Slippery Elm

Here is another not so little herb, Slippery Elm bark. I have put this on my "Big Guns" list because of all the wonderful things it is capable of doing.

Let's start with its ability to rebuild body parts. Dr. John R. Christopher, founder of the School of Natural Healing in Utah mentioned that Slippery Elm has the ability to rebuild the body. He went on to talk about how a poultice of Slippery Elm bark could be applies to hips or knees to rebuild these parts. What Slippery Elm does is supply all the building blocks to that area. He suggested keeping this poultice moist and allowing the body to absorb it. When it is absorbed it was suggested to reapply it. He mentioned that one would never need to take any of the old poultice off as the body was using this to rebuild the area where it was applied. I find that just amazing.

The American Natives used tree bark in a similar manner. They would cut a strip of bark off the tree and tie it to an injured area and go on with their life. The inner bark of a tree is where the tree's life blood is; so in putting this next to an injury, one is giving the body the benefit of a blood transfusion, so to speak from the tree. David Christopher, director of the School of Natural Healing mentioned that the difference between plant blood and human blood is only one thing. Sorry but at this point in my life, I don't remember what it is, Iron, Potassium or what.

Slippery Elm bark has the nutritional value in it equivalent to oatmeal. It can be used to support life at an early age. When a baby is not eating or gaining weight properly, Slippery Elm gruel can be given to it by making a very runny gruel. In the same manner, when an elderly person is not able to assimilate their food, Slippery Elm gruel can be eaten. The properties are able to rebuild the cells of the body. Slippery Elm bark powder does not like to combine with water easily so one has to create gruel by adding one drop of water to a pile of Slippery Elm at a time. Rolling this drop until it has collected some of the powder and then adding another drop until you have collected all of the powder. Now, one can make it into anything that is needed.

Slippery Elm powder can be made into suppositories to heal the vaginal area or to heal hemorrhoids. While checking Dr. Dukes database, I found one constituent in this herb that was "antivaginitic". (Dr. Duke's word.) I also found a lot of anticancer constituents. This herb is on my "big Guns" list for a lot of reasons.

A few years ago a lady called me. She was very upset because she had burned her arm while burning off the land behind her house. Her first thought (and we are trained to think this way) was to go to the doctor. He put a chemical healer on the burn and told her to come back in 10 days. She followed his advice and went back. She had just gotten back from the doctors this second time when she called me. Well, she had taken time to talk to a nurse who was a student of mine and the nurse suggested that she call me. She told me that at the doctor's office, they did a debridement ("Surgical removing of dead or contaminated tissue and foreign matter from a wound" from the Heritage College Dictionary – Third Edition.) They had removed the old scabs that had formed on top of the burned area. This is standard practice for handling burns in the medical field. When the body is in the process of healing a wound, it forms a scab. This is God's way of protecting this injured area from contaminates. Why would the medical profession know better than GOD?

I mentioned that she might want to start the healing with Slippery Elm on the raw flesh. Then I told her about the health food store in her area where she would be able to get the Slippery Elm. I mentioned that it needed to be kept moist and that she could call me anytime. She called back later that day and asked what to do next. Thinking that she had used Slippery Elm Powder, I suggested that she reapply it to the affected area. It seems that the Health Food Store sold her bark hunks as they told her that the powder would not mix with water.

Now she had to soak the arm and allow the bark to come out of the "trying to heal" flesh and then I gave her instructions on how to come to my house. When she arrived we made a paste of Slippery Elm Powder and spread it on the raw flesh, covered this with damp cotton and plastic to keep it moist. I gave her a small jar of Slippery Elm Powder to take home until she could get some of her own.

I told her that when this scabs over again, we will treat the area with something else.

I got a call from a lady from Plymouth. She told me that a friend had told her to call me to get help for her son. It seems that this four year old had fallen into a pile of burning leaves and had burned his lower legs. She wanted to know if I would be willing to help him. I asked her where he was and she mentioned that he was in the hospital. I told her that I would love to help but that I am not allowed to do anything in hospitals. She mentioned that it was killing her and her husband as they hug each other while the staff debrides their son's legs every other day and he is screaming even while under morphine. I also explained that if they were to take their son out of the hospital to give him a different care, the social system would take the child away from them as the only system of medical care that is recognized at the present time is from Doctors and hospitals. It was all that I could give her at this time.

Slippery Elm rebuilds flesh but it contains constituents that have the following properties; Candidicide, Anticancer, Antibacterial, Antiaging, Pesticide and many more.

Why is Pesticide important? Because we are constantly confronted with parasites in our water, our food and our environment. It is wonderful that some of our foods have the ability to take out these parasites and yes, herbs are foods. Actually, I believe that they make the environment in our bodies less attractive to the life cycle of parasites. Many plants have this ability but most of the plants that we eat are eaten cooked, so taking an herbal tea or capsule is most helpful from time to time.

Herbs are food so let your medicine be your food and your food be your medicine.