PHYTOTHERAPY—THE KEY TO HORMONAL BALANCE?

PHYTOTHERAPY—THE KEY TO HORMONAL BALANCE?

WHAT IS PHYTOTHERAPY?

Phytotherapy is the use of plants, either in whole food form or in the form of standardized extracts and supplements, for healing purposes.  Its roots trace all the way back to the beginnings of time and still stand strong in much of the world today.

It’s not surprising that the study of plants for medicinal purposes led to what we now know as pharmaceuticals.  Most of the drugs conventional practitioners prescribe today have roots in the plant world.  The difference is that pharmaceutical companies change the chemical structure of the compound not only to specialize and magnify its actions, but also to patent the medication and sell it as their unique product.  Since plants found in nature can be used and sold by everyone, phytotherapy is more accessible to the general world.  It is also, in most cases, much gentler on our bodies than pharmaceutical medications.

Phytotherapy is used to PREVENT health concerns as well as TREAT them- which is much more in line with a FUNCTIONAL approach to healing. Conventional medicine has moved into the dangerous habit of treating symptoms as they arise instead of looking at an individual’s whole health picture.  Phytotherapy uses cell signaling to affect our bodies early on in the processes of disease and imbalance, which is ultimately far less disruptive to the system. For this reason the results often last longer.  What’s particularly fascinating is the way phytotherapy works in conjunction with the endocrine system.

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