Calm in a Storm: 小柴胡汤 (Thorowax/bupleurm Root Soup) Relaxing, Detoxifying, Balancing These are the times that try men’s (and women’s) souls, and our nerves and our budget. Herbal relief comes in the form of a stringy looking twig called thorowax known for thousands of years in Chinese medicine as chai hu in Latin: bupleurum. It was first described in a medical text dating back to the first century BC and is widely grown and used all over China today.
COVID 19 is not an isolated problem. Colds, bird flu predicted this fall, pollution, smoking all endanger health. These herbs can be life-saving. This traditional Chinese herbal formula clears thick yellow phlegm, fever, and indigestion.
Safflower, also called false saffron, is a plant belonging to the Aster family grown in Asia and Europe, North America and Australia. Safflower is a fast growing, thistle plant that grows to a height of between 60cm and 1.30m. In Egypt, safflower was already used to dye fabrics around 3500 BC. The petals containing red carthamin and yellow carthamidin are often referred to as “saffron substitute.” The oil from the seeds was used in the antiquity for making ointments. In the 13th century, the Romans brought the safflower to Central Europe, where the flowers were used for coloring foods, but also for medicinal purposes. At the beginning of the 20th century, the plant was completely replaced as a dye by chemicals. The cooking oil has a high content of polyunsaturated linoleic acid and vitamin E, but oxygenates quickly and should be refrigerated immediately. Medical use of safflower tea: The flower-leaves yield a very tasty tea with a fruity-sweet flavor. Safflower petals is well known in Chinese traditional medicine infused as a tea. Clinical studies have shown effects on leukemia, hepatitis and migraines. Safflower flowers have a stimulating effect on the heart and circulation. They also possess antipyretic (cooling) and analgesic features, and they are said to have aphrodisiac properties. In Thailand, in this context, a tea called “Love Potion No. 1″ is offered, whose main component are the flowers of the safflower. European folk medicine used safflower flowers as a treatment of menstrual and climacteric conditions, indigestion, jaundice and measles, wounds, inflammation and joint pain. Although safflower tea is given to babies for flatulence, the tea is not recommended during pregnancy.
I have turned around the flu, brought fever down from 101 to 98 in 3 days using Chinese herbs that improve breathing and energy, kill germs, clear lung phlegm and are safe, non-addictive, non-chemical, vegetarian and available online and in Chinese herb shops.
Steep a pinch of these Chinese medicinal flowers in hot water for 3 – 5 minutes and you have a delicious, cooling, healing summer beverage recommended for headaches, cloudy vision, dizziness, hypertension, and heat stroke prevention. For tired computer eyes, burning eye lids and blood shoot eyes: Steep the tea and strain it through a cone with coffee paper (as though making coffee) Then pour some cool tea onto sterile cotton balls and apply them to your eyes for at least fifteen minutes — a nice thing to do while sitting on the porch sipping the delicious tea, or soaking in a bathtub. Splash your face with the strained tea. It’s refreshing, cooling and naturally sweet not sticky.
What is vocal fry? You have heard it and cringed. Researchers at Long Island University believe it is a trend begun by young women who want to affect relationships with their vocal quality. Imagine girl slang that becomes mainstream—-Awesome! The Journal of Voice article reports: Working with what they acknowledged to be a very small sample — recorded speech from 34 women ages 18 to 25 — the professors said they found evidence of a new trend among female college students: a guttural fluttering of the vocal cords they called “vocal fry.” A classic example of vocal fry, best described as a raspy or croaking sound injected usually at the end of a sentence, can be heard when Mae West says, “Why don’t you come up sometime and see me,” or, more recently on television, when Maya Rudolph mimics Maya Angelou on “Saturday Night Live.” . . . If this is a relationship trend as well as a vocal trend, you wonder what sort of relationship these girls want.
Fooey! Flu virus is tough enough because of sore throat and fever, but now scientists are saying there may be a connection between brain inflammation resulting from a virus and the onset of Alzheimer’s. For the moment that disease is up for grabs. Some researchers point to proteins others to an acid that disrupts brain communication, destroys synapses to cause Alzheimer’s. No one knows for sure. The usual pedestrian advice about avoiding Alzheimer’s does not help much – learn new skills like card games or learn a language because that engages a different part of the brain.
Sometimes a cold is a nice excuse for staying in bed, reading a good book and eating lightly to rest from ordinary exhaustion. Other times it marks the beginning of a miserable time of runny nose, fever, cough, and aches. Here are natural approaches to preventing and treating colds and flu. Protect yourself and family this flu season and all year round. At the first sign of aches, fatigue and discomforts take Chinese patent remedy Gan Mao Ling or Cold Away pills from Health Concerns. Drink a cup of warm cinnamon tea to sweat out chills. Stay inside and rest. Drink lots of Pu Erh tea, recently shown to help reduce flu symptoms.
Andrographis (Andrographis paniculata) is the king of bitters. Mandarin: chuan xin lian, Yi jian xi and Lan he lian, which translate as “thread-the-heart lotus.” Andrographis is a flowering plant in the Acanthaceae family that grows wild throughout south Asia. Multi-branched stems bearing green leaves and pinkish flowers grow to a height of 2 to 3 feet.
Chrysanthemum Flower Tea Is the heat getting to you? Do you stare at a computer screen for hours then watch television to relax? Is your vision cloudy from overwork or summer hazy weather? Rubbing your eyes is not the answer. A cold shower gives only temporary relief. If your eyes are red, tired, and overworked, increase blood- and moisture- circulation to the eyes with a delightfully cooling summer tea made with Chinese chrysanthemum flowers.
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