My husband and I
attended a workshop this past weekend called “Healing @ Home, The Crash Course”.
It was taught by Dr Kyle Christensen, who is the author of Herbal First
Aid and Health Care, which is the book that covers Western
Botanicals product line. This is a great book, very different
from Dr
Christopher’s Herbal Home Health Care, and worth getting. Dr.
Christensen is a chiropractor and naturopathic physician
as well a Master Herbalist from the School of
Natural Healing and until recently was a co-owner of the Western
Botanicals products that we carry.I was amazed to find out that many of Western Botanical formulations are in the Herbal First Aid and Health Care book. What a bonus for anyone that buys it, because so many herbal companies will not give out their formulas. In the workshop Dr. Christensen made his Immune Boost formula found on page 230. I have made extracts using Western Botanicals bulk herbs and know how easy it is, but others were amazed that was all there was to it. He showed us the best straining cloth I have ever seen, a paint straining bag that is reusable. I went and purchased the two sizes at Home Depot and will enjoy using these for many years to come. Now I have to figure out what to do with the big box of cheesecloth I bought!
Dr. Christensen used two of the five gallon paint strainer bags and showed us how easy it is to make greek yogurt. He then used some of the fresh whey that drips out as the yogurt is hanging and taught us how to make fermented vegetables, which are a great source of good bacteria for the gut. I’m excited to start adding fermented veggies to our diet. Fresh whey keeps for a month in the fridge and can be added to green smoothies to make them full of good bacteria! We need all the good bacteria we can get to stay healthy! Eating fermented vegetables and yogurt will help keep candida under control. Food Matters just posted an article and video about making fermented veggies where you can learn more about the importance of adding this to your diet!
Dr. Christensen also shared with us the fact that so many herbal companies are using very poor quality herbs to make their products. Companies would approach them asking to buy their “spent” herbs after they were used to make extracts. Would you want to eat herbs that had the goodness already extracted from them? No wonder there are so many bad products out there. He mentioned that both Dr Christopher's and Western Botanicals use the highest quality herbs available and that is why they work. Their products are pure herbs, no fillers are ever added, so you know you are getting only the whole herb with their healing properties intact. Read Dr Christopher's Quality Statement and Western Botanicals Quality Statement and you will know why you should be using these herbal formulas for your health and healing.
I love learning how to take care of myself and my family. Herbal First Aid and Health Care would be a great book to add to your collection and will help you with your endeavors to be medically independent.
My friend Thomas gave me permission to post his email here - he is blind and has a hard time navigating the blog but had much to share about fermented vegetables.
ReplyDeleteHello Kathryn,
How amazing it was to read your most recent HERBS FIRST newsletter about you and your husband attending the work shop over this past week end and how you learned of the importance of eating fermented foods vegetables and the like. You know really --- there are some very simple home food preparations like making fermented vegetables that really do not take all that much time to prepare and over all a family using such fermented foods will have better over all GI tract health for some time to come.
As so many other natural healing professional have said in the past: "Good health begins in the colon." I would take that statement just a step further and add that good health and well being starts and continues with a very well tuned digestive system, yes all 20 feet of it and not just the colon or large intestine. Once a person is able to re establish the balance in the digestive system they can experience a more vibrant life style and for the most part would avoid eating "fast foods" entirely
because they come to realize that eating whole and raw foods is so much healthier for a person to consume.
Oh another historic note here. Some time ago I recall reading an article about German woman who came to the United States after the Second world war and after living in America for a number of years they began to discover an increasing rate of breast cancer issues among them selves. Of course they had no clue as to why the rising rate of cancer was taking place for them. After a time some of those women returned to Germany to visit family, relatives and friends and the discussion of breast cancer came up in some of those conversations and where as the relatives of the women who remained in Germany after the Second World war did not have the same rising incident of breast cancer among them as did the women who immigrated to America. One very important note was the fact that the German American women noted the fact that Sauerkraut was served at almost all of the family meals they ate while in Germany. And of course the sauerkraut was a fermented vegetable and for the most part " made at home". The German American women made note that sauerkraut was rarely served for their meal in America. From what I recall reading once the woman returned from their visit to Germany they started making their own " at home" sauerkraut a notable difference was achieved in their general over all health.
Oh my, we have so much to learn about all natural ways to stay very well.
Many Blessings,
Thomas