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 . . .

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 . . .

Herbal Remedies and Their Preparation: Infusion and Decoction

The return to choosing herbal remedies over synthetic or pharmaceuticals is not just a trend towards healthy options, but acknowledgment that nature provides botanical (as well as zoological) options for most--if not all--of humankind’s ills.  But as any experienced herbalist will be quick to point out, treating ailments with herbs is not as simple as just obtaining an herb you’ve read about online and deciding, “Hey, I’m gonna try that.”  The practice of herbology involves learning to relate symptomology to diagnosis, knowing when and when not to choose a particular herb, acquiring the appropriate part of the plant, and of course, preparing it in a manner that best allows the body to utilize its healing properties.  Infusion and decoction are the two most common methods used.  Read more . . .