HEALTH IS WEALTH
I saw these words on a sign in the local Municipal Baths when I was a child. When I got home I told my mother about it and she explained what it meant and how important it was for each person to take responsibility for their own health and work towards maintaining and improving their health.
I come from a culture where using Plants, herbs and spices on daily basis to maintain and improve general health is ‘normal’.
As a child in the UK, I can remember clearly my mother receiving large brown parcels from Jamaica. My sisters and I would sit in the middle of the living room floor as she unwrapped the parcel.
Inside there were spices and herbs, or bush teas as Jamaicans call them. Items not readily available in the UK at that time. Pimento, All spice, Turmeric, Ginger, Mint, Sorrel (Hibiscus) Cerasee (Bitter Melon) and our least favourite Senokot.
There would be other goodies like Mangos, Sugar Cane, Achee, Jamaican cake and a flask of White Rum.
My point is, my sisters and I were weaned on these natural food stuffs and mother never bought into the processed food and drug revolution.
Our mother’s first thought was to look to nature for relief from our maladies. Natural cures that only had side Benefits and NOT side effects.
Yes, I/we’ve benefitted from medicinal use and recognise the important contributions of medical science to our society. I just believe that in lots of instances we have an alternative and a choice.
I am 100% convinced that this upbringing, coupled with my lifestyle decisions, have enabled me to lead an incredibly full and energized active life up to this point, with my contemporaries watching in disbelief from the side lines.