***Menopausal Years-Herbal Allies for Post-Menopausal Women

excerpt from New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way by Susun S. Weed
Herbal Allies for Post-Menopausal Women pp. 237-243

Seaweeds
The weeds of the ocean have so much to give us. Let them help you:

• Prevent and relieve osteoporosis

• Maintain strong, flexible bones

Seaweeds contain lavish amounts of every mineral needed to create and maintain solid bone mass. Kelp is an exceptionally rich source.

• Lower blood pressure and cholesterol, increase cardiac efficiency

• Eliminate varicose veins and hemorrhoids

Japanese research confirms the cardiotonic and hypotensive effects of seaweeds.

• Maintain healthy thyroid function

• Relieve incontinence, vaginal dryness, and persistent hot flashes

• Nourish the glandular and urinary systems

Seaweeds are superb sources of the nutrients most needed by the endocrine, circulatory, and immune systems. Regular use helps maintain adequate production of all hormones, especially thyroid hormones. Lavish use may reverse hypothyroidism.

• Increase immune functioning

• Increase stamina

• Minimize the effects of stress, chemicals, and radiation

• Lengthen life span

Algin in seaweed escorts damaging compounds harmlessly out of the body. Free radicals are also eliminated. Vitamins E, C, and A are found abundantly in seaweeds. I use seaweed to protect myself from air pollution, chemicals in my food, and the thinning ozone layer. It can be used freely for several days before and after any X-ray, from dental ones to mammograms.

• Improve digestion

• Restore sexual interest and enjoyment

• Ease sore joints

• Bring a glossy glow to hair and skin

As befits denizens of the ocean, seaweeds are especially good at nourishing juices: digestive juices, joint juices, emotional juices, erotic juices. Seaweed helps them all flow.

All seaweeds are edible, so you can gather your own, if you wish. Kelp, wakame, khombu, dulse, hijiki, and arame are sold at Oriental and health food stores.

Dosage: As a vegetable, 1/2 ounce/15 grams dry weight, weekly.
As a condiment, unlimited daily use.

CAUTION: The iodine in kelp may aggravate hyperthyroid conditions.

Stinging Nettle
Urtica dioica, Urtica urens
Brennessel, Ortie

Some post-menopausal women tell me stinging nettle is so nourishing and energizing they find themselves unexpectedly having a normal menstrual flow after regular use of it.

The more usual effects of nettle are to:

• Nourish, strengthen, rebuild kidneys and adrenals

• Ease and eliminate cystitis, bloat, and incontinence

• Rehydrate dry vaginal tissues

Nettle has a miraculous ability to heal and restore adrenal/kidney functioning. Stories continue to make their way to me of women who have avoided dialysis, gotten off dialysis, and so repaired their kidneys that replacement surgery was canceled, thanks to sister stinging nettle. Nourish your post-menopausal adrenals with nettle infusion and they'll produce enough estrogen to keep you looking and feeling juicy.

• Nourish and energize the endocrine glands

• Nourish and rejuvenate the cardiovascular system

• Normalize weight

• Ease and prevent sore joints

• Relieve constipation and reduce hemorrhoids

• Nourish supple skin and healthy hair

Nettles' super supplies of vitamins, minerals, proteins, and micro-nutrients nourish every bit of you, encouraging optimal functioning in all aspects of your being. Nettle influences hormones through its wealth of lipids (triglycerides, fatty acids, tocopherols, sterols, galactosyl-diglycerides) and restores health to the cardiovascular system burdened with cardiac edema and venous insufficiency.1

• Create strong, flexible bones

Nettle infusions, vinegars, and soups are fantastic sources of calcium, magnesium, potassium, silicon, boron, and zinc: the strong bone sisters. Nettles are also a source of vitamin D, a crucial nutrient for flexible, healthy bones.

• Stabilize blood sugar

Rich in chromium, manganese, and other nutrients restorative to glandular functioning, nettles, I suspect, help prevent adult-onset diabetes.

• Reduce fatigue and exhaustion; improve stamina

Nettles nourish your energy at the deepest possible levels with intense supplies of iron, chlorophyll, and copper.

• Reduce and eliminate headaches

• Nourish and support the immune system, prevent cancer

• Nourish and heal the digestive system

• Nourish and strengthen the nervous system

Nettles are an optimum source of the vitamins critically important for health: vitamin B complex (especially thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin), carotenes (vitamin A), and vitamin C (ascorbates and bioflavonoids).

Enjoy cooked nettle greens all spring, but be sure to harvest and dry enough for winter-time infusions, too. I pick nettles only before they flower. Fresh leaves steeped in olive oil impart a rich taste and innumerable healing qualities to the oil. Nettles make a great vinegar, too.

Dosage: Infusion of dried herb, 1-4 cups/250-1000 ml, a day.

CAUTION: Do not use flowering nettle for food or medicine.