A Healthy Spirit Lives in a Healthy Body

Think of our life in Nature—daily to be shown matter, to come in contact with

it, rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! The solid earth! The actual world! The
common sense! Contact! Contact! Who are we? Where are we?

FACTS
In 2000 Americans enjoyed the longest life expectancy in U.S. history—
almost 77 years, based on preliminary figures. The life expectancy of men was
74 years and for women almost 80 years. A century earlier, life expectancy was
48 years for men and 51 years for women.3

At the same time 3 in 5 adults ages 20–74 are overweight. One in four
Americans is considered obese. Almost 40 percent engage in no physical activ-
ity during leisure time, and women are more sedentary than men. One in 10
Americans ages 45–54, 1 in 5 of those 55–64 years, 1 in 4 of those 65–74
years, and 1 in 3 of those 75 years and over, report being in fair or poor health.

The same report noted that Americans spent $1.3 trillion on healthcare in 2000,
or 13.2 percent of the gross domestic product, far more than any other nation.
A third of the health-care dollar was spent on hospital care, about 1⁄5 on
physicians, and almost 1⁄10 on prescription drugs. The cost of prescription

drugs increased 15 percent a year from 1995 to 2000—faster than any other
category of spending.4

Healthy People 20105—the nation’s health agenda for the first decade of the
twenty-first century—indicates that differences in life expectancy between
populations suggest a substantial need and opportunity for improvement: “At
least 18 countries with a population of 1 million or more have life expectancies
greater than the United States for both men and women.”

“Chapter Goal 1: Increase Quality and Years of Healthy Life” states,

“However, quality of life reflects a general sense of happiness and satisfaction
with our lives and environment. General quality of life, including health,
recreation, culture, rights, values, beliefs, aspirations, and the conditions that
support a life containing these elements.”6 We can only hope that the nation’s
health agenda for the first 10 years of the twenty-first century will work. But
what will happen if it does not work? Keep yourself updated!

suburb of the Russian tsar’s huge empire, former Bessarabia, now Moldova,
holds many warm memories of my childhood and my home. I remember the
hilly countryside with its sunny vineyards, fields with blossoming herbs and
flowers, and big, sometimes giant, walnut trees everywhere. A golden and
unforgettable time of my happy childhood was spent in our beautiful home
there.

Our big house on a hill was built of thick beech logs. It was cool in sum- mer
and warm in the winter. It was filled with love and kindness, our family often
including grandparents from my mother’s and father’s sides; folk wis- dom;
and the aroma of grapes, walnuts, herbs, and wildflowers.

Within our home in the country was a most magical place—the base- ment.
Grandma’s and Grandpa’s homemade libations and elixirs shared that space.
There Grandpa stored wooden barrels filled with his homemade crys- tal-clear
white and rosé wines and lined shelf upon shelf with old-fashioned European
glass bottles containing liquors and cognacs that he carefully pre- pared each
fall.

In another part of the basement Grandma filled her beautiful and simple
European glass bottles with her homemade natural medicine recipes; tinctures
of herbs, berries or fruits; and aromatic oils. On special racks in autumn she
would hang handmade “necklaces” strung with dried fruits and herbs, or
Vitachella with nuts, which we called “grape sausage.” Her secret recipe for

Vitachella included cooked grape juice with special spices and, of course,
walnuts. From November to May we enjoyed these dainty tidbits full of a
variety of natural ingredients and vitamins. My sister and I were allowed to go
anytime to the basement, which we called our “Sweet Fairyland,” to tear down
and eat a grape “necklace.”

Another room of the basement was stocked with herbs. Some were sus- pended
from the ceiling; others were carefully wrapped and packed in parch- ment.
Near this herbarium was Grandma’s and Mama’s laboratory where they
prepared their miraculous natural medicines for our family, for our friends and
neighbors, and for Mama’s patients.

Grandma and Mama never sold their natural medicines. They were old-
fashioned women. They shared a strong belief that if the medicines were sold,
they would lose their ability to heal. Instead they felt they must offer them
mercifully and free of charge to those who needed them. This mission of mercy
helped many people overcome their illnesses. Because we grew up in a society
without mass-produced and heavily marketed antibiotics and drugs, we, as the
ancient Greeks, developed a strong, natural foundation in our bodies to be
healthy human beings.