Therapies involving plants, foods, and nutritional elements are some of the oldest and perhaps easiest to understand of all the therapies available to us. Over the last decades, we in the West have been encouraged to believe in "a pill for all ills," and we take comfort in medical treatment that can be taken orally and that appears to be prescribed in a conventional manner.

Almost every culture has a history of herbalism, each depending on the local flora or vegetation to nourish and to heal. Herbalists were, in the past, dealers and collectors of herbs; we refer to them as herbal therapists or medicinal herbalists, to make clear the distinction. Much of modern medicine is based upon early herbal practices; indeed, most conventional drugs contain synthesized extracts and essences of herbs and plants. The active constituents of many ancient natural remedies are the key ingredients of many proprietary drugs. The tradition of herbalism is best established in North America and the Far East, and it was these cultures that encouraged the development of our modern-day herbal medicine.

Plant Essences Herbalism and aromatherapy and homeopathy use the pure essences of plants to treat illness and disease, and find that this prevents side effects and provides a more effective form of treatment.

Each of these disciplines uses different types of plant in different forms, and, therefore, the technical terminology within herbalism and the plant- and food-based therapies varies widely; for eample, homeopathic, remedies include a dilution quotient, and herbal remedies and aromatherapy use the Latin taxonomic term for the plant, with or without additional descriptions. Herbalism may sound complicated, but everyone cat grow herbs and experience the profound effect they have on the body.

Food and Nutrition Food and nutrition are fundamental to all life, and the therapies that have evolved around the implementation of diet and the elements of nutrition to address health problems are correspondingly essential to most kinds of treatment­ conventional or complementary. Diet has always played an important role, both spiritually (diets for religious purposes) and physiologically (diets for medical purposes), and as an understanding of nutrition has evolved, that role has become more, defined. Nutritional therapy focuses on tailoring diet toj the person, examining the individual condition and treating accordingly. Through it, diet has become more than the sum of its parts; it has become a tool for living.

Finally, the wide-ranging and holistic disciplines of homeopathy and flower and plant essences have become more popular than ever, promoting good health and well­being by gently encouraging the body's own life force in order that it may heal itself. All flower and tree remedies are based on herbal sources, as are many, homeopathic medicines.

The power of plants and their extracts is only just beginning to be understood and recognized; their interaction with the human body provides scope for some of the most exciting developments in modern medicine.