I should start by saying "symbiotic" might not be the right word to describe our relationship with plants. We receive the lion's share of the benefits from the relationship. Without plants we could not exist. Not only do they provide us with food and medicine, but they provide us with the very oxygen that allows us to live. As long as our species has lived on this planet we have used plants to nourish and heal our bodies. Each indigenous culture learned to use their local plants. This knowledge, or lore, was passed down through the centuries and became the foundation of all human healthcare.

Western allopathic medicine and traditional plant-based, or herbal, medicine are fundamentally different. Herbal medicine uses plants to support the body's innate ability to heal itself. Western medicine uses pharmaceuticals to treat your symptoms, but does nothing to cure the underlying disease. These drugs force a reaction in your body that is quite often contrary to how your body heals itself.

I believe that we, as individuals, can improve our health by using traditional plant-based medicine and western medicine in a two-pronged approach. Most of our ailments can be cured using traditional plant-based medicines. This fact has been proven through tens of thousands of years of historical ethnobotanical evidence. Science is slowly coming to that realization as well. Across the world, there have been thousands of scientific studies and clinical trials which have proven the efficacy of botanical medicines. We can lessen the burden on our hospitals and doctors by turning to them only when, and if, plant based medicines have failed.

For a deep-dive into herbalism in America, read my blog post
"Phytotherapy and Ethnobotany"

Learning To Use Plants As Medicine

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A list of common ailments and the plants that can be used to support your body while it heals itself... (Learn more)

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