HOW IT ALL STARTED

 

Before I get started, I’d like to explain who I am and how I came to be writing this book. I’m a Mum to two (now grown up) kids and Grandma to one gorgeous grandson (so far…). The beginning of this story eventuated from the simple fact that I became somewhat disenchanted (to say the least) with mainstream doctors and their drugs many years ago.

I’m a Remedial Massage Therapist and have been for close to 15 years. I began to study toward a degree in Naturopathy a number of years ago, but never completed it - mainly because I realized it wasn’t going to give me what I knew I wanted in life. But that’s a whole other (still evolving) story and it certainly doesn’t mean that I stopped studying, thinking and experimenting with information on the subject of ‘health’!

Anyway, the history of my fascination with everything to do with looking after ones health goes like this:

Once upon a time I had a few health problems that had plagued me for more than a few years. When I look back the problems that I had were present most of my young life and they just got worse as a young adult. No matter how many doctors I went to and how many of their pills I took, I really got no results and I was getting nowhere in resolving them.

My dear old Grandmother during this time suggested to me that I should be taking Slippery Elm Bark to help me with my ongoing digestive issues (Little Nana we affectionately called her due to the difference in physical size between her and our Maternal Grandmother who although not very tall, was very round).

“What on earth is Slippery Elm Bark?”

I’d never heard of the stuff and I wasn’t at all keen to try it being somewhat less adventurous back then than I am today. With the conviction of someone who knows what’s good for them, she quickly produced some from her pantry and proceeded to make me a drink from heated milk mixed with this ‘slippery elm bark’ powder. Unconvinced, I tentatively took a sip once it was cool enough to drink and I remember instantly deciding that it was yuck and tipping the rest down the sink, much to Little Nana’s amusement. I then (as young people are renowned for doing) foolishly discarded her advice as some sort of old fashioned nonsense!

However, a little over a year later after our move to Australia and when the latest advice and drug from the doctor failed miserably, I remembered back to what my wise old Little Nana had said and decided to give the Slippery Elm Bark a go. I found a shop that sold it (not so easy back then) and started to take it daily - albeit in capsule form. I progressed to the powder eventually. The good news is that it worked! (much more so than anything I’d had from the doctors over the years) …and the rest is history as they say. I’ve never looked back. My interest in herbs and their use grew and from that my interest in nutrition and all things to do with natural health.

I wanted to put this little book together as a short guide for you to use at home with your family. It’s designed for beginners that are looking for ways to take back some control of their health. I wanted to share some information to help you begin that journey - to allow you to take more control of your health and to stop relying so much on drugs, that let’s face it can be extremely damaging to your health with many side effects and that more and more of us are realising simply don’t work!

These essential home remedies are a way that you can stop feeling trapped and hopeless. They are a way that will help to rid you of the feeling that you’ve got no other choice but to have blind faith in your doctor. These remedies are a way to save you some of the money that you’re probably spending on doctors visits, drugs and medicines that don’t make you healthy and that are in fact undermining your health and setting you up for more ill health in the future just by their very use.

The herbs and other remedies contained herein have been the simple things that I always keep on hand. These are the remedies that I rely on and use regularly (some more than others) to help keep me and mine healthy. Simple remedies that I have turned to again and again to over the past 20 years and that I use either regularly to help maintain better health or that I use to help recover health when the need arises.

I sincerely hope that you use this information and that you don’t make the same mistake that I made when I discarded my Little Nana’s advice by reading this book and then not using the information that you’ve read. Put even a few of these ideas into practice and you’ll be happy that you did. These remedies are all simple, easy, free or (at affordable) and when used correctly will move you closer to good health - not away from it as drugs do!

I’ve done my best to make this book as short and sweet and easy to read as possible. I’ve added basic information that I know from experience can make a difference every day.

There are more uses for the herbs and remedies contained in this book and my advice it to get interested. Do some more research on them and others - the information is all out there just waiting to be found. This book can provide you with a start and I hope it spurs you on to seek more information as my experience with Slippery Elm Bark did for me.

Natural home remedies and their uses are such worthwhile topics to gain knowledge in. They can help to make you more able to take care of your health and that’s a wonderful thing. The fact is that to be able to keep your family healthier is priceless.

Always remember that life without health is not life in its truest sense, but mere existence! Enjoy!