Andrea Hughes Medical Herbalist- Functional Medicine

09/09/2026

There's a kind of medicine that doesn't ask you to swallow anything at all. I think about this a lot with essential oils, how different they are from tinctures or teas, because the whole method is different. You're not taking something in, you're working something into the skin, and the body meets it there instead.

For the digestive oil we make in the autumn workshop, it's ginger, sweet fennel and cardamom, warmed together and worked into the belly in slow circles. There's a physical logic to it that I love. Ginger for its heat, fennel for its ease, cardamom for something a bit brighter underneath. Blended, they do together what none of them quite do alone.

What I find myself telling people again and again is that this isn't just a nice thing to do after a big meal, though it is that too. It's a way of putting your hands on the part of you that's working hardest and saying, I see you, slow down, I've got you. Sometimes that message matters as much as anything in the oil itself.

08/09/2026

Heather

I've been surrounded by it lately. Sullington Warren last weekend, the heathland a haze of purple. Then this weekend, driving through the New Forest, more open heath rolling out on either side, the same soft colour catching the light. And a few weeks ago someone gifted me a little pot of heather grown all the way up in the Shetland Isles, now sitting on my windowsill as a small, quiet reminder of both journeys. It felt like the right time to write about this plant properly.

Heather: Calluna vulgaris, is one of those plants so woven into the landscape that it's easy to walk past without a second thought. But it has a long history as a genuinely useful medicinal herb, particularly for the urinary system.

Its main action is as a gentle diuretic and urinary antiseptic, traditionally used to support the kidneys and bladder, ease the discomfort of cystitis, and help the body clear excess uric acid making it a herb people have turned to for gout and rheumatic complaints for centuries. It also carries a mild sedative quality, and its tannin content gives it an astringent action, useful both internally for calming irritation and externally as a wash or compress for irritated or inflamed skin. Historically it's had a place in respiratory remedies too, valued for soothing coughs and easing congestion.

In terms of how it's used: the flowering tops are the part that matters, gathered in late summer as the heathland turn purple, just as I've been witnessing.

They can be used fresh or dried as an infusion a teaspoon or so per cup, steeped and taken through the day or prepared as a tincture for a more concentrated, longer-lasting remedy. You'll also find heather in gemmotherapy, prepared from the young buds as a bud macerate, valued for its gentle draining, detoxifying action on the urinary system.

There's something fitting about a plant this unassuming doing so much quiet work, much like the moors and heathland themselves, easy to drive past, but extraordinary once you actually stop and look.

08/09/2026

In a lot of traditional cultures, meals don't really end when the plate's empty. There's often a small, deliberate step after, before you get up from the table. In parts of India it's a spoonful of toasted, spiced seeds. In other traditions it's a bitter herb, a slice of something sharp, or simply a few minutes of sitting still before moving on.

It's easy to write these off as quaint little customs, but there's real logic in them. Digestion doesn't switch off the second you stop eating, it's still very much underway, and a lot of these after-dinner rituals seem designed to support exactly that: easing wind, calming the gut, signalling to your nervous system that it's safe to properly digest rather than rush off to the next thing.

This is coming up for me again lately, now the evenings are drawing in and meals are getting heavier. A small handful of toasted fennel and coriander seeds after dinner, chewed slowly rather than swallowed in a hurry. It sounds almost too simple to do anything, but I notice the difference.

Funny how so many of these old habits, from completely different corners of the world, all seem to land on the same idea: don't just eat and run.

Do you have any little after-meal habits of your own, ones you picked up from family, culture, or just trial and error?

07/09/2026

Let's talk about elderberries 🌿

I want to address something honestly, because a few of you may have seen the same social media chatter I did.

When I trained as a medical herbalist back in the 90s, I was taught that elderberries should always be dried or cooked before use never eaten raw.

The reason: fresh elderberries contain compounds called cyanogenic glycosides, which can cause nausea, cramping and GI upset in some people if the fruit isn't properly heat-treated. I've followed that guidance ever since, in everything I make and everything I teach.

Recently I saw a well-known herbalist on social media dismissing this as "AI misinformation" the suggestion being that this advice is something chatbots invented, and that anyone still teaching it doesn't really know their stuff. Naturally, that gave me pause. So I went back and checked.

Here's what I found: the chemistry hasn't changed. Those compounds really are there, concentrated mainly in the seeds, stems, leaves and unripe berries, in smaller amounts in the ripe flesh. Cooking or thoroughly drying the fruit is still the reliable way to neutralise them, and that's exactly why food safety bodies and herbal references continue to advise it. The nuance some practitioners point to is that fully ripe, deseeded berries eaten in small amounts carry a lower risk than "never touch a raw elderberry" might suggest, which is a fair, more detailed point. But it's a long way from meaning the drying and cooking advice is nonsense.

So no, I wasn't taught something false, and no, I'm not parroting a chatbot. I was taught the careful, well-supported approach, the one that makes sense when you're making something for other people to consume, rather than sampling a berry off the bush yourself.

I'll always choose caution when it comes to what goes into your syrups, tinctures and remedies. That's not misinformation that's just good practice.

01/09/2026

Four ways to support digestion, four completely different methods.

I've been putting together some of the herbal preparations I'll be teaching this autumn, and it struck me how differently each one works, not just in what herb it uses, but in how you actually get the plant's benefit into your body.

An oxymel: herbs infused in vinegar and honey is brilliant for warming, aromatic roots that wake digestion up before a meal.

A tincture: (Swedish bitters) herbs steeped in alcohol pulls out the classic bitter compounds that get bile and stomach acid moving.

A glycerite: herbs infused in glycerine instead of alcohol is gentler, sweeter, and perfect for soothing, mucilage-rich roots that coat and calm an irritated gut.

And then there's the one that isn't taken internally at all a warming massage oil, worked into the belly to support digestion from the outside in, through warmth and gentle movement rather than anything swallowed.

Same goal, happier digestion, four completely different routes to get there. I find that's one of the loveliest things about herbal medicine: the plant doesn't just decide the remedy, it decides the method too.

These are actually four of the preparations I'll be teaching hands-on this season, which is always my favourite part there's something different about making a remedy yourself versus just reading about it.

Do you already have a favourite way of taking herbs?

Tincture, tea, syrup or something else?

31/08/2026

🍂 There's a particular shift happening right now that I feel every year around this time.

Nearly thirty years ago, before I trained as a medical herbalist, I trained as a clinical aromatherapist in the Five Element system and it's stayed with me ever since, quietly shaping how I think about the seasons even now, working from a very different, Western tradition.

In that system, we're moving into Earth right now. Not autumn exactly, the late-summer pause just before it, when the harvest is in and everything softens into ripeness before the year properly turns. Earth governs digestion, nourishment, the home, the belly. It's the element of being fed, literally and otherwise.

I notice it in myself as a pull toward simpler food, toward routine, toward wanting to feel a bit more held. In TCM terms, that's Earth doing exactly what it's meant to do. When it's out of balance, it tends to show up as worry, overthinking, or that scattered feeling of doing a lot but not really landing anywhere which, thirty years on, still feels like one of the more useful lenses I carry into a consultation room.

I find it interesting how differently trained systems can end up pointing at the same truth. Western herbal medicine doesn't talk about "Earth" as an element, but ask any of us about the gut-nervous system connection and you'll get a very similar answer, just in different language.

Do you notice a seasonal shift in yourself around now, even a small one?

30/08/2026

I've been thinking about bitter foods & herbs again today.

We're taught from childhood to avoid that taste spit it out, breed it out, drown it in sugar.

But your body actually wants it. The moment something bitter hits your tongue, digestion starts waking up: more stomach acid, bile getting ready to move, the whole system paying attention before food's even arrived.

That heavy, sluggish feeling after a meal? I don't always think of it as eating too much. Sometimes it's just digestion that never really switched on.

I take a bitter tincture before most meals myself and really enjoy it!

Most people who come to see me leave with a little bottle of bitters in hand.

I have complied a little list of bitter foods below... can you add any more?

Rocket
Watercress
Chicory
Kale (especially cavolo nero)
Brussel sprouts
Broccoli and tenderstem broccoli
Cabbage
Globe artichokes (fresh or jarred hearts)
Asparagus
Celery and celeriac
Radishes (and radish tops)
Turnips and turnip tops
Mustard leaves / mustard greens
Horseradish (fresh root or prepared)
Olives (especially green)
Grapefruit
Seville orange (and traditional marmalade)
Lemon and lime peel / zest
Dark chocolate (70% cocoa and above)
Coffee
Green tea and good-quality black tea
Chicory “coffee” (roasted chicory root drinks)
Fresh parsley
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme
Bay leaves
Rocket pesto or bitter-leaf pestos
Mustard (English and wholegrain)
Bitter salad mixes (bags labelled “peppery” or “continental”)

29/08/2026

🍂 Autumn Herbal Medicine
Herbs of Digestion, Medicine of Earth 🍂

This autumn, join me online to explore the Earth element nourishment, grounding, and digestion including a deep dive into bitters, one of herbal medicine's most powerful (and overlooked) plant groups.

🌿 Quick tip: try chewing a few rocket leaves or a slice of chicory 10 minutes before a meal, the bitter taste alone helps switch on digestion.

Want to know why bitters work and how to use them daily?
Join me online 17th October 2026 💛

📅 Early bird price £25 booking closes 10th September!

Do you already reach for anything bitter before a meal?

26/08/2026

The Sun is shining again today but we know the wheel is turning.

I am preparing for the Autumn wheel of the year workshop both in person and online via zoom.

Drop a comment below if you're interested in joining

23/08/2026

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260820202904.htm

Check your species explorer for this if you have done a Microba Microbiome Analysis with me. It shows all the microbes in our biome rather than just looking for the expected ones.

Scientists have linked a specific gut bacterium, Roseburia inulinivorans, to stronger muscles in both humans and mice. Older adults who carried it had 29% greater handgrip strength, while treated mice gained about 30% more grip strength and developed larger, more fast-twitch muscle fibers. The bacte...