Lee Sutherland, founder of Little Wildling Co, talks about which herbal medicines you should be using in 2019...
If 2018 was all about discovering new super foods (we’re looking at you hemp seeds) and everyone jumping on each and every health trend (can I hear a mindfulness, consciousness, amen?), I'm predicting that 2019 will be about looking back.
Wayyyy back. Back to the time when Hippocrates said “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
While we can’t confirm that those actual words left his lips, we can however say that herbal medicine will be the next big thing (again…) and with good reason. Now before you dismiss this notion as quickly as assuming you know the name of our current PM (who is it again…?) and think there’s no truthful/scientific evidence in it, well pour yourself a (herbal) cuppa my friend – as a health/wellness enthusiast and founder of Little Wildling Co, I'm give you quick history lesson…
Aspirin was derived from Willow bark and used before 1500BC as an anti-inflammatory and pain reliever. Fast forward to 1828 and Joseph Buchner, a professor of pharmacy at Munich University, Germany, succeeds in extracting the active ingredient from willow, producing bitter tasting yellow crystals that he names salicin. Salicin is also found in the meadowsweet flower by Swiss pharmacist Johann Pagenstecher and later by German researcher Karl Jacob Löwig. Fast forward a hundred years or so and a bunch of added ingredients and whola, you have Aspirin – sure, it may look a little different to what it was back then but you get my point.
We’re currently witnessing an uptrend of people using herbal medicine as a complimentary measure to western health care. While we can use herbal medicines to take care of things like hormone disruptions and stress, it’s also having its time in the spot light in some of our fave beauty blends. With active ingredients that boasts nourishing enriching properties, its no wonder! In fact, they’re most likely hiding in some of your favourites without you even knowing. Go on, turn over that ingredient list and have a look.
As you know, our skin is our largest organ and 60% of anything you put on it topically, gets absorbed into it. Directly into your system, directly into your bloodstream and within as little as 30 seconds too.
It makes you think twice about what you put on your skin right? About what you eat and drink…That skin irritation, hormone issues and breakouts? Could be those chemicals in your cream or food/drinks you’re consuming.
The take away?
While we don’t expect you to throw away everything in your beauty cabinet or kitchen cupboard to be only 100% organic products with added herbal ingredients, we do encourage you to start slow and you never know, you might (okay will) be pleasantly surprised.
Check out Little Wildling Co. for an incredible range of herbal teas and bath salts that can aid sleep, reduce stress or even act as a pre-workout supplement!
