“Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God and value it next to conscience; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of, a blessing money can’t buy.” – Izaak Walton (1593 – 1683)
How much do you value your health? Can you put a price tag on it? Obviously not, if anything, your health is invaluable. Long gone are the days when expensive chemical or synthetic drugs were deemed to be the best for our bodies. Apart from the forbidding cost, the side effects that the body has to deal with cannot be ignored. This realization has dawned and people today are going back to natural remedies that humankind has been using for thousands of years.
For natural remedies and cures, the kitchen is a great place to start. It has almost all the medicines you would possible need at least, to deal with common ailments. All this at no (or negligible) cost, purity, without side effects and dollops of TLC (tender, loving care). Sounds too good to be true? Well, it’s not, all you need is just a little awareness and understanding!
The best solutions are not the cheapest ones, the best solutions are always the ones that cost nothing!
Having a headache?
Curing headaches has never been easier! Eating fish and ginger will make the pain go away in no time.
Fish contains fish oil that prevents headaches. Americans consume a dangerously insufficient amount of Omega-3 fats, which are essential to good health but can only found in fish oil and a few other foods (flaxseed, walnuts). However, the most beneficial form of Omega-3 – containing two fatty acids, DHA and EPA, that are essential to fighting and preventing both physical and mental disease – can only be found in fish.
Other benefic effects of fish oil include:
- Helps fight and prevent heart disease, cancer, depression, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, diabetes, ulcers, hyperactivity and many other diseases
- Increases your energy level and ability to concentrate
- Provides greater resistance to common illnesses such as flu and cold
- Helps pregnant women avoid premature births, low birth weight and other complications
Ginger has a small amount of antihistamine and anti-inflammatory action and that may be the basis for its effectiveness in preventing headaches. The is an anecdotal information saying that a woman in Denmark took 500 to 600 milligrams of powdered ginger in water at the first sign of a migraine and relief came within 30 minutes. After a few days of taking powdered ginger, the woman changed to eating fresh, raw ginger (the amount is not given). Fewer migraines were reported and those that did break through were of less intensity.
Suffering from hay fever?
Eat yogurt or any soured products 3 times a week. Stay on a high-fiber diet and eliminate dairy products, white flour products, sugar, packaged or canned foods, tobacco, coffee, chocolate, soft drinks, pies, cakes and any junk foods.
Also, eat local honey (honey collected from bees in your area). Pollen collected by the honey bee will be digested and deposited into the honey it makes and minute deposits of this pollen, taken in the form of this local honey, will slowly immunize against the allergy and irritation of these pollens. The honey must be local to the residence of the patient and collected with the honeycomb without refinement. Refining the honey destroys or removes the pollen deposits. Taken with cod liver oil (tablets are not the same, must have the oil), it will take several weeks to notice the changes, but the immunity will kick in and the next hay fever season will be lighter until the allergy is controllable or goes away completely. This applies to all allergies that are food, pollen, or skin allergies that produce eczema and rashes.
Want to prevent strokes?
Prevent buildup of fatty deposits on artery walls by drinking regular doses of tea. A study study on 550 men (in the Archives of Internal Medicine) revealed that drinking 5 cups of tea per day reduced the likelihood of stroke by 69 percent. Flavonoids and antioxidants are thought to be the beneficial components here. Foods that are high in flavonoids may also help prevent strokes.
Epidemiological studies show that people who drink green tea have significantly lower risks of many diseases, including cancer, heart disease and stroke. Green tea catechins are potent antioxidants that provide health benefits beyond their ability to neutralize free radicals.
Is insomnia bothering you?
Sleep is as essential to us as food, air and water. Sometime in your life you may have difficulty sleeping – many people do. Anyone can suffer from insomnia, although sleeping problems are more common among women, the ill, the elderly, smokers, and alcoholics. Sleep problems are, however, surprisingly common among young people. While it is not an illness and is in no way life-threatening, insomnia can be very distressing, frustrating, exhausting, depressing and at worst it can make you feel like you’re going crazy.
How to fix this? You may not believe me, but the answer is all milk and honey – literally.
Honey has a hypnotic action and induces a sound sleep. Having one teaspoon full of honey mixed in luke-warm water before going to bed helps in getting sound sleep.
Milk is also very valuable in insomnia. A glass of milk, sweetened with honey, should be taken every night before going to bed in treating this condition. It acts as a tonic and a tranquilliser. Massaging the milk over the soles of the feet has also been found effective.
Asthma is your problem?
Onion extracts are recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) for providing relief in the treatment of coughs and colds, asthma and bronchitis. Onions are known to decrease bronchial spasms. An onion extract was found to decrease allergy-induced bronchial constriction in asthma patients.
Suffering from arthritis?
Again, eating fish will help you. There’s strong evidence that fish oil supplements with omega-3 fatty acids can ease rheumatoid arthritis (RA) symptoms. The most useful oils for this purpose are found in salmon, tuna, mackerel and sardines.
I would suggest you not to take fish oil supplements, as they don’t have the same exact effects as actually eating fish (the effects of the oil are boosted by the other substances found in fish).
Is your stomach upset?
Bananas will settle an upset stomach. They soothe the stomach and counteract the acids that cause an upset stomach. They are also easily digested and can help ease diarrhea.
Bananas are part of the BRAT diet, a diet many physicians and nurses recommend for children recovering from gastrointestinal problems. BRAT stands for the different components that make up the diet: Bananas, Rice cereal, Applesauce and Toast.
Drinking ginger tea also helps.
Having bone problems?
Eat pineapples. Pineapples are rich in manganese, a trace mineral that is needed for your body to build bone and connective tissues. Just one cup of pineapple provides 73% of the daily recommended amount of manganese. The benefits of pineapple can effect the growth of bones in young people and the strengthening of bones in older people.
Memory fading away? …what did you just say?
Oysters come to your aid. Eating oysters improves blood circulation in the lungs and thus increases oxygen supply to the rest of the body. Improved blood circulation speeds up delivery of nutrients and oxygen to every cell. The elasticity of vessels is enhanced and the blood flow is smoother. This will help prevent thrombosis and hence reduce incidences of heart disease.
Eating oysters increases blood supply to the brain which helps improve memory and learning ability.
Coughing disturbs you?
The red hot chilly peppers come to your aid. No, not the band, the vegetable.
The Cayenne Red Pepper (scientific name Capiscum) is used in compounds for cough syrups. The ancient Maya of the Yucatan Peninsula and the Guatemalan Highlands routinely incorporated cayenne pepper into their materia medica for the treatment of asthma, bronchitis, coughs, colds, sore throats and other respiratory disorders.
High blood pressure
Consumption of olive oil is inversely associated with blood pressure, report Greek researchers, revealing an additional factor behind its protective effect on heart health. About two thirds of strokes and half the incidence of heart disease are attributable to raised blood pressure, according to the World Health Organisation. Worldwide, high blood pressure is estimated to cause 7.1 million deaths, about 13 percent of the total and about 4.4 percent of the total chronic disease burden.
A study at the Second University of Naples, Italy, demonstrated that a Mediterranean-style diet had beneficial effects on people with the metabolic syndrome – decreasing blood pressure as well as body weight, levels of glucose, insulin, total cholesterol, and triglycerides and causing a significant increase in levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
Is your blood sugar imbalanced?
Do not leave Broccoli out of your diet! Broccoli is helpful in maintaining healthy blood sugar levels because of its high fiber content. Eating a diet high in fiber is believed to improve the control of blood sugar, as soluble fiber appears to delay the emptying of the stomach and therefore slows the absorption of glucose in the intestine.
Its extraordinary vitamins, minerals and fiber are essential to your good health. But aside from its nutrient-packed value, it is also thought to boost the body’s resistance to invasive infection and free-radical damage to cells, as well as enhance carcinogen-fighting enzymes.
