Herbs rule for a vital life

How herbs can benefit our physical and mental health

He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herbs for the service of man. Psalm 104:12

Can herbs aid the healing process when we become ill? While some governments have led active campaigns to reduce our access to herbs (comfrey is just one example), there are fortunately still many others with abundant health and energy - giving properties that can benefit us - and add vitality to our lives.

While many people have small herb patches in domestic kitchen gardens featuring the old standards of rosemary, mint and parsley, it is evident from any visit to the local nursery that there is now a far greater variety from which to choose.

Possibly this has been generated by consumers seeking accompaniments for more adventurous salads, casseroles and pastas, a legacy of our wonderful multicultural world with its varied cuisines. But setting aside the gourmet aspect of herbs, there is a growing segment of our population who are increasingly looking to herbs not just to flavour their foods, but also to obtain greater health benefits.

Nutrition
For maximum nutritive benefit, well washed raw herbs are best - used in salads, sprinkled onto hot meals or added to the juice machine when juicing vegetables. Not that dried herbs aren’t healthy too, but fresh is best, always. Used in this way none of their wonderful properties are destroyed by heating or drying.

Organic Gardening
Similarly, those who buy herb plants (ideally from an organic nursery) to grow in their own gardens are in a way indulging in organic gardening. That is, chemicals would hopefully not be sprayed on these herbs at all - or at the very least not as much as those bought from the shelves of supermarkets (unless they are from the organic section, or an organic fruiterer).

But of course if you can’t grow them, then why not pick them up fresh from the preponderance of farmers’ markets springing up everywhere? Just ask your local council where and when they occur in your community. Much of the produce at these markets is organically grown, and there’s the great benefit in being able to talk to the person who has grown the product that you are considering buying. You can find out how it was grown - and where it was grown, both important factors.

So if you haven’t got a herb garden – then consider planting one. Even if you live in a flat you will find that herbs, given the right conditions, will grow very happily in pots. They have wonderful smells, are lovely adornments that attract butterflies, while at the same time keep unwanted bugs at bay.

And if nothing else, a herb garden is a great place for meditation.

Let’s look at the properties of some of the better-known herbs, perhaps beginning with the old household standards. It is too easy to forget the wonderful benefits of the more common plants, so let’s start with the most prolific Western herb of all – parsley.

Parsley
People have used parsley for thousands of years, and it has long been considered a must for salads, sandwiches and as a garnish generally. But familiarity often breeds contempt and not many know its true value and importance in the herb kingdom.

Parsley is one of our best sources of iron and because of this can be beneficial in mild cases of anemia, for menstruating women and women after childbirth.

Iron is also the number one mineral for removing toxic wastes from the body, so parsley is invaluable when we go on any detoxification program.

It is also rich in Vitamins A and B and is one of our best sources of Vitamin C, as well as well as the minerals sodium, magnesium, calcium and potassium. Really, if we think about all the goodness in parsley, we might be wise to put a bunch through the juicer each week!

It should be included in juicing vegetables. If you haven’t got a juicer – why not? The regular practice of fruit and vegetable juicing could extend your life by years, and reduce trips to the doctor.

Used topically, the crushed leaves of parsley are a soothing antiseptic for insect bites and can relieve sprains and bruises. And steeped in water overnight, parsley makes a fine cleansing rinse for the skin.

Mint
Can this be an even more common herb in Australian gardens? It is so prevalent, that it is often regarded as a weed, and we seem to appreciate it only when we have to dash out to gather a few sprigs to make mint sauce for the lamb roast.

And mint is so prolific, that given the right conditions, it is often best contained to a large tub or it will overtake the garden. The mints pretty much grow themselves.

All mints, and there are many varieties (lemon mint, peppermint, eau de cologne mint), are chiefly known for their kindness to the gut – in terms of digestion. They ease flatulence and dampen stomach acidity. (Perhaps this is why we have traditionally served mint sauce to aid in the digestion of that fatty roast lamb).

But the mints are also appetizers, and teas and cordials with mint added are universally cooling.

They are even believed to resolve persistent hiccoughs. Although they also enhance the flavor of foods and beverages, mints are again best eaten raw, so chop a little to sprinkle over a fruit salad.

Mint also has antiseptic properties so if there is nothing else available it can be also be washed and applied to grazes or bruises.

Rosemary
Apart from its culinary use in inspiring various meat dishes, rosemary is most efficacious for the relief of pain in sprains in muscles and joints. But it is also good for digestion, increasing the flow of gastric secretions, bile and urine. It soothes the nerves and stimulates digestion. A rosemary rinse is wonderful for the hair and can be used as a skin rinse as well.

Rosemary is good for remembering – strengthening the heart and the head - and a bunch provides a pleasant perfume if placed in a sick room or elsewhere in the home. A twig soaked in oil at a BBQ makes an effective brush for basting barbecued meat and imparts a delicious flavour.

Another good thing about rosemary is that it is an evergreen, meaning it grows and grows, always ready, always there when you need it.

Now let’s look at some of the more unusual herbs that will benefit your health and some of their properties.

Basil
Australians are realizing that you can’t beat fresh basil in a salad, or in a tomato sandwich. Basil will improve the flavor of almost any savory dish, as many are now discovering. We are even seeing basil sausages in some butcher shops and supermarket deli sections.

But apart from this it is also immensely beneficial to the digestive system. It can quickly settle an upset stomach, relieve nausea, or deter a headache when rubbed on to the temples.

A pot on the window sill will deflect flies and although some varieties of basil last for only a few months over summer, there are others like Greek basil that are perennials – so you can pick it all year.

Marjoram
Marjoram, also known as oregano, has been used as a flavouring herb since ancient times. It derives it name from a Greek word meaning ‘joy of the mountains’.

Apart from being a popular herb for enhancing pastas and pizzas, it is also a tonic that will soothe the nerves and can help in cases of morning sickness.

The oil can soothe a tooth ache and sometimes the dried herb in a sachet placed under the pillow can help insomnia. If macerated in oil and left, the end product can help when rubbed onto rheumatic joints.

Marjoram is also effective against nervous headaches, and menstrual pain.

Yarrow
Yarrow is regarded as a plant of great power and one eminent herbalist even claims that if women drank a cup of yarrow tea regularly, then they would have fewer menstrual and gynaecological troubles. Certainly yarrow was highly prized by the early Chinese, the Druids and the Anglo Saxons. It is also a tonic and restores lost appetite, can help settle down high blood pressure and can help relieve constipation and haemorrhoids. It is also valuable for stress related conditions.

Fennel
Fennel has appetite stimulant and digestive properties. The Greeks used it as a slimming herb – perhaps because of its digestive qualities.

It is wonderful for the eyes, and has a long tradition as an eye herb. For tired eyes, soak a handful of leaves in warm water for 15 minutes and then saturate a washer before placing it over the closed eyelids and lying down in a darkened room. It is a wonderful restorative.

Fennel seeds, chewed, are also effective for soothing sore throats, perhaps highlighting the antiseptic properties that pertain to most herbs. But then fennel is beneficial to the respiratory system generally.

Apart from being used as flavouring for foods, like fish and breads, fennel is now coming up time and again as a preventative to cancer. It can also be beneficial to the circulation, muscles and joints.

Coriander
Coriander has been cultivated in China for thousands of years, hence its other name of Chinese parsley. It was also a common ingredient in early Greek medicine and recommended by Hippocrates.

It imparts a wonderful flavour to salads and Asian cuisine and is particularly aromatic, and the seeds are commonly used in curries.

Coriander boosts the immune system and wards off colds, flu and infections in general. In relation to the nervous system, coriander can help prevent migraines and it helps alleviate arthritis, gout and muscular aches and pains in general. A pot of coriander looks lush in the garden or on the kitchen window sill. Also good for digestion.

Dill
The old Norse name for dill was dilla which means to lull - which just about sums up this wonderful herb. It soothes the digestive system and prevents flatulence and the hiccoughs, and has been used to calm colicky babies. It can stimulate the appetite and the production of breast milk in mothers. It is also rich in potassium sulphur and sodium.

Because it is soothing it is also thought to help in balancing blood pressure.

Lemon Balm
This is one of the earliest known medicinal herbs which another father of medicine, Paracelsus, called the ‘elixir of life’.

He used it to heal nervous disorders in his patients, dispensed it for the heart and the emotions generally, and found it invaluable for treating anxiety, melancholy and depression.

A cup of lemon balm tea can also be beneficial for pre-menstrual tension. But it is also useful for skin care and in low concentrations beneficial for eczema. It is also a wonderful insect repellent.

Sage
This is another herb of ancient repute commonly found in Australian gardens. We should not only value sage for its wonderful use in the kitchen for stuffing birds about to be roasted.

A cup of sage tea before bed will help you sleep better and is far less dangerous than sleeping pills. It also has wonderful benefits in helping to heal colds and flu, allay menstrual difficulties and is said to strengthen the memory if taken regularly.

Research
As with everything that you plan to take for medicinal purposes, it is best to proceed with caution, and read and read and read.

But especially if you are already taking medications, you might choose to consult a herbalist and/or your doctor first.

There’s usually plenty to be found on herbs in libraries and there’s a plethora of information on the Internet. Perhaps though if we incorporated the judicious use of herbs more often in our lives, then we could be more healthy and vital, and become less dependent on medications, while at the same time reducing our over-taxed health budget. Over to you.