Dear Health-Concious Reader,
This weekend I’ll be traveling to Jamaica to visit my friend and traditional healer Ivelyn Harris.
She wants to show me some new formulas she’s working on. One of them is for eczema, and the other is for male potency.
In Jamaica, people use potency drinks a lot. All over Jamaica there are these little closet-sized stores. On busy city streets and way out in the country there are these little booths. They usually sell beer – Red Stripe, mostly – some trinkets, a little bit of fruit, and these potency drinks.
Jamaicans call them “roots,” and everyone knows what the name refers to.
Some of the fine print on the bottles say “staminizer” and “energizer,” but it’s not too tough to figure out what “Front End Lifter” and “Bedroom Bully” are really supposed to do for you. There’s one named Black Pearl and its slogan is “get jacked with black.”
Bedroom Bully’s label has this photo of a very fit man in the background, and in the front are two women who are obviously in the middle of a very intense bedroom session.
People in Jamaica buy the drinks, but most aren’t made there, and have ingredients that are not indigenous to Jamaica. Bedroom Bully is made in New York. And its herbs are not particularly unique. It has yohimbe, echinacea, ginkgo, ginseng and juniper berry.
Those ingredients don’t really enhance male potency. But drinks like that are all I would see until I met Ivey, who has the real stuff – indigenous Jamaican herbs.
They have great names the traditional herbalists have given them because they work so well to help a man’s reproductive system. There’s fourman strength root, bachelor button, strong back, nerve wist, black wist, jacky mi saddle and chainy root.
One of the things I’ll be working on when I’m there is buying a piece of property so that we can grow the herbs we need to bring you a potency formula with real, native herbs and ingredients.
Because I have to admit, we’re having a hard time finding some of them.
When Ivey needs a root or plant to make a formula to treat the locals, she goes out into the forest to gather what she needs.
But you can’t scale that up because you can only get what’s there. No one in Jamaica grows these herbs and it’s very hard to find a lot of any one of them.
In fact, I couldn’t find any of the herbs I want to test for my new potency formula. So we’re buying some property that is very fertile down on Long Bay. I’ll be signing the deal when I go there.
Here are some of the herbs I’ll be growing and experimenting with:
Bachelor Button: In Ivey’s practice, she’s made hundreds of bottles of bachelor button medicine for prostate problems. She combines the sweet-tasting seeds from the dried flower pouches called buttons with soursop and red water grass (two other potent Jamaican prostate healers) to make her formula.
Bachelor button has antioxidant properties, and its unique healing compound is called gomphrenoside-1. Ivey uses bachelor button to help men who have a swollen prostate and a hard time urinating – even if they’ve had the problem for years.
Strong Back Burr: This is known to lower inflammation, especially in a man’s reproductive system.
To make strong back burr tea, add 20 grams dried strong back burr to 1 liter boiling water. Simmer on a low flame for 15 minutes; steep for 10 minutes; then strain off the tea. This should make about 4 cups. Ivey tells me you should drink one cup twice a day for two weeks. Skip one week and repeat, if necessary.
Jack Ina Bush: Jack Ina Bush also helps keep your man parts working smoothly. It has the performance-enhancing flavonoids quercetin and luteolin, and it also has a rare antioxidant called eupatorium.1
Quercetin improves stamina, and luteolin helps enhance smooth muscle contraction.
You can make a tea from Jack Ina Bush as well. Add 2 ounces fresh or 1 ounce dried Jack Ina bush leaves and stems to 1 quart boiling water. Steep fresh for 5 minutes or dried for 15 minutes. Makes 6 cups. Drink the tea three times a day – before meals and at bedtime
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
1 Yuan, J.Q., Yang, J.S., Miao, J.H., “Studies on flavonoids of Eupatorium odoratum L.,” Zhong Yao Cai. June 2007;30(6):657-60