Believe it or not…

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.
…But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason
and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all,
then accept it and live up to it.
-Buddha-

My daughter made me this very refreshing drink the other day, nicely chilled…

…using the mint leaves that we have growing in our garden…

…and the sweet mulberry fruits…

…plus some Sabah snake grass.

I had blogged about the latter a while ago here during the time when everyone was talking and blogging about it and my missus got some from my sister-in-law and started planting our own…and blending the leaves for me to drink and THANKFULLY, the novelty soon wore out and she stopped doing it so we did not drink the concoction made from the leaves anymore after that.

Now, why “thankfully”, you may ask? Well, a doctor/ex-blogger friend of mine in Sungai Petani, Kedah saw the photograph of the drink that I had shared on Facebook and he quickly warned me about the Sabah snake grass as it may damage one’s kidneys and I quote from this link that he provided in his comment, “…there has been some feedback on other possible side effects besides the drop in blood counts…Body aches and more importantly, kidney impairment seems to be a common theme…”

I also clicked this link to an earlier article on the issue and what caught my attention was this sentence, “Ingesting these plant alkaloids is essentially taking chemotherapy in a raw form.” No wonder there have been claims that some cancer victims have survived as a result of taking these leaves but we jolly well know that not everybody will respond to chemotherapy and hence, not all will pull through if they resort to these leaves for some kind of a miracle cure.

But the bottom line is this: “Please, please do not fall for the “natural = safe” misconception. Poison ivy is “natural”, poppy plants are “natural”. The Sabah snake grass is “natural” but it is chemotherapy. It probably warrants further research and identification of active compounds for use in modern chemotherapy, but if cancer patients take it, it is at their own peril or risk for there is a lack of proper safety and efficacy studies. Normal people certainly should not take it. Please help spread the word.” So never mind what they say about it – I am not going to touch those leaves again, not unless the need arises. Touch wood! Ptui! Ptui!!! Choi! Choi!!!

I guess the mint and mulberry are all right though – safe for consumption for pleasure rather than for any health purposes. We have a lot in our garden – the mint leaves but our mulberry plants are somewhat stunted…

We have two pots of them and they pale in comparison to those huge mulberry trees that an ex-classmate of mine has in his garden in Perth. I guess the climate there is more conducive to these temperate plants and the conditions here are simply too hot for them to thrive well. We dry the leaves too…

…to make tea…

…and my friend in Auckland says it will get one running to the toilet and is good for weight loss but unfortunately, it does not work that way on me at all…on both counts. I would just drink it as I find it is quite nice – something like Chinese tea, maybe a bit milder.

One thing’s for sure, should anybody tell me any kind of stories any time in the future about what is so good and what not, he or she can jolly well keep it and eat it all by himself or herself. No, thank you very much and THAT is final!