As some of you might know, I have begun an herbalist class. I see it as a natural continuation from the changes we have made in our diets. I have always been interested in plants and natural solutions. Maybe a love inherited from my Grandma. Besides the changes in our diets, we have started making some of our own cleaning products with plans to make more, are choosing more natural solutions for those products we purchase, and have begun making changes in the medical professionals we choose to more holistic practitioners.

Following some plant walks & a class with a knowledgeable local, native plant expert (thanks Abby!), I’m happy to have found a natural health school founded and run by Christians, using Biblical principles. Our goal has been to eat more foods that are closer to how God made them — less processing. I believe God has also provided us with plants to help us stay well and to heal. All a part of “let your food be your medicine.” The first several units of the herbalist class are about food, so I thought I might share the related projects with you here. Please feel free to share your thoughts on these issues, as well.

Reclaim Your Terrain

By Heather Shaut

      I recall my grandmother, who graduated from nursing school in the 1930s, telling me that many times a child would come to the hospital sick and all they needed was a bath. After being bathed and changing in to clean clothes, these kids would quickly feel better. From Dr. Semmelweis’s discovery in the maternity ward to my grandmother’s deduction and beyond, evidence supports the hygiene hypothesis. With so much substantiation, it would be a tough argument against the effect of preventing or treating illness via hygiene. Again, though, evidence is mounting that our society has gone to the extreme in attempting to sterilize our environments and our bodies. Our society has become overmedicated; treatment of disease has produced resistant strains of bacteria, illness and disease are disguised by veiling symptoms with medication. We use hand sanitizer to kill the germs on our hands before we eat our food yet consume junk devoid of nutrition resulting in an increase in disease to the point of epidemic. Beneficial bacteria have been forsaken. Despite the advances in modern medicine, cancers, heart disease and diabetes are all on the rise. While a concern with hygiene is not completely unwarranted, it is time we reclaim responsibility for our health and support the terrain. It’s time to give these pathogens a hostile environment.

Having a healthy body, designed to protect us from and fight off illness, is key to maintaining or regaining health. God’s intelligent design does not need to be fixed or changed, but recognized, accepted and supported. He has put into His beloved creation, us, the ability to stave off sickness and disease. Included in this design is the need for exposure to germs to keep the immune system strong and in working order, homeostasis. While this battle is not one fought cognizantly, the choices we make each day strengthen or hinder the body’s ability. Are we allowing what God created to work or have we set up roadblocks and traps? The best way to establish a more resilient terrain, to support the interieur milieu, is to learn as much as we can and resolve to apply this learning to the choices we make. Reexamining what we think we know about healthy food, reforming our thoughts on medication and disease being the expected eventuality, and reclaiming responsibility for our own wellbeing are our best weapons in the battle for good health. With respect to germs or terrain, working with God’s design is a successful battle plan.