216 The Complete Home Guide to Herbs, Natural Healing, and Nutrition
For a Fragile Colon
If you suffer from regular diarrhea or your colon is otherwise damaged,
the following remedies might help.
f Use feeding and soothing herbs. Combine three parts slippery elm in-
ner bark with one part each of the following powdered herbs: chamo-
mile fl ower, marshmallow root, licorice root, and peppermint leaf.
Add one to three teaspoons of this mixture to a mashed ripe banana,
three times daily.
f Other useful herbs are red raspberry leaf, cramp bark, meadowsweet
leaf, marshmallow root, yellow dock root, wild yam root, marigold
fl ower, and Chinese rhubarb root.
~ Massage^ —^ very soft movements are vital. Use essential oils of cubeb,
chamomile, geranium, and lavender. You could also put them on an
oilcloth and place under a hot water bottle atop the abdomen.
diverticulitis
Diverticulitis is a condition in which the mucous membranes in the bowel
wall have consistently remained so infl amed that pockets have developed.
If these pockets grow large, they become increasingly capable of catching
the passing and occasionally sluggish fecal matter. These wastes will build
up in the pockets, which will then become a toxic breeding ground for
bacteria, and can lead to infl amed areas that very often bleed. It is usually
this point of chronic infl ammation that produces pain, bloating, and
blood loss — all noticeable warnings that help must be sought.
- Any fi brous indigestible pieces of food, particularly raw skins of fruits
and vegetables or their seeds, can easily set off intense pain, and al-
though the problem has usually started through a lack of raw fi brous
and unrefi ned food in the diet, this is not the time to introduce it.
(^) - Nutritious baby food must be adopted^ —^ try stewing apples, with their
skins, seeds, and core, in springwater, adding cinnamon and a pinch
of nutmeg. Strain out the pulp and eat a bowl of this apple puree daily
with a teaspoon each of arrowroot, powdered slippery elm inner bark,
and marshmallow root stirred in, with an added teaspoon of cinna-
mon. Honey may be used for taste. Continue until the infl ammation,
bleeding, and pain subside.
- Gently inch into more raw foods. Buy a juicer^ —^ juicing fruits and
vegetables will give fi rst-class nutrition and aid easy digestion. Super-
food is another option and is perhaps the easiest method of providing
an instant, nutritious meal. - When the colon has started to heal itself, try steaming your vegeta-
diseases 216