ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
NATURE'S FIRST AID KIT
Global pharmaceutical companies control our diets and medicines and governments are bringing in more and more legislation to ban many dietary supplements. What better time to get back to the earth and turn out your medicine cabinets in favour of Mother Nature's healing foods? This is a great time to source our own healing foodstuffs wherever possible?
Natural preventions and solutions to illness are more popular than ever as people recognise the toxic side-effects inherent in all pharmaceutical drugs and many of our chemicalised foodstuffs. There are many traditional therapeutic uses for foods, herbs and spices. With these you can try natural first-aid treatments for a variety of ailments, and introduce preventative medicine into your diet. The healing powers of good food prepared properly are becoming well-known and are your investment in a chemical-free lifestyle. New research is finding health promoting 'nutraceuticals' and 'botanics' in common plants and herbs.
Simply by combining the right foodstuffs, herbs and spices you can make natural remedies that help you eliminate noxious pharmaceutical chemicals from your medical cabinets, foods, homes and bodies. Simply by including appropriate herbs and spices in a sensible diet you can help to prevent illness and keep healthy. As long ago as 1980 the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Dietary Allowances (who established R.D.A.’s or Recommended Daily Allowances) found no scientific evidence for nutritional benefits from vitamins, minerals or trace elements in dosages greater than those supplied by a balanced diet. Pharmaceutical industries with generous advertising budgets persuade many people that it is better to have ‘expensive urine’ than be at risk to disease through lacking the right vitamin or mineral in a diet, mainly because so much food is now 'de-natured' and overprocessed.
Since some of the global chemical companies are now involved in producing our food, its become quite difficult to source ' a balanced diet'. Unadulterated food that is still chemical free and that contains the neccessary elements for human health in a balanced diet can sometimes be difficult to find. But Mother Nature is out there - waiting for us to come back to the garden, so why not start straight away ? Make it a mission to get more contact with nature by hunting down wild or organic food or medicine to its source.
Headache? Instead of reaching for the aspirin or painkiller which promotes acidity and irritation in the stomach, why not try one of the many plants with Salicin (on which aspirin was based), like White Willow Bark ? Make it a mission to go out into the countryside and (responsibly) collect some.
Digestive problems? Commercial 'tummy settlers' often contain chemical constituents such as aluminium and chalk. Why not use Fennel or Dill, natural digestive herbs used long before even the Romans who marched chewing roasted dill seeds? These naturally occuring 'digestifs' are powerful stomach tonics.
Got a cold? A combination of the right foods, herbs and spices can knock days off it and speed recovery time by supporting your immune system with what it needs, the right food medicine.
Common herbs are easily grown, even in a window box. Others can be purchased dried or picked from the wild and stored. Many herbs grow successfully indoors and bring a world of new tastes and qualities to fresh food. Spices are widely available and other common kitchen items have many uses in first-aid treatment. In addition to herbs and spices, examples of common kitchen items that are useful for a kitchen based first aid kit are listed below:
CONTENTS FOR NATURE'S FIRST AID KIT
| Almond oil | Salt | Potato |
| Bicarbonate of soda | Hot water bottle | Vinegar |
| Black pepper | Springwater | Yoghurt (live) |
| Blackcurrant jelly | Mustard powder | Peppermint essence |
| Apples | Lemons | Oranges |
| Corn on the cob | Oats | Honey |
| Garlic | Onions | |
| Other useful items with which to complete your natural first-aid kit include: | ||
| Bandages | Cotton Wool | Lint |
| Sticking Plasters | Garlic oil capsules | Dr. Bach’s Rescue Remedy |
| Calendula ointment | Lavender essential oil | Witch hazel |
Nature's gifts are truly versatile. Aches and pains, bites, burns and scratches, stomach upsets, tiredness, bloat, insomnia, colds and flu - you name it there is already something in your kitchen that will help. One way to a greener lifestyle starts at home in the kitchen! Here's holistic thinker and wild food enthusiast Simon Mitchell with a radical new book that celebrates the awesome power of natural foods for managing your health.
Here is the WHY and the HOW of reaching for a holistic lifestyle from the heart of your home. Discover for yourself the power of Mother Nature's Gifts, a real integrated medicine working for you from your very own kitchen.
Hiding in your meals, is a whole FOOD MEDICINE for health, for healing and for fun!
