HERBS

by Walter Last

You may benefit from using herbal remedies instead of drugs.

I believe that there are at most a handful of medical drugs that may be beneficial for the user while all the thousands of other drugs are only beneficial for the prescriber and the pharmaceutical industry. Almost all drugs are designed to alleviate only symptoms without really improving our health. On the contrary, in addition to numerous side effects, they commonly become a burden on the liver or kidneys by increasing our load of toxic chemicals, and with this accelerate our health deterioration. Many also tend to become addictive and when withdrawing the drug produce the same symptoms that they originally made to go away.

Herbs are not completely harmless either but damage due to commonly used herbs is extremely rare while benefits are usually more genuine and lasting. In contrast to culinary herbs medicinal herbs should be used on a long-term basis only if there is a reason for using them and not just in case they may do some good. Herbs for a wide range of health problems have been listed in Specific Health Problems. Here I just like to enlarge on a few herbs and conditions that I regard as being particularly important on the road to better health.

A good combination to cleanse the gastro-intestinal tract is a mixture of chilies with a sufficiently large quantity of gingerroot. Blend or crush these in lemon juice and olive oil and refrigerate. Use this as a salad dressing or generally for flavoring meals. Gradually increase the intake to just below your tolerance level for several weeks. Then you may continue to use it just in normal amounts for flavoring your food. With serious infections, inflammations or cancer of the gastro-intestinal tract you may also add fresh garlic for a limited period.

Peppermint tea is especially good to stimulate the digestion and uplift the spirit while slippery elm powder soothes the digestive tract. Sage is highly esteemed. An ancient saying is: 'Why die (of a disease) when sage grows in your garden?' It may be combined with other herbs and is prepared by adding 2 teaspoons of dried sage to 1 pint of boiling water. After 3 minutes take off the heat and let draw for another 10 minutes. Other fragrant or leaf herbs such as peppermint or St Johnswort may be added while drawing. The latter, of course, is very effective against depression. In a comparative clinical trial it has been found to be as effective as antidepressant drugs.

The immune system may be strengthened with echinacea, propolis, European mistletoe (viscum album), Easter lily, Reishi and other oriental mushrooms. Echinacea may be added to all other herb combinations. However, there are some findings that echinacea can cause problems if taken uninterruptedly for several months. Therefore it may be preferable to interrupt its use after a month and then take it again a few weeks later.

Wormwood and garlic are excellent against all kinds of parasites as well as Candida. A combination of golden seal, ginger and slippery elm powder is good with gastro-intestinal inflammations and also multiple sclerosis. In addition to being an excellent wound healer, comfrey is also a good detoxifier. You may drink a cupful of comfrey tea two or three times a week.

To aid digestion it is generally beneficial to drink half a cup of bitter herb tea after a large or cooked meal. Suitable are centaury, dandelion (not roasted), devil's claw, gentian and others. These also help to restore liver functions. With any lung conditions, including lung cancer, have a daily steam inhalation (with a towel over the head) of hot chamomile tea, possibly with the addition of eucalyptus or tea tree oil or some onion.

Maca is a root vegetable from the Peruvian Andes. It is by far the best remedy for balancing the activities of our endocrine glands and hormone systems. It appears to act directly on the hypothalamus and pituitary systems to regulate especially the thyroid, adrenals and sex glands. It is especially effective with underactive thyroid, as an alternative to hormone replacement therapy, including hysterectomy, for age-related decline in the production of sex hormones and with general lack of energy. An average daily intake is about 10 g but start with less.

Licorice, too, has some effect on sex hormones but is most useful as a stimulant of adrenal functions. With this it can raise low blood pressure and energy levels and is useful for chronic fatigue syndrome, peptic ulcers, skin inflammations and HIV/AIDS, it also increases pancreas secretions. However, it causes retention of sodium and low potassium levels and should not be used with high blood pressure, kidney disease or during pregnancy. The normal therapeutic range is from 2 to 6 g daily.

For an overview of herbs in cancer treatment see Overcoming Cancer Part 6: Remedies.

Aloe Vera

Aloe vera is excellent for all skin conditions and beneficial in the treatment of cancer, AIDS and other infectious diseases. It is also good for gastro-intestinal irritation, inflammation and ulcers. However, not all commercial brands of aloe on the market are effective. If nothing seems to be happening, try another brand.

Preferably use fresh aloe vera gel straight from the garden, as much as you have and can take without getting diarrhea. Normally you slice off the green skin and ingest just the gel but you may also blend a small whole leaf with suitable additions and some fruit juice or other flavoring. Also for wounds it is usually better to slice part of a leaf in half and leave the skin on top. Normally avoid the base of the leaf with its yellow sap, as this is a strong irritant and laxative. Aloe vera is most beneficial for those with blood group A, with other blood groups check for compatibility or observe effects.

Parasites

Parasite infestations combine with fungi, such as Candida, to greatly undermine our long-term health. Examples of common parasites are intestinal worms and protozoa. Malaria and Giardia are protozoa. Most of these parasites can be eliminated with wormwood (Arthemesia absinthium), best combined with other herbs.

In her book, The Cure for all Cancers Hulda Clark claims that the human intestinal fluke is involved with all cases of cancer, AIDS and other diseases, especially when it lodges in the liver. Many individuals claim that eliminating parasites with the 3 recommended remedies, green tincture of black walnut hulls, wormwood, and ground cloves, has greatly helped them. In addition, one should avoid propyl alcohol, propanol or isopropanol as in cold cereals, cosmetics, shampoo, lotions, sprays and shaving supplies.

The cloves should be freshly ground; you may order 200g in addition to 100g of wormwood. In a modified program I recommend taking 4 drops of Black Walnut 4 x in liquid during the first day. If this is all right, take 4 x 8 drops the next day, then 4 x 12 drops, 4 x 16 drops and on the 5th day 4 x 20 drops. Then continue taking 20 drops once a day for several weeks.

Wormwood is very bitter. You may put the ground wormwood into empty gelatin capsules size 00. Start with 1 capsule before supper and increase by 1 capsule per day to 7 capsules on the 7th day and for 2 more days then continue for several more weeks taking 7 capsules twice a week. Alternatively, you may take it just with a spoon and wash it down; 1-heaped teaspoon is equivalent to about 7 capsules.

With cloves you take 1 capsule 3 x before meals on the 1st day, 3 x 2 capsules on the 2nd day and after that 3 x 3 capsules until day 10. Finally take 3 capsules only once a day for several weeks. If you want to take ground cloves directly on a teaspoon use half a level teaspoon instead of 3 capsules and wash down with plenty of liquid. If you have a sensitive stomach you may proceed much more slowly increasing either one of these remedies. You may repeat this or a similar program twice a year to prevent re-infection.

There are now tinctures available which contain all three ingredients in one convenient preparation. However, I believe the dry herbs to be stronger and if you know to have parasites or a serious health problem, then take the individual herbs initially and the combination remedy for maintenance or repeats. During any parasite or Candida cure have a high intake of water or diluted liquids to flush out toxic residues. In addition to any herbal remedies an electronic zapper is recommended to keep the blood clean. The relevant book by Hulda Clark is The Cure for All Diseases (ProMotion Publishing).

Papaw Leaf

Papaw (papaya) leaf tea or extract is highly regarded as a tumor destroying agents but is also good as a liver cleanser and digestive aid. However, I believe that the main healing agent is in the white sap that is more in the leaf stems, twigs and skins of green papaws than in the leaf itself. Dried preparations may be less potent, especially as it is so much easier to dry leaves rather than stems. Fresh leaves and stems may be supplied by parcel mail from a papaw farm and refrigerated or frozen for several weeks. You may also prepare a concentrated tea or juice and freeze that.

The usual instruction is to cram as many papaw leaves as possible into a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 2 - 3 hours. Drain and refrigerate the liquid. Drink one large glassful or about 200ml three times a day. Continue until recovery.

In addition, you may eat some cooked green papaws and ingest the water in which they have been cooked. You may also use peeled green papaw for juicing or in salads and simmer the skin with or instead of leaves to make the bitter tea. Papaw leaf juice is also available commercially but I cannot comment on the effectiveness of these preparations.

However, I believe that the fresh juice of green papaws, leaves and stems is even more effective than boiled reparations. This is a concentrated solution of the protein-digesting enzyme papain. A spoonful of it in diluted form is excellent to be taken with or after meals. It is, of course, rather bitter. A recommended way of preparing it is to freeze the juice in ice-cube trays. This may be used in addition to the boiled leaf juice.