Healing Herbs

 

Now that Thanksgiving is over and we are well on our way to the Christmas Holiday celebration, I believe this is a great time, between holidays, to pay attention to our diets and especially use food and herbs to help with fibromyalgia pain reduction.

 

I have noticed that there has been an increase of conversations on the social media sites regarding various ways garlic can help with pain reduction. The use of garlic for pain reduction, reduction of inflammation, and to help with the decrease in blood pressure and other cardiac aliments has been in the arena of public knowledge for decades. I am sure most of you know the history of the use of garlic, so I am not going to review that history here. I am instead going to present other herbs that work very well in conjunction with garlic to relieve pain, inflammation and possible infections.

I am going to talk about fresh herbs that are common to all and easily found in most supermarkets and certainly in health food store. These herbs are:

• Rosemary
• Sage
• Thyme
• Dill
• Celery Seed
• Tarragon
• Basil
• Marjoram
• Oregano

All of these herbs have a common bond – they all have volatile oils that are anti inflammatory, antispasmodic, antimicrobial and they all enhance the flavor of garlic.

When any of the above listed herbs are used with garlic, we get a two for one!

What comes to mind for me and actually sounds really good after the heavy meals of Thanksgiving, is fresh, crisp salads. Just think of fresh crisp lettuce, cucumber, celery, radish and perhaps tomato (if they don’t bother you). Topping this salad with a fresh herb vinaigrette dressing –yum! Then using this wonderful vinaigrette dressing as

a way of helping control pain and spasms, inflammation and even as an antimicrobial!

The secret is that we have to release the volatile oils from the plant to receive the valuable properties. So we must crush, chop, press or heat/steep the fresh plant or leaves to release the healing oils. Below you will find a basic recipe for Herb Vinaigrette Dressing where you can use with any of the herbs listed above.

Basic Herb Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

Make about 1 cup of dressing

Enough to dress 8 cups of salad greens

¾ cup olive oil

2 tablespoons of selected herb (e.g. Thyme)

1 shallot, peeled

1 clove garlic, peeled

¼ cup vinegar (red wine or cider)

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons whole grain mustard

Heat ¼ cup of oil with 1 tablespoon of your selected herb –

in a sauce pan over medium heat until the herb turns

a bright green color

(crush the leaves of the herb before placing in the oil )

Watch for small bubbles to appear on the leaves – probably

two to three minutes. Turn off the heat and allow leaves to steep,

infusing the volatile oils into the olive oil.

Process shallot, garlic, vinegar, salt, pepper, mustard seed and the

remaining herb in a blender until the garlic and shallot are finely

chopped, about 15 seconds. With blender running slowing add

remaining steeped herb oil and continue to process until

dressing is smooth and oil is emulsified.

 

Cool and pour over your fresh salad greens.

This herb dressing can be stored for up to 3 days in a jar in the refrigerator.

Enjoy this wonderful treat knowing that you are getting healing benefits from the volatile oils from the herbs and the garlic.

Be sure to check out Valley Health and Wellness, Inc. for more information on The Fibromyalgia Pain Management Kit, which is full on great information on management of pain with common foods.

Till next time,

Maryalyce McCabe ND, RN, HNB-BC

Valley Health and Wellness, Inc