tinctures

[svrn]

whatr peoples views on tinctures? Can they have benefits or will it cause damage eventually? Is the amount of alcohol insignificant?

[TylerDurden]

Waste of time - I tried them and they don't work at all.

[svrn]

well saying they dont work at all is going a bit too far. I personally know they must have some effect due to my experience with cannabis tinctures. I have had a few and the psychoactive effects of the tincture were undeniable so there is definitly something to the application of tinctures.

[jessica]

you can get glycerin tinctures for most herbs roots, berries etc....if you are worried about the alcohol.  also if you add the tincture to hot water it seems the alcohol is lessened.  herb pharm is a good company i have had many friends who have worked for them...there are a ton of great uses for certain herbs...its our wisest medicine besides honest good habit and lifestyle.  i can vouche for certain plants like ocotillo, which are used to drain the lymph and stimulate blood flow to the pelvis, i know i have suggested it to many females who were feeling PMS but no blood flow, who felt stuck in that region, i know for a fact that within 20 minutes of taking the tincture two of the women started their cycle and were relieved of some pressure.  bitters definitely stimulate the liver and digestion and have made me poo plenty of times...i think it is best to become really knowledgeable in herbs, know if/that you can eat them, make teas, make poultices, use them as salves etc.......

[jessica]

my friend who is a HUGE cynic of everything had horrible circulation to his feet, like they would go numb if he sat with regular posture, no legs crossed or anything, within 5-15 minutes.  he was only 22 and in excellent health otherwise, we read up that alfalfa was great for circulation and it just so happened it was growing EVERYWHERE, he started drinking the tea and by the end of the weak noticed his legs did not go numb....he drank it the rest of the summer and dried a ton for the winter...

[Duke]

Chaga and Reishi tincture extract ftw!

[raw-al]

In Ayurveda alcohol is a mode of transport (Anupan) for nutrients to the nerve cells.

We are not talking a lot of alcohol, only a small amount. Often the alcohol is brewed with the herbs as the base, plus something to create the alcohol. Typically the alcohol is supposed to ne less than a year old (I believe)

I've never made any and I would be reluctant to bother with some Joe making the stuff in his house because he thinks God advised him to do it. LOL

There may be other bases for it.

For a rough dirty recipe use 1 pint of Vodka, Brandy, Gin or Rum, mix in about 4 ounces of the herb in question. Shake daily allowing the herbs to work for about 2 weeks.

Works best if you put it together on the new moon and let it work till the full moon and then strain it off.

BTW the way of producing herbs is not something to be taken lightly. It is an art unto itself. However weaker versions will also work.

[raw-al]

whatr peoples views on tinctures? Can they have benefits or will it cause damage eventually? Is the amount of alcohol insignificant?

What sparked the question?

[svrn]

Iv been taking milk thistle in its raw form and seems to be helping me a bit. However I think that eating all of those raw seeds may be bad for me and that I would get a stronger effect from a tincture so I am considering it.

[raw-al]

Iv been taking milk thistle in its raw form and seems to be helping me a bit. However I think that eating all of those raw seeds may be bad for me and that I would get a stronger effect from a tincture so I am considering it.

Helping you in what way? What is the issue?

[svrn]

I never had it diagnosed but I think I have gallstones.

[jessica]

herb pharm makes a milk thistle seed coat tincture that is good, but the best comes directly from the seeds, how do you feel they are effecting you adversely? i usually munch on slightly warmed seeds of milk thistle but am awaiting some seed powder to come in the mail, i will chew the !!!! out of that, i have read that is the best form, we shall see.....

really great tea for gall bladder is oregon grape root, boil water, add roots, steeeeeep 15 minutes, enjoy:) very bitter, i love this tea.......tumeric and basically any yellow/orange herbs will help any of those bilely organs, gall, liver, spleen...yellow dock is very harsh!

[svrn]

i feel like certain things in the seed are helping me but I dont think the fact that it is a seed is good. Soft fleshy foods like fruit and meat and fat are what I feel we should be eating and goes down well. The seeds are hard and dry and need to be chewed a lot. I feel like they dont get digested too well.

Why is powder better? Wouldnt the increased surface area cause increased oxidation and nutrient loss? Isnt turning them into powder with your teeth right before you swallow better? Also gets the digestive juice going and coating the powder as well so I feel it would be superior.

How do you slightly warm your seeds?

[raw-al]

Even moistening them will help. I find tea doesn't work for me since going raw.

Some try sprouting them. The nutritional content of sprouts is dramatically higher than seeds

[jessica]

the chemical that is supposed to be healthful to the liver is silymarin, i have read many sources to say that it is concentrated in the seed coat. i also did a ton of research on milk thistle seeds and found some random studies on their usage as flours and how that also proved the best way to obtain the silymarin, they may use this compound in many pharmaceuticals and that is why there is a lot of research on it.  this may be a chemical unlike something that can necessarily oxidize and may be stable in a powdered form, i am not sure all chemicals necessarily oxidize and if they do there are probably varying rates.  i plan to chew the flour anyway, to get the enzymes and digestion working.  when i heat the seeds i sometimes through them into the pot after i have cooked some veggies, much like you would steep something, or ill heat them a little on the bottom of a clean pot, there is defintely a different taste, i like both raw and slightly cooked, i have also cooked them up in a little water with fennel seeds and they taste like wild rice..i mean its a pretty similar concept.  sprouting can also cause antinutrients, i know that from my own growing of sunflower seeds, there is a burn in the back of the throat as seeds sprout that goes away just as they are at the peak of nutrition, after they are seeds and before they grow their first true leaves, in this mature cotyledon phase.  i am not sure if the structure of the seed coat changes through sprouting.....perhaps it does? anyway that is all i know and what i am going to chew on

[svrn]

if you feed a chicken nothing but sprouts it will die, so im not going to have any of that.

[raw-al]

I wasn't suggesting you live on sprouts.

If it were me I would do a flush
http://curezone.com/cleanse/liver/default.asp
and get it over with.

[svrn]

i have done several and its still not over with. Getting better though.