Natural Health Solutions

Arugula Is Your Best Friend!

Arugula is one leafy green vegetable that stands out as a rich source of many vitamins and minerals. All salad greens are healthy, but not all give you a good dose of nutrients.

Arugula is closely related to broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, and brussels sprouts, some of the best anti-cancer foods around. It has a peppery, mustardy flavor with a slight bitterness.

This plant contains about eight times the calcium, fives times the vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin K, and four times the iron as the same amount of iceberg lettuce. And, continue reading »

Pine Needles In The Tea. Forget The Flu. Feel Better. Think Clearly.

Pine needles are probably not the first thing you think of when you hear the word tea. But its been around for ages. The tea has a pleasant smell and taste.

Children seem to love it because of its tanginess. Pine needles are rich in Vitamin C and also bring relief to conditions such as heart disease, varicose veins, fatigue, kidney aliments, sclerosis. Pine needle tea also gives you better eyesight.

This is the perfect tea to drink during the winter months.  And, continue reading »

Make Winter Exercise Your Remedy Of Choice

The benefits of winter exercise are enormous, and evidence continues to mount that exercise is a powerful natural drug in the treatment of depression.

As we enter the coldest months of winter and the promise of spring seems far off, I encourage you, if you haven’t already, to create a workout plan to keep your body and mood in good shape as you look forward to warmer weather.

In other words, the exercise you do in warmer months won’t help you stay optimally healthy if you spend your winter sitting around the house.

If you don’t regularly exercise, just getting going is key. It’s fine to start small, say with a short daily walk. Build from there by developing your own exercise strategy.

The colder months can take a toll on both your physical and mental well-being. It’s estimated that at least a quarter of a million Americans suffer from the winter blues.

A case of the winter blues  can include some or all of the following symptoms:

• Boredom, restlessness
• Lethargy, feelings of fatigue
• Irritability and a feeling of being cooped up or “stir crazy”
• Trouble concentrating
• Sweet cravings, overeating
• Loss of interest in sex

And,

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Powerhouse Of Nutrition: Purslane

Purslane is a powerhouse of nutrition. Hippocrates used it as a medicine. Henry David Thoreau found it in a cornfield, boiled it, and called it a “satisfactory dinner.” Many Europeans today eat it as Thoreau did, or chop it up fresh and put it in their salads.

It’s known as purslane–a plant that is a troublesome weed in many U.S. crops, especially vegetables. But recent research findings confirm that purslane is also a rich source of fatty acids, vitamin E, and other key nutrients–making it a prime candidate as a new vegetable crop.

For example, if you currently take fish oil capsules, omega-3 oil capsules, flax oil, or anti-depressants, a switch to purslane could improve your health and save you lots of money, too.

Herbalist James Duke says purslane contains up to 4000 ppm of the omega-3 fatty-acid alpha linolenic acid (ALA) Eating purslane is tastier, safer, and more effective than taking omega-3 supplements. To increase the effect, Duke suggests adding walnut oil to your purslane.

Purslane counters depression. It is one of the five herbs — lettuce, amaranth greens, lamb’s quarters greens, and watercress are the other four — richest in antidepressant substances.

Purslane is a superior source of calcium, magnesium, potassium, phenylalanine, and tryptophan, all of which are known to moderate the effects of depressive brain chemicals.

Purslane is the richest source of Omega-3 fatty acids of any green, leafy vegetable.. And, continue reading »

With Your Own Herb Garden Comes The Feeling Of Flavor, Scent, And Beauty

Each year, more and more people discover the fun of growing herb garden. And it’s no wonder: Herbs are mostly tough plants in the garden that are easy to grow, are seldom plagued by diseases, and have very few enemies in the insect world.

Plus, your own herb garden is always ready to lend a hand with all kinds of jobs, whether you want to spice up your food, make your house smell nice, or cure a sore throat.

Not all herbs are created equal. Plants can only pick up what’s in the soil, particularly in the case of minerals. A lot of herbs  now are being mass produced to meet the demand and are being grown with chemical fertilizers instead of organic methods, so you won’t have all the trace elements in them.

Now the U.S. government is encouraging farmers to spread a chalky waste from coal-fired power plants on their fields to loosen and fertilize soil.

That industrial byproduct is a synthetic form of the mineral gypsum, and it also contains mercury, arsenic, lead and other heavy metals.

The Environmental Protection Agency says those toxic metals occur in only tiny amounts. But some environmentalists say too little is known about how the material affects crops, and ultimately human health.

By the way, the use of FGD gypsum on farm fields is not brand new. According to the American Coal Ash Association, farmers’ use of the material has more than tripled in the past 6 years, from about 78,000 tons spread on fields in 2002, to nearly 279,000 tons in 2008. And, continue reading »