Herbs and Medicine in Germany

I was doing research for an article today and stumbled upon this paragraph. It has nothing to do with the article I am writing, but it was such a good description of "what is wrong" with our way of looking at medicine I wanted to share it here:

(source: http://cms.herbalgram.org/commissione/intro/ceherbsingermany.html)

One of the driving forces that has resulted in mainstream acceptance of phytomedicine in Germany is the inclusion of phytotherapy in the medical and pharmacy school curricula. In the opinion of several medical groups, "modern phytotherapy is not perceived as alternative medicine, but as a part of so-called traditional medicine" [i.e., conventional medicine] (Schilcher, 1997c). Since 1993 all medical school students in Germany must successfully complete a portion of their board examinations in the area of phytotherapy as a precondition for practicing medicine (Schilcher, 1991). Medical education on medicinal plants and phytomedicines includes regular lectures in universities and medical schools, four one-week courses with 26 hours of lectures in phytotherapy in Weiterbildung (continuing education), lectures and courses in Fortbildung (postgraduate education), the publication of scientific literature (papers and books), the Commission E Monographs, and directions on product uses according to section 11 of the Second Medicines Act (AMG 76) (Schilcher, 1991, 1997c).

A Simple Healing Appetizer

A friend asked me today about raw garlic which inspired me to remember my favorite raw garlic dish. I immediately made a batch of it. This appetizer is so yummy and healing! The garlic clears your sinuses and your lungs as well as providing an anti-biotic effect. Garlic is also known to clear asthma attacks and reduce fevers and pain. The cumin is fantastic for the digestive system and helps reduce pain as well. As I still have some lingering join pain from the flu that will be nice. The best thing about this appetizer is that it is easy to make - because who wants to cook when they are ill?

Recipe

1. Slice some tomatoes in a large bowl. Add to a second bowl - a few large spoons of raw garlic, a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of cumin.



2. Add some salt and mix the garlic mixture.



3. Combine the two mixtures. This tastes best when you cover it and let the tastes mingle together for an hour before eating it but I can rarely wait it smells so good!



My son smelled it and wanted some. He does not like tomatoes so he dipped some crackers in it - his evaluation - "this is awesome!"

How Housework Can Heal You

Some tips for people who need to get their house clean while they are ill:

If the work can wait, leave it. However, this popular encouragement from friends, family and well wishers can often work against you as having a clean house enhances the positive Feng Shui in your space and can increase your ability to heal. So leave what is not urgent (no need to wash the windows or dust the top of the ceiling fans today) but you may want to consider doing some bare basics and here are some tips on how to do those in a healing manner:

1. Add 6 drops of essential oil of thyme, eucalyptus, rosemary, tea tree or other healing oil to dishwater and do your dishes by hand. The steam from the hot water will clear your sinuses and your lungs and the oils will help your immune system. Additionally, your dishes will be germ free and very clean!

2. Wear a face mask when dusting or using any cleansers of any kind. Even if you don't usually have a reaction to cleansers remember that your body's immune system is weak now and may have reactions to things it can usually tolerate.

3. Turn off the air and open the windows - even if it is winter or hot summer - this will help air out the house, clean the air in the house and help you feel better too. Having the heat on in the winter may feel comfortable, but it can often dry the air and when you are ill this warm dry heat is an ideal atmosphere for virus and bacteria to breed in.

4. Ask someone to help you do at least one thing - a friend, a spouse or a child. People feel good when they help and it feels good to be cared for. This positive energy can help you heal.

5. Do some organizing and pick up things from the floors and around the home. This can help the healing energy flow of the home and allows you to move about in a gentle manner so you can work the illness out of your system.

6. Do a load of sheets and pajamas or clothes and add some lavender or another favorite relaxing essential oil to the dryer sheets. This will help you sleep at night and even perhaps nap during the day. It will also lessen your stress and you will not be worrying about all the work you will have to catch up on when you are "well" again.

7. Cook a nice chicken soup or vegetable soup (if you don't eat meat) with chopped vegetables. You can chop the vegetables while you are sitting. Chopping is a simple action that can induce meditation if done with mindfulness (your mind only in that moment). This and other meditative activities can speed healing in your body. And of course the soup is very healing - especially if you add healing herbs like thyme, rosemary, and sage.

8. Do some additional meditative activities like sorting your e-mail, darning socks, or filing papers instead of watching TV or staring at the walls in misery (I speak from experience here LOL). These are tasks that can create anxiety when left undone for too long, but they are also tasks that are hard to do when one is feeling energetic and "ready to work". Finishing some menial tasks like this will give you a sense of accomplishment and will alleviate worry and guilt and this will increase your healing ability.

Friday's Live Chat- Unconditional Parenting with Chis Cade

Dear Members,

Our next live Earthschooling Waldorf chat is this Friday, October 2nd at 11am CST/USA. It is with Chris Cade, whom many of you know from the website www.Spiritualshortstories.com - the topic will be "Staying Inspired as a Parent" however, you will have the opportunity to ask any questions you want including questions about stories.

Registration is limited. You can sign up HERE to attend this session or sign upHERE to attend more than one session.

October 2nd, 10AM PST - Inspiration for Parents - Unconditional Parenting, How to Stay Inspired and Using Stories in Parenting
with Chris Cade of http://www.spiritual-short-stories.com/

Chris Cade has been inspiring millions of people daily through his website Spiritual Short Stories. Many Earthschooling and Waldorf parents subscribe to his newsletter and are already familiar with his work. I know that a number of Waldorf teachers and parents use stories from his website for their daily "inner work" meditation as well as for Main Lessons or story time. Chris will join us for an hour on October 2nd to answer questions and share wisdom about "Unconditional Parenting", stories in parenting and how he stays inspired as a parent. Chris is the visionary behind world's #1 Spiritual Story site online. In April, Chris asked to be laid off so that he could follow his dreams to empower people worldwide with his network of spiritual websites, the Inscribe Your Life program, and his upcoming printed book "Think Without the Box."
www.inscribeyourlife.com
www.spiritual-short-stories.com
www.chriscade.com

Why I Had Food Poisoning

A few days ago I had a bad case of food poisoning. I am sure if it was anyone else it would have lasted more than one day. I immediately wondered about that lettuce I had eaten that evening. There was nothing to tell me it was "bad" but I just had this "intuitive feel" about it - and my intuition is rarely wrong. However, I just let it go and was happy I was fine.

Imagine my surprise when this morning I received the following information from a consumer watch organization I am a member of:

Do you have fresh lettuce in your fridge? Last Wednesday, a company recalled romaine lettuce in 29 states due to salmonella. Much of that lettuce was already in people's homes. Did you know about the recall effort so you could check on your greens? Probably not. It's time we stop relying on unreliable recalls and start to prevent food poisoning up front. The Food Safety Enhancement Act will do that, but we need your Representative to vote FOR it this week, before Congress goes on its recess!

The House could vote THIS AFTERNOON or tomorrow. Act now!

It certainly would be nice to have more information about what is happening with the food I purchase. We are not able to be self-reliant at this point so I do rely on outside food sources and I need to trust those sources.

My stomach seems to be "iron" in many ways. I lived overseas for years and ate street vendor food, unwashed vegetables and fruits and even drank from the NILE a few times. I can't believe some of the things I ate! But the only times I ever got ill were when I at at the "Nile Hilton" in Tahrir square. I often wonder if the entire "beware of local food" scare was created to increase attendance at local hotel restaurants!

Of course, that is my experience and I am saying that jokingly, of course. One should be cautious in what they eat and aware of what they are consuming - from a street vendor or from a fancy hotel chain.

What has surprised me most of all is that in 16 years of living in "developing countries" I experienced food poisoning only twice. Since coming back to live in the USA I've experienced it 6 times in only 5 years. What are your experiences with food poisoning? How do you keep yourself and your family safe? Share with the list! I would love to hear what everyone has to say.

Blessings & Health,
Kristie
www.HerbnHome.com
www.TheAvicennaInstitute.com

How Can You Tell if Health Information is Valid?

A student at The Avicenna Institute brought up a good point in their paper the other day. They mentioned that a lot of studies that are done on the benefits of different foods are done by the government or by the food industry itself. So how can you tell what the truth is? They cited a website that had claimed many benefits of their product.

Last week I was doing research on artificial food colorings and I found the official European government site that stated that "of course these are not harmful". "Of course" if the government makes something legal they want to reassure us that it is not harmful. This is one example of how false information can be propagated to large groups of people.

However, in using the Internet as a research tool (along with books, interviews, studies, etc...) I have found that in most cases positive information is quite accurate on many websites. If you go to a website that sells honey their quoted studies on the benefits are usually accurate. When you check on the journal references and studies they are usually easy to find and "check out". If you go to a website that talks about the benefits of aromatherapy, homeopathy, brown rice, or anything I have found that 99% of the time their positive quotes stand up to a background check.

So in doing your own research online I just wanted to share that what you need to be most cautious about is the lack of negative information or the abundance of negative information. If a website contains lists of positive studies you need to also check on some of the negative studies or information about that product. You should cross reference everything with at least one impartial source or at least three different sources. Perhaps check out Snopes. Although they seem to have a bias that runs against natural healing, they tend to use "tried and true" methods of research - two professional research librarians run Snopes out of their trailer and use the library, journals and phone calls as their main research methods.

Of course the best method is to check with a professional. Many of my clients send me long e-mails with questions about supplements, products, and foods they are consuming. I can often save clients hundreds of dollars and many hours of wasted time, simply by helping them go through their "cupboards" and sort through all the "hype" attached to the products they use. Many times there are less expensive products that are available that can show the same results or benefits. If you would like assistance sorting through all the conflicting health information you have gathered contact your health care professional - they are there to help you with things like this! Most people think they need to contact their health care practioner only if they are ill, but a consult of this nature could actually save you from becoming ill, and save you hundreds of dollars as well. If you don't have a health care practitioner you can contact about this information I am available online at www.HerbnHome.com - consultations are still only $47.00 until August 1st.

Beware of Bad Herbal Advice

Somehow I got on a mailing list for Triple Crown Health Newsletters. They appear legitimate because they put a big banner ad for Blue Cross at the top of their header. Only on close inspection can one tell that it is an ad and the newsletter is not coming from Blue Cross. For months I thought they were newsletters coming from Blue Cross and I found it interesting that Blue Cross was putting out so many herbal newsletters so I didn't opt out. However, today was the first time I have read one of the newsletters and this is why.

As I was skimming through the newsletter I saw the words "Kava Kava". Kava Kava makes me very ill. So ill that I would even consider visiting the emergency room. This is not unusual. Just like every herb, not all herbs are meant to be consumed by everyone. Although Kava Kava is advertised as a relaxing herb it actually makes many people's heart race and can induce panic attacks or worse. I was curious what they had to say and then horrified that the newsletter didn't mention anything about side effects at all. In fact, in closing, it said,

"Many people ask themselves, how do I know that herbs are safe for me to take? Herbs are all natural, so in most cases herbs are very good to take. Herbs rarely cause side effects like many other drugs sold."

This is entirely false and is one reason why herbal medicine sometimes gets a bad reputation. Herbs should be taken in a responsible manner and be considered just as carefully as you would any medicine. Many herbs have side effects and many people have contraindications of taking certain herbs. Some of these side effects can be confusing and uncomfortable as well as harmful.

I've had clients complain of horrible headaches and dizziness because they steeped teas for too long. One client came to me with a range of complaints. When I asked him about supplements he consumed it turned out he was taking about 30 different herbs that someone at GNC had recommended for him. When he stopped taking the herbs his complaints went away. Another client spent days in bed with horrible cramps before they called me to ask advice. It turns out they were taking senna on a weekly basis without balancing it with cumin or another herb to calm the intense cramps it can cause. When I was in labor with my third child I accidentally took too much skullcap to calm me after the birth and put the nurses into a panic because my blood pressure went so low. Luckily I knew why it was so low, I stopped drinking the tea and avoided the costly and perhaps painful tests they had in store for me.

The best way to decide what herbs to take is to consult a resource or a person you trust and the best way to tell if you can trust them or not is to ask them, "Do herbs have side effects?" If they say no, then find another resource.