Eclectic School of Herbal Medicine
A Unique Herb School That Integrates Science and Tradition
It’s that time of year when I really start to hear things like, I don’t make enough money to get insurance, and I don’t qualify for Medicaid. The Affordable Care Act was originally designed to help this issue, but with many states not expanding Medicaid, and with lawmakers steadily chipping away at the ACA, I thought I’d write up a little article on a potential way for those with low income to have insurance within this broken system. [Read more…]
Dearest All who are embarking on the newest diet fad, where you fast for 48 hours, and then eat as much high fat keto foods as you can, and then fast again,
I am a fan of fasting for certain conditions. I have done a 14 day water fast, and guided clients through short and long fast. I have also done a keto diet on and off for a decade.
I know you want results, and you want them now, and this new diet and fasting seems like it might give them to you. You should know though, that fasting isn’t good for everyone, and this “diet” isn’t good for anyone long term.
1. You shouldn’t fast if you are nutrient deficient. Most people need to spend 3+ months focused on eating a nutrient dense diet, and possibly supplementing with vitamins and minerals before they are nutritionally replete enough to get the max benefits from a fast. Consider cutting back on the sugar and refined foods, and spending a few months eating a pound a day of raw green veggies or 1/2 pound cooked veggies (whatever makes your tummy feel best), along with lots of omega 3 rich fish, before you embark on a fast.
2. You shouldn’t fast or do this “diet” if you are underweight.
3. You shouldn’t fast or do this “diet” if you have a history of disordered eating, or if you’re prone to dogmatically sticking to a restrictive dietary philosophy.
4. You shouldn’t fast or do this “diet” if you are younger than 18, or older than 70.
5. This diet doesn’t supply enough fiber to keep your microbiome happy. Over the long term, the more unhappy your microbiome is, the more unhappy you will be. Fasting can have amazing benefits. Fasting overdone is also called starvation, and can have terrible consequences.
And Finally. The guy who started this “diet”, Cole Robinson, starts all of his videos with fat shaming, which can cause real and serious harm.1
You don’t have to support people like Cole. If you do a little digging you can probably find an Herbalist, Naturopathic Physician, or Functional Medicine Practitioner in your area to talk with about the multitude of diets and natural interventions that might help your health issues.
-Thomas Easley, Functional Herbalist
CLEAVERS: Spring Drink
By Geraldine Lavin
Genus & Species: Galium aparine
Family: Rubiaceae
Common Names: Cleavers, Bedstraw, Grip Grass
Tissue State: Atrophy
Organ Affinities: Nerves, Lymphatic, Kidneys, Genitourinary
Properties: Diuretic, Alterative, Anti-inflammatory, Tonic, Astringent
Taste: Sweet, Salty, Cool, Moist. Vanilla-like.
Parts Used: Aerial parts, during flowering, before going to seed. Fresh pressed juice.
Harvest: Cleavers should be harvested just as they begin to flower, and throughout their small flowering period. Once they begin to go to seed, they are no longer ideal for medicine making. The flowering period is about two weeks in late spring or early summer, depending on your location. Matthew Wood says to pick in flower “when it smells beautiful.” (personal communication, September 6, 2017)
Botanical Habit & Ethnobotanical Uses: Cleavers is a friendly little plant, familiar to many as a common “weed” of spring and early summer that has the property of velcro, so that one could snip a stem and stick it to their shirt as a makeshift corsage. This abundant plant creates small stands throughout North America and across Europe, making its home in fields, the edges of farms, vacant lots, and city sidewalks. [Read more…]
By Ruthie Hayes
Latin: Capsella bursa-pastoris
Family: Brassicaceae or Cruciferae (mustard family)
Folk names: witch’s pouches, poverty weed, blind weed, mother’s heart, shepherd’s sprout, casewort, pickpurse, pickpocket, St. James weed, St. James wort, beggar’s tick, blindweed, shepherd’s bag, shepherd’s scrip, shepherd’s pouch, rattle pouches, case weed, shovel weed, pepper-and-salt, sanguinary, lady’s purse, clappedepouch (Irish), hirtentaschelkraut (German), Patushya Sumka (Russian).
Energetics: warm/cool, dry
Properties: vulnerary, astringent, styptic, antihemorrhagic, anti-inflammatory, diuretic
Taste: pungent, salty, slightly diffusive
Parts used: entire plant, in seed
Degree: 2nd/3rd
Tissue state: depression, excitation
Key uses: stops bleeding & discharge, wound healing; urinary, reproductive
By Aidan Blank
This darling plant has kept me intrigued since I was first introduced to it growing in my teacher’s herb garden a decade ago. It was sometime afterwards that I was able to experience the tea, and I remember feeling a distinct expressive calm radiating from my center. Drinking it again as I write I sense why it was commonly employed as a reliable and comforting ‘proper’ tea substitute; “it has somewhat the taste of tea and all the good qualities of it, without the bad ones” – Maude Grieves. It is very smooth, pungent, nutritive, slightly moistening, and astringing at the same time. It has a decidedly calming effect in general and on the stomach in particular. In stronger infusions I can sense a slight acridity in the back of my throat that I have come to associate with some of it’s more magical or mysterious actions. Wood Betony also appears to have the curious effect of increasing my dream recall; the dreams are more lucid and often include the appearance of a benevolent being or ally. William Salmon, writing in early 16th century England, describes one of Wood Betony’s actions as “incarnative “. I believe that this accurately and evocatively sums up the central movement of the plant. It is a superlative remedy for bringing one back into their body and becoming reacquainted with the older instinctual knowing residing in the solar plexus, or ‘gut’. I lived for a time with a boy, then 6 or 7 years old, who experienced frequent stomach cramping and general nausea. This often concurred with a debilitating headache that left him lying on the couch for long periods of time in a detached state. His energy felt hot (like many children), ungrounded, and stuck in his head. Tincture of Wood Betony quickly brought these fluctuations to a minimum and eventually they were undetectable. Best of all he seemed to love the tincture and touted it as his personal remedy, or maybe even a constitutional ally. Wood Betony has served likewise for me when I have had need of it.