Herbal Legacy Articles

by Mishelle Knuteson, MH

We get calls in the office almost daily about water, the alkaline water systems, and wanting to know the school’s advice on water. I hope the article last week about the 9 different types of water enlightened you a bit on the issue. At the School of Natural Healing we use PURE H2O. Nothing added, deleted or changed in the chemical composition. The creator knew what he was doing when he put that formula together.

How do we get PURE H2O? From the book The Choice is Clear, Dr. Allen E. Banik states, “Distilled water is water which has been turned into vapor, so that virtually all its impurities are left behind. Then, by condensing, it is turned back into ‘pure’ water. Distillation is the single most effective method of water purification. It is God’s water for the human race. In a manner of speaking, distillation is nature’s way.”

The common misconception that many people have about distilled water is that it leaches all the minerals from the body. We are even taught in the Master Herbalist course that distilled water is a “hungry water.” Here is what Dr. Banik had to say about that, “The startling fact to remember is that water attracts chiefly inorganic minerals. Organic minerals stay in the tissues, where they belong. The only minerals the body can utilize are the organic minerals. All the others are foreign minerals and must be disposed of or eliminated.” Thus the need for “hungry” water.

Pure water is so important in aiding good and vibrant health. The functions of water in the body (as we learn in level 200 in the Master Herbalist course) are as a lubricant, solvent, transportant, coolent and dispersent. It helps us digest food, maintain proper body temperature, moistens our lungs so that we can breath and helps the trillions of cells in the body to function. Water is the primary ingredient in all the fluids in our body and it helps hydrate the lymph system so that it can function properly, carrying away toxins and contaminates from the body. 

When drinking or storing water, pay attention to the type of container you use. The media is currently giving a lot of attention to Bisphenol A (BPA). This is a chemical found in plastic bottles that can leach into the liquid and cause a variety of severe health problems. Recycling code # 7 on  plastic (usually found on the bottom of the container) contains BPA. If the recycling code on your bottle is #2 (HDPE - high density polyethylene), or #4 (LDPE - low density polyethylene), or #5 (PP - polypropylene), your bottle is safe. The type of plastic bottle in which water is usually sold is #1, and is only recommended for one time use. Do not refill it. BPA-free containers are safe to use as a water bottle, although stainless steel reusable water bottles are the best option. They don’t allow harmful chemicals to leach into the drinking water. 

To learn more about water, pick up your copy of The Choice is Clear by Dr. Allen Banik or read the article, “Why Distilled Water” By Dr. John R. Christopher in our new edition of the 3-Day Cleansing Program booklet.

If you are interested in purchasing a distiller, two companies we know that are reputable are H2Only Distillers (800-4H2ONLY or visit http://www.imh2o.com/) and Wholesale Water Distillers, (http://wholesalewaterdistillers.com).

Purchase Dr. Banik’s booklet, The Choice is Clear, here:

http://www.christopherpublications.com/Banik_Choice_Clear.html

Purchase the new edition of the 3-Day Cleansing Program booklet here:

http://www.christopherpublications.com/3Day_Cleanse.html

© Copyright 2010 Herbal Legacy.  All rights reserved.  No reposting or reproduction of any kind without written consent is allowed.

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by Dr. John R. Christopher

Writing in Food, Yearbook of the U.S., Department of Agriculture, 1959, Dr. Oaf Michelsen of the National Institute of Health, tells us: Next to oxygen, water is the most important factor for survival of man and animals. A person can do without food for five weeks or more, but without water he can survive for only a few days.”

Dr. Allen E. Banik, in the book “The Choice is Clear” gives us a listing of the nine kinds of water:

Hard Water

This is saturated with calcium, iron, magnesium, and many other inorganic minerals. All water in lakes, rivers, on the ground, in deep wells, is classified as hard water. (Many city systems take water from rivers or lakes, or reservoirs supplied with mountain water; they erroneously call their supplies “soft water” but it is soft only in comparison with water which is harder.)  Practically all kinds of “bottled” water is hard water

Raw Water

This is water which has not been treated in any way.  It may be hard or soft – as hard as lime water, or as soft as rain water.  Raw water contains millions of viruses and bacteria, and is densely inhabited in every drop.  Chemicals dumped into our rivers may cause cancer, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Boiled Water

Boiling helps remove some of the germs, but concentrates the inorganic minerals. Other germs are carried into a fertile element for rapid and lusty propagation of germs and viruses already in the body.

Soft Water

This water is soft in comparison with water which is harder. It may contain many trace minerals and chemicals, viruses and bacteria. It is not to be confused with “softened water.” Soft water may be classified as water which is harder than distilled water.

Rain Water

This has been condensed from the clouds. The first drop is distilled water. But when it falls as rain, it picks up germs, dust, smoke, minerals, lead and many other atmospheric chemicals. By the time rain water reaches the earth it is so saturated with dust and pollutants it may be yellowish in color. Water is supposed to act as an atmosphere purifier. If we had no air pollution, we would have far less pollution in our drinking water.

Snow Water

This is frozen rain. Freezing does not eliminate any germs. All snowflakes have hardened mineral deposits. Melt the cleanest snow and you will find it saturated with dirt, inorganic minerals, germs and viruses.

Filtered Water

This water has passed through a fine strainer, called a filter. Some calcium and other solid substances are kept in the filter; there is no filter made which can prevent germs from passing through its fine meshes. Each pore of the finest filter is large enough for a million viruses to seep through in a few moments. A home filter usually only picks up suspended solids and is effective for the time, maybe only for hours, until it is filled up. Then it is ineffective even for removing suspended solids, and at the same time becomes a breeding ground for bacteria.

De-ionized Water

Water processed by the de-ionized method effectively removes minerals, and compares to distilled water in this respect.  However, it does become a breeding ground for bacteria, pyrogenic matter and viruses.  The fault in this system lies in the resin beds which can become notorious breeding grounds.  Therefore it is not wise to have this possibility exist in your drinking water.  Furthermore, deionization does not remove synthetic chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides, insecticides or industrial solvents.

Distilled Water

This is water that has first been turned into steam so that all of its impurities are left behind. Then through condensation, it is turned back into pure water. It is the only pure water – the only water free from all contamination. Distilled water may well be considered the only pure water on earth.

Water is so valuable to the entire system of the human body that it is wise to use only the Best. Use pure steam distilled water for health and well being.

I personally did not know anything about distilled water until just a few years ago. My knowledge of it came in a rather odd way. I had been sitting in a wheelchair (and occasionally up on crutches) for approximately nine months-with both arthritis and also from an accident I had been in a few years before when I had received a concussion on my skull. Build-up of a calcification condition from the former fractured area had put pressure on the brain area causing a paralyzed condition on the right side of my body. I had lost my health-food store (the original “The Herb Shop”) in Orem, Utah, and was broke, so a friend offered me free rent to open another one in Salt Lake City.

Here was a ridiculous situation - a “health” doctor opening a health-food store in a wheel chair. The business started to grow slowly and one day as I sat there, a young fellow came in to do business with me and as he left he dropped a copy of “The Choice Is Clear”, by Dr. Banik, saying, “I’ll bet this will help you!” As I read the booklet through, I was completely sold on distilled water, so called up a company and had some delivered to me. I started using it faithfully and was out of the wheelchair in a very short time. Over the years I had helped patients leave their wheelchairs and had used the same procedure on myself that had cured them. It worked for them but not for me, until I combined my procedure with “pure” water.

© Copyright 2010 Herbal Legacy.  All rights reserved.  No reposting or reproduction of any kind without written consent is allowed.

Purchase Dr. Banik’s booklet, The Choice is Clear, here:

 http://www.christopherpublications.com/Banik_Choice_Clear.html 

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By Dr. James A. Duke in The Green Pharmacy Guide to Healing Foods

To most people, “mint” means spearmint, peppermint, and fresh flavors that are associated with mouthwash or gum.  Actually, there are hundreds of plants in the mint family – I have over 70 of them in my garden alone.  Many of them are herbs that you’d recognize from your spice cabinet, such as basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, lavender, sage, and lemon balm.

All these spices are known for the great flavor they impart to foods, but they can do much more for your health.  Perhaps the most exciting breakthrough for the mint family is in the field of Alzheimer’s research.

Nutrient Nuts and Bolts: Members of the mint family, with their pleasant taste and aroma, are traditional stomach soothers, often in tea form.  Many of them also contain central nervous system stimulants, which work rather like caffeine, so they are nice alternatives to traditional coffee or tea.  These are the “uppers,” which include peppermint and spearmint.  Some mints, such as lemon balm and lavender, are actually “downers,” with sedative effects.  They’re also loaded with healthy-heart antioxidant compounds.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about the mint family is that most of its members contain at least a half dozen compounds that prevent the breakdown of acetylcholine.  Acetylcholine is the neurotransmitter that carries messages from one synapse to another in your brain.  When you’re deficient in this substance, the messages have a harder time getting through.  Keeping those connections strong may help us stay mentally sharp as we grow older, and adding more of the mint family to your diet just may be one of the keys to doing that.

How to Get More: The mind is certainly not something to trifle with, which is why I make mint tea part of my everyday routine.  By including a variety of mints (I often use rosemary, peppermint, and thyme), you can create an infusion with more than a dozen acetylcholine-preserving compounds.

Making the Most of Them: People often ask me about my recipe for mint tea, and I have to admit that I don’t really have one.  I generally take a pinch of this and a pinch of that, pour boiling water over it, and let it steep for 10 to 20 minutes before drinking it.  Over time, you’ll find that you like some flavors more than others, in which case you can add more of the mints you enjoy and less of the ones you don’t.  I have been known to make mint teas (and liqueurs) with a mixture of all the dozens of good-tasting mints in my garden.

Other Eating Tips: Another option for getting the benefits of fresh mint is to chop the leaves and add them to salads.  And, of course, many members of the mint family are ideal seasonings for a variety of healthful dishes.  You can put them into a muslin bag and steep them in your bath, since most of the acetylcholine-sparing compounds are transdermal, meaning they will go through the skin.

Printable Version: http://www.herballegacy.com/Mints.pdf

© Copyright 2010 Herbal Legacy.  All rights reserved.  No reposting or reproduction of any kind without written consent is allowed.

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By Dr. James A. Duke in The Green Pharmacy Guide to Healing Foods

I usually don’t play favorites, but when it comes to foods, garlic tops my list of healers.  Though a recent high-profile study called its cholesterol-lowering ability into question, it still has enough heart-protective benefits to rank high on my list.  It has other great qualities as well, including immunity-boosting and antiseptic properties.  Onions share many of the properties and healthful benefits of garlic, so they also deserve a mention here.  And in my Farmacy, I grow a nice batch of ramps, members of the garlic/onion family that you won’t find in many supermarkets (unless it’s ramp festival time in West Virginia and Ohio).  All of these plants contain the very important compound alliin, which converts to the super-medicinal allicin.

Nutrient Nuts and Bolts: When it comes to the heart, you can thank garlic’s many sulfur compounds, including diallyl disulfide, which prevent clotting and allow for smooth blood flow.  Of course, garlic also contains over a dozen immunity-boosting compounds that can fight off colds and other infections, maybe even more effectively than popular herbs like echinacea.  Recent research has also shown that several compounds in garlic can prevent cellular changes within the body that lead to cancer.

Onions offer many of the same sulfur compounds as garlic, but they bring even more to the table with their high amounts of flavonoids, specifically quercetin.  This flavonoid has been shown in studies to reduce platelet clumping and even prevent some forms of cancer.  So far, there is no better food source of quercetin than onion skins.

How to Get More: The other advantage of garlic and onions is just how easy they are to incorporate into your menus.  I add both to virtually all my soups and stews.  And when it comes to salads, just about the only dressing you’ll see me use is vinegar and oil mixed with fresh garlic and fresh diced onion, often with hot sauce or diced hot pepper.  That mixture alone has hundreds of healthful compounds.  Sometimes I even roast garlic and put it on toast for breakfast.

Making the Most of Them: Now I know what you’re thinking: “But Dr. Duke, what about the smell?”  Well, as much as it pains me to say it, studies have shown time and again that the more garlic stinks, the better it works. 
That’s why I often use it raw in salads or even eat whole cloves of the stuff if I don’t have anything social going on that day.

This isn’t to say that you can’t get benefits from cooked garlic; you can.  But you lose 40 percent of the original potency after garlic is cooked for 10 minutes, and you lose much more after 20 – but you never lose it all.  So, if you’re making a soup or stew, it might be a good idea to wait until near the end of the cooking time to add garlic.  Green tea, parsley, and coriander all have a unique ability to partially quell the smell, so you may want to consider brewing green tea and garlic together or adding parsley to a garlicky salad.  Or if you have a new potential client or lover or relative coming over, eat some parsley or coriander and drink some green tea quick!

Other Eating Tips: If you’re going for full effect and eating whole cloves of garlic, it’s important that you nick the surface of a clove first; that is, don’t swallow it intact.  I thought that was the way to go until my garlicologist, Larry Lawson, PhD, told me the skin should be broken before garlic enters the GI tract to get its benefits.  This ensures that the medicinal compounds of the bulb are released and will begin working more quickly in the body.

Now back to onions for a minute.  In one of the funny quirks of nature, most of the helpful flavonoids, such as quercetin, are found in the skin of the onion.  That’s why I always put the skins in a mesh bag and steep it in soups and stews when I’m making them.  Just remove the bag before serving.

© Copyright 2010 Herbal Legacy.  All rights reserved.  No reposting or reproduction of any kind without written consent is allowed.

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From The Green Pharmacy Guide to Healing Foods by James A. Duke, PhD

Few foods offer the unique combination of healthy nutrients and easy accessibility that beans do.  Eating more can provide a multitude of benefits.

Nutrient Nuts and Bolts: Beans get a lot of good press for being low in fat and high in protein, which makes then a great alternative to animal-based protein sources like red meat.  They’re also brimming with soluble fiber. 
This means that they are adept at whisking cholesterol out of your system via the intestines, making them good for your heart.

A lesser-known benefit of beans, though, is their high levels of isoflavones, compounds that are similar in structure to the estrogen produced by your body (which is why they are also called phytoestrogens).  These isoflavones may ease the symptoms of menopause, prevent some forms of cancer, reduce your risk of heart disease, and improve your bone and prostate health, among other benefits.

How to Get More: The nice thing about beans is how easily you can add them to any meal.  Pour them into soups and salads or use them in spicy Mexican dishes.  You also can’t go wrong with hummus, a mix a chickpeas, lemon juice, and garlic often served with pita bread or crackers.  Or try substituting tofu for meat in some of your main dishes.

Making the Most of Them: Dried beans may give you a slight nutritional edge, but not that much, so if you don’t have time to soak and prepare beans, don’t worry.  You can still gain a great benefit from canned beans. 
They’re often high in sodium, though, so you may want to drain and rinse them before using.

© Copyright 2010 Herbal Legacy.  All rights reserved.  No reposting or reproduction of any kind without written consent is allowed.

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Dr. John R. Christopher

Most of us don’t think of wheat, the staff of life and the staple of many Westerner’s diets, as a healing herb. The dried grain in itself provides optimal nourishment as a basic food – it contains protein, vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates for energy. But what turns it into a powerful healer is germination: grow wheatgrass and you have an ultimate healer.
 
Dr. Ann Wigmore was the first to popularize wheatgrass for healing. She noted that wheatgrass has live minerals, live vitamins, and live trace elements at a pH very close to that of human blood.
 
Wheatgrass is 70% chlorophyll. The chemical structure of chlorophyll is similar to that of the hemoglobin of the blood.  Chlorophyll purifies and builds the blood.  It also arrests the growth of unfriendly bacteria, assisting the body in attaining optimal health.
 
Wheatgrass is high in vitamins A, C, and the B vitamins. It contains minerals and trace elements necessary to your body. It is rich in calcium, phosphorus and magnesium in just the right proportions for optimal calcium assimilation (you can’t absorb calcium well unless these three elements are in correct proportion). It also contains sodium, potassium, sulfur, iron, cobalt and zinc. It is loaded with enzymes, which will create youth and health for you. It contains all the essential amino acids, which is great news for the pure vegetarian who is trying to follow Dr. Christopher’s nutritional guidelines.
 
Wheatgrass helps detoxify your body by breaking up impacted matter in the colon. It helps fight infection throughout your system and builds your immune system. It contains lecithin, which will help break down fats in the lymphatic system and feeds the heart. In experiments with anemic animals, their blood count returned to normal after four to five days of receiving chlorophyll.
 
Wheatgrass is entirely nontoxic. It can be used internally or topically without fear of side-effects. Used in conjunction with the Christopher Cleansing Program it can do much as a tonic aid toward relieving pain and suffering of so-called incurable diseases.
 
You can purchase flats of wheatgrass at your local health-food store, or you can grow your own.  Fill a nursery flat with a few inches of soil, making sure it is nice and even. Moisten the soil evenly. Then soak 2 cups of hard red winter wheat overnight. Place on soil in a single layer, leaving no empty spots. Cover with a half-inch of soil. Keep moist; in a few days you’ll have beautiful wheatgrass four to six inches high, which is ready to harvest. Place by a window or outside on a mild day to green up.
 
Cut bundles of this wheatgrass, rinse it well, and juice it in a slow, manual wheatgrass juicer. If you use a blender or highspeed juicer, you can oxidize important lifegiving elements. Drink two ounces night and morning by swishing each mouthful to mix the saliva with the wheatgrass juice. You may experience a “gag reflex” because the wheatgrass juice is so concentrated, but persevere, and you’ll begin to see a miraculous increase in energy and vitality from taking daily wheatgrass juice.
 
Be sure to replant in time so that you’ll have a constant source of fresh wheatgrass.
 
Dr. Christopher recommended this schedule: when you get up in the morning, take a drink of 1 quart warm water, 2 tablespoons unsulphured molasses, and the juice of ½ lemon to clear any leftover digestive liquids from the stomach. In a half hour, take your two ounces of wheatgrass juice. This can be taken straight or diluted half and half with distilled water.
 
Source: School of Natural Healing 100-herb syllabus
 
For a printable version of this article please visit:
 
http://www.herballegacy.com/Wheatgrass1.pdf

© Copyright 2010 Herbal Legacy.  All rights reserved.  No reposting or reproduction of any kind without written consent is allowed.

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Nutritional Yeast is grown on a mixture of cane and beet molasses. B-vitamins are added during the process to provide the yeast with the nutrients it needs to grow.  When harvested, the yeast is washed, pasteurized, and dried before it is ready for market.

Vegans and vegetarians have used it for years as a source of vitamin B-12.  Health seekers who strive to eat primarily a whole foods diet use nutritional yeast because it tastes good with certain foods and adds extra nutrients to their diet.  Nutritional yeast contains 18 amino acids (forming the complete protein) and 15 minerals.

Unlike baking yeast, nutritional yeast is grown solely for its nutritional value. It should not be confused with brewer’s yeast, a by-product of breweries and distilleries. Nutritional yeast is a low-fat, low-sodium, kosher, non-GMO food that contains no added sugars or preservatives.

Many manufacturers of Nutritional Yeast enrich it with B-vitamins and iron.  It is extremely rich in a number of nutrients.  Here is the nutritional value per heaping tablespoon of Nutritional Yeast from a popular manufacturer – Red Star:

• Calories – 60
• Total Fat – 1 gram
• Carbohydrates – 7 grams
• Fiber – 4 grams
• Protein – 8 grams
• Vitamin B1 (thiamin) – 640% Daily Value (DV)
• Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) – 560% DV
• Vitamin B3 (niacin) – 280% DV
• Vitamin B6 – 480% DV
• Vitamin B9 (folic acid) – 60% DV
• Vitamin B12 – 130% DV

So how do you use Nutritional Yeast?

• Use it as a condiment sprinkled on the evening meal of rice and vegetables, or on popcorn for snack time.
• Add 1/2 teaspoon per 1 cup liquid to gravies and sauces.
• Add a tablespoon per 2 cups mixture to vegetable, bean and grain burgers.
• Make a yeast “cheese” to adorn a vegan pizza or lasagna.
• Add it to your cat or dog’s food to help eliminate fleas and promote a healthy coat and good general nutrition.

We highly recommend that you add this delicious, nutritious food to your diet.  You can purchase it in most health food markets.

References and more information:

http://www.bestnaturalfoods.com/nutritional_yeast.html
http://www.efn.org/~sundance/NutritionalYeast.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutritional_yeast

Printable Version: http://www.herballegacy.com/Nutritional_Yeast.pdf

© Copyright 2010 Herbal Legacy.  All rights reserved.  No reposting or reproduction of any kind without written consent is allowed.

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by Dr. John R. Christopher

Rembert Dodens, Dutch physician to the Emperors Maximilian II and Rudolph, wrote in 1557 in his ‘History of Plants’:

“The juice of the cabbage softens the belly and makes one go to stool.  It cleans and cures old ulcers.  Cabbage juice mixed with honey makes a syrup that heals hoarseness and coughing.  The leaves, when cooked and applied to chronic ulcers, modify and heal them, and aid the resolution of tumors and wounds.”

Doctors Merat and Lens of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris wrote in 1829 (Universal Dictionary of Materia Medica): “The cabbage is one of the most valuable acquisitions of man.  It combats scurvy, it prevents gout, the tender leaves are applied to wounds, and seeds are indicated for worms.”

A Doctor Roques of the eighteen hundreds protected himself and his family for many years against the epidemic winter diseases by eating a daily salad of cooked cabbage.  He recommended the following treatment for cold and laryngitis; One pound of strained red cabbage juice, 3 grams of saffron, 1/2 pound of honey and sugar, the whole boiled to a syrup; 1 tablespoonful is taken in a cup of tea 3 or 4 times daily.

A Doctor Blanc wrote: “Cabbage is the bread and butter of therapeutics.  It is the doctor of the poor - the providential physician.  Let the incredulous experiment, nothing is simpler (than cabbage); the application is external and easy, the action is prompt and innocuous.  One can see it with the naked eye.  The virtues of this plant are numerous, and I defy anyone to present a good reason why cabbage should not be used therapeutically.”

The preparation of cabbage for various disorders is as follows: Wash the leaves or soak them for a few minutes in water to which lemon juice has been added.  Wipe dry, then use a knife or scissors to remove the central rib and, if the application is planned for an ulcer or sensitive wound, the secondary ribs.  Crush the leaves, one by one - with a rolling pin or bottle.  The juice appears at the surface of the leaves, ready for application.  One, two, or three applications will be required according to the severity of the disease.  Cover with a thick cloth and continue the application for several hours, generally overnight, or during the day if pain prevents sleep.

For a very sensitive wound, plunge the leaves for one or two seconds into boiling water, softening them, and reducing the possibility of irritation,

If cabbage leaves are applied to ulcers with swollen irritated margins, soak the leaves first for one-half hour in olive oil.  The resulting preparation will soothe inflamed tissues as well as combating infection and aiding healing.

Cabbage leaves applied to an infected wound, ulcer, or oozing eczema should be layered like roof shingles, allowing secretions to drain between the layers.  When treating lumbago, joint pain, or various afflictions of the nerve or bladder, poultices of cabbage leaves bring rapid relief.  A poultice is prepared as follows: Boil for 20 minutes 2 to 4 cabbage leaves and two whole chopped onions with 3 or 4 handfuls of bran and a little water. 
After evaporation of the water, place the poultice on gauze and apply hot for one or two hours, or even for the whole night. (Never apply heat to a painful abdomen.  Only the physician can properly diagnose the cause of abdominal pain, and the application of heat to appendicitis or infection of the ovary may be harmful.)

Doctor Garnett-Cheney, Professor at the Medical School of Stanford, published a report concerning the use of cabbage juice in the treatment of gastric ulcers.  Of 65 cases reported in his series, 62 were cured at the end of three weeks.  Cabbage has been recommended to correct anemia of experimental animals induced by an all-milk diet.

In research at the University of Texas.  Dr. W. Shive extracted from cabbage a substance he calls Glutamine, useful in the treatment of alcoholism and peptic ulcer.

Cabbage has been found to be of infinite value for pregnant women, and for patients with anemia, fatigue, infections, intestinal parasites, stones, and arthritis.

We list now some of the afflictions for which the cabbage has been used over the centuries to bring relief:

Acne:  Apply a lotion of freshly prepared cabbage juice preceded, if desired, by the application of leaves.  The eating of cabbage leaves or juice is also helpful.

Alcoholism:  Eat cabbage, steamed or raw and drink the juice.

Anemia:  Drink one or two glasses of cabbage juice daily.

Burns:  Apply mashed cabbage leaves to the burn area to relieve pain and speed healing.

Cirrhosis of the liver:  Drink cabbage juice and eat raw or steamed cabbage.

Colitis:  Apply 3 or 4 layers of cabbage leaves over the abdomen each evening and secure in place to be left on overnight.  Drink also the juice between meals.

Constipation:  Several glasses a day of cabbage broth.

Diarrhea:  Apply cabbage leaves to the abdominal region during the day and a fresh application for overnight and drink a cabbage broth.

Headache:  Apply cabbage leaves to the forehead and nape of the neck and leave on overnight.  Applications of the leaves over the liver may also be necessary.

Insect Bites:  Rub a crushed cabbage leaf over the bite.

Kidney disease:  Apply cabbage leaves over the kidney areas and leave on overnight and also for a few hours during the day

Menses, painful:  Apply cabbage leaves over the lower abdomen for several hours.

Sprains:  Tie three or four thicknesses of cabbage leaves around the sprained area and leave on overnight.

Next time you see the lowly cabbage plant consider that over the centuries many people have derived much relief from physical ailments through using it.

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by Dr. John R. Christopher

A Dr. Blanc in 1881 wrote the following: “About 1880, a cart driver in a small French village fell off his wagon and - a frequent accident in those times - one wheel rolled over his leg.  Two physicians agreed that amputation was necessary; a surgeon was called into consultation, he concurred, and the operation was booked for the next morning.  But at 5 p.m. that day the parish priest, Loviat of Saint-Claude, advised the patient’s mother to cover the injured leg with cabbage leaves.  Under the influence of this simple dressing, the man slept all night.  When he awoke, the family and one of the physicians who arrived to prepare the patient for surgery saw that he could move his leg.  The cabbage leaves were removed to reveal a leg without swelling and with improved color.  Eight days later, completely well, the man returned to work.”

The common cabbage has been of vital importance to mankind over the 4,000 years of its cultivation.  The medical use of cabbage, empirical for centuries, is based upon precise scientific considerations.  Hippocrates once remarked that physicians shouldn’t hesitate to borrow from folklore that which can be useful in medicine.  We now know, with sound proof, that the folklore of cabbage has stood the test of time and scientific experimentation.

Two other accounts of the medicinal use of cabbage might be of interest: A watchmaker suffered for a year with a painful eczema of both hands, preventing him from working.  The lesions were acutely inflamed, and the fingernails were separating, about to fall off.  Applications of cabbage leaves twice daily for a few days brought relief from pain, as clear fluid drained onto the dressing.  With continued treatment healing took place within two months.

In 1875 a 75-year old man suffered arteriosclerotic gangrene of the lower right leg and foot.  The skin was black and the front of the lower leg was decayed.  Following the local application of cabbage leaf dressings, the skin changed from black to brown to red, and then returned to its normal healthy color.  Three weeks later, writes doctor Blanc, there was a considerable improvement.

It has not yet been discovered why the cabbage leaf has such remarkable healing properties.  We only know that the cabbage leaf has a particular affinity for disease-causing fluids, forcing them from the tissues.  It even seems that treating small areas of extensive disease benefits the whole, as distant toxins are removed, the cabbage promotes healing and scar tissue, thus preventing complications.
The long history of cures obtained with cabbage, concern many different diseases, including simple and complicated injuries, rheumatic pains, facial neuralgia, headaches, leg ulcer, anthrax, and many others.  Cabbage - raw in salads, juiced, or steamed - has incomparable virtues in the most diverse maladies.

Hippocrates had a peculiar affection for this vegetable.  Should one of his patients be seized with a violent colic, he at once prescribed a dish of boiled cabbage with salt.  Erasistratus looked upon it as a sovereign remedy against paralysis.  Pythagoras, and other learned philosophers, composed books in which they celebrated the marvelous virtues of the cabbage.  Cato claimed that this plant infallibly cures all diseases; and that he used it as a panacea to preserve his family from the plague, which, otherwise, would not have failed to reach them.  It is to the use the Romans made of it, he adds, that they were able during six hundred years to do without the assistance of physicians, whom they had expelled from their territories.

The Romans used cabbage externally and internally for various illnesses, as a purgative, disinfectant, and poultice; Roman soldiers applied cabbage leaves to their wounds for healing.

Next week, we will get into more details about how cabbage can heal specific conditions.

Printable Version: http://www.herballegacy.com/CabbageI.pdf

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From Dr. Christopher’s Guide to Colon Health

Apple cider is both oxygenating and alkalinizing to the gastrointestinal system.  It helps stimulate digestive enzyme production in the stomach and intestine as well as alkalinize the rest of the body.  Many have used the combination of apple cider and honey to lose weight, alleviate arthritis, dissolve bone spurs, and rid themselves of kidney and gall stones.  Mix one tablespoon of apple cider and one tablespoon of honey in a glass of distilled water.  Do this three times daily.  For the best results use organic, raw, and unfiltered apple cider and honey.

Printable Version http://www.herballegacy.com/ACVHoney.pdf

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