The Action of Herbs

Practical Herbology

What ARE herbs? This is a question you'll be called upon to answer many times in your life as an Herbalist. How do herbs work? This is another question you'll be asked. How do you know which herb to use when? This is probably a question you've asked yourself many times! Lesson two will give you a lot of these answers.

Herbs are food. I call them "Interesting Vegetables" but whatever you call them, they are food, nutrients. Herbs--like the food carrots--are full of good things: Vitamins, Minerals, Enzymes, Co-enzymes, all kinds of good things that our bodies need to function. We use what are referred to as "Medicinal Herbs" in small amounts for limited amounts of time.

The science and art of using plants for healing is known as HERBOLOGY. There have been many herbalist that have devised their own "systems" of herbology. Samuel Thompson focused on aiding the eliminative function of the body and regeneration of tissue. Most of us know this as CLEANSING and TONING.

Dr. Edward Shook felt that the basic cause of disease was this:

"...that disease, excluding trauma, is the result of violation, intentional or otherwise, of the laws of nature�"

People like to think of herbs as natural medicines and they are right. The medical definition of medicine is this:

"Medicine is anything which enters the body and alters its structure or function."

According to that definition, even WATER could be considered medicine! All natural food have things in them which affect the structure or function of the body, but they have very tiny amounts of these active ingredients. But, all natural food have SOME medicinal action. The so-called foods that don't have any of these ingredients are foods like white flour and sugar.

Even spices get into the act. Spices have always been used--and still are--to balance the food medicinally and to help prevent illness.

Herbalists are not the only ones that value herbs. Probably about one of every four prescriptions used in the United States was derived from an herbs and counting over-the-counter medications, about 50% of our drugs were derived from our contained an herb! While "medicine" has one legal definition, the legal definition of a drug has to do with what you say about it. An herb does not legally become a "drug" unless it is sold for curing, prevention or the treatment of disease.

Nutrition is getting into more conventional areas of medicine. There is a whole new branch of medicine known as orthomolecular medicine, this branch treats diseases with the use of nutrients.