Plants are truly miraculous things of nature in that they serve our health in many ways and are many, many times cheaper than medication.
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While plants and herbs should never replace medical treatment, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be used as remedy more often.
One of the best cures for inflammation, for example, is chickweed, a wild green suitable for human consumption as well as for feeding chicken.
- Uses for health and treating conditions
Among connoisseurs chickweed is used to treat many conditions, such as asthma, constipation, obesity and joint pain.
Please note that chickweed is a folk remedy and although it has been used as such for centuries, you should still consult with a doctor before taking it as treatment or using it for skin problems.
That being said, here are some of the ways in which you can use chickweed.
- To treat rashes and sores, use chickweed extract or chickweed tincture, usually available in herb stores and in drugstores such as CVS.
- For other external applications such as rheumatic pains, combine with oils and ointments. Alternatively, crush chickweeds and apply directly to aching body parts.
- To relieve psoriasis, add chickweed oil to bathwater.
- To help with constipation, make a chickweed decoction by boiling 3 tbsp leaves in 1 quart of water and consume every three hours.
- To add more nutrition to your diet, eat chickweed raw in salads. You can also cook chickweed in any number of ways.
- To boost the nutritional value of your drinks, add chickweed powder store-bought or homemade. To make the powder at home, simply dry the plant and powder it.
- You can also enjoy chickweed as tea.
The nutrient content in chickweed
Chickweed is a good source of nutrients and it contains protein and fiber along with essential fatty acids. It even contains gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), rarely found in foods as this fatty substance is found primarily in vegetable oils.
The vitamins and minerals in chickweed include:
- Ascorbic acid
- Beta-carotene
- Calcium
- Magnesium
- Oleic acid
- Niacin
- Selenium
- Riboflavin
- Thiamin
- Zinc
- Rutin
- Potassium
Other constituents are flavonoids, hentriacontanol and triterpenoid saponins, used more and more in the treatment of cancer.
- Chickweed grows abundantly in Europe and North America.
Chickweed grows in many locations and is native to Europe and Asia, although today it is found everywhere in the world, including Australia and North America.
The plant grows even in waste areas, which is one of the reasons why it remains one of the most overlooked plants, because it carries the reputation of being a weed.
Many times removed from home gardens, chickweed does indeed spread easily and can overpower other plants, reason why if you decide to grow chickweed you may have to control the plant from letting it spread too much.
You can recognize the plant by the white flowers that fold over the buds at nighttime to ‘sleep’ and this is one of the particularities of the plant.
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Another interesting trait is that although looking so very delicate, chickweed is quite hardy and it remains green even in the winter season.