Hands on herbs colour/b:Incredibly Sexy colour 1/4/08 10:42 Page i Helpful herbs for health and beauty Hands on herbs colour/b:Incredibly Sexy colour 28/3/08 11:21 Page ii Hands on herbs colour/b:Incredibly Sexy colour 1/4/08 13:42 Page iii Helpful HERBS for health and beauty Look and feel great, naturally Barbara Griggs brilliantideas Hands on herbs colour/b:Incredibly Sexy colour 1/4/08 10:42 Page iv Copyright © The Infinite Ideas Company Limited, 2008 CAREFUL NOW Treat herbs with respect and use them The right of Barbara Griggs to be identified as the author of this book has carefully and all should be well. You been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act can find details of how to contact a 1988. qualified herbalist in the Resources section, and remember that you will First published in 2008 by also need medical advice sometimes. The Infinite Ideas Company Limited This book is not a substitute for advice 36 St Giles from your own doctor and/or herbal Oxford specialist, though there are many OX1 3LD minor ailments which can be easily United Kingdom treated with home doctoring. www.infideas.com If you’re taking prescription drugs don’t take herbal medicines at the All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of small passages for the same time without professional advice, purposes of criticism or review, no part of this publication may be either from a fully qualified herbalist reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by or from your doctor. Always tell your any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or doctor if you are taking herbal otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents medicines, as some can interact with Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing prescription drugs. If you are pregnant Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP, UK, without the or breastfeeding, only use herbs in permission in writing of the publisher. Requests to the publisher should be culinary quantities – don’t, for addressed to the Permissions Department, Infinite Ideas Limited, 36 St Giles, instance, drink gallons of peppermint Oxford, OX1 3LD, UK, or faxed to +44 (0)1865 514777. tea. Never, ever take anything internally that is meant to be applied A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library externally and don’t use undiluted essential oils, except for tea tree and ISBN 978–1–904902–42–3 lavender. Always keep them where children can’t get at them. Brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their Though every effort has been respective owners. made to provide up-to-date, accurate information, neither the author nor the Designed and typeset by Baseline Arts Ltd, Oxford publisher can be held responsible or Printed in Singapore liable for any loss or claim arising out of the suggestions made in this book. Everyone is different and we don’t know your specific circumstances. Be sensible and careful and, if in doubt, always seek specific advice. Website addresses were checked at the time of going to press, but may change over time so neither publisher nor author can guarantee the availability or content of these sites. iv Hands on herbs colour/b:Incredibly Sexy colour 28/3/08 11:21 Page v Brilliant ideas Brilliant features ............................................................................................................xiii Introduction ....................................................................................................................xiv 1. Getting started ..........................................................................................................1 Welcome to the wonderful world of herbs. 2. Tired all the time .......................................................................................................5 It’s normal to feel tired at the end of the day. 3. The moody blues ......................................................................................................11 If depression is your habitual state of mind, a settled, permanent gloom impossible to snap out of, you need professional advice. 4. Working wonders – when you’re wound up like a clockwork toy.......................15 Worn out by your high-pressure life? Exhausted by the end of the day? Working till late into the night? Too tired to enjoy the weekend? Too wired to sleep? 5. The aching brow .......................................................................................................19 Everybody has experienced a headache at one time or another in their lives. 6. Losing the plot .........................................................................................................23 Always losing your glasses? Can’t remember the names of your friends’ children? Forget what you went to your bedroom to pick up? Worried you’re getting senile? Hands on herbs colour/b:Incredibly Sexy colour 28/3/08 11:21 Page vi Helpful herbs for health and beauty 7. Saturday night fever................................................................................................27 Everybody remembers the worst hangover they ever had… the nausea, giddiness, crushing headache, distraught stomach and total physical prostration. 8. Counting sheep ........................................................................................................31 Find yourself dreading bedtime and the long sleepless night ahead? 9. Quit your bellyaching ..............................................................................................35 Suffering from indigestion, gas, heartburn and ‘acidity’? 10. Irritable bowel syndrome .......................................................................................39 Millions of people in the Western world suffer from irritable bowel syndrome: according to some estimates, as many as one in five of us. 11. Dodge the Delhi belly..............................................................................................43 Everybody gets the runs sometimes, and over the centuries country folk have come up with a dozen different effective remedies. 12. Bunged up ................................................................................................................47 Huge numbers of people in Western-style societies suffer from chronic constipation. 13. Damned spots ..........................................................................................................53 Cuts, scrapes, grazes, sores, burns and scalds are the commonest reason for raiding the first-aid kit. 14. Scratching the itch...................................................................................................57 Eczema claims growing numbers of victims every year in the Western world. vi Hands on herbs colour/b:Incredibly Sexy colour 28/3/08 11:21 Page vii Brilliant ideas 15. Pimpled youth ..........................................................................................................61 Tried everything for that face full of zits? The antibiotics, the dodgy vitamin-A derivatives, the contraceptive pill, the chemical peels? And nothing worked long term? 16. Detox and thrive .....................................................................................................65 Detoxing: who needs it? 17. Mad dogs and Englishmen ......................................................................................69 Sunburn is the most easily avoided of all human woes. 18. What your best friend won’t tell you.....................................................................75 In an age so painfully aware of body odours, it’s hard to love someone with bad breath, rank underarms or smelly feet. 19. Ugh – unwelcome guests ........................................................................................79 From time to time low-life creatures such as head lice, amoebas, mites and intestinal worms opt for an easy life in our hair, in our guts or just under our skin. 20. Not tonight, Josephine…..........................................................................................83 Impotence is most men’s worst nightmare: the problem they hate to talk about, even to their doctors. 21. Maybe baby ..............................................................................................................87 Failure to conceive spells misery for many couples, who wonder if their dreams will ever come true. 22. Time of the month ...................................................................................................91 Periods don’t have to be a pain. vii Hands on herbs colour/b:Incredibly Sexy colour 1/4/08 10:42 Page viii Helpful herbs for health and beauty 23. All change .................................................................................................................95 Hot flushes, night sweats, irritability, weepiness, loss of sex drive, the blues, poor sleep – sound familiar? 24. Male misery ............................................................................................................101 If there’s one word guaranteed to bring a thoughtful look to the face of any man over fifty, it’s prostate. 25. Winter woes ...........................................................................................................105 Few of us get through winter without a single cold. 26. Rasping in the rib cage..........................................................................................109 Who needs bronchitis – the fever, the exhausting cold, the