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About Herbs and Traditional Herbal Theory |
About Herbs, Herbal Theory, Notes
There are many modern misnomers with respect to herbs and herbal products.
The first is that we need
to constantly be taking herbs in order to be healthy. This is false. Herbs need
only be used when there is an imbalance in the body. Herbs, being
alteratives
are meant to address these imbalances to help correct them. When the
imbalances are corrected the use of the herb can be gradually tapered
off and eventually stopped altogether.
This leads to a second misnomer - that herbs can be taken indefinitely. This is a classic marketing
ploy. Marketing dictates infinitesimal sales are good for
business. Unfortunately, human needs never match the ambitions of
marketers. Although there is a period of time that herbs need to be
taken in order to restore the specific imbalance that they are
addressing but when the herbs have done their job they can be put aside until
needed again.
For people who constantly have
recurring bodily imbalances. Lifestyle choices should be examined. Food,
physical activity, adequate sleep and so on should be looked at for
general and long term well being first.
However, there are several herbs that can be
used indefinitely. These are called universal herbs. Chamomile, fennel, peppermint,
hawthorne etc. are among the most
common - there are many others.
A third misnomer
is that a herb in a tea, a capsule a tincture or an extract will all do the
same thing. Some herbs
will do nothing or very little unless they are properly extracted.
Herbalism and actual healing is an art not a
science. Each method of preparing a herb will make it more suitable for
different purposes. An example is that tinctures in their functioning
should only be taken for about 2 weeks. Then they should be put aside.
If they did not fulfill their function, it is likely that the wrong
tincture was taken. Many will dispute this.
Standardized Herbs:
The latest trend is
the standardization of herbs. The belief being that by concentrating
what are believed to be the active ingredients of a plant that it will
be more effective. The truth is that what are believed to be active
ingredients by the scientists is actually what a real herbalist
disregards as waste. What standardization actually achieves is making a
useful herb into
a pharmaceutical like substance. It also means that it is possible to
start with a lesser quality raw material and still get a relatively
consistent end product.
We will never
standardize our products. Instead we ensure our quality by going to the
expense of importing the best raw materials. We use pharmaceutical grade
herbs. As a result we have many satisfied customers. Our money
goes into making a better quality product not advertising. Our
quality is our advertising and marketing can not improve
quality.
At this time our herbal products are
made of powdered herbs in capsules. We realize that in this form they
have an inherent limitation and are therefore consciously formulated to
take advantage of this. Not many companies are aware of this and do not
take advantage of nature in this way.
We hope that our effort may be of benefit to our
customers.