Opinion: Heal Thyself With Natural Remedies

When you step into Kim and Walid’s booth at the San Ramon Farmers Market, it's immediately apparent that this is no ordinary market vendor.

In fact, it feels a bit like entering a stall in Europe or the Middle East.

On the right side of the booth are rows of bins labeled by ailment (e.g., high blood pressure, diabetes, insomnia). Each bin contains bags of dried herbs to treat the illness specified on the label.

Fresh potted herbs line the top shelves.

On the left side of the booth is a table laden with dozens of dark brown bottles containing oils and elixirs, lotions and potions.

It’s all very Old World.

Meet Kimberley Hickey and Walid Saad, work partners and proprietors of the Sunset Color Nursery booth. This powerful duo has between them a wealth of healing products and generations of knowledge to share with anyone interested in learning how to take control of their own health.

Kim and Walid’s main goal is to teach people how to heal themselves by drawing upon centuries-old wisdom, using simple ingredients found in their backyard or at a local nursery.

“Our ancestors did not live on pills – they used their plants to heal themselves and treat illness,” Kim says. “It’s a lost art.”

People are often intimidated by the idea of natural remedies, she says, and don’t realize just how simple it is.

“You can just pick one thing and do that,” Kim says. “You don’t have to change your whole life.”

Kim, who grew up in San Mateo, has been a practicing herbalist for 15 years.

Her parents were born and raised in Hawaii, and have always used natural remedies. Her mom is an herbalist, and so was her paternal grandfather.

“My mom is 80 years old and has no arthritis or any ailments,” Kim says.

When Kim’s mom went to the doctor for a routine check-up last year, the doctor ran a bunch of tests and found nothing wrong with her. He couldn’t believe that she didn’t have any health issues, and asked her to come back for more tests.

She refused.

“She said, ‘There’s nothing wrong with me – why should I go back?’” Kim says.

When one of Kim’s cousins died from the side effects of his medication - not of what he was actually taking the meds for - Kim decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become an herbalist herself.

“There are other things you can do for diabetes and other diseases,” she says. “We don’t fix the symptoms - we try to find the problem and fix that. Then the symptoms go away.”

Walid agrees.

“This knowledge gives people more control over their bodies and their health,” he says.

Walid is originally from Lebanon, where natural remedies are part of the culture.

“Every mother there needs to know the basic remedies,” he says. “It’s common knowledge.”

Walid earned his degree in chemistry from the University of San Francisco. His line of natural tinctures, powders, oils and soaps are named after his 8-year-old daughter, Michelle – born perfectly healthy in spite of a doctor’s prediction that she would have Down syndrome.

When Kim’s brother found out he had stage 3 kidney cancer last year, he refused dialysis and consulted Kim and Walid.

“I told him: ‘Try the herbs, see how you feel,’” Walid says.

Walid recommended he eat five pieces of raw okra and drink Diamond flower tea - every day.

The result? His cancer went from stage 3 to stage 1 in just two weeks.

My son had a couple of plantar warts on the bottom of his foot. We followed Kim and Walid’s suggestion and cleaned the warts three times a day with raw apple cider vinegar, and kept them covered with a bandage.

The warts disappeared within a week.

My husband Brian came down with a nasty sinus infection on Christmas Day. His nose and cheeks swelled up. He was miserable.

He scheduled a doctor’s appointment, then did some research and discovered that drinking a mixture of raw apple cider vinegar, grapefruit seed extract and water would clear his sinuses.

Brian decided to give it a try, and cancelled his appointment.

The remedy, plus using a Neti Pot several times a day to rinse his nasal passages (a great treatment for allergies, too) and drinking ginger and garlic tea, knocked out Brian’s infection in five days.

Walid says that Americans have been conditioned to believe they need medication for every ailment.

And that food should be cheap.  

“Fast food, junk food – they’ve found a way to make things cheap,” he says. “But then people eat it and get sick, and then they need medicine!”

Kim adds: “My grandfather told my mom, ‘Spend your money at the market or you’ll spend more at the doctor’s later.’”

We pay the price not only with the foods we eat, but also the products we use that get absorbed directly into the bloodstream through our largest organ: The skin.

The average American uses over 27 chemicals before they even leave the house, Kim says.

This includes antiperspirant and deodorant, lotions and creams, laundry detergent, soap, cosmetics, toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo and shaving cream.

Many of these products are made from petroleum.

“This makes people sick,” says Kim.

She explains that many products tax your liver and kidneys so they can’t do their job to push the toxins out; they end up pushing toxins to the outer extremities, which can lead to diseases like arthritis, Alzheimer’s and cancer.

“Arthritis is not normal,” Kim says. “But we’ve been led to believe it’s a normal part of the aging process.”

The good news?

“You can make yourself well again,” Kim says. “It takes time, but your body will repair itself.”

The beauty of natural remedies is that, once your ailment has cleared, you don’t need the herbs anymore.

“It’s not like medication – you don’t need to take it for the rest of your life,” Kim says. “What you’re doing is strengthening your organs.”

Homemade tea is an extremely effective and simple natural remedy. Kim brews a pot and brings it to the farmers market in a thermos so people can sample it.

“We do teas because they go into your system quickly and get absorbed right away,” Kim says.

While I am setting up my booth on market day, Kim walks over and hands me a cup of fennel tea, sweetened with leaves from a stevia plant.

“The fennel is good for digestion and improving vision, and the stevia is good for vascular health,” she tells me.

I sip it down; I always feel good after drinking Kim’s teas.

Herbal teas are a big part of Kim and Walid’s class on natural remedies at Sunset Color Nursery in Danville, where Kim has worked for the past six years.

Walid met Kim when he attended one of her classes four years ago, and soon became her teaching partner.

Although they’ve had as many as 30 attendees, Kim and Walid try to limit the class to 12 people.

“We keep the classes small because we want to make sure everyone’s concerns and questions are addressed,” Kim says.

I attend a class on a drizzly Sunday afternoon. There are six of us, all relatively new to the concept of herbal remedies.

“I have allergies and I’m trying to get healthier,” says Denise Lee, one of the attendees, who lives in San Ramon. “You get tired of using different medications. I’m trying to figure out what I can do for myself.”

We sit inside one of the greenhouses, which is cozy and fragrant. Kim and Walid have prepared some delicious homemade snacks, and strawberry tea.

Veronica Schultz, a life coach who lives in Tracy, says she and her husband Eric just started getting into more organic, natural living this past year.

“We are weaning ourselves away from pharmaceuticals and doctors,” she says. “I want to incorporate what we’re learning into my coaching.”

Kim begins the class stressing the importance of using local herbs – either ones you’ve grown yourself or from a local source you trust.

“They will be fresh, and you’ll have a better idea of how the plants were grown and whether or not they’ve been exposed to pesticides and herbicides,” she says.

If you take medication, you should keep it separate from herbal remedies.

“Don’t take them at the same time, and make sure you’re not allergic to any of the herbs,” Kim says.

She recommends steeping fresh or dried herbs in boiling water, covered, for at least 10 minutes.

Her list of healing teas and their benefits is comprehensive (I recommend purchasing her crib notes for $5 when you take the class). Here’s a  sampling:

Hawthorne – Good for heart and circulation; helps keep arteries elastic.

Rosemary – Lowers blood pressure, cholesterol; provides energy.

Strawberry – Helps prevent macular degeneration; good for arthritis, rheumatism and gout.

Lemon Verbena – An effective sleep aid, and Kim’s husband’s favorite (“He loves it. Now he has to set the alarm to get up!”).

“There is something in nature for every ailment," Walid tells us. "But you have to do preventative maintenance."

This means incorporating healing foods like ginger, olive oil and arugula into our diets.

According to Walid, ginger thins the blood, improves circulation, prevents stroke, and helps neutralize gas-forming foods. It brings oxygen to the brain, increasing mental function.

Olive oil raises HDL and contains beneficial polyphenols from unripe olives, plus healthy fat from ripe olives.

“Olive oil is one of the best oils created by nature,” Walid says.

Arugula is another essential food. It alleviates gas, boosts sex drive, builds protective fat around your organs, and cleans the spleen.

“Arugula is one of the best things you can eat,” he says.

By the end of class, I am stunned by how much I’ve learned about natural remedies and how simple it is to use them. 

My classmate Denise sums it up well.

“I like the idea that your body is made to heal itself,” she says. “It’s like getting your power back.”

If you are interested in taking Kim and Walid’s class, the next one is Sunday, March 18, from 1-3 p.m. at Sunset Color Nursery, 1435A San Ramon Valley Boulevard, Danville. The cost is $20 (crib notes available for an additional $5). For more information, visit Kim and Walid’s booth at the San Ramon Farmers Market on Thursdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. (Bishop Ranch 3, 2641 Camino Ramon) or Saturdays between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. (Bishop Ranch 2, 2680 Bishop Drive). Or call the nursery at (925) 831-3574.