and more on echinacea! :) Re: Are NOW Supplements Poisoned???!!!!

Hmmm, as far as the NOW supplements (without herbs), I'm not going to be much help - I'm a "natural natural" healer/coach, and I do my best to get everything I need from a food source. Hopefully someone else can/will help out there.

As far as the echinacea, Herb Pharm capsules are most likely the best on the market. Just so you know, though, tincture is always more effective than anything capsulized. Why? Because a tincture will enter your bloodstream within 15 minutes; the capsules have to go through the entire digestive process before they are assimilated into the bloodstream. I'll never forget my first colon cleanse. I had a choice between Schulzes IF#2 in powder form (mix with water or juice 5 times a day), or taking it in capsule form. Midway through the cleanse I started seeing these pea-sized black pellets. Well curiosity (and wanting to learn) got the best of me, and I strained them out of the toilet, dried them off and cut into them. Guess what? they were partially digested capsules that hadn't 'broken down'...you could still see the gel caps in a few of them. WOW - that was the end of capsules for me...all that money and all that time was at least partially wasted...and worse yet, my body hadn't gotten near as much of the benefit as I'd thought. I could have easily end up saying "that didn't work"...and that's what happens with a LOT of people when take encapsulized anything. One just can't get the same effect as taking a good/pure tincture.

Echinacea is the BOMB (in any form)! Good for you for getting some - you'll love it! It bolsters, speeds up, and increases the amounts of EVERY immune cell in your body...to fight the pathogen like your body knows it needs to fight. Did you know, the phrase "snake oil salesman" came from echinacea! It was used by Native Americans all over the country for all KINDS of sickness...and chewing the root was so effective it would cure a rattlesnake bite (if taken in time). A traveling salesman got hold of it, tinctured some and went on the road selling it...he actually had rattlesnakes with him and let them bite him to sell his "snake oil". Cool story :)

My husband and I haven't had a cold or the flu for almost 7 years because of it. And that's SO much better than taking something that kills bacteria...even the 'natural' products (like Colloidal Silver ) kill ALL kinds of bacteria (and that includes our good/needed ones) - and I'm thinking, if I'm feeling sick why in the world would I take something that kills my good bacteria, eh? There's certainly no reason when there's good echinacea to be had!

The most important thing to remember with echinacea is to take it AS SOON AS YOU FEEL ANYTHING WRONG. If you take enough, it'll bolster your immune system to win against anything (it's even cured cancer!)...but if you wait too long to start taking it, it's not nearly as effective (this has been proven in double-blind studies). All with no side effects, no potential for taking 'too much' and no known drug interactions.

There's some links below for you to check out when you have the time (if you're interested in learning more). I've got my first batch of echinacea tincturing now - it took forever for me to find a source for fresh, organic roots. It's already stronger than the best I've purchased (from Herb Pharm, Dr. Schulze and/or Health Freedom Resources), and it's only been 'tincturing' for 3 days! ( Dr. Schulze is right - it's ALWAYS better when you make it yourself). Echinacea's "signature" is that it numbs/tingles the tongue (fyi, if you get echinacea that doesn't do that, you can take 1/2 the bottle for a dose, and hope it does something...because if you don't feel the numb/tingle, it's basically worthless). I've got 5 one gallon jars that are 3/4 full; I'm going to "harvest" one jar on the full moon in April, and I'm going to leave the rest tincturing. What I used was fresh echinacea purpurea roots and dried echinacea angustifolia roots; come this summer, I may even get fresh flowers & leaves and add those to what's already tinctured...and seeds in the fall. This coming holiday season my entire family's going to get the gift of "no colds or flu for the rest of their lives!".

Blankets of blessings -

Unyquity

http://healingtools.tripod.com/imnhbs.html#ech+

Immune System Herbs - Formulae and Therapeutic Action

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/e/echina01.html

botanical.com - A Modern Herbal | Echinacea - Herb Profile and Information

http://www.kcweb.com/herb/echin.htm

Herbal Information Center-Echinacea - Herbs

http://www.mnwelldir.org/docs/misc/echinacea.htm

Echinacea Wellness Tip of the Month


http://www.rrreading.com/Echinacea.html

Mythical Adverse Effects of Echinacea

http://healthyherbalist.com/nl_echinacea.html

NL ECHINACEA -
http://www.HealthyHerbalist.com


http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0897.htm

Echinacea History

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