Christopher Bird, a good friend of mine for over twenty years was the author of many best selling books on organically grown food–he was an expert in this subject. I was always trying to give him vitamins and minerals and he refused to take them. He’d tell me, “Doc, I eat my own organically grown food and so I don’t need to take vitamins and minerals.” One day when I was changing planes in Atlanta I picked up the local newspaper and guess whose obituary I found in the newspaper? Chris Bird! Even though he wrote books like, “the Secret Life of Plants,” “The Secrets of the Soil.”–he died at age 68 from a ruptured Aneurism ( a type of stroke), a simple copper deficiency; seven and a half years before the average American dies. He lived a pristine life in the mountains. He had an organic garden, collected herbs like Ewell Gibbons, ate wild hickory nuts–it’s a tragic thing that people who have so much to give,. die at less than half their genetic potential. A lot of people say to me, “Doc, I don’t need to take vitamins, minerals and trace minerals because I use herbs.” Herbs aren’t nutrition, they’re plant medicines. They are safer, more economical and in most cases are more effective than prescription medications. They can help with Diarrhea, Constipation, Hypertension, High Blood Pressure or fever, but don’t expect to get enough calcium, selenium, boron, copper, or vitamin A from herb.s
