Natural aspirin
Those little chalky, white pills can be hard on your stomach. But many doctors push their patients to take aspirin to help: their hearts.
It's also used for headaches, to reduce fevers and as an anti-inflammatory, and has been a fixture in most people's medicine cabinets for ages. I'll bet you have a bottle in there, too.
Aspirin is now made synthetically, but at one time it was derived from the active ingredient in willow bark.
There's a natural way to get the same heart and anti-inflammatory benefits— without the stomach trouble (or chewing on bark). Salicylic acid is the active component of aspirin, and is found in many foods you may already enjoy. That's one of the reasons behind the "five a day" push for everyone to eat more fruits and vegetables: They help protect against heart disease, and this compound is found in them in abundance.
Salicylic acid is particularly high in herbs and spices. Here's a partial list for some that you may already use, or that you can start adding to your favorite recipes:
Cayenne
Rosemary
Oregano
Cinnamon
Basil
Ginger
Sage
Dill
Vegetables and fruits with high levels of salicylic acid include:
Broccoli
Raisins
Cucumber
Raspberries
Spinach
Blackberries
Peppers
Oranges
Again, these are partial lists. Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables for the overall health benefits you can enjoy for a long time to come.
In my practice, I'm also starting to use an excellent formulation from an Australian company called Medi-Herb (www.mediherb.com). Formulated by Kerry Bone, one the world's leading herbalists, the product is called Saligesic. I think it's well worth looking into as an aspirin alternative. Australia has the strictest safeguards and regulations in the world for governing supplement manufacture.
And leave the aspirin in the medicine cabinet for those days your headache just won't go away.
