Herbs for Health

Planning your garden now? Are you thinking of including a few herbs in amongst the flowers? Here are a few of my favourite kitchen and handy healing herbs.

Culinary Herbs

Basil: Known to be a mood elevator, as well as a tasty addition to pasta, tomato dishes or pesto. Basil is sacred to both Krishna and Vishnu.

Parsley: Rich in chlorophyll, and a well-known breath freshener, parsley also helps the digestion, and is a diuretic (ie. makes you pee).

Picture this: a medical clinic in a remote jungle in Thailand, a sick and wailing 3-year-old, and a medical staff who speak no English. A definition of 'helpless'? Thankful to be given any medicine that might help, yet we strain to understand the incomprehensible labels. What's actually in what we are giving our children? And why didn't we think to bring our favourite, trusted herbal helpers, as a first resort, when illness or mishap 'happens' while away from home. It's a vacation we'll never forget. Next time, we'll know better.

Menopause... Taking it Easy, Part 2
Susan Eagles, MNIMH
Clinical Herbalist

In the previous article, we looked at how diet can help to alleviate any unwanted symptoms, and help keep us in optimum health. Here, we will look at some other changes that can improve our health and vitality at this time.

Lifestyle

Menopause: Taking it Easy

Susan Eagles, MNIMH
Medical Herbalist
(part one of two parts)

Menopause is the time when the ovaries stop producing eggs, as the levels of released estrogen and progesterone decline. Natural menopause can occur from age 36 to 60, with the average onset around age 51. It's not a disease - but the dramatic drop in estrogen and progesterone is certainly a big change for the body to undergo.

Yesterday, just as I was about to congratulate myself on having stayed healthy for quite a while, I felt that tickling sore throat, sore eyes and general malaise that signals the start of a cold. I guess it figures. Often the cooler nights of fall trigger the furnace to come on, and the return of kids to school means that germs and bacteria are easily brought home, and shared. Early fall often brings the first sniffles of the season. What to do?