HERBS AND MEDICAL DRUGS, AND THEIR USE IN NUTRITIONAL BALANCING PROGRAMS

by Lawrence Wilson, MD

Ó February 2011, The Center For Development

Herbs and nutritional balancing science. For most of man’s history, herbs were the main form of medical care. This remains the case in a few less developed nations of the world. They are often used as remedies for everything from infections to inflammation.

However, most are not a part of nutritional balancing science because hair mineral analysis reveals that most of them are very yin, somewhat toxic, and not needed at all. In fact, we discourage people from using herbs except for short-term use for these important reasons.

PROBLEMS WITH HERBS TODAY

The reasons why, sadly, we find we must exclude most herbs from nutritional balancing programs include:

1. Toxicity. This is the main problem. The toxicity of herbs today seems to be from several causes:

· Natural toxicity. Many herbs are slightly toxic by nature, or they would be classified as foods to be eaten every day. Nutritional balancing focuses on renourishing the body. While herbs can do this to some degree, their toxic qualities always interfere with the ultimate balancing and healing of the body.

· Spraying with pesticides. Even herbs that are labeled organic or wild crafted may be sprayed with copper sulfate and other “natural” chemicals to increase production or kill pests. I am sorry to have to say that some herb companies, particularly the larger ones, may not be telling the truth about this. One problem is that as herb companies grow larger, they must produce more products, and it becomes harder and harder to supply large amounts of herbs in a natural way. In addition, many suppliers have gone overseas to produce at lower cost, and they may not supervise the cleanliness of the soil and the products as well.

· Toxic metal contamination. Herbs seem to be much more toxic lately. I do not know why this is so, but anyone who uses a lot of herbs, when tested with hair mineral analysis, is showing high levels of copper, nickel, lead, cadmium, fluoride, chlorine, bromine and other toxic metals. This is a shame, but true.
This warning applies to all herbal products, including American, European, as well as popular Chinese and East Indian or Ayurvedic herbs. We find repeatedly that even the best brands contain too many toxic metals. For this reason, please do not use herbs on a continuous basis. Take them only for short periods of time, if at all.

· Yin toxicity. We are also finding that most, if not all herbs are quite yin. Yin in traditional Chinese medicine means cold and expanded. In times past, this did not matter much. Today, however, the bodies are very yin and more yin herbs, even if they relieve symptoms, eventually unbalances the body and can be difficult to reverse. This problem is made worse when herbs are extracted and mixed with alcohol or glycerin.
Taking an herb for a few days is okay and won’t alter the yin-yang balance of the body. Using them for months, however, is a serious problem in some cases.

· Herbal combinations are usually worse. Combining herbs is a sophisticated science that most doctors and herb companies are not good enough at, in my view. I suspect that some of the toxicity problems we notice are from taking combinations of herbs. Just as with medical drugs, combining slightly toxic herbs can easily compound their toxicity in terms of toxic metal content, toxic chemicals, and yin toxicity.

2. Inability to delicately balance the mineral ratios. In addition to toxicity issues, nutritional balancing depends upon delicate balancing of the oxidation rate and major mineral ratios. Dr. Paul Eck discovered how to this using the diet, and mainly chelated minerals, vitamins, a digestive aid and specific animal glandular extracts. Herbs, while nourishing, are much harder to use to balance the oxidation rate and major ratios, at least at this time.

3. Cost. Excellent quality herbs are often costly. We make every effort to keep the cost of programs reasonable, so this is another problem with some herbal products.

4. Herbal medicine is extremely complex. This is not a critique in any way. It is simply a statement of fact. Nutritional balancing is meant to be simple, in theory at least.

HERBS THAT ARE MAY BE USED IN SMALL AMOUNTS WITH A NUTRITIONAL BALANCING PROGRAM

NOTE: The following herbs may be used only for:

· Occasional teas and other drinks.

· If one gets a cold, flu or other acute health condition and needs a remedy for a short time.

· To sprinkle on food for flavoring in small quantity

· As directed using a hair mineral analysis.

Taking these herbs continuously or in large quantities, as we find they can be somewhat toxic and will slow or stop your progress. They may even be dangerous today due to toxic metals that some contain.

They include acacia gum, adder’s tongue, agar, alfalfa, aloe vera, angelica root, anise, ash tree, astragalus, balm of gilead, baptisia or wild indigo, barberry, bayberry, bay leaves, bee pollen, bet root, birch, bittersweet, blackberry, black radish and all radishes, black walnut, bladderwrack, blessed thistle, bloodroot, blue cohosh (but not black cohosh), blue vervain, boneset, borage, buchu, burdock root, calamus root, calendula, camphor, capsicum, caraway, cardamom, cassia oil, cayenne, cedar berries, celery root, chamomile, chia seeds, chickweed, cinnamon, cloves, coltsfoot, comfrey, coriander or cilantro to eat but not extracts, corn silk, cranberry, culvers root, cumin, daikon, dandelion leaves and roots, devil’s claw, dill, dong quai, dulse, echinacea, elder flowers, eleuthero, eucalyptus, eyebright, fennel, fenugreek, feverfew, flax, fu-sho oil, garlic, geranium, ginger, gingko biloba, goldenrod, green magma, gum Arabic, hawthorn berries, hops, horehound, horseradish, horsetail and huckleberry leaf.

Others are hydrangea, hyssop, Irish moss, jojoba oil, juniper berries, kelp, lady’s slipper, lapacho, lavender, lemon balm, lemon grass, lily of the valley, linseed oil, maple, marigold, marshmallow root, milkweed, milk thistle, motherwort, mugwort, mullein, mustard, myrrh, nettles, nutmeg, oat straw, Oregon grape root, pansy, parsley, passion flower, peach, pennyroyal, peppermint, periwinkle, plaintain, pleurisy root, poke, poplar, prickly pear cactus, psyllium, pygium, pyrus communis, radishes (black, white, red, Russian, Spanish and other), raspberry, red clover, red sage, rhubarb, rose, rosehips, rosemary, rue, safflower, sassafras, saw palmetto, senna, shave grass, shepherd’s purse, skunk cabbage, slippery elm, sorrel, spearmint, squaw vine, St. John’s wort, strawberry leaves, suma, sumach berries, sweet basil, tansy, thuja, thyme, tiger balm, turkey rhubarb, turmeric, unicorn root, uva ursi, valerian, violet leaves, watercress, watermelon seeds, wheat grass juice, white oak bark, white willow, wild cherry bark, wild lettuce, wild yam, wintergreen, witch hazel, wood betony, wood sage, wormwood, yarrow, yellow vervain, and yucca.

HERBS TO AVOID

The products below are more toxic and, in our experience, are not needed. The only exception might be a short-term emergency use. They include the following herbs and related products:

Chelators. These include all chelators such as high-dose alginates, bugleweed, cilantro extracts, chlorella, spirulina, blue-green algae, azomite, montmorillonite, bentonite and yellow dock.

The main problem with all chelators is they remove small amounts of vital minerals. This would be less of a problem if people were well nourished. However, very few are well

nourished today, and creating more mineral deficiencies worsens their health – sometimes permanently.

In addition, avoid natural chelation products. These usually contain one or more of the herbs or other substances listed above. Do not trust those who say they have solved the problem of chelators leaching good minerals out of the body, as I have not found this to be the case, ever.

Others. Other herbs to completely avoid for best results with a nutritional balancing program at this time are aconite, agrimony, belladonna, bentonite and all clays, blue-green algae, bugleweed, cascara sagrada, catnip, chlorella, ephedra, gotu cola, all ginseng, grapefruit seed extract, licorice root, lobelia, lomatium, mistletoe, mandrake root, olive leaf extract, oregano extract, peppers (most), rauwolfa, spirulina and yellow dock.

PHARMACEUTICAL DRUGS AND NUTRITIONAL BALANCING PROGRAMS

Very few pharmaceutical drugs are ever needed by those who are following a nutritional balancing program. Most over-the-counter and pharmaceutical are very toxic and harmful for the body. They are especially toxic for the liver and kidneys. As a general rule, the sooner a person can quit using most over-the-counter and prescription drugs, the faster the person will get well. This includes all anesthesia drugs, antibiotics, cold remedies and other common drugs.

Exceptions. These include situations when a drug might be needed in emergency situations, or to control high blood pressure until the body can be restored and cleansed naturally. As this happens, the blood pressure will normalize on its own.

Other exceptions may include the use of insulin in a few cases of Type 1 diabetes, rare use of antibiotics, and some heart medications if needed to save a life.

A controversial area is hormone replacement therapy. This is very rarely needed unless the gland that produces the hormone has been surgically removed or damaged beyond repair. If the gland is still present in the body, then I find I do not need to give thyroid replacement hormones, estrogen, progesterone or any other bio-identical or synthetic hormones. A nutritional balancing program will slowly restore natural hormone production, even in an older person. In fact, replacement hormones, while they may relieve symptoms, they always get in the way of deep healing of the body.

These subjects are discussed in more detail in the articles on this site entitled Hormone Replacement Therapy, Dangerous Drugs and Problems With Drugs.

THE SAD HISTORY OF HERBS AND DRUG MEDICAL CARE IN AMERICA AND MOST OF EUROPE

Herbs are often the basis for modern drug medicines. Some drugs such as digitalis and others are simply herbal extracts that have been slightly altered so the drug company can obtain a patent on the product. This is true of many other drugs such as antibiotics, anti-hypertensive remedies and others. When the product is altered, its potency or safety are often compromised to some degree.

However, in America, and to some degree in Europe, herbal medicine has been either outlawed or marginalized. This means it is not part of mainstream medical care and its use is not permitted in hospitals and most clinics today.

The reason for this is an old feud between the herbal medical system and the powerful patent drug industry. It began in earnest around the turn of the 20^th century. The newer pharmaceutical industry began to make a fortune selling patented remedies. The herbal medicine companies made much less money because their products could not be patented as they are natural substances.

The drug industry then began a campaign to eliminate their competition. With their superior financial resources, they used bribery, false “scientific studies” and even such tactics as extortion and murder to slowly force herbal medicines out of medical schools, mainstream medical journals, hospitals and clinics.

FDA Infiltration. Additionally, the patent drug interests have thoroughly infiltrated the US Food And Drug Administration. With effective control of this powerful government agency, the drug companies and their bribed friends are still today able to limit and often outlaw natural products such as herbs, vitamins and others that compete directly with patented drugs. A prime example was the banning of L-trytophan some years ago. Many other examples could be cited, and a number of books delve into the subject in more detail.

Spreading lies. With control of the major medical journals and often the mainstream media, drug companies spread many lies about the use of natural products. In fact, natural products are generally much safer, much less costly and just as effective or more effective than patent drugs for almost all health conditions. This may sound like a radical statement, but I find it to be true. This truth is also born out by the annual statistics published by the US Poison Control Centers, as well as hospital statistics. They confirm that herbal and nutritional products are very safe, while deaths and disabilities from the use of over-the-counter and prescription drugs costs tens of thousands of lives each year. American and European health care systems are now in severe financial difficulty, in part, because of the anti-competitive and thoroughly corrupt practices of the drug industry.

Home | Hair Analysis | Saunas | Books | Articles | Detox Protocols

Courses | About Dr. Wilson | The Free Basic Program