Semester 3, Week 7, Day 3

I have all my quizzes done for the week and 2 discussion posts done.  Now I just need to monitor for comments and do some reading so I can articulate why some inflammation is good and some is bad and discuss things that have NOT already been discussed.  On the first day, I think EVERYONE had already posted...  I now have 5 herbarium entries done. I plan to finish another one today.  At this rate, I MAY be able to have that assignment done within the week.  That seaweed tea yesterday was ...  well...  it was seaweed...  LOL  It reminded me of my days as a kid with that slimy nasty stuff washing around my ankles as the waves would wash in. Had I known they were medicine back then, I may have thought different. Maybe not. The children are entertaining me today.  My daughter was chasing my son, they were both giggling and having fun and he went running into the kitchen.  His feet hit her Tinkerbell purse (my fanny pack) and his feet went flying and that poor little head went THUNK.  LOL  I picked him up and made him feel better. He'll be ready for a nap soon.  I hope to do some reading when that happens.  I took my pruners out again yesterday and my daughter got to play in the yard while he napped.  I hope once I get him some shoes and he gets used to them, he may enjoy outside more.  He just stands there and asks to be picked up right now.  I don't blame him with all the prickly weeds we have out there.  The ants don't help much either.  The ants in my herb bed have spread to my lavender plant.  She's growing really well but we'll see if they help.  My thyme needs more help.  I hope they don't decided Rosie needs help...  She's too big for her spot as is! 

On to see what Ganora has to say about the constituents of comfrey.

Echimidine is a pyrrolizidine diester (Ganora, 2009, p. 72, 159).

Lycopsamine is a mutagen and a pyrrolizidine monoester which is more present in young leaves than old leaves (Ganora, 2009, p. 72, 158, 159).

Symlandine is a mutagen and a pyrrolizidine monoester which is more present in young leaves than old leaves (Ganora, 2009, p. 72, 158, 159).

Rosmarinic acid is a phenylpropanoid dimer which comes from the rosemary plant but is found in other plants as well.  There are quite a few in the Lamiaceae and Boraginaceae families, including thyme.  This is a powerful antioxidant,  preservative, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, antimicrobial, neuroprotective, and anti-allergic compound. (Ganora, 2009, p. 65, 109). This is one of the compounds in my Lamiaceae family paper from last semester (2) that gave the plants the ability to help fight off colds. This is water-soluble.

Chlorogenic acid is found in coffee and is responsible for its anti-diabetic activity.  It "slows intestinal absorption of glucose", "decreases the liver's output of glucose" and strengthens the pancreas in the way the beta cells work.    (Ganora, 2009, p. 65, 108).  What all this means is you can drink coffee WITHOUT the added sweeteners and it can even be decaf and it will help with your diabetes. This actually makes sense to me (and Ganora mentions studies where this is proven) because coffee is a bitter.

Volatile oil: Volatile just means they evaporate more quickly than other substances. If it says "volatile", you want to use the plant as fresh as possible and try not to warm it up in any way (Ganora, 2009, p. 52, 57, 61, 134, 139).

I'm going to stop  here for today.  I think there is a lot of great information here.  Have a great day!

Constituents: mucilage (glucose)

Triterpenes (Ganora, 209, p. 45, 46, 68, 134, 140, 141, 142, 144).

Tryptophan (Ganora, 2009, p. 33).

Methionine (Ganora, 2009, p. 11).

Lysine (Ganora, 2009, p. 162).

Isoleucine (Ganora, 2009, p. 104).

Protein (Ganora, 2009, p. 11, 22, 24, 45, 65, 77, 92, 101).

Amino acids (Ganora, 2009, 12, 21, 44, 45, 65, 101, 103, 104, 107, 114, 133, 154).

Choline (Ganora, 2009, p. 93).