Wild Nutrition
"Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food"
Hippocrates
Nature, in its many abundant forms, supplies us with a very rich and diverse variety of foods, herbs and medicines all full of wild nutrition. If you know where to look, each season brings with it huge potential in each of these categories.
Whether you are looking upwards into the trees, sideways into the hedgerows, or down at the ground, you are sure to see an abundance of edibles, packed with wild nutrition, which for many people go unnoticed because they are unaware that the nature around us offers so much potential for their health & nutrition.
Now of course we don’t have to forage for all our food, but ‘wild nutrition’ is really just another way of saying eating the foods produced naturally from nature, with no, or little ‘interference’. In other words as nature intended !
Specific foods, herbs and botanical have been used throughout history as medicines to improve, treat and prevent a variety of health problems and symptoms. In fact nature provides us with a huge diverse and free medicine cabinet if you know where to look! Make sure to check out our delicious medicinal recipes, found among the pages of this site and below.
It’s estimated that around 70% of pharmaceutical medicines we see prescribed throughout the world today derive from materials direct from Mother Nature.
Sign Up For Your Free Ebook: 'The Four Seasons of Wild Nutrition'
If you want a quick & easy get started, beginners guide to learning what common and safe medicinal foods are available to forage through the four seasons, then this FREE eBook will help you identify and locate some healthy wild nutrition.
Remember that you should NEVER pick and eat something from nature that you cannot positively identify as 100% edible. If in doubt, don’t! There are however many things that are very easily recognisable and that are hard to confuse with anything else, other than what they are, and these are the wild foods, herbs and medicines that you should start identifying and foraging first.
Latest Blog Posts for Wild Nutrition
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Why You Need Elderberry To Boost YOUR Immunity
Elderberries have a long history of use as medicine, considered an excellent berry to restore and improve general health. In fact Hippocrates referred to the elderberry as ‘the medicine chest’ of all herbs due to the huge variety of health benefits it was considered……..
Join the Medicinal Foods - 'Eat Yourself Healthy' online course
Learn what foods are scientifically shown to improve and benefit certain health conditions & symptoms including:
Alleviating hormonal problems
Reducing anxiety & depression
Improving skin conditions
Help for digestion & IBS
Fighting inflammation
Improving immunity
Fighting fatigue
"The food that you eat can either be the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison"
Ann Wigmore
What Are Functional Foods?
Functional foods are foods that have a potentially positive effect on health beyond basic nutrition. Proponents of functional foods say they promote optimal health and help reduce the risk of disease. They are therefore in essence foods, which have medicinal properties.
Why Are Functional Foods Important?
“Prevention is better than cure”
We have all heard the quote above and never has this saying been more true! We are in the grip of a chronic disease pandemic, with rates of cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes and respiratory diseases increasing globally.
We know through ongoing research, that healthy eating and a good diet impacts significantly on these chronic diseases in a very positive way and we are also learning that some foods give specific health benefits and protective properties above and beyond others, which is why functional foods, are now seen as vital for optimum health and disease prevention.
Knowing what these functional foods are, and how to incorporate them into your daily diet, can help improve health significantly and reduce the risk of you and your family been burdened by the risk of chronic diseases. Learning the What, Whys and How’s of functional foods and the chronic diseases that scientific research has shown they can help, is important in helping implement Natures medicine cabinet!
eBook Coming Soon !
Functional Food Focus
Every first Friday of the month, we will be putting one specific functional food under the microscope to detail the What, Why and How of that food in relation to its functional/medicinal benefits, so be sure to check back regularly to learn another food you should be adding to your Natures Wild Medicine cabinet.
This week it’s:
Artichokes
What is it?
The globe artichoke is one of the worlds most ancient plants, originating in the Mediterranean. It is one of the oldest cultivated vegetables, and a member of the thistle family whose leaves, fruits and roots have been used for hundreds of years for their medicinal properties. It is however the leaves of the artichoke that have the most powerful medicinal properties and which became particularly popular as a food and medicine in the 20th century. Currently there are about one hundred and forty varieties of artichoke, but less than 40 of these are grown commercially.
Why Eat it?
Artichokes are very high in phytonutrients and it is these phytonutrients that have a positive effect on human health and help prevent disease. The specific phytonutrients present in artichoke are cynarin, gallic acid, rutin and quercetin. Artichokes are also very high in antioxidants and is actually in the top four of all vegetables for the highest antioxidant content.
The phytonutrient cynarin has been shown to stimulate bile production, which is needed to break down the fats that we eat and help remove toxins from the body. Artichoke leaf extract has shown positive effects on treating symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), including reducing dyspepsia and bowel irregularities. Cynarin has also shown positive effects on lowering cholesterol levels.
The flavonoid, silymarin, is also present in artichoke, which has been shown to be a powerful liver protectant.
Gallic acid, rutin and quercetin have also shown to induce death of cancer cells, specifically in breast and prostate cancer and leukaemia
How to Eat it
The best way to cook artichoke is by placing it in a pan of water, letting it boil and then simmering for 30- 45 minutes. Check if its ready by pulling out a leaf from the middle, if ready to eat the leaves will pull out easily. You only eat the bottom tips of the leaves and discard the rest. These tips can be dipped in a favourite sauce or a little butter and then eat with your fingers.
Medicinal Recipes
Soothing Sorbet
Rosemary, Lemon & Honeysuckle Sorbet for Respiratory Health
Immune Boosting Syrup
Elderberry Medicinal Syrup for immunity and Cold & Flu fighting
Muscle & Joint Rub
Anti-inflammatory & Pain Relief Yarrow, Rosemary & Thyme rub
Wild Garlic Pesto
Heart Healthy & Immune Boosting pesto with foraged wild garlic
Digestive Relief Teas
Teas for alleviating digestive discomfort, including IBS, bloating, gas & reflux
Hawthorn Heart Syrup
Blood pressure & cholesterol lowering & brimming with antioxidants & Vitamin C