thyme to heal

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142 TUCSON LIFESTYLE

In what is now the United States, indigenous popula-tions basically had a food, clothing or medicinal use

for all but about six to 10 percent of the vegetation,notes Tieraona Low Dog, M.D. All plants essentially

had some purpose, whether for food, shelter, making baskets orusing as medicines.

Relaxing in a conference room in her midtown office, mesquitetrees visible through the windows as they shade the courtyardarea just outside, Dr. Low Dog seems perfectly balanced betweenthe natural world and the technological conventions of cellphones and air conditioning. Her striking good looks and openand approachable demeanor give her the perfect bedside manner,and her amazing skill set makesher a highly skilled healer.Currently the education directorfor the Program in IntegrativeMedicine at The University of

Arizona, the Oklahoma nativewith the eclectic background thatincludes teaching the martial artsand running her own herb farm,says that if we all become morein touch with nature, we canimprove not only our individual health, but also the condition ofthe world. She references the Lakota phrase mitakuye oyasin,which loosely translates as we are all connected. That means thewhole web of life earth, plants, animals and humans. Her mis-sion at the program that Dr. Andrew Weil founded is not just to dis-cover new and better ways to use plants as medicine, but to teachphysicians and the public that this connectedness meansthat good health begins literally right in your own backyard.

I tell people who say, Im not sure I want to use herbal medi-cine it sounds a little hokey, to go to Tucson Botanical Gardensand just experience it. Gardens are healing. Most great faithsbelieve that life began in a garden.

To illustrate her point of how we are surrounded by desert florathat possess life-giving properties, she indicates the office court-

yard. Mesquite beans are a food source that many of the indige-nous people who used to inhabit this area would cook and eat. Agood source of fiber and protein, mesquite beans are digestedslowly, which means that blood sugars do not rise rapidly apoint that should not be lost considering the epidemic of diabetesin local native populations that has occurred, in part because ofthe dramatic shift in their diet.According to Dr. Low Dog, another plant thats currently being

studied for its health benefits is a much-maligned succulent that allbut grows like a weed throughout our region the prickly pear.

Many cacti seem to have a bene-ficial effect on blood sugar, andthey are widely used by theHispanic population, she notes.Twenty-five years ago, you had

to go out and pick prickly pearyourself and burn off the spines.It was hard work. Now you canget the pads without the stick-ers in many grocery stores, soits very easy to cook with them.

You just use a cheese slicer and take off the outer layer to get to themoist inner flesh, and you can just cook it in your eggs.

Not all of our native plants need to be consumed internally to bebeneficial. Ive got aloes all over my yard. Theyre under my paloverdes in large patches. Aloe vera has been revered since ancienttimes wherever it has grown. When I was a kid, I dont think therewas a fourth grader who didnt know what the burn plant was.All the teachers had it in their classrooms, and moms always had it

in their kitchens. And now were looking at it not just for externalburns, but theres growing evidence that aloe vera juices and gelscan be very healing for inflammatory bowel problems such asulcerative colitis and Crohns.

Newcomers Edition|Healthy Living

According to one local physician, the treatment for many

of your ills might be sprouting just outside your door.

BY SCOTT BARKER

A Thyme to Heal

I would argue that if you take your grand-

mother to the store and she isnt familiar

with the ingredients on a package of food,you probably shouldnt buy it.

Tieraona Low Dog, M.D.


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2007-2008 | NEWCOMERS EDITION 143

Tieraona Low Dog, M.D., is the education

director for the Program in Integrative

Medicine at The University of Arizona.

Photo by Martha Lochert.


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144 TUCSON LIFESTYLE

Just as aloe is often simply seen as a border plantin our landscape, when we think of oaks, we gener-ally picture using them as furniture or flooring, butthey have other uses that native peoples under-stood well. Weve got lots of variations of oaksaround here scrub oaks, live oaks. Theyve allbeen traditionally used for burns, and as an astrin-gent due to high tannin content. Plants that are highin tannins are going to bind with proteins in theskin, making a natural bandage. Oak leaf and barkhave been used for a long time for wound healing,

and has been taken internally for diarrhea.If we lived in the desert Southwest some two

hundred or more years ago, chances are we wouldknow the names of all the plants around us, and

what they were used for. Its an education that issorely lacking for folks today, and the result is a con-dition that Dr. Low Dog noticed when she used tolive in New Mexico and would take kids out forwilderness walks. Youd watch them when we firstwent out and they just tromped around, steppingon everything and not paying any attention. Youstarted teaching them the names of plants, wherethe names came from, and by the end of four or fivehours, they all walked differently. They werent juststomping on the plants. Theyd say, Oh yeah, thats

Osha, and its used for ....The reality of how many common plants havemedicinal properties becomes evident as soon asDr. Low Dog begins to recite a list:

Ive seldom found anything thats as good forthose chest colds that just stay and stay as Osha, alsoknown as Bear Root. Valerian is another usefulplant. It grows up in our mountains, and we haveour own unique species Valeriana edulis. Itsgreat for nervousness and nervous stomach, orwhat old Hispanic women used to call nervosa.Yarrow was called Soldiers Woundwort and it wasstandard issue in almost all soldiers bags upthrough the Civil War. Its a powerful styptic whenits applied on a wound. It stops the flow of bleed-

ing, and it has antibacterial effects. Yarrow tea issometimes used to ease heavy menstruation. Andthe flowers, consumed as a hot tea before bed, willhelp you to sweat out a cold/minor fever.And money may not grow on trees, but treat-

ments for chronic conditions sure do. Willow, cot-tonwood, poplar and aspen all contain salicin, theprecursor to salicylic acid. The bark and leaves ofthese trees have been used for centuries to ease

I think people suffer from

the loss of nature in their lives.

Its like a nature sickness in

a way. We see nature as

something to be conquered,

avoided, shut out.

C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 1 4 8

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFTYarrow, aloe vera, sage, lavender, peppermint and prickly pear.


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arthritic aches and pains. Although milder thanaspirin, it also has milder side effects.

In 1899 when German chemist FelixHoffmann patented aspirin acetylsalicylicacid made from Spiraea ulmaria (akaMeadowsweet), even though he worked forthe Bayer company he probably never imag-ined todays multi-billion dollar drug industry.He probably couldnt have foreseen, either, thecurrent rush to study the pharmaceutical usesof plants, or to try to develop drugs using theircompounds. Twenty-five years ago, with myherb shop in Las Cruces, I would never havepredicted that the National Institutes of Healthwould spend $120 million annually of our taxdollars to study complementary and alternativemedicine, notes Dr. Low Dog. About 40 per-cent of that budget has gone to researching

botanicals and other dietary supplements,because we believe they may hold tremendouspromise. It would be foolish to think that wevefound every medicinal agent on the planet andhave made a drug out of it. We havent begun

to explore much of South America and Africa.China and India have such rich pharmacopias,and researchers in the West have only justbegun to look at them.

Part of what has held research back is that

once a promising plant is found, it is some-times overstudied examples being herbssuch as echinacea and St. Johns Wort. The oth-er stumbling block is that plants are incrediblycomplicated from a chemical standpoint. One

of the biggest mistakes researchers make isalways trying to fit herbal medicines into a drugmodel. Were so used to looking for one agent one compound that will do one specificthing in the body. Plants dont typically work

that way because they have hundreds of com-pounds that are very complex, and theyre kindof messy to work with in that way. I think thatits been hard for researchers to get their headsaround.

If its tough for medical researchers to under-stand the mysteries of the botanical kingdom, itseven harder for physicians to trade the pill-for-an-ill model for one involving maintaininghealth through proper diet and using natural

supplements to treat chronic conditions. Dr. LowDog, whose heritage is part Lakota, Comanche,Irish and English, grew up with a rural traditionof working with the earth and using home reme-dies for most ills. She jokes that, If you didnthave a bone protruding through the skin, youjust didnt go to the doctor.

That sentiment is a far cry from how patientscare for themselves, and how doctorsapproach treating them. As far as herbal medi-cines, I think most doctors are interested inlearning about them because they know that

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many drugs are derived from plants, and there

must be something to them, but theyre alsokind of scared. Theyve heard that the qualitycan be all over the place, which is true. Thereare really good companies making very goodproducts and there are companies that put out

really poor quality supplements. That fear canonly be alleviated by better oversight. The White House Office of Management andBudget recently released the new DietarySupplements Good Manufacturing Practices,

which should help improve the situation byratcheting up on the quality standards manu-facturing companies will have to follow. I thinkthis will do a lot to build more confidence.

Part of what the Program in Integrative

Medicine seeks to do is better inform physi-cians about herbal medicine, but also tochange how doctors relate to their patients.Nobody knows your body better than you do,and as a doctor, before I look at your labs and

test results, I need to hear your story, explainsDr. Low Dog. Good doctors are like gooddetectives. If you tell us your story, we canoften get a good picture of whats going on.But with the high-tech, low-touch approach

thats taught in most medical schools, wevesacrificed this crucial part of the doctor- patientrelationship. Doctors interrupt a patient within18 seconds of asking a question. Were busyasking questions because were accustomed to

working in an acute care model. If you comeinto the emergency room, the chances are highthat you could be very sick. I need to get at theproblem and fix it fast. Works great in the ER ...works poorly in the primary care setting wherethe majority of our patients are suffering fromchronic problems, many of which are causedor worsened by our lifestyle choices.

Fixing this backwards approach to primarycare brings into line the whole web that Dr.Low Dog speaks about: we have to care for theearth so we have safe and nutritious food and

Andrew Weil, M.D., is the founder of the Program in

Integrative Medicine at The University of Arizona.


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plants to use as medicines; we have to pursuehealthy diets and lifestyles and avoid thingsthat lead to heart disease, cancer, etc.; and wemust develop and support public policies to

ensure that the system will work, that foods arebeing properly grown, and in the case ofherbal supplements, that they are properlylabeled, and so forth.

Personal responsibility plays a key role in cre-

ating a nation of healthier people. I cant tellyou how many times Ive seen a family wait sixhours in the emergency room to have their sixyear old with sniffles and no fever seen. Maybeits the loss of grandmother wisdom. Theres no

grandmother next door to say, Oh, Johnnysgoing to be fine. Hes got a little cold. Give himsome soup and some juice with Vitamin C andsend him to bed. Theres a sense that many ofus have lost the knowledge of how to care for

ourselves.There is hope, however, and the answermay be as simple as stepping out into the gar-den, taking a deep breath, and seeing not onlythe world in a different light, but viewing your-self in a new way, as well. Your body is yourvery best friend. It never leaves you, and evenwhen you think it betrays you, it generally doesnot, Dr. Low Dog concludes. Its absolutelydoing everything to adapt and try to survive,given how you care for it. And if you think ofyour body as your best friend, my guess is thatyoull treat it much differently.

Editors note: Dr. Tieraona Low Dog is thedirector of education for the Program in

Integrative Medicine at The University of Arizona; past president of the AmericanHerbalists Guild; was appointed by PresidentBill Clinton to the White House Commissionon Complementary and Alternative Medicine;

is currently the chair of the US PharmacopiaDietary Supplements Panel; and is conductingstudies with the Advisory Board of the NationalCenter for Complementary and AlternativeMedicine. She is the co-author with Dr. Marc S.

Micozzi of the book Womens Health inComplementary and Integrative Medicine AClinical Guide. Her website is: www.drlow-dog.com.

Its Only NaturalSniffles? Congestion? Before You Call

the Doc, Here Are Some Natural

Remedies to Consider

Allergies:

Stinging nettles, of the sort that grow near bodies

of water and whose spine-like hairs tend to stick toyou if you rub up against them, have been found to be

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helpful in reducing allergy symptoms. Freeze-dried

nettles are quite safe, reports Dr. Low Dog. They

arent like ephedra, which can speed up the heart. In

their capsule form, there are no known adverse

effects, and you can try them even with younger kids.

If they dont work, you can always try something

stronger, but medicines that are stronger also may

have more risk. It seems to make sense to start with

the weakest/safest and work your way up when deal-

ing with minor conditions.

Migraines (and allergies):

The herb Butterbur is gaining favor as a treat-

ment for allergy symptoms and migraines. It hasbeen studied even in children as young as six,

notes Dr. Low Dog. It has been shown to be as

effective as a non-sedating prescription antihista-

mine, and it doesnt make you tired. One caution:

read the label and look for Butterbur in a form that

is PA (pyrrolizidine alkaloid) free. PA can cause liver

damage, but once it is removed from the herb,

Butterbur is deemed to be very safe.

Coughs:

Chances are you have a great remedy right in

your pantry: dried thyme. Brewed up as a tea (and

flavored with honey to make it more palatable), its

safe and effective for minor coughs and conges-tion caused by colds and allergies. Take two table-

spoons of dried thyme, and steep it in two cups of

water for about 20 minutes, Dr. Low Dog directs.

And then strain the thyme out, and add about a

half cup of honey to it while its still warm. If you

want, you can squeeze half of a lemon into it. And

then you just put it into the fridge. You take a cou-

ple of tablespoons two or three times a day.

This thyme tea with honey will cost very little to

make, and lasts about seven to 10 days in your

refrigerator. By the way, honey has natural antimi-

crobial properties, and studies have shown that two

varieties manuka and kanuka from New Zealand

appear to be the best in that regard.

Sore throat:

We think of sage as a seasoning for poultry and

vegetables, but it also makes an excellent gargle

when your throat is irritated from pollutants or a cold.In Germany, you can actually purchase throat sprays

made from sage, which have antimicrobial properties

as well as soothing your throat, notes Dr. Low Dog. As

an added benefit, the essential oils of this plant,

whose name we associate with wisdom, shows initial

promise as a treatment to slow the progression of

Alzheimers. Dr. Low Dog points out, however, that for

those considering taking any essential plant oils, cau-

tion must be used. They are highly concentrated, andshouldnt be used without expert advice.

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Stress relief:

The word lavender comes from lavage, meaning

to wash. The ancient Romans put it in their public

baths not only for its attractive scent, but because it

seemed to soothe and calm bathers. It turns out

that its also good for the skin, and has antiseptic

qualities.

Tummy troubles:Peppermint has long been enjoyed for its dis-

tinctive flavor and the tingle it adds to foods, as

well as its ability to calm an upset stomach. Mint

tea is especially good for this, and served hot, also

helps with congestion. Poured over ice, it can bevery refreshing on a warm day. Dr. Low Dog recom-

mends making some mint tea, pouring it into ice

cube trays, and if youre so inclined, adding a little

mint leaf and a fresh raspberry. After the cubes

are frozen, you can simply add them to a glass of

cold water. As they melt, you get this light, fra-

grant, fresh, minty water that just tastes so good.

So you have a healthy little drink that costs you

pennies to make.

Getting With the Program

The Program in Integrative Medicine at TheUniversity of Arizona was launched some 13 years

ago, and has built an international reputation as a

place for physicians to learn to blend standard allo-

pathic care with methodologies that include herbal

medicine and acupuncture.Its an enterprise that, like its founder Dr.

Andrew Weil, is in constant motion, always moving

forward and evolving. Recently, Victoria Maizes,

M.D., executive director of the program, talked

with Tucson Lifestyle about some of the exciting

new developments.

For a number of years, the program has accept-

ed physicians as fellows as a way of familiarizing

them with complementary care, but theres a newtwist, one that down the line may influence how

doctors are educated across the country. Weve

got a brand new project called Integrative Medicine

in Residency, Dr. Maizes notes. Were doing it at

the U of A, but also at six other residencies aroundthe U.S. All the residents coming into the class will

have a 200- to 300-hour curriculum in integrative

medicine. This is really moving toward having this

education become a fundamental part of every

doctors training.

Meanwhile, the program continues to train fel-

lows, both onsite and off. For our Distance

Learning Fellowship, we just had our largest class

ever 80 fellows, says Dr. Maizes. Three of themwere from the National Institutes of Health.

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But it isnt just doctors who benefit from whatsgoing on over there. The public can directly partici-

pate in a variety of ways, including the Healthy Aging

workshop that takes place at Miraval Life in

Balance, which Dr. Maizes, Dr. Weil and Dr. Low Dog

all take part in.Additionally, the public can attend the fall lecture

series at the U of A, or the Grand Rounds, where dif-

ferent physicians report on specific topics. As an

example of how eye-opening these presentations

can be, Dr. Maizes referenced a recent one where a

researcher spoke about tests he had done on

Ayurvedic medicines he had randomly purchased

both in his local area (Boston) and off the Internet.

He discovered that 20 percent of them had unac-ceptable levels of lead, mercury and arsenic, all the

more reason for patients to make sure they are buy-

ing from a reputable company that can guarantee

the safety and purity of their products.

Down the line at the program, Medical DirectorRandy Horwitz, M.D., plans to open an integrative

medicine allergy clinic there. As for folks in Tucson

who want to be seen at the program for various

chronic complaints right now, Dr. Maizes says,

Were definitely seeing patients, and thats a very

important part of our service to the community. TL

For more information about the Program in

Integrative Medicine at The University of Arizona,check the web at: integrativemedicine.arizona.edu.

Victoria Maizes, M.D., is the executive director of

the Program in Integrative Medicine at The

University of Arizona.

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