OLIVE LEAF EXTRACT
Yup, you read that right. Apparently the olive tree has some really awesome properties, besides just the olives and the oil. (Kind of ironic that it's a common tree in Israel- The Promised Land. God's pretty amazing, isn't He?). The leaves of the tree have anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal properties.
Let me give you my history with this herb......
Four years ago when we started on our Autism Journey with dear Reece, we discovered that he had a major yeast overgrowth in his intestines (found through labs done with our DAN! doctor). He was suppose to take olive leaf extract to fight it, but at the time, all I could find were these big, honkin' capsules that a little four-year-old boy could not (refused!) swallow. You couldn't break open the capsule and disguise it with anything either because of the rather unpleasant, potent taste. So, I put the big bottle at the back of my cabinet and used other methods (which, by the way, was a low-sugar diet, biotin, and major probiotics). We kicked the yeast and moved on. Well, when Lindy was just at a year old, I developed a major sinus infection. I saw our family doctor, who prescribed an antibiotic, which I took and, which got rid of the infection. The side effect was that since I was still nursing her, I either had to quit for a week and just wean her completely. Even though I wasn't ready, I weaned her. So, a year and a half later, I was getting ready for a very sad and emotional trip to northern Nebraska to attend my uncle's funeral. We were leaving at the beginning of the week, so that Sunday I was trying to get the house in order (Jeff and the twins stayed home) and pack for me and Lindy. I could tell I was developing another sinus infection (the pain in my jaw, teeth and sinuses, plus the green snot was a dead giveaway), but, being a Sunday, I chose to ignore it. We were leaving at 8 am the next morning, so no hope of going to the doctor. On a whim, I dug out the olive leaf extract, and that morning took 3 capsules. By noon, I was feeling a bit better, so I took 3 more. By evening, the pain was gone in my face. I took 3 more before bed. I woke up the next morning with clear mucus. I continued to take another 9 capsules that day and by night the sinus infection WAS GONE! I mean, completely GONE! I couldn't believe it! So, ever since then, I have been a firm believer in the power of herbs. We keep some on hand at all times. I've even convinced my mother-in-law. As soon as I feel the beginning of a cold or something else coming on, I hit the olive leaf and I rarely develop a full blown infection of anything. Finally, this winter, I learned how to make a liquid herbal tincture using dried olive leaves, so now my kids can have some.
So, there you have it. Go to your nearest health food store and pick up some olive leaf. It's a whole lot easier than getting sick and treating the symptoms :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment