Book Reviews

A Healing Grove

by Stephanie Rose Bird

Lawrence Hill Books

Chicago; 2009

 

Growing up geographically separated from your native homeland can often initiate a deep, emotional distance between yourself and your people’s history. But in the case of Stephanie Rose Bird, reality seems to have fostered quite a different relationship between herself and the Motherland. In A Healing Grove: African Tree Remedies and Rituals for Body and Spirit, Bird continually delves into her historical cultural roots to share traditional healing treatments, all while tracing her life’s path across America.

 

This book is not a standard “take this, mix that” conglomeration of home recipe healing. So much more than remedies, Bird offers a wonderful history lesson that is native to her roots in Africa. Throughout this personal account of growing up in America and the struggle of what it means to be African American on this continent, Bird frequently found herself finding solace amongst the trees.

 

It is powerful to note her struggle with trees as a source of comfort, since for her parents’ generation, trees represented very real and scary accounts of racism through lynching. Yet for generations before in Africa, the power of the tree provided sustainability, shelter, medicine, food, protection, and comfort. She writes in the Preface, “This connection between blacks and trees in the New World is a grim story; it is shameful that slaveholders turned tree-loving people against the woods. But for many, that is just what happened.” Bird has been fortunate in her ability to return to her culture’s historical appreciation for the sanctuary of nature.

 

The snaking story of Bird in America, her account of growing up in a time when racism was still overtly blatant, is beautifully intertwined with her culture’s dependency on African tree medicine. A story of survival prevails, which as she points out, is one that is similar to her ancestors who also conquered survival over snakes, competing clans, and other environmental and social challenges. 

 

Perhaps what is most intriguing about this book, if you are a history or folklore aficionado, is that with each distinctive tree remedy comes the history and tale behind its importance. We learn where in Africa the Shea tree is native to, its growing conditions and lifespan, how it is used, and its societal importance. Or take Foraha, an evergreen tree native to East Africa. Though a familiar and dependable tree in Africa for making oil used mostly for medicinal purposes, Fohara’s antimicrobial, antifungal, and antibacterial properties also relevant to our lives in North America, as this oil is used for treating athlete’s foot, eczema, infected burns, ringworm, and more.

 

The fruits of these native trees cannot be forgotten, either. Banana, plantain, pineapple, mango, island fruits, and spices all have a place in healing, as well. Bird explains that the medicinal and healing qualities are derived from almost every part of the tree. In addition to these trees providing some of the world’s most powerful superfoods, she also gives readers a lesson in the cultural and economical significance of these fruits. “Growing indigenous fruit trees helps many Africans preserve traditions and customs, solidifying collective identity and thereby restoring community. The trees support local economies and, because of their high yield for the amount of space used, conserve water, land, and labour.”

 

To North Americans, the banana is a sweet, creamy fruit that is now commonplace, although nowhere near native. But in African tradition, the banana is so much more. In this respect, the yellow fruit is symbolic, “representing harambee, a Swahili philosophy that roughly translates to ‘let us all pull together.’ ” With this cultural significance, every part of the banana plant is used, as opposed to eating just what’s found inside the peel. And in addition to informing her readers about the native customs surrounding this plant, such as using the leaves for shelter and fodder, or using the peel as an antiseptic, Bird is always careful to relate the subject back to our modern, Western world. She shares the nutritional benefits of bananas in reference to how we in the “New World” eat the fruit. This potassium-packed snack helps to prevent colon cancer, create good bacteria in your stomach, reduce plaque formation in arteries and build bone density.

 

In A Healing Grove, Bird has stumbled upon a wonderfully creative and inspiring way to share her historical, cultural knowledge with those who are interested. This personal account truly does offer each reader something to take from it. And even if you don’t plan on testing Bird’s historical knowledge out yourself, this book makes for a genuinely inspiring and nourishing read for your brain.

 

Review by Michelle Singerman

 

Vitamin D: The Sunshine Vitamin

by Zoltan Rona, MD, MSc

Books Alive

Summertown, TN; 2010

 

In the last decade or so, we have been led to believe that the sun is our enemy. But according to physician and complementary therapies specialist, Dr. Zoltan Rona, this sun phobia has created the very serious, potentially dangerous problem of vitamin D deficiency. Estimates suggest that 70 to 90% of North Americans do not get enough vitamin D. And research is linking this deficit to a vast array of chronic health issues.

 

Even though vitamin D is currently dominating media headlines, consumers are still looking for answers regarding the uses, efficacy, and optimum dosages of vitamin D, as well as reassurances that increasing exposure to sunlight, the best source of vitamin D, will help, not harm. In Vitamin D: The Sunshine Vitamin, Dr. Rona provides the reader with everything they should know about this life saving vitamin.

 

He begins by explaining some vitamin D basics: it is actually more of a hormone than a vitamin; we cannot get sufficient amounts from the foods we eat (we need to be exposed to sunshine or use supplements); and vitamin D is essential to perform various vital functions, while a deficiency causes major problems in numerous tissues and organs, leading to disease (over “thirty-six” types).

 

Sun paranoia is tackled next. Dr. Rona suggests that rather than staying indoors, covering up, or slathering on toxic sunscreens “most people need ten to twenty minutes of sun exposure between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.” And contrary to popular belief, it is UVA light that is responsible for skin damage, and not UVB (these rays create vitamin D). This is crucial information, because the assumption is often made that both are dangerous to the skin, and those particular hours of sun exposure the most damaging.

 

When it comes to supplements, there are always questions about effective and safe dosages. Dr. Rona handles these questions forthrightly. “I consider 10,000 IU to be the optimal daily dose of vitamin D. At that dose, I have never seen anyone run into side effects or toxicity symptoms in over thirty years.” However, his medical advice is to have a blood test for your vitamin D levels, and “for all Canadians and Americans living in northern latitudes (above 40 degrees north) to supplement with a bare minimum of 4,000 IU of vitamin D daily during the winter months.”

 

The last and most comprehensive portion of the book addresses the many illnesses that Dr. Rona (supported by mounting scientific evidence) believes “would either be prevented or improved substantially in people who had optimal vitamin D blood levels.” Study after study is quoted, all revealing a strong link between low levels of vitamin D and certain forms of cancer, MS, cardiovascular disease, epilepsy, depression, asthma, IBS, autism, even the common cold and flu. Conversely, as one cancer study revealed, “taking 2,000 IU of vitamin D reduced or prevented further increases in prostate specific antigen (PSA) in the majority of men with advanced prostate cancer.”

 

The information found in Vitamin D: The Sunshine Vitamin is fascinating, sometimes quite startling, but most importantly, invaluable. Its content is extremely well-documented, and its message reads loud and clear – most of us are not getting the vitamin D we need. Since reading this book, I have increased my own vitamin D intake and have found a measurable improvement in sleep patterns and mood. As an aid to gaining and maintaining optimal health, it is a must read.                     

 

Review by Susannah Kent