HERBS AND HEALTH

THERE IS NOTHING NEW ABOUT THE USE OF HERBS TO PROMOTE RECOVERY, HEALTH AND WELLBEING. 
  Every culture has at some point used healing plants as the basis for medicine, and a basic healing flora from which relevant remedies are chosen.
  For millennia plants have proven efficacious as healing agents. Herbs are used within the Ayurvedic health system of India, and in Chinese medicine. 
  Plants form an important part of the spiritual healing ecology of North Americans. Echinacea, depended upon by many for its healing properties, are found only in central and eastern North America.
  Many of the current medications in use still trace their origin to plant material. [1]

  Europe has used herbal healing plants for centuries; lavender, rosemary, thyme, sage, basil, rose, parsley and mint are everyday aids in the search for optimum health.
  Africa has wonderful herbs; many indigenous healing agents grow bountifully in the fertile soil, such as the aloe, rooibos, African wild potato and buchu.
  Australia and New Zealand are home to the internationally known manuka honey; a monofloral honey produced from the nectar of the manuka tree. 

Holistic Medicine
'Holistic' medicine deals with the 'whole' person. This form of medicine treats the body as a whole and integrated system, not a collection of isolated systems.
  The word 'healing' has its roots in the Greek 'holos'; the same word which gives rise to the words 'whole' and 'holistic'.

  Emotions, thought-life and spiritual flow are as important to health as the state of tissues and organs of the body.
  The whole of the human being - physical, mental and spiritual - is involved in the process of healing.

  Herbal medicine realizes that herbs can work on the whole being 'synergistically'.  [2] This means that a herbal remedy's whole effect is greater than the sum of individual constituents.

Individual patterns
When people seek healing, herbal medicine can play an important part. However, medicine cannot be fully holistic until acknowledgement of the individual's patterns of thought, behavior, work and culture - that may have impact on the disease itself - is acknowledged.

An example of this is; if an employee in a fast paced and profit driven company finds him or herself struggling to fall asleep after working an eighteen hour day, the lengthy work hours with high mental stimulation may have a bearing on the difficulty.
  The simple solution would not merely to consider the prescription of a medication to assist sleep; it would be to look 'holistically' at the fact that excess working hours under less than optimum working conditions may be causing the body to beg its owner for more merciful working conditions by voicing its discomfort by sleeplessness and emotional misery.

Holistic Diagnosis
In Ayurvedic medicine, prayer and prayerful exercise form part of the prescription.
  The thinking behind prayer and forgiveness exercises is that a mind and spirit at peace with self, others and the world will be in harmony.
  This creates optimum conditions for holistic healing to occur.


Root supportive causes
The prescription of medications, herbal and otherwise, will not completely heal an ailment unless root supportive causes of the ailment are examined and dealt with.

•   Anger issues are approached by becoming aware of indulgence in excess anger, which has effect on the heart and other organs of the body.

  Ungoverned temper outbursts, nurtured anger, old grudges mulled over and not forgiven, have their effect on both body and mind.

• Unmonitored eating habits have their effect on body, mind and spirit. Excess eating leads to extra body weight. 

  Extra body weight leads to obesity, overburdening of the organs of the body, and structural overload of the knees and feet.
  Pain in the knees and feet are not best treated merely with pain relieving medications or gels [analgesia].
  Tackling the root cause of the structural overload - excess weight bearing down on the lower limbs which were not constructed to carry such heavy loads, but a lighter, more realistic load - is important for full health to be maintained.
  Years of structural overload on knees can lead to possible knee replacements being found necessary. This can be avoided by timely intervention.

• Excess alcohol loads the body with sugar. A pint of cider can contain as many as five teaspoons of sugar - almost as much as the World Health Organization recommends you do not exceed per day. 

  Alcohol can also negatively alter blood sugar levels, putting those who imbibe large amounts of alcohol at risk of alcohol-related diabetes. [3]

Catherine N Whittle
Phytotherapy HAOSA [South Africa]

[1] Hoffman, David. Holistic Herbal. 1996. Great Britain; Element Books Limited.

[2] 'Synergistically' means various parts working together to produce an enhanced effect 

[3] Alcohol and sugar 
https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-facts/health-effects-of-alcohol/effects-on-the-body/alcohol-and-sugar/

*Disclaimer; Please note that the information on this Herbal Post is not meant to replace your Doctor or Health Professional  or Herbalist care
With thanks to David Hoffman, and drinkaware.co.uk