Category: Health

Female Formula should always be at the beck and call of anyone who is treating female infertility challenges, whether primary or secondary.

This product is one of the 30 plant medicines produced and marketed in Nigeria by Edible Herbs for a wide spectrum of health challenges.

 Edible herbs or female formula is a unique combination of herbs that not only balances hormones, treats infertility by stimulating ovarian functions but, also, takes care of menstrual problems.

 Its formulation include but is not limited to the following ingridients, one of the stars of which is Lady’s Mantle.

This plant rings a bell whenever problems in the female reproductive system are to be addressed.

Herbalists believe its shape in lobes and notches is a signature tune. By this, they mean the shape is a secret code for which organs in the body a herbal plant is created to maintain in good health and to cure when it is healed. Lady’s Mantle resembles the entire reproductive system of a woman, especially the uterus.

What benefits can a woman’s reproductive system derive from her regular consumption of Lady’s mantle in diverse ways? 1.

 Lady’s Mantle strengthens muscles of the uterus.

The muscles need to be strong for several reasons. If they are weak, Prolapse of The Uterus may occur. This means the entire uterine structure may collapse like a pack of cards or like the decking of a house constructed with inferior building materials.

When this happens, parts of the uterus may extrude into the cervix and, from there, sometimes into the vagina.

It can be embarrassing for a woman, to say the least,if she has to always use her fingers to push the extruded prolapsed uterus back into her body, especially during sexual intercourse.

Weak uterine muscles may not support a baby growing in the uterus, because this amounts to additional load and pressure on them.

Where the muscles of the cervix are weak, this may cause incompetent  cervix in which weak muscles of the cervix give way about mid-term in what becomes spontaneous or habitual abortion for some women.

When this happens, the doctor may have to surgically hold muscles of the cervix together in what is called cervical cerclage or surgical suture.

The cervix is the protective outer corridor of the uterus which connects it with the vagina.

Older women, too,need to strengthen their uterine muscles to prevent prolapse of the uterus.

They are prone to this, especially in menopausal years, when hormonal imbalances deprive them of enough estrogen, the star hormone of women to maintain their muscles, nerves and bone in youthful forms.

For Lady’s Mantle also helps to balance the hormones. 2. Lady’s Mantle prevents and stops bleeding in the uterus and detoxifies it of those toxins which can cause systemic problems. Bleeding can make the uterus to become suboptimal.

Deprive of oxygen and nutrients, the cells become weak and are unable to function optimally. In some cases, it causes an establish placenta, through which the foetus feeds, to rupture and to bleed, and this may be dangerous for the baby within.

Through its tanin component, lady’s mantle may help to stop the bleeding. Lady’s mantle may be a super star gynaecology herb, but it is by no means a lone tree in a forest. Edible Herbs recognises this in the formulation of Female Formula which, therefore,comes with three other starry herbs for reproductive system health.

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These other reproductive system starry herbs which women of all ages should not ignore are a. Fertility Tree, b. Red Clover and c. Wild Yam.

 I wish to play a prank with Fertility Tree because many women, especially readers of this column, have often had of it or probably take it as a supplement with good reasons, but can hardly recognise it by this name.

The name fertility tree comes from the Greeks and the Romans. In Greek mythology, the tree is believed to be associated with Aphrodite, the goddess of love and fertility.

 The Romans, on the other hand, associated it with Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. How would a regular user of Chaste Berry feel when I say that Fertility tree and Chaste Berry are the same plant medicine! That is Prank number one that some naturopaths may play. This herb does more than make a woman fertile and pregnancy prone. I am aware of a woman who would be reading this and recalling her days of fertility and pregnancy troubles which this herb, along with lady’s mantle and squaw veine, reversed with beautiful results.

Her first pregnancy came with serious spotting which warranted complete bed rest for about two weeks.

The next two or three pregnancies came down mid-term because of hormonal imbalances.

By the time she tried again to get pregnant, I had come by the knowledge of these herbs during a meeting in the United States where an American pharmacologist reported that they stabilised his wife’s reproductive system after about three miscarriages in a row.

I shared this experience with many women on my return home and received jubilant gratitude from them. What many women do not know and which I seldom tell them is that this Chaste Berry can be a double edged sword.

For while it may balance the hormone estrogen against the hormone progesterone to stabilise their productive system, it may help to put a flaming Romeo in chains.

 That was why, in the Middle ages, Fertility Tree was also called chaste Berry by Europeans.

The word Chaste is associated with Chastity, the human limit in the pursuit of Purity, which derives from Pure or Purity.

 Only the Almighty Creartor is Pure or Holy! As man cannot, therefore, be pure, the limit set for his specie in the striving for Purity is Chastity or Faithfulness. In the European monasteries of old, Chaste Berry was given to the monks as part of their diet to Clip or to Droop the wings of their Libido.

What I am saying in effect is that, in men, chaste Berry can inactivate the habit of men running around with almost everything in skirt.

Generous portions of red meat in the diet is believed to aggravate the sexual instinct of men. Chaste berry is believed to quieten the sexual instinct. I seldom mention this aspect on chaste berry because it may be counterproductive to a woman who steals it into the diet of her man just to keep him, bind him, hand and foot, to herself alone. What if he came to know what went wrong and the source? Has the market no more supplies of Long jack, refire, libido tonight, steel libido, robust roots, African Black Ant, Dman and the likes of them to get a cold fish man back into fiery form? If you still cannot guess the landing port we are heading for, here it is…. Vitex is what we have been talking about and calling Fertility Tree or Chaste berry!

Almost every woman who has faced hormonal challenges knows about it.

 I  have heard that some naturopaths get it to some men who have testosterone problems and prostate gland challenge,  but I cannot vouch for its use and effects in this scenario.

 In 1990s, I often suggested that women combine Vitex with Phytoestrogen and Cardiotonic Pills from Tasly. The effects were often wondrous when they addf Milk  Thistle and Zinc. Phyto-Estrogen was a proprietary blend of plant estrogens. In the bodies of some women, their own human estrogen can be too harsh for their reproductive system.

This problem can be worse when estrogen overpowers progesterone or the woman is estrogenated.

She may suffer from mild to serious  pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS),bloating, swollen or sore breasts,food cravings, mood swings, irregular, scanty, excessive, painful menstruation or absence of it. Uterine muscles may ache, become inflamed, suffused with arachidonic acid, and uterine fibroids may develop. Some women suffer from single or polycystic ovarian syndrome in one ovary or both. To add to such discomforts, some women are driven to vomit and experience peace only after they have vomitted a greenish, bitter substance. Some of them ask me what all of these mean.

This subject offers an opportunity for an explanation.The greenish, bitter substance is likely to be bile, a digestive salt produced by the liver and stored in the gall bladder for the digestion of fats and other purposes. When estrogen and other hormones run riot during menstruation, hormone-like substances called prostaglandins produced in the uterus stimulate cramping or spasms of soft muscles in the body, upsetting the digestive system, causing nausea and voitting. In Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM), this is seen as a Rebellion of the Life Force, which is meant to eliminate unwanted forms downwards but instead prefers an upward spiral.

This is often associated with a Stagnant Liver. Thus, while anti-spasmodic herbs such as Blue Vervain and Basil  Ocinum may be used to quieten the spasms, and the liver may profit from Milk Thistle protection, detoxification of the liver is imperative.

 Estrogen Sister That is what I call Estriol, Estrione and Estradiol. Scientifically, they are Estrogen fractions or splittings.

 They are the three major “sisters” or components of human estrogen. Estriol is the weakest followed in terms of harshness or potency by Estrione and Estradiol. Estrione is often used in Hormone Replacement Therapy ( HRT) for post-menopausal women with all the possibilities of a cancer aftermath. estradiol finds use in some contraceptives. Women react differently to them. What may hurt one woman may not injure another.

 Plant medicine care givers recommend plant estrogens or phytoestrogen when a woman has problems with her own body’s estrogen.

This is because plant estrogens are weaker and tolerated more by the body.

For example, human estrogens may be 100 to 1000 times harsher than plant estrogens. Isoflavones, a common plant estrogen from Soyabean, is about 10 to 20 times less harsh or potent than human Estrogen.

To enjoy plant estrogen, a number of steps should be taken (a)The body, especially the liver and the kidneys, should be detoxified .

(b)Bitter things should be eaten to stimulate the liver, the body chief detoxifying organ c.

(c) Stuff like milk and poultry egg should be eliminated in the diet.

Milk comes with estrogens in cow feed to stimulate their breasts to make milk almost every day.

Egg is laden with estrogen in poultry feed to stimulate hens to lay egg almost everyday.

The estrogen residues increased the estrogen load in a woman’s body and does the same for a man. d.

(d) Food should not be wrapped with cellophane, as is the current practice in Nigeria with the rapping of eba, fufu and amala, among others.

The cellophane is a soft plastic which leaches xeno estrogens,petrol residue-derived estrogens, into the food.

 Sun-heated”pure water” sachechets and sun-heated bottled water also introduce xeno estrogens into their contents. (e) When the liver breaks down excess human estrogens, the diet should be fiber-rich to move the fragments out of the body through the stool , otherwise they may be re-absorbed in the colon to worsen the estrogen loads.

Consumption of phyto estrogen should be a daily feature of the diet of young and older women. In pre and post menopause, the ovaries reduced their estrogen production.

 Estrogen makes a woman’s body a woman’s body. With estrogen depletion in pre-menopausal and post-menopausal years, the female body begins to give way in all sorts of ways. The hair easily breaks and falls, vision dims, hearing loss may occur, teeth and gums exhibit problems, the breasts are a shadow of their old selves, the great twinggy and curvy structure disappears and the bones become porous, weak and may easily break, sometimes making hip replacement a necessity. This is why it pays off to give the body phytoestrogen support.

Resort to chemical HRT sometimes ends disastrously. To Lady’s mantle and Vitex, therefore, may be added the proprietary formula Phytoestrogen from Tasly and Zinc, the fertility mineral. Red Clover Here comes the third of four components of Female Formula.

It is many sided in its health-promoting activities. It is supportive of the immune system.

Its chemical substances are reported to lower blood cholesterol levels,thereby reducing blood pressure and improving cardio vascular health. Bone density may receive support from Red clover. Thus, osteoporosis may be kept at bay and the risk of fractures eliminated.

The herb is also anti- inflammatory and bears anti-oxidation potentials. It synergies with Lady’Mantle and Vitex in uterine health protection and advancement.

It may help to bar the way for uterine fibroids, endometriosis and other uterine related questions. In terms of fertility, Red clover may be counted upon in the improvement of egg quality and the regulation of ovulation and other reproductive processes.

 For menopausal women, a good news is that Isoflavones of Red clover have been noted to help reduce and stamp out night sweets, Hot flashes and mood swings. Wild Yam. You must wonder why This yam specie is called Wild Yam. It belongs to the botanical family of the Edible yam tuber you can boil, roast, fry or pound, but it is inedible because it is Toxic when it is eaten raw. Nevertheless,it has been used as a plant medicine in North America for hundred of years because of its healing properties.It’s active medicinal ingridient is Diogenin.

It was thought that Diogenin could be converted to progesterone

 That was why it’s featured in creams used as in HRT or to ease menstrual cramps.

 However, it is now well confirmed that, while a conversion is possible in the laboratory, the body is unable to transform diogenine into progesterone to balance out Estrogen.

 Nevertheless, Wild Yam continues to feature in female reproductive health therapies because it is found to moderate Estrogen activities and to quell inflamation, mood swings and other symptoms associated with derailment of the system.

In the 1990s, it was popular for breast development and featured especially in a product called Great Curves sold in Nigeria by nature’s way, second largest nutraceutical company in the United States after GNC.

 The conclusion of modern research of this herb, therefore, is that there may be other components of Wild Yam that are doing the job but are yet unknown to researchers or that the exact modality of the way the herb works is still elusive. The North America Indians who have used it for hundreds of years, under the direction of Nature beings, cannot be foolish but wise in their intuitive sensing and cognition.

Cardio Tonic: Pill I would like to conclude that cardiotonic pills be included in female reproductive health therapies. It is now reformulated and called ICP Danshen Pill to pack in more healing force from Danshen, a popular and powerful Asian herb. In the early 2000s ,it was the rave in Nigeria for blood circulation problems, especially blood clots and strokes, Nowadays, and as at then, many women experience heavy blood clots in their menstruation, a sign of sluggish blood movement and detention or retention and backup menstruation in the uterus.

This stagnation is a possible progenitor of uterine fibroids and, perhaps, endometriosis. At that time, Cayenne Pepper, Apple Cider Vinegar and their likes, including Ferumphos in the stable of Biochemic or tissue or cell salts, helped to break the de-oxyenated menstrual clots and promote rich circulation. Cardiotonic Pills was a wonder on its own.

In an experiment, the hand of a volunteer was frozen in a freezer. It looked lifeless, seemingly with no blood in it.

Then, the volunteer was given Cardiotonic pills by mouth. In under five minutes, the frozen, immobile hand came alive with restoration of blood circulation. What was the magic?

 There was one percent Camphor in the formulation. It uprooted the frozen blood, warmed it and reversed the dying hand.

 That was to prove that blood clots which could cause heart attacks and stroke could be taken out.

It offers hope for uterine fibroid resolution as well, in my view. A popular current therapy now is Camphorated Castor Oil massage on the external skin of a fibriod challenged woman re-forced with a heating pad or hot water bottle in the absence of the former.

This conversation will continue another day. Meanwhile, it is my pleasure, Ladies and gentlemen, to welcome Female  Formula from Edible Herbs to the community of female reproductive health seekers to which by right also belong menopausal and post menopausal women.