Prescription for Herbal Healing: An Easy-to-Use A-Z Reference to Hundreds of Common Disorders and Their Herbal Remedies (Paperback)

by Phyllis A. Balch (Author) "At a time when medicine has made some of the greatest advances in its history, something unexpected has begun to happen..." (more)
Key Phrases: United States, New York, Planta Medica (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The popularity of herbal medicine has exploded during the past decade, with herbal remedies becoming increasingly available in such conventional outlets as drugstores and even supermarkets. Prescription for Herbal Healing brings to herbal medicine the same in-depth, easy-to-understand information and accessible style that Prescription for Nutritional Healing successfully brought to diet and nutritional supplements.

This book is divided into three parts for easy reference. Part I discusses the basic principles of herbal medicine and outlines the properties and characteristics of some one hundred sixty single herbs and sixty herbal combination formulas. Part II describes more than one hundred fifty common disorders, conveniently arranged in alphabetical order from acne to yeast infection, and names the herbal therapies that can be used in the treatment of those conditions. Part III is a guide to using various kinds of herbal and other alternative therapies. In addition, it includes self-diagnostic tests and boxed insets throughout, which offer detailed information on a wide variety of topics.

Complete coverage of Chinese and Ayurvedic herbs make this volume entirely comprehensive, and thorough scientific references lend it an authority not found in any other herbal book. Prescription for Herbal Healing is the definitive herbal resource and is a necessity for any health-conscious consumer.

About the Author
Phyllis A. Balch, CNC, has been a leading nutritional consultant for more than twenty years. She continues to study nutrition-based therapies, procedures, and treatments in the United States and abroad.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Avery Trade (January 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895298694
• ISBN-13: 978-0895298690
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,649 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Herbal Twin Has Arrived!!, May 19, 2002

By	G. Haim "G. Haim" - See all my reviews

We all loved the book "Prescription for Nutritional Healing" by James F. Balch and Phyllis A. Balch, and now comes its long awaited twin; The same winning format, the same width of knowledge, and this time - the best herbs to treat (almost) every ailment. Besides an overview of the principles of herbal healing, the first part of the book describes a long list of herbs that are mentioned throughout the book, the scientific evidence of their benefit, and various considerations for use, alone and/or with other herbs. However, this part is missing a listing of active constituents (future edition?). The second part excells in bringing an alphabetical listing of various health conditions and summarizing, in a clear-cut table, the herbs that can be used, the doses, some ready formulas, and a short comment on action. I loved this format in the first book, and find myself praising this format in the present book. Need to treat an ailment? - just open the right page, and the table of beneficial herbs is right in front of your eyes. The story goes on - "Herbs to Avoid", general "Recommendations" and "Considerations" - all written by a super-expert in the field. Amazon found a very strange way to show us the contents of a book ("look inside") but never exposed "real" pages. Just give a customer a chance to look at a page from the second part of this book and he will know what this book is all about. In the third part I found the information I needed to prepare my own herbal extracts. The tips are invaluable and the various techniques for herbal healing are very well discussed. Ms. Balch made our life much easier and healthier by introducing two superb books where in a glance one can match nutritional healing with herbal healing for a wide array of common health problems. It's time to go one further step - to move both books to the CD format...

46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars an excellent book, January 29, 2005

By	samiam - See all my reviews

I highly recommend this book (I give 5 stars to few books) to anyone interested in herbs and herbal remedies from a more scientifically based approach. I found that her citation of studies and use of them to describe the actual effects of the herbs helpful, whereas most herb books are filled solely with arguments from tradition or some metaphysical bias. Although tradition, or any other tact, may actually be correct sometimes, I find it unconvincing alone. I like to know that ginseng, for example, has been shown in studies to relieve stress. I don't want to read an author only mention how it is a magic herb that will bring one closer to a certain positive force of the universe (apologies for the sarcasm). She does include, naturally, traditional uses (by multiple cultures) and their histories, but her descriptions/prescriptions aren't solely based on them. She does a wonderful job and has come up with a book I'd been seeking for a long time. She has obviously put a lot of careful time into this work, and ended up with what will surely earn its shelf life.

I hope this review has helped.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderfully comprehensive work, August 22, 2004

By	Robert (Vienna, Austria) - See all my reviews

I found a flyspeck on page 407 so I'm giving this book 1 star---No, this is quite simply the most complete and the most reader friendly book on herbal medicine in print today, Phyllis Balch's finest effort. Free from the biases of authors who are selling particular products or promoting their in-store information kiosks, Prescription for Herbal Healing was obviously written to help real people get well with simple remedies at the lowest possible expense in the shortest possible time with the least risk of side effects (and when I checked MedLine, there were no reports of adverse results from using baby oil). I like it even better than the Prescription for Nutritional Healing books that are, for reasons I can't understand, for better known. Even if you think you've seen it all in herbalism, buy this book.