported from the medical community in recent years, scientifically recognized as containing healthful substances that can indeed prevent or treat eye ailments, and support overall eye health.  Read more . . .

Erectile Dysfunction: Current Options and Answers

As most adults are aware, treatment for men unable to achieve a natural erection took a giant step forward when the first oral erectile dysfunction (ED) medication, Viagra, hit the market in 1998.  Easy to use, fast-acting, and predictable, Viagra–and now a whole host of similar drugs–has added an entirely new dimension to the sex lives of the many men who’d thought that sex would have to remain just a pleasant memory of younger days.  But as effective as Viagra is for countless men, it is not the answer for all men suffering erectile dysfunction--for a wide variety of reasons.  And it is for those reasons that science continues to explore other options; vastly improving less effective options from the past, while seeking new approaches that may be effective for every man in the future.  Read more . . .

Female Herbs: Herbs Just for Her

Through the centuries, various cultures around the world have not only discovered that plants fall into categories in terms of their biological sex (with male and female plants often having completely different curative properties from one another), but that plants can also be categorized by which sex they best serve: female or male.  Thus, certain herbs are routinely designated as “female herbs.”  The following herbs have traditionally been singled out by many societies around the world as having curative and medicinal properties especially geared to a woman’s body; herbs specifically effective in treating female reproductive conditions for a wide range of women regardless of age, ethnicity, or cultural heritage.  Read more . . .

Has a Cure for the Common Cold Already Been Discovered?

Researchers at University of Wisconsin, University of Maryland, and the Craig Venter Institute, recently announced that they have decoded the elusive genetic blueprints of the common cold, essentially demystified the enigma behind how all the viral strains are related to one another, thus enabling them to hone in on the culprit: the rhinoviruses.  The findings of this study, published in the Feb. 12, 2011 issue of Science journal, explains the nature of the human rhinovirus.  But while this is certainly good news for the millions of men, women, and children who contract the opportunistic virus (twice a year on average for adults, and up to ten times a year for children), many wonder why is it that with all the scientific advances in recent decades, a cure for this commonly-contracted disease wasn't found long ago?  After all, any number of deadly bacteria-related diseases have been cured, why not the common cold virus?  Read more . . .

The Health Benefits of Fenugreek

Fenugreek is a deep-rooted annual herb resembling hay and alfalfa whose seeds have been used both as a curative and as a spice (called methia) for at least 6000 years.  Charred fenugreek seeds have been recovered from ancient sites both in Iraq and Israel (radiocarbon dated to 4000 BCE), and dried fenugreek seeds were even discovered in the tomb of the Egyptian boy-Pharaoh Tutankhamen.  Grown in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, and China since before recorded history, fenugreek is perhaps best known today as a common ingredient in curry powder and chutney.  A dull yellow powder produced from the roasted seeds, fenugreek is readily available fresh and dried, whole and pulverized.  Read more . . .

Home Remedies for Sexual Impotence

Since man first discovered the connection between an erect penis and fertility, he has persued an interest in natural substances that enhance his sexual performance.  While exploring the effects of various plants he found growing around him, he no doubt stumbled upon herbs that when chewed would cause him to have more frequent and harder erections; herbs that would allow him to maintain his erections longer.  As a result, most cultures of the world now have an assortment of herb-based home remedies for treating sexual impotence.  Read more . . .

The Health Benefits of Black Cohosh

Black cohosh is a member of the buttercup family, a perennial plant native to North America.  Also known as black snakeroot, bugbane, bugwort, rattleroot, rattletop, rattleweed, and macrotys, it has been used for centuries by Native Americans who first discovered its many health benefits.  Traditionally considered a female herb, it is commonly used to ease labor pains, treat menstrual cramps, hot flashes, infertility, threatened miscarriage, and to induce lactation.  Black cohosh first appeared in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia in 1830 under the name “black snakeroot.”  In 1844 it gained new popularity when Dr. John King, an eclectic physician of the era, prescribed it to treat a number of illnesses including rheumatism and nervous disorders.  By the early twentieth century, many doctors across the US were routinely advocating black cohosh for most female-related maladies including endometritis, amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, sterility, severe after-birth pains, and for increased breast milk production.  Read more . . .

The Health Benefits of Grape Seed Extract

Grape seed extract, as the term suggests, is a natural chemical extract made from the seeds of grapes.  Most often, the seeds left over from the commercial production of wine or juice are used; harvested, ground, and extracted.  Especially high in particular chemical compounds science terms OPC’s (oligomeric proanthocyanidins), grape seed extract increases the strength of weakened blood vessels, and is also one of the most potent antioxidants known.  And in terms of cost-efficiency, grape seed extract is one of the least expensive ways to get your daily dose of these highly beneficial compounds.   Additionally, grape seed extract contains a vast array of health-supporting ingredients including substantial amounts protein, lipids, carbohydrates, and polyphenols (which come mainly in the form of flavonoids, also known as bioflavonoids).  Read more . . .

The Health Benefits of Essiac Tea

Essiac tea is a blend of herbs believed by many to have unique cancer-fighting properties and a number of other health benefits. Originally used by Native American medicine men, the recipe was rediscovered in 1922 by a Canadian nurse named Rene Caisse as she was attending a woman who claimed to have been cured of breast cancer with an herbal remedy given to her by a North American Indian shaman in the 1890s.  After learning for herself the health benefits of this herbal blend, Rene named her version of the recipe ESSIAC—her last name spelled backwards.  As nurse Caisse discovered, the four main herbs that make up Essiac, burdock root, the inner bark of slippery elm, sheep sorrel, and Indian rhubarb root, each have unique properties that have been utilized for centuries, both as an herbal infusion as well as for topical poultices and plasters.  Read more . . .

Eastern State Hospital: America’s First Insane Asylum

Founded in 1773, Eastern State Hospital, located in Williamsburg, Virginia, was the first officially recognized institution constructed solely for the care and treatment of the mentally ill in the United States.  Initially intended only to treat and discharge the “curable” mentally ill and confine those deemed a threat to themselves and others, this public hospital was not designed with the chronic and harmless mentally ill in mind.  At this time in American history, treatment for psychiatric disorders consisted primarily of restraint and application of various types of discomfort and pain, as most social scientists of the era believed the irrational behavior exhibited by the mentally ill was a conscious choice they could be dissuaded from repeating.  Read more . . .

Meditation, Music, and "Toning"

Pythagoras, the founder of the music-therapy concept in the west, is said to have sung soothing melodies to his disciples based on the principal that melody and rhythm cannot fail to restore harmony to the human soul.  Surviving letters explain that in the evenings with his lyre and voice, he “released his followers from the cares and stresses of the day, purified their intellect, and rendered their sleep quiet.”  And in the morning, “he freed them from nocturnal heaviness, relaxation, and apathy” through particular songs and rhythms.  He believed that music is essential to spiritual and physical health and is capable of producing the most beneficial correctness of human life and behavior.  And from ancient times to the present, there have been countless other scholars who agree.  Read more . . .

What Ever Happened to Biorhythms?

To children of the 60's, astrology, meditation, auras, and palm reading are as familiar as love beads, long hair, and "flower power."  It can reasonably be said that it was the generation of peace & love that ushered in the New Age–though theologians would argue that it actually began 50 years earlier in the time of spiritualist H. P. Blavatsky.  Even so, an entire generation took to the philosophies, religions, and ideologies of the world in a way that American society had never experienced before or since. Guessing one’s "sign," joining meditation circles, quoting the world’s great philosophers, practicing Yoga, and consulting one’s biorhythm chart were everyday rituals indicative of one’s spiritual "enlightenment."   Read more . . .

Reflexology: The Art and Science of It

Reflexology is a holistic modality of body, mind, and spirit, aimed at treating the whole person.  It does not isolate a disease and treat is symptomatically, nor work specifically on one body system; its approach is intended to induce a state of total balance and intersystemic harmony.  The basic tenet of reflexology is that the body, mind, and spirit are interconnected and what affects one, affects them all.   And as a holistic therapy, reflexology aims to get to the root cause of the disease, treat it, and return the body to a state of homeostasis: a state of natural balance.  Unlike common foot massage, reflexology is geared to specific reflex points located on the feet that correspond to particular body parts or systems.  Reflexology does not involve the manipulation of the entire foot, and is not intended to bring about pleasure–though that is often the result.  Read more . . .

Feet Worship and the Origins of Reflexology

The oldest documented depiction of the practice of reflexology is a pictograph dated to 2500 to 2300 BCE, found in the tomb of a popular Egyptian physician known as Ankmahor.  Records show that during his lifetime, Ankmahor enjoyed an unusually high societal status, second only to the Pharaoh.  The scene depicts two dark-skinned men working on the feet of two men with lighter skin.  Above the scene are hieroglyphs reading: ‘Do not let it be painful’ to which one attendant replies, ‘I do as you please.’  Due to the physical positioning of the men, the color scheme, and the inscription, Egyptian scholars are able to interpret the pictogram as illustrating the act of using the foot to cure the patients of illness: essentially, "reflexology."  It is hypothesized that although reflexology does not appear to have been in continual practice since ancient Egyptian times, the knowledge of curing ailments through stimulation of the feet has been used by many cultures around the world including the Aborigine of Australia, modern Aztec of Mexico, Native Americans, and several cultures of the Middle East.  Read more . . .

Acupuncture: The Science Behind the Needle

Acupuncture is a modality of Chinese traditional medicine known to have been in practice for at least 2500 years.  Hieroglyphs and pictographs from the Shang Dynasty suggest that acupuncture was practiced as early as the 12th century BCE.  While its specific origins in China are uncertain, one theory suggests that the effects of acupuncture were realized when it was observed that some soldiers who had been wounded by arrows in battle were mysteriously cured although left untreated.  Scholars also suggest that the healing principles behind acupuncture may be traced as far back as the Stone Age, when Bian shi, or sharpened stones were employed at keys points on the body.   Read more . . .

Fibromyalgia: Effective Herbal and Dietary Treatments

Current statistics show that fibromyalgia affects approximately 3-5% of the American population, with a female to male incidence ratio of approximately 9:1.  According to current medical criteria, fibromyalgia (also referred to as FM or FMS) is defined as: “A medical disorder characterized by chronic widespread pain and allodynia (pain caused by a stimulus which does not normally induce pain), and a heightened and painful response to pressure.  In that fibromyalgia symptoms are not restricted to physical pain, the alternative term “fibromyalgia syndrome” is also applied to this condition.  Other core symptoms of fibromyalgia include overpowering fatigue, sleep disturbance, and joint stiffness.  Some patients also report difficulty swallowing, bowel and bladder abnormalities, jaw pain, numbness and tingling (especially in the hands and feet), and cognitive dysfunction (what many term ‘brain fog.’)"  Read more . . .