Goldenseal
Goldenseal is a plant with a long, strange history. The Cherokees used it to dye fabric, treat skin conditions and relieve eye sores. Mixed with bear grease, it's reported to be a great insect repellent (although we suspect that the bear grease on its own would do a fine job of keeping away bugs, as well as most other things). More recently, heroin addicts have used it to try to beat drug tests, mistakenly believing it would hide traces of the opiate in their urine.
In spite of its checkered past, this herb makes a lovely golden-colored tea that's believed to have real therapeutic value. For the lowdown on the benefits of goldenseal tea, read on:
Try Goldenseal if:
- You drank the water. The worst thing to happen to Mexico's travel industry since Charo, turista tops our list of miserable ways to ruin a vacation... right between heat stroke and spotting Dom DeLuise in a thong bikini. If you're struck with a case of the runs, either at home or on the road, Herbala suggests a nice hot cup of goldenseal tea. Goldenseal contains a compound called berberine that kills many of the bacteria that cause diarrhea and its more dangerous relatives, cholera and giardiasis.
- You're surrounded by walking petri dishes. Whether it's an office mate who insists on coming to work with bubonic plague or a child who brings more home from kindergarten than the Weekly Reader, we know it's tough to stay healthy when other people's microbes are invading your airspace. She suggests making sure your immune system is up to the challenge by drinking a daily cup or two of goldenseal tea. The berberine in goldenseal seems to fire up your white blood cells, making them more effective at neutralizing harmful bacteria and whatever else sprays out of your toddler's mouth when she sneezes.
- You ordered the sausage chili — and ended up with three-alarm indigestion. Goldenseal stimulates the production of bile — a fluid produced by your liver that helps digest fats. Herbala finds goldenseal tea to be the perfect after-dinner digestif, particularly when the menu includes anything that's deep-fried, smothered with cheese or begins with the letters Mc.
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