What is herbal healing?
Dear reader, the active ingredients it contains have formed the basis of my plant research for many years. Researching, identifying and disclosing the main active ingredient(s) contained in a plant is not enough for preventive and prophylactic treatment. This is because a plant does not only contain useful substances. It also contains harmful substances that can have a negative impact on human health. In this case, how can we benefit from active substances with therapeutic or preventive and protective effects for human health? How do we extract the active ingredients with therapeutic, preventive and protective effects from the plant? How can we ensure that while we remove these beneficial substances, we do not remove the harmful ones?
All this brings to the fore the question of which parts of the properly selected plant should be used and how they should be prepared. The easiest way to do this is to brew or boil the herb. When brewing or boiling, not all the active ingredients contained in the plant can get into the water at the same time. Depending on the brewing time, they enter the brewing water in a certain order. For this reason, it is very important how long the plant is infused. I would like to explain this situation again with an example I like to give. Put three glasses of hot water on your table and throw a tea bag into each at the same time. Remove the first glass after one minute, the second glass after four minutes and the third glass after eight minutes. In front of you is a cup of tea brewed at three different times. Let us now examine the effects of these three glasses on people one after the other.
One minute of tea in the first glass is the most stimulating. This is because the substances that enter the water in the first minute are the most stimulating. These include caffeine, theobrombin and theophiline. These three substances are stimulants, which means they increase the heart rate slightly. They also increase blood pressure a little. Because they are stimulants, you feel tense and have trouble falling asleep. If you think that you are drinking clear tea by brewing it for a minute, you are sadly mistaken. Light tea is what they call tea that has been brewed for a very short time. However, briefly brewed tea is the most stimulating and tension-building.
Let's move on to the tea glass in the second row, which has been brewed for four minutes. This tea contains active ingredients that stimulate the digestive system. You will be amazed at how the tea brewed for four minutes after a meal speeds up your digestion and you digest food more easily.
Tea brewed in the third row and for eight minutes is pleasant. It is soothing. It is relaxing.
By choosing the right plants, preparing them correctly and using them properly, it is possible to harness their biological power for healthy living, prevention and protection from disease. Even if you choose the right plant, a successful result is not possible with wrong preparation and wrong application. Even if the right plant is chosen and prepared correctly, success cannot be achieved if it is used incorrectly. With the right SELECTION, the right PREPARATION and the right APPLICATION it is possible to achieve a successful result. The selection, preparation and application of the right plant depends on the rules. The consumption of plants according to these rules is what I call "healing".
Choosing the right plant is the most difficult decision. The first reason for this difficulty is that the plant is known by different names in different regions. The same plant is sold under many different names. Take, for example, the plant Achillia millefolium. This plant, commonly known as yarrow, is also sold under the name Akbaşlı, thousand-leaf grass or bark grass. Another important difficulty in this context is the sale of completely different plants under the same name. For example, Alchemilla vulgaris and Leontice leontopetalum are sold under the same name as 'lion's claw'. The second reason for the challenge is to find the right type of plant.
Because it is very important to use the right type for the cure. For example, at least ten types of sage are known today. So which one is the right one? Likewise, at least five types of the hibiscus plant are known. Even the daisy has at least fourteen different varieties. Usually these different varieties are mixed (blended) and sold in herbal shops. This has a negative effect on the effect and success of the cure. Finally, after selecting the right plant, it is necessary to know which parts of this selected plant should be used. For example, it is important to know which part or the whole plant, only roots, only flowers or leaves with stem should be used. This is because the leaves, flowers and roots of the selected plant contain active substances separately.
There are plants where only their roots can be used. Again, there are those plants where only their leaves and stems should be used together or only their flowers. After reading these lines about choosing the right plant, I think you will have some doubts. I also accept that you will have doubts about whether you are buying the right plant when you go to the herbalist on this subject. Dear reader, such herbs are sold by experts in pharmacies in Europe and you can buy these herbs in their original packaging without hesitation. If you are still hesitant in this regard, you can have a look at the pictures of the right types of plants in the plants section.
For proper preparation, it is important to know how long to steep or boil selected plant parts. There is a big difference between steeping a plant for three minutes and steeping it for five minutes. When brewing or cooking the leaves of the plant, it is also a criterion to brew or cook the leaves without breaking them (as a whole) or by breaking them. For example, the leaves of white cabbage should be cooked without breaking and crushing them. The reasons for this are explained in the section on white cabbage.
When preparing it, it is necessary to know how much water and how much plant to add. After the brewing time of some herbs has expired, they have to be left in the brewing water until they cool down and then filtered. Some herbs, on the other hand, need to be drained immediately after the brewing time is over. This is very important in the lavender cure for hepatitis patients. In the lavender cure used by hepatitis patients, it is important to filter the plant without waiting as soon as the infusion time is completed. The method of preparation is indicated in the recipe of the cure to be prepared.
When using it correctly, it should be noted that it should be taken on an empty or full stomach, or drunk in the morning or evening. For example, when using the carrot juice cure, it is compulsory to drink it in the evening before going to bed. The reasons for this are explained in the section on carrots. The period of application of the cure used must be indicated. Another point that should be mentioned at this point is the breaks (postures) given during the application. Do not forget that the human body functions differently within 24 hours according to a pattern called the biological clock. The hormonal balance changes during the day. For this reason, it is very important to determine the application times of the cures to be carried out.
The forms of application of the plants that you will read about in this book are part of my research. When using herbal cures, breaks (pauses) such as two or three days or a week are recommended after a certain application time. All these timings have been researched, studied and developed by me. Therefore, be sure to follow the application methods recommended to you. Just as it takes a long and intensive study and research to uncover the therapeutic power of a plant against what disease, it also takes study and research to uncover the way to use it. The success of a properly selected plant against a disease depends on the proper preparation and application of that plant. Otherwise, it is not possible to achieve successful results.
I would like to express with particular regret that some people boil the plant they use for half an hour or more, thinking that the longer I brew or boil it, the more beneficial it is. It is not possible to get results with such applications and these applications are harmful to the body.
It is also very important to steep the herbs over low heat. In all the applications suggested in this book, the brewing or boiling should be done on low heat after the water starts boiling. In other words, the water boils first, you put your plant in the water and the next boiling or brewing is definitely done at low heat (by letting it boil very gently). The reasons for this are explained accordingly in the following sections. How to use it is also indicated in the recipe of the cure.
Regardless of how much you learn about your disease, you should know which vegetables, fruits and herbs are good to eat because your goal is always to seek a cure. The goal should be to use the necessary dietary and healing remedies to prevent illness rather than to seek treatment after illness. This is because after a disease, treatment is more difficult.
After reading this book, you will apply some herbal or plant remedies from time to time, which will protect you from many diseases or prevent a disease that has not yet occurred. For example, many other diseases such as lung cancer, jaundice, cirrhosis of the liver or breast cancer can be prevented by the remedies to be applied. In particular, I would like to emphasise once again that you should never fall into the thought: "I am taking a preventive cure anyway, I don't need to go to the doctor". Be sure to follow the doctor's checks and recommendations.
A vegetable you love can be the enemy of your health. The unknown enemy is always dangerous. In this book you will learn what many vegetables you buy in the market contain in your daily life and for which ailments you should be cautious and moderate when eating these vegetables or which ones you should prefer more.
The amounts of active substances are given in the tables in ppm. For example, if a substance is given as 215 ppm, this means: one kilogram of the plant contains 215 mg of this substance. Cauliflower, for example, contains an average of 85 ppm of niacin. This means that if 1 kg. When you consume cauliflower, you take in an average of 85 mg of niacin. However, if we consume a kilogram of cauliflower, there is no rule that our body will absorb all 85 mg of niacin. The reason for this is occasionally explained.
By the way, I would like to clarify one more question. Some books give numerical values of the vitamin in fruits or the iron, mineral and protein contained in vegetables. I do not agree with this view and the validity of the data. This is because the minerals, proteins, active ingredients, vitamins and other bioactive substances contained in the vegetables, grains or fruits grown depend on the soil, air, water, season and sun in which that plant grows or is grown. For example, the protein content of the leaves of a vegetable grown in the winter months and the protein content of the same vegetable grown in the summer months are very different. Undoubtedly, the leaves of vegetables grown in the summer months are much richer in protein. This is due to the sun.
The content of minerals and salts in the soils on which vegetables and fruit are grown varies from region to region. It is argued that wheat is rich in selenium. If the soil on which wheat is grown does not contain selenium, the statement that wheat contains selenium is not correct. The minerals and salts contained in the vegetables or fruits grown in the different regions have different values due to the factors mentioned above. Depending on this, palate tastes will also vary. So if you ask, "I eat this vegetable or herb several times a week, why can't I benefit from this healing power?"
You might think, "But I eat this vegetable often in my meals, I use its healing power enough." These views are absolutely wrong. This is because the addition of oil, tomato paste, salt, spices, onions and the like in a vegetable prepared as a meal eliminates the healing power of many active ingredients contained in the vegetable. To benefit from the healing power of any vegetable or plant I have mentioned in my book, you must follow the regimen as recommended, without any additives. Unless otherwise stated, it is wrong to use more than one cure at a time.
I have seen many domestic and foreign books on medicinal plants in Turkey. The abundance and variety of these publications shows how sensitive our people are to herbal treatments. However, most of our doctors in Turkey consider this phenomenon as "husband treatment". They are even embarrassed to talk about herbs. However, medicinal plants are sold in pharmacies abroad, not in herbal shops or on the street.
Dear reader, there are such plants in the Turkish vegetation that you cannot find the same value anywhere else in the world, both in terms of active ingredients and general quality. These plants grow in this quality only in our country. From what? Because our medicinal plants grown in Anatolian countries have completed their development over centuries in the most perfect way. Thus, its healing, therapeutic and preventive powers have reached the highest level.
I would like to point out that the word "evolution" I am talking about here has nothing to do with the concept of evolution in Darwin's theory of evolution. I would like to point out once again that I absolutely do not accept Darwin's theory of evolution.
Unfortunately, every year tons of various medicinal plants are collected at very cheap prices by our villagers and exported abroad. From there it comes back to us as a very expensive medicine. When you enter or pass by a pharmacy, the natural medicines that have been on display for the last few years catch your attention.
There are two important points I would like to draw attention to here. Firstly, incompetent people pull up these plants by their roots, almost as if they were destroying them. However, these plants are a national treasure. Many of these plants are hardly to be found anymore. Unfortunately, they are doomed to disappear completely in the near future.
I would like to illustrate the second point with an example. What makes Switzerland and Sweden world giants in natural medicine is that they protect and safeguard the plants in their countries. Just as taking a historical artefact abroad is considered a crime in Turkey and we protect it, we must also protect medicinal plants of the Turkish flora through laws that ensure their moderate collection and limit their export. Many plants are protected in Europe. When you go hiking in the mountains of these countries, warning signs tell you not to pick or collect some plants. If you collect or pick it, you are committing a crime. Why not the same law in our country?
I am a scientist who firmly believes in the power of modern medicine and its indispensability. However, I believe that we should not disregard the healing and therapeutic power of plants. Dear reader, there are still many villages and towns in Anatolia where there are still no pharmacies. The people living in these regions use medicinal plants that are not yet known to science. It is our duty to protect these plants like other civilised countries.
Note: The above information is an excerpt from our book "Herbal Health Book".