The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Anise

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

Today we discuss a very interesting herb... and a few that are growing wild right now tha tyou should probably go forage.The Spring Foraging Cook Book is available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CRP63R54Or you can buy the eBook as a .pdf directly from the author (me), for $9.99: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-spring-foraging-cookbook.htmlYou can read about the Medicinal Trees book here https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2021/06/paypal-safer-easier-way-to-pay-online.html or buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1005082936PS. New in the woodcraft Shop: Judson Carroll Woodcraft | SubstackRead about my new books:Medicinal Weeds and Grasses of the American Southeast, an Herbalist's Guidehttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2023/05/medicinal-weeds-and-grasses-of-american.htmlAvailable in paperback on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47LHTTHandConfirmation, an Autobiography of Faithhttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2023/05/confirmation-autobiography-of-faith.htmlAvailable in paperback on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47Q1JNKVisit my Substack and sign up for my free newsletter: https://judsoncarroll.substack.com/Read about my new other books:Medicinal Ferns and Fern Allies, an Herbalist's Guide https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/11/medicinal-ferns-and-fern-allies.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BMSZSJPSThe Omnivore’s Guide to Home Cooking for Preppers, Homesteaders, Permaculture People and Everyone Else: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-omnivores-guide-to-home-cooking-for.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BGKX37Q2Medicinal Shrubs and Woody Vines of The American Southeast an Herbalist's Guidehttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/06/medicinal-shrubs-and-woody-vines-of.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2T4Y5L6andGrowing Your Survival Herb Garden for Preppers, Homesteaders and Everyone Elsehttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/04/growing-your-survival-herb-garden-for.htmlhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B09X4LYV9RThe Encyclopedia of Medicinal Bitter Herbs: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-encyclopedia-of-bitter-medicina.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5MYJ35RandChristian Medicine, History and Practice: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/01/christian-herbal-medicine-history-and.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B09P7RNCTBHerbal Medicine for Preppers, Homesteaders and Permaculture People: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2021/10/herbal-medicine-for-preppers.htmlAlso available on Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B09HMWXL25Podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/show/southern-appalachian-herbsBlog: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/Free Video Lessons: https://rumble.com/c/c-618325

Hey y'all, welcome to this week's show. We're going to continue our series on medicinal bitter herbs, but just like last week where we discussed licorice, today's is anise. It's one that totally depends on your taste buds. If, like me, you actually like the taste of licorice and anise, which is incredibly similar. In fact, nearly all licorice and anise which is incredibly similar. In fact nearly all licorice candy is flavored with anise and not actual licorice. I find it sweet. To me both licorice and anise are sweet flavors. Some people find them bitter. So I included them under bitter herbs for two reasons really. The first is that some people do consider them bitter,

but often they're combined with bitter herbs. Well, just to change the flavor a little bit and make it a little bit more palatable. Whereas licorice though, cannot be combined with gin chin or angiographus or other very strongly bitter herbs because it'll actually cancel, the two cancel each other out.

So they neutralize each other. A little bit of anise can be. I don't know if that depends on your taste, but you see a lot of bitters formula that have anise in them. Now, it's just like in, you know, say you have like agnostura bitters. No, it's just like in, say you have like Angostura bitters. No, it's Angostura, I never pronounce it right.

My favorite cocktail bitters, they're actually really good. They're an orange flavored bitter. They used to have Chinchona in them. I don't know that they do anymore, but anyway, classic cocktail bitters. There are sweet herbs in there to kind of counter the very bitter herbs. And, you know, that really works. But anise, anise, I guess, can go either way for some people. I'm just going to put it like that. I mean, if you

like, if you like licorice, you're going to love anise. If you don't like licorice, you're going to hate anise. So I'm going to throw in one wild card and we're going to talk about this a lot more in an upcoming episode. It is bugleweed and I wanted to mention it because it's in flower right now. In fact now is the time to harvest it. It's a juga ripens or ripens. I think there's a T in there. That means spreading. that's Latin for spreading. A juga is the official name, A-J-U-G-A. It is in the mint family. You know, you can identify your mints because they have square stems, opposite leaves, mint-like flowers.

This one is considered a weed to most people, and most people try to eradicate it. I think it's wonderful. It is a very bitter herb. It is really one of the more bitter herbs, probably the most bitter of the mint family. In fact, the herbalist used to recommend it for inflammation of the liver because it is so powerfully bitter. It stimulates the liver. It helps detoxify the liver. It has a really interesting cardio-tonic effect.

It actually slows and strengthens the heart rate. It slows respiration. It can help with arrhythmia. It can be mildly intoxicating because of that narcotic type effect of slowing the heart rate and respiration. You eat the flowering spikes or you can make them into a tea or tincture. If you make them into a tea, be sure to cover it so the essential oils don't gas off while it steeps. You put the herb in there, you pour simmering water

over it in the cup, put a lid on it. A saucer would be just fine. I usually just eat it because I don't mind bitter plants. It's no more bitter than say arugula or radicchio in a salad. I mean, maybe a sprig or two. The physiological, I guess you would say, result is almost like drinking a glass of wine or beer. I mean, it's just like mildly relaxing, but it's also quite a healthy herb, really good to have on hand, and can really come through in an emergency. Now, with any herb that affects the heart rate, you've got to get the caveat that large doses could certainly be dangerous. But I just throw a couple sprigs into a salad.

It's nice, a little salad with some milder lettuces, maybe some green onion and feta cheese, a little cucumber and tomato. Good stuff, really good stuff. Maybe a little vinaigrette, you know, really good stuff. But it's a good herb, and right now it's time to go out looking for it. The little, it really grows as sort of a ground cover. It has sort of, you know, obvoid, oval leaves, round leaves,

whatever you wanna call them, that grow kind of across the ground, and they will, oval leaves, round leaves, whatever you want to call them, that grow kind of across the ground. And they will kind of vary depending on your, if you're in a shade or full sun, from a dark green to a purple color. The little flowering spikes are up now, they occasionally get to six inches, but they're usually more than three or four inches range,

and they have little blue mint-like flowers on them. Super easy plant to identify, really super useful and a lot of people really don't want this herb in their yard because it kind of takes over like mints tend to do. So if you see a neighbor with some in your yard, their yard, and they don't mind you harvesting some, they'll probably be really glad for you to dig some up and transplant it. That happened to me. I had a neighbor who said, you know, we just got tons of it. Take all you want.

I said, what can I dig some up? He said, dig up all of it if you want. And he was serious. So I took a couple of five gallon buckets and I just started ripping it out of the ground, brought it, transplanted it. Now I have plenty of it. And it's a really good herb. It does have a nice detoxifying effect. You will

actually, you know, when I take it, I'm not looking for the narcotic effect. I'm looking for more of the tonic effect and the digestion and the detoxifying effect. It's also good for the immune system. It is mellowing though. It's a pleasant herb. You know, it's certainly very nice. But I only need a sprig, maybe two, and you will smell it. You smell it in your sweat, you smell it in your urine, and it's always a good sign from a detoxifying herb. Of course, the poke greens, depending on where you live, poke salad is coming up.

Also detoxifying can be used the same way. You will definitely, you will notice a noticeable change in your body odor if you use poke a couple of days in a row just even just the leaves because it flushes the lymph system really good thing to do in the spring that's what our ancestors used to call blood cleanser another one juniper berries this time of year look around for juniper berries eat a few of them a day and it will also have that so-called blood cleansing effect.

And these, and ramps of course, spring ramps are also said to be a blood cleanser and you're definitely going to smell ramps if you live in the mountains or foothills and you can get some ramps. Oh, everybody's going to smell that. But anyway, really interesting herbs and I just want to mention those. And like I said, we'll get more into bugle another day. I believe I even did a show of it on that subject specifically under the Herbs and Weeds book, the Medicinal Weeds of the American South, which we've covered. So go back in the archives and look at that and now we'll talk about anise. And as I said, to me and to many anise is actually a very sweet spice.

And it is a spice. It's a seed of the anise plant. But to some it has a bitterness. I don't get that. But some people say licorice is bitter. Some people say anise is bitter. It totally depends on your taste buds which you were born with. You have a certain number you're born with at birth, some people have a few and some people have thousands. It's totally up to heredity. But like I was saying it is very

much included in traditional bitters formulas and in fact it features in the Swedish bitters, the And in fact, it features in the Swedish bitters, the medicinal bitters cocktail that I swear by. I mean, it's my favorite bitters. Really all of the aromatic or cocktail bitters and the old medicinal formulas probably to this day, but at least up until 100 years years ago had anise in them. Like I said, the Anastura, Apachode, the Sweet Vermouth, it may even be in Dry Vermouth. I'm not sure. I'd have to double-check that, but I know it's in Sweet Vermouth. Many of the cordials, the traditional beverages are, you know, still very popular in Europe, never have been quite as popular except for you know, driver muth and a martini. That's probably really the only one of those

herb wines that ever really caught on in America and of course that was all the rage in the 20s and 30s and all that. But, Annis features in a lot of things. One of the most interesting that I found is a Dutch beverage. It's actually called, in English, anise milk. And I don't pronounce Dutch. It's something like anise milk, you know. And it's delicious, in my opinion. It's hot milk flavored with anise. Popular in the Netherlands and actually in Michigan, up in like the Upper Peninsula where you got a lot of people from that part of the world. It's warming, it's calming, it's actually considered a sedative

and helps induce sleep. A lot of people grow up on as kids, it's what, you know, they're given to help them sleep and it becomes sort of like a comforting warm winter drink. It's really good. If you like the taste of anise, you gotta try anise milk. It is just like really nice. So, you know, I'd like anything that tastes like licorice. And, let me just say,

are you familiar with the actress and Olympic skater, Sonia Hennie? Well you're probably not. Your grandfather would have been. She was a huge movie star and Olympic skater. And in, gosh, I guess the 30s, 40s, if you ever get a chance to see the old Glenn Miller film, it was the whole Glenn Miller orchestra, right?

It's called Sun Valley Serenade. She played the female role in there. I mean, whenever, okay. This is like totally off subject, obviously. But when I think of like people from that part of the world, I think about how drop dead gorgeous she was. So drinking a lot of Anna's milk sure didn't make her fat. I can tell you that much. She was amazing. The most phenomenal skater and dancer I have

ever seen and just absolutely gorgeous. And I love Glenn Miller's music. Man, I can listen to big band all the time. Love Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, the Dorsey Brothers. Man, I love that stuff. But anyway, back to Anis. The first records of Anis being used medicinally are found in ancient Egypt. But most of what we know about its tradition comes from the, well, both herbalists and naturalists, people who just wrote about plants in general and farming because it was also raised as a spice, a food, you know, food plant, from ancient Greece and Rome. And Pliny the Elder, and I have been told by people in Italy, it is pronounced Pliny, we said Pliny, it looks like Pliny to me, but it's Pliny.

Helas should know fewer than 61 remedies in which anise was used. Okay I do not have time to read all 61 of them but I can maybe see if I can hit the the highlights. He said let's see he said a lot, I mean so much, but he said it was good for promoting the appetite. Good pounded, a juice of it, taken sort of as an eye wash. Combined with saffron and wine, good for cancers of the nose, believe it or not. But definitely that's how they would do the eye wash. It was particularly good for getting rid of objects that had gotten into the eyes, he said. So like dust or whatever.

Mixed with hyssop and oxymal. Good as a gargle, a cure for quenzy, in combination with rose oil. Good as an injection of the ears. So good for ear inflammations and infections. Partially anise purges off phlegm from the chest, especially if taken with honey for a cough.

It's mixed with almonds, powdered almonds and honey, good for a cough. You'll find anise in a lot of old cough syrups and such. Taken as a drink, anise promotes sleep. And you know, that's why it's used in the hot milk, as I said, that anise milk. It does have sort of that sedative type effect. Boy, did he write a lot. Good for dysentery. Even that time it was used to, any concoction with opium, because opium's is so bitter it was used to make it a little more palatable. He said good for lumbago, the seed pounded of it, pounded with mint was good for dropsy, mixed with parsley good for women in labor, you

know, I have no idea if that's a good thing or not. He said it was good for epilepsy of all things. I mean, it's just amazing all the stuff he said. Anyway, but Dioscorides was a little more of a professional herbalist. And he said that it was pain easing, dissolving, that means helps dissolve kidney and urinary tract stones and all that, urinary that means basically diuretic, makes the breath sweet. Yes, anus was a traditional like breath mint. I mean really they were

really big on that in ancient Greece and Europe because you know people didn't have toothpaste and toothbrushes and they often had some bad breath and so they actually used a lot of herbs and spices for their breath. People have always, you know, been vain, you know, and maybe it's not even vain, maybe it's just polite, I don't know, but nobody wants to stink, I guess. It says, taking a drink, it takes away the thirst caused by dropsy. It is also good for removing the poisons of venomous creatures and gaseousness. It stops discharges of the intestines, draws down milk and incites sexual union. Believe it or not, okay, it was supposed to be a galactogag, these increase women's mother's milk. Also

thought to be an aphrodisiac. Hey, if you were around Sonja Henning, you probably wouldn't even need it. But inhaled into the nostrils, it quietens the headache. And yeah, it has some aromatherapy type aspects. It definitely helps with the headache. Pounded in small pieces, dropped in the ears with rose oil. It helps heal the cracks in them. Maybe, I don't know, cracks. I've never had a crack in my ear. I don't know, cracks. I've never had a crack in my ear.

I don't know what he's talking about. I'm thinking he's talking inflammations. The best is new, yeah. We'll get on to, we'll move on here. It was one, Anis was one of the herbs that was ordered by the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne to be grown in gardens for medicinal use and for food in his document the Capitulaire.

This is what started a lot of the Physic Gardens, the monastic medicine of the Holy Roman Empire as Christianity was spread throughout Europe, not by conquest believe it or not, but regardless what your liberal history teacher told you once in college. No, it was spread throughout Europe by monks and nuns and priests who would establish free hospitals, orphanages and schools. And the Benedictines were real big on teaching people agriculture. They really lifted most of, um, central and Eastern Europe and well, a lot of Western Europe too,

out of starvation teaching them actually the Roman practices of farming and you know that was part of it and the capitulaire the the Emperor said this is what you need to grow in your garden because you have to care for the sick. That's now your role that's your job and if you look at the order of Saint Benedict when he established the Benedictine monastic order, it said, first care for the sick. That was their primary, I mean, they had to, they had all kinds of prayers they had to say, they had all kinds of things they had to do in church, they had to go to mass daily, and you know, all kinds of religious duties. After that,

first care for the sick. And you know, a lot of those monastic hospitals are still standing. You tour them in Europe today and it's amazing how sophisticated their medicine really was. In the monastic tradition, we get to German folk medicine. And this is much later, this is like 1890s. So Father Nape said, the anus like fennel is to be recommended highly. Its operation on gases or winds is far superior to that of fennel.

In most cases, both remedies are mixed together. That's true. We often contain combined fennel with anise and it's very good for the stomach, especially indigestion and gas on the stomach. And it also has some antispasmodic qualities. It helps with intestinal cramps and such. He says the oils of anise and fennel can be obtained from a chemist shop. 1890s he's talking about pharmacists and good luck getting them in America in a pharmacy today. You're gonna have to order that online. He said,

well, he said you could use the oil and it would be a little stronger. Of course it would. Father Nape, well, his protege, Brother Alwish's recommended anis for indigestion, intestinal cramps, wind or gas, headache dizziness to improve and increase lactation, abdominal gripe, that's cramping, constipation to dissolve limb and helps with asthma and good for dysentery. Now in fact in the Polish tradition Sophie Hotarowicz-Snapp says that the herb was brought to Poland by Benedictine monks and grown in monastery gardens as well as the gardens of somebody with a

Polish name he must have been a king I'm gonna try it Kazimierz I don't speak Polish sorry as many times I said I love the culture I love the food again beautiful women absolutely gorgeous but Polish is a language I don't think I could ever master. But this guy must have been named Casamires the Great and he must have been a king in the 1300s, 1310 to 1370. An herbalist of his time noted that here in our more delightful gardens, it begins to be seen more frequently. And mentioned that there were two types of anise. One was helpful for women and the other for men. I'm really not sure about that.

In later centuries, it was grown in the region. And you know, one could have been anise and the other fennel because they do smell a lot alike, you know, I don't know. And the anise would have been the more feminine because it does increase lactation. In folk medicine anus was used for stomach ailments mainly in distention. It also reduces temperatures and acts as a diuretic. Helps with fever in other words and acts as a diuretic. It's expectorant and even an anti-asthematic. Now that's because until recent times when we've introduced a lot of bad chemicals into our environment,

a lot of plastics and petrochemicals and stuff that our ancestors had no experience with. And we put a whole lot of sugar in our diets and artificial flavors and colorings and all that kind of stuff that RFK Jr. keeps talking about. Most asthma now is inflammatory. It's not spasmodic. In the time of our ancestors, most asthma was spasmodic. In fact, inflammatory asthma was rarely ever discussed in medical books. It must have been rather rare. in medical books. It must have been rather rare. Inflammatory asthma is essentially, you know, an allergy. Spasmodic asthma can be caused by an allergy or it can be caused

by, well, trauma, nervous excitement, various things, anything that could throw your lungs into spasm. And so antispasmodic herbs were used for asthma. They're still effective. They still help a lot with inflammatory asthma because the inflammation will cause the lungs to go into spasm but that's not the root cause. So, yes, anise is anti-asmatic in that case. Mixed with lard and swallowwort, which is vicinitoxicum, not familiar with that plant at all. It served as a salve for lice and nits. The oil of anise was rubbed on the body to repel troublesome insects especially mosquitoes. It's a very good insect repellent. In ancient times it served to flavor liquor and improve the taste of medicine and was an additive to dishes difficult to digest.

And yes, a lot of old recipes do include anise for that very reason. In Russia, anise, according to Igor Vilevich Zevin, was one of the first herbs accepted by Russian herbalists from the southeastern herbal traditions. Anise has been very common in herbal remedies in Russia since the beginning of the 19th century when a landlord began cultivating it in the province of... somewhere I can't pronounce... Folk herbalists recommended adding a few crushed seeds to a cup of hot milk a half an hour before bedtime to promote a restful sleep. That's the honest milk and, or however they pronounce it. And it is really darn tasty, I have to admit.

Antecedes promote the production of milk in nursing mothers and they also help alleviate painful menstrual cramps. So yeah, it is a good woman's herb. So anise spread throughout the spice routes and eventually became popular medicine in England. Gerard in 1597 wrote about it and again he said it doth engender the milk. Remember this is Elizabethan English so I'll try to simplify it as I can. He said the seed wasteth and consumeth the wind. Or more plainly, he also said it is good against belching. There you have it.

It's good against belching. And griping to the belly, it provoketh urine and maketh abundance of milk and stirreth up bodily lusts. So if you need to stir up bodily lust, try some anise. I doubt it's going to work, but you can give it a shot. Makes your breast smell better, so that might help. Again, he said, it's good for Lask or bloody flux, or even white flux. It's leucorrhea.

So, we're talking anything from bloody diarrhea to a discharge. Being chewed, it makes the breast sweet. It is good for them that are short-winded and quenches thirst. And I'm rather short-winded today because of the pollen. I wish I had some anus. Good for those that have dropsy. I don't... He said, it helpeth the yuxing or hicket. I think that means hiccups. No, I'm thinking it means hiccups. So that would be both when taking in wine or just eating dry. And the smell of doth there also prevail very much. So I guess he thought smelling anise would help with hiccups. Anti-spasmodic, it would definitely help taking internally. it would definitely help taken internally. Taken with honey cleanseth the breast very much from phlegmatic superfluity,

so from phlegm, from congestion, given to young children, infants, that have the following sickness. So again, by 1500s they were still saying it was good for epilepsy essentially, but I don't know how, well, it could be antispasmodicmodic okay probably wouldn't be very strong though let's see Irish tradition John Kehoe this is 1700s said it is an aid in expelling wind from the body and to prevent convulsions giving given to infants in a hot feed to prevent convulsions and gripes and wind." Okay, let's see. Miss Grieve, 1930s, gives a lot of history about how, where it came from, how it got into Europe, how it spread, how it was valued in Virgil's time as a spice, all the wines it was added to. I mean, I love this kind of stuff, but I'm not gonna bore you with it

Good for infantile cataract infant to congestion Stimulative and carminative that means help cells stomach Antisoils are getting antiseptic. She said mix it with the mint of peppermint or wintergreen. And also good to repel insects, especially when mixed with oil sassafrasna. That would be very pleasant. And yeah, I can see how that would work. We'll get up to modern use. Plants for a Future said,

aniseed has a delicious sweet licorice-like flavor and is common use as a very safe herbal remedy that is well suited for all age groups from children to the elderly. However, its use has declined in recent years with the advent of cheaper substitutes. That's right, most anise now is synthetic if you get anise flavoring. Probably not going to have any anise in it. So it's kind of weird that anise is a substitute for licorice but most of what is now used is a substitute for anise. You know you can grow this in your garden. I mean it shouldn't be expensive or hard to get. I

don't really understand why people would rather use chemicals than a natural product especially when it costs you nothing just to save some seeds and grow a couple of plants. I mean this is ridiculous. But anyway, I'm not here to explain how and why the world works. Now it does have a, the essential oil now, has a slightly estrogenic quality. Another reason why it increases milk and it helps with the menstrual cramps. It is slightly mildly estrogenic and it says that this effect may

substantiate the herbs use as a stimulant of sexual drive and of breast milk production. Yep. The essential oil should not be used internally absolutely and never used by pregnant women. The seed is antiseptic, antispasmodic, aromatic, carminative, digestive, expectorate, pectoral, meaning it's actually kind of good for the heart and chest. That can be heart and lungs, really. Stimulant, stomatic, and tonic, it is of great value when taken internally in the treatment of asthma, whooping cough, bloating, colic, nausea, and indigestion. Externally, it is used to treat infestations of lice, scabies, as a chest rub, and in cases of bronchial disorders. A strong decoction of the seeds can be applied externally to swollen breasts or to stimulate the flow of milk. Yeah, anise is really great. It was widely popular in the ancient world.

It was one of the main spices. It was so popular it was even used as a currency. If you were in, say you were in a Roman territory and you had to pay the taxes, you could pay it with anise. So, I mean, you could actually just grow a few plants and collect the seeds and pay it with anise. That's amazing, isn't it? Pythagoras wrote of its virtues in the 6th century BC. Hippocrates recommended for cough. Pliny said it removed all bad odors from the mouth and could prevent bad dreams. So you

can see why it was so important. And here's one of the more interesting things. I said, you know, you would pay taxes with it in Rome. It was used in a lot of desserts in rum. It was used in a lot of savory foods too, but it was used in a lot of desserts. But they came up with this little cake to follow a heavy meal and it was an anise flavored cake and it seems that that's actually the origin of the wedding cake. So wedding cakes used to be made made flavored with anise and that would be an aphrodisiac as well. There was a lot of potential war attached to that. Now we hardly ever use it.

It's a shame because anise has been a foundational herb for everything from cakes, cookies, candies, bitters formulas, cough drops or cough sweets as they used to call them, aperitifs, digestives, wines. Yeah, I mean it's like really one of the most important herbs in history. And you could spend just hours, days just going through the history of it. And so many great recipes that use anise in the kitchen, not even medicinal, but definitely want to look into, definitely want to look into growing. And you know, there's no need to use a synthetic product when you could just grow it yourself. So y'all have a good one. I'm going to leave it there and I will talk to you next time.

The information in this podcast is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition. Nothing I say or write has been evaluated or approved by the FDA. I'm not a doctor. The U.S US government does not recognize the practice of herbal medicine, and there is no governing body regulating herbless. Therefore, I'm really just a guy who studies herbs. I'm not offering any advice.

I won't even claim that anything I write or say is accurate or true. I can tell you what herbs have been traditionally used for. I can tell you my own experience, and if I believe in herbs, help me. I cannot nor would I tell you to do the same. If you use an herb anyone recommends, you are treating yourself. You take full responsibility for your health.

Humans are individuals and no two are identical. What works for me may not work for you. You may have an allergy, a sensitivity, an underlying condition that no one else even shares and you don't even know about. Be careful with your health. By continuing to listen to my podcast or read my blog, you agree to be responsible for yourself, do your own research, make your own choices, and not to blame me for anything ever.