Tag: natural remedy

Two Week Cleansing Detox Herbal Recipe

Natural Herbal Remedy And Cleansing Tonic

Simple to make, and simple to use, here is a two-week cleansing formula to help start the spring with more vitality.

This is a silica-rich herbal tonic which uses  comfrey, dandelion, birch leaves, nettles and rose hips.  These herbs, in combination,  can improve the digestive system and improve the hair.

This herbal remedy works as a cleanser by encouraging the elimination of harmful toxins from the liver and intestines.  It can also be effective in helping to reduce fat deposits.

This formula can help constipation. It can help to purify the blood.  It can also help  reduce the pain of arthritic and rheumatoid conditions.

This herbal tonic will also help to improve the digestion by removing mucous from the bowel and toning up the liver, so that nutrients from food can be absorbed more easily.

The herbs used in this recipe are rich in iron, potassium, silica, enzymes, vitamins, serotonin and other nutrients which will help build good blood and nourish the body cells, bones, hair and nails.

Nettles and Comfrey are famous for their silica content which builds strong bones, helps encourage hair growth, and to form strong healthy nails.

Recipe For Herbal Cleansing Tonic:

Mix together equal quantities of dried birch leaves, comfrey leaves, dandelion leaves, nettle leaves and dried rosehips. Use around 2 tablespoons of each dried herb.  Mix, and store in an air-tight container.

To Use The Herbal Cleansing Tonic;

Take one rounded teaspoon of the herbal mixture  and pour over a cup of boiling water.  Let the tea infuse for 10 minutes before drinking.

Take the tea twice a day for two weeks only.

Cease taking the cleansing tea after two weeks.  Wait for at least a month before you use the two-week herbal cleanse again.

Enema or Colonic Cleansing: It is helpful, though not imperative,  to take an enema or two during this period of cleansing.  Washing out the bowel of toxic residues lessens the chance of getting headaches or other unpleasant symptoms which sometimes arise when toxins are released through fasting and cleansing.

Avoid Wheat Bread, Cakes, Sugar and Dairy Milk :  If you can, for best results, avoid these foods whilst you are on your two-week herbal detox.

Breakfast: Have a large bowl of oatmeal porridge in the mornings with a grated apple and olive oil or a little butter,

Lunch or Dinner: Eat plenty of cooked and raw greens,  rice or potatoes, and good quality protein in the dinner meal, such as free-range chicken, free-range eggs,  and fish.

Snack on fruit, nuts, seeds, and soya milk, if it is tolerated. Almonds, sunflower seeds and ground sesame seed are very nutritious, rich in calcium and iron, and make good snacks or accompaniments to healthy desserts.

Apples Can Help Asthma Bronchitis Heart Health and Constipation

Natural Remedy

Apples should be eaten every day, whenever they are available.  The old adage, ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ is a reminder of the efficacy of apples in avoiding illness of many kinds.  Apples are rich in Vitamin C and other plant chemicals such as pectin, which benefits the health by soothing mucous membranes and increasing resistance to disease.

Apples contain quercetin which is an anti-cancer component, as well as being helpful for the heart and lungs health.  Quercetin , like pectin, has an anti-inflammatory action on the mucous membranes.

Apples are a healing food which have vitamin B17 laetrile in their pips, which is an anti-cancer component.

Apples are good for the teeth.  They are a famous  preventer or cure for constipation and colitis, and for lowering bad cholesterol in the blood.   Apples are helpful for maintaining heart health and in stabilizing blood pressure. They are also thought to prevent alzheimer’s, if they are eaten regularly.

But did you know that the Lungs can benefit from apples?  Asthma and bronchitis  or persistent coughs can be helped by eating apples.  The apple diet is not a ‘stand-alone’ treatment, but it is well worth eating a meal of apples if you have a bout of coughing. Of course, you must visit your doctor or naturopath, homeopath or ayurvedic practitioner if you have a lung problem of any kind.  But do consider apples as part of your treatment.

Eating an apple desert such as the one I have listed below, or eating two grated apples raw, can relieve coughing almost immediately.  I have noticed benefits to the lungs from eating both raw and cooked apple, but I think that if you have a persistent cough, or wheezing, then the cooked apple eaten warm has more benefit.

I have been using apples, both raw and cooked, to cure a chest complaint which I have had for a while.  I think it was pleurisy. The cough was helped immediately I began the apple treatment, and the chest pain disappeared after several weeks of incorporating apple in my daily diet. It seems that my immune system stays strong while I continue to eat apples every day.  When I relaxed the apple treatment, as well as the homeopathic, herbal (olive leaf and zinc)  and vitamin supplements I have been taking, the cough came back with an inkling of the same chest pain I had had before.

I did see a doctor about this, and had an X-Ray done – just one – to see if there was any cancer on the lung.  But the X-Ray showed only hyper-ventilated lungs, and, fortunately, no trace of cancer.  The doctor could not help me any more that that, since I did not want to take an antibiotic.

So I pulled out all stops to do a natural cure. The apple treatment is an integral part of the programme I followed, which included various vitamins, herbal remedies, homeopathy, and abstaining from bread and wheat, with very few dairy products or sugar.

Here is a simple but delicious recipe for a stewed apple meal to help a persistent cough.

Recipe for Stewed Apple Dessert:

Grate two large apples with their skins left on.  Do not peel the apples.  I like granny smiths, but any apple will do. 

Put your apples into a saucepan with 2 and a 1/2 cups of water.

Bring to the boil and turn the heat down.  Cook gently for 5 minutes.

Turn off the heat.

Add half a cup of dates.

Add 3/4 cup of oatmeal bran, or rolled oats. I prefer the oatmeal bran, as I think it has more nutrients than standard oatmeal.

Stir.  Put the lid on the pot and leave on the warm stove with the heat turned off.

Wait for five minutes, then serve.   Put either a knob of butter on top of the apple dessert, or a tablespoonful of olive oil.

If you have a sudden attack of coughing, then take the apple desert on its own as a meal. Eat a large bowl of it.  Make sure you use some of the pips of the apple in the dessert, as these contain valuable healing nutrients, such as laetrile, or vitamin B17, also known as amygdalin.  And do keep the skins on the apple.  Healing components such as pectin and potassium have a high concentration in the skin of the apple.  So make sure to use that skin.  If you grate the apples, then the skin is easy to eat once the apple has cooked.


Home Made Castor Oil and Egg Conditioner To Help Hair Growth

Natural Remedy For Dry And Falling Hair

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Of course you need to pay attention to your diet if your hair is falling.  More protein in the diet, more Vitamin B rich foods such as liver, brewer’s yeast if you are vegetarian, more organic free range eggs, more almonds, sunflower seeds and sesame, and more dark greens such as broccoli.  Cooked comfrey, a leaf or two added to silver beet once or twice a week,  can do wonders for the hair.  Comfrey tea, or nettle tea, taken as a drink, provides silica to the bones  and teeth, and to the hair follicles. The silica in comfrey or nettle tea  helps to build strong hair, bones, nails and teeth.

Some medications can cause the hair to thin.  The oral contraceptives, for women, are probably the main worry for hair health.

Use this  home made castor oil and egg nourisher to help restore the hair to its former beauty.  You can condition the hair with this once or twice a week, which should help improve hair growth if it is used regularly in combination with an improved diet.

Recipe For Home Made Castor Oil and Egg Conditioner:

You will need

2 free range eggs

1 tablespoon of castor oil

1 tablespoon of wheatgerm or almond oil

1 tablespoon of glycerine

2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar

2 drops of rosemary oil if you have it.

Put all ingredients for the home made conditioner into a small bowl and beat all together.

Now wash the hair with your usual shampoo or sunlight soap.  Towel dry, and then apply the castor oil and egg conditioner mixture above.  Massage well into the scalp and cover all the hair too.  Leave on for half an hour.  Put a shower cap over the head with a warm towel over the top.

Wash out with shampoo or soap and warm water after half an hour.  You will need to use several applications of shampoo or soap.  Use rosemary tea as the final rinse for the hair.  Rosemary is rich in silica and oils, and puts a great shine on the hair.

Rosemary Tea For Final Hair Rinse:

Use one cup of rosemary leaves and stalks simmered in one and a half  cups  of water for five minutes.  Strain and cool.  Massage into the hair at the end of the last shampoo while the hair is still wet.

Ginger Roots In Folk Medicine

Ginger Roots In Folk Medicine

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The ginger family, Zingiberacea, has been used in folk medicine all over the world for many centuries.  Ginger roots are carminative, rubefacient and stimulative., and as such have a role to play in preventative medicine.

The roots, leaves, shoots, and influorescence of the ginger plant can all be used in healing, but ginger roots are the part of the plant which is the most potent.  Ginger roots are the parts mostly used in folk medicine.

Ginger as a Digestive Aid:  Ginger roots have a fine reputation as a digestive tonic. The therapeutic compounds in ginger, camphene, phellandrene, zingiberene and zingerone give ginger rubefacient, or counterirritant and carminative properties.  These compounds in ginger also help break down fats and therefore aid the body in its digestion of fats.

Ginger For Nausea: Ginger tea can be helpful in alleviating travel sickness, or motiion sickness. It can be used to counteract morning sickness in pregnancy, although some herbalists advise pregnant women to avoid using ginger.

Ginger In Ayurvedic Medicine:  Ginger roots have been used to treat cholera, anorexia and inflamed liver in traditional ayurvedic medicine.

Ginger Is a Respiratory Medicine In China: Ginger tea has long been used in China for treating coughs, colds and flu. The Chinese regard Ginger as a lung and kidney strengthening medicine: Its helpful action on the kidneys, and its ability to help dissipate poisons from the body has earned ginger the reputation of being a hangover medicine. Ginger helps headache which often comes from a hangover or from over indulgence in rich foods.

Ginger To Help Circulation Problems: Ginger-oil massage is a traditional treatment in Japan, where it is used for massaging sore joints as well as spinal stiffness, and for promoting good circulation.

Pain Relief: Ginger is useful in treating painful joints, as it helps to draw the blood to the area, stimulating circulation, which helps remove toxins and alleviate pain.

Sinus congestion can be relieved by either taking a ginger inhalation, or by using a ginger compress. Kidney problems, menstrual cramps and rheumatic and arthritic pain and gout can also be helped by using a ginger compress over the affected area.

Ginger For Ear Ache:  Ear ache can be relieved by plugging the ear with cotton wool which has been soaked in diluted ginger-oil or a strong infusion of ginger tea. If you are using ginger oil, then you use must dilute the essential oil in olive oil – one drop of essential oil in about two teaspoons of olive oil. A few drops of this mixure may be put into the ear. Or you can soak a cotton wool pad in this diluted ginger oil and place in the ear. Garlic oil, or freshly pressed garlic juice, can be used in the same way for helping ear ache: Dilute the garlic oil in a little olive oil before putting in the ear.

A ginger footbath is a good invigorating tonic for the whole body, as this increases circulation.

Varicose veins can be helped by using a ginger footbath.

How To Make Ginger Tea

Benefits of Ginger Tea

Ginger Tea has many health benefits. Ginger is a vermifuge. Drinking ginger tea on a regular basis can help prevent stomach upsets such as indigestion and nausea, flatulence and gas, and divert a migraine.

Prevention is better than cure: Drinking ginger tea and using ginger in your cooking will strengthen your immune system: Ginger not only helps your digestion, it will help to keep your blood pressure normal, help to keep cholesterol levels in check, lower the risk of heart attack, keep your intestines clean and improve the blood circulation.

Remember that it is always easier to avoid sickness with appropriate measures rather than try to treat an illness later after the damage has been done, so get stuck into that ginger tea. Between four and six cups a day can be taken by an adult. Use half or less of this amount for children.

For certain illnesses: Ginger can be used in helping people whose health is below par and who may suffer from things such as irritable bowel syndrome, peptic ulcers and arthritic symptoms : These things can generally be helped by drinking ginger tea on a regular basis, in combination with an appropriate diet.

NOTE: Ginger is a natural blood thinner. If you are taking medications such as Warfarin or other blood thinners, then ginger is Not recommended. Again – prevention is better than cure. It is far better to watch your diet and take appropriate herbal medicine BEFORE you have to go to the doctor. Generally speaking, people who begin taking blood thinners such as warfarin are not given the chance to ever come off these drugs: They continue taking them year after year until they die, after the drugs have had irreparable side effects. Not all doctors have this approach, fortunately, but many do.

Recipe for Ginger Tea

Powdered Ginger: This can be used to make a healthful tea. One teaspoon of powdered ginger can be used per cup of boiling water. Let the tea stand for ten minutes before drinking.

Freshly Grated Ginger Roots: However, the very best ginger tea is that which is made from the fresh grated root. Make sure that the ginger is fresh, with no mouldy bits on it.
Grate between half a teaspoon to a small teaspoonful of ginger into a cup. Grating ginger releases more of the healthful properties into the tea than if you simply chop it. Pour over boiling water and let the tea stand for 10 minutes. Strain and drink.

The juice of half a lemon and a small teaspoon of honey may be added to the tea for extra health benefits. Added lemon juice and honey is recommended especially if you are treating a cold or the flu. Adults can drink between 4 to 6 cups of ginger tea per day when treating a cold or flu. Children between five and 12 would take only half this amount.

Ginger Tea Bags: Alternatively, you may buy ginger tea bags to use instead of making the tea fresh from ginger roots. This method is not as good, nor is it as pure as using fresh ginger, as tea bags themselves contain small amounts of formaldehyde and other chemicals which are used in their making. Fresh ginger, dried powdered ginger or crystallized ginger roots are the best forms to use. Fresh grated ginger probably contains slightly more goodness than powdered ginger.

Crystallized Ginger Roots: One or two pieces of crystallized ginger may be finely chopped or grated to make a tea.

Ginger Beer: This is another way to gain health benefits from drinking a ginger ‘brew’. A 350 ml glass of natural ginger beer can be taken instead of tea. Remember the sugar content in ginger beer, though: You would not consume as much ginger beer as you would ginger tea, because of the high sugar content in ginger beer. Best to alternate your tea drinking with a little ginger beer.