Nettle

Nettle

Urtica dioica

Jo Francks MH

Nettle, also known as stinging nettle, is often overlooked as a nutritive or medicinal plant. On the contrary this wonderful floral specimen is a very resourceful plant. If you’ve ever had the experience of coming up against the leaves and experiencing the sting you’re more likely to curse the plant than to praise it. The plant is very much worthy of praise because of the abundance of medicinal and nutritive properties it has to offer.

In the olden days fibers taken from the stem of nettles were used to make fabric similar to linen. This fabric didn’t cause the stinging effect when worn against the skin because the inflammatory response comes from the little hairs on the edge of the leaf. The use of nettles for fabric dwindled when it was discovered that flax also made a nice fabric and was much easier to obtain.

Young nettle leaves and stems have been used as a potherb (steamed or cooked to be eaten) for centuries. Cooking or drying the leaves neutralizes the toxin. It’s high in vitamin C and K, iron, and other minerals. Because of its high nutritive properties it has been used as a feed supplement for poultry and other livestock. This is a good indication that it would be good for human consumption to increase nutritional intake.

The leaves, root and seeds are all used medicinally. One of my herbal instructors intentionally exposed himself to nettles as an experiment. When the expected inflammatory response was at its peak he took the fresh leaves and bruised them and rubbed the bruised leaves over the inflamed skin. This brought immediate relief and was very soothing. His point was to show that nettle can be used as its own antidote. Other plants that help with the sting of nettle are mullein, burdock, plantain, hounds tongue and comfrey. Dr. Christopher referred to these plants as Gods erasers and he said “Just look around and within a few feet you will find one of these plants. Take the leaves and bruise them and gently rub them over the affected area.” He said this would give immediate relief.

Nettle is used for asthma. It helps as an expectorant for the lungs. It is also a mild diuretic and anti-inflammatory, It’s been used to help ease allergy symptoms and as a tonic for the skin. It is a tonic for the entire body and combines well with other tonic and blood purifying herbs. If using nettle for medicinal purposes make a tea using one teaspoon of dried leaves to a cup of boiling water. Steep for 15 to 20 minutes. Drink two or three cups of this tea a day. The tea can also be used as a rinse for the hair to bring back the natural color.

Kidneys

Herb Class with Jo Francks

 2/29/16

Kidneys

The two kidneys are located in the back of the abdominal cavity, outside the abdominal wall, on either side of the spine. Each is about the size of a fist. The right kidney sits just below the liver, and the left kidney sits just below the spleen, at about the level of vertebrae T12 through L3. The right kidney is usually a little lower than the left in order to accommodate the liver. The adrenal glands are located on the top of each kidney.

The kidneys filter and regulate the water content of the blood. About 200 quarts of blood are filtered daily. And of that, approximately 2 quarts of toxins and excess water are removed and sent to the bladder in the form of urine. In order to do their job well, the kidneys require consumption of adequate water each day, as food and drink.

In traditional Chinese medicine, the kidneys regulate the entire body, including the bladder, uterus, prostate, pancreas, spleen. lymphatic system, heart, ligaments, blood pressure, sex drive, ears, scalp, left side lower back muscles, left side upper back muscles, left shoulder and elbow, both calves, thighs, biceps, triceps, forearms, wrists, knees, ankles, and all fingers and toes, The liver regulates the right shoulder, and the right pectoral and trapezius muscles. An indicator of an imbalance in the kidneys is a half-moon of puffiness, redness, excessive wrinkles, or dark coloration under each eye. The area under the left eye relates to the left kidney, and the area under the right eye corresponds to the right kidney. Regardless of your age, the area under the eyes should be smooth and blemish free.

In addition to daily emotional stress, substances like caffeine, medications, preservatives, food coloring, and other food additives can all be stressors on the kidneys and the adrenals. (The New Human, Richard Gordon)

To prevent problems in the kidneys plenty of water should be consumed on a daily basis. Drink at least 2 quarts a day. A mild kidney cleanse can be done for a week by juicing a lemon into a quart of distilled water. Drink this first thing in the morning. Parsley tea can be taken throughout the day during the week of the cleanse. Capsules can be substituted for the tea if desired.

Herbs for the kidneys

Parsley	Dr. Christopher's Kidney formula	Herbs to dissolve stones
Juniper berries	Dr. Christopher's Bladder formula	Uva Ursi
Buchu leaves		Gravel root
Marshmallow root		Hydrangea root
Dandelion leaves		Apple cider vinegar
Uva ursi		Lemon juice
Burdock seeds and root
Cleavers

When herbs are combined into formulas they sometimes work better that trying to figure out what individual herbs to use. Dr. C’s kidney formula works to get rid of infection, dissolve stones, cleanse the urinary tract, and strengthen the urinary tract. It should be taken at the first sign of any problem in the urinary tract or for water retention.

When working with someone who has a UTI, I recommend they use the Kidney formula 2 capsules every hour for a day and a half, then take the formula 5 or 6 times a day for the next day, then 2 capsules 3 times a day for 2 weeks. If this doesn’t clear up the infection I add a supplement called D-Manos and that usually works. Along with this protocol the person should only drink distilled water, lemon juice, cranberry and apple juice as their beverages. Avoid all dairy products, alcohol, caffeine, meat. sugar and processed foods while trying to clear up a UTI.

There are many other aids for the kidneys and many herbs that are diuretic and kidney aids.

Kidney stones can be treated the same as above adding apple cider vinegar in water every hour along with a tincture of hydrangea root every hour for the first day then cut back as the symptoms are relieved. There are products available for kidney stones that contain hydrangea, gravel root and marshmallow root which are very effective. The key is to be aggressive. Taking an herbal product once a day when you are trying to clear up an aggressive condition will not do a thing for you. It takes commitment and perseverance.

Garlic

Garlic

Allium sativum

Jo Francks MH

For thousands of years, the people of the world have celebrated garlic with feasting, festivals and celebration. There is a lot of folklore surrounding these little bulbs; one in particular (which may be helpful this month) is repelling vampires.

Folklore aside many studies have been done on the health benefits of garlic. It has been used in many cultures as a natural antibiotic. I knew a family who spent a year in Russia. They shared with me how The people there used garlic to keep from getting sick. If they heard someone cough or sneeze someone would get after them for not taking enough garlic. This family was a little scared of that happening to them so they came up with creative ways to include it in their diet. One they told me about was to slice it thin and put it on a piece of bread with some butter.

One of the side effects of using prescription antibiotics is that it destroys the beneficial bacteria in the gut. Studies have shown that using garlic not only kills the bad bacteria in the intestines, but it also increases the beneficial bacteria. This is awesome because it can be used for many viruses and bacteria that are becoming antibiotic resistant, and it leaves you with a healthy digestive tract.

With the number one killer in America being heart disease, let’s look at what garlic can do for the blood, heart and arteries. I picked up a small book years ago called The Miracle of Garlic and Vinegar by James Edmond O’Brien while waiting in a checkout line at a supermarket. The book is full of scientific studies done on garlic. It states that garlic prevents heart attacks and strokes by controlling the key variables of high cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood pressure and atherosclerosis – the deadly process of plaque formation and fat deposits inside the arteries. These factors create blockages in the circulatory system that ultimately can choke blood flow to the heart muscle or brain. It was found that garlic thins the blood by dissolving fat particles and out of place blood clots and keeps them in suspension until they can be eliminated through the bowel – as long as it’s circulating and your body’s excreting it, it can’t hurt you. Scientists recommended using one to three cloves daily, adding it to soups or salads.

Garlic possesses a stunning array of medicinal properties. It acts as an antiseptic and fights infection. It contains chemicals that prevent cancer. It thins the blood, reducing clotting in high-risk heart patients. It lowers blood pressure, reduces cholesterol and controls triglycerides. It stimulates the immune system. It prevents and relieves chronic bronchitis and acts as a decongestant and expectorant. Someone having surgery may not want to use garlic beforehand because of the blood thinning properties. Other than that there have been no side effects reported by using garlic regularly. Maybe some bad breath but Dr. Christopher recommended putting a clove (not a garlic clove, the spice clove) in the mouth and keeping it there to offset the garlic breath. Eating fresh parsley after ingesting fresh garlic is also helpful.

Bowel Cleansing

Bowel Cleansing

Jo Francks MH

Natural healers have always said that 90% of all disease starts in the colon. Some even go as far as to say that there is only one disease and that is constipation. Constipation is the effect of improper eating habits and eating the wrong foods over a period of time. If the bowel doesn’t have a chance to eliminate before more food is taken in we end up with constipation. Throughout the years of not taking proper care of the bowels they accumulate fecal matter along the walls. It gets stuck there like glue and then another layer and so on. When this accumulated waste is not eliminated it keeps the body from absorbing nutrients from the food we eat. It also causes what is called autointoxication. This means that instead of absorbing nutrients to make us healthier we are absorbing the toxins back into the bloodstream from the old fecal matter. This starts a vicious cycle. When all those toxins can’t be eliminated from the bowel guess what happens? They go to the parts of our body that are inherently weak and start dumping in those areas. They develop stones in the kidneys or liver, or try to eliminate through the skin causing acne, boils, eczema, psoriasis etc. we end up with problems in totally different area that the bowel but the origin of the problem is in the bowel.

Vitology – The human body has an inherent ability to move toward wellness.

Herrings Law of Cure – All cure comes from within out, from the head down and in reverse order as the symptoms have appeared in the body.

When the body is involved in the natural healing process, symptoms tend to move from the deeper parts of the body toward the surface.  Symptoms may include flu like symptoms, skin rashes and eruptions on the mucous membranes of the nose and mouth, runny nose, cough, diarrhea or infection. We have been taught to take something to stop these symptoms when the body is getting rid of toxins as a natural process. Disease can be stopped by antibiotics and other medications that suppress the symptoms, but the toxins remain in the body and become solidified.

We have 4 channels of elimination; the bowels, kidneys lungs and skin. We also have organs that help detoxify; the liver and lymphatic system.

The Bowel

In your chart you can see that there is a reflex area in the bowel that corresponds with all the areas of the body. If the bowel is toxic in one area there may be symptoms in the area of the body associated with that reflex area.

The bowel is like a rubber hose. If there is too much pressure in an area due to a blockage, the wall of the colon will become weak in that area and balloon out. It may also produce diverticular pockets which get full of fecal matter and that will putrify and become toxic and inflamed causing diverticulitis. The Merck Manual states that these occur mostly in the sigmoid colon. “They are uncommon in persons younger than forty but increase rapidly then after that, so that essentially every person will have many.”

Most people don’t know they are there because there are no symptoms and we have fewer nerve endings in the colon so we don’t feel the pain when they are there.

We will only be able to absorb 10% of nutrients from food when the colon is clogged up. After the colon is cleansed and working properly we can absorb up to 40 to 50% of nutrients from food.

Friendly Flora

A healthy colon is not squeaky clean. It is full of bacteria we call friendly flora. When the friendly flora is out of balance there are a lot of other problems and symptoms that occur. Antibiotics are responsible for many of the problems associated with what we call candida overgrowth. The antibiotics wipe out all of our friendly flora except one, candida. The candida starts multiplying rapidly and takes over the whole colon. Then things start happening like perforations in the walls of the colon and that becomes leaky gut syndrome. The colon becomes inflamed. Proteins escape out into the rest of the body and cause symptoms that duplicate other diseases.

Herbal Cleansing

If you are sick, look to your colon. Change the diet, cleanse the colon using herbal aids, get enough exercise.

Dr. Christopher said “Never will we have peace as long as we have constipated warriors sitting around the peace table glaring in hate at each other. Peace will come from a clean, sweat happy body…” The first thing he did with his patients was the three day cleanse and mucusless diet.

One case he tells about is when a lady came into his office with her two sons. She was holding them apart from each other because she couldn’t stop them from fighting. He knew that a dirty colon makes people mean and angry so the first thing he did was to give them a lower bowel formula to help clean out their colon. It worked too because the mother brought them back in later and they were like different people.

The Three Day Cleanse booklet outlines a cleanse that is easily done using juices. It also gives a description of Dr Christopher’s formulas. There are many cleanses on the market today. There is increasing evidence that cleansing the bowel is an important part of overall health. This is where we start for any condition.

Herbs for the Bowel

Dr. Christopher’s Lower Bowel Formula is a combination of herbs designed to cleanse the bowel and heal it so that eventually it can start working properly on its own. It is best used along with a cleansing diet.

A mixture of 70% slippery elm and 30% licorice root is used for inflammation in the bowel. It is recommended for use during a candida cleanse.

Equal parts astragalus root and marshmallow root are also used for inflammation. These herbs have also been used with great results for allergies.