Top 5 Medicinal Herbs

Ever noticed how sickness and health problems, especially as we age, are somehow normalized in our society? How there are a lot of pharmaceutical companies and medical practitioners whose livelihoods depend on sickness and not health. Ask your doctor how much he knows about prevention, or herbs and alternative medicine for that matter.

Perhaps the problem of sickness is that we're making ourselves sick in the first place, and Mother Nature has some natural preventative, and sometimes tasty and not so tasty methods to prevent and treat disease. The following herbs are known in the "alternative" medicinal world as medicines to prevent and/or treat the same ailments we get prescriptions for, minus the nasty side effects that require even more prescriptions for side effect medications to treat those side effects.

However, just because something is natural does not mean it's safe (i.e. hemlock), so if you plan to take the following herbs for medicinal purposes be sure to consult an herbal practitioner, of which there are plenty these days both online and off. The alternative is quickly becoming the mainstream.

Parsley
Always a decorative garnish on your plate at fine restaurants across America. However, it is not so foul tasting as to prevent you from eating it, especially considered just how loaded it is with vitamins A, B, C, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and phosphorous. That is a nutritional bomb that is far too good for you to leave on your plate.

Garlic
Yeah, yeah, we all know it helps prevent cancer and keeps the vampires at bay. However, did you know it can be used as an anti-biotic to disinfect cuts, heal inner ear infections and help treat cholera and typhus? Also, it has been shown in studies to lower your cholesterol and reduce your risk for diabetes and high blood pressure. I suffer from occasional hypertension and take garlic pills on a daily basis and have not had a blood pressure spike since. You don't want to become an addict though, as it can cause bloating, bleeding and stomach problems.

Oregano Oil
Better than an aspirin. This cure all can ease nervousness, an upset stomach, relieve toothaches, earaches and even help lessen swelling in rheumatoid arthritis. It is also a potent painkiller that herbal practitioners swear is as powerful as morphine.

Kelp
Connect these dots: America has the highest rate of obesity, and they don't serve sea kelp in many of their restaurants. Besides being saturated in iodine, sea kelp is a natural remedy for obesity and a common ingredient in obesity treating medicine. It's also good for a healthy thyroid and pituitary gland and aids in the bodies natural ability to produce growth hormones. Make sure to pack your gym bag with some seaweed before hitting the gym.

Horse chestnuts
Forget the fact that it helps improve the smooth flow of the blood in your circulatory system and can be used to ease the pain of hemorrhoids, it is believed by alternative medicine gurus to be an antioxidant that can help prevent the onset of wrinkles. They actually taste great on salads!

Although there is sometimes a need for pharmaceutical medication and technological advances in medicine are remarkable, measuring success in health should involve not putting yourself in the position to need laboratory concocted drugs in the first place.

Sources-
http://www.herbalremediesinfo.com/herb-articles.html
http://www.healthypeach.com/productlist/subcatprod/180/Horse-Chestnut