Home vs Alternative vs Herbal Remedies

If you've ever wondered what the difference is between home remedies, alternative remedies, and herbal remedies is, now is your chance to find out. There isn't really a major difference, but the differences are good to know as part of your overall learning process.

Alternative remedies and healing are usually just anything that isn't considered to be a main stream medical practice. Alternative can encompass unorthodox medical approaches, old fashioned remedies, home remedies, herbal remedies, Chinese medicine, acupuncture, massage, aromatherapy and more. Basically, anything which is not based on the use of synthetic medicines and drugs is often referred to as alternative medicine.

Home remedies however, are usually tried and true practices, beliefs, or traditions passed down through families for generations. Home remedies can include using herbal or alternative treatments, but often home remedies will use foods or over the counter treatments for uses they were never intended to be used for.

An example of a home remedy for instance, is to use lemon juice as a hair lightener instead of buying hair coloring chemicals and solutions. Another popular home remedy passed down over the years is to use Vicks Vapor Rub to treat toenail fungus. Some home remedies are thought to be old wives tales though. Putting butter on a burn for instance, is a trusted home remedy that's been around for many generations, but sometimes it causes more problems than it helps. Unfortunately the type of food we now call "butter" today isn't actual butter at all though, and this could be a major contributing factor to some of the oldest home remedies working differently for different people in modern day society.

Herbal remedies on the other hand, is the practice of using all natural herbal plants for nutrition, supplements, and addressing a wide variety of health problems or concerns. There are some differences in herbal remedy techniques too. Some people for instance, use strictly Chinese herbs and herbal remedies, while others will use "Western" herbs and remedies. Western herbal medicine is based on natural plants and weeds which are usually native to the North American continent. Some western herbs originated from other countries but have now become wild resources in the United States as well too.

Whether you're learning about and trying to follow general alternative remedy options, Chinese based herbal remedies, or western based herbal remedies though, the entire approach is always the same. You need to treat the whole body at once, in order to heal various health issues. If you simply treat the symptoms caused by a specific condition, you're not likely fixing the actual problem, so you'll continue having that problem potentially for the rest of your life.

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