Natural Antibiotics and Antivirals 18 Infection-Fighting Herbs and Essential Oils. / Christopher Vasey, 2018. English translation, 2018 by Inner Traditions International. 200 pages. Illustrations, tables, index.
Christopher Vasey is one of my favorite authors for a solid-and-quick read on specific health topics. Titles I’ve read, including this one, are successful in clarifying details about health conditions and providing specific guidance in re-gaining health or maintaining it. Written at a pace for the reader who’s willing to consider alternative means for maintaining health or re-gaining it once trouble arrives, Vasey’s books open up and reveal a topic, preparing you to read further with some background intelligence.
One of the main points about Vasey’s Natural Antibiotics and Antivirals 18 Infection-Fighting Herbs and Essential Oils is that he combines information about the use of essential oils plus herbal tinctures and 3 other herbs, according to the particular condition presented. This is not new, but it’s very useful info. For example, what if you wanted to use these natural substances but had on hand only a tincture of echinacea or oregano essential oil? Vasey says you could use one of these strong antibacterial substances, according to your condition, following the specific dosage, see below.
If you want to know about how herbs can mitigate infectious diseases, Natural Antibiotics and Antivirals could be your first place to begin. Its handbook size is appropriate for a solid-and-quick read. Its information progresses from infectious diseases—from colds and flus to stomach issues, infections on the skin, urinary infections and ones more often common to women, and those common to men—to a discussion of the standard methods of relieving an infection—the use of conventional antibiotics. At this point, a reader is likely to sense the common ground between themselves and the author, a Swiss doctor of naturopathy.
Dr. Vasey is not so much against conventional medicine as someone who sees clearly that antibiotics must be allowed to lie fallow to regain their alleged power over germs—a potential that repeated and often superfluous contact with them has drained them of. As Vasey explains, synthetic or lab-constructed antibiotics, as well as targeted antibiotics from live cultures, have little chance in future medicine or survival as a species within the current model they were created to imitate. Conventional antibiotics were intended to target specific germs.
Once you understand the effect, it’s difficult to ignore. A number of authors have laid out the problem with conventional antibiotics: because germs have the capacity to overcome single substances, antibiotics have to be re-tooled to be effective, and the medical industry doesn’t give much quarter to our natural ability to fight off infections. Even though Vasey is clear on this point, he does say that in rare cases, antibiotics absolutely must be used.
Anticipating the reader’s questions and answering them with precision, Vasey offers practical health awareness as well. I especially appreciate the treatment of infectious diseases because the topic is approached broadly. From kinds of bacteria and fungi, to parasites and viruses, it’s a fascinating read.
Where infectious diseases are found within the body—inside the intestines, bladder, nose and throat, as well as on the skin—is another aspect of this thrifty book. He discusses how a local infection can become general, an example of the harm germs inflict on human beings. And this is where the subjects of Vasey’s book, essential oils, herbal tinctures, and other naturally occurring antimicrobials, come into the picture. Vasey’s description of these substances gives us an idea of their power over germs—that essential oils with the strongest antibiotic action come from a collection of multiple chemical substances within a single naturally occurring essential oil. Some oils contain dozens or up to hundreds of these substances. It’s believed they work synergistically for protection from invasion, substances the plant developed during its evolution, and is alive today because of it.
Do you know that plants make these oils in order to protect themselves from invasive organisms?! To extract the essential oil from a plant, in some cases hundreds of pounds of plant material are needed for a single ounce of essential oil! Certain plants only yield aromatic oil, and even then, contain them at about 1 or 2% of the plant. That’s a miniscule amount, but enough for each plant, something we can benefit from enormously.
It is also believed that one of these substances in isolation, one of these rather than the synergistic blend of all, cannot be effective against an invader. This is what conventional antibiotics try to do. On the other hand, “natural” antibiotics, antivirals, is the name for the healthful value these essential oils have for human beings and it’s just an added feature that many of them also smell wonderful. Besides antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal and anti-parasitic, the combination of substances can be calming or stimulating to the bodily systems.
Even if you’re not yet sold on the idea that essential oils can dismantle and help rid your body of infectious diseases, Vasey’s argument makes sense. However, he’s not alone at all in this opinion: that germs cannot outlast the complexity of antibiotic material found in natural substances, two of which are well-known—the eucalyptus and lavender essential oils.
Eucalyptus oils from its leaves and lavender oil from its flowers benefit the lungs and the nervous system, respectively, but they also have many other advantages. Vasey lists Eucalyptus radiata as one of the strongest antivirals and Lavandula angustifolia as one of the gentlest on the skin. In many practitioner’s words, eucalyptus and lavender essential oils are described as being go-to salvos for a range of germs and conditions and are two of the safest to use.
Vasey reminds us that in order to use essential oils effectively and safely, it is important to “scrupulously respect the indicated dosage”. For one, to exceed the dosage could mean intake of overly strong medicine with unknown consequences—meaning too much essential oil could initiate unwanted or irreversible reactions inside the body or on the skin. It’s of utmost importance, too, to follow the dosage in pregnancy, for infants and small children, and the elderly—all of whom could be very sensitive.
You’ll probably most often consult two chapters: one on treatments for 50 common infections and one on maintaining healthy cellular terrain. They give advice on maintaining health, while describing functions of bodily parts and terrain where we have two kinds of intestinal flora, and the ways we should support a balanced system. The chapter on common infections carries two methods of applying natural antibiotics in each of 50 cases—presumably to accommodate a choice of pleasing aromas in the essential oils.
Natural Antibiotics and Antivirals contains a wealth of information about germs, the body’s defense mechanisms, conventional and natural antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and anti-parasites in the form of essential oils, herbal tinctures and three naturally-occurring broad-spectrum germicides. It should go on your required reading list—before the seasonal infectious germs rage!
The author’s website is here.
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