Honey
Honey is, an ancient Islamic saying goes, the food of foods, the drink of drinks, and the remedy of remedies. The ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians all kept honeybees, and extolled the virtues of honey. Some call honey a sweet medicine of heaven, others, elixir of long life. I use honey everyday and you probably should too. Here’s why:
Honey is a rejuvenating, revitalizing, invigorating, natural antibiotic substance created by those magical insects, bees. Bees have been called messengers of the gods, and were associated with Great Goddess since the most ancient times. Many legends hint that bees, and their special creation, honey, played a very important role in our human development. It is said that the gifts of honey are long life, good health, and reverence for spirit. Honey has an ancient reputation as a life force increasing, immune strengthening, potency promoting, aphrodisiac elixir.
Honey consists of invert sugar (fructose, dextroglucose) and other sugars (irreduced raw sugar, maltose). It also contains a complex assortment of enzymes, antibiotic and antimicrobial compounds, organic acids, minerals such as iron, copper, phosphorus, sulfur, potassium, manganese, magnesium, sodium, silicon, calcium, iodine, chlorine, zinc, formic acid, and high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide. Honey also contains varying degrees (it depends on what flowers and herbs the bees are taking their nectar from) of vitamin C, the entire B complex, vitamins D, E, and K, pantothenic acid, niacin, and folic acid, amino acids, hormones, alcohols, and essential oils.
Honey can, and should be, thought of as a super food. It is a live food, stores its vitamins and minerals indefinitely, and is very easily digested by the body. Honey is an all around health and vitality enhancing substance. Wildflower honey, the concentrated nectar of wildflowers, the essence of all the combined medicinal qualities of all the diverse and abundant wild herbs, is thought to be the most medicinal.. All natural, unheated honey is antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic, expectorant, antiallergenic, laxative, antianemic, tonic, immune stimulating, and cell regenerating.
Bees gather the nectar from flowers and store it in their stomach while transporting it back to the hive. During their transport, the dew-laden nectars become concentrated by evaporation. The nectars also combine, in some as yet unexplained way, with the bees�?digestive enzymes, producing entirely unique compounds. Scientists have measured over 75 different compounds in honey, some of them so complex they have yet to be identified. One thing we can identify however, is the fact that when used as a consistent additive to food and drink, honey increases vitality, energy, immunity, libido, and life force.
Honey is proven more effective than any pharmaceutical antibiotic in the treatment of stomach ulceration, gangrene, surgical wound infections, and speedy healing of surgical incisions. Honey is unsurpassed for the protection of skin grafts, corneas, blood vessels, and bones during storage and transport. In fact, honey is such an excellent preservative of living tissue that it was commonly used to keep dead bodies from decomposing while being transported back to their homeland for burial. After his death in a foreign land, Napoleon was sent home in a huge vat of honey.
The fact that fist size ulcers and third degree burns heal beautifully with frequent applications of pure raw honey is clinically proven, and something I can personally attest to. A few years ago, I got a large third degree burn on my heel during a misstep on a motorcycle tailpipe. It was a deep wound and definitely hampered my ability to get around all that summer. I soaked my burned foot morning and night in lavender and rose salts and after each soaking applied a bandage liberally smeared with pure honey directly over the burn. I kept a thick layer of honey over that burn for a couple of months, and tried as much as possible not to walk on it. Today there is barely a trace of that huge burn hole on the heel of my foot. Since that time, honey is my first treatment of choice for any burn, first, second or third degree, any wounds, no matter how deep, skin ulcers, impetigo, and infections. I just keep whatever it is covered with a thick layer of pure honey. And keep eating it by the spoonful, or drinking it in water, or as mead, depending on what you are trying to nourish and heal.
Honey is active against staph Staphylococcus aureus, strep Streptococcus spp., and Helicobacter pylori, responsible for stomach ulcers, and enterococcus. Honey is also one of my top choices for treating any respiratory condition, whether a cold, flu, or respiratory infection. Honey will be your ally against bronchitis, chronic bronchial and asthmatic problems, rhinitis and sinusitis. Those dealing with chronic fatigue, any wasting disease, a depressed immune system, will all feel the benefits of integrating this sweet medicine of the bees into their daily diets.
Usnea
Usnea spp.
Usnea, or old man's beard as it is commonly called, is a common lichen found hanging from trees around the world. It possesses strong antibacterial and antifungal agents and is a potent immune stimulant.
Usnea has been shown to be more effective than penicillin against some bacterial strains. It completely inhibits the growth of staphylococcus aureus, streptococcus spp., and pneumonococcus organisms. Usnea is effective against tuberculosis, triconomas, candida spp., enterococcus, and various fungal strains, and has also been reported active against Salmonella typhimurium and E.coli.
Usnea is actually two plants in one. The inner plant looks like a thin white stretchy thread or rubber band, especially when wet. The outer plant gives usnea its color and grows around the inner plant. The inner part is a potent immune stimulant, the outer part strongly antibacterial.
Among the known constituents of usnea are usnic acid, protolichesterinic acid, and oreinol derivatives. Usnea is traditionally used around the world against skin infections, upper respiratory and lung infections, and vaginal infections.
It can be dusted as a powder, drank as tea or infusion, used as a wash, bath, soak, douche, or spray. Usnea is also effective in tincture form, 30-60 drops, 4 times daily to boost immunity, 6 times daily to treat an active infection. Drink 2-4 cups of infusion for acute illness. Use 10 drops in an ounce of water and use as a nasal spray to treat sinus infections.
Usnea can sometimes be irritating to delicate mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, and throat, so the tincture should always be diluted in water before using. We walk way out into the woods to a big old spruce tree beautifully decorated with long strands of this unique and potent lichen which we gather to make our medicine. Usnea easily absorbs heavy toxic metals and can be potentially toxic, so gather in a clean place.
Shiitake Mushroom Lentinus edodes
Reishi Ganoderma lucidum,
Western reishi/artists conk
Ganoderma applanatum
Immune activating fungi have been used as allies against disease for millenia. Mysterious mushrooms and fungi are classed in a kingdom all their own. They cannot be called plants, as they are much more primitive, nor are they animal. Fungi actually possess some characteristics of both plant and animal.
There are many common medicinal mushrooms with immune enhancing properties, including maitake, the abundant birch polypores, turkey tails, honey mushrooms, and hens of the woods.
The polypores are commonly given to chemotherapy and radiation patients in Japan, and have been shown to increase survival rates. The body receives deep nourishment from medicinal fungi, as the nutrients and medicinal properties of mushrooms penetrates deep into the bone marrow. So much so, that some have referred to using medicinal mushrooms as herbal bone marrow transplants!
We'll take a deeper look at two of the most widely used medicinal mushrooms, shiitake and reishi.
Shiitake mushrooms have been used in China for thousands of years to mobilize the immune system to fight off disease. An immunostimulant, shitake increases the activity of the human immune system against any invading organism.
Antiviral, antitumor shitake has been effectively used to treat viral infections, parasites, and cancer. One of its most important consituents, lintinan, has been shown to stimulate immune competent cells, stimulate T-cell production, and increase macrophage activity.
In one study of 23 people with low killer cell activity, and associated fever and fatique for over 6 months, all responded well to taking lintinan, despite not having responded to conventional therapies, including antibiotics and antipyretics.
Studies have shown shitake to be active against viral encephalitis. It also possesses potent anti-tumor activities, and has been shown to prevent metastisis of cancer to the lungs.
Shitake mushrooms are usually added to soups and stews, cooked for about two hours, and then allowed to sit for an additional two hours. Remove the mushrooms before consuming the broth.
Called reishi in Japan, and Ling zhe in China, all the Ganodermas are powerfully immune enhancing, and adaptogens with potent anti cancer properties.
Both sweet and bitter, the ganodermas are powerful free radical scavengers, eliminating these highly reactive chemicals from the blood stream before they can damage the DNA of healthy cells. Ganodermas are strongly cancer protective, and have been shown to actually help break down and dissolve tumors.
Ganodermas are an excellent addition to the diet of any one who is run down, has been suffering from long term stress, and has low immune function. Either of the ganodermas effectively increases leukocyte production, promotes lymphatic health, promotes phagocytosis, stimulates T-cells, induces the generation of immunoglobulins, and promotes the multiplication of antibodies.
Scientists from the Tokyo Medical and Dental University demonstrated that the ganoderic acid in these fungi could reduce the cholesterol production in the liver by as much as 95%.
The Ganodermas are heart warming, heart opening, promote serenity, and are said to enhance spiritual powers.
Reishi and artists conk are hard and woody, and are often referred to as shelf mushrooms. They grow on the side of either dead or living trees, and are often found on birch and other hardwoods, or hemlock. Sometimes you will find them growing on the fresh stump of a recently cut or fallen tree, and sometimes on an old stump.
Slice pieces off the mushroom while it is fresh and dry the slices on screens or shallow baskets. Put several pieces into any soups and stews you make, remembering to remove the mushroom pieces before eating the soup.
Alcohol destroys the active ingredients in the medicinal mushrooms, according to Christopher Hobbs. He recommends cooking the mushrooms in water for a day or two to make a concentrate, then adding 1/4 the volumn in 190 proof alcohol to preserve it.
You might try making a syrup instead, substituting honey for the alcohol. Try 1 whole reishi, or artists conk, in two gallons of water, adding one half the volumn of honey, after boiling, as a preservative. Drink 1/4 cup of this liquid morning and night.
Hyssop
Hyssopus officinalis
Hyssop has been around a long time. It's written about in the Bible as a cleanser and protector, and it was widely used by the ancients to clear away "evil spirits". What the ancients referred to as "evil spirits", today we call infectious bacteria, virus, fungi, and bad vibes. Hyssop will come to your aid when dealing with any of these.
Hyssop is a blood nourisher, an immune system strenghtener, and possesses potent antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial activity. Cornell/NCI researchers think that hyssop may be useful in the treatment of patients with AIDS.
Several years ago, a young woman was admitted to a hospital with severe AIDS symptoms. She was not expected to live. Her story, interwoven with that of hyssop follows: She had "disseminated Kaposi's sarcoma, was partially blind from disseminated CMV, and suffered from extensive oral and vaginal candidiasis, oral herpes infection, and chronic draining ulcers on her lower extremities." Her blood was found to have MAI (Mycobacterium avium intracellularae) and her urine tested positive for CMV. Doctors expected that she would soon die so they sent her home. However, follow-up of the patient 6 months later showed that her lesions had "improved significantly," her blood tests were negative for MAI, she could walk and move around more, and in general, she felt much better. Upon questioning, the patient's mother revealed that "for the previous month, the patient had been given an old Jamaican herbal remedy which was prepared in the form of a tea by boiling a mixture of leaves from hyssop officinalis, blessed thistle, and cassia augustifolia."
Researchers tested the herbs and found that crude extracts of Cassia augustifolia had minimal or no anti-HIV activity, blessed thistle extracts had only "minimal" antiviral effects, but crude extracts of hyssop inhibited HIV replication by 77 to 100%. Further analysis revealed that one of the antiviral compounds in hyssop was caffeic acid, a compound that showed strong antiviral activity.
Treatment of HIV-infected cells with caffeic acid resulted in reduced levels of p24 and p17 antigens, reduced the formation of giant clumps of infected cells, and impaired the activity of the essential retroviral enzyme RT (reverse transcriptase). Caffeic acid was previously shown to have anti-herpes activity in laboratory tests. When caffeic acid reacts with oxygen and becomes oxidized, several beneficial products may form. Resarchers think that the action between oxygen and other compounds found in hyssop may also play a role in this plant's strong anti-viral activity.
Hyssop contains a number of camphor-like constituents that help to loosen phlegm. Another constituent, marrubium, is a powerful expectorant. Hyssop has traditionally been used as a remedy against colds, flu, coughs, bronchial congestion, pulmonary distress, asthma, sinus congestion, and sore throats. A syrup made from the flowering tops of hyssop is especially soothing. Wise ones the world over, knowledgeable in the use of medicine plants, including American Indians, used hyssop in these ways.
Hyssop is well known as a digestive tonic, stomach soother, and an aid to alleviate gas. It also has a long history of use as a nervous system nourisher, possesses mild sedative properties, and can be taken regularly as a nerve-strengthening tonic. Use hyssop to calm and steady your nerves and help balance the emotional swings so common during the mid-life transition.
All above ground parts of hyssop offer an essential oil that has a clearing effect on the mind, helps rid you of confusion, and imparts a feeling of alertness and focus. Keep some fresh, or dried, in a chest pocket where you can smell it the next time you have to give a presentation or take a test.
According to some texts, long-term use of hyssop is associated with reports of toxicity, while according to others there is no toxicity whatsoever. There is also no association of toxicity with hyssop in the empirical evidence passed down through the ages. This discrepancy may be a result of the way in which the herb is prepared. Some think that the compound responsible for any toxicity resides in lipid molecules in the leaves of hyssop. So, using hyssop as a strong tea, or preferably an infusion, or as a syrup, honey, tincture, or vinegar, should all be fine. But to be on the safe side, don't extract it into a fat base like oil, or butter. It may be possible that the combination of herbs in the Jamaican recipe moderated any possible toxic effects of the herb.
Other herbs that contain specific HIV inhibitors include burdock, Coptis chinensis, prunella vulgaris, and viola yedoensis.
Other herbs containing viricides (antiviral properties) include lemon balm, rose, cinnamon, dong gui, and licorice.
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