Farmacy vs. Pharmacy

Household Herbs and Spices for Winter

Relying on the shelves of your local pharmacy for drugs that mask your symptoms ultimately prolongs your illness.  The drugs make you feel better, so you behave as though you are not sick, and your cold becomes this month-long drawn out thing. But if you shift your thinking just a little, work to plan rather than react, you can use the farmacy in your kitchen pantry to keep yourself healthier this winter.  

Many common household herbs and spices in American homes have medicinal uses, and some are even listed in the Chinese Materia Medica - the collection of information about substances used in Chinese medicine over thousands of years. Here are a few common items and their winter-time uses according to Chinese Medicine.  Give these uses a try this winter and see if you can stay well better!

Ground Cinnamon Bark
This herb warms the interior of the body and expel interior cold.  As the weather begins to chill, simply start adding it to your morning oatmeal or porridge to help protect against invading cold.

Fresh Ginger
This herb can expel pathogenic wind, detoxify seafood and meats, settle an upset stomach, and reduce nausea and vomiting. It is warm, but not as warm as dried ginger or ground cinnamon. Boil sliced fresh ginger in water for at least 15 minutes.  Pour into a mug and add some organic raw honey and protect against the invasion of pathogenic wind.

Dried Ginger
This herb, like Cinnamon Bark warms the interior and expels interior cold.  It a great addition to the morning oatmeal, porridge, you can even add it to your smoothies to help balance out the coldness of this popular UN-Chinese medicine breakfast.

Nutmeg
Categorized as an herb that stabilizes and binds, this warming herb can be a great addition in the winter months to oatmeal, porridge or smoothies - especially if you tend toward loose stools.