Herbal Calcium

  Calcium is one of the most important minerals your body needs to survive on a daily basis. Whether it's providing strength for the bones, or helping the blood clotting process, your body needs calcium to operate. In fact, if your body does not receive enough calcium through your diet, the body reacts by stealing calcium from your bones, teeth and nerves, to keep the processes that depend on calcium running. This can lead to bone fragility, and may even develop into osteoporosis, as well as other conditions.

   I have a sneaking suspicion that inadequate calcium (or rather a diet that strips the calcium from the body) is responsible for nerve problems of a wide scope. We have experimented with calcium as a supplement for my sons seizures and are finding it to be very valuable in feeding his nervous system.

Bones of steel? I don't think so!

    For a long time we have been told that dairy products are and should be the main source of calcium in our diet, after all, milk does a body good, right? WRONG! In order to process mucus loaded foods (everything ranging from junk "food" to dairy, coffee to sweets, our body must rob our reserves of our most necessary vitamins and minerals in order to redeem any value from these things we consume. We are actually left with a negative balance, and our body begins to break down in various, yet predictable ways.

   Ahh, but what about Dr. Price and whole, raw milk?! What about Kefir and of yogurt and hard cheeses? In a scale of good to bad these things are better than the store-bought homogenized, pasteurized, dead "food" we call necessary, however, they are still responsible for loading down the system with much more mucus than it can handle, and still creating a deficit during processing. 

Make that *Dentist* Price, not Dr.

   

   I've had a miscarriage,4 children, working on another, and I've seen a lot how calcium plays a big part in the health of my child and myself. I have come to the conclusion that it isn't any wonder that pregnant women are covered by medicaid for dental. After all WIC and Food Stamps and "Education Programs" force pregnant and lactating women onto dairy and cheese to satisfy the need for calcium during this time. By the time the baby and the diet have robbed the poor creature of all the calcium (as well as other nutrients) in her body, her hair is falling out, she has postpartum depression, she has hemorrhoids from several months of constipation, acne, a fussy newborn, bad teeth that need fixed, and she needs something to support her nervous system. All because of the vitamin/mineral deficit caused by improper foods and lack of adequate nutrition.

   So, never hear of HERBAL calcium before? It's not a wonder with all the different forms of calcium available on the market today. Oyster shell, calcium citrate (Citrical), calcium carbonate, coral calcium, are all forms you hear floating around the place, but not once had I heard the form of herbal calcium. Is it true? can you get calcium from herbs? How pure is it, how potent, how safe? Is it adequate or is it minute and trace amounts? How will my body react to an herbal calcium?

    I first learned about herbal calcium from a book put out by the School of Natural Healing, with the same title. A real Godsend and life saver (literally) for myself and my family. It challenged everything I had learned and believed about the body and its functions and needs, as well as how to treat illnesses. For a long time some things that I read stuck in my craw and I wasn't willing to accept such "outrageous ideas" he put out. But I started studying and so far have proved the information true. I've experimented on myself and my children (my husband too when he'll let me) with diets and supplements, and fomentation's to poultices.

Equisetium hymale

Equisetum arvense

   So when I started buying herbs to make my own calcium and an encapsulator to assist, I was ready to put this supplement through some rigorous testing. I have been anything but disappointed. Basically this is how it works. Because the body can identify the herbs as an organic unit (meaning a recognizable substance vs. a compound/chemical/ non-food source, in its natural state), it can take it and use its components in a manner beneficial to itself. Dr. Christopher's book relates that his study found an explanation in the book Biological Transmutations,  that the silica in horsetail grass is converted to calcium by the body. Essentially, you give the body the pieces and it will assemble them to fit its needs. And whats more, if the body doesn't need it, it passes out of the system. No forcing your body to accept a foreign substance it cannot use (well hello there bone spurs!)

   You can find herbal calcium supplements on the market from various companies, but I like Dr. Christopher's formula the best. It is available packaged, but this is the formula if you are into making your own up:

6 parts (by weight) Horsetail grass (aka shavegrass) (Equisetum hyemale or arvense)

3 parts Oat straw (Avena sativa)

4 parts Comfrey root (Symphytum offficinale)

1 part Lobelia (Lobelia inflata)

    I'll put in a plug for a young gentleman who has his own store online. I don't get any kickbacks in anyway, but I like knowing who I'm dealing with, and he has great prices on the products. You can find his store at www.DrChristophersHerbs.com.

   Take a month and try it out for yourself. Its great and definitely worth every dime to have an alternative to a commercial product that ends up getting flushed down the toilet (read about it HERE). Even better when you learn to identify the plants and pick the herbs yourself!

    If you have questions about anything I can try to help you (but remember I'm not a licensed herbalist or doctor), and of course let you know some of the specifics I've noticed over the years of how its helped our family (like slowing hair loss and promoting hair growth after having a baby).

--Jamie