Herbs: If I'd Only Known Then What I Know Now

I "had it all" in 1978. I was handsome, I worked out. I ran marathons, I was mastering the martial arts. I owned my own health food store in a part of the country that didn't have many of them (rural Mississippi); and I could pass for a movie star. Women were all over me. My life was a disaster.

I jogged miles and miles a day. I had a successful business. I read everything available on vitamins, minerals, herbs, became a vegetarian, and everything one can do to be "superhuman". I was in a deep depression and after each marathon would become very ill for months; total lethargy and hospitalization with no diagnosis.

But what was wrong? I listened to all the traveling health food salespersons, I went to isolated mountains to study with herbalists, I even lived in a yoga ashram for awhile. I still did not feel right. I took all the "right natural vitamins". Organic foods were the staple in my home. I was still ill.

Fast forward 23 years. I suffered a major heart attack. This time, I had an extra tool. The Internet. I told myself (in the hospital) "Rick, if you recover from this, you are really going to find out the truth about health foods and nutrition."

The day I was released from the hospital, my research mission had begun.

I found that most "health experts" are no more expert than you or me. They go with what is popular and what sells. There are but a very few, and they are not well-known who really know the score.

One bit of relief is that the raw foods part was a good thing early on. And still is.

As far as herbs. I might as well have been eating junk. I had no idea most of them derived from third world countries, sprayed with dysentery-infected water, causing more harm than good.

Many were not even wildcrafted much less certified organic (though the company names had the word "organic" and "natural" on them as a ploy. And the ploy works.

Most are made into tablet or capsule form which have almost zero if that much medicinal value. They are worse than junk and can many times do more harm than good, depending on where the herb is raised.

Tinctures are the real medicinal herbs; at least 1:2 ratio but preferably 1:1; that means one part herb to one part of whatever else is in the potion. And it is best that they are grown in western countries, or at least countries that have regulatory rules and regulations as to how the herbs are raised. Otherwise, one is bound to get something that has been infected with something in the growth process.

And as this was not information-overload, even the finest herbal tincture cannot get to the diseased organ(s) without the help of cayenne tincture (the hotter the better...I take 200,000 heat units mixed with every other herb). Cayenne, in addition to having healing powers of its own, acts as "a taxi herb" taking other herbs immediately to the diseased organ or organs, so very little is wasted.

So now we know the score on herbs. What about vitamins and minerals? Again, for the most part, a waste of money, whether synthetic or organic. Why? The way they are processed.

Flash dried fruits and vegetables with live enzymes is what the body craves, what "sparks" life. There are only a few companies out there that use a process called "flash glancing". This leaves us with a live food enzyme that is the "spark of life". Without it, your toilet wins out in the vitamin mineral game.

Ok, I know that articles like this make me enough enemies, naysayers, and other ill-will. But if this valuable information sinks in to just one person, does it really matter what someone else thinks of me and my discoveries? As long as one person who was misguided like me now has a chance at a healthy life, why not take the chance and say it. There, I just did.

People often ask which tinctures I prefer. If I had to pick any two they would be cayenne and cat's claw (una de gato) which I take daily. There is a rare form of Cat's Claw known as Samento that is 1000 times stronger than regular cat's claw. I prefer it. It is also known as TOA-Free Cat's Claw. I think you'll see the difference. As an immune booster, Echinicea, Ginseng, Pau D' Arco, and the rest don't hold a candle to cat's claw or it's more potent form Samento. I like a lot of the medicinal mushroom tinctures, hawthorn berry (for the heart) and ginkgo (which is amazing when taken with cayenne), only mediocre at best when taken alone.

May you be healthy and prosperous.

Article Source: http://www.a1-articledirectory.com

Cartoonist Rick London once owned a health food store. He later had a heart attack. He decided to discover alternative medicine. Learn about Rick at Rick's Cartoon Site,and Top Internet Cartoons

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated