Recently, I had a chance to speak with our local news station about how spices and herbs can be beneficial supplements to our daily diet, when used carefully and in moderation.
Ayurveda teaches us that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts; especially when it comes to food. When we choose to eat whole plants rather than extracts or isolates, we are recognizing the inherent intelligence of nature expressing herself through the plant. When we cherry-pick only those molecules of an herb currently touted by the latest research, then repackage them in a quick and convenient form, such as in a pill, we are defying the wisdom of Prakruti, or Nature. When we chemically dissect a plant in the laboratory, encapsulate and bottle what we want, and discard the rest of the plant as chaff, we are doing ourselves a grave disservice; we are insulting the cellular intelligence of our bodies and that of the plant.
