Why Use Herbs?
	An herb is a plant that can feed, nourish and nurture the body, can give us strength and enhance our immune systems. Learning about herbs and what methods we can use to heal our bodies ourselves is taking responsibility for our own health. We all have a healing, or immune system that operates continually and is always on call. Herbs allow us to cooperate with the healing system to repair damage done by injury, lifestyle, environment, toxins, drugs, etc. There are many herbs that will strengthen the immune system and help protect our health. Medical doctors in Germany, China, India and the rest of the world use herbs because they work. Around the world, traditional healers using plant medications provide health care to 80% of the human population - over four billion people. They want to heal the patient, even if that sells no drugs. In nearly every country, except the U. S., herbs and other alternative therapies are conventional, but herbs are whole plants and cannot be patented like drugs. The drug companies can't have a monopoly. There is just no money in herbs. Drugs may work to alleviate a symptom, but don't necessarily do anything about the cause. The more drugs we use, the more damage we are doing to our natural defenses against disease. Herbs heal; drugs can kill. A study recently completed and reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that in 1994, in hospitals, over 106,000 patients died and 2.2 million were made ill by drugs prescribed by doctors. That does not include those that died, or were made ill, at home. But drugs are "scientific" and can easily be monopolized for incredible profits. Herbs are cheap - even free. Nearly all are safe, with no side effects. Since American medicine stopped using herbs (in the 1930's) in favor of drugs, iatrogenic (caused by medical treatment) illnesses have soared. Nutrition is the basis for good health and prevention of illness. Herbs are the most nutritious of all foods. They are ideal for health maintenance because you can take them every day, providing the nutrients your heart and other organs need, without danger of harming your body. There is an enormous popular movement towards natural health maintenance and away from medical treatment. Trust and confidence fall to new lows with each report about killer drugs, unnecessary surgery, failed medical devices and FDA indifference For thousands of years herbs have been used in the treatment of disease. From the time of King Solomon, who was reputed to be the wisest man of his time and a great herbal physician, on down to Hippocrates, Dioscorides, Galen and all through the Middle Ages, right up to the present time there has always been great herbologists. It seems evident to common reason that as nature supplies all our foods from the vegetable, or herb kingdom, so should she supply all the remedies for our diseases. Every animal apparently knows its remedy. From man's observation of animals and what they do when they are sick, has come most of our knowledge of herbs and their uses. We owe a great deal to the Native American and natives of other countries who, through centuries, have taught the white man how to cure chronic diseases with herbs. When the pilgrims reached the shores of the New World over 2,000 tribes, totaling almost one million natives inhabited the land. Frontier doctors, settlers and soldiers fully agreed that the natives recovered from wounds that would have proved fatal to the white man. Through the knowledge of herbs that they received from their fathers they cured wounds that our doctors couldn't. For thousands of years herbs were their main source of health. In herbs we find the most remarkable combinations of elements to suit every requirement of the body. Not only do they supply food materials, but tonics, laxatives, astringents, stimulants, sedatives, diuretics, stone solvents and apparently every requirement needed to treat disease. We owe our existence to the plant kingdom. The very air we breathe is a gift from the plant world. Every health need of the human body is found in plants. The plants get the food out of the earth for us and turn it into a form that we can use. Throughout history, man has sought a remedy for his ailments in the fields and woods with remarkable success.