Plants For Health

Plants for Health is a useful lens if you want some information on what certain herbs and spices can do in the way of enhancing a meal or helping to cure a certain ailment, or act to help improve your overall level of health and wellbeing.

There are so many uses for so many of these wonderful herb groups and species that can either be found growing in your garden or in fields that it would take several volumes of collected individual lenses to do it any justice.

So this lens will provide the information that I have personally gathered over the years of some of the more commonly found varieties to at least give you an insight into what is available and easily accessible to most people around the world.

SAGE

There are many herbs that have health giving and healing properties, but one of the best known of the healing herbs is sage.

It's latin name, salvia means to save or to heal, so it can be seen that the healing properties of sage have been known for millenia. Sage oil contains the chemical substances alpha- and beta-thujone, camphor and cineole as well as rosmarinic acid, tannins, and flavonoids.

Here are just some of the incredible properties of sage:

1. Memory Booster.

A 1993 study at the Universities of Newcastle and Northumbria found that test subjects given sage oil tablets performed much better in a "word recall test" than those given a placebo. From this study. experts believe the active ingredient in sage may boost levels of certain chemicals that help transmit messages around the brain.

In 1597 the herbalist John Gerard is quoted as saying that it was "singularly good for the head and quickeneth the nerves and memory."

It is possible that sage could help patients affected by Alzheimer's disease. In many cases of Alzheimer's there is a drop in the same brain chemical boosted by sage in experiments.

2. Cancer

Sage also has antioxidant properties, making it a good natural weapon in the fight against cancer causing free radicals in the body.

3. Arthritis

Its anti-inflammatory properties go some way to helping alleviate the painful swelling around the joints in arthritis sufferers.

4. Sore Throats

Sage contains powerful anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral properties making it a popular natural gargle still commonly used in parts of Europe in place of commercially available treatments. It is also used as a refreshing and tonic herbal tea to fight against coughs, colds and influenza.

5. Wounds

Sage has also been used in connection with sprains, swelling, ulcers, and bleeding, again thanks to its anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral properties as well as its styptic ability in helping to stop bleeding.

So sage is a wonderful all rounder and one of the top healing herbs used as alternative cures. Keep some in your garden as the plant is a hardy perennial which will grow well in almost any type of soil.

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is a woody, perennial herb with fragrant evergreen needle-like leaves. It is native to the Mediterranean region and is actually a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae), which includes many other herbs.

The plant contains some tannic acid, together with a resin, a bitter principle and a volatile oil. The main constituents of this oil are Borneol, bornyl acetate and other esters, a camphor similar to myrtle, cineol, pinene and camphene. It is colourless, with the odour of Rosemary and a warm camphoraceous taste. The main adulterants of oil of Rosemary are oil of turpentine and petroleum.

As a healing and tonic herb, Rosemary has a long had a reputation for improving memory.

In hair-lotions, rosemary is well known for its effect in stimulating the hair-bulbs to renewed activity and allegedly preventing premature baldness. An infusion of the dried leaves and flowers combined with borax and used cold, makes one of the best hairwashes known. It forms an effective natural remedy for the prevention of scurf and dandruff.

Oil of Rosemary can be added to liniments as a fragrant stimulant. Known as Hungary Water, this was also considered very effective against gout in the hands and feet when rubbed in vigorously. As one of the effective and natural remedies for gout, rosemary oil is one of the more reliable and effective treatments as it also stimulates blood flow to the area, which is important for clearing away the crystallised uric acid deposits in the joints.

Rosemary Wine is made from white wine poured onto chopped up sprigs of green Rosemary and then strained off after a few days. When this is taken in small quantities, it acts as a quieting cordial to a weak heart that is subject to palpitation. It is also attributed with relieving dropsy by stimulating the kidneys.

The young tops, leaves and flowers can be infused to make Rosemary Tea. This when taken warm is a good remedy for headaches, colic, colds and nervous diseases. It can also relieve nervous depression and act as as an antispasmodic.

Thyme (thymus vulgaris), is commonly known by several different names: cooking thyme, English thyme, French thyme, or winter thyme. It is just one of 350 species of the genus Thymus.

Often known as the "herb of courage", garden thyme can be grown indoors or out. As a plant in the herb border, thyme is a shrubby perennial with small, oval, narrow, grey-green leaves, long, woody, branched stems, and sturdy roots. Thyme blooms in mid-summer with lavender-pink flowers that occur in small clusters. These flowers attract bees and the honey they produce is highly valued. The leaves are highly aromatic. Leaves, stems, and flowers may all be eaten.

As a culinary herb the leaves (fresh or dried), alone or combined with parsley and bay leaves to make a bouquet garni, add a distinctive aromatic flavouring to meats, poultry, stews, sauces and stuffings.

As a healing herb, much is made of the volatile oil that is produced from thyme. This is extracted by steam distillation from the the flowering tops and leaves of the herb. Thyme has an intensely hot antiseptic smell with a spicy overtone.

It is said that thyme oil provides a protective barrier for body, mind and spirit against a broad spectrum of ailments. These include virus, bacteria and fungus attacks.

One of nature's most potent anti-microbials and a powerful stimulant, thyme's ability to support and protect the immune system is unequaled by other aromatic oils.

Thyme oil is also an excellent disinfectant, antiseptic and expectorant that's highly regarded in aromatherapy for protection against infectious disease.

There is strong evidence to suggest that diffusion of thyme into the atmosphere may be beneficial for the treatment and relief of symptoms of bronchitis, pneumonia, sinusitis, cough, colds and flu and as a natural asthma treatment.

Thyme oil works by stimulating the formation of white blood cells and boosts your lymphatic system for aiding the oxygenation of cellular tissue for removal of toxic wastes during illness.

Thyme contains thymol, a warming immunostimulant and powerful antibacterial agent which has been researched for its effectiveness in treating harmful mouth bacteria.

Thyme may also be an effective treatment for thrush (candida albicans overgrowth in the mouth) and gingivitis.

CAUTION: Thyme oil is a skin irritant, so avoid during pregnancy or in cases with a diagnosed seizure disorder, high-blood pressure, or hyperthyroidism. Always consult your doctor first.

The common stinging nettle (Latin name: urtica dioica) has a long history of acting as a healing plant and an alternative cure for many ailments. The most often use for the stinging nettle is as a potherb and is used along with other herbs as en excellent stinging nettle remedy in stews and soups and to make nettle tea.

Stinging nettles are relatively simple to use, but be warned that the leaves contain tiny stinging barbs that will irritate the skin. This is negated by drying or heat, so cooking the young leaves is the best way to get the full benefit from this plant.

Only use the young leaves at the top of the plant (nettle tops) as the older lower leaves contain gritty particles (called cystoliths) that irritate the kidneys.

To make nettle soup, simply use a standard soup base recipe. Chop and add the young nettle tops and boil for ten minutes for a delicious and highly nutritious soup that is easily digested and high in minerals (especially iron) and vitamins (especially A and C).

Nettle tea made from the leaves has traditionally been used as a cleansing tonic and blood purifier.

For medicinal purposes the plant is best harvested in May or June as it is coming into flower. It can be dried and stored for later use.

The health benefits:

The whole plant is anti-asthmatic, anti-dandruff, astringent, depurative, diuretic, galactogogue, haemostatic, hypoglycaemic and a stimulating tonic.

The juice of the nettle can actually be used as an antidote to stings from the leaves. An infusion of the fresh leaves is healing and soothing as a lotion for burns.

Medicinal Uses of Stinging Nettles:

1. Arthritis and Rheumatism:

Fresh nettles leaves can be rubbed or beaten onto the skin in the treatment of arthritis and rheumatism. This practice (called urtification), causes intense irritation to the skin as it is stung by the tiny stingers in the nettle leaves. It is believed that this treatment acts as a counter-irritant, bringing more blood to the area to help remove the toxins that cause rheumatism. The formic acid from the nettles is also believed to have beneficial effects upon the rheumatic joints.

2. As an Internal Tonic and Alternative Cure:

An infusion of nettle tops taken internally is valuable in stemming internal bleeding and can be used as a treatment for hay fever, arthritis, excessive menstruation, haemorrhoids, rheumatism and anaemia.

3. As an External Skin Tonic:

Externally, the leaves can be pulped into a poultice or infused in boiling water as a rinse which can be used to treat skin complaints (especially eczema) sciatica, neuralgia, haemorrhoids and hair and scalp problems such as dandruff.

4. To Treat Dandruff:

A hair wash is made from the infused leaves and this is used as a dandruff treatment. Wash the hair with mild shampoo, then use the nettle wash as a rinse making sure it is rubbed well into the scalp.

The common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) has been used as a healing, tonic and as a potherb for many centuries.

Its common names are lion's tooth or blowball.

The dandelion was used in many traditional medical systems, including Native American and traditional Arabic medicine. Historically the dandelion was commonly used to treat liver and kidney diseases as well as problems related to the spleen. Less commonly, the dandelion has been used to treat digestive problems and skin conditions.

Today, the dandelion is used by some for minor digestive problems, as a liver or kidney "tonic" and as a diuretic.

How to Use Dandelion:

The leaves and roots of the dandelion, or even the whole plant are used fresh or dried in teas, infusions, capsules, or extracts.

Dandelion leaves can be used in salads or as a cooked green vegetable or potherb and the flowers can be used to make a delicious wine.

Possible Side Effects and Hazards:

The Dandelion is generally considered a safe plant for general internal use as a tea and as a food rich in vitamins and minerals. However, there have been rare reports of upset stomach and diarrhea and some people are allergic to the plant.

It is also recommended that people with an inflamed or infected gallbladder or blocked bile ducts should avoid using dandelion.

Lemon balm ( Melissa officinalis ), is a member of the mint family. It's other names include Balm mint, Bee balm, Blue balm, Garden balm, Honey plant and Sweet balm and has for centuries been considered a "calming" herb.

Lemon balm was used in the Middle Ages to reduce stress and anxiety, promote sleep, improve appetite, and ease pain and discomfort associated with digestion (including flatulence and bloating as well as colic).

Even earlier than this, lemon balm was steeped in wine to lift the spirits, help heal wounds, and treat venomous insect bites and stings.

Today, lemon balm is often combined with other calming herbs, such as valerian, camomile, and hops, in soothing, relaxing teas to enhance the overall relaxing effect. It has some other medicinal uses too as follows:

Insomnia and anxiety

Studies have found that lemon balm when combined with other calming herbs (such as valerian, hops, chamomile) helps to reduce anxiety and promote sleep.

Very few studies have investigated the safety and effectiveness of lemon balm on its own, except for topical use.

In one recent study of people with minor sleep disorders, those who took an herbal combination of valerian and lemon balm reported sleeping much better than those who took a placebo. It is not clear from these studies, however, whether lemon balm itself (or the combined action of lemon balm and valerian) is responsible for these sleep-inducing effects.

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 18 healthy volunteers received two separate single doses of a standardized lemon balm extract (300 mg and 600 mg) or placebo for 7 days. The 600 mg dose of lemon balm increased mood and significantly increased calmness and alertness.

Herpes

Some studies have suggested that topical ointments containing lemon balm may assist in healing lip sores associated with the herpes simplex virus (HSV).

A study was carried out with 116 people with HSV and those who applied lemon balm cream to their lip sores experienced significant improvement in redness and swelling after only 2 days. However, other symptoms such as pain and scabbing did not improve. Both the patients and their doctors did report that the lemon balm ointment was very effective. Several animal studies also support the value of topical lemon balm for herpes lesions.

Other Uses

There have been few rigorous scientific studies conducted on lemon balm. However, many health care professionals suggest that it is beneficial for a variety of health problems. These include Alzheimer's disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), indigestion, gas, insomnia and hyperthyroidism.

Experimental laboratory studies also suggest lemon balm does have antioxidant as well as anti-HIV properties. However further studies are needed to confirm these findings.

Garlic is one of those plants that have been used for healing almost as long as man has walked this Earth. It's pungent aroma when used in cooking is unmistakable and the "garlic breath" that goes with eating food prepared with the bulb is the bane of many a train or bus commuter who has not eaten it!

As a healing herb, garlic is really one of the best all-rounders there is in the plant kingdom. It is antiseptic, anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal, meaning that it can be used in one way or another to heal or cure almost any ailment.

How to Use Garlic

If you have one, throw away your garlic press. That may make life easy, but pressing garlic like that destroys some of its health giving properties and the rest are thrown in the bin. Fresh garlic should always be chopped and the whole clove used raw.

Cooking or frying also destroys most of the health giving benefits of garlic, although if you like to use it that way, bu all means fry some, but retain the bulk of the chopped garlic to sprinkle on food raw just before you serve it up.

Or chop it up and sprinkle into salads to give them a healthy taste boost!

The Health Benefits of Garlic

As a blood cleanser, garlic is second to none! It is a powerful tool in the battle against high (bad LDL) cholesterol levels, and mopping up triglycerides as well as helping to remove plaque build up on artery walls. It boosts production of both red and white blood cells too, so is doubly useful for the old sangria!

The subject of weight maintenance is a huge subject all to itself and there are many very good, informative resources online, so to go into details on how and which plants can aid weight loss here would need a lens (or twenty) all of its own!

But I can send you off to a resource that I have a vested interest in, and one that is growing as we speak into an authoritative knowledge base that will be covering alternative weight loss methods as well as main-stream ones.

Where can you find this budding gem of knowledge? There is a highly informative website that provides a lot of useful information for maintaining a healthy weight and fitness level at: Health. It is building right now as a website and blog, so informative content is being continuously added to it, meaning it will never be a finished site, but a fluid font of knowledge that will continue to grow as more and more information is learned about this mammoth subject.

Aloe Vera is an easy to grow succulent plant that as an alternative cure has some amazing healing properties.

Aloe Vera will grow in most climates as long as it is not exposed to frost or temperatures much below zero degrees Celsius for any length of time. In cooler climates, they can be grown happily in pots and containers and left outside in the warm weather and brought into a frost free greenhouse or conservatory or even put on a kitchen windowsill during a cold period.

To successfully grow a good supply of Aloe Vera plants, you only need to start with one healthy pot-grown plant that has one or more "baby" plant-lets poking out of the compost around the base of the parent plant. These plant-lets can be prised away from the parent plant with your fingers and carefully pulled out of the compost, hopefully with a few small roots attached, although even that is not always necessary.

Simply plant the new "babies" in separate pots of compost mixed with some sharp sand and some soil to give good drainage and bulk, water them once then leave them alone in a semi-shady cool spot for a week or two to get established. During that time, only water when the pot completely dries out and then only sparingly. If the Aloe Vera plant-let did not start out life with any roots of its own, then by withholding water it will force the plant into making roots. Either way, the plant should begin to show some new growth after two weeks or so, but this may take longer depending on the time of year, temperature etc.

As the new Aloe Vera plants grow, they too will produce their own new plantlets around their base which can also be removed and grown on in new pots. In the space of a year you can increase your population of Aloe Vera plants from one to thirty or more if you keep at it!

Aloe Vera has a multitude of uses in the medicine cabinet, but the most popular of these is as a skin balm for when things go wrong. To use straight from the plant, simply break of one of the succulent leaves (only take as much as you need) and split it open with your fingernail or a sharp knife. The soft, clear gel in the centre of the leaf is the part you rub onto the affected area of skin.

Sunburn is quickly soothed by the cooling gel and it will reduce the likelihood of scarring or even skin peeling as well as act as a cooling agent to help reduce the effect of heat exhaustion.

Similarly, burns and scalds should be quickly treated to the cool gel rubbed gently into the affected area.

Cuts and abrasions should first be cleaned with water and then covered with a piece of gel, then bandaged or covered with a sticky plaster.

Dry skin can be moisturised by direct application of the gel.

After shaving, the Aloe Vera gel makes a good skin tonic and cool aftershave.

Insect bites should first be dabbed with cotton wool soaked with vinegar, then when dry Aloe Vera gel can be rubbed in to relieve the itching sensation and help prevent infection.

As an emergency treatment for deep cuts and wounds Aloe Vera can also be used to prevent infection and aid healing by squeezing some gel into the wound and then binding tightly to stop the bleeding until proper medical assistance can be obtained.

Taken internally as a pro-biotic, simply remove a piece of gel from a thick part of the leaf and swallow it, preferably on an empty stomach. This has a similar effect to taking pro-biotic yoghurts as it helps to repopulate the gut with friendly bacteria.

If you suffer with mouth ulcers, place some gel in your mouth and swirl it around making sure it comes into contact with the ulcer, eventually swallowing the piece as a pro-biotic as above.

These are just some of the many uses Aloe Vera gel can be put to as a healing balm.

But here is one more use you might not have thought of. If you have a leather coat or shoes that have been attacked by that horrible white mould by being left in a damp cupboard, liberally run Aloe Vera gel over the whole of the affected surface and it gets rid of it as if by magic. The mouldy smell vanishes too!

More coming soon...

Aloe Vera is rich in the antioxidant vitamins A (beta-carotene), C and E and contains traces of vitamin B12 (one of the few plant sources of this vitamin).

There are several different enzymes which aid digestion when taken orally by breaking down fat and sugars. Bradykinase helps reduce inflammation and pain when applied to the skin. Others help digest dead tissues found in wounds. Lipases and proteases break down foods and aid digestion.

Aloe Vera gel is rich in many minerals: Calcium, Sodium Potassium, Manganese, Magnesium, Copper, Zinc, Chromium and Selenium. Although we only need minerals and trace elements in very small quantities, they are essential to proper metabolic functioning.

The mucilage layer of the plant surrounding the inner gel contains several sugars, known as mucopolysaccharides which enhance the immune system and help to detoxify.

Aloe Vera contains both mono and polysaccharides, the most important being long chain sugars involving glucose and mannose (gluco-mannans). These are not broken down like other sugars but ingested whole and appear in exactly the same form in the bloodstream where they are able to exert their immuno-regulating effect. This process is known as pinocytosis.

Some polysaccharides stick to cells lining the gut to form a barrier preventing absorption of unwanted material. This helps prevent a "leaking" gut syndrome. In topical preparations these sugars constitute the main moisturisers.

There are twelve Phenolic compounds known as anthraquinones found in the sap. In small quantities they aid absorption from the gastro-intestinal tract and have anti-microbial and pain killing effects. Aloin and Emodin act as painkillers and as anti-bacterials and anti-virals.

Lignin is an inert substance that when included in topical preparations gives Aloe Vera its penetrative effect so the other ingredients are absorbed into the skin.

Saponins are soapy substances that form about 3% of the Aloe Vera gel. They are capable of cleansing, having antiseptic properties. These act powerfully as anti-microbials against bacteria, viruses, fungi and yeasts.

Cholesterol, Campesterol, b. Sisosterol and Lupeol. are four plant steroids with important anti-inflammatory agents.

Salicylic acid is an aspirin-like compound possessing anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties.

The gel provides 20 of the 22 amino acids the body needs, including 7 out of the 8 essential amino acids which the body cannot synthesise.

More to follow...

The air!

Believe it or not, there are many airborne toxins in our modern (and not so modern) homes that if left untreated, can be the cause of a great many of the ailments that plague their inhabitants.

So what can be lurking in the air that you breathe in the supposed sanctity of your own home? And, more importantly, how can you simply, cheaply and effectively deal with them?

Lets start with an obvious one.

Dust.

In an average family room, there is on average approximately 6mg/m2 of dust produced every single day. That dust is made up of a variety of substances, depending on where you live and comprise of some or all of the following:-

Textile fibres, decomposing insect parts, pet dander, human and animal hair, food leftovers, pollen grains, mould spores, bacteria, human and animal skin flakes, insulation, sand and the dust mite and its faecal material.

Some of the common household items that cause dust to accumulate:-

Carpets, draperies, ruffled items, knickknacks, books, magazines, pets, upholstered furniture, animals and their bedding and fireplaces are just some of the things that increase dust levels. Infrequent cleaning or cleaning with a vacuum cleaner without a high efficiency filtering device, high traffic levels, location of your house, the type of garden or open terrace space and condition of the central heating or air conditioning system can all contribute to the amount of dust in your home.

Where you live can play an important part on the type and amount of dust that your house receives. For example, if you live in a new neighbourhood where there is a lot of construction work, you will have more dust in your home. If your garden areas are bare earth (instead of lawns or flower borders) you will have more dust in your home. Leaks in any duct work can cause dust and insulation from the attic to be drawn into the living space.

Insects and other small fauna found in houses can have their own subtle interactions with dust that may affect the health of its occupants. Easily the most notorious of these is the house dust mite.

The house dust mite can be found on all surfaces and even suspended in air. Dust mites feed on minute particles of organic matter, the main constituent of house dust. They excrete enzymes to digest dust particles and these enzymes along with their faeces, in turn, become part of house dust and can provoke allergic reactions in humans. Dust mites flourish in the fibres of bedding, furniture, and carpets.

What are house dust mites?

House dust mites are tiny (up to 0.3 mm) animals related to ticks and spiders and live in house dust. All houses have them to a greater or lesser degree - some houses contain huge numbers while others contain very few. This does not only depend on cleanliness, but depends very much on the amount of moisture in the house; dry houses in very cold climates or on high mountains have few mites, but houses in temperate climates and normal altitudes have more.

House dust mites eat the dust which is constantly produced from our skin. They leave droppings everywhere they go. Their droppings contain left-over enzymes which the mites use to digest the skin dust. It is these enzymes which are the most important part of mite dust in causing asthma and other allergic diseases.

There is ample proof that living in surroundings with little or no mite dust improves or even cures asthma in those people whose asthma is caused by it. These days however, it is becoming more and more difficult for most people to achieve this.

How can they be dealt with?

To improve asthma or other mite allergies you must get rid of the mites but you must also remove nearly all the dust which they may have left throughout your house over the years. This takes a huge effort and can be very expensive if taken to extremes.

One reason for this is that worthwhile results mean cutting the house dust mite pollution to between one tenth and one hundredth of what it was before.

Note: Do not make the treatment worse than the cause. It is possible to become obsessed about cleaning the house in an attempt to avoid mites. The overuse of strong chemicals can have the opposite effect and actually make things worse. The object of mite control should be to create a more normal life for the member(s) of your family with asthma or allergy.

The particles that make up house dust can easily become airborne, so care must be exercised when removing dust, as the activity intended to remove dust may in itself make it airborne.

Wiping, swiping, or sweeping by hand, or with a dust cloth, sponge, duster, or broom will only move the dust around the room, making it airborne and causing it to settle in the cleaner's lungs, thus making the activity somewhat hazardous.

Better to use a damp cloth or sponge for wiping, thus trapping the dust. Special brooms with electrostatic fibres also trap dust and prevent it becoming airborne. A good quality vacuum cleaner fitted with a hepa-filter will also trap up to 98% or better of the dust (depending on brand). Similarly, a good quality air filter will also trap and remove airborne dust from the air.

Prevention is Better..!

Some tips for preventing a build-up of dust mites:

Use dust-proof bedding covers. It is essential to cover the mattress, pillows and duvet. Vacuum or wipe (with a damp cloth) the dust-proof covers regularly. Launder all bedclothes (e.g. sheets, pillowcases, bedspread, duvet cover) at 56 degrees C or higher. Lower temperatures do not kill mites. If you can't wash bedclothes at high temperatures, an alternative is to freeze the item for 24 hours to kill the mites and then to wash at a lower temperature (this idea is from the National Asthma Campaign in the UK).

Avoid giving children furry toys to take to bed with them. They can become a hothouse for dust mites to breed in.

Get rid of carpets. Every time someone walks over a carpet, mite dust is spread into the air, and will take 2 hours to settle. Babies and young children crawling on the carpet are especially at risk.

Replace soft cloth-upholstered furniture with dust-proof furniture. In practice this means wood, plastic or leather furniture. If this is too expensive, consider buying dust-proof covers for soft cloth-upholstered furniture.

Ventilate your house. Experts agree that inadequate air turnover in a house creates high humidity which favours mites. In cold climates, this may not be a popular piece of advice, but closely sealed homes can be the worst affected by dust and mites. Air filters help, but a small window left open for an hour a day will be more beneficial in removing dust (and other airborne household toxins) than a small filter left running for 24 hours a day.

My own two penn'th...

Here in southern Spain where I live, we have marble floors and soft furnishings are minimal, but even so, dust accumulates every day. It never ceases to amaze me how much dust I collect every day simply by sweeping the floors with a special dust-collecting broom. Floors are then always mopped (a Mediterranean quirk, I'm sure) for good measure. Thanks to a mild climate, a window can be kept open on most days and I have several toxin-busting plants around the house. More on these later!

Many studies which have been conducted by the EPA over the last 25 years or so have shown measurable levels of over 107 known cancer causing agents floating around in the air in modern homes and offices. Its no wonder levels of cancer patients and sufferers of allergy asthma are rising.

The presence of these volatile organic compounds (VOC's) are due to keeping windows closed in energy efficient living and working environments.

Research conducted by NASA suggest that indoor house and office plants may substantially reduce the amount of exposure to common VOC's in your home or office. This NASA research as well as the increasing amount of corroborating research indicates the many benefits of having live plants in modern indoor environments to help improve indoor air quality in any building.

So its official. Get some great looking indoor plants into your home or office and they not only look good and create a calmer atmosphere, but they really are good for your health!

There's no getting away from it, one of the best of the best indoor plants you can have in your home for removing air-borne toxins is a peace lily.

Its Latin name is Spathiphyllum.

The Peace Lily has white flowers, or spathes, surrounding a creamy white spadix which look wonderful set against its long, deep green leaves and is perfectly at home in the low light of an indoor setting.

The Peace Lily is a formidable oxygen producing plant so is always welcome in homes where there are lots of people taking it out of the room's atmosphere. It soaks up all the excess carbon dioxide and replenished the room's oxygen supply. The thick, dark green leaves of the peace lily are also excellent air filters and remove large quantities of VOCs from the air in your home or office.

Od course the added bonus is that the peace lily is also a very good looking plant that will give a more relaxed and calm feel to any room, which is a benefit that often people miss out on.

I'll feature more air-borne toxin-busting plants soon...

This is a very common house plant and is one of the easiest to propagate. The type of spider plant found in most homes is the variagated variety, whose latin name is Chlorophytum comosum "Variegatum", is actually native to South Africa.

This is another great house plant that will mop up a lot of dangerous molecules that are floating around the atmosphere inside your home. In fact the humble spider plant is one of the best in-house air cleaning plants there is!

While most of the emphasis of this lens has been on plants for health that mainly include herbs, there are also some spices that can also be used for healing. However, I'm not going into that side of things here as the subject is absolutely massive and I'll never get it all down here.

So what I've done is create a dedicated website that will deal mainly with spices for all purposes, from the better known culinary uses as well as some of the healthy beneficial uses that many spices can be put to. The website is called Spice Nest and can be found by clicking this link: Herb and Spice and is presently quite new, so articles are only just starting to get uploaded there.

Over time I hope to make it into a large authority site on herbs and spices, so it looks like I'd better start writing!

This is a pre-guestbook chapter that I was prompted to write after the comment left by the snoring guy.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate you leaving a comment in the guestbook, after all that's what its for. Most people write a nice comment about what the liked or disliked about this lens.

But Snoring guy said hi then went on and on about his own lens with several links included. I also found he has commented in the guestbook of other lenses with exactly the same copy and pasted text!

That's not really what leaving comments is all about and it prompted me to turn HTML off because I'm not having peopel acting like spamemrs by using the comments here just to get links.

Sorry to anyone else who have been leaving legit comments.

Here's a new selection of websites that are in need of a little help from a friendly natural lens.

When thinking about the state of our health today, we all should ensure we get enough of the important nutrients that our bodies need. One of the main groups that many people are lacking in these days are the vitamin B complex group that are an essential addition to in our diet . If we can't get the full daily amount from the food we eat, then we could boost the levels of vitamin B complex with some natural vitamin tablets.

Another way of ensuring we get enough general healthy nutrients is through eating natural herbs in our diet. Herbs are a great way to boost the vitamin content of our food as well as adding their unique health giving properties to further enhance the benefit of our daily diet. We should also be aware of our overall levels of health and fitness especially with regards to losing excess weight and to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Keeping fit and healthy is of utmost importance to our overall well being so attention to our weight is always an important matter. Again, the use of herbs in our food can, in the right circumstances, aid maintenance of our weight and keep it at the correct levels for each of us.

That should help a little with some other highly informative information sites that you can visit. Maybe someone might follow one or two of them if they are in need of any additional info on the many ways to enjoy a natural and healthy lifestyle.