excerpt from New
Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way by Susun S. Weed
Herbal Allies for Post-Menopausal Women
pp. 237-243
My favorite herbs for post-menopausal women are horsetail,
oatstraw, red clover, stinging nettle, seaweeds, and the plants
rich in flavonoids. These gentle green allies are more like
foods than drugs; they offer bone-creating, heart-protecting,
disease-preventing, sex-enhancing optimum nourishment to the
woman in the second half of her life.
Horsetail
Equisetum arvense
Ackerschachtelhalm, Prêle des champs
Horsetail is particularly rich in glycosides which nourish
hormones, heart, and bones, making it a special ally for post-menopausal
women.
Use spring-picked horsetail, as a tea or infusion, to:
• Reverse osteoporosis
• Stimulate fracture-mending and bone repair
Mineral-rich
horsetail feeds the bones, increasing mass and flexibility.
No matter how old or thin, bones respond to consistent use
of horsetail.
• Stabilize and reverse chronic periodontal disease
Gum problems can lead to heart problems. Brush, floss, and
try a daily cup of horsetail tea. It acts as a catalyst to
healthy gums and teeth.
•
Relieve cystitis
Horsetail has been used since the sixteenth century to tonify
the bladder and ease irritation anywhere in the urinary tract.
Plants harvested when too old may aggravate rather than soothe.
• Reduce bloat
• Check menstrual hemorrhage
• Prevent clogged arteries, strengthen veins
• Ease persistent hot flashes
Horsetail's astringent components, trace minerals (including
chrom-ium), saponins, and flavonoids are responsible for these
effects. Add horsetail to your nettle infusion to magnify
the benefits of both.
• Increase energy, reduce fatigue
Horsetail supplies peppy potassium, merry magnesium, and strong-as-nails
iron for building Crone power.
• Nourish strong, healthy hair and fingernails
Horsetail is a frequent ingredient in expensive, natural,
commercial shampoos and rinses. Instead, use leftover horsetail
tea (alone or with nettle) as your final rinse. Leave it in.
And drink a cup now and then for lovely nails.
Horsetail is locally abundant in the wild, so rarely cultivated.
The small horsetail that looks like a soft baby pine tree
is preferred over the rigid, leafless kind. To avoid problems,
use horsetail picked early, during the first 4-6 weeks of
each year's growth.
A tea of dried herb works great, as does the vinegar. When
buying horsetail, look for good green color and a rich sparkle
of health and vitality.
Dosage: Tea of dried herb, 1 cup/250 ml, 1-2 times a day
Vinegar of fresh herb, 1 tablespoon/15 ml daily
CAUTION: If you experience nervous sensitivity or
urinary irritability after use, discontinue.
Oatstraw
Avena sativa
Gruen Hafer, Avoine cultivée
This is the grass of the very same oats you eat for breakfast.
Best known as a cholesterol-lowering food, oats is also a
special ally to women who wish they wouldn't “fly off
the handle” so easily, to women who want to be sexy
old ladies, and to women who treasure their bones. All the
benefits of eating oatmeal are to be had from drinking oatstraw
infusion (but not from tea, tincture, or capsules).
Let lovely Avena help you to:
• Build strong, pliable, flexible bones
• Maintain firm, reliable teeth
Rich in calcium — and the synergistic minerals and vitamins
needed for best use of calcium — oats have a well-deserved
reputation for building tough, hardy folks with tough, hardy
bones.
• Stabilize blood sugar levels
•
Relieve depression and ease emotional uproar
A cup of oatstraw infusion in the morning provides steroidal
saponins to nourish your pancreas, liver, and adrenals and
help prevent erratic blood sugar levels from playing havoc
with your emotions.
• Reduce cholesterol and risk of heart disease, improve
circulation
Oats and oatstraw can make your blood vessels more elastic,
more vital. How will you notice? Your hemorrhoids and varicose
veins will shrink, your heart rate will slow, and disturbances
in your heart rate (such as palpitations and tachycardia)
will diminish or disappear.
• Nourish strong nerves
• Help you engage high energy currents
Oatstraw and oats, both superior sources of the vitamin B
complex, are exceptionally capable allies for women under
stress.
• Reduce frequency and duration of headaches
• Maintain restful sleep patterns
• Ease bladder spasms, incontinence, uterine pain,
vaginal dryness
Oatstraw infusion in your teacup and your bathtub (ahhh!)
relieves physical and emotional pains and energy disturbances,
and strengthens vaginal, bladder, and urethral tissues. (Oatstraw
Bath, page XXX.)
• Be an outrageously sexy old lady
Dosage: Infusion of dried herb, 1- 4 cups/250-1000 ml, daily.
CAUTIONS: None.
... will be continued next month.
excerpt from New
Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way by Susun S. Weed
pp. 237-243
Menopause
Metamorphosis Duo
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