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How to get healthy by opening your back door...
11th March 2007
If you've been following my letters over recent weeks, you'll know that I'm banging the drum about buying local produce.
In fact, I'm convinced that making sure your fresh food comes from a local supplier is more important than worrying about whether it's organic or not.
Which is why this letter from fellow Good Lifer Penny interested me so much...
Dear Ray
Dandelion is now coming out in the garden don't dig it up, eat it - put leaves in salad or just use as greens, put flowers in salads, dig up the root eat or make decoction - cut up root and simmer for ten, fifteen mins.
I spent 30 years as a professional gardener, digging up what is our native food and medicine and putting it on the compost heap couch grass is a diuretic and ground elder is a blood cleanser.
And we go to the supermarket and buy salad packs and have all this stuff in our back gardens that we see as weeds.
Eat your weeds I say!
There is not a lot that is poisonous get a good identification book.
This has now become the rest of my life work to give people the info.
Hope you think it's worth repeating.
Regards, Penny
Well Penny, as you can see I think it's definitely worth repeating, because it's a very interesting idea.
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I know you can grow your own fruit and vegetables, and it's a nice idea if you've got the time and patience. But it's not something I'm ever going to blather on to you about, because I'm guessing there's quite a bit of work involved - and if there's one thing I don't want to do is become a health nag!
So, growing your own produce is blatantly a good thing, but it's up to you.
However, picking weeds that grow naturally in your garden without you lifting a finger...? Now that's something that appeals to me.
As Penny's mentioned already, your garden will contain things you shouldn't eat, so DON'T just race out and start munching at anything green! (Note to self to keep an eye on the kids this summer).
I think it's great advice to find a guide to that shows you EXACTLY what's what. In fact, I'll make it my mission to find the best one for you.
In the meantime, here are some healthy weeds...
A powerful health store in your back garden
- BURDOCK - the root of this weed tackles anaemia, arthritis, gout, chronic fatigue, diabetes, and cold sores to name but a few. Quite a few I grant you, but honestly, this little root seems to have an insatiable appetite to tackle illness!
There are a number of ways you can take this... as a tea (simmer a teaspoon of dried root with 1 cup of water for 15 minutes), or you can eat it fresh. But be prepared for a fight!
Burdock roots can be a few feet long, so dig around the weed to loosen the soil. Or pop down to the local health store and buy some, nip into the pub, then return home and come in the back way triumphantly, pretending you've spent the best part of an hour fighting the beast.
Just an idea...
- DANDELION - treats gallstones, hepatitis, skin conditions, endometriosis and hypoglycemia.
Now then, I don't have to describe these little fellows to you do I?
As Penny says, you can use the leaves and root, and they seem to grow all year round. Well they do in my garden at least! But apparently the best time to pick them is early spring, before the flowers appear.
Not that they're healthier around this time - they just taste better. Leave them too long, and they taste bitter.
Again, making a tea is a great way to take this. Pour 1 cup of boiling water over four teaspoons of freshly chopped dandelion leaves and let the potion steep for at least five minutes. Various sources say go for three cups a day, so who am I to argue? |
- NETTLE. Again, I'm sure this devil needs no introduction, and even though I'm now supposedly a grown up who should know better, I'm still a bit scared of the things.
Blame Peter Hill and an incident in Miller's Pond for that!
Right, the trick with nettles is to gather them at the right time. You need to pounce in early spring before they bloom. If you try and use nettle leaves after they've flowered, it could irritate your urinary tract. So beware!
But if you time it right, nettle leaves are an excellent natural remedy. They are rich in calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, vitamin C, carotenes, and amino acids - which helps strengthen the body.
Who'd have thought my old enemy would turn out to be a brilliant all-round tonic?
Right, that's enough of messing about in the garden. Let's move onto something a bit more serious…
3 steps to save someone from the affects of a stroke
Here's another letter I received recently Good Lifer Bob - and it raises a very important point...
Over to you Bob...
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STROKE: Remember the 1st Three Steps
STROKE IDENTIFICATION:
During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) and just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.
They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food - while she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.
Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00pm , Ingrid passed away.)
She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ.
Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today.
A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally.
He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.
(But this knowing this could help no end. - Ray)
RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.
Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
S - Ask the individual to SMILE.
T - Ask the person to TALK, to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently: It is sunny
out today.)
R - Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
NOTE: Another sign of a stroke is this:
Ask the person to stick out their tongue... if the tongue is crooked (if it goes to one side or the other) that is also an indication of a stroke.
If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call for an ambulance immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.
A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.
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Thanks for that Bob. Sound advice - and something we should all try our best to remember.
So, do as Bob suggests, and send this email on.
That's it for today. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and I'll be back again next week (with more news of the exciting new idea I'm helping to launch any day now!).
Until then take care, enjoy yourself, and get out into your garden to see if you can spot some free health remedies!
Yours as ever,
Ray Collins
The Good Life Letter
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