4 Oct
I must apologize for the lack of new posts on this blog…my computer died about a year ago and it is hard to post blogs in the 15-30 minutes the library allows you to use their computer. But the good news is that in the next 3 months (maybe sooner) I will have a new computer and will be able to start posting again! I hope some of you have stuck with me through this difficult period and will begin reading the blog posts when I am able to resume them! Thanks all
6 Jul
The 2012 Garden
Around this country, in fact around the world this is a time of great upheaval and change. The economy of almost every nation is at risk, and the everyday people of the nations are in even greater jeopardy. In Europe…Ireland, Portugal, and Spain (among others) have hit a period of economic turmoil. In Greece they are fighting a period of austerity to be ‘saved’ financially by the European Union.
As ordinary citizens we are being forced to find new ways of surviving this period. Many of us are without jobs, and even without unemployment benefits. Many of us may lose homes, spouses, families, security, and/or all loving support. One of the things that I have been advocating for several years is the return to the coping methods of the WWII period. It was strongly encouraged during this period to grow what was then known as a Victory Garden. If people are not hungry, they can cope with other issues with more clarity of mind, and less despair.
Back in June of 2010 I wrote and published the following piece on just this subject….
“During World War II when food and so much else was rationed, people made their ration stamps for food go further by growing Victory Gardens. Today when there is so much pressure on us all to cut back our family budgets, going back in time and revisiting the Victory Garden seems a wise idea. If we just shuffle through our memories from last summer we would dredge up the salmonella scare on fresh fruits and vegetables. By growing our own, we eliminate that threat to our families. Two very good reasons to plan a garden now…. plant it…. tend it…. and harvest it.
It is time to stop complaining about rising food costs and try and do something for our own benefit for a change. It is time to stop looking to the government and big brother for the next fix. Our new president is doing everything in his power to help the American people come through this economic crisis. They are even planting a garden on the White House grounds this season…If the Obamas can do it, why can’t you?
An idea I was toying with was encouraging everyone to write Mr. President, request him to remind people about the Victory Gardens of the WWII era, and ask him to encourage the American people to follow his lead in just that effort. The rest of us can go to our local Town Councils and ask for Community Garden Space to be made available. We can grow more than we need, and knock on the single mothers door down the street, or the aged guy in the apartment complex where your elderly mother lives (you know the kind of people I mean!) and share your produce. Some food banks even accept produce that is locally grown, call, and find out if your excess can feed someone else this year. Someday you may need the same help!
Many of us have already cut expenses to the bone…. we own no credits cards, no loans, drive as little as possible, cut the car insurance back to state legal limits, have cut off cable or satellite TV, and have started our own Victory Garden…. We are making the effort to conserve…how about joining us?
Some sites that have recipes from that time period are listed below…
Barefoot in the Kitchen … wonderful list of recipes used during the Depression Era
The 1940’s Experiment offers a large number of recipes also…
Colleen Moulding has put together a site of Frugal Recipes from Wartime Britain
My husband and I have been working on expanding our garden. We have done a ton of hard work, and have more to go. The garden has doubled in size since last year. The varieties of plants have grown, and some plants neither of us have ever grown are experiments in the garden this time. Come help us sort through a garden of fresh produce…medicine and food from one source! All summer maybe I can share our plants, our trials and solutions, and our eventual outcomes!
3 Feb
Alternative treatments for Asthma are many…from herbs to homeopathy, from breathing exercises to meditation, etc….But most of the ‘accepted’ Western medical doctors are hesitant to accept the possibility that these methods can help in conjunction with their prescriptions, let alone do the job alone! There is insufficient research done on any of these possible treatments for most doctors to endorse their use; and as long as there is insufficient research being funded and conducted it will remain the same! Also the research needs more than funding and conducting …it also needs to be accomplished by people who are not prejudiced before hand by Western medicine to keep the results pure!
Lifestyle Changes:
Dietary Changes: There have been limited numbers of studies that show that diet influences Asthma significantly. Therefore fixing specific issues could contribute just as significantly to its treatment!
Increase Exercise: Often exercise can cause an asthma attack, but in good asthma management the goal is to return the patient back to normal or near normal activity, and that includes exercise. Just try to tell a child they cannot run, and jump, and ride their bike! I dare you! Regular exercise helps the Asthmatic in multiple ways including, but not limited to the following benefits: stress reduction, increased energy, and sleep improvements. Exercise also lowers your risk for obesity and heart disease, common problems with adult asthmatics!!
Move: This may seem extreme, but if you live in a very moist, humid location moving to a dry, hot atmosphere may just seem to cure your asthma! Try vacationing in different locals….desert southwest, mountainous areas, by the sea, in a city, out in the country. Where are you the most comfortable? Consider if this dramatic a change may just be worth the expense! In lieu of an actual move try some of these ideas:
Alternatives:
Acupuncture: Acupuncture has been used to treat Asthma because it balances the positive and negative flows of energy in the body, and that is precisely how Acupuncture is believed to work. Asthma is believed to be an imbalance of these opposing energies, with acupuncture restoring the stability to normal levels.
It is believed by many to restore lung function and to reduce the severity of an asthma attack should it occur. Research however has not been able to prove the effectiveness of acupuncture in asthma, but rather the results are inconclusive. The most recent Cochrane Collaborative Review feels that the information thus far does not allow recommendation of this treatment.
Aromatherapy: Essential oil blends can reduce the severity and occurrence of asthma attacks, and help relieve them once they commence! The best time for aromatherapy treatments is between attacks since you do not want the scent to make the problem a worse issue.
E.O.’s to use:
To reduce Bronchial Spasms: chamomile, lavender, rose, geranium and marjoram
Decongestant and Antihistamine: peppermint and ginger
To Encourage deep breathing and to allow lung expansion: Frankincense and marjoram
These Essential oils can be incorporated into chest rubs, steams, humidifiers, the bath or in massage oils.
Biofeedback: Biofeedback is the use of electronic devices to help the patient control or influence normally automatic body functions such as heartbeat and breathing. In controlled studies it has shown to have benefit for most patients, where they maintain control of their asthma while reducing their inhaled steroids.
Herbal Medicine: Many herbs will decrease the inflammation and relieve bronchio-spasms.
Homeopathy: Homeopathy uses very small amounts of natural substance to stimulate the body’s immune function and natural defenses. Each person, and each asthma attack is different so the choices here are prescribed as a tailored approach to each patients needs.
Massage: Massage is believed effective due to the relaxation in the whole being that can be achieved. It can be done using aromatherapy massage oils to enhance its effectiveness. Massage can retrain the muscles to a state of relaxation and reduced stress. Although not well studied, massage can be beneficial by relieving a known trigger for asthma attacks, stress. Additional research is needed in this area.
Pulmonary Therapy (Breathing Exercises): It has been demonstrated that people with asthma that use Breathing Exercises can reduce their use of medications by up to 86%. At Sydney’s Woolcock Institute of Medical Research and Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital conducted this research and released their findings in the August, 2006 edition of Thorax.
Relaxation Techniques – Meditation: It has been found that people who practice meditation and the resulting relaxation have a marked decrease in asthma symptoms and attacks. Meditation can eve help to bring an active attack under control. Often the fear of the attack will trigger panic which will make everything worse. The meditation can counteract this phenomenon.
Yoga: Through gentle stretching and exercise Yoga helps to relax the body and the mind, allowing improvement in circulation and respiration. It will relieve tension and assist the body in its own healing.
Folklore: These are for entertainment only!
Own a Chihuahua: in Mexican Folk Medicine it is believe to cure asthma!
To cure asthma: Drill a hole into a black-oak tree at the height of the patient’s head. Place a lock of hair in the hole, and drive a wooden peg into the hole to hold the hair in place. Now cut the peg and hair flush with the tree bark. When the bark has grown over the peg and hair, hiding it from sight and the hair has re-grown, the asthma will be cured!
Asthma could be cured by tying a live frog to the patient’s throat. When the frog died the disease was “completely absorbed” by the frog.
Kill a steer, cut open its gut, and place the patient’s feet into the abdomen. When the entrails have cooled the asthma will be cured.
Boil the comb of a hornet’s nest and sweeten it with honey, take to cure asthma!
Chihuahua for Asthma
15 Jan
Asthma is a condition of the lungs that causes an obstruction of the airways. If feels like there is an inability to take in air, but it is actually the inability to release the spent breath. Although it meets many of the requirements for COPD, it is not one of the conditions included in the COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) umbrella, since that includes diseases that are considered irreversible, and asthma is considered reversible.
An Asthma Attack is a sudden onset of the acute symptomology defined as asthma. Its symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, shortness of breath and mucous production. A blue discoloration of the nails and lips may occur due to lack of oxygen exchange!
There are different types of Asthma that can be identified by the symptoms, causes of onset, and response to treatment that occurs.
Brittle Asthma occurs in two types that are distinguished by reoccurring, severe attacks
Status Asthmaticus is when the Asthma Attack does not respond to standard treatment
Exercise-induced Asthma occurs with exercise, it tends to occur about 15 % of the time
with top athletes, and most commonly in cycling, mountain biking, and long distance
running
Occupational Asthma is caused by workplace exposure to irritants in the air. Most of the
time this type of Asthma will go undiagnosed or unreported completely. It can be brought
on by exposure to animal proteins, enzymes, flour, natural rubber latex, and certain
chemicals.
In an attempt to manage asthma symptoms it is vital that the ‘triggers’ that cause sudden attacks be identified and avoided. Some typical triggers are smoke (including cigarette), pet dander, aspirin, mold, air pollution, and other allergens. Once identified total avoidance is key to successful treatment, often allowing the prevention of medication being prescribed.
Where trigger avoidance is not sufficient to avoid an asthma attack medication is often recommended. There are several types of medicines used; quick-relief to stop sudden onset symptoms, and long-term control to prevent symptoms at all if possible.
The quick-relief drugs include the rescue inhalers that more and more people carry on a daily basis. The long-term medications also use a metered dose inhaler on occasion, but long-term incorporates the use of oral medications for control of symptoms.
When all else fails oxygen is administered, and/or Magnesium sulfate may be administered intravenously for its bronco-dilating effects. In the past drugs such as theophylline were used on a regular basis, but now they are not considered as effective as the inhaled beta-agonists.
In the next blog I will be looking at some of the alternative treatments now being utilized to manage the symptoms of Asthma…some of them are as old as the hills, some are new, some are old used in new ways!
11 Jan
After posting everyday for a solid year I needed to take a break, now I need to start this New Year fresh, with new ideas! So once a week (or so) I will post about a condition, disease or disorder. It will include a description of the situation being presented and aspects of the accepted Western medicine treatments. Also to be discussed will be alternative treatments. It is my hope to present a practical and different approach to the well discussed subject of healing! The next few posts to follow the condition post will discuss plants used in the treatment of aforementioned malady.
31 Aug
On a recent visit to the Botanical Garden at the University of Delaware in Newark, DE I ran into some plants I had never seen growing in this region.
The American Spikenard (Aralia racemosa), Possumhaw (Ilex deciduas), Green Dragon (Poncirus trifoliate), American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) and Brandywine Smooth Witherod (Viburnum nudum) were all producing fruit.
I was lucky enough to see the flowers on the Snow on the Mountain (Euphorbia marginata), and Red Bistort Firetail (Persicaria amplexicaulis) for the first time. I also found a pretty pink lily and a black eyed Susan look alike I had not seen before.
I was very disappointed though with their labeling of plants. Some of them were placed in front of plants that were not what the label said at all. Some were missing labels totally. Other labels were broken in half (or worse), some of the labels were buried so deep that there was no reading them at all! How do the students at the University learn that way?
Unknown Lily
1 Jul
Way back in ancient times Hippocrates (born 460AD) wrote “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” What a wonderful concept!
Before the new age of commerce, supermarkets, and mass marketing most folks ate much more simply. They either grew what they ate, or purchased what they ate from a local farmer. They cooked it themselves, from scratch…no prepackaged breads, cakes, or anything else. No mixes with questionable ingredients. When you grew and cooked your own food you knew what you were eating.
Yes, I know it takes longer, it takes a commitment, but you get more satisfaction from the work and effort you put in, and as a bonus your weight will drop, your health will surely increase and you can enjoy explaining to others how you accomplished what they could not!
When you cut out the excess salt (also called sodium, among other names, on the product label) you will find that your weight drops significantly because your body is no longer acting as the county water reservoir! For example: when I stopped drinking soda pop, I lost 30 pounds in 1 month! That was the only change I made at that point, I stopped drinking soda, and lost weight! So simple, yet so healthy!
By reducing the water weight and the caffeine load in my body I also reduced the negative impact on my heart and blood pressure both of those offenders had inflicted. But coming off the caffeine was interesting; I developed headaches at first, splitting headaches! What I found was that that the soda pop I was consuming had citric acid in it. So I added some lemon juice to the water I was drinking and ate a few oranges and strawberries, the headaches eased off.
By eliminating the soda pop I also lowered the amount of sugar I was consuming so I not only lost weight, I also slowed down the inevitable tooth decay and gum damage it can cause! Plus I found out later that these drinks contain high levels of phosphorus which can interfere with the absorption of calcium! My family has a history of osteoporosis; I needed my calcium for my bones!
Changing the diet from the processed foods like soda pops are just one small example of what it means to have foods be your medicine. Not only do we need to eliminate the offenders, we need to add the more positive foods to our diet regime. We need to learn new ways of preparation to eliminate the destruction of the nutrients before we even consume them. And finally we need to make that commitment I spoke of earlier; it is a commitment to ourselves. As Roger Williams, PhD said “The human body heals itself and nutrition provides the resources to accomplish the task.” Part of our commitment is to provide our bodies with the resources to heal itself and to then stay healthy!
Specific foods also help our bodies deal with specific ailments or disorders. So finding out what to eat to promote our health, depending on what is happening within our bodies is vitally important to our overall health.
Finally an ancient Ayurvedic Proverb…
When diet is wrong medicine is of no use.
When diet is correct medicine is of no need.
23 Mar
Back after the American bombs hit Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan many people were hospitalized with radiation sickness. Tan Koon Peng from Singapore writes: “Miso is effective for detoxifying your body of radiation. During World War II, two hospitals that were located side by side were hit with atomic radiation, in one hospital people consumed Miso and all of them survived while many people in the other hospital that did not take miso died.”
Herbalist Brigitte Mars says, “Following the bombing of Nagasaki, a group of surviving macrobiotic doctors and their patients avoided radiation sickness by eating brown rice, miso and seaweed. They also did not get leukemia.”
“Kazumitsu Watanabe, professor of cancer and radiation research a Hiroshima University’s atomic bomb research center, reports that when miso soup, a soy product, is eaten regularly, people may be more resistant to the aftermath of radiation.” Reported by Alexandra Dundas Todd in her article titled Remedies That Help Cope With Conventional Cancer Treatment. She went on to report, “Canadians and Japanese researchers have done suggestive studies on sea vegetables (kombu, wakame, kelp) and detoxifying the body. The sea vegetables adhere to excess radiation and toxins, and remove them from the body.”
With all that said, what is miso? Miso is a paste made from either beans or grain (or a combination) that has first been cooked, then inoculated with koji (a special mold that promotes the fermentation process). This mixture is then stored in a wooden barrel for several months to years. It is sweet and salty in taste. According to legend miso was a gift from the gods to ensure mans health, longevity, and happiness. Miso is most often made from soy, rice or barley.
To make miso soup in the traditional way you will need dashi, a Japanese soup base which can be bought and heated for the stock of the Miso soup or you can make your own dashi:
To make 1 quart take 1 quart of cold water, dried kelp (Kombu – rinsed in cold water – 1 piece about 4 inches square), and 1/3 cup bonito flakes (Katsuobushi)
Place the cold water and kelp aside to soak for 15 – 20 minutes
Bring the saucepan to just boiling. Add the Bonito flakes and remove from the heat.
Let this sit for 20 minutes, drain, straining out solids, pressing down to remove as much liquid and flavor as possible and discard the solids.
To make a basic Miso soup take 3 cups of Dashi, bring to an almost boil. Dice 1 block of tofu into the stock, simmer for a few minutes on low heat. Remove a small amount of the stock, and dissolve the miso paste into it, gradually return this to the pot. Stir gently. Turn off the heat and add ¼ cup chopped green onion. To this you can add garlic for additional flavor (3 fresh cloves, minced and ¾ teaspoon garlic powder).
For variations you can add diced tofu, seaweeds, assorted vegetables, and/or mushrooms!
Note: Chicken, vegetable, or beef stock can be substituted for the Dashi, but you will be giving up the benefit of the seaweed in the Dashi.
15 Mar
This is an addition to the earlier post…some new info for sharing
Ingrid Berman has posted a very informative article titled Radioactivity 101
http://ingridnaiman.com/subscription_lists/health_emails/radioactivity_101.html
Ryan Drum wrote the article “Medicinal Uses of Seaweed” back originally in 2008
http://ryandrum.com/seaweeds.htm
Todd Caldecott has published a very informative article…Radiation Alert and What You Can do…
http://urbandiner.ca/2011/03/15/radiation-alert-and-what-you-can-do/
Being added on March 23, 2011 some new articles that I found interesting…….isn’t it better to be informed and prepared? Even if the radiation from Japan does not reach here, we have our own nuclear reactors on this continent, and after having lived through 3Mile Island I would rather be prepared and informed!
Dr. Sinatra has written a blog titled ‘Protect Yourself From Radiation’
http://blog.drsinatra.com/blog/heart-health-nutrition/protect-yourself-from-radiation-exposure
He has suggested checking out his article on HeartMDInstitute titled ‘Earthquake Causes Radiation Leak in Japan’ for additional information.
http://www.heartmdinstitute.com/breaking-news/japan-quake-causes-radiation-leak
Another good article to help in being prepared was written by ‘John Healthy’ titled “Fallout Foods” That Block Radiation
15 Mar
With what is happening in Japan at this very moment, it is imperative that whatever can be found and shared for personal safety should be compiled in one place to make access easier for everyone.
Sean Donahue has posted a very interesting blog please read it…..
Gail Faith Edwards has made available an MP3 titled Natural Substances to Protect Ourselves Against Radiation Poisoning
Dr Sircus has posted this article ‘Treatments for Nuclear Contamination…link is http://blog.imva.info/medicine/treatments-nuclear-contamination
Back in 2005 the Idaho Observer published this article titled: How to Detox Your Body of Depleted Uranium Residues, the Effects of Radiation, and Radioactive Contamination
The link is http://proliberty.com/observer/20050826.htm
Susun Weed published an article on Oct 12, 2007 titled Surviving Radiation….the link is
http://www.modernsage.com/Expert/ArticleDetails.aspx?Mode=&Article_Id=499
Whenever I find more interesting information I will pass it along!
Take care all
Herbe Rowe 