Moate Medical Herbalist

28/01/2026

Tea tree essential oil

Highly powerful antiseptic, antimicrobial, antifungal and general cleanser. Best known for its addition in many skin care products for the treatment of acne. This mighty essential oil is a formidable allie to have in the dispensary. Included in many formulas I have created for individuals to treat acne, with wild success 🙌

23/01/2026

Garlic
Powerful antibiotic, antiparasitic, lowers blood sugar, helps in cases of high blood pressure, and has antihistamine action.
Simon Mills spoke of his use of garlic on Diary of a CEO podcast, when resetting the gut. Swallow half clove every half hour, until you have approximately 8 full Cloves ingested. It will be seeping out through your pores for rhe next day or 2. But it dramatically improves gut function.

21/01/2026

Hawthorn
Used to balance blood pressure. Is a restorative tonic, and improves blood flow to the heart. It was used by athletes to improve endurance and performance. Taken as a tea or tincture.

18/01/2026

Fennel
Digestive aid, important herb when treating excess bloating and wind. Is slightly warming and useful where the digits system is delicate. Antispasmodic and useful when colic is present. It has some estrogen effects and may prove useful in menopause.

15/01/2026

Eyebright
Does exactly what it's says. Traditionally used to treat eye infection, a small infusion is made, and strained, the liquid is then used as an eye wash. Roman army's carried it on to the battle field and was used in they're medical treatment.

14/01/2026

"The Doctor Said."

I hear it constantly. And people freeze. They don't try the herb, don't ask the question, don't move forward—because "the doctor said" and somehow that's become law.

Let's name what's really happening: fear-based obedience to an authority that doesn't actually exist.

A doctor has expertise in diagnosis. But they don't have sovereignty over your body. They don't have the right to dictate what you can or cannot do with it. Yet people live in fear of breaking an invisible rule, as if questioning medical advice is rebellion.

A 10-minute consultation isn't enough to know your full picture. A doctor with two days of herbal training has no authority to tell you what herbs you can take. That's not their remit.

But the fear runs deep. People are terrified to try something natural. Terrified to say no to a prescription. Terrified to seek a second opinion. They've internalized the idea that doctors have sovereign power over their health decisions.

They don't.

Herbal medicine exists to give that power back to you. It's built on time, listening, and partnership. It treats you as the expert on your own body—because you are.

So question the fear. Where does it come from? Who benefits when you're afraid to take control of your own health?

Your body is not subject to anyone's authority but your own. Not the doctor's. Not the government's. Yours.

Work with practitioners who respect that. Who listen. Who see collaboration, not hierarchy.

Your body. Your choice. Your health.

14/01/2026

Why You Feel Better With Your Herbalist (And What That Reveals).

You walk into a doctor's appointment stressed. Ten minutes later, you walk out with a prescription and more questions. You feel unheard.

Compare that to a herbalist. An hour passes. They ask about your sleep, stress, digestion, relationships, work. They listen. And by the end, you feel something shift. You are seen. Understood.

And you feel better. Often within weeks.

Here's what that reveals: it isn't just about the medicine. It's the time. It's the listening. It's being treated as a whole person instead of a symptom. People call it placebo. I call it success.

Through no fault of their own a doctor sees 40 patients a day and the job is extremely stressful. I was asked to consider it and point blank refused. There is not enough time to listen properly. Not enough time to understand the social, emotional, and physical terrain of your health. Not enough time to think through what actually matters to you, never mind understand what motivates you.

I see fewer patients and generally speaking most herbalists spend hours with you. We ask questions a doctor never think, nor have the time to ask. We listen to what you're not saying (and listen even more acutely to what you are not saying). We understand that your anxiety isn't separate from your digestion, that your skin condition isn't separate from your stress. Your body is one integrated system. We aren't confined to one condition per appointment - we know there is connection.

Because we have time, we can actually think. We can consider your full picture. We can build a protocol that fits your life, not force your life to fit a protocol.

Conventional medicine is unparalleled in surgery and diagnostic tests. There have been genuine success stories.

If you're considering seeing a herbalist, know this: you're not choosing an alternative to medicine. You're choosing medicine that remembers what all healers are supposed to do—heal the whole person, not just treat the disease.

If you've already felt that difference, trust it. That feeling may or may not be a placebo (though if it was placebo - why are so many pharmaceuticals based on plant extracts?). Either way, it's what happens when someone actually listens.

10/01/2026

Why the "Gold Standard" Doesn't Work for Herbal Medicine.

The double-blind RCT is hailed as the gold standard of evidence. But that bar was built for pharmaceuticals, not plants. Trying to fit herbal medicine into that frame breaks what makes it work.

Research doses are almost never what herbalists actually prescribe. Extraction methods are wrong. Time frames don't match clinical reality. You can't blind someone to the taste and action of a real herb.

Isolating a single constituent makes sense for patenting. But whole plant St. John's Wort is remarkably safe. Isolate hyperforin and you have drug interactions. You've removed the buffering effect of the whole plant.

We have thousands of years of knowledge about how plants work, where they grow, how to extract them safely. That's not anecdotal—that's data.

No research model can capture the complexity of a whole plant, individual variation, constituent synergy, or the clinical wisdom from daily practice.

When someone says herbal medicine isn't "evidence-based" because it hasn't passed a pharmaceutical trial, ask: evidence according to whose standard?

The evidence is in thousands of years of safe, effective use. It's in the clinical outcomes we see every day. It's in the fact that whole plant extracts work safely in ways isolated constituents often don't.

We don't need to apologize for that. We need to stop fitting our medicine into a box it was never meant for.

07/01/2026

Damiana
Tonic for the nervous system, typically given to men to promote sexual health and increase libido. Useful in cases of prostatitis in conjuction with other herbs.

31/12/2025

Happy New Year 🎆

As 2025 comes to a close, I want to thank everyone who liked, shared and commented or just had a sneaky look 🧐 at my posts this year. Your support keeps me going, and it means more than you will ever know.

My wish for you all for 2026 is more peace in your life, more love in life, and more moments filled with happiness 💖

Love to you all
Lorraine 🌿

25/12/2025

24/12/2025

Charcoal
Quick absorption, used to treat ingestion of poisonous substances. Was used as a wound dressing in absence of medical treatment to stem blood loss. Has seen a rise in popularity to aid digestion.