Mama's Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health and the Pleasures of Natural Livin Svetlana Konnikova (life books to read txt) 📖

Headache related to flatulence

r 30. Administer an enema of boiled and cooled water (warm or room temperature) or chamomile tea. Then melt in your mouth a cube of refined sugar to which has been added five to seven drops of lavender oil. Make sure to use unadulterated essential oil of lav- endar that does not contain chemicals or perfumes. Fol owing this, you wil begin to feel better.

r 31. Honey tea—Careful, some people are allergic to honey, particu- larly the tropical blends of honey. For those who can eat honey, the fol owing recipe taken two to three times daily can offer some relief from gas. Add one tablespoon of honey and a slice of lemon to a mug of boiling water. Enjoy!

r 32. No fooling! Soak your socks in water. While stil wet, put them on and cover them with a pair of dry socks and a warm blanket. Try this for a few days. It is best to do this before bedtime and keep the wet and dry socks on your feet while you sleep.

r 33. Hot, strong black tea with lemon works wel when combined with a pinch of peppermint. Black tea helps dilate the blood vessels to ease headaches. I have used this simple healing remedy many times and find that it offers relief. However, I advise you to limit your intake of black tea because it is a stimulant like coffee and may disrupt sleep.

r 34. In combination with the tea therapy described in #33, you can try this five-minute exercise. Shake your head (gently) two to Clever Remedies to Outsmart Headaches @ 139

three times up and two to three times down. Shake your head two to three times to the right shoulder, then two to three times to the left shoulder. Relax the muscles in your neck, and then turn your head slowly from one side to the other. After you do this exercise several times, your headache may cease. If not, try again in a few minutes.

r 35. Brew strong Chinese green tea (plain, lemon, lime, orange, or tangerine) with a pinch of mint. Drink one mug.

r 36. Peel one fresh lemon and place wet side of the peel down on the temples.

r 37. Chew a few leaves of feverfew.

r 38. My grandma used a compress of chamomile and strong black tea. Put one teaspoon each of chamomile and black tea in a glass pitcher. Add one cup of boiling water. Let steep for five to seven minutes. Then soak cheesecloth in this liquid, wring it out, and wrap around your head.

r 39. Smear the forehead, temples, and bridge of nose with the juice of a fresh black radish.

The magic of garlic and onions

Did you know that garlic and onion were used as amulets on the battlefield? In Europe during the Middle Ages soldiers and knights put garlic or onion on their helmets and in their armor. They used iron shields to protect themselves and wore garlic and onions around their necks to defend themselves against the enemy swords and arrows. Garlic and onion were found in sarcophagi with mummies of Egyptian pharaohs six thousand years ago. In the sixteenth century garlic was used to protect against the Black Death (plague), as an antidote for poisons, and as treatment for tuberculosis and arteriosclerosis.

140 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

r 40. Place wet side of onion slices as compress on forehead. r 41. Mash garlic; put it inside three layers of cheesecloth, and use as a compress on your forehead.

r 42. Place a washed, fresh geranium ( Gerania odorius) leaf as a compress on the forehead. r 43. Valerian root, known throughout Europe and particularly in Russia from the Middle Ages, has a pungent smel and a bitter taste. This unique healer calms nerves and reduces the pressure of a headache. It promotes digestion, warms the alimentary canal, and eases mild depression and intestinal diseases.

Nastoykas

Right or wrong, and definitely contrary to the doctrines of Western medicine that promotes drinking at least eight eight-ounce glasses of water daily and limiting alcohol intake, my grandpa rarely drank water. Instead he drank his own homemade wine which he called “Sunny Beams.” Curiously he never was drunk, he never was sick, and he lived to be 89. After he died, doctors told us that his blood vessels were “as clean as an 18-year-old’s.”

Nastoyka is Russian for a specially prepared liquor or infusion. The following are some familiar nastoykas used by my family for years to treat nervous tension (especially anxiety and insomnia), to strengthen the heart, to improve digestion, and sometimes to reduce high blood pressure.

Valerian Nastoyka

r 44. Cut smal pieces of valerian root (one tablespoon) or use 10–15

500-mg powdered valerian capsules. Add five tablespoons of 70percent vodka. Store in a warm place for one week, and shake it occasional y. Pass the liquid through a sieve and the nastoyka is ready to use. Take about 15 drops a day as a sedating brew for sleeplessness and anxiety.

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r 45. Cut valerian root (or 10–15 capsules) into smal pieces to equal one tablespoon. Add four tablespoons of 70-percent vodka. Store for four days. Then add one teaspoon of lemon juice or three drops of peppermint water available from pharmacies to disguise the flavor. Let steep for an additional three days. Pass the liquid through a sieve. You wil have a solution with a yel ow tint. Take 10 drops twice daily as a sedative or for insomnia.

r 46. Add two tablespoons (about 20