Posted by: Dr. Tonia Mitchell ND Tags: cayenne, Dr. Tonia Mitchell ND, herbal healing, home remedies, infections, inflammation, Nanaimo Naturopathic Doctor, pain, parsley, rosemary, sage, tumeric, wounds
Many spices and herbs, commonly found around the house, can be used for herbal healing to fight infection, sanitize and heal wounds, improve brain power and detoxify the body. Be warned that many of these herbs have essential oils in them which are toxic in high doses so should especially be avoided during pregnancy. Consider the following:
- Rosemary is my favorite for herbal healing. It is called the herb of remembrance (or the herb of chicken) because it increases blood flow to the brain increasing memory, focus, concentration and mental endurance. Take the dried or fresh leaves and steep them like you would tea. Rosemary is also one of nature’s best antioxidants as it helps prevent cell damage and helps the liver function to detoxify the body.
- Tumeric is another easy way to help detoxify the body. Also, to decrease inflammation in your joints or muscles or anywhere in the body, put 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder in a couple ounces of warm water and drink it quickly. If you don’t like the taste, add some cinnamon or chase it with your favorite fruit juice. This bright yellow powder is used as a clothing dye, so be careful, it will stain your clothes!
- Cayenne is a strong, topical pain neutralizer. Use this spicy, red powder for pain and inflammation of any kind: joint pain, muscle pain or nerve pain. Combine 1 part cayenne powder with 5 parts flour, add some water until it becomes a thick paste and spread it on to a piece of fabric. Fold the fabric so the cayenne paste is in the middle. Apply this to the sore area for 15 minutes maximum, watching for redness or burning. Also, sprinkle some cayenne in your socks to keep your feet cozy on cold days.
- When you’ve got that sensation in the back of your throat as if you’re about to get sick, chew on some sage leaves. The essential oils in the leaves are antimicrobial and should prevent the infection. A pure form of the essential oil can be put in some water and gargled. Also, crush the leaves with a mortar and pestle then wrap them in sterile gauze and apply to scrapes and cuts to clean the wound.
- Parsley can be used for speedy herbal healing of wounds, bruises, stings and bites. Crush the leaves of this breath freshening garnish then wrap them in some sterile gauze and apply directly to the skin.
As you can see, herbal healing is possible from your own home – it’s effective and inexpensive!
Naturopathic medicine is a safe, effective and natural approach to you and your family’s health. Naturopathic doctors can and will empower you to live a healthy lifestyle while treating and preventing disease. Find more information on the services I offer at Arbour Wellness Centre at Nanaimo Naturopathic Doctor.
When you purchase air fresheners, either solid disks, liquid sprays or plug-in devices, do you consider this a luxury item on your list or a necessary purchase for yourself and your home? This may be a frivolous purchase as well as a dangerous one. These products are most likely robbing you of good health.
Many air fresheners mask the offending odour by providing a much stronger odour. There is a wide array of chemical substances that may be used in your air freshener, as well as the propellants in aerosol products, and you may end up inhaling these substances along with the fragrance. Among other health risks, these substances may be numbing your nerves, thereby, affecting your sense of smell. Consider the following:
- Common air fresheners contain chemicals which may affect human reproductive development;
- Air fresheners can be dangerous when used indoors in a small space as commonly used air fresheners may emit toxic pollutants that could be at dangerous levels leading to health problems;
- A chemical compound found in many air fresheners could be harmful to your lungs;
- A component causing great concern in many air fresheners is formaldehyde. You bet this will destroy your sense of smell while being one of the worst offenders for respiratory irritation. Anyone with asthma, lung infections or similar disorders may be severely affected by formaldehyde;
- By using an air freshener in your child’s room, together with an air purifier that creates ozone, the result in formaldehyde levels can be 25 percent higher than recommended. Formaldehyde is considered a known carcinogen;
- Air fresheners – particularly those scented with pine, orange and lemon fragrances can emit harmful levels of toxic pollutants into your environment. Repeated exposure to these pollutants and their by-products can exceed regulatory guidelines particularly in small, poorly ventilated rooms.
Add to this list an excerpt from the Australian Clearing House For Youth Studies stating cheap air fresheners are emerging as a preferred drug for many teenagers in Australia and New Zealand. Called “huffing”, inhaling air fresheners has caused the death of three teenagers in one month in New Zealand.
The answer is simple. Get back to basics. Keep things clean. Ensure good ventilation in your bathroom, kitchen and bedrooms. Simply open a window or use an exhaust fan if you feel the need to clear out odours. Try a few of the following easy tips to freshen the air:
- You can mix 2 cups of hot water, 1/8 cup of baking soda and ½ cup of lemon juice (bottled Real Lemon works too) to make a lemon air freshener spray;
- Wrap some cloves and a cinnamon stick in cheesecloth and place it in a pot of boiling water then let it simmer on the stove while you enjoy the aroma. You could also use citrus fruit in a pot with water and simmer gently;
- Burn 100% pure beeswax candles without lead wicks as they are made of all natural ingredients that can be safely burned in your home while actually purifying and cleaning the air. Most people are unaware that lead is commonly used in candle wicks as a stiffening agent. Burning even a single lead containing candle wick can release harmful levels of lead and other metals into the air. These metals can then find their way on to the surfaces in your home and into the lungs of you and your family;
- You can freshen up your home by boiling a small amount of water in a pan with a tablespoon of dried mint for a minute or two. This will keep your entire home smelling fresh for some time.
If you enjoy essential oils and you would like to immediately create an uplifting, fragrant atmosphere in your home or office try a nebulizing diffuser.
Keep expensive, commercial air fresheners off your luxury or necessary purchase list. Do not allow these products into your home where they may be silently robbing you of good health.
Head lice are not dangerous and they do not carry disease, but have you ever seen one and if so you would know that having to deal with them would make your skin crawl. If you have children it can only be a matter of time that you will need to learn on how to kill head lice even if they do not have them right now. You should always be prepared.
While lice are tiny they can be seen by the naked eye, and so if you ever see your youngster scratching their head or having an itchy scalp, you are going to want to have a good look at their hair to see if they have any lice or nits on the scalp or in the hair. The lice are the size of sesame seeds and are a brownish tan color. These tiny little buggers are very resilient and can survive for up to three days off the scalp.
The nits or lice eggs are yellow or tan in color before they hatch and after hatching turn to a white or clear color. You will notice that the nits look somewhat like dandruff, only with dandruff you can brush it off and it will fall off whereas nits will stick to the hair shaft and cannot be brushed or rubbed off.
One of the most common symptoms you will notice in a child with head lice is small red bumps or sores, which they develop from scratching. For some kids the irritation will be mild whereas with others it will result in a bothersome rash that is very noticeable.
How to Kill Head Lice
When it comes to learning how to kill head lice there are a few different routes you can take. You have two options when wanting to kill head lice: you can use the commercial products or natural remedies that are available. It is more important when you are dealing with children because you may not want to use harsh chemicals on them as you would on yourself.
To kill head lice, if you want to use a lice shampoo, all you need to do is wash the child’s head with it as you would with regular shampoo, and make sure that it is all rinsed out. You may also want to use vinegar with this shampoo to ensure that all the lice and nits are killed.
On the other hand if you want to use home remedies to kill head lice, there are also a few very effective options you can try. Mayonnaise has proven to be effective at killing head lice, as has vinegar, but it may take a bit of trial and error for you to find something that works.
