Cleansing Spas and Herbal Treatments


summary: Introducing natural “Chao Dou with Vitis Vinifera” herbal treatment for body cleansing.

A lot of ads, web sites, and broadcast emails now tout the benefits of herbal preparations. Because herbal supplements are totally unregulated (unless proven to cause illness or death), many of the claims for benefits can be quite extreme.

Set aside, for now, scientific considerations of whether green tea or Acai berry really can cause weight loss and removal of toxins with no other dietary changes. Let’s review a bit of history for cleansing spas and treatments.

Health treatments built around mineral springs date back to at least early Greek history. It was found, by accident, that water sources associated with some of the oracles had tonic effects on people. Geothermal heating added to the aura of godly presence.

The tradition continued into modern times, as seen by town names in England, continental Europe, and America, to name a few. Look for terms bath, bad, bade, baden, or similar words for water immersion, or terms like spa or spring for water source. “Taking the cure” meant to soak in the waters and to drink them liberally.

What were the mechanisms?

One of the common ingredients was magnesium sulfate, also known as Epsom Salts. This is still sold as a laxative and skin treatment. Another, often, was lithium carbonate, now one of the preferred medicines for mono polar and bipolar syndromes, depression and manic states. And mineral springs often were bubbly with carbon dioxide.

High doses of natural mineral waters can really purge the bowels, which is one reason folks took time off from work to attend spas. Popular spas developed before Thomas Crapper made improvements on the flush toilet invented by Sir John Harrington, also called “the John” or “the crapper.” Victorian spa goers had to cope with chamber pots and no showers.

Belief in the curative powers of mineral waters is one reason cola beverages are carbonated, and Alka-Seltzertm is made to fizz when placed in water.

Can a laxative help one lose weight? Yes, if used to wash out the bowels before nutrients can be absorbed. The effect is exactly the same as going on a severely reduced meal plan, e.g., fasting.

Can a laxative help cleanse the body of toxins? Highly unlikely and probably unneeded. Herbal preparations cannot remove calcium deposits from aching joints (despite claims), but mobility exercises can decrease the progression of arthritis symptoms. Good food choices also help.

Nathan Pritikin showed that exercise and low fat diet can reverse heart, and various other, diseases. Part of his advice was plenty of dietary fiber.

If your diet is low in fiber, you can add a spoonful of Metamuciltm or similar powder after dinner. Or you can read up on fiber content and increase consumption of such foods.

Obesity is encouraged by popular snack foods, which tend to be high in fat/oils, sweeteners, salt, and often low in fiber. However, “GORP” is an exception.
     Good Old Raisins and Peanuts are a great snack for hikers, high in natural sugars and unsaturated fats, high in fiber and protein.

I recently discovered “soy nuts”, which are roasted soy beans. They are readily available in bulk at some discount warehouse stores. I buy a lightly salted version for filling snacks, solo, for “GORS” with the soy replacing peanuts.
     Soy nuts have about half the fat and more protein than peanuts. And they are high in fiber. The combination of either legume with raisins tastes quite sweet, perhaps accented by light salting.

So, if I were a peddler of herbal supplements, I would come up with an alternative name, make some wild claims for health benefits, and offer the stuff at large price markup. The botanic name for soy is “Glycine soja”, so we could call it “glycine bean extract” or “natural soja tonic.” Add raisins, or any other dried fruit, and call it something like “Glycine extract with Vitis vinifera” or “Glycine bean with Vitis vinifera.” The possibilities are endless.

The Soy Info Center, provides this additional information on naming.

Etymology. In Japan, dry roasted soynuts are called iri-mame (“roasted beans”). In China, oil roasted soynuts are called zha huangdou (“fried yellow beans”) or cui huangdou . Dry roasted soynuts are called chao dou. In Indonesia, oil roasted soynuts are called dele sangan or kedele sangrai. They are unknown in other East Asian countries.

In English, soynuts have been known by a host of different names. In the early days they were called “roasted soybeans (Piper and Morse 1923), “Soy Beanuts” or “parched soy beans” (D. Van Gundy 1936), and “Salted Soybeans” (Henry Ford). The earliest known use of the term “Soy-Nuts” was by Butler Foods in about 1942. The term “soy nuts” was used by Heler and McCarthy (1944), Malt-O-Meal (from 1970), and The Farm (1974). The present term “Soynuts” spelled as one word was first used by the Borden Co. in 1948. Other names were “toasted soybeans” (Lager 1945) and “fried soybeans” (Blumenthal 1947). The more precise expanded terminology “oil roasted soynuts” and “dry roasted soynuts” was coined by Shurtleff in 1981.

Following the present English usage, soynuts are now called Sojanusse in German, Soya-nuez or soha-huates in Spanish. In French, oil roasted soynuts are called Soja grille revenu dans l’huile, and dry roasted are soja grille a sec.”

So, “Chao Dou with Vitis Vinifera”, anyone?

by Dr. Don Miller
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