Herbal Energetics: Heat

An example I used in my last post was to take two herbs: a cayenne pepper and a cucumber and ask yourself which was 'hot' and which was 'cold'. I think most everybody would agree the cayenne would be 'hot' and the cucumber would be 'cold'. Now, what does this mean? Heating or warming herbs tend to stimulate action and movement in the body. They encourage the movement of fluids (like blood, lymph, digestive fluids, or mucous) and often stimulate an organ (or organs) to speed up and work a little faster. Cooling herbs tend to slow things down a bit, relieve inflammation and soothe irritation.

'Heat' and 'cold' can also reflect physiological conditions within the body itself. In this article, I'm going to focus on heat and the primary herbal therapy for relieving heat.

'Heat' in the body refers to excess caused by irritation or excitation of the tissues. Have you ever been playing ball or running and twist your ankle? What happens? The ankle swells up, often becomes reddish, and hot to the touch. It's hot because the injury has resulted in a lot of blood and fluid flooding the area as inflammation sets in. There is an excess or an irritation of the tissues, due to injury.

Ever been stung by a bee or wasp? What happens to that area? It becomes red, swollen, and again, hot to the touch. It's usually pretty painful too.

What about a sore throat that is red, hot, swollen, and painful? All these are examples of "heat" causing problems in the body.

Heat (irritation / excitation) basically relates to inflammation. There are four signs of inflammation: redness, swelling, pain, and heat. Inflammation can be an acute condition in the body, or become chronic (which actually becomes something other than 'heat'). When tissues becomes injured, or irritated they trigger the inflammatory response in the body, which brings in an excess of blood and lymph.

Organs, too, can become irritated or excited due to various factors and rev up too much, causing problems. This causes a problem of excess which you find in the 'hyper-' conditions (ex. hyperthyroid).

So, what is our primary herbal therapy for heat in the body? Sour herbs. These are herbs which often have a sour taste to them: lemons, elderberry, hawthorn, rosehips, yellow dock, cranberry, mangosteen, noni, (really just about any berry). If you have ever drank aloe vera juice, you will know just how sour it is (and so soothing to tissues).

The sour herbs are often rich in organic acids and bioflavonoids which relieve inflammation and soothe irritated tissues. The actions of the sour taste include toning tissues, speeding tissue healing, and stimulating digestion. They are often very high in vitamin C, which helps relieve inflammation in the body.

A secondary therapy for heat would be our mucilaginous, or demulcent herbs. These herbs lay down a nice layer of "slime" on the irritated tissue which are very cooling and soothing. Aloe vera is considered sour, but it is also very mucilaginous and if you've ever used it on your sunburn you know how soothing it is. Other examples of demulcent herbs are: marshmallow, comfrey leaf (for external use), psyllium seed, and slippery elm. I'll go into more detail with demulcent herbs when I talk about 'moistening' vs 'drying' herbs.

Another secondary therapy for heat are herbs with the bitter taste. Most bitter herbs are cooling and anti-inflammatory. They are often anti-infectious as well, making them useful for infections with symptoms of heat. An example is goldenseal or oregon grape root--both very bitter, are anti-infectious, and considered 'cold'.


Resources:

Practice of Traditional Western Herbalism -- Matthew Wood

Reading the Terrain -- Kiva Rose

Herbal Energetics

Lately I have found myself very strongly drawn to a concept known as "herbal energetics". Herbal energetics refers to whether an herb is 'hot' or 'cold' or whether it is 'drying or damp.' This applies to humans as well: Is that condition hot or cold? Dry or damp? Tense or Relaxed? It really all comes down to matching person to herb in the best way possible.

At first it can seem really confusing. Hell, I've been studying it now for awhile and it still seems confusing. But you'll find, that with a little study, it can, at times, make choosing herbs an almost instinctive process. An excellent reference for study is "The Practice of Traditional Western Herbalism" by Matthew Woods.

Alright, pull out a cayenne pepper and a cucumber. Which one is 'hot' and which one is 'cold'? Unless you've never experienced either one of those it's a pretty easy answer. And if you have actually never experienced those two plants, simply take a bite of each one... That's herbal energetics.

Imagine you've been working out in the sun on a hot August day. You come inside and grab something to drink: do you want a nice cold glass of lemonade? Or a hot cup of coffee or tea? I want something cold! On the other hand, imagine you've been out in the cold wind and snow in January for a while. You come inside and grab something to drink: do you want a cold glass of lemonade? Or a steaming hot cup of cocoa?

So, if I'm 'hot' I want something cold to cool me down. If I'm 'cold' I want something warming to help warm me up. That's herbal energetics. Another example: you've spent a bit too much time in the sun and have a nice sunburn across your shoulders and back. It hurts to even have a shirt on now. Do you want to put some cool and soothing aloe on it? Or would a heating pad feel better? Having experienced this many times in my life...I want cool and soothing!!

With these examples most people will go, "Oh! I can understand that." Very recently I developed a real nice cough. I got lazy, wasn't keeping up with my vitamin D, eating rather poorly, and got the crud that was going around here. It started with a 'dry' cough, as compared to a 'wet' productive cough.

So, I started my treatment with two herbs: mullein and marshmallow root. Both of these herbs are soothing, moistening expectorants. I had a 'dry' cough and took herbs which are 'moistening'. See how this works?? They soothed the dry irritated tissues of my lungs and, being expectorants, helped bring up any mucus trapped in there. Sure, I still coughed, but I coughed less and lost that tight, irritated feeling in my chest.

As the cough progressed, just like in everybody else, at some point it transitioned into a wet productive cough. My treatment changed a bit. I still used mullein for its expectorant properties and added garlic. Garlic is a stimulating expectorant and considered 'drying'. Because of the drying action it wasn't appropriate for the first stage of my cough. I still coughed, but it was less and didn't seem to have the "my chest is tearing apart" feeling that most others had.

Now, notice I never took anything which suppressed the cough, like over-the-counter stuff does. Coughing is the body's attempt to rid itself of the infection and suppressing that just makes things worse, or makes it last longer. So, my treatment was directed at aiding the body in either producing more mucus (moistening) or in removing that mucus by expectorating. I still coughed, I still went through the same phases of illness as my friends and coworkers, but the phases were quicker and less miserable than what they experienced. I also did not ultimately need to do a round of antibiotics, which many of them did.

Best of all, it provided me with a great reminder in why I shouldn't eat junk food, should keep up on my vitamin D, and should take care of myself.

That's my introduction to herbal energetics. I have a feeling I'll get much more in-depth with this topic in future posts. In the meantime, for those of you interested in energetics I suggest these great resources: The Practice of Traditional Western Herbalism by Matthew Woods; www.herbcraft.org by Michigan herbalist Jim McDonald; and www.bearmedicineherbals.com/archive-index (a fantastic blog by herbalist Kiva Rose).

Vitamin D levels

This will be a real quick post. I found this chart on a lecture by Medical Herbalist Paul Bergner and thought it was very impressive. This shows what happens by blood level of Vitamin D. Notice the California lifeguard in the summer had a level of 70-80 nanograms per milliliter, while the average American tested only had 24!

• 150 ng/ml No toxicity noted at this level (twice normal physiological levels)
• 70-80 ng/ml California lifeguard tested in the summer
• 50 ng/ml Mother stops secreting D3 in breast milk; at this level and above breast cancer risk falls by 50%. Below this level risk increases substantially.
• 38 ng/ml Colon cancer risk at 60%; neuromuscular function impaired
• 32 ng/ml Calcium absorption impaired; bone loss occurs
• 24 ng/ml Average American levels in recent survey; parathyroid hormone is suppressed
• 15 ng/ml Necessary to prevent rickets and osteomalacia; respiratory infections double
  

It is easy to see that at lower levels our respiratory immunity is severely weakened. This means more colds and flu for us. So keep the Vitamin D levels up!! You can have your levels tested at a doctor's office or go to www.vitaminDcouncil.org for a home test kit.

Mineralize with an Herbal Infusion!

In my opinion, our best source of minerals come from plants. Plants have this magical ability to take minerals from the soil (which our bodies can't absorb and use) and transform them into wonderfully building elements for the body. Unfortunately, most multi-vitamin supplements contain minerals straight from the ground, pulverized, and put in a tablet. The body either ignores it (it passes straight through unabsorbed) or is able to use it only by expending a lot of energy to transform it into usable forms.

Luckily for us, plants take those minerals and do the transforming for us. This means those minerals are changed into a state the body can make easy use of. And one of the best ways to get these minerals is through an herbal infusion.

Infusions are similar to making a cup of tea, only a lot stronger. Regular teas don't provide a whole lot minerals because they're only steeped 5 or 10 minutes. An herbal infusion is steeped for hours. This allows the water to pull out a lot of awesome minerals--great news for us!

What you'll need: a quart jar and lid; one ounce of dried herb (by weight); and boiling water.

Simply place one ounce of dried herb in the jar, fill with boiling water, seal it and let sit for 6 to 12 hours. Strain out the plant material when finished and drink. Add a little honey to taste if you desire. Refrigerated, an infusion will last about 24 hours. After that it's best to water your garden with it and make a fresh one. And speaking of garden--that used plant material makes great compost!
Three of the best mineral-rich infusions: nettle leaf, red raspberry leaf, and oatstraw. These three herbs have long been used to nourish us and build our health. Nettle leaf is particularly high in calcium; red raspberry is high in organic iron, and oatstraw is high in organic silica (used for strong bones, skin, and connective tissues). However, each of these herbs are high in virtually ALL beneficial minerals.

My pregnant wife routinely consumes these infusions and they are a fantastic way of providing minerals to the baby. They've long been used during pregnancy because they are so gentle. That is truly the mark of a great herb--that it can be used every day and the only side-effect is good health.

**For more information on using infusions for pregnancy check out the book Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year by author Susan Weed.

Why I love herbs

Being a paramedic, and now an instructor, I'm asked occasionally why I'm into all this "herbal stuff." At first my answer was something along the lines of, "I don't know, I've just been interested in them since I was a kid." But, the more I pondered it the more I was able to articulate it. So, here are some of my thoughts.

I believe that herbs better activate our innate healing response. Especially when we gather them ourselves and make our own medicine. Imagine you feel yourself coming down with the flu. You open up your cupboard and pull out some homemade echinacea tincture. As you do you remember the beautiful morning when you dug it out of the ground, sun shining, birds calling, the world at peace. You recall washing the roots, chopping them, placing them in a jar and covering with alcohol. You remember shaking the mixture twice a day for six weeks and being excited for it to be done. There is a part of yourself in that medicine. Compare that with the antibiotic pills you will receive from your physician. Which do you think will better activate our innate healing response, the one deeply linked to our thoughts, emotions, and subconscious?

There is another reason I love herbs -- I believe they better support the body's healing ability. Drugs go into the body and force a change. Herbs, too, can go into the body and force a change. The difference is that herbs provides minerals, vitamins, anti-oxidants, essential fatty acids, proteins, and other compounds which then support the change being produced. Medications produce the change but don't give the body anything to support it. In this way, herbs provide some depth, while medications are more two-dimensional.

I also find knowledge of herbs to be very empowering for people. We as a culture have allowed ourselves to give all our power to doctors. We assume that we know nothing and only doctors have the answers. However, by learning even basic herbs we can take that power back. We are no longer dependent on someone else to give us the "magic elixir" which will heal us. Instead, we make our own (which better activates the healing response as I discussed above), or we buy a supply of different herbs and use them to treat ourselves and families. Either way, we're actively involving ourselves in the healing process, which is key!

I believe drugs have their place and there are times when I think they're necessary. However, I believe that herbs have way more to offer us in terms of actual healing than medications do. I would very highly recommend picking up a couple books on herbs and start with the plants in your own backyard. Odds are there are plenty of potent medicines within a few feet of your back door!

Avoid The Flu With These Two Supplements

As the weather cools, flu season kicks into high gear. Unless you've been living in a cave you have probably been inundated with flu vaccine propaganda. It seems like the medical community comes out in force to get everyone vaccinated against the flu. Personally, I do not want mercury, formeldehyde, and antifreeze injected directly into my body. Especially considering several major studies have shown the flu vaccine to be virtually ineffective. So, what can we do to protect ourselves that is natural and healthy? My answer -- Vitamin D3 and Elderberry.

Elderberry is a very old-time remedy for the flu. Well, science has actually shown why it works. Elderberry contains two enzymes which actually prevent the flu virus from penetrating our cells. It disables the mechanism the virus uses to attach and drill through the cell wall. This is a great supplement to take through the flu season. One of my favorites is one called Elderberry Defense by Nature's Sunshine. However, I will also use elderberry flowers and berries in tea. Elderberry tincture is another very effective way to take it.

The second supplement is Vitamin D3. D3 is the most natural form of the vitamin and most closely resembles what our bodies produce. Several studies have shown that high vitamin D3 levels in the body is more effective at preventing flu than the vaccine. How much is enough? Here is where there is much disagreement in the medical community, and a little research will show vastly different recommended amounts. However, most often I see an adult dose of 5000 units of D3 daily. Personally, I take 4000 to 8000 daily, depending on how many sick people I've been around. This supplement is also important in preventing seasonal affective disorder (SAD) that those of us in the north are prone to.

Both of these supplements are fairly inexpensive and work great at flu prevention. In my opinion, much better than getting a harmful vaccine!

Echinacea works two ways

It is common knowledge that echinacea boosts the immune system. Even people who have no knowledge of natural health have heard of echinacea. And it works great too! However, there is more than meets the eye with this fantastic herb.

There are two species that are typically used: Echinacea angustifolia and Echinacea purpurea. There is a mountain of research which indicates that echinacea boosts the immune response. This makes this herb very useful in fighting off infections, colds, flu, strep throat, bronchitis, etc. If taken when the first symptoms of a cold or flu are noticed, echinacea can stop them from progressing further.

Apparently, echinacea kind of tricks the body into thinking it is being invaded by a massive attack. This stimulates it to ramp up production of white blood cells and strengthen the immune system in general.

However, this herb works the "other side of the coin" in infections: the environment. Without getting too technical there are two lines of thought when it comes to getting sick: the medical and the naturopathic. The medical mindset says that all infections are caused by invading bacteria or virus which enter the body and cause illness. The naturopathic mindset says the environment (our tissues) has to be pleasant for bacteria and viruses or they won't enter in the first place. One focuses on killing off bacteria with antibiotics, the other focuses on cleaning and strengthening the environment so bacteria can't live there. One approach weakens the body (and actually weakens the immune system), while the other approach actually builds the body and makes it stronger.

Bacteria and virus love an environment high in cellular waste and toxins. Think of a stagnant swamp versus a clear running stream -- which one breeds more mosquitoes? If our tissues are stagnant and "swampy" from poor diet, lack of exercise, etc then they create an environment that bacteria love. If, however, we create the "clear running stream" in our tissues then bacteria won't thrive there.

Back to echinacea: it is actually a blood and lymph cleanser! It stimulates the body to cleanse! This means it is working on the environment by cleaning out the "swamp" and making it uninviting to pests. This makes the body stronger and healthier.

So, two actions: one, it stimulates white blood cells to grow and multiply. Two, it cleans out the environment which then keeps bacteria and virus out (or keeps them from multiplying). Echinacea is best used in the short-term: at the onset of an infection take frequent repeated doses. It seems that after about two weeks of continual use that it loses some effectiveness. There are other herbs which are better for long-term immune building.

I carry a bottle of Ultimate Echinacea from Nature's Sunshine around with me all the time, especially working as a paramedic. If I feel the hint of something coming on I start taking doses every hour or so to stop it in its tracks. Do yourself a favor and keep some echinacea handy!