In our hypothetical scenario, despite the carbohydrate-heavy diet, caloric excess and a lack of exercise would not be things that happen, ever. But a healthy lifestyle does not guarantee health. And it is not possible to be self-sustainable with regard to medicine. With that being stated, medicinal herbs do exist, and they do work. And since I am writing this series from my point of view, I would like to mention three that I consider essential and extremely helpful. For all three, I did look up studies on PubMed in the past, and although there are not a lot of them, to my amateur eye, it looks like they are proven to work to some extent. I am including quickly found links today, too, although I need to stress that I am not a physician and this article is not meant as medical advice.
So what health problems could arise that need to be addressed frequently-ish, but do not necessarily need professional medical attention?
First thing would be minor scratches, cuts, splinters, and suchlike. I have a lot of scratches and cuts on my hands and legs. Most heal without me even noticing them, but a lot of the work involves soil, and thus some get inflamed (which is why I am up to date on my tetanus shot). And for minor inflammations, there is nothing like hot chamomile tea, IMO (-click-). In my experience, soaking an inflamed area in chamomile tea as hot as is bearable cuts the healing time by several days, and reduces the pain to almost nothing within minutes. I also occasionally get sniffles bad enough that my stomach gets upset. In that case, drinking a chamomile tea also helps to clean the tubes and restore lost appetite.
The second thing happening probably on a regular basis would be a sore throat, sniffles, and suchlike, from exertion in cold weather. Most would resolve without a problem, some could become a mild strep infection or viral infection if the conjunction of pathogen presence and bad weather is just right (bad). And some of those can become bad enough to need antibiotics, which only a medical doctor can prescribe. I know I have a bad case of sore throat coming when I get a craving for elderberry tea, made from black elderberry juice (Sambucus nigra). I absolutely loathe the taste of elderberry juice, hot or cold, but when I get sick, I get a craving for it that I never get for anything else. It helps (-click-), sometimes to the point that I do not need to go to the doctor after all. However, once I heal, I go back to hating elderberries again. I haven’t drunk elderberry tea for over two years now, but I do keep a stock in my cellar just in case.
And the third often appearing problem would be bruises, sprained ligaments, slightly banged-up-but-not-yet-broken bones, as well as stress fractures, and, of course, back pain. In this regard, comfrey root is your friend (-click-). I am either using store-bought creams or an alcohol-based infusion that I made a few years ago, and I apply them directly to the affected area.
All these could be easily grown in our self-sustainability scenario. An elderberry bush could be part of the fruit shrubbery. Cammomile, once introduced, would probably thrive quite well as a weed that would need more to be managed than harvested. And comfrey could be grown anywhere near the compost heap, in half-shade and with plenty of water. In addition to the medicinal use of its roots, comfrey leaves are also a great nitrogen source for composts.
I grow comfrey. Massive deep roots make it almost impossible to get rid of it, so
“growing” it mostly means trying to keep it from spreading. Worldwide, it has common names that reference broken bones. I researched for first person accounts, and found exactly one, a guy with a broken leg who used comfrey compresses and whose doctors said “gee, you are healing rapidly,” Haven’t convinced anyone with bone issues to try it, except for my husband. He had a hip replacement, I put comfry leaf compresses on his hip for a week after surgery, and gee, he healed rapidly.
@rwiess, comfrey does not like being mown; it does eventually die if it is mown too often.
My first medicinal use of comfrey was in my childhood, about ten years old. A friend of mine threw a wooden board at me, and it whacked me over my eye. Luckily, with the flat, otherwise I would lose that eye. Still, it messed up half of my face pretty badly. My mother grated comfrey root into a poultice, and she put it on my face with a wrap (carefully so as not to put it directly in the eye). It healed remarkably quickly. The Czech name for comfrey is “kostival,” which directly translates into “makes bones grow together”.