To most people herbs are thought of in terms of enhancing flavor in cooking. People also think of herbs is reference to natural medicine and oriental medicine. A very common use of the term herbal is in relation to herbal teas.
Actually an herb can be any plant. Herbal health is all about using specific plants (herbs) that have specific know compounds that are used in natural health and as medicine.
While herbal health may be thought of as using herbs like some form of healthtipsae, herbs are also whole foods that support holistic health.
When I think of herb for health I feel it is the idea of using edible plants that have powerful nutritional healing and holistic health benefits to balance the body.
Often it seems herbs are mystified as being exotic potions or drug like compounds that only very specific practitioners or healers know how to use. While there is some truth to this, especially with formulas and combinations of herbs, there are also a whole range of herbs used for herbal health that are easily understood.
Herbal health is a modality for creating and supporting optimal health.
In China and in many cultures all over the world herbal remedies have successfully been used to promote health since the dawn of man.
Herbal health has been around forever and has been widely accepted by past and present societies all over the world. Yet there does continue to be a mistrust and a lot of misinformation about herbal health that persists in the the U.S. culture. Ignorance is partly to blame but there is also a concerted effort on the part of the American medical industry and the pharmaceutical industry to limit and repress the knowledge and use of herbal health therapies and medicinal herbs.
Natural medicine remedies, cures and therapies are often very inexpensive and because they do not offer the massive profits to the drug and medical industry infrastructure they are repressed. The government plays into this as well through the lobby influence of these industries. There have been ongoing efforts by these industries in collusion with the FDA and other governmental agencies to suppress and even ban the use of herbs for health and for treatment of illness and disease. Recently there has even been attempts to criminalize natural medicine practitioners and their use of herbal therapies.
The reality of herbal health is that herbs have been used for centuries to improve and maintain health and to cure illness and disease. As we look at the U.S. western medicine health care system today, we see that the U.S. population has evolved into one of the most unhealthy on this planet, while at the same time being the wealthiest and most well fed. The western conventional health system is heavily based on the use of pharmaceutical drugs to chase symptoms with no effective understanding or program for preventative health. People wait till they are ill then they are put on drugs to maintain their illness and often told to take the drugs for the rest of their lives. No actual healing or cure ever takes place.