Forgotten Roots: The Knowledge They Left Behind

Rachel Higgins

I almost didn't buy this. I've spent probably $400 this year alone on supplements, a gut health program, and two different sleep aids. None of it did what it promised. So when my friend sent me this e-book I was honestly a little skeptical. it's a PDF, and it's herbal remedies from a Jamaican healer I'd never heard of. But something about the way Mama Ayanna writes got me. She doesn't talk to you like you're broken. She talks to you like you're her daughter who just needs someone to finally be honest with her. So I bought it. I started with just three things like she tells you to. The Warm Lemon Water Wake-Up, the Ginger-Lime Belly Tea after dinner, and the Oat-Flax Bowel Helper in the mornings. That's it. Nothing dramatic. By the end of week two, I noticed my stomach wasn't bloating after meals the way it always had. I've dealt with that my whole adult life. Doctors told me it was IBS. I just accepted it. And here I am doing three simple kitchen things and it's... quieter in there? That sounds weird but that's the only way I can describe it. Week three I added the Rosemary Memory Steam because I've been dealing with terrible brain fog since having COVID two years ago. I felt a little silly standing over a bowl of hot water and rosemary honestly. But I kept doing it. And I don't know if it's that or the fact that I also started sleeping better — which I think came from the Golden Milk Night Cup I added — but my head feels clearer than it has in a long time. I'm a 47-year-old woman with two jobs and three kids. I don't have time for complicated. What I love about this book is that nothing in it requires me to change my whole life. It meets me where I am. The ingredients are things I can find at Walmart or already have in my cabinet. The instructions are short and clear. And Mama Ayanna's little sayings at the end of each remedy — I actually screenshot them and put them in my phone. My favorite one so far: "The belly is like a cooking pot. If the fire is too weak, food sits heavy." That one sentence explained my digestion better than any gastroenterologist ever did. My only note is I wish there were more remedies in the healthy aging section. That's the one I keep going back to. But I just saw she released a second book called Ageless Roots specifically for anti-aging so I'll be grabbing that next. If you've been let down by expensive programs and supplements that promise everything and deliver nothing — try this. It's honest. It's simple. And it comes from a place of real care that you can feel on every single page. Rachel H. Phoenix, Arizona

Claudette Morrow

I am 64 years old and I have been to more doctors than I can count. I have a primary care physician. A cardiologist. A rheumatologist for my joints. A gastroenterologist I saw twice and never went back to. I take four medications every morning before I even have my coffee. And every single appointment ends the same way — new prescription, same problems, see you in three months. I am not against doctors. I want to be clear about that. But I started to feel like nobody was actually looking at me. They were looking at my chart. My daughter sent me this e-book back in February. She knows I've been struggling with my joints, my sleep, my digestion, and what I can only describe as a heaviness that has settled over my whole body in the last few years. She said Mama Ayanna reminded her of me. I took that as a compliment. I sat down that same night and read the whole thing cover to cover. I cried twice. Not because anything was sad. But because somebody was finally talking to me like I had sense. Like my body wasn't just a collection of symptoms to be managed. Like healing was still possible at my age. Mama Ayanna writes with a warmth that I haven't felt from a health resource — ever. And I have read a lot of books over the years trying to figure out how to feel better. I started with the Turmeric-Ginger Joint Broth because my knees have been my biggest battle for the last six years. I make it every Sunday now and sip it through the week. I won't sit here and tell you it's a miracle. But I will tell you that I have reduced one of my anti-inflammatory medications — with my doctor's knowledge and approval — because I simply haven't needed it as much. My rheumatologist actually asked me what I changed. I showed her the book. She looked at the ingredients and said she had no objection. The Warm Lemon Water Wake-Up sounds too simple to do anything. I almost skipped it. But I have done it every single morning for four months now and my digestion — which has been sluggish and uncomfortable my whole life — has genuinely shifted. Something that straightforward should not work that well. And yet. The remedy that surprised me most was the Rosemary Memory Steam. I thought it was a little folk remedy that wouldn't amount to much. But I've been doing it three times a week and I feel more present. Less foggy. My granddaughter told me last month that I seem more like myself. That right there meant more to me than any lab result. What I appreciate most about this book — and I want to say this clearly — is that Mama Ayanna never asks you to abandon your medical care. She is not anti-doctor. She is pro-body. She tells you when to go get checked. She tells you when a symptom is a signal and not just something to manage with a remedy. That kind of honesty is rare and I respect it deeply. I grew up in a household where my grandmother made bush tea for everything. We didn't call it herbal medicine. We just called it how you take care of yourself. Somewhere along the way I lost that. This book gave it back to me. I bought three copies. One for my sister in Atlanta, one for my church friend who has been dealing with the same joint issues I have, and one for my daughter who sent it to me in the first place — because she deserves to have it for herself before she gets to my age and has to undo as much as I did. If you are a woman of a certain age who feels like the medical system has been treating your symptoms but not your body — this book will feel like coming home.

Jennifer Kowalski

Bought this skeptical. Tried three remedies. My bloating is gone, I'm sleeping again, and my husband asked what I changed. I've sent this link to four people already. Don't overthink it. Just buy it.

Marcus Webb

Mom sent me this. Ignored it for two months. Finally tried it when nothing else was working. Brain fog, bad sleep, gut always off. Three weeks in. Fog gone. Sleeping solid. Stomach chill for the first time in years. Didn't expect much. Was wrong.

Priya Nair

my sister told me to buy this and i am so glad i did the ginger tea and the golden milk i make every night now. my sleep is so much better and stomach problem is gone finally very good book. mama ayanna knows what she is talking abut