Healing clay and fango
In naturopathy, the primordial element earth has been known since ancient times – healing earth, for example, is a true all-round talent for gastrointestinal complaints. It soothes the stomach, absorbs excess gastric and bile acids and toxins of all kinds. It also helps with skin problems and is used in body care. “Dirt cleans the stomach” – this wisdom from childhood has a core of truth. But simply calling healing earth dirt would not really do justice to this natural remedy. Healing earth, loam, clay and other earths have an anti-inflammatory and heat-removing effect – they are also used for fever.
Healing Earth: Greetings from the Ice Age
Healing earth consists of loess and loess is rock dust that was formed sometime between two million and 10,000 years ago in one of the ice ages when the glaciers moved over the rock surfaces. The meltwater drove the fragments and small particles into the rivers and valleys.
The wind blew these sediments on until they were deposited, for example in the Kaiserstuhl: the loess layer is 30 meters thick here, a light yellow-brown, dust-fine loose rock that consists mainly of quartz grains. Other important components are minerals and trace elements such as:Â
Healing earth, like the ones you buy in pharmacies or health food stores today, comes from the deeper soil layers and contains no other additives. It is ground into various fines and has a strong suction power – thanks to its enormous surface: only ten grams make around 60 square centimeters.
Versatile effect of healing earth
The ancient Egyptians used Nile mud to treat numerous skin diseases. Hippocrates commended them internally and externally. Pastor Kneipp and the “clay pastor” Emanuel Felke have successfully used the “healing earth” in numerous therapies.
Healing earth for internal use
Many know and appreciate them for heartburn , because thanks to the clay minerals, the ion exchange is supported and excess stomach acid is neutralized.
In the case of digestive problems, flatulence , stomach pains  , etc., you should drink around one teaspoon per liter of water throughout the day. In case of diarrhea  , take several teaspoons diluted in water.
External use of healing earth
In contrast to fango packs, healing earth is applied cold externally, for example with:
- acute inflammation
- burns
- insect bites
- bruises
When applying the cold-mixed healing earth paste, a cooling effect occurs at first, later the tissue becomes warm. A healing earth treatment stimulates the elimination of metabolic products through the skin and promotes blood circulation – hence the heat effect.
Warming effect of healing earth
This warming effect is used in a wide variety of applications:
- Healing earth therapy is used for joint diseases such as rheumatism and can contribute to a reduction in swelling.
- In the case of acne , healing clay removes fat and sebum from the skin, improves blood circulation and absorbs bacteria. At the same time, it gently removes dead skin cells.
- Warm healing earth compresses can be used for chronic inflammation of the joints and muscles  – but there is also fango and moor.
Fango: Earth element without side effects
There is no doubt about the beneficial effects of peloids – as fango, moor, mud and healing earth are called. Fango is volcanic rock, just like healing earth it is full of minerals. Finely ground, purified and moist, it is used as a mud to treat aching muscles and joints in the form of hot packs. The tissue is supplied with blood, relaxed and pain is relieved.
Fango and moor have proven themselves, among other things, in chronic diseases of the urinary tract , but mineral and moor healing baths also serve as therapeutic support for diseases of the respiratory tract and metabolic disorders.