Grow Your Own Drugs: Easy Recipes for Natural Remedies and Beauty Fixes by James Wong.
In his book, James share many homemade and economical recipes for both health and beauty fixes.
James Wong likes to think of herbs as your very own pharmacy (although few would think this). As mentioned by Wong from The Times Online:
“The problem, Wong believes, is that there’s a big cultural dividing line between conventional medicine, which is thought of as effective, proven and serious, and herbal medicine, which has the reputation of being a bit flaky.”
James also goes to explain that up to 50 per cent of over-the-counter medicines are based on chemicals that are extracted from plants. Aspirin, though now synthetic, was originally derived from willow, meadowsweet and the shrub spirea. Morphine-based painkillers are based on opium from poppies. And the birth control pill was originally isolated from the Mexican wild yam. The World Health Organization estimates that 80 per cent of the world’s population still rely on plant-based medicine as their way of health care.
Traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda is also gaining more popularity in the west as more people look into alternative therapy.
Photo from Amazon.
I have not read James Wong’s book yet, but think it would be a useful and interesting read. Along with his book, comes a BBC production of his show with the same title.
James give the show a fresh perspective on something most people rarely think about.
After watching the show, I didn’t realize England had such a variety of fruits. James even managed to find wild Goji berries growing off the coast of England. But he doesn’t suggest we pick them as they look very similar to the deadly variety of another berry. But he does make it look easy to grow your own Goji plants.
Also noticed in England, they say “HERBS” where the “H” is not silent. They also say “green fingers” and we say “green thumbs”. I like how that sounds too.
9:20 pm on March 14th, 2010
The British do have a nice accent. I like his soup recipe, but finding the Goji berry would be harder here and I’m sure we could skip that part, the soup itself seems real healthy.
I can’t wait to start planting, I expanded my garden today to make better use of the empty space.
1:41 pm on March 15th, 2010
I bought this book when it came out last year, and watched the programmes on TV. I’ve made some of his recipes and they’re very good, he did some more at Christmas too. The book was a huge success over here.
9:40 pm on March 15th, 2010
Hi Nye,
He does make it look easy to make chicken soup. I usually get Goji berries from the Asian markets, but you can find them online too.
Your expanded garden will be something to look forward to seeing this summer.
Hi Ruth,
Thanks for the news. I didn’t know his book was a best seller. That’s great to see England embrace this stuff. I’ll try to find his book at our local bookstore. I wish they would bring his show to the U.S., since I would definitely watch it.
11:41 am on March 17th, 2010
Fantastic this is information we all need to know, so as we realise that nature has all the answers, I am chemical free in my home and use herbs to heal, thanks for posting this article
12:08 am on March 18th, 2010
Hi Gary,
Thanks for the visit! A chemical free home and lifestyle would be the best way to go. I am doing my part slowly here.
8:26 pm on April 16th, 2010
Just wanted to let you know I picked up this book at Barnes and Noble today, and the ‘marshmallow root,’ which I never heard of caught my eyes. I’ve been coughing a great deal from working outside in all this pollen. Not sure if you get much in Cali, but NC is yellow this time of year. The main ingredient from the root is this mucileage, so I figure I could make my own mucinex from Wong’s recipe; or try experimenting with it. Hopefully I can find some around here to grow. Thanks for the review of this book:))
1:01 pm on April 18th, 2010
Hi PaNoy,
I have yet to read the book, but need to find a copy soon. I’m glad you’re finding it useful.
Marshmallow root is also common in natural beauty ingredients. Burt’s Bee has them in their eye cream.
Have you tried local honey yet? I used to have bad allergies in the spring, but since the local honey I’ve been doing much better. I just add the honey to coffee and in peanut butter sandwich.
Hope you feel better soon. Summer will be here before you know it.
11:17 pm on April 20th, 2010
That’s interesting; it’s like boosting your immune system against allergy by using local honey. Thanks.
My allergy is much better…no more ‘yellow sperms’ (I mean pollen) all over the road; those pines need to know how to aim and not ’spray’ everywhere, talk about cliche.
The book is good; lots of recipes that I know you and Nye will like to try.
11:28 am on April 22nd, 2010
Hi PaNoy,
Just ordered my copy from Amazon today. I look forward to reading more about his herbal remedies soon.
Well… those plants do know how survive. I haven’t seen much yellow pollen around here, maybe the rain washed them away first.