A Journey into Herbal & Natural Healing

Healing With Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition (3rd Edition) by Paul Pitchford is by far one of the most comprehensive books on nutrition and healing. At 753 pages, it covers everything. Health and healing of the body involves all facets of the individual: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual; healing the whole, holistic. This book discusses nutrition and healing from the holistic viewpoint.

“The rise in nutritional awareness occurring at a rapid pace in the West has elements of Far Eastern traditions, in which a balanced diet has been integral to health and enlightenment practices for millennia. This book is a synthesis of vital elements of Eastern and Western food practices and philosophies. Experiencing such an East/West union brings one into fresh areas of awareness and can lead to renewal in all areas of life.” ~Paul Pitchford

Food is energetic, it can effect our bodies either in a negative or positive way. We’ve all heard the expression, “You are what you eat.” Processed foods, sugar, alcohol, caffeine, artificial flavorings, fats, and meats are not energetically “alive” and thus effect our bodies in a negative way, leading to eventual dis-ease. Whole foods, fresh fruits and vegetables still have their life force energy and by eating these foods, are bodies absorb their vibrant energy.

The same theory applies to the preparation of the food as covered in the chapter “Vibrational Cooking.”

“There is an invisible energy imparted to the food by the cook that effects everyone who partakes of it. It is helpful to be aware of what your intentions are. The appearance, taste, balance, and presentation of food and the way everyone feels after eating are reflections of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual state.” … “Cooking can be a time of self-reflection. When you feel yourself becoming unbalanced, you have an opportunity to change your condition simply through the cooking process. Just be mindful of what you want to accomplish and concentrate on the food and how you want to prepare and serve it. Most likely, you will change and enjoy cooking, and the meal will be quite pleasurable.”

Living in the present, the Now.

From the back cover:

“Healing with Whole Foods brings together authentic traditions of Asian medicine with current Western research and nutrition to create the most detailed sourcebook available on planning and preparing an optimal diet. This comprehensive reference work features:

• Current guidelines on nutrition basics, such as the protein/vitamin B12 group, fats and oils, sugars and sweeteners, water, salt, seaweeds, “green foods” (micro-algae and cereal grasses), calcium, oxygen, and other nutritional concerns.
• Clear discussions of the Chinese healing arts applied to physical and emotional conditions, including the Eight Principles (Six Divisions of Yin and Yang), Five Elements, and syndromes of the internal organs.
• Information on making a gentle transition from a diet based on animal products to one centered on whole grains and fresh vegetables. Over 300 hearty, purely vegetarian (vegan) recipes, as well as the healing properties of plant and animal foods.
• Sections on weight loss, heart and vascular renewal, female health, digestive problems, candida yeast infections, root canals, food combining, fasting, children, pregnancy, and aging. Includes insights from Ayurvedic medicine of India.
• Detailed “Regeneration Diets” and herbal treatments for cancer, arthritis, mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse, AIDS, and other degenerative conditions. Also features a “Parasite Purge Program” tailored to specific body types.”

This is a fascinating and easy to read book for anyone interested in bringing their body back to a state of wholeness.

Plants are our most ancient form of medicine and up until the last 60 to 80 years, with the development of pharmaceuticals, have been our main source of medicine. Even now, many of our pharmaceuticals are derived from medicinal plants. Perhaps it was the mystery of plants having the ability to die and come back to life again which gave them the spiritual esteem in ancient times. According to ancient beliefs, plants are the connection between humans and the Creator, and often grant eternal life. Plant medicine was almost always administered by a spiritual leader, the medicine man.

How was it determined way back then which plant was poisonous or not? Maybe someone in the tribe said “Hey, try this.” If the person was lucky enough to live, the plant was safe. But, with that type of trial and error, chances are we wouldn’t be here now. The ancients were much more in tune with nature, they had to be, their life depended on it. Without getting too abstract, plants are alive so they have an energy associated with them. The medicine men or women were probably intuitive, which gave them the spiritual leadership role. Healing with herbal medicine utilizes not only the physical plant, but its unique life force as well. [This is an important part of herbalism and I will be covering it in more detail in future posts.]

The first written account of the medicinal use of plants dates back at least 5,000 years ago to the Sumerians, Babylonians and the Egyptians.

Collecting and studying medicinal plants is among our oldest trades. The desire for medicinal plants was fundamental to commercial trade. As societies come into contact with others, one of the first activities was to exchange medicinal plants and the knowledge about their healing abilities.

Animals have instinctive knowledge about using plants for healing. Through the observation of animals healing themselves with plants, some of our medicinal plant uses have been discovered. One such plant is the roots from Ligusticum porteri (osha root). Bears respond to osha much like cats with catnip, they will roll on it and cover themselves with the scent. Males have been observed digging up the roots and offering them to females during courting. Bears eat osha root upon waking from hibernation to cleanse their digestive system and also chew the root into a watery paste and spit it on themselves to repel bodily parasites. It has been discovered that osha possesses strong antivial and antibacterial properties.

Coffee was also allegedly discovered by observing animals. A goat herder noticed that his goats became energetic and stayed awake when they normally slept after eating red berries off a small shrub.

Herbs were also classified during medieval times by what is called the Doctrine of Signatures. This is a belief that the physical characteristics of plants determine the medicinal use of the plant. An example is ginseng root, resembling the male anatomy, is good for sexual vitality. Many of the plants classified with the Doctrine have been proven to heal in the way they were suspected to.

Falling asleep last night, thinking of what my first post would be (posts previous to today are reprinted from my other blog Whole Living Today), the song “Scarborough Fair” came to me.

Researching this song has been fascinating. It is believed that it can actually be traced back to an older ballard from 1670. There are dozens of versions and translations due to it’s age, but here is one version of the lyrics sung as a duet:

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Remember me to one who lives there,
For she/he once was a true love of mine.

Tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Without any seam nor needlework,
And then she’ll be a true love of mine.

Tell her to wash it in yonder dry well,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Which never sprung water nor rain ever fell,
And then she’ll be a true love of mine.

Tell her to dry it on yonder thorn,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Which never bore blossom since Adam was born,
And then she’ll be a true love of mine.

Ask her to do me this courtesy,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And ask for a like favour from me,
And then she’ll be a true love of mine.

Have you been to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Remember me from one who lives there,
For she/he once was a true love of mine.

Ask him to find me an acre of land,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Between the salt water and the sea-strand,
For then he’ll be a true love of mine.

Ask him to plough it with a lamb’s horn,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And sow it all over with one peppercorn,
For then he’ll be a true love of mine.

Ask him to reap it with a sickle of leather,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And gather it up with a rope made of heather,
For then he’ll be a true love of mine.

When he has done and finished his work,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Ask him to come for his cambric shirt,
For then he’ll be a true love of mine.

If you say that you can’t, then I shall reply,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Oh, Let me know that at least you will try,
Or you’ll never be a true love of mine.

Love imposes impossible tasks,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
But none more than any heart would ask,
I must know you’re a true love of mine.

Scarborough Fair was a 45-day trading event held in Scarborough, North Yorkshire during the late medieval times, starting in 1253 AD. Merchants and tradesmen from all over the area came to trade their goods through the barter system. It became a huge annual event with music, food and festivities. During the early 17th century, increasing taxation and competition from local markets and fairs caused the popularity of the fair to decline. Yet, even today, people still gather for a medieval-themed fair in Scarborough.

So, where does the “parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme” come in? This refrain (along with the addition of Scarborough Fair), appears in the ballard translation from the early 19th century. There are many thoughts as to why this line was included in the ballard; one of them being, “may simply be the result of an attempt to fill in forgotten portions of [the song].” From Wikipedia:

“On the other hand, elaborate theories have been proposed concerning the symbolism of these herbs. Parsley, used to this day as a digestive aid, was said to take away the bitterness, and medieval doctors took this in a spiritual sense as well. Sage has been known to symbolize strength for thousands of years. Rosemary represents faithfulness, love and remembrance, and the custom of a bride wearing twigs of rosemary in her hair is still practiced in England and several other European countries today. Thyme symbolizes courage, and during the medieval era, knights would often wear images of thyme on their shields when they went to combat. The speaker in the song, by mentioning these four herbs, wishes his true love mildness to soothe the bitterness which is between them, strength to stand firm in the time of their being apart from each other, faithfulness to stay with him during this period of loneliness and, paradoxically, courage to fulfill her impossible tasks and to come back to him by the time she can.

“Also, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme are the ingredients of a love spell that was very popular in the Middle Ages.”

Scarborough Fair - Celtic Woman