Tag Archives: antioxidants

Today’s Treasures – Healing Herbs

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Today’s Treasures – Healing Herbs

From the earliest times, people have gathered herbs from the wild for flavouring, preserving and colouring, for their fragrance and their medicinal properties.

Herbalists have long used herbs for healing and many traditions and superstitions have been built up around them – especially those used as medicinal herbs which were often thought to be magical.The easiest and safest way to use herbs is in herbal teas.  Strictly speaking, herbal teas are tisanes – a drink made by pouring boiling water on fresh or dried flowers or leaves.  Teas are black, green, oolong, yellow or white and made from the tea plant Camellia Sinensis.  Herbs (and spices) can also be used to flavour conventional tea.

To make tisanes, use one tablespoon of fresh herbs or one teaspoon of dried herbs to one mug of water (drying concentrates the herb’s flavouring).  Lightly wash fresh herbs and tear or crush them immediately before brewing.Fresh and dried herbs make excellent additions to our diet, adding flavour as well as nutritional value.  Herbs are rich in antioxidants and the vitamins and minerals they contain contribute to a balanced diet.  Antioxidants can prevent or slow cell damage caused by free radicals which are unstable molecules that the body produces as a reaction to environmental and other pressures.

Free radicals are waste substances produced by cells as the body processes food and reacts to environmental factors (like cigarette smoke).  If these substances cannot be processed and removed efficiently, oxidative stress can result, damaging cells, increasing the risk of inflammation and causing many health issues.   Phytonutrients, the natural minerals produced by plants to keep the plants healthy, have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties – and therefore also keep us healthy. Adding herbs to culinary dishes adds variety to our diet, herbs dried and used in pot-pourri smell lovely and herbal tisanes make soothing and calming hot drinks.  Many herbs can be grown on a windowsill.

Basil is calming and helps soothe headaches.

Chamomile soothes anxiety and its calming effect encourages sleep.

Dandelions can be used to make a dandelion tisane – you can also add the young leaves and flowers to salads.

Fennel tisane – usually made with seeds rather than leaves – helps digestion and prevents heartburn and constipation.

Garlic is rich in antioxidants and helps to prevent, as well as treat, a lot of ailments.

Mint aids digestion; oregano tisane is a general tonic and useful for colds and flu and mild fevers.

Rosemary tisane is very therapeutic for stomach complaints as it reduces flatulence and helps digestion.

A tisane made from fresh sage leaves improves concentration.

Herbs are meant to be used sparingly, a teaspoon added in cooking, or as a garnish – or made into a tisane is all you need. Too much is likely to do more harm than good – so use carefully.

Read more about the healing power of herbs here:

https://meditationalstate.com/healing-herbs/

Published in the April edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

#HealingHerbs

Today’s Treasures – Toadstools

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Today’s Treasures – Toadstools

Every cloud has a silver lining – and the exceedingly wet weather we have had this Autumn has been wonderful for fungi – toadstools have literally popped up all over the place.  They are fascinating because they change shape every day, expanding, then wilting, then popping up somewhere else.

Fungi are not plants or animals; they have their own kingdom which includes microscopic yeasts and the largest living organisms.  Fungi are essential in forest eco-systems – their recycling capabilities are vital as they efficiently break down wood, preventing dead wood and leaves building up – and they recycle nutrients back into the soil.

The mushroom that we see is only part of the organism – the mushroom produces spores – like a flower produces seeds, allowing it to reproduce.  The main body of the fungus is formed of the fine threads called the mycelium that stretch out beneath the mushroom and often grow with the roots of plants, The fungus provides the plant with water and nutrients that it can’t get easily from the soil – and the plant provides the fungus with sugars, produced during photosynthesis.

Toadstools have always featured in folklore – they are mysterious – appearing overnight – like magic.  In the Middle Ages fairy rings were believed to be fairy dancing circles – and stepping into a ring was not recommended – you might fall asleep for a hundred years – or be whisked away to the faery world – never to return. Welsh legends were more positive – believing that fairy rings signified fertility and fortune.  We now know that a ring of toadstools simply marks the edge of a fungus colony.

Mushrooms have long been used by ancient cultures., Hippocrates records their anti-inflammatory properties, the North American Indians recognised their wound-healing capabilities. The Druids used the hallucinogenic properties of toadstools in some of their rituals.  Mushrooms are rich in bioactive compounds including disease-fighting antioxidants, but modern science has only recently rediscovered what the ancients knew long ago – that mushrooms can be deep reservoirs of powerful medicine.

Amazingly, 90% of plants rely on fungi to live – and there will be many species of fungi that we have not discovered yet.  Fungi already provide us with many things including medicines – and – as they include yeast – we make wine, beer and bread with them – but, in the future, they could well provide the solutions to many of the problems facing humanity – such as unlocking sustainable sources of food.  Fungi can feed us, heal us, kill us – or send us on a spiritual journey – they might also save us!

Published in the December edition of the Whitchurch Gossip