JUNE 15, 2011 APIUM GRAVEOLENS

"Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it." --Buddha

We all have good intentions. Perhaps you are not where you thought you would be at this time in your life. With each passing year I reflect on 'my world'. My world is complete. Maybe yours is too or you would say, "My plate is full." I have discovered my world. I have not discovered all the world has to offer. I do not think anyone can. My G.O.D. given profession is my work, except I have discovered more than what I was taught in a classroom. I have gone beyond. I have developed a unique understanding of other modalities of healing. In this blog and in my office I attempt to share with you all I have discovered and 'given my heart to'.

In The Earthwise Herbal: The Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants, I have learned fascinating aspects of different herbs. Mr Wood has used his clinical experience with Materia medica to compile several useful books. I also love to find out which are considered old world or new world herbs. I assumed Celery would be an old world medicinal and it is. The Latin name for celery is Apium graveolens.

It is a culinary herb as well as a medicinal herb. Your grandmother used it often if you recall. I might give celery seed to my congestive heart failure patients as it contains a lot of sodium. Celery also contains calcium, essential fatty acids, phenols and the cooling limonene.

I know my Poppy (grandfather) loved celery. He said it helped his aching bones (arthritis). That was correct. It is used for irritability of the tissues. Great for rheumatism, gout, diuresis (urinating) and blood pressure. However, it is not my favorite antihypertensive (blood pressure ) herb.

Herbs are not just good for one disease but cross boundaries in helping other conditions. Some find celery useful in aiding in digestion, flatulence, halitosis and vomiting. I might add it to a Gastrointestinal Blend with others herbs like marshmallow or slippery elm. I primarily use celery for arthritis, gout and sciatica.

I also was under the impression that all old world medicinal herbs would be cited in the Bible. I was wrong as celery is not cited in Duke's Medicinal Plants from the Bible.

WT Fernie (1914) said this,"A diet of celery made rheumatism impossible." I would have written, "A diet composed of celery makes arthritis and other conditions possible to deal with."

The diuretic effect of celery is to eliminate the inflammatory by-products. This is also a common trend with Yarrow and Boneset.

Eat your celery if you have arthritis, but watch for the salt content.

Until tomorrow...