Natural Remedies got you on overload?

The world of natural medicine is becoming overwhelming with the data available today. Sometimes it can be very expensive to go down the naturally healthy path when you are faced with so much information of what could help. It can be very confusing to someone that wants to use these natural products yet not always had the success expected by trying them. As you may know many prescriptions and over the counter medicines today come from a natural beginning. Aspirin came from the bark of a willow tree. Antibiotics come from things like mold and bacteria that is a natural process.  Even strong pain killers come from plants like the poppy, valerian root, the cocoa plant, and foxglove.  The problem is that many of these natural products are added too by chemicals and changed by processing and can cause a multitude of side effects, addictions, and even death. We are shying away from the processed because of the many issues that have arisen from taking these medications. Many more of us have learned all the items processed today that we intake or use, such as foods, medicines, cleaning products, and drinks can have lasting health problems.  Is it possible to live naturally and heal you and your family naturally?  Yes, it is possible, but it does take work and time. Two things in this world that many of us do not have the luxury of having.  Not everyone has the time to study what is best for a headache that really works and causes no side effects. For example, all the following can help your headache: peppermint, lavender, clove, willow bark, and even lemon. That is only a few, there are about 41 herbs and essential oils that can help your headache.  How do you know which one will help you right now? Why if you choose one now that it works today, and next week does not and something else works.  The answer is complicated because you my friend are complicated.  Do you have any other symptoms, do you have allergies to certain plants, what have you ingested recently, or how is your emotional state? Each of us are designed to know what our body needs, without us really having anything to do with it. You can think in terms of a reaction to a stimulus.  Certain smells trigger things to happen in our body as well as skin reactions to what has touched it.  I have one child that is allergic to most antibiotics out there today, he has skin problems, and he was a horrible eater for the first 10 years of his life. Many of us can probably relate to the type of person that only eats processed foods and will not eat enough fruit and vegetables to help provide enough nutrients to make a difference. As children and sometimes adults, these body types hardly drink water, or vitamin and mineral filled juices or drinks, and most likely hardly take vitamins of any kind to help supplement on a regular basis. Due to this type of living habits, these body types usually end up with allergies, tend to have weaker immune systems, more headaches and many times have behavior concerns throughout their life. This is one type of body that many of us can relate to either as ourselves, or our family members.  The way these body types absorb nutrients is different than a body that gets the nutrients that it needs on a regular basis absorbs nutrients. For example, for the former body type, it takes herbs like turmeric and black pepper to allow the absorption of nutrients such as vitamin B’s, C’s, and antioxidants such as oregano, sage, and basil. Without the body being able to absorb enough of these nutrients, the body has a weaker immune system.  For the body type that eats more fruits, vegetables, and protein rich foods that are not processed and its raw or natural state, your body is able to absorb nutrients easier and may have an adverse reaction to an intake of turmeric or black pepper.  The ability to effectively absorb what the body needs is helpful to know what herb or plant will help you the most.   The body tends to react negatively to a particular herb or plant through an allergic reaction or waves of nausea at the smell or taste.  Just like a Doctor practices medicine by going through the symptoms and different medicines, an herbalist goes through the similar process.  Herbs and plants have been out there since before we had data on them! The information available on them is so well-documented, you could write books yourself from all the information you find.  The results were not always instantaneous from the natural substances such as pain relief, fever reduction, or adverse reactions.   Due to that end, people were looking for ways to help nature along throughout history. We can follow along to see that as the plant or herb was added to and/or processed differently, it would change the properties of an herb or plant to work better, faster, or last longer.  In some cases, the changes would cause more severe adverse reactions including death more often than when the herb or plant was in its natural state.  You may have heard of clinical trials in a more current world, but in history it was practicing medicine. As we grew in population, the percentages of negative vs positive results were measured and determined acceptable loss vs quality of life.  It is almost as if we have turned the corner around a complete circle in the world of medicines. It is clear the direction is moving back toward the natural state of what we intake to our bodies which allows for more natural healing of the body. It may be a slower process, but the results can be longer lasting or provide complete restoration to the body.  As I stated before there are so many natural plants and herbs that can help with the same ailment, and your body tends to know what is best for it for the most part.  One of the critical items is to ensure you are using the true herb and/or plant.  You should know where your product is coming from. Quality products are out there. One thing to consider is what is local to you. For example, you may have heard that honey can help allergies. This is true, but the key is local honey within a couple hour radius of your home.  Bees are taking nectar and pollinating the local flowers, plants, and trees in their home radius which produce the honey that have the natural antibodies to fight allergens.  A teaspoon of that local honey added to your tea, coffee, or just straight each day can fight your allergies.  It has been shown that even in the case of people with bee allergens are not affected the same way when it is more local to them.  Herbs and plants that are grown more locally work the same way.  If it can be grown in your area, then it will most likely help you.  In the world we live in, getting local herbs and plants are not always an option. In those cases, be sure to do a close look on labels at the ingredients to ensure it is 100% the ingredient you are looking for as well as not processed with any other ingredient.  The next consideration to help you determine what is best for you is the senses test.  The most often sense that helps the most is your sense of smell.  Your olfactory system is an amazing part of you that can invite the healing into your body or the disease. Many of us understand how simply breathing in the air can give you a virus on the one hand to awaken the brain by the smell of food or coffee in the morning.  You may have heard of aromatherapy as well which goes deeper into using your olfactory system for healing.  They key to the testing process is taking the time to take a deep breath and inhale of a smell and see what happens.  Sometimes the smell may not be pleasant, but it does not mean that it is not the one that will help you. A good example is oregano or rosemary.  Both plants have antibiotic properties and can help fight bacteria and viruses.  To determine which is right for you, you will need to test it.  The plants can be in three forms: freshly picked, dried in a container, or a large amount of the plant distilled into a concentrate which results in the oil from the plant that remains.  The most commonly available is the dried herbs in a bottle you probably have in your seasonings. How much oil of the plant that remains can smell differently due concentration of the oil?  The more oil on the plant, the easier it is to test.  Based on that criteria, the concentrated oil form is considered the best to test, followed by the fresh cut plant, and then the dried form.  Let us go through the testing which each one to explain fully.  The concentrated oil is considered volatile which means it can quickly vaporize and still provide a reaction from its vapors.  That being said it can be tested in some cases simply by putting the bottle under your nose and breathing in deeply a few times.  As the vapors go through the olfactory system, it will cause certain reactions.  Whether the smell is pleasant or not is the initial reaction, because it does not provide the answer whether it will work for you or not.  The subsequent reactions are what will help determine. If after inhaling, you instantly get nauseated and gag, that is considered an instant negative reaction.  Another one may be that you get a sharp pain in your head that may trigger a headache lasting longer than a few seconds. The worst reaction would be if you get a rash or swelling following inhaling.  Any of these reactions is your body telling you that is not the one for you!  If you get the swelling or rash reaction, it is important that you, wash your face,  blow your nose, drink water, and contact medical assistance if it lasts longer than a few minutes or gets worse.  That is considered an anaphylactic allergic reaction, and you may need medical attention. Since it is the oil in the plant that has the benefit, a freshly cut plant or the dried herb take a little more work. Sometimes the body sensitivity can react by breathing the smell under the nose when done a few times, but more often it takes a little more work. For the freshly cut plant, you can take some of the plant between your fingers and crush or smash it so that some of the oil is on your fingers and then breathe deeply.  The reaction could be two-fold in this case, because now you have added the touching sense into the mix. A negative reaction could include a rash or pain on your fingers, because of the oil. Most often though, minor allergic reactions such as a little redness that goes away quickly is completely normal and expected.  More often for the freshly cut plant or dry herb, it takes activation of the oil to determine your reaction.  You would put the herb in a pan with a little olive or vegetable oil to heat up the plant. Once at the point of the herb smoking, stand over the pot and inhale deeply a few times. That will give you the same effect of the concentrate.  You could also ingest the plant directly, but it will take at least 30 minutes for any reaction to happen, and an allergic reaction would be more severe which you want to try and avoid.  Now, let us discuss the positive reactions of how you know which one is having the positive effect.  In our example, we are testing oregano and rosemary.  From a negative perspective, you now know if you are allergic to it, or if your body flat rejected one or both of them. Most often the reaction to one may be at least a little stronger, but that could also mean that one will work better. How do you know for sure? The truth is this where some time comes in. When testing, you need to wait 15-30min between trying different plant oils.  During that waiting period, take note of how your head is feeling, how your nasal cavity feels, how your throat feels, your heartbeat, and any gut or digestive reactions such as cramping.  If you have a fever because you are sick and trying to use it to help that, check 30 min after to see if your fever is down. Did your nasal cavity clear up? Does your head feel loss foggy? Does your throat feel less irritated? Do you feel the need to go to the bathroom? Getting rid of toxins is a positive sign if it is not continuous of course.  All of these are positive results. If you get absolutely no change at all after that 30 minutes, it is time to try the next plant.  Sometimes you may feel a little bit of a change, but not as much as you had hoped. A little change is better than no change at all. Using the next plant will tell you if it helps. In some cases, the combination of the both is the right remedy too. Either way, one of them is 90% likely to provide improved health within a few days of the treatment. Once you determine which one to use or the combination of the two, you would repeat the breathing in process three times a day like antibiotics you may take.  Another positive result is that from this natural remedy, you will not have any other side effects that could cause long term damage! What a win win for you!  I hope this article helps you to continue to live naturally. Should you have any other questions or want to learn more about the plants that can help, feel free to contact Naturally Random using the contact button.  We do make customized blends and have some already made blends for many ailments out there. God Bless!