“The good physician is a diagnostician, experienced – a knower of herbs, of stones, of trees, and of roots.” – The Physician, Aztec Florentine Codex, Book 10: The People
Alkaline healing herbs are herbs that mineralize the body, help nourish the kidneys, and cool down inflammation. Their essence, vibration, and chemistry help reverse cellular degeneration, making them a must-have addition to your healing journey!
Healing with herbs is a natural medical art used by all ancient societies to heal illness and bring back the body’s state to homeostasis – or wellness. Herbal medicine was humankind’s primary means of healing illness.
Over time, by studying sick animals that grazed on fields on specific herbs and how certain herbs interacted with the body, the village healers gathered their knowledge through observation and experimentation.
In all parts of the world, herbs grow wild and according to the conditions of their environment, which also dictate the types of ailments that are the most common within those natural conditions. Most herbs either grow as common weeds or proliferate wildly on mountain prairies.
Indeed, similarly to the types of native fruits that grow in a geographical region which changes according to the seasons, the nutritional and healing elements of herbs align with the bodily needs of the population that inhabits that specific environment.
Mother nature is wise and as part of nature, we can become wise by observing her and living according to her cycles!
Ancient Cultures and Herbal Remedies
The use of alkaline healing herbs can be traced as far back as 50,000 years ago, when our Neanderthal ancestors roamed the plains for vegetables, fruits, roots, and herbs. Unlike the conventional story that paints Neanderthals as meat-eating and cannibalistic humanoids, new evidence suggests that they ate a variety of plants and self-medicated, which means they were more intelligent and aligned with their natural surroundings than previously thought. Instead, they were more oriented toward vegetarianism in their diets than meat!
According to Karen Hardy, an archaeologist who worked on the investigative project, found that Neanderthals preferred veggies over steaks and that they were highly knowledgeable about medicinal plants.
Undoubtedly, the Paleolithic diets of our ancestors were more diverse than the mainstream consensus and included edible herbs and diverse plants. Modern research suggests that they had a profound knowledge of the plants and herbs growing in their environment and used them for their healing properties.
We can also find herbs mentioned and celebrated for their healing properties in religious texts and cultural myths. For example, the Bible includes many verses about herbs, all resonating with our spiritual connection to nature and our food source. Here are just two that paint an important picture of the importance of herbs as a primary food source given to humanity by the divine:
Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you” (Genesis 1:29).
“By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing” (Ezekiel 47:12).
In Quran, there are also many acknowledgments of healing illness and finding cures in spiritual work and medicinal healing: “There is no disease that God Almighty has created, except that He also has created his treatment” (Quran, 26:80).
The Torah also includes many verses about herbs and plants and their significance as gifts from God to humanity:
“Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God” (Hebrews 6:7).
Even outside of religious texts, herbs were seen by most cultures as divinely created by nature for the healing of the animal kingdom. In many indigenous cultures, plants, and herbs were revered to hold the consciousness that aligns with the cell receptors of our bodies.
They all served a particular “rebalancing” task that was either purgative, toning, heating, cooling, hydrating, or dehydrating, among many other states. Depending on the particular disease, the right type of herbal remedy would be selected that corresponded to the “nature” of the illness and which could bring it to a state of homeostasis.
Aztecs, Mayans, Incas, and Native American tribes all had a profound relationship with herbs and had incorporated many spiritual traditions with herbal healing known today as folk medicine.
And even today, in most poverty-ridden regions of the world, the reach of modern medicine is limited and herbs are the only option for many people’s healthcare needs. In fact, approximately 80% of the world’s population relies on herbs as their primary source of healthcare, as folk herbal remedies are integral to many cultures and practices.
The Western world is also slowly moving toward a more human-centered and holistic approach to medicine that fuses traditional herbal medical knowledge with the understanding of modern emergency medicine practices.
This “alternative” medical practice is known as functional, naturopathic, and integrative medicine, whose understanding of health and wellness resonates with that of our ancestors – that the human body and nature are the source of all healing.
Healing With Herbs in the Greek Tradition
Medicinal plants have a long tradition in ancient Greece. Modern medicine has much to owe to its understanding of medicine to ancient Greek healers, particularly Hippocrates. Known as the father of medicine, Hippocrates (460-377 BC), had written several treatises about the human body, disease, and how to cure them naturally. He is also known to have standardized ethics in medical practice, known today as the “Hippocratic Oath,” which all medical physicians take in the West before practicing medicine.
Hippocrates was known to have categorized approximately 400 of the most common herbs in use in Greece during his lifetime and was known to have used herbs according to their constituencies – either warming or cooling – according to which "humours" they helped treat.
His designation of humours – or body liquids – included blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. By understanding which liquid was compromised, Hippocrates advised a herbal and lifestyle protocol that helped his patients correct certain imbalances in the body.
Hippocrates revived the ancient pagan understanding of health as stemming from personal dietary and lifestyle choices that either aligned or deviated from natural law, as opposed to the Classical Greek view that people of that time prescribed – that disease was a punishment for the transgression against the Gods.
Another influential Greek physician who lived in the first century A.D., Pedanius Dioscorides, wrote the well-known book, De Materia Medica, in which he documented many properties of medicinal plants. This book, like Hippocrates’s knowledge, is still considered one of the most significant herbal books to this day.
Alkaline Healing Herbs in the Ayurvedic Tradition
Ayurveda – also known as the “science of life” – is an ancient alternative medicine system that incorporates the spiritual knowledge of the Vedas with the ancient knowledge of the body and natural law. It is one of the most herb-oriented medical practices of ancient times. Ayurveda is based on the wisdom that all disease is caused by toxic obstructions in the body that need to be removed through detoxification for the body to self-heal.
The detoxification of Ama, or toxins, occurs through healing plants, purgative methods, and fasting. By utilizing the laws of nature and the universal elements of air, water, fire, and earth, Ayurveda looks at a patient’s particular constitution and advises on detoxification methods that correspond to his or her bodily needs.
Herbs are mostly used for detoxification, regeneration, digestive support, and circulation massage. The most popular herbs in the Ayurvedic tradition include turmeric, cumin, clove, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and fennel – all of which have anti-inflammatory properties; however, some of the most detoxifying healing herbs for cleaning the body include manjistha, kutki, and neem.
Healing With Herbs in the Traditional Chinese Medicine Tradition
China has some of the oldest comprehensive systems of herbal medicine. Mirroring Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine fuses the ancient spiritual Taoist philosophy of balance between yin and yang energies with the power of the herbal kingdom.
Indeed, The Divine Farmer’s Classic of Herbalism, is a 3rd Century AD text without a known writer that has been passed down orally for over 2,000 years, and documents a mythical deity’s experimentation with 365 healing plant substances, their structure and nature, and the effects they had on health. Much of the knowledge is still used and practiced today.
One of the most distinctive aspects of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is that it connects the elements of nature to the body’s constitution and has a profound understanding of how specific emotions impact the function of corresponding organs.
One of my favorite books about Chinese herbalism comes from a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner, Lesley Tierra. In her book, The Herbs of Life, she writes how Eastern and Western medical traditions diverge in the manner in which they perceive disease:
Traditional cultures which use herbs according to a theoretical system use herbs energetically. Chinese, East Indian Ayurvedic, Tibetan, Middle Eastern Unani and Native American Cherokee medicines are all founded on an energetic basis, although each system is different. To use herbs energetically, we look beyond the symptoms of the disease to alleviate the underlying imbalance which caused the disease. -The Herbs of Life by Lesley Tierra, pg. 4
All major cultures with long-standing healing traditions understand that the energy that we find in herbs and foods is meant to infuse more energy into our system, so that it can nourish and heal itself. Void of energy (or Qi), our cells start to degenerate, and we become ill. Ultimately, herbs provide the energy needed by specific tissues, organs, and systems that help to revive their function.
In essence, since we are all energetic beings, the energy of a plant, herb, or food must make a difference to our well-being. And unlike what most of us have been taught in the West, what we consume energetically does have a profound influence on our health!
How to Heal with Herbal Medicine
Medicinal properties of herbs and plants vary from cooling, drying, warming, or moistening and can be used to offset opposite-natured conditions to correct the imbalances present. This is exactly why knowledge of herbs and herbal protocol is necessary – as picking and combining herbs is both an art and a science that understands disease and how it behaves in the body.
Along with an alkaline diet and a healthy lifestyle, herbs are known to treat all types of health issues, including the most common ailments such as upper respiratory infections, high blood pressure, sore throats, body’s immune system, digestive disorders, upset stomach, sore muscles, wound healing, cold symptoms, skin conditions, and nervous system issues.
Although pharmaceuticals have replaced herbs as the modern medicine cabinet for most Westerners, their chemistry and assimilation in the body couldn’t be more misaligned with our bodies’ needs and nature’s healing wisdom.
For one, pharmaceuticals include many man-made substances that are toxic and which can interfere with and disrupt natural body cycles. When brought together artificially, these chemicals may also behave unpredictably, causing many adverse symptoms to emerge over time.
One of the major reasons why pharmaceuticals are so dangerous as a method of treatment is that they only relieve symptoms temporarily, cause more damage over time (accumulated toxins in the body), and do not address the cause of the illness in the first place.
Unlike herbs that hold the wisdom of cosmic intelligence that is then assimilated into the body to treat the root cause of symptoms, prescription medications provide temporary pain and symptom relief at a higher health cost over time.
Therefore, unlike Eastern medical thinking which views the body and nature as holistic elements in themselves, Western medical thinking sees health as a sum of individual parts that must be treated separately and mechanically. The vast differences in these approaches are reflected in the divergent understanding of biology and consciousness.
Throughout centuries, herbs were used in various forms to facilitate their maximum absorption in the body. Herbal products from salves, syrups, and concoctions based on village traditions reflected the ubiquitous knowledge of folk remedies by most individuals, making medical practice more decentralized and utilized by knowledgeable laypeople.
Today, the medicinal use of healing plants comes in different forms that vary in consumption and concentration. Here are the most commonly used herbal products that you can find in most grocery stores today:
Tinctures – tinctures are concentrated herbal extracts that utilize alcohol, glycerin, and vinegar as a base for extraction and a delivery solvent.
Capsules – capsules are a bit less potent than tinctures in their delivery, as they are absorbed through digestion, and are some of the most common means individuals use herbs to support healing.
Essential Oils – essential oils are volatile chemical compounds extracted from pounds of herbs into concentrated oils that are usually used externally to administer plant compounds to the body through the skin (through a carrier oil) or the nose (though a mist infuser). You can read more about essential oils for detox and lymphatic drainage to learn more about the power of essential oils.
Medicinal Infusions (Teas) – medicinal teas infuse a plant’s (a dried herb or a fresh herb) antioxidants and volatile compounds through the boiling of leaves, roots, flowers, barks, stems, and seeds. Both the benefits of the infusion and hot water are very healing, as they eliminate toxic obstructions, nourish the tissues, and help with digestion. Here is something I wrote about the power of ginseng tea…I hope you find it helpful!
Body Salves – body salves and butter utilize natural oils, essential oils, and herbs to create a skin-nourishing, soothing, and anti-inflammatory moisturizer. They are very useful for treating skin irritation and wounds, as well as delivering medicinal compounds to the area of the body that is experiencing pain and illness. Here is a great recipe for calendula skin butter that I think you’ll love.
Salads (consume herbs fresh or dried) – both fresh (such as weeds) and dried herbs can be used as salad greens and garnish. By combining fresh and dried herbs with olive oil and lemon, the healing capacity of all the compounds will be maximized. Salads are probably one of the most practical and delicious ways to enjoy the healing and aroma-therapeutic capacity of herbs.
3 of My Favorite Alkaline Healing Herbs
Alkaline healing herbs are cooling to the body and help it fight acidosis. Since herbs are tissue-specific healers, various alkaline herbs are ideal for different organs and tissues of the body. As a detoxification specialist, and since the kidneys are of vital importance in eliminating acids from the body, I am always looking to first prescribe herbs that help the kidneys filter when writing a detoxification protocol.
As mentioned earlier in the article, alkaline healing herbs are characterized by their mineral content and their cooling and soothing essence. They grow as plants instead of roots, which are more heating to the body (but which are also highly vital to detoxification).
If your body is highly acidic and you'd like to start a detox protocol, I always advise starting with alkaline (cooling) herbs as opposed to heating root herbs. Once your body is more healed, the root herbs can help you further detoxify because of their strength and potency.
Here are my very top alkaline healing herbs:
Stinging Nettle
Nettles have long been prized as excellent blood and lymph purifiers. They contain anti-inflammatory agents called acetylcholine and histamine that reduce pain and inflammation. They also have some of the highest electrolyte content of all herbs, meaning they act as a full-body alkalizing tonic.
Nettles are also great at removing industrial pollutants from the kidneys and the liver. They are the panacea herb that nourishes a depleted body and brings healing energy to all degenerated tissues.
Parsley and Cilantro
Parsley and cilantro are "kidney herbs" that are known to lower blood pressure, reverse chronic inflammation, and detoxify heavy metals in the body. They also have antifungal properties and help regulate blood sugar levels.
Both herbs can be eaten fresh in foods (the best way to consume herbs) and are full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
Red Clover
Red clover has long been regarded as a remedy for cancer because it contains allantoin compounds that have been found to increase the body’s natural protection against cancerous cells.
Like nettle, red clover is full of minerals (like calcium) and flavonoids and provides much-needed antioxidants during herbal detoxes and cleanses. The herb is a strong tissue detoxifier that helps aid the liver and the kidneys to clear toxins from the blood and the lymphatic system.
Healing With Alkaline Herbs
Healing with herbs is one of the oldest human practices that connect the quality of our lives directly to nature. Human cultures throughout the world understood that alignment with the laws of nature was a strong precondition for a generous harvest, good health, and successful life.
Since the industrial revolution and the advent of tech, we have been pulled toward an artificial way of living that does not mimic the cycles and laws of nature, fostering a global health crisis of chronic disease. I believe that the stresses of the modern world are a big culprit alongside artificial work environments (including prolonged computer screen time and sitting at a desk for most of the day), fast and packaged foods, chemical exposure, and EMF radiation.
To give our body the assistance it needs, we have to turn back to nature and its wisdom! In my opinion, herbs, organic whole foods, and frequent time in nature are the triad antidote to all the imbalances we are experiencing physically, emotionally, and mentally.
Detoxification with alkaline healing herbs is the primary step to healing yourself from acidosis and healing disease. By removing toxic obstructions and hydrating and strengthening cells and tissues, we become more resilient, vital, and capable of dealing with and even thriving in the modern world. The journey back to health can be hard, given the extent of cleansing we require, but the gifts of the journey are worth every setback!
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