Cold, Wet, Rainy or damp snow? Pull out the ALJ!
ALJ is a wonderful herbal blend, formulated by herbalist Jeanne Burgess. Jeanne lived in the state of Oregon, she created this formula to support the sinus the lungs during cold, damp weather. It also doubled as a wonderful formula to help relieve allergy symptoms. I pulled out this formula this week as we had several days of cold damp weather with lots of rain. Everyone in our house started to feel achy and congested. We started taking several ALJ a few times a day and we stopped the symptoms in it track, they never got a chance to turn into a cold.
ALJ contains Fennel, fenugreek and horseradish which are all warm, spicy aromatic herbs. They act as expectorants to loosen and dissolve mucus. Fenugreek helps to soothe irritated tissues in the sinus and digestive tract and can help reduce fevers. In addition, these herbs have a focus on the digestive tract to help break up gas and intestinal spasms.
The key herb in the formula is Boneset – it is an expectorant herb: loosen and dissolves mucus. Boneset herb gets its name directly from its traditional use of helping the body fight off the flu. The flu’s original name was “break-bone” fever because of the achy bones that came with the onset of the symptoms. The herb Boneset was found to help get rid of the aches and pains associated with the flu, and that is how the herb got its name. Boneset has traditionally been used for cold symptoms, and to induce sweating and relieve achy joints, fever and flu. As the primary herb in this formula we can assume that the formula carries a big emphasis to helping the body to correct these types of symptoms. The last herb in the formula is Mullein – this is a cooling mucilaginous herb which means it soothes irritated mucus membranes (mullein has an affinity to the lungs and sinus), it also has expectorant properties like the other herbs in the formula. The cooling effect of the mullein helps to calm the energy of the other spicier herbs in order to bring balance to the formula.
Note: All these herbs have mild anti-bacterial properties as well to help stop microbes from taking hold in the body. These herbs in this formula also have mild diuretic properties – diuretics help to clear excess fluid from the body. As the mucus is thinned, it is converted to fluid and needs to be removed, so it is important to keep your water intake up while fighting a cold or you can end up with dried out mucus.
I love ALJ during the cold months, both for sinus and lung conditions, allergies or flu like symptoms. I hope you add it to your herbal medicine chest as well. ALJ is available in tablets, capsules or liquid.
Blessings, Valerie
