Health Nut My Story Part 2--The Herbs

And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food."  Gen. 1:29

Everyone has a doctor in him or her; we just have to help it in its work. The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well. Our food should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food. Hippocrates.

You don't have to do something exotic to enjoy the benefits of natural healing agents. So many things in your kitchen - common spices, common herbs and foods - have powerful healing agents as well. Chris Kilham

Note:  This post is not meant to be medical advice.  It is only my experience--in all cases I sought medical treatment first and the nutritional information I received was secondary. Before you try anything natural check with your doctor first. 

My previous "Health Nut" post was about the circumstances that led me to start taking vitamin supplements and the benefits they brought me.  Over the years I have been so healthy my doctor accused me of being boring. However, as I grew older, I experienced more health challenges. Research revealed to me that God has provide us healing in nature--mainly herbs.

I'd like to make clear at this point that I am not opposed to medicine and doctors. I have a wonderful doctor I respect and who has been a great help to me. I also believe main person responsible for my health is me.  

The first critical health issue that came my way after I passed age 40 was arthritis in my knees and hip, leading to chronic pain and poor mobility.  That's when I started taking more than just a multi-vitamin.  I took MSM and glucosamine.  While it wasn't a magic cure, it did help.  If I didn't think it wasn't helping all I had to do was stop taking it to find out that it really had been.  I eventually had two knees and a hip replaced which transformed my life, so I no longer needed to take these supplements.  However they were useful when I needed them. So was exercise.

About the time arthritis came along, I started having serious acid reflux and found out I had a haital hernia and a damaged esophagus, which led me to taking prescribed drugs--Proton Pump Inhibitors such as Previcid.  I took them for 17 years and they worked great but I wondered if they might cause long term problems or hamper my ability to lose weight. After a time, not even this drug worked--I'd take a pill for a few years and suddenly it was like I had gotten a bad batch and I would need to switch prescriptions. The last time it happened there were no new drugs on the market, and the doctors were unable to present a solution, with exception of one ER doctor who told me that melatonin could help close the sphincter to the esophagus.  This sent me back to prayer and research.  

There are a lot of herbal remedies for digestive issues that I tried but didn't work for me. Ginger is good for the digestion but the capsules didn't give me the results I was looking for until I started eating a slice of raw ginger with every meal.  Caraway seed crackers really helped too.  I also took the melatonin and it helped--not only at night but all day.  I am no longer taking any over the counter or prescription drugs for acid reflux and I rarely have any trouble with it, especially after I changed my diet.  I think that I needed time to get the drugs out of my system before I could get better, because I am beginning to believe that some medicines create a need for itself in the body--kind of like an addiction.  There are always side effects to consider taking long term prescriptions.  I have had anxiety and severe depression because of stomach drugs.  I am grateful that I no longer have to take them.

On that note, not every doctor is open minded to alternate methods to healing.  When I told my gastrologist, about the ginger and melatonin he said they haven't been proven but if it works keep on doing it.  He probably thought it was all in my head, but if enough people tell him that he might be willing to research himself.  Doctors are not taught about nutrition and herbs in medical school.

When I started having surgeries, I came home from the hospital with a souvenir--staff infections.  These were powerful germs that required powerful antibiotics,  which I had to take every few months; I was told by a doctor that I would always have trouble with them.  Not wanting to go down the path of antibiotic resistance, I prayed for answers.  While my primary doctor told me focus on general health practices like water, exercise, sleep, taking extra vitamin C and good nutrition--I wanted the magic pill.  In this case I actually found one! One lovely day, I was on Facebook and saw a post about curative powers of black cumin seed and I knew intuitively that was the answer.  I found it for sale online and started taking it twice a day and infection episodes dropped off dramatically.  I found that there are many anti-bacterial and anti-viral inexpensive herbs on the market if I need them such as cloves, Oregon grape root, cat claw, echinacea, golden seal and oil of oregano.   Daily I take cumin, garlic, cayenne and turmeric --a microbiol (fights infections) and anti-inflammatory.   It's been a couple of years since I have taken an antibiotic.   Like Chris Kilham said above --our simple cooking herbs are powerful medicine.

I was spending more than I wanted to on supplements and herbs, so when I saw a two pound bag of organic turmeric on sale I bought it on impulse and then wondered...What am I going to do with this?  Fill capsules of course! I bought a gizmo for filling the capsules on Amazon for $20 and 1000 empty gel caps are about $8 (links below) and I have enough turmeric for a long time. I also fill cumin and cayenne capsules and some other herbs I found on sale I thought I'd try.  I spend an hour or two every few months filling capsules and have saved a lot of money. I think this truly makes me a health nut. lol

I am not finished with the natural healing discussion, I still want to talk about health problems that were fixed by changing my diet and about

Poppy Stepping Store 12 inches Acrylic on Concrete

 exercise, however this is enough for now. I hope you enjoy the art.

Capsule Filling Gizmo https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078V7YNYT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

Capsules https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ACUJRW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

Black Cumin Seed https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0048DO0JM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

Heath Nuts... My story-- The Vitamins

Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.  Redd Foxx

If I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself. Mickey Mantle

We have been taught to "just eat a balanced diet." We have been taught wrong. The truth is natural healing works. Andrew Saul

Note:  This post is not meant to be medical advice.  It is only my experience--in all cases I sought medical treatment first and the nutritional information I received was secondary.  I wouldn't dream of telling anyone they need to try a vitamin instead of going to the doctor.  Before you try anything natural check with your doctor first. 

Recently in a chat with a friend I approached the subject of natural healing for cancer.  He didn't believe in it, while I think it has some value.  I initially sat down to this blog post to write about my research on natural healing and the failings of the FDA, the government and drug companies to pursue research on alternate, and less barbaric, treatments for disease.  Of course I'd be taking a risk of being dismissed as a nut. Which I  am.  However, in the end all I have that might make a difference is my own personal story; it's the only thing I know for certain.  The medical community might dismiss my experience as anecdotal, but it is real and not just opinion.  

When I was a young mom, I remember seeing an episode of the Today Show where the guest doctor said that if we eat a well balanced diet we didn't need to take vitamin supplements.  I was relieved to hear that because I was worried whether my family needed supplements or not.  But I didn't ask: what is a balanced diet? The kids were growing up strong and healthy, so I seemed to be doing the right thing with them but what about...me?  I lived a high stress life, worried a lot, burned the candle at both ends and smoked--all of which destroy nutrients in the body. I didn't always practice good prenatal care either.  I had serious bouts of tonsillitis every few months requiring antibiotics and even hospitalization.  Every winter I caught a cold which left me with a cough that hung on for months, yet I didn't slow down my insane over-achiever schedule to rest and heal. I was often emotionally overwrought. 

I started having trouble with my gums. Though I practiced good dental hygiene, I also practiced poor nutrition; I suffered regular bouts of pyorrhea, requiring antibiotics--which never completely healed the gums.  One day while we were visiting my sister-in-law, I was suffering with painful gums again; she took charge and got  me into see her dentist.  While I waited in his expensive waiting room watching the giant salt water fish tank, I grumbled how much it was going to cost.  I left there with three prescriptions.  When I presented them to the pharmacist, he told me that two of them were only vitamins, did I want them?  I was a little disappointed, I thought I was going to get real medicine, but I told him to only fill one of them. I think I told him to fill the best one, though.  

I took the vitamins along with the antibiotics and was absolutely amazed.  The gums completely healed and were normal for the first time in years.  And I noticed a definite boost in energy, mood and well-being and I lost weight.  I was down-right euphoric! That started my supplement journey.  I still continued to smoke and live in high stress but the tonsillitis episodes dropped off to maybe once a year and they weren't as severe.  I became convinced that I was missing some nutrition in my diet and that I needed to take a supplement every day.  There were a few times in the beginning because we were short of money, I didn't buy them and I'd experience immediate flare-up with the gums.  I have taken supplements faithfully for over 40 years.  (By the way, when I quit smoking 22 years ago the tonsillitis went a way and the occasional colds were less severe.)

Being a natural researcher, I checked out every book in the library on the subject and became a little unbalanced about vitamins. I went through a "mega dose phase" and a "Euwell Gibbon's phase" where I ate weird things that were touted to be good for you; among other things, I took plankton for weight loss and large doses of chromium because it might reverse gray hair which started showing up by age 30.  

Eventually I settled down into a more reasonable routine, however I learned many things in the process which have been useful to me -- One A Day Vitamins containing 100% of the MINIMUM daily requirement provide only enough of a supplement to prevent one from contracting the horrid diseases of old, such as scurvy and rickets.  While they were better than nothing, they didn't provide a person with OPTIMUM health-- only minimum wellness.  I never did well on them; my supplements today contain more than the 100%.  I also learned that the body needs the trace minerals which are removed from foods in processing.  One of these, selenium, joined with Vitamins C and E, fight the free radicals that cause cancer.

I  have gotten along pretty well over the years-- learning and trying new things and have settled with a multi vitamin and mineral that works for me.  Then entered the new health challenges in my life ...and The Herbs needed to deal with them, which I will write about in another post--this one is getting a little long.  

Yellow Poppy Stepping stone 12" Acrylic on concrete.

I hope this post is helpful to someone.  On that note I'd like to emphasize what I have included in other posts on health and diet-- God didn't use a cookie cutter when he created us, so what guidelines work for me may not be your solution but I encourage everyone to search until they find the right answers--starting with your doctor.  I am grateful to the Lord that I no longer blindly follow health notions that sound good without checking the facts and I am super grateful for that dentist. I hope you enjoy the art.  Thank you for your support.