Tara Johnson Munroe’s natural remedy

TARA Johnson Munroe is a health enthusiast who cares about the well-being of people around her.

Born in Kingston but raised in St Ann, Johnson Munroe told All Woman that moving to the garden parish was a decision her mother took as she believed the pollution of city life would make her children sick.

Nonetheless, Johnson Munroe enjoyed her time in St Ann where she attended St Hilda’s and discovered her creative side while nurturing her passion for language, literature and communication.

“I liked to use my hands and I would take bits of jewellery and craft items and put them together. In terms of career interests I wanted to become a journalist and was fascinated with speaking, debating, and anything that had to do with communication so much so that I wrote my first book in high school — a drama series about relationships which was a big hit among my year group who took turns borrowing it,” she said.

After leaving St Hilda’s Johnson Munroe attended The Moneague College where she took a liking to literature, then moved on to The University of the West Indies where she pursued a degree in literatures in English. Upon completion, she taught for three years before moving into other facets of communication through editing and proposal writing at the Houses of Parliament and KPMG.

But in the midst of chasing her dreams Johnson Munroe had a life altering experience — her mother was diagnosed with cancer for the third time.

“Ironically she had her first cancer, cancer of the bone, when I was four and shortly before the diagnosis, we had moved to St Ann for fear Kingston would make us sick. She did chemo and was told she had six months to live and she decided she wasn’t going to die and began listening to Dr Tony Vendryes’ programme and started the juicing and it went into remission. She got 20 more years out of life,” Johnson Munroe shared.

After 20 years her mother developed breast cancer and was told that the deodorant she was using could be a contributing factor. Totally surprised, Johnson Munroe began doing research to see natural deodorants that her mother could use while she sought treatment.

“I didn’t know at the time that deodorant could cause that. We were on the search and found some that didn’t have any harmful effects but they had to be applied three times per day and no one has time for that. This time she tried bush tea and again was told the cancer was going away. Unfortunately it didn’t completely go away but she was told there was a marked reduction and whatever she was doing she should continue doing it,” Johnson Munroe shared.

That went on for three more years, but then double jeopardy struck when the bone cancer returned and eventually led to her mother’s death in 2015.

“This time she decided not to use any natural methods and just went straight to chemo and that was the end for her. I decided that I didn’t want the same outcome, I didn’t want to end up that way or suffer because she deteriorated to nothing and that was hard for me to see because she was my mom,” she shared.

Subsequently, Johnson Munroe began a complete lifestyle change and through extensive research, tapped into her creative side and began testing natural remedies that could substitute deodorant. After much trial and error she eventually found the formula and created her own line of natural deodorants known as Armit.

“First I tried only lime, then I tried baking soda, I even tried nothing at all and sometimes I tried powder, but nothing worked. I did even more research to find what would work with what in terms of my body chemistry and what essential oils and carrier oils I could use. I found a solution and at the time I had met my now husband and I asked him to try it with me and it worked for both of us. All day to the next morning I didn’t have to reapply anything and neither did he. I then began making it for other people and it worked for them, so I decided I was going to launch it as a product and I did in April,” she said. “I mix it at home and I ensure I don’t use a silver spoon or things made of aluminium to mix it just to ensure no harmful particles get into the end product.”

Armit, which comes in regular, lemon, sweet orange, coconut and peppermint, can be found at instagram.com/armitgoarmit, and it will be featured at the Christmas in July expo. Additionally, Johnson Munroe is working at revamping her labelling and getting her product in stores.

Now she uses her product to reach her wider community as she sees it as a ministry to get people to be more health conscious.

“As a Christian I believe the Bible and it says the body is the temple. We should take care of our bodies. I use every opportunity to tell the story behind Armit. It’s on my social media pages, when I speak at churches I ensure it’s there, and even before Armit, while I was in the classroom I would encourage my students to practise living a healthy lifestyle from their youth. It’s not just to live a long life but it is to be the best version of you while you have life,” she said.

As for healthy living, Johnson Munroe has adopted a pescatarian lifestyle and aspires to eventually move to a vegan diet, which her husband has already adopted. She is also into juicing and shared that one of her staple ingredients is kale, but also pointed out that while doing her juicing she consumes a lot of lemon and lime water to detox her liver as it can become overrun with the greenery.

“Every time I look at the jars I remember my mom and hearing people say they are happy with the lifestyle change this has given them keeps me going. I leave God out of nothing and I solicit Him for everything. So I encourage people to be as healthy as possible, go for whatever they want, and once God is in the mix everything will be fine,” she said.