Herbology

Herbology is the use of plants for medicinal purposes. Herbs are packed full of vitamins, mineral, phytonutrients, trace minerals, and chemical compounds that operate with the body and are used to thwart or discourage disease and encourage health.

Herbology dates back thousands of years. In fact herbal medicine is the basis of all medicine practiced today. Frequently, new pharmaceutical drugs start by extracting the “active ingredient” in a plant. Then, the pharmaceutical company’s chemists attempt to modify that active ingredient with some molecular add-on that doesn’t hurt the effectiveness of the ingredient too much. They do this so that they can then patent the substance (they can’t patent a plant or a naturally occurring ingredient found in the plant). Then they have a drug based upon one specific ingredient, but they miss thousands more that work synergistically in the whole plant.

The idea behind Herbology is to use the entire plant, rather than just one component of the plant because these ingredients often work in synergy with one another in ways that we still don’t understand. For example, so far we have discovered well over 25,000 different phytonutrients. Each of these 25,000 is beneficial to human health and helps prevent disease one way or another. We are finding more of these every year and many researchers estimate we have found less than half of the phytonutrients.

Herbal medicine can work alongside modern medicine. Mixing the best from both worlds, pharmaceutical and herbal is becoming more and more common. Many people are combining herbal tinctures with the protocol from their doctor. For example, in cases of cancer and chemotherapy many people report an increased appetite and milder nausea when combining herbals.

Herbs are cost-effective. There are many ways to obtain the herbs you need. You can purchase them in bulk, grow them yourself, buy them from most health food stores, or find them growing in fields and along hiking trails.

Taking your health into your own hands is empowering. Herbs are capable of a variety of improvements to your body including:

• fighting fatigue
• reducing pain
• boosting immunity
• assisting in regulating bowels
• aiding in digestion
• supporting membrane repair
• improving ones quality of sleep
• and a lot more

I am a certified Master Herbalist and I regularly choose herbs rather than drugs and supplements because of the advantages listed above. When possible, I always prefer the plant to the pill.