Herbalist’s (or Witch’s?) Guide To Avoiding Coronavirus
Sensible precautions and natural treatment can help you stave off flu.
health
Keep Clear Of Germs and Wash Your Hands
Most of us have been taught to wash our hands since early childhood. But the hand hygiene we were taught can be improved. Especially now during summer vacation when we spend more time out of our own friendly-germ environment and possibly traveling, it makes sense to follow sensible precautions. When do you wash hands? Naturally, […]
Mead: The Ancient Wine Is Back
What do you think of when you think of mead? You might imagine Vikings with braided beards quaffing something potent out of cow's horns. Or possibly, jolly Hobbits clinking pewter cups of golden liquid between nibbles of seed-cake and tarts. But mead is no longer the drink of the mythical past.
Gargle With Sage To Stay Healthy In Winter
Sage Infusion Sage infusion strengthens gums and treats periodontal disease, if you gargle with it regularly. Sage is an antiseptic, skin-soothing herb with a special affinity for the tissues of the mouth and throat. Gargle with sage infusion twice a day all winter long to prevent colds and flu and to prevent/treat mouth sores. Do […]
An ancient salad recipe from the Rambam
Maimonides, referred to as the Rambam, was a philosopher, codifier of Jewish law, and a renowned doctor in 12th-century Egypt. Israelis follow his startlingly modern-sounding health advice until this day. He wrote that the best breakfast is a big, leafy salad: it clears digestion and the kidneys and purifies the blood. That’s not how I […]
Eat Prebiotic Foods To Keep Your Probiotics Healthy
An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Folk wisdom produced this proverb a long time ago. Our canny ancestors didn’t conduct laboratory experiments with rats, but they knew that people who ate an apple every day stayed healthier. The proverb would hold true even if changed to “an onion a day” or “whole grains […]
Can clay jugs clean water?
Cool, fresh drinking water. Westerners turn the faucet on and take it for granted that good water will flow out, but in many countries fresh water is a treasure, gained by hard work. In rural villages all over the globe, people – usually women and children – fill buckets and jerry cans from a communal […]
Soy, where to find it, how to avoid it
Soy has been touted as a source of perfect protein for decades. It was believed that soy prevents breast cancer and heart disease. Women built soy into their diets as a nutritional shield against breast cancer. Soy-based baby formula was hailed as a convenient and healthy alternative to mother’s milk. In 1999, the FDA authorized […]
Does Your Mood Depend On Coffee?
I confess: my first thought when I wake up in the morning is, “Yay, coffee!” It’s only one cup every day, but I feel grumpy until I get it. The good news is, the daily cuppah fills me with energy and and a good mood.The bad news is, I’m addicted. As addicted to my one […]
Make Your Own Sugar Scrub For Smooth, Glowing Skin
Sugar scrubs refresh and moisturize your skin, leaving a lovely fragrance behind. And why should you pay for a commercial product if you can make your own scrub at home? The ingredients are inexpensive, and you probably already have them in your pantry. After all, a sugar scrub is only sugar, a good oil, and […]
Natural mallow salve calms mosquito bites
Considered an invasive weed in some parts, mallows are yet a valuable edible and medicinal herb. And bees love mallows flowers; that’s crucial in a world that becomes less friendly to those important pollinators by the day.
Rosewater For Beauty and Healing
Part IV in a series of 4 on eating and healing with roses. Rosewater is the fragrant liquid left after steaming has extracted roses’ essential oils. Rose essential oil is most expensive – sometimes more costly by weight than gold. Thankfully, rosewater’s price is affordable even to ordinary budgets. Rosewater has been a resource in […]
Ready-washed bags of salad? Best used as compost!
Those convenient bags of prepared salads are breeding grounds for bacteria, so say scientists from Britain’s University of Leicester. The best defense against inadvertent food poisoning is a hearty and immediate appetite: researchers advise consumers to eat bagged salad as soon as possible after opening the package. The study, published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, found that […]
Skittles, Risk and Statistics
I’m going to thank Donald Trump Jr. for providing a simple way to visualize our decisions regarding human refugees. He said that we should pretend that “those people” are skittles, not someone we could ever imagine being a loved-one– capable of thought, compassion, joy and loss as we believe of ourselves. In junior Trump’s analogy, […]
Soylent, a beige goop alternative to eating food?
A liquid formula that goes down easy and provides you enough nutrients for the day. Would you ever start eating soylent?