Herbal Remedies for Healthy Families
DISCLAIMER: The below is for educational purposes only and should not be viewed or taken as medical advice. The views expressed should not be taken as an endorsement of any product or practice. Herbs can and do interact with pharmaceuticals. No herb or herbal product should be taken without consulting a qualified physician. The author and publisher disclaim any liability arising directly or indirectly from the use of this information or any product, plant or practice mentioned herein.
As we grow organic vegetables and fruit to raise healthy families, we also want to learn more about additional strategies to keep our families healthy and well, especially during the cold and winter season. This repository will discuss diet, what herbs to grow and how, how to make syrups, tinctures and teas, how to make poultices & compresses, and more.
Godly Strategies for Immune Resilience
In order to be healthy, we first need to understand that this requires not only a healthy body, but also a healthy heart, mind and spirit. Each side of us affects the other. We need to integrate all aspects of our lives in order to feel healthy and whole.
In her talk "Godly Strategies for Immune Resilience", Hilde discusses Biblical strategies that enhance your immune system function and build immune resilience:
–Prayer/Worship (Spirit)
–Reading His Word (Mind)
–Fellowship (Heart)
–Rest & sleep (Body)
–Exercise (Body)
–Healthy Diet, Nutritional & Botanical/Herbal support (Body)
Godly Strategies for Immune Resilience presentation
Godly Strategies for Immune Resilience - VIDEO
A healthy diet is your foundation for prevention and healing.
Avoid Immune System Destroyers:
- fried & processed foods
- partially hydrogenated oils – from food in bags & boxes
- toxins
- pesticides & glyphosate (esp. in bread), no GMOs
- processed sugar & concentrated sugars from your diet
- floury carbohydrate rich foods causing insulin surges
- pro-inflammatory proteins esp. in case of autoimmunity
Embrace Immune System Boosters
- Proper hydration – drink plenty of water
- Maintain healthy, stable blood sugar levels
–Eat regular meals of fats, protein and vegetables
–Avoid blood sugar swings causing cortisol spikes, which hijack your immune system - Eat a variety of foods, especially vegetables & fruit in a rainbow of colors for a healthy microbiome
- Eat enough protein
- Add healthy fats to your diet
For more information, listen to Hilde's talk "Godly Strategies for Immune Resilience"
Preventing colds and flu with herbal strategies
God created so many wonderful plants to help us stay healthy and well. Many of those plants, you are already growing and have incorporated in your diet. Interestingly enough, contrary to medication which usually contains one specific chemical to address a certain symptom, most plants include many different compounds called phytochemicals. These are bioactive substances and compounds such as phenols, flavonoids, quinones, coumarins, phenolic acids, tannins, terpenes and alkaloids.
Many of those phytochemicals have anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-parasitic, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory properties and more. Therefore herbs and plants usually have different actions. Combining herbs with overlapping actions increases efficacy.
There are many plants and herbs to choose from to boost your immune system and prevent disease. While this may be different from person to person, here are four herbs that help prevent colds and flu . You eat them raw, make a tea from fresh or dried parts of the plant or you can make a tincture, But it's important to use them daily during the cold season.
- Echinacea Purpurea / Augustifolia - roots more potent than leaves
- Elderberry - Sambucus - berries, flowers
- Yarrow - Achillea millefolium - leaves
- Peppermint - Mentha piperita - leaves
Use 4 equal parts of the above herbs as prevention. Grind them to add to your smoothie, make as a tea, or make a tincture, which you can always have on hand.
Raw garlic (Allium Sativum) is one of the most potent plants, possessing various anti-microbial properties. Incorporating raw garlic in your diet daily will keep you healthy. But there are many more foods and herbs that will help you stay healthy as you can see on the lists on the right.
As mentioned before, staying away from sweets and sugar is probably the most important dietary preventive measure you can do, allowing your immune system to do its job. Balancing your life including enough rest is crucial, Avoid chronic stress and get enough sleep. Drinking enough water is also important.
Washing your hands frequently during the cold season is another very important preventative measure. Bacteria and viruses spread through contact. We touch things that other sick people may have touched before. Then you accidently touch your eyes, nose or mouth and microbes enter your body. In that moment, your innate immune system needs to get activated to kill the invaders.
Herbs to help you heal in case of an acute cold or flu.
Again, God created many herbs and plants with anti-viral and anti-bacterial actions to help you heal your cold or flu, This will be different from person to person as we are all unique. Here are 3 herbs that can help:
- Sweet Wormwood - Artemesia Annua - leaves/flower
- Pine tree - Pinus Strobus or Resinosa - green pine needles
- Chaga mushroom - when grown on birch trees
Again, you can either make a tea from dried leaves and flowers. The shelf life of dried herbs is at least a year or more. Or you can make a tincture with all three to have it on hand when you or your family needs it.
It's important to take your herbs early, often and after. As soon as you feel sick, start taking the herbs. Take them often, every 4-8 hours, 3 times per day. And keep taking them a few more days after you feel better.
Dosage of tinctures depends on body weight. While adults can take a teaspoon up to 1 tablespoon at a time, you need to reduce the amount for kids based on their body weight.
Don't take herbs on an empty stomach.
WARNING: The above three herbs are contraindicated in pregnancy and while nursing. Instead, using a combination of raw garlic and elderberry will help to increase your immunity.
Other anti-viral and anti-bacterial herbs are Andographis, Echinacea, olive leaf, oregano, thyme, and many more,
Elderberry Syrup Recipe
From Doctor Patrick Jones
Ingredients:
⅔ cups Elderberries
2 TBSP Ginger
½ tsp Ground cloves
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 cup Raw Honey
3 ½ cups water
Supplies:
Pot
Strainer
Straining cloth
Jar
Bowl
Funnel (optional)
Rubber spatula
Recipe:
Add elderberries, ginger, cinnamon and cloves to 3 ½ cups of water in a saucepan.
Bring to a boil.
Simmer for 45 minutes or until volume decreases by half.
Remove from heat. Mash berries in the pot using a spoon or flat utensil.
Allow to sit until cool.
Pour through strainer cloth into a bowl and discard berries.
Add honey and mix well.
Store in fridge.
Standard dose is ½ to 1 tsp for kids and ½ to 1 TBS for adults 2-3 times daily. Take with a little food.
What medicinal herbs or trees should I grow ?
Unfortunately, it is not so easy to source high quality herbs, whether in dried form, tea or even tinctures. Herbs and teas are some of the most sprayed foods. It is imperative that you always buy organic tea or herbs. Herbal supplements and tinctures vary greatly in quality and bio-availability. That's why you may consider growing your own plants and making your own herbal remedies. In this way, you always have access to fresh leaves, flowers or even roots. You can be sure they are grown organically, processed fresh to ensure high potency and bio-availability.
Consider growing the following medicinal trees:
- Pine tree - Pinus Strobus or Resinosa (green needles)
- Elderberry - Sambucus (berries, flowers)
- Viburnum Opulus - Crampbark - (harvest bark before flowering, muscle relaxant, cough suppressant)
Consider growing the following medicinal plants:
- Garlic (bulb)
- Onion (bulb)
- Artemesia Annua (annual) - sweet wormwood (leaves)
- Echinacea purpurea and augustifolia (roots)
- Rudbekhia Hirta - Black-Eyed Susan (leaves, flowers)
- Verbascum Thapsus - Mullein (flowers)
- Olive (leaves)
- Oregano (leaves)
- Turmeric (roots, rhizomes) - anti-inflammatory with various actions
- Ginger (roots, rhizomes)
Where to source highly potent and bioavailable herbal tinctures?
Independent research compares the potency and bioavailable content of alkalymides found in Echinacea tablets and liquid tinctures among different companies. Per the below, the Mediherb brand is far superior when compared to other companies. Mediherb labels their products with their bioavailable phytochemial content.
It is recommended to source herbal tinctures and supplements such as Mediherb from certified health professionals. Herbs can be contra-indicated in certain conditions especially in pregnancy and while nursing. They can interfere with medications. Your health professional can ensure that you are taking the best herbal protocol specifically designed for you.
How to make poultices & compresses
Did you know an onion can help relieve a swollen bruise and charcoal can help to draw venom from a bite out of your body? Learn the simple but effective remedies of poultices made from such household items as potato, garlic, onion, charcoal, cayenne and rags.
Barbara O'Neill prepares poultices and compresses to help alleviate pain, cough, congestion, sore throat, cuts, swelling, insect bites, fibroids and more,
Watch:
Barbara O'Neill's class on how to prepare poultices with onion, garlic, charcoal and more.
How to make a medicinal herbal tea
In this video, Peter Jackson-Main from College of Naturopathic Medicine shows you how to make a medicinal herbal tea from fresh herbs. As an example, he uses yarrow to help with a cold and flu. You can also use dried herbs, but you would use half the amount of fresh herbs, His infusing teapot includes a strainer and a lid. If you don't have an infusing teapot, you can use a disposable tea filter. The lid is important because many herbs contain medicinal volatile oils which will evaporate unless you put a lid on your teapot. You will steep your herbal tea for about 10 minutes and maximum 15 minutes and strain it. That's it! It's ready to drink for the next few hours and help you and your family feel better.
As you learn more and more about which herbs have which actions, you can combine several herbs with the same action to make your medicinal tea even more effective.
How to make herbal tinctures
Here is another video from College of Naturopathic Medicine on how to make your own herbal tincture. Peter Jackson-Main shows you just how easy it is to make a herbal tincture.
Rose is the plant material he uses, however you can choose any herbal material depending on your preferences and requirements. Follow along to see how you can start making your own home herbal remedy!
How to take your Herbs - Tinctures, Capsules, Powders and More!
We often focus on what herbs to take, but we don't talk enough about how to get those herbs into our bodies - the delivery system. Dr. Patrick Jones discusses the various methods, including eating the plants, making teas or tinctures, using glycerides or capsules, and their respective pros and cons.
It's important to note that how we get the herbs into our body doesn't matter much from a phytochemical standpoint, but there are some important advantages and disadvantages to each delivery system.
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