Healthier Alternatives Article 22

Grandma Knows Best


I asked around from friends and family, co-workers and their families for their Grandma's secret remedies and some shared with me their recipes for healing and so in turn I will share with you all this week what was gleaned to me. Tried, trusted, and true.


Sore Throat
Relieve the pain by gargling with warm salt water a few times a day and then drinking a soothing honey-lemon tea.

Stop Bleeding
You’d think it would burn, but a sprinkle of cayenne pepper on a cut will quickly stop the bleeding and actually relieve the pain. Also a little more creepy method of stopping bleeding is to use cobwebs from your house spider's. The webs will help to coagulate the blood on the skin acting as a bandage of sorts.

Ear Infections
Put a few drops of garlic oil or white vinegar into your ear canal and lay down on the opposite side to let those drops do their work. Garlic and vinegar create an environment that won’t support the bacteria causing the infection. Repeat a few times a day until the symptoms disappear.

Burns
Rinse first with cold water, but then immediately apply aloe vera gel to the burn. Slice a potato and rub its cool, soothing juices all over the burn. Honey, with its antibacterial properties, is also good topical ointment. If you can catch the burn immediately, mustard is also reportedly a great salve.

Headache and Migraine
Try rubbing peppermint or lavender oil on your temples and the base of your neck; sniffing these oils may also help. Rub a fresh cut lemon or lime on your forehead.

Healthier Alternatives Article 21

Ginger! And not the red head from Gilligan's Island.





The Ginger plant has long been known for it's medicinal properties. It's healing qualities include but are not limited to: Aiding with nausea, morning sickness, sore throats, relieves headaches, relieves constipation, reducing fatigue, flu and cold prevention and many other uses. The herb itself was first cultivated in Asia and since then has been grown all throughout the world and most notably in the regions of the Caribbean and West Africa.

Ginger also has a sedative effect within it's roots. It can help to calm you when your restless, help you to sleep. This root has so many different uses that trying to write one column on it would take nearly an entire year to detail each and every use. It really is one of nature's wonder "drugs" and can be consumed in so many ways, even processed into candies and tea!

Healthier Alternatives Article 20

Martha Stewart: Green and Crafty

Martha Stewart is at it again with her "Good Things" and being green this year. A clever and crafty way to turn old T-shirts into something that is not only reusable but good for the environment. Just follow her easy steps to make your own t-shirt bag to use for your groceries or really whatever else you can think of!



1. Turn T-shirt inside out and pin bottom of the T-shirt along the hem. Using a sewing machine, sew bottom of T-shirt closed. Flip shirt right side out and lay flat on table, making sure all seams are lined up.

2. Place medium-size bowl about half-way over the neck hole. Using a water-erasable marking pen, trace along the edge of the bowl. Cut along the outline, making sure to go through the front and back sides of the shirt, in order to create an opening for the bag that's larger than what the neck hole allows.

3. Line up the hems on the front and back side of the sleeve and cut, making sure to go through both sides of the shirt. Repeat on the other sleeve. Tip: A jersey shirt would also work well for this craft, as it is already sleeveless, and it's made of a great mesh material.

Healthier Alternatives Article 19

Non-Toxic Cleaning Kits For Your Home and Work




SUPPLIES
Baking soda
Washing soda
White distilled vinegar
A good liquid soap or detergent
6 clean spray bottles
2 glass jars

ALL-PURPOSE SPRAY CLEANER
1/2 teaspoon washing soda
A dab of liquid soap
2 cups hot tap water

Combine the ingredients in a spray bottle and shake until the washing soda has dissolved. Apply and wipe off with a sponge or rag.

SOFT SCRUBBER
Simply pour about 1/2 cup of baking soda into a bowl, and add enough liquid detergent to make a texture like frosting. Scoop the mixture onto a sponge, and wash the surface. This is the perfect recipe for cleaning the bathtub because it rinses easily and doesn’t leave grit.

Note: Add 1 teaspoon of vegetable glycerin to the mixture and store in a sealed glass jar, to keep the product moist. Otherwise just make as much as you need at a time.

OVEN CLEANER
1 cup or more baking soda
Water
A squirt or two of liquid detergent

Sprinkle water generously over the bottom of the oven, then cover the grime with enough baking soda that the surface is totally white. Sprinkle some more water over the top. Let the mixture set overnight. You can easily wipe up the grease the next morning because the grime will have loosened. When you have cleaned up the worst of the mess, dab a bit of liquid detergent or soap on a sponge, and wash the remaining residue from the oven. If this recipe doesn’t work for you it is probably because you didn’t use enough baking soda and/or water.

WINDOW CLEANER
1/4-1/2 teaspoon liquid detergent
3 tablespoons vinegar
2 cups water
Spray bottle

Put all the ingredients into a spray bottle, shake it up a bit, and use as you would a commercial brand. The soap in this recipe is important. It cuts the wax residue from the commercial brands you might have used in the past.

VINEGAR DEODORIZER
Keep a clean spray bottle filled with straight 5 percent vinegar in your kitchen near your cutting board and in your bathroom and use them for cleaning. I often spray the vinegar on our cutting board before going to bed at night, and don’t even rinse but let it set overnight. The smell of vinegar dissipates within a few hours. Straight vinegar is also great for cleaning the toilet rim. Just spray it on and wipe off.


FURNITURE POLISH
1/2 teaspoon oil, such as olive (or jojoba, a liquid wax)
1/4 cup vinegar or fresh lemon juice
Mix the ingredients in a glass jar. Dab a soft rag into the solution and wipe onto wood surfaces. Cover the glass jar and store indefinitely.

Healthier Alternatives Article 18

Tis The Season For Giving


If your like me, you really try to custom tailor your gifts to those whom you give to. Sometimes in the holiday frenzy we forget though that others out there, not just our friends, families and neighbors, need a little something to make their lives better, their spirits brighter and their hearts whole. This year I propose a few ways to help do just that.

* Give to the American Humane Society. A small donation really goes a long way to help support neglected and abused pets that suffer from life-threatening injuries and illnesses.

* Adopt-a-species Through the World Wildlife Foundation. For as little as like 25.00 you can get an adoption kit for one of over a hundred differant animals. Of course, the more you donate the better your benefits get. Starting at fifty you'll get a plush replica of your adopted animal. All the proceeds go to helping the Foundation protect the wildlife and their natural habitats.

* Toys For Tots Foundation. The US Marine Corps Reserve each year run several donation drop off points and collection sites as well as benefits for children in need. They ask for unwrapped gifts to be given to needy children in your own community. The program usually starts in October and lasts until Christmas. The Goal is to deliver a new toy to the less fortunate kids, in hopes that in the years to come, that child will remember the good will of others and in turn offer the same kindness to others.

*Salvation Army. The Salvation Army actually has two ways one can donate. One is the Angel Trees and the other is known simply as the Red Kettles. Angel Trees are trees that go up in various department stores, such as Macy's or J.C. Penny and contain the name and age and "wish" of a child. You pick an angel from the tree to fulfill their wish and then drop it off at the collection sites. The Red Kettles are small little Red Buckets that are set up around the city in various locations, usually in front of stores, and one of the Salvation Army volunteers will ring a bell near the Kettle. The object is simple, donate what you can in cold hard cash right then and there. All the proceeds from this go to provide Christmas dinners, clothing, toys for families in need and also to provide people with basic necessities and seasonal aid. They also help people in hospitals, or nursing homes as well.

Of course, there are literally hundreds of thousands of other charities one could donate to and you know, it doesn't even have to be a monetary donation. You could always donate your time too, like to the Red Cross or to the local YMCAs. In the spirit of Christmas, I hope that I've given you all a new way to show your spirit and give to your communities.

Healthier Alternatives Article 17

Baa Baa Plant Sheep


Legend has it that there is a mystical plant called the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary. It was believed this plant was in fact half plant, half animal and would produce a sheep, or lamb as it's fruit. It's full name is "Planta Tartarica Barometz". Barometz is the Tartar word for lamb. The "fruit" of the Vegetable Lamb was cotton, but people back in the Middle Ages knew very little about cotton and assumed the fabric was wool, which then led them to assume that the puffs of cotton were actually tiny sheep attached to the plant by their navels. It was said that the plant would bend down to let the sheep graze on the surrounding grass beneath it and when it was all eaten up, the sheep dropped off from the plant and ran off. Of course, this is nothing but a myth.

But the plant itself, the vegetable lamb, is real. No, it doesn't produce sheep. However, researchers are now saying that it could produce a break-through treatment for the bone-thinning disease of Osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis affects many women (and men) each year. It's a chronic disease and very debilitating. Causing fractures to occur with little to no true injury. Causes more people to fall down and it may significantly affect life expectancy and the quality of life obviously is affected.

Healthier Alternatives Article 16

Rockets to Fight Ulcers?

Yes! You heard correctly! Rockets, otherwise known as Eruca Sativa or Arugula is an edible leafy plant that is rich in vitamin C and potassium and is mostly grown in Mediterranean areas. Some also believe that this plant is one of the world's natural aphrodisiacs.

While it certainly does have the potential to offer up several uses for it's appetizing green leaves, which some scientists believe it even fights cancers, it has been used to treat stomach ulcers naturally, without the harsher medicines which could lead to even more stomach problems in the end. It helps to prevent ulcer activity by limiting the stomach acid which affects the lining. In Ischia, it's used as a digestive alcohol which is used, following meals in small doses to help digest the consumed foods. So the next time those ulcers are giving you problems, try some pizza with Arugula or a salad made with it's green leaves instead of the spicy foods.