herbs... introduction

The classic botanical definition: an herb is a non-woody plant that dies down to its roots each winter.

This can be easily confused with definition of annuals and perennials, but in fact these plants have a 'functional  value in common. The temperature confuses a situation with hardiness, and 'dying back in winter' is likely when the definition is concocted by botanists in a cold climate, specifically that of northern Europe. Many herbs, depending on their location, will not die back. The classic definition also excludes woody trees and shrubs, including ginkgo and hawthorn, two of the biggest selling medicinal "herbs" in Europe. Some people prefer the term botanicals (and botanical medicine) includes trees and shrubs as well as herbs.

A more functional definition? The earliest division of plants was into the useful and non-useful.
The 'useful' category constituted what we now know as 'herbs'.
Granted, all green plants can be considered useful. But not all plants have a place in medicine.

Why an introduction?
We are already familiar with so many herbs in our daily lives: cooking, teas, aromatherapy, body care, etc. But this is only scratching the surface of herbal use in cultures around the world. The variety of edible and medicinal herbs is an endless resource for plant education and better health.

When people began recording histories, herbs local to their areas were already in use:
    Ayurveda (East Indian tradition) counts 2000 species as medicinal
    Chinese Pharmacopoeia lists over 5000 plant-based medicines
    Allopathic (Western) has 500 or so medicines derived from plants.

We can improve our quality of life with herbs. It is a process of small steps that have long-term benefits.
Expanding our knowledge will help us to incorporate them more often for healthy life maintenance.
Reading ingredient labels is a great way to expand an understanding of use and combinations.

Allopathic, or Western medicine, derives many of it's drug formulas in plants, attempting to chemically recreate the active compounds. Historical evidence from many cultures describes the use of those herbs found in their environment. Health solutions often come from nature, and there is much proof demonstrating the effectiveness of herbs. Plants of the same type can be found in multiple countries, and are used in a multitude cultural traditions.


    Teas, though simple to prepare, are a convenient way to incorporate herbs into a day.

    Consider as an example... receptors in the brain that affect mood, are also present in the digestive tract. Herbs or prescriptions that act upon those receptors cause a response in both places!

Details.
Methods of extracting the benefits from herbs go from the simple to the very complicated processes:
infusions (hot teas or tisanes), decoctions (boiled teas), tinctures (alcohol and water extracts), and macerations
(cold-soaking). In indigenous Indian medicine systems, medicine men or shamans, use these same methods in addition to others. Others include preparing plants in hot baths (in which the patient is soaked in it or bathed with it), inhalation of powdered plants (like snuff), steam inhalation of various aromatic plants boiled in hot water, and aromatherapy.

When integrating herbs into a daily routine, use a simple method to begin and be sure of its safety!

The biological or therapeutic activity of a medicinal plant is closely related to the plant chemicals in it. These chemicals can be classified into major groups of chemicals such as essential oils, alkaloids, acids, steroids, tannins, saponins and so forth. Each one of these classes of chemicals may have a preferred effective method of extraction which facilitates getting the chemicals out of the plant and into the herbal remedy that is being prepared.

Research the connection between your health concern, and the natural chemical compounds that help it. This will assist in focusing your study of the condition, appropriate herbs and a long-term approach.

This is the reason why some plants are prepared in one manner to treat one specific condition, yet are prepared in a different way to treat a completely different condition. For example, preparing a tea of a plant might extract a delicate group of anti-inflammatory plant steroids to treat arthritis (and leave behind other non-water soluble chemicals). Yet when the same plant is prepared in alcohol as a tincture, the delicate steroids are degraded or burned-up in the alcohol but different antibacterial alkaloids (which are only soluble in alcohol) are extracted instead. This may explain why a tea of the plant is used for arthritis while a tincture of the same plant is traditionally used to treat various bacterial infections.

For those interested in history, ethnographic accounts (new and old) of herbs as medicine provide insights that can broaden our understanding through cultural context and origin.

The rainforest shaman or rural herbal healer is not a trained chemist with high-tech machines and scientific instruments at their disposal to isolate and study plant chemicals. Their knowledge has been built over time—decades of passed down empirical knowledge from trial and error, human experimentation, and even serendipity, about the best way to prepare medicinal plants into effective herbal remedies. It is often to the shaman's knowledge that scientists look for specific clues as to which types of chemicals might be present in a plant based upon the traditional preparation method used.

GREAT BOOKS:
DK Herb Society of America New Encyclopedia of Herbs and their Uses    Deni Brown
DK Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine            Andrew Chevallier
Your Backyard Herb Garden from Rodale Books        Miranda Smith
The Green Pharmacy - The Ultimate Compendium of natural Remedies        James A. Duke Ph.D.
Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine        Michael Murray and Joseph Pizzorno
And long-standing favorite authorities on natural health, Andrew Weil and Depak Chopra

A few key thinking points:

The issue of chronic health problems makes a good match with herbal treatments as they work best over extended periods of time. The word 'chronic' is used, not because we are stuck with these problems for good, but because these issues develop over long periods of time. (Acute conditions are more suited to the 'silver bullet' approach of prescribing modern chemical drugs.)

Herbs can be very effective in small amounts, particularly when taken consistently (as recommended).

Herbs provide a means of investigating and improving our own individual health concerns.

The process of learning about herbs helps to heighten awareness of our own physical condition, and listen to
what our physical and mental components have to teach us.

Herbs are available to assist in the treatment of all chronic conditions.
 
Some herbs naturally treat both emotional and physical components of a problem.
 
Herbal preparations are effective in part because they utilize parts of plants that contain more than one active ingredient. Consider this in comparison to western drugs that isolate one compound and may not utilize full benefit of the herb as it grows in nature.

Herbs as a holistic means of treatment can be effective in situations where western approaches may not.

The word 'disease' more accurately refers to the idea of dis-ease, versus the meaning it has required in western semantics as a dire condition.

We can be assured that edible varieties grown at home are free of pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

The cultural diversity found in the U.S. & Canada provides a source for an herb from almost any tradition.

Some herbs should NOT be taken over an extended period of time. Ex. Echinacea or Golden Seal.

Herbs do have contraindications! Ask questions. Do research. Get a second and third opinion.