Rosemary Benefits and Uses

Hello friends, Heidi here from Rain Country. God is good all the time. And I'm here today to talk about the benefits and uses of rosemary. And just so you understand how I do things, when I compile this information, I get it from various different sites. That includes natural-based websites, medical-based websites, and even the National Institute of Health. So we can get pretty good, well-rounded information here. So I will put a link actually to the NIH article. So this is all scientific-based studies on the therapeutic uses of rosemary. This is gonna be talking about using it in any form, fresh, dried, or the essential oil. So let me go ahead and get to this list. So I'm gonna talk first about the basic nutrients in rosemary that gives it its powerhouse of benefits, starting with just the phytochemicals themselves, and then manganese, riboflavin, thiamin, folate, and niacin. So a lot of B vitamins in there, so that's pretty cool. And then rosmarinic acid is one of the main compounds in there that you'll also find in thyme and a couple of your other herbs. But I believe it must be higher in rosemary, thus that's how rosemary's got its name, is from the rosmarinic acid. So let's talk about the benefits, and I'll be covering a little bit of the uses through that, plus going over a list of how I use rosemary. So this was an interesting one I did get from the NIH, and it is actually very helpful at easing withdrawal symptoms in those that have been addicted to opioids and are trying to get off of them. It reduces your cancer risk as well as fights cancer. It supports the immune system and is a natural antiviral, which is why it's included in that list that I put out a year or two ago on natural antivirals and immune boosters. And one of the things it's really well known for is its help mentally in various different ways. That includes insomnia, the ability to concentrate, memory, and also for Alzheimer's. And again, I found some of this on many sites, including the NIH. It's a great antioxidant, which of course means that's why it's good at fighting and preventing cancer. It is a natural anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial. When added to foods, especially let's say you're making some spaghetti sauce or any kind of Italian sauce, and you're putting that rosemary in there, it actually increases its shelf life. So let's just say you're sticking it in the fridge. Rosemary and thyme is very good at this too. It actually helps it last longer in the fridge. Very good for gastrointestinal distress, and that's pretty much any kind. So just generally speaking, it's good for your digestive health. Very helpful at relieving anxiety and stress. And this one was fairly new to me, but it makes perfect sense, especially considering what it does to your mental health in general. In fact, it's even good for helping with depression. It helps reduce pain. That would be either using it in the form of aromatherapy or rubbing onto painful areas, such as any kind of joint pain. So that could be something one could consider using in their homemade joint muscle rub that they use. That would be another option that you could either switch up with some of the other essential oils or herbs that I infuse into that. I'll go ahead and link to that recipe down below. And all of that is up to you. The three main oils typically used are gonna be eucalyptus, clove, and peppermint, and then any others you wanna add to that. But you can take away any of those first three either and mix it up. I say that because in the video, I forgot to mention it was clove oil that I was using when I was adding those first three. It's also very helpful at treating respiratory problems. So good for your lung health. It's very helpful at hair growth, and I'll be talking more about that in a little bit. It's good for treating bad breath. So a little bit of rosemary oil on the tongue, or even chewing on a little bit of fresh rosemary, which is something I like to do from time to time. That and or thyme, or even oregano on a rare occasion, though it can be quite hot when it's fresh. It's also very good at healing skin issues, such as any kind of dermatitis and eczema. So that would be the anti-inflammatory properties, the anti-microbial properties, and so on. That would be helpful in that way. And also, going back to the arthritis, the anti-inflammatory properties in there would help bring down that swelling in your joints. Oh, and also, along with that, because it's also very helpful at nerve pain when applied topically, and increasing circulation. So in all of those cases, arthritis, muscle pain, any other kind of joint pain, it can be very helpful when used. So I would recommend, if you're gonna try just the rosemary oil, the essential oil, try putting it in a carrier oil first, rather than using it straight. So anytime I mention the oil that's used topically like that, I recommend trying it in a carrier oil first. Whenever I use the oil, I always use it straight, or what's also known as neat. It's also very helpful at protecting the liver from disease. A couple more I found on the NIH, it's good for helping with Parkinson's disease and neuropathic pain. So now let me talk a bit about how I use rosemary on a fairly regular basis. I do sometimes add it to tea, though I don't like it as much as thyme when it comes to making a tea out of it. I will do it on occasion if I feel like I need to, and need a little more of that, the benefits from the rosemary. And another thing I did this past year towards the end of the growing season, and I still had a lot of fresh rosemary, and it already dehydrated up a bunch to use for cooking and baking, I took a lot of that fresh rosemary and made an extract out of it with homemade wine and raw honey to make a good, powerful antiviral. And I've taken that on several occasions. I like the flavor of it, it is very strong. And remember, any kind of extract or tincture that you make, you can use any kind of alcohol that you deem as best. Higher proof alcohols can often extract more of the benefits from the different herbs, but the reason I like to use homemade wine quite a bit is not only does it taste better, it's also free, pretty much. I can make it from my own grapes, my own apples, my own rhubarb, and have something that's very cheap, a lot less expensive than a high-proof alcohol, and then just really pack the herbs in there so I'm getting a lot more from that. And I find it's very beneficial using it that way. But you're gonna wanna take just a little bit more of it than you would in something that you're gonna use a high-proof alcohol, especially something like Everclear, which I personally never use. That's better, actually, for more woody, hard items, like if you're trying to extract the benefits from cinnamon or any other kind of bark or root. Obviously, I use it in cooking a lot. I'll add it to different types of breads. I'll put it in my fermented eggs, especially fresh, when I'm making fermented eggs, along with some garlic and red pepper. That's one of my favorite blends when I'm doing the fermented eggs. It is something that I use in my hair oil infusion, so now I add the dried rosemary to the oil when I'm infusing it. But if you don't have any dried rosemary, you can add rosemary oil to that to make the hair oil that's specifically for growth. And I will also link to my recipe on that down below. So I have several different herbs I use because sage is another great one, as is lavender and nasturtium flowers. Now, as an essential oil, the way that we most commonly use it around here is we'll rub just a little bit under our nose to help if we ever have brain fog. I don't get it that often, but when I did have the big C not too long back, I found it very helpful for those couple of days where I did feel very foggy-headed, but it's also good for pain. And if you mix it with lavender oil, I keep a blend, a 50-50 blend of rosemary and lavender oil that I use specifically for headaches. And in fact, that was the very first natural remedy I went to when I stopped using all the over-the-counter, the ibuprofen and the acetaminophen. I went straight to using the oils like that, and I was amazed at how much they helped. I just take a little bit, rub that under there, and within seconds, the pain started easing back and then eventually just disappeared. And so the combination of the two I find very helpful because not only are they both good for the pain, lavender is very, very relaxing, where the rosemary helps to clear the head because a lot of times I get headaches like that, it would make it hard to concentrate. And so the two together were a really great combination. So I always keep a blend of those. But of course, it's going to depend on each individual person and what's gonna work best for you. So always kind of try little bits of things at a time. And again, like I said earlier, when you try that under your nose, you may want to put it in a carrier oil first. I've also used it in my infusion, or a tea is what a lot of people call it, for making my homemade herbal shampoo. So rosemary is one of the things I add to that because it's so good for the hair and the scalp. So one of the several herbs along with sage and lavender, nasturtium flowers, just like very similar to what I use in the hair oil, it's actually for the scalp. You rub it into your scalp and you leave it on, the oil, but you don't have to. I always just leave it on until the next time I wash my hair, then I rub it into the scalp, and then I have the herbal shampoo. So I have a recipe on the herbal shampoo. I'll link to my newest one, but please know in that one, I was using colloidal copper in it as well. That is not necessary, that was just an added thing because I make colloidal copper. You can replace that with just plain water when you're making that infusion. Okay, I believe I covered everything that was on my list and everything I could think of that I do use rosemary for on a regular basis. Oh yes, and of course in homemade salad dressing, duh, you can't forget that. And I've used it as a flavoring in making homemade crackers. Many, many things I use it for that I'm not gonna, when it comes to cooking a bacon especially, I'm not gonna remember all of them. Oh, and here's another thing, I haven't done this yet, but it would be excellent in making a homemade vinegar, especially if you're doing that vinegar to use in a salad dressing anyway. So now you're gonna get that rosemary flavor already infused into the vinegar right from the start. So what I'd like from you now is to go ahead and share down below in comments, do you grow rosemary? Do you buy it in bulk? Do you use it on a frequent basis? Have you used it for any ailments specifically? What is your favorite way to use rosemary and how has it helped you? Oh yes, and don't forget those flowers. When it does flower, you can use the flowers on any of those herbs, thyme, sage, rosemary, and oregano. You'll find that the flavor is just more mild in the flowers, which would tell me they might not be as powerful in their medicinal benefits, but still good, and something like thyme and sage flowers go very well in salads. So please share this down below and don't forget to check out my whole playlist I've been working on for over five years on different herbs, their medicinal benefits, and their many uses, and some of those videos are old. I feel like I should redo because I'm always finding new information about these herbs as I go along and new ways to use them, but I'll be linking to that full playlist down below so you can look through there and find any other herbs that you'd like to learn more about and their uses. All right, well, thanks for watching. Take care and God bless.