I consider myself a herbalist, but I do not make herbal formulas for other people. I only make things for myself and my family. I embarked on this journey to find a way to keep myself and my family healthy. At first, I was only looking at it from a medical perspective and researched the way that our body systems work and interact. This is fascinating if you have never done it and I highly recommend doing it. Our bodies are designed to be healthy, and though some don’t work perfectly all the time, they know how to deal with most problems, if we just let it do it.
Understanding the immune system and its correlation to the other systems of the body was of special interest to me. So, I did a lot of research into how to support that system so the rest of my body would stay healthy. In other words, I take a preventative approach rather than a problem-solution approach.
I began with checking out supplements. I found that everything you got for staying healthy came with three things. Exercise, Diet, and Supplements. If you bought a new exercise bike for instance, it came with instructions for a diet and a list of supplements. If you bought a diet book, it included exercises and Supplements. When I say supplements, I mean those vitamin and mineral pills that you get from the pharmacy.
As I studied them, I also found that most of them could be found in various foods, which then led me to look at herbalism. At first, I tried to do what everybody else does, look for a herb to substitute for some pill or other that doctors give you. There was plenty of information out there presented in this way but basically it just led to frustration.
The problem was that if you got a pill of B12, it contained B12. If you used a herb that included B12, it also contained a myriad of other vitamins and minerals. It wasn’t a one-to-one comparison. I started just looking at herbs and the effects that they had on entire systems of the body. So down another rabbit hole I went!
I found that different people had different qualities that affected the way that the herbs worked. Metabolisms were different, size and weight, and just basic conditions of the body. I decided that I couldn’t try to find any one size that fits all set of herbs for good health, even though many people said they had one. So, everything I use now comes from my experiments on myself.
I have created certain herbs that I take in various forms but not to try to cure a problem, but just to keep myself at a level of health that works for me. I recommend that everyone do the same, because there is no magic pill that does everything.
A quick word of warning: Some effects that the herbs can have may be detrimental to your health. If a herb does something like raise blood pressure, and you are already fighting high blood pressure, stay away from that herb. Also, allergies do exist! I you are allergic to something, you might check to see what families the plants fall into. For instance, if you are allergic to daisies, you might also find that you are allergic to chamomile because it is in the same family. Stay aware is the best advice I can give you.
