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ROLE
OF PLANTS AND HERBS IN THE HUMAN BODY
AS
FOOD AND AS MEDICINE
Kiwanuka R. G. LewisI. Essential NutritionFood for Growth – Living Foods Living foods are foods that are not changed by fire, artificial chemicals or by man. This includes foods that retain their natural substances such as nuts, seeds, tubers, fruits, vegetables, fresh fruit and vegetable juices and all foods that are not denatured. When we take food into our bodies, we generally take in fire, earth, air and metal elements, which are enveloped in the food substances. Air and water derangement are responsible for many of the sicknesses we are experiencing today. Medical science has done much to investigate the mechanisms behind disease, but it has only recently begun to study the reasons that people stay healthy based on the foods they eat. Thousands of years ago, the ancient Egyptians had the unique perspective that human beings are more than flesh and blood, proteins, fats, and nucleic acids. They believed that the life-force is part of the spirit that animates all living creatures. The radiance, or frozen light that circulates in the body is a unique form of vibrational energy. This light energy is an aspect of human nature that is not taught in Euro-centric health science, nor well understood by most Western nutritionists. The ancient Egyptians maintain that we are beings of energy and light. If this is true, then it follows that our bodies can be affected by energy and light waves. From this perspective, one can begin to comprehend the ways of choosing foods, and medicines to maintain balanced health. Instead of conventional approaches to nutrition such as counting vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, calories, etc., our African ancestors treated people with radiant food nutrition, also called "Photo-biogenics." The molecular arrangement of the physical body is actually a complex network of interwoven energy fields of light. Our unique energy systems are affected by our emotions and levels of spiritual balance as well as through the foods that we eat. These subtle energies influence cellular patterns of growth, the aging process, and physical balance. Highly melanized people, especially black people must be treated with different health standards than whites. The current nutritional standards are based on white chemistry and the daily dietary requirements are prescribed according to the needs of whites, which do not store and radiate energy the way that blacks do. Whenever we ingest a particular food, its radiant energy can either correct or disturb the human energy system within our bodies. Not only can foods rebalance the physical body, but can also lift the consciousness and spiritual awareness. According to our ancient wisdom, food is the means by which we re-create the world as ourselves. Our spiritual nature interacts with the properties of the foods we eat. So through food, we embody the sun and the cosmic energies of the Universe to regenerate our spiritual essence. II. Plants for Healing Food and Herbs as Medicine The use of herbs as medicine and as aids to health is an ancient African tradition. Thousands of years ago, our ancestors believed that health was a balance of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual elements. It is only when a system of medicine recognizes all of these levels in the individual can it be regarded as being truly "holistic". Today, we also know that most herbs have healing powers. Africans in the Diaspora have moved far away from their African lifestyles of foraging for wild herbs. However, we can reintroduce herbs into our daily regime and diet as we once did in Mother Africa. One of the major problems confronting the descendents of Africans today, has been the rise of degenerative and chronic illnesses--the "diseases of Caucasian civilization." Heart attacks, high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, hypertension and obesity are diseases connected to European culture, which appeared soon after the modern development of agriculture and the domestication of animals for food production. It has become greatly apparent that the major illnesses suffered by African people today, are promoted by a mismatch between our genetic constitution and a variety of lifestyle factors inherited through American and European culture. Herbal medicine is still the medicine of choice for three-quarters of the Earth’s population. The basic principles of natural healing, herbal healing in particular, is that man is a part of nature and can, if given the right encouragement and support, heal himself. He can do this both emotionally and physically using the principles of right living and the use of mild herbs and raw foods. We also need to balance ourselves through diet, exercise, mental and emotional attitudes and experiences, which is called "freedom of the spirit." We need to balance health first through proper nutrition with the help of herbs serving as special foods for both body and mind. Because of our melanized constitution, African people are able to absorb more stimuli and utilize nutrients better, which brings Africans closer in harmony with nature. There can be no true healing with herbs if the diet remains the contributing cause in sustaining the disease. We must introduce high quality foods in place of a lower quality diet in our bodies. This principle applies to all our major food groups. As we go higher on the scale of quality, the closer our food comes in the natural state in which it occurs; whole, raw and unrefined. In this condition, all enzymes are found intact. Amino acids are in their finest form. The minerals, proteins, hormones, vitamins, trace elements and carbohydrates capable of reproducing healthy tissue are present. When an individual makes a conscious choice to use natural herbs and foods to heal themselves, it encourages a respect for harmonizing one’s self with nature and the universal forces. This is the plan of nature. III. Plants for Cleansing the Body Food as Toxins There are many different types of ailments and when we recognize that most ailments have a common source then it becomes easier to understand the nature of such diseases. Arthritis, rheumatism, high blood pressure, etc., all of these are common ailments that result from the accumulation of waste in the system. Different types of waste are given different names. For example, when uric acid is present in the body and starts to lodge mostly in the muscles and joints, it is defined as arthritis and rheumatism. When the same waste lodges in the veins and arteries, it is called varicose veins and when it lodges in the gall bladder or the urinary tract, it is called gallstones or kidney stones. Mucus is another type of waste that comes from such foods as milk, butter, eggs, cheese, rice, flour and "dead meats". These foods leave a lot a mucus and uric acid in the body. Mucus also lodges in the lungs and the breathing passages. Based upon the amount and where it lodges, it is known by different names such as asthma, bronchitis and emphysema. All of these are aspects of the same ailment, where mucus accumulates in the breathing passages and obstructs the flow of air to the lungs. The mucus, lodged in our bodies, provides the breeding ground for all types of viruses including the AIDS virus and any other type of virus, germ and bacteria. Such an environment is the mucus from the foods we consume that allows different viruses and germs to breed and multiply and attack various systems of the body. They attack the immune system and do a number of things from that point of reference. We have to start taking certain precautions now to protect our family and to protect our community from these types of viruses and ailments that will be coming around. We have to deal with the everyday ailments that are based on our improper diet and lifestyle. Ninety percent of all ailments that affect us come from the accumulation of waste in the body, waste from different types of foods. Many of these ailments have the same treatment which is basically cleansing the blood, cleansing the stomach, cleansing the intestines and the bowels and cleansing the body cavity of accumulated mucus. Once you clean that waste out, you are going to get results, just by changing your diet alone. Any ailment you have is going to show improvement if you avoid milk, butter, eggs, cheese, rice, flour, chicken, red meat, can foods and wheat. These foods are not really compatible with our biological makeup as African people. We have to go back to eating foods that are more compatible with our biological makeup--foods like millet instead of rice, an ancient traditional grain, and ground food such as cassava which are much more compatible. Cassava, for example, contains natural steroids, so we don't need to take unnatural steroids. Cassava, or any type of ground food, builds tissue and muscle and makes the skin very resilient. Also, cassava contains elements that prevent blood cells from sickling. These foods are very important to us as African people. Sickle cell anemia is an ailment that appeared after we came out of Africa to the West and were deprived of certain foods that enable our cells to reproduce correctly. Over generations, the cells began to reproduce in an abnormal fashion due to lack of the foods that are compatible with our biological makeup. This is what is called "sickle cell anemia". We could have eliminated sickle cell anemia in one generation just by changing our diet alone. "In cleansing the body", the stomach, intestines and the bowels are the major areas of concentration. These are the main breeding grounds for parasites. Ninety percent of all cancers and ailments have parasites. Parasites eat the living cells, pass waste and contaminate the cells around it. These parasites breed and multiply in your intestines, bowels and colonic areas. They come from the food that ferments, creating a great deal of gas and acid in the stomach. These are the same parasites that breed, multiply and contaminate the entire body. Anywhere the blood goes, these parasites can go. That's why cancer can spread to any part of the body. When cancer cells find an area to lodge, they breed and multiply and contaminate the entire area, then spread to other parts. Cut them off in the stomach, intestines and the bowels and you will cut down the population. We need to return to our culture and our heritage. Living in this environment where we are in jeopardy, we need to go back to what our ancestors and grandparents did and how they used to deal with common ailments. The ailments that are affecting us today are not common to us. In Jamaica, one of the ways we can do this is by taking bitters and wood root tonic. Jamaica is home to the Maroons, descendants of free Africans and runaway slaves who preserved facets of their African heritage, among them, the art of making bitters and wood root tonics. This forbidding tropical territory allowed them to preserve many of the African customs that could have been lost due to the enslavement of Africans. The art of making and using bitters and wood root tonics is believed to be the key to maroon battlefield victories in their defiance against the British Army and the secret of Africans surviving the prevailing conditions and European diseases that annihilated the indigenous people and caused many deaths among the immigrant races. For nearly five hundred years, generations of Jamaicans, especially those without access to medical care, have used bitters and wood root tonics as preventatives for various ailments. Wherever Africans are present in the Diaspora there is evidence of this knowledge, from the Bushmen of Surinam to the Afro-Brazilian community of Bahia. Bitters are very important, especially to African people. Bitters control the level of liquids in the body including the bile, other digestive juices and the hormone levels and help to restore and maintain their balance within the body. Wood root tonic is a household remedy and general tonic for the blood, body and nerves. Various forms of bitters and wood root tonics are being used today, as they have been for generations, as home remedies for various ailments and to prevent health disorders such as the following: protection against epidemics and venereal diseases; removal of built-up toxins, mucus and wastes from the entire body community; for impotence and maintaining virility; for all digestive and gastrointestinal disorders; to promote circulation, strengthen the heart and normalize blood pressure; to normalize body weight; to strengthen the brain and the nervous system; to cleanse the liver, the lymphatic and glandular systems; for hormonal balance; to maintain kidney and urinary bladder function; for vigor, vitality and a feeling of general well-being. Bitters and wood root tonics are made with wild organic herbs, barks, roots, berries, seeds and spices imported from Jamaica and other tropical countries. Notes:Herbs harmonize vibrational energy – Laboratory drugs cannot do that. Herbs harness the life-forces in man – Laboratory drugs cannot do that. Herbs work on two levels: (1) physical and (2) spiritual aspects. Human body operates with many energy forces such as vibrational energy, rotational energy, electrostatic forces, kinetic energy, potential energy, electromagnetic energy and quantum mechanics. All of these various energies make up “the universal unified field theory”. The human body is a microcosm of the macrocosmic universe. The human body is a miniature universe. These energies drive the 7 principles of the human body which are also called quantum mechanical fields: spiritual, physical, bioplasmic, astral, intellectual, superconciousness, and pure spirit. There are 7 planets in the solar system. There are also 7 systems of the body: circulatory, muscular skeletal, digestive, endocrine (hormonal), nervous, reproductive and the immune systems. Proper foods and herbs feed all of these naturally. The balancing or harmonizing of the energy fields is the key to optimum health and to a good quality of life. This can be achieved by eating the right foods and cleansing the body regularly. Another important factor in the equation is your thought processes and emotions. Negative emotions and thoughts create imbalances in the body community.
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