I was recently chatting with my Dad and he commented that his Mum always told him as a boy that you shouldn't drink with your meals as it strips the oils from the body.
This got me thinking because most health professionals nowadays give the same advice, although with different reasoning.
Now we advise not to drink with meals as it dilutes our stomach acid and reduces our ability to break down food, inhibiting digestion.
Nutrition and health advice seems to do circles, however it often returns to what those before us spoke of. We may have a different understanding of the reasoning and science but the message is very similar.
Some of the common messages I hear being recycled from my grandparents' days include; chicken soup and lemon and honey drinks for your cold, honey for wound healing, dock leaves to treat nettle stings and Cod Liver oil and vitamin C supplements for immune, joints and overall health. These remedies resonate with me, and definitely are not strangers in my world.
I am positive that we can learn a great deal if we step back and reconnect with lessons historically passed down from generation to generation. These traditions come to us well tried and tested. Must we always know the hows and whys? Don't get me wrong, I do believe it also pays to have a questioning mind. Just because something was done in the past does not automatically make it right, although if a teaching has survived multiple generations it is definitely worth considering.
As we are all unique, with our own melting pot of ancestral history passed down from generation to generation, it is normal for different 'tales' to resonate. However, although we may connect with more ease to traditional lessons from our own cultural perspective, much can also be learnt by being open to a variety of cultural lessons and beliefs. Be true to yourself and follow your truth. Some lessons may feel right to you while others do not. It is important to explore using your inquisitive mind and feeling heart, with balance and awareness.
So are wives' tales just that... tales? Are Wise Women truly wise? Do shaman have an inner connection? And Maori tohunga? What about the eastern cultures? Chinese, Tibetan, Ayurvedic. We have much to learn from these traditions, as well as other healing and cultural perspectives. Health is more than healing. It is prevention and living to our fullest to achieve our life purpose.
To contact Kim: herbaceousnz@gmail.com, or 027 307 3062.
I was recently chatting with my Dad and he commented that his Mum always told him as a boy that you shouldn't drink with your meals as it strips the oils from the body.
This got me thinking because most health professionals nowadays give the same advice, although with different reasoning.
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