Over 100 Recipes for Health and Healing There have been many books written on herbal medicine. This book differs from most because it is based on the empowerment model, which aims to help people take responsibility for their own health. Houghton helps readers tackle everyday ailments and takes the guesswork out of using herbs to keep them feeling well. Herbal medicine is useful for a range of common complaints, and gentle and effective herbs can offer benefit where conventional medicine sometimes fails. Included is this concrete and practical primer are all the essentials you need to know about healing herbs and their properties. Among the topics covered are: A brief history of herbalism - An overview of how herbs heal - An herb glossary that includes how to use herbs and the benefits of each - The body's systems and the herbs that make them work better - An herb dictionary In a world that is becoming more and more illness and disease focused, it is clearly important for individuals to learn about natural therapies and take their health into their own hands. By educating yourself in the use of traditional herbalism, you can attain a high level of wellbeing, and you will only need to consult a conventional doctor when you have a problem that only a medically qualified professional can handle. "Houghton crams a lot of herbal history, philosophy, and even politics into the brief opening chapter of this tome, then follows it with a short summary of how herbal healing works. After that she gets right down to the business of disseminating information as concisely, thoroughly, and efficiently as possible. Aside from turning the pages and using the table of contents instead of search, it's like goggling herbology. Houghton's mission is not to fight disease. It's to empower people to create ongoing wellness in safe and affordable ways." -- Anna Jedrziewski , Retailing Insight ― Reviews Marlene Houghton , PhD, is a nutritional counselor, educator, author, and lecturer on natural therapies and the historical use of herbs who teaches people how to stay well. She lives in London Herbs Plain & Simple By Marlene Houghton Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc. Copyright © 2017 Marlene Houghton All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-57174-766-2 Contents Introduction, Part One: Herbs and Health, 1 A History of Herbalism, 2 Herbal Healing, 3 Active Properties of Herbs, 4 A Green Pharmacy, Part Two: Herbs for Different Body Systems, 5 Using Herbs to Heal the Body, 6 The Immune System, 7 The Heart and Circulatory System, 8 The Digestive System, 9 The Endocrine System, 10 The Lymphatic System, 11 The Muscular System, 12 The Nervous System, 13 The Respiratory System, 14 The Reproductive System, 15 The Skeletal System, 16 The Skin and Eyes, 17 The Urinary System, Part Three: Herbs for Everyday Use, 18 Herbal First Aid Kit, 19 Health from the Hive, 20 Herbal Elixirs, 21 Anti-Aging and Tonic Herbs, 22 Aromatic Herbal Baths, 23 Herbal Teas, CHAPTER 1 A History of Herbalism "A weed is a plant whose virtue is not yet known." — Ralph Waldo Emerson Flowers, barks, and roots have been used for their therapeutic properties in the treatment of disease as far back as the time of the ancient Sumerians. Simply put, for thousands of years, plants have shown their efficiency as natural healers, and traditional herbal medicine can rightly be called "The People's Medicine." Herbalism is the oldest form of medical therapy in the world. It has no starting point in history, and no culture or country can claim ownership. It just evolved; therefore it can be called a universal medicine. Before the advent of modern medicine, people routinely used plant power to maintain their health and ensure their survival, and herbalism is still in use today in many parts of the world. According to the World Health Organization, there are still around eighty percent of people worldwide who rely on plant medicines to treat and cure disease. The early history of traditional herbalism and medical botany in the Americas dates back to the early native peoples; in the United Kingdom we know it dates back to the time of the Druids, who used the simple herbs of the fields, woods, and meadows to cure various human ailments. They believed that the benefits of healing plants were governed by the sun, moon, and the stars, and that the remedies were prepared for mankind by nature herself. Archeological evidence shows us that early man had an array of herbal cures, and it is from their ancient sacred texts and "herbals" that many modern medicines have developed, just like modern chemistry, which has its roots in alchemy. The high priest/physicians of Ancient Egypt had a sophisticated knowledge of healing methods, and the Ebers Papyrus, a seventy-foot long parchment written in 1500 BC, contains references to more than seven hundred herbal remedies. Evidence of medicinal herbs was excavated in 1960 in Northern Iraq in a