#185 Adaptogens, Plant Medicine and Medical Herbalism with Dr Sally Moorcroft
22nd Feb 2023
Today on the podcast I have Dr Sally Moorcroft and we’re talking about Herbal medicine, also called phytotherapy, which refers to using a plant’s seeds, berries, roots, leaves, bark, or flowers for medicinal purposes.
Dr Sally embarked on a medical career almost many years ago but her experience in hospital medicine, coupled with her travels to France and Australia that introduced herbal medicine, led her to complementary therapy which she’s practiced for almost 2 decades.
Today we talk about a range of things on a subject I’m not terribly familiar with
- The history of herbal medicine
- The overlap with native america, ayurvedic and traditional chinese medicine
- How we extract the products from plants
- What adaptogens are and how to use them
- Anti-inflammatory herbs
- Resources for people interested in medical herbs, how to source quality products and potential drug interactions
- And we also workshop some cases like patients with gastritis or high cholesterol and how Dr Sally would approach them
If you’re new to things like slippery elm, marshmallow root, devil’s claw, rhodiola and boswelia (like me!) I think you’ll find this episode useful and I’m certainly going to dive into the resources that Sally recommended!
Dr Sally Moorcroft is an award winning integrative and functional medicine doctor, she has a life long interest and passion in food as medicine and leads a team of doctors, nutritionists and practitioners. She has a BSc (Hons) in Herbal Medicine and is currently completing IFM certification. She has also trained in medical acupuncture, TCM and is passionate about using a personalised, holistic and root cause approach. Her special interest is women’s health, especially menopause, perimenopause, endometriosis and PCOS; and the gut microbiome.
She is founder of Dr Sally’s Botanicals a range of organic herbal teas and tonics, based on formulations used in her clinic which I’ve personally tried and they’re fab.
Episode guests
Dr Sally Moorcroft is an award winning integrative and functional medicine doctor. Director and co-founder of the Northern Centre of Integrative and Functional Medicine (NCIFM), she has a life long interest and passion in food as medicine and leads a team of doctors, nutritionists and practitioners in the centre. Running a busy private integrative medicine clinic for 18 years she has a BSc (Hons) in Herbal Medicine, MFHom in medical homeopathy, Functional Medicine training and is currently completing IFM certification. She has also trained in medical acupuncture, TCM and bio-identical hormone therapy and is passionate about using a personalized, holistic and root cause approach. Her special interest is women's health, especially menopause, perimenopause, endometriosis and PCOS; and the gut microbiome.
She is founder of Dr Sally's Botanicals a range of organic herbal teas and tonics, based on formulations used in her clinic.
Core Tutor and Herbal Medicine Module leader on the Diploma in Integrative Healthcare at the National Centre for Integrative Medicine, Bristol, she writes for national publications, has worked with Channel 4 on health programmes, and lectures and teaches nationally on integrative and functional medicine.
References/sources
1. The books recommended on the podcast were:
Andrew Chevallier - The Encyclopedia Of Herbal Medicine: 550 Herbs and Remedies for Common Ailments by Dorling Kindersley
David Hoffman - The Complete Illustrated Holistic Herbal
Dr Aviva Romm - Naturally Healthy Babies and Children: A Commonsense Guide to Herbal Remedies, Nutrition, and Health
Dr Aviva Romm - The Natural Pregnancy Book, Third Edition: Your Complete Guide to a Safe, Organic Pregnancy and Childbirth with Herbs, Nutrition, and Other Holistic Choices
2. The Emerson Ecologics Quality Assurance scheme for supplement quality is - https://go.emersonecologics.com/quality
3. Medical Herbalist Qualifications - look for a BSc(Hons) in Herbal Medicine or MSc Herbal Medicine.
Membership of either the National Institute of Medical Herbalists (NIMH) or College of Phytotherapists (CPP)
4. The Dr Sally's Botanicals Herbal teas are available at:
Online - https://chapelyardorganics-com.myshopify.com/collections/dr-sallys-botanical-tea-range
Our full range of herbal products is available at: https://chapelyardorganics-com.myshopify.com/collections/dr-sallys-botanicals
Or in store at Chapel Yard Organics, 2 Chapel Yard, Albert Street, Holt, NR25 6HG.
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