Many Americans are learning of the importance that minerals play in preventing and curing disease. Unfortunately, just as many have been left disappointed when they experienced the unpleasant effects often observed when they took any form of minerals including colloidal ones and/or trace minerals.
Some developed severe headaches, red eyes, upset stomach and other maladies. It’s been said repeatedly that nutrients should be delivered through foods and drinks, not from man’s chemically processed substances.
However, for the people who simply can’t buy and/or grow organic foods, getting an adequate supply of minerals through diet may prove difficult. It’s often forgotten that many herbs serve not only as medicines but also as foods rich in minerals including trace minerals.
These herbs can be prepared in such a way as to literally take them as a truly all natural mineral supplement that also delivers trace minerals without side effects. Which herbs are rich in minerals? How are they prepared and taken?
Significant amounts of calcium are found in Horsetail and Comfrey. Iron is abundant in Burdock, Dandelion, and Yellow Dock. Other herbs supply magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, potassium, selenium, silicon, sulfur, zinc, and trace minerals (Penny C. Royal, Herbally Yours [Provo, UT: Sound Nutrition, 1988], 105-106).
Some herbalists suggest formulating one’s own herbal supplement by combining specific herbs which may not be readily available in all geographic areas. Fortunately, God provides more than one herb for the same condition or that offers similar nutrients so that when one isn’t available a substitute may be used. A combination of the following herbs make a highly nutritious blend from which to make a decoction.
They include Parsley root and leaf, Yellow Dock, Nettles, Irish Moss, Horsetail, Comfrey root, Watercress and Kelp. Equal parts of these plants provide easily assimilated iron, calcium, silicon, magnesium, potassium, sulfur, iodine, zinc and the trace minerals (Michael Tierra, C.A., N.D., The Way of Herbs [New York: Pocket Books, 1989], 86).