Amy Rosen: Herb appeal

“I’ve always had an herb garden. When I was a young girl we were raised on a farm here and I spent a lot of time with my grandmother, learning all about herbs and plants,” says Arlene Mills of the Niagara Herb Farm (open seasonally from June).

In more recent times, Mills found that the flavourful range of her herbaceous childhood had dwindled to but a few options: “Parsley, oregano, basil, that’s all people knew.” And when Mills opened shop in 1990, she says that’s all people wanted. But with one more swing of the pendulum, “people started taking better care of their health, cutting back on salt, flavouring differently, cooking differently,” says the herb grower. “A different lifestyle.” And now her Niagara Herb Farm offers over 350 varieties of culinary, fragrant, and medicinal herbs.

Hypocrites, widely considered the father of medical literature, believed and taught that the strength to cure disease could oft be found in nature. He used diet and herbs as the basis of his trailblazing treatments, many of which were based on former findings from ancient Egypt, passed on to Greece, and later to Rome. The Roman Empire, for example, loved using herbal remedies like mandrake as an anesthetic. (Let’s not forget that these are the same people who brought us the Leap Year.)

Fast forwarding hundreds of years and hop-scotching a few continents, up on the terrace garden of the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel in Vancouver, Daryle Nagata, formerly the executive chef of the hotel, is famous for creating and cultivating this rooftop garden chock-full of healing herbs and veggies. The 2,100-square-foot organic oasis stemmed from his passion for cooking with ingredients that have medicinal properties. It’s now a lush living lesson on over 70 varieties of plants, herbs, fruits and vegetables, including the natural sweetener Stevia, wasabi (clears nasal passages), Echinacea (increases bodily resistance to infection), mini artichokes (the leaves ease digestion), and even marshmallow plants (aid in yumminess).

It all sounds both healthful and delish, but a word of caution: Don’t start eating bowlfuls of Echinacea or other medicinal herbs without first consulting a physician or accredited herbalist. That Mother Nature -- she’s no wuss.

Little green tips:
Choose fresh herbs that look clean, crisp and vibrant. When storing fresh, treat herbs with long stems like flowers; trim the stems and place in a small glass of water so they continue to drink the water. For herbs with short stems just wrap in moist paper towel in a zip-lock bag. Use within a week.

Arlene Mills says some dried herbs, like oregano, have a stronger and more concentrated flavour than fresh herbs, but they quickly lose their pungency. The more airtight the storage container, the longer the herbs will last. Store dried herbs in a cool, dark place for a maximum of six months. Mills thinks everyone should have some fresh herbs in their garden. She says don’t be afraid to cut them back because that promotes new growth. When drying your own, dry in a dark place. She prefers using a deyhydrator to retain colour, flavour and shelf life.

When cooking, add fresh herbs during the last 10-20 minutes as the nice bright flavours can quickly diminish during the cooking process. When substituting dried herbs in recipes that call for fresh, decrease the amount by half. Conversely, when substituting fresh herbs for dried, double them.

Try to sample a new herb every month. It’ll make you a better person.

Source: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theappetizer/archive/2008/04/22/amy-rosen-herb-appeal.aspx

Natural Cure for Hair Loss – Things They Tell You and Things They Won't

Hair loss is a problem that no one seems to want. Hair falling from the scalp is a universally common thing to happen; but the scalp losing out the hair permanently is something quite ungainly. No wonder then, there is a whole world of hair loss treatments out there, each with a diverse approach to resolve the problem. Included in this plethora is the natural cure for hair loss, which is mainly about using herbal supplements to prevent hair loss.

Which are the natural cures of hair loss?

Today, the herbal supplements for hair loss prevention have gained wide currency in the western world. In fact, most people with hair loss problems would prefer trying out a herbal therapy before going in for more drastic measures of treatment. These supplements can contain a host of ingredients, including but not restricted to vitamins and multivitamins, oils such as primrose oil and fish oil, lysine, saw palmetto, horsetail, ginger, green tea extracts, licorice extracts, apple cider vinegar, rosemary, sage tea, psoralea seeds and a whole lot more. All these are totally natural products and they can be prepared in the form of a hair tonic to be applied over the scalp, or even sold as pills to be taken following a routine.

These natural hair loss remedies work in three ways on the scalp:

They prevent the hair from falling out of the scalp

They allow the hair to regrow from the places they have fallen out from

They make the hair thicker

It's not just about the herbal supplements, though. Natural cures for hair loss can come in a variety of other ways too. Massage with special oils is very commonly done nowadays. The most common is the Indian herbal massage, in which oils are prepared using extracts of Indian gooseberry, henna, lemon oil, Indian margosa (neem), Terminalia chebula, Terminalia belerica and a host of others.

Then there's the method of hypnosis also. But this works only in some cases. In some people, hair loss occurs due to stress and depression. Hypnosis can help to treat such cases of hair losses by improving the mental condition.

What are the pros of natural cures for hair loss?

There are many points that go to the best advantage of the natural methods. The first point is that they are totally natural, so you can assure yourself that there will be minimum side-effects. Being natural, experts of natural therapies advocate, these supplements work the best at enhancing the natural process of hair growth. They work with the metabolism of the body and not against it, as the synthetic supplements might do. It is the safe approach that makes most people try out the natural cure for hair loss as a first step to their treatment.

What are the cons of natural cures for hair loss?

This is what most manufacturers of these methods will not tell you. Despite the fact that all herbal remedies have been used for thousands of years in various civilizations across the world, there's no medical certification that they work. Traditional evidences are plenty, but there are no FDA approved herbal remedies available yet.

Also, the effect of all natural cures for hair loss is felt differently in different people. This is because the metabolism of each person is different. In all cases, lifestyle changes are also required to make the therapies work. Like, you may have to make changes in your diet and usual habits. People who do not want to make such changes will see no benefits of the natural cures.

Herbal remedies for hair loss for men and women are different.

Source: http://www.losangeleschronicle.com/articles/57892

£200m boom as demand for 'natural' cures soars

Alternative medicines are fast becoming the new mainstream as Britons increasingly turn to self-medication. Sales of herbal and homeopathic remedies in chemists, health stores and supermarkets have doubled in a decade and are now estimated to be worth £200m.

And there is no sign of a slowdown as consumers - the majority women aged more than 35 years - are expected to continue sweeping 'natural' pills, potions and ointments off the shelves, according to new research. Sales are predicted to reach £265m in the next four years. Growth has been particularly rapid in the past five years, according to the British Lifestyles report by researchers Mintel as the market acquires 'a greater reputation for offering legitimate alternatives to pharmaceutical-based treatments'.

One reason is the government encouraging people towards more self-medication by relaxing regulations on prescription-only drugs and promoting the role of the pharmacist. This has prompted more people to try alternative treatments they would not have considered had they visited their GPs. The industry will be given further legitimacy by new EU legislation which will require all over-the-counter herbal medicines in the UK to have either Traditional Herbal Medicines Registration or full Marketing Authorisation.

Herbal medicines, which contain extracts from plants and minerals, account for the fastest growth. Scientific tests have shown there is evidence that some could have a beneficial effect. More controversial are the homeopathic remedies, with critics claiming they offer nothing more than a placebo effect. Homeopathy is a system of therapy based on the concept that disease can be treated with drugs, in minute doses, thought capable of producing the same symptoms in healthy people as the disease itself does.

Today's high-octane lifestyles, longer working hours and increased stress are all said to have contributed to the love affair with complementary medicine. While one in five people reportedly suffers from stress and insomnia, many do not want to tell their doctors, to avoid black marks on their medical records. Others are worried about the stigma of taking antidepressants, while others fear developing an addiction to pharmaceutical drugs. For many, complementary medicines are the answer. The Jamie Oliver effect - highlighting the ill effects of diets stuffed with additives - is also believed to have spilled over into medicine, with consumers attracted by claims of natural goodness .

Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at Exeter University, said he was not surprised at the increase in sales. 'The last time I tested it, there were 40 million websites promoting complementary medicine. It's incessant.' Ernst, who last week challenged the Prince of Wales to withdraw two guides published by his Foundation for Integrated Health on the basis that they misrepresented scientific evidence, said that only claims by some herbal medicines were 'biologically plausible'.

'But homeopathy is not. It doesn't work, and that's that,' he said. 'And unless people are very certain of what they are taking, they could cause more harm than good. Some can interact with prescribed medicines.' In researching his latest book examining the efficacy of alternative medicine, he said his co-author, Dr Simon Singh, visited 10 homeopathic outlets asking for protection from malaria. 'And they all provided some, without exception. They were all very nice, but the nightmare begins when you return home with malaria.'

· Verdicts on the value of herbal remedies, according to Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at Exeter University.

Source: http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/health/story/0,,2275099,00.html