Health Creation

Who should be held accountable for your health care?  You?  Your doctor?  Your government?

One of my classmates said that she developed an attraction to botanical medicine in early adulthood when she endured an illness but did not have the coinage to splurge on doctors.  I considered that admirably resourceful of her.  Ultimately, she found that she was accountable for her own health and fell back on primitive methods!

Some people do not trust “the system” and would like to know what they are putting into their bodies.  Another person I chattered with shared that his interest in botanical medicine sprouted from its survivalist associations!  (Are there any preppers out there? There’d better be!)  There are many reasons that people shift their gaze toward botanical medicine as at least a fragment of their health care.

For many of us, health care looks like this:  We get sick, we go to the doctor.  He identifies the disease and prescribes you medication to fight the disease.  You take the medicine until you (hopefully) feel better.  This form of healthcare assumes a pathogenic role, in which your disease takes center stage.  Your doctor sees the same diseases all the time.  He knows them well!

Perhaps somewhere, steeping in the back of your mind, you feel something is lacking in your health care experience, or you have concerns other than just the disease.  Or maybe you lie in bed, fantasizing about being at the center of that stage instead of your disease that always manages to purloin all the attention.  Maybe you just think that botanical medicine is awesome.

You know what you are feeling and that you want to feel better.  You have heard that certain ailments have been successfully treated with natural remedies.   

Consider salutogenesis as your counterpart to the predominantly pathogenic (disease-centered) approach to your health care.  Salutogenesis can be translated literally to “the creation of health,” and in practice, takes into account your overall welless: Wellness of your body, mind and spirit, to include how your behavior and environment influence your wellness.  This is equally relevant to the ordinary civilian as it is to the survivalist who depends on salutogenesis as a way of life.

The importance of botanical medicine, or therapeutic herbalism working within the concept of salutogenesis as opposed to pathogenesis is twofold:  First, it is empowering for non-medical doctors (trained herbalists or otherwise civilians) to have a framework in which he can assess how one’s body feels, why it feels that way, and what to do about it.  Secondly, we wouldn’t want to upset the almighty law gods, who anxiously perch on the limb of harassment, by giving them reason to believe that (gasp!) that we are practicing medicine.

Have you ever noticed on a “dietary supplement” label, the following statement?:

“This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.”

This statement is required by law.  Extraordinarily enough, in 1994 when said requirement was enacted, Congress had this to say about dietary supplements:

• The importance of nutrition and the benefits of dietary supplements in health promotion and disease prevention have been documented increasingly in scientific studies;
• There is a link between ingestion of certain nutrients or dietary supplements and the prevention of chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis;
• Preventive health measures, including education, good nutrition, and appropriate use of safe nutritional supplements will limit the incidence of chronic diseases and reduce long-term health care expenditures;
• Consumers should be empowered to make choices about preventive health care programs based on data from scientific studies of health benefits related to particular dietary supplements;
• There is a growing need for emphasis on the dissemination of information linking nutrition and long-term good health;
• Legislative action that protects the right of access of consumers to safe dietary supplements is necessary in order to promote wellness;
• Dietary supplements are safe within a broad range of intake, and safety problems with supplements are relatively rare (Congressional Findings, 1994)

So, there you have it.  On one hand, we have the law requiring “not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease” to accompany the same goodies that they deem… what were their words? “…will limit the incidence of chronic diseases and reduce long-term health care expenditures;” lest we forget, “The importance of nutrition and the benefits of dietary supplements in health promotion and disease prevention have been documented increasingly in scientific studies.” 

Disclaimer:  I am certainly not advocating against medical doctors, in any way.  I absolutely think that people should collaborate with their doctors to achieve the best health care possible.  What I crave consideration for is that doctor visits and pharmaceutical medicine be but a fragment of your overall health care.

This is how an herbalist can help to fortify the wellness of us peasants in a legal, salutogenic modus:

• assist people in building the general health and resistance of the body by providing nutrients and herbs that stimulate healing
• explain that each individual has unique metabolic differences, and that what may stimulate healing in one individual may be ineffective or perhaps even harmful to another
• take the client's pulse, inspects the tongue, and asks about health history and symptoms
• provide an herbal formula, with instructions for preparation, together with recommendations for including specific foods in the diet, and explain to the client that certain foods may be better suited to her body type and constitution than other foods, allowing the body to function better
• show the client a textbook with the herbal ingredients recommended for the client, and that this textbook contains information about the physiological effects of the herbs and lists a set of diseases that the herbs have been shown to cure (Wicke, 2013).

I began my formal studies as an herbalist in September 2015.  Since then, I have wondered, how can I apply what I am learning to serve my community?  

So, having said that, I need to know what ails Mercer County and its surrounding areas.  If I were to hijack a portion of the community garden for high-quality medicinal herbs handpicked for our denizens’ unique concerns, interests, and curiosity, would anybody be interested in taking advantage of using cuttings as part of Mercer County’s salutogenesis?

I would love for people to chime in on how they would like to assimilate botanicals into their lives.   Perhaps people around here are interested in herbal concoctions that have been known to be useful against depression and anxiety?  Would anyone like to cosset their physique with fresh and delicious raw body scrubs?  Ooh wait - that reminds me!  I think I’ve mastered the art of bath-taking. More on that – next time.

Congressional Findings. (1994). Dietary Supplement and Food Regulations Compared. Retrieved from Council for Responsible Nutrition: http://www.crnusa.org/leg.html#cf

Wicke, R. (2013). The right to practice herbology, legal history and basis. Plant Healer Magazine, 3(3).