Today I’m speaking with medical herbalist and author of “Root to Stem” Alex Laird. She runs one of the few NHS medical herbalism clinics at Whipps Cross hospital in London alongside a consultant dermatologist and has over 20 years of experience.

Trained in biomedicine and plant pharmacology, Alex is also a visiting lecturer, has published numerous research papers, and is the co-founder of the charity Living Medicine.

Alex is a firm believer in using food and foraged plants to help support wellbeing.

We’re going to be cooking a recipe from the book Root to Stem and I’m fascinated by her role as a medical herbalist in the NHS.

Some of the areas that Alex and I spoke about:

• Try growing some greenery on your windowsill & growing plants at home
• Kitchen herbs like Basil, Coriander, Parsley are a fantastic source of nutrition
• Try out a local foraging class in your area
• (it's very important that you go foraging with an expert as there are a lot of items which are inedible and may cause harm if consumed without experience advice)
• Seasonal eating* - which is really easy to do by following which fruits and vegetables are in season and readily available at your local supermarkets
• Including a variety of foods in your diet is key - and probably one of the most important concepts to include in the foods that you eat
• Try walking meetings and eating al fresco where possible

You’ll find the recipe video that I cooked with Alex and our super interesting conversation - on my youtube channel go check it out!

And you can find all of this information and more at www.thedoctorskitchen.com

'Root to Stem' is a seasonal and holistic approach to health that puts plants, herbs and nature at the heart of how we live and eat.

It is a new kind of guide that links individual health to our communities and the planet's health to sustain us all.’

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