Peppermint

Most people know about Peppermint because it has been put in everything from candy to candles. I want to tell you what Peppermint can do for your body.

Because of its many properties, it does many jobs. One of them is to be a stimulant, let's start with that and talk about Peppermint's very high vibration. This means that compared to most other plants, Peppermint will create more benefits than a lot of herbs. It is included in a lot of formulas, perhaps to make them work harder? It tends to raise the level of the bodies pH to an alkaline state. (This is a very good because the body is happier when it is slightly alkaline as opposed to acid. Most of the foods that we eat such as meat, dairy, and "dead" foods tend to be acid. ) Having something that can adjust the pH before we even get started is wonderful.

I find that giving someone a cup of Peppermint tea before I start them on a program of herbs is like jump starting a car. The body is perked up and ready to do some work for me. As a stimulant Peppermint gets things moving faster to handle what needs to be done.

Peppermint is the most pungent in the mint family. At the Celestial Seasonings Tea Company in Boulder Colorado, Peppermint had its own store room as it would adulterate the other teas and tea combination in the main warehouse.

More exciting stuff in this same herb are the properties that are sedative, nervine and antispasmodic in their abilities. Peppermint has a calming effect on most people, even children. It can be used to sooth and make one sleepy. As a nervine, it will help rebuild nerve cells and as an antispasmodic, it is great for stomach problems, while aiding with digestion.

When I lived in the Los Angeles area, I met a lady from England. She told me that when people wanted to lose weight, they would drink Peppermint tea. It has a wonderful refreshing taste without any sweeteners added, it also cleans and tones the entire body.

My mentors have mentioned that one should never boil an herb that is as volatile as Peppermint. A lot of its healing is done with the oils in this plant. The best way to use Peppermint is as a tea by pouring hot water over the leaves that have already been put into a cup. Cover the cup and allow steeping for 10 min.

Peppermint oil is used a lot in aroma therapy. So I want to tell you about oils. It takes 50 pounds of most plant materials to make 1/2 oz of pure oil from a plant. When using oils it is recommended to put them in a carrier oil. Talk to an aroma therapist if this is the route that you choose to go.

Pure Peppermint oil can be toxic when used in large amounts as written up by I. Thorup in his paper called Toxicol. It seems that he did research on this oil and found that it would create lesions in the brain of rats when used in large amount. He mentioned that humans couldn't take enough oil internally to create this problem.

David Christopher, director of the School of Natural Healing talked about some studies like the one above by I. Thorup and how they test. He said that they give lab rats the equivalent of feeding a human a bale of something when they do this. The lab rat is taking in 100 or more times its body weight in whatever they are testing and when the animal gets cancer, they then decide that this substance is toxic. Perhaps our standards of testing products needs a change?

I have been reading THE HEALING POWER OF HERBS by Michael T. Murray N.D. and was surprised to learn that Peppermint has Antiviral activity. Dr. Murray mentioned that Peppermint inhibits growths of "Newcastle Disease virus, herpes simplex virus and vaccine virus." He mentioned that the properties most likely to do this can be found in a simple tea.

Do you think that the healing of Virus or bacteria could take place because of the energy in this plant? This subject is the basis of Dr. Theodore A. Baroody's book , ALKALIZE OF DIE.

Most people agree that the active ingredient is the menthol but with about 240 components in this one plant, it is hard to pin one thing down. Chemists want to take things apart to find out what does what but when you find a plant like Peppermint and know all the great things that it can do in just a tea cup, it is time to sit back, relax and enjoy the healing.