If you aren’t hip to calendula oil yet, it’s time to board the train because the health benefits are too good to pass up. The secrets about calendula are out, attracting the interest of scientific researchers and herbal enthusiasts alike. The calendula plant offers a wide range of benefits, and has proven to remedy myriad ailments over the years. 

What Is Calendula? 

This colorful flower belongs to the Asteraceae/Compositae family and is native to areas in Canada and the United States. As long as the soil is fertile and well-drained, you can grow calendula, especially if it has access to ample sunlight. The leaves are shades or rich oranges and yellow, and have a lovely fragrance. Various animal and in vitro studies have concluded that the flavonoids from these petals exhibit neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and anti-diabetic properties. This makes calendula a highly respected plant in the field of alternative medicine. 

Historically, people used calendula to treat kidney stones and gall stones, primarily because it has disinfectant and diuretic properties. Italian folk medicine used to use calendula oil to reduce inflamed wounds and burns. Some cultures brewed the petals into teas and used it as a face wash to reduce freckles or dark spots, or an eye wash to reduce the risk of conjunctivitis. 

Health Benefits Of Calendula Oil

Nowadays, people continue to use calendula oil to remedy a variety of ailments. The most common uses involve topical application to reduce infections or fungus. According to research, however, calendula oil may help to reduce diaper rash, inflamed skin, and vaginal yeast infections. You can thank the triterpene saponins, triterpene alcohols, and flavonoids for calendula’s ability to do all of these things. These naturally occurring chemicals interact with the body to improve collagen synthesis and enhance new skin tissue growth. Continue reading to learn more about the primary benefits. 

Calendula For Wound Healing

According to a recent study in The Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, calendula ointment was tested on cesarean scars in 72 women. The study compared the use of calendula ointment to conventional hospital treatment. The women who used calendula ointment had quicker healing time, and they reported less redness and swelling. Various animal studies tested calendula oil’s efficacy for healing bug bites, scrapes, burns, and bruises. The studies found that topical application of calendula oil encouraged 90% wound closing, compared to a separate controlled group. A newer study concluded that calendula oil may ward off infection, which contributes to faster wound closure.

Calendula As A Sunscreen

During in vitro studies, calendula oil exhibited an ability to encourage cell rejuvenation. The studies tested its efficacy as a sunscreen, showing a slight ability to protect the skin. Unfortunately, the evidence was not substantial enough to deem it acceptable as a sunscreen replacement. Fortunately, more studies are in the works to determine how effective it is at protecting the skin from UV damage. 

Calendula For Vaginal Health

Bacterial vaginosis and vaginal yeast infections are two common occurrences for women. One study with 80 women monitored the use of calendula ointment compared to metronidazole, commonly used to treat bacterial vaginosis. After one week, the study found that both the ointment and metronidazole effectively cured bacterial vaginosis with no side effects. This sparked interest in the participants. The opportunity to use a natural ointment in place of medication excited the women.

Calendula For Muscle Spasms

If you want to ease muscle spasms or tension, get your hands on some calendula oil. According to a Pakistani study, calendula oil was able to relax spontaneous muscle contractions. A different study found that it helped to erase muscle spasms. Because of this ability to reduce muscle spasms, people wonder if it can be beneficial for menstrual cramping. According to anecdotal research, calendula helped induce menstruation for women who experienced irregular periods. It may also ease PMS symptoms like cramping, but more research is necessary to prove this.

How To Make Calendula Oil

Ingredients:

• Dried calendula flowers or petals
• Carrier oil of choice (extra virgin olive oil, jojoba oil, organ oil, sweet almond oil)
• 1 glass container (half-pint jar works great)

Instructions:

• Fill a half-pint glass jar about 3/4 of the way full with calendula flowers or petals. 
• Pour your desired oil into the jar so that the flowers are fully submerged. 
• Place a lid on the container and store it in a sunny, warm location to enhance the infusion process. A windowsill is perfect. It will stay here for three weeks.
• After the three weeks, you have to strain the flowers from the oil. Pour the oil through a cheesecloth into measuring cup with a pour spout. 
• Pour the strained oil into a glass jar and store it in a cool, dry place. Use it on your body, or face at will. 

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Vinegar is a product of fermentation, a process where sugars in food are broken down by bacteria and yeast. In the first stage of fermentation, sugars are turned into alcohol. Then, if the alcohol ferments further, it converts vinegar.Acetic acid is the main ingredient of all vinegars, including apple cider vinegar. Vinegar’s other ingredients can include:

• Vitamins
• Minerals and mineral salts
• Amino acids
• Other acids
• Other ingredients for flavoring or color

Found in both the condiment and health supplement section of your grocery store, apple cider vinegar can be used for many purposes and can relieve just about any ailment you can think of.

Variations

It is important to understand the differences between apple cider vinegar and regular distilled vinegar.

White distilled vinegar is 100% acidic. Apple cider vinegar has a much higher pH level than white distilled vinegar and other kinds of vinegars, such as brown rice vinegar, plum vinegar, etc.

Rice vinegar and plum vinegar are also better sources of vinegar than regular white distilled vinegar. But again, apple cider vinegar is the BEST!

Characteristics

If you must use vinegar for food preparation, by all means opt for apple cider vinegar. Don’t be frightened by the murky brown sediment sometimes found at the bottom of the bottle. This just means that the apple cider vinegar is raw and contains living nutrients and bacteria that are beneficial to your health.

White distilled vinegar is stripped of the natural fermentation and can actually be detrimental to your health because its ingredients are dead rather than alive.

Benefits

Apple cider vinegar can be used to restore alkaline acid balance. Even though it is an acidic solution, some of its ingredients can cause one’s pH levels to become more alkaline.

A high pH level and alkaline foods have been shown to increase oxygen levels in our arteries and prevent the degeneration of cells.

Apple cider vinegar has a pH of 4.5. It was even used by the father of Western medicine, Hippocrates, who reportedly used apple cider vinegar for healing and cleansing purposes. Apple cider vinegar is a great natural source of potassium (apples are rich in potassium).

A teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of room temperature water every morning will help prevent joints from aching. It’s a great tonic in preventing and healing arthritis and tendonitis.

Apple cider vinegar helps the body eliminate harmful toxic waste (due to its malic acid content), helps remedy sore throat and laryngitis, strengthens the heart, help prevent muscle soreness and aching joints, improves digestion, helps dissolves calculi (kidney, bladder, and gall stones), helps dissolve mucus accumulation in the body, aids the body in fasting due to its nutritional value and content (potassium, copper, iron, fluorine, phosphorus, sodium, magnesium, etc.); helps keep arteries soften, and a plethora of other beneficial actions that greatly benefit the body.

Apple cider vinegar is beneficial to hair and can be used for irritating scalp conditions because of its healthy acidic level. It’s believed that the high acidity (organic malic acid) plus powerful enzymes (life chemicals) in apple cider vinegar kill the bottle bacillus, a germ responsible for many scalp and hair conditions. Apple cider vinegar also helps to restore the proper acid/alkaline balance to scalp.

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Calculi refer to stones that are the result of poor diet and lifestyle and that develop in the kidneys, bladder, and gallbladder.

Causes and Risk Factors

A major causative factor in the development of calculi (stones) is elevated cholesterol levels, which form the basis of that which holds stones (calculi) together.

Cholesterol crystallizes and combines with bile in the gallbladder and form gallstones, which block the passage and causes a host of symptoms such as upper right abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting which usually results after eating fried or fatty foods which are very acidic and thus mucus-forming.

Animal fat from meat and dairy products crystallize with mineral salts and various acids (e.g. oxalic, uric) in the kidneys and bladder and form kidney stones and bladder stones, which obstruct the ducts to these organs and cause severe pain and inflammation.

Symptoms

Common symptoms among stone sufferers are:

Kidney stones

• Pain with urination
• Severe pain on the sides of the body and back
• Pain that spreads to the lower abs or groin
• Pink, red or brown urine
• Nausea and vomiting
• Cloudy or bad-smelling urine
• Constant urge to urinate
• Frequent urination
• Fever and chills

Bladder stones

• Blood in the urine
• Lower abdominal pain
• Penile discomfort
• Frequent urination
• Trouble urinating
• Cloudy or dark-colored urine

Gall stones

• Pain in the right shoulder
• Pain in between your shoulder blades
• Sudden or intense pain in the upper right part of the abdomen
• Sudden or intense pain in the center of the abdomen or below the sternum

Natural Healing

There are plenty of herbs that can be used to help eradicate stones in the body. Antilithic (anti-stone) herbs help prevent stone or gravel from developing and include:

• Chanca Piedra
• Gravel Root (a/k/a Queen of the Meadow)
• Buchu
• Uva Ursi
• Hydrangea
• Stone Root
• Cornsilk
• Parsley Root
• Horsetail (Shavegrass)
• Juniper Berry
• Dandelion Root
• Burdock Root
• Devil’s Claw
• Agrimony
• Celery Seed
• Sassafras, and
• Safflower (Saffron)

By far, the greatest herb one could take for purposes of dissolving and eliminating any stone condition is Chanca Piedra, a potent South American herb (which literally means “to break stone”). A tea of this herb should be drank 2-3 times daily in addition to taking capsules of one Dherbs.Com Kidneys-Bladder and Adrenal formula Kidneys, Bladder and Adrenals.

Dietary Intervention

To improve calculus situations, there must be a change and improvement in diet.

Just as a person cannot develop high cholesterol without eating meat and dairy, a person cannot develop stones (kidney, bladder or gall) without eating meat and dairy products.

A vegan diet is greatly advocated for healing purposes as well as overall qualitative lifestyle purposes. Just as diet plays a role in sickness and disease, likewise it plays a role in healing and recovering from disease.

Make sure to drink plenty of water as water is a natural solvent and helps to dissolve hardened stones.

Dherbs Solutions

Dherbs.Com formulas that can assist in dissolving and eliminating calculus include:

• Full Body Cleanse
• Kidneys, Bladder and Adrenals
• Blood & Lymphatic
• Alkaline Formula
• Electric Greens Combo

Thank you for reading!

This article is compliments of Dherbs.com

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