YOU USE herbs to cook now use them to ease painful problems! Complementary medicine is not intended to replace the doctor but to keep us healthy by helping us to eat right so that we can use the plants around us safely. Here are eight herbs we cook with that also have medicinal use.
HEARTBURN
Put the fire out with turmeric.
Bitter herbs such as turmeric (a key curry ingredient) help stimulate the flow of digestive juices, moving food along and preventing acid build-up. If using turmeric as a spice doesn't stop the burn, try two or three turmeric capsules (0.5 to 1 g), available at health food stores, before a meal.
COLDS AND 'FLU
Warm up in the kitchen. To take the chills out of your cold, make a beeline to the kitchen, and fix yourself a traditional herb and spice remedy, suggests David Hoffman, a fellow of Britain's National Institute of Medical Herbalists and assistant professor of integral health studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies in Santa Rosa. Combine one ounce (by weight) sliced fresh ginger, one broken-up cinnamon stick, one teaspoon coriander seeds, three whole cloves, one lemon slice, and one pint water. He recommends simmering for 15 minutes and straining. Then drink a hot cupful every two hours.
HEADACHE
Brew up some rosemary. Rosemary helps keep blood vessels dilated. Use one teaspoon of rosemary per cup of hot water, cover, and steep for 10 minutes. Strain, and sip a cup three times a day.
Or try ginger. Ginger inhibits a substance called thromboxane A2 that prevents the release of substances that make blood vessels dilate. In other words, it can help keep blood flowing on an even keel, which is essential in migraine prevention. Grate fresh ginger into juice, nosh on Japanese pickled ginger, use fresh or powdered ginger when you cook, or nibble on a piece or two of crystallised ginger candy daily.
SINUS PAIN OR PRESSURE
Turn to thyme. If your sinus secretions are clear or white, you need a warming, drying herb such as thyme. Thyme is strongly antiseptic and is a traditional remedy for respiratory infections. Drink a cup of fragrant thyme tea made by steeping one to two teaspoons of dried thyme in a cup of boiling water for about 10 minutes three times a day.
INSECT BITES AND STINGS
Cool it with mint. A drop of peppermint essential oil rubbed into the centre of a bite or sting can bring quick, long-lasting relief. Peppermint cools the bite so that you don't feel like scratching and increases blood flow to the area, which helps to quickly carry off the venom. Result? Less swelling and itching. Wash your hands after applying, and don't use essential oils near your eyes because they can irritate. Don't use on poisonous spider or snake bites, which require immediate medical attention.
TOOTHACHE
Stun the pain with cloves. Rub a drop of essential oil of clove directly on an aching tooth. If you don't have oil of clove handy (available at drug and health food stores), just wiggle a whole clove, pointed end down, next to the tooth.
Or say, "Open Sesame". Sesame seeds contain at least seven pain-relieving compounds. Boil one part sesame seeds with three parts water until the liquid is reduced by half. Cool the resulting brew, and apply it directly to the aching tooth.
- Dr. Sylvia Mitchell, scientific
officer, Biotechnology Centre,
University of the West Indies, Mona,
email: smitchel@uwimona.edu.jm.
