Grandfather's Cupboard

If your grandfather had been a healer and herbalist, you could go to his cupboard and found many marvelous things to heal your ailments. Herbs, teas, cookies and foods, all put there by someone who wanted to keep his family and neighbors healthy. If he had been Chinese, you might have found a lot of foods and recipes there that would heal your illnesses. Herbs would be there too, but there would be a lot of simple foods with herbal properties. The herbal properties of food are the nutritional system of China. The medicinal properties of herbs belong to the practice of herbal medicine, the nutritional properties of food belong in the kitchen.

Here in the U S A. the dominant medical system ignores the nutritional properties of food and use only pharmaceutical pills for healing/curing ailments. But early in my Hippie days, I learned "You are what you eat."

In twenty years as a healer, I have used 'food' as part of the healing process. I was practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM for short}, herbalism in the Chinese method, and dietary changes in the Chinese way. Dr Henry Lu of Vancouver, British Columbia, was the source of my first explorations into food. He called the system the Five Phases or Five Elements of food. From this beginning, came the short essays in this collection. These essays are part of my treatments for AIDS, cancer, persistent diarrhea, Flu, hemorrhoids, and almost every ailment a body can manifest.

Cookies are important. Ginger Snaps with essential oil of lemon is good for recovery from the alcoholism of the Holidays Festive Season. They also improve digestion and anemia. Cookies are important food.

So read these essays on food and become what you eat - healthy and happy.