This is a handout for a brief talk I did in April 2019 at a Butte College yoga class:
Natural Medicine for Digestion, Stress and Trauma. It is only an brief introduction to the subject of easily accessible herbs for digestion, stress and trauma, geared towards the college student or lay person.
It seems like every season, whether it be Spring or Fall, or Summer or Winter, various patients have symptoms of hayfever or environmental allergies – this need not be the case!! Allergies are a symptom of our immune system needing support so that we can handle exposure to the environment, whether it be from pollens or animal dander, molds or mildews, or even dust. Our standard medical system of allopathy does us a disservice by prescribing anti-histamines, which suppress symptoms and suppresses the body’s natural response to exposure, hence making the condition worse in the long-term. The best long-term solution is to stimulate our body’s natural ability to handle the exposure so that it does not respond to a substance like it is a toxin – a healthy body should tolerate exposure and handle it gracefully, and not respond to pollens and dust like they are toxins!
For more information, see my document on how I treat allergies naturally:
Treating Hayfever or Environmental Allergies with Natural Medicine
Healthy Cocoa – what a concept?!?!?
EnerHealth Botanicals Cocoa MoJo is now carried in my office. It is a ‘great way to enjoy yummy Cocoa while supporting your immune system… especially during the winter’1. This is an organic non-dutched (no alkaloids) cocoa powder with organic coconut palm sugar and organic extracts immune-boosting medicinal mushrooms. The coconut palm sugar has a low glycemic index (of 35), making this a nice dessert treat even for diabetics and others who are watching their sugar intake. The medicinal mushrooms extracts in Cocoa Mojo are:
√ Cordyceps Sinensis – this is a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) herb that I call the ‘Ginseng for the Lungs’; it is a ‘Lung Tonic’ and is used to treat many respiratory disorders. It is also effective in the prevention and treatment of a variety of cardiovascular disorders, and is also a strong immune stimulant, being antineoplastic (anti-cancer) as well. Additionally, research has shown it is renal-protective (for example, it can help kidney problems such as chronic renal failure).2,3
√ Ganoderma Lucidum aka Reishi mushroom – this is another TCM herb, used to calm the mind, strengthen the Lungs and the body in general, and it also known to be antineoplastic, anti-viral and anti-bacterial (see this excerpt from a TCM professional reference).
√ Coriollus Versicolor aka Turkey Tail mushroom – now widely known to have anti-cancer effects, more research has shown direct antioxidant effect as well.4,5
√ Agaricus Blazei – this is a Brazilian mushroom, researched highly in Japan, that has demonstrated antineoplastic abilities in many research studies, along with immunomodulatory effects.6. It is also known by its Japanese name of himematsutake.
References:
1http://www.enerhealthbotanicals.com/cocoa-mojo.html
2Clinical Manual of Oriental Medicine, 2nd edition, Lotus Institute of Integrative Medicine.
3Panaxea.com research summary.
4http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23627468
5http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-stamets/mushrooms-cancer_b_1560691.html
6http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17639159
More references for medicinal mushrooms:
1) Hobbs, Christopher. Medicinal Mushrooms – An Exploration of Tradition, Healing, & Culture. Santa Cruz, CA: Botanica Press, 1995.
2) MycoHerb Clinical Guide for Practitioners. Golden Mirror Press, 2008.
3) Review of Medicinal Mushrooms Advances: Good News from Old Allies, Solomon P. Wasser, HerbalGram. 2002; 56:28-33 American Botanical Council (article online).
Heavenly Herbs and Acupuncture Newsletter:
Great article summarizing using Chinese Herbal Medicine for treating viral infections, specifically focused on the H1N1 virus. Chinese Herbal Medicine and the novel H1N1 virus
This article is written for the Chinese Medicine professional, but referred to here to educate the public as to how viral infections such as influenza can be treated with Chinese Herbal Medicine.
Great article that includes herbs and foods used in Traditional Chinese Medicine food therapy with easy recipe for flu and cold prevention! This is exactly in alignment with my typical advice to patients (uses herbs/medicinal foods mentioned in my Flu article: Treating Influenza and Viral Infections using Natural Medicine.)
How to Boost your Immune System with Herbs
Astragalus Tonic Soup recipe
Here’s another link for the soup recipe on this blog (in case the above link disappears sometime in the future):
Astragalus Tonic Soup recipe
Of course, Astragalus can be purchased at my office (it has a mild, sweet taste)!
My simple Flu Prevention advice originally written in Winter 2009, when the H1N1 virus was rampant (kept it brief to hand out to patients)!
Treating Influenza and Viral Infections using Natural Medicine