Natural Herbal Beauty

Anxiety and worries can lead to depression and unhappiness. Severe depression needs professional help but for minor “downs” lemon balm and borage can be especially uplifting, while St John’s wort is gaining in reputation as equivalent in effect to many orthodox drugs. These herbs can also be supportive for those undergoing professional treatment.

Old herbals often describe how even looking on cheerful plants can lift the spirits and “comfort the harte”. Perhaps it is worth remembering part of an old Persian poem:

If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft, And of thy store, three loaves alone are left,

Sell one, and with the dole

Buy hyacinths to feed the soul. (more…)

The tonic effects of ginseng are legendary; it is—in fact and legend—an energizing whole-body tea. It is a noted strengthener of the immune system and helps against both mental and physical stress. Ginseng is considered particularly useful for rebuilding a weakened body and helping to speed recovery from illness. Ginseng is traditionally used to enhance sexual performance and improve sexual function. It stimulates the male sex glands and has proven successful against certain types of impotence. Ginseng provides measurable protection against radiation. Cancer patients find it softens the side effects of radiation treatment. (more…)

To cease smoking is the easiest thing I ever did; I ought to know because I’ve done it a thousand times.

Giving up smoking was one of the hardest things I ever did. It is also the best thing we can do for our bodies. After many stops and starts, two things finally helped me: Quincy and ginseng. ‘Quincy’?—the old TV series! In one episode, the county coroner had a case of a baffling child poisoning. The child lay in the hospital dramatically dying from some mysterious, unknown poison. New to parenthood, I sat on the edge of my seat. At the stroke of doom the mystery poison was discovered—cigarette butts! The concentrated nicotine in the filters is deadly. I knew of nicotine’s effectiveness in killing bugs in the garden— so with this motivation the pipe was thrown into the rubbish bin. (more…)