Thursday, November 17, 2011
Parsley (Petroselinum crispum)
Just about everyone is familiar with parsley as a culinary herb. It is often placed as a garnish on the plate and is used in salads, soups and other recipes. A member of the Apiacea family (which makes it a relative of celery, carrots and parsnips), parsley is easy to grow and harvest for home use. Native to Europe and the eastern Mediterranian, parsley is rarely found in the wild.
Parsley is a very nutritious herb. It contains vitamins A, C and E and is also a source of iron and calcium. The leaves also contain anti-inflammatory flavonoids and are a rich source of sodium and potassium salts, which is one of the reasons parsley is a good remedy for the kidneys. It also contains a volatile oil that is about 20% myristicin and about 18% apiole. Both of these compounds stimulate kidney function, giving parsley a mild diuretic action. This is why it is an ingedient in JP-X, Kidney Activator and Urinary Maintenence.
JP-X
We think of urine as being unsanitary, but the truth is that urine is sterile, that is, free of bacteria. In order to get a bacterial infection in the bladder or urethra, bacteria have to enter the urethra and travel upwards into the urinary system. Women are five times more prone to UTIs than men because they have much shorter urethra.
UTIs usually involve bacteria from the colon such E. coli and are typically treated medically with antibiotics. Unfortunately, frequent use of antibiotics disrupts the friendly bacteria in the colon, contributing to yeast overgrowth. This can weaken the immune system and make one more prone to future UTIs.
Kidney Activator
The kidneys are charged with the responsibility of removing waste material from the blood stream. Without this vital function, acid waste from metabolism would build up in the body, resulting in disease and eventually death.
When the body starts to retain water, the kidneys may need a little help in filtering waste fluid from the system.
Remedies that help to restore urine flow and remove excess water from the system are known as diuretics.
Herbs for the Urinary System:
A Primary Channel of Detoxification
We all know that cleansing is important, but most of the time we focus our cleansing efforts on the colon. We’ve probably all heard sayings like, “Death begins in the colon,” which reinforce the idea that keeping our bowels moving is primary.
While I agree that maintaining a healthy gastrointestinal tract is important to health, my own experience with using muscle testing to determine primary weaknesses in the body has revealed that the kidneys show up as a primary weakness far more often than the colon.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Immune System Health
Many immune system supplement ingredients are effective in supporting immune system health.
Immune Health and the Gut
If you have done some reading on immune system health lately, you know that immune system support involves a complex network of specialized cells and organs that evolved to defend the body against attacks by foreign invaders such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and other parasites. The two basic kinds or types of immunity are termed innate and acquired.
Innate immunity, also known as genetic or species immunity, represents a wide range of immune protective factors that a person is born with.
