Herbs or Drugs?

The modern pharmacology got its roots in herbology. The pharmacist in the white coat behind his counter is only a couple of generations away from making extracts from plants that his great grand mother picked in forests and meadows. The roots are showing: Valium got its name from the valerian root, and aspirin is just a chemical version of the white willow bark extract.

To better understand the question If Herbs Are Better Than Drugs, we need to consider an important point: have we developed through interaction with nature, or are we designed to ingest isolated compounds from a laboratory? As we were evolving though millions of years, was it through interaction with isolated compounds, or with whole plants in their natural environment? This is an important point, and highlights the difference between holistic and reductionist thinking.

The pharmaceutical industry uses the silver bullet paradigm. It seeks to find the single compound that makes the biggest shift in symptoms, isolate it, patent it, and make its analog in a factory. It is the opposite of what the alternative medicine seeks to deliver a holistic, integrated view of complex interactions between our bodies and the foods we ingest.

Natures whole plants and herbs provide a balance of ingredients to counteract the stronger effects of the isolated part, so it may be smarter to use the plants as they grow in nature instead of the isolated compounds made in labs. Herbs are specialized plants that concentrate specific nutrients to create desired effects. Some herbs are great for your liver, others for your kidneys, some stimulate, others calm down, some are great at cleansing, others build you up.

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Let us help you with products that are based on whole plants, not extracts, to help balance and optimize your health.

Author: Life Enthusiast Staff