Natural Health

vanity ^ | March 19 2019 | little jeremiah

[little jeremiah]

Many FReepers have knowledge to share about improving and maintaining health and would like to share it and learn from others; and others may not know much yet but want to learn. Some of us don't have much money for good insurance or doctors, some want to try other methods besides prescription meds, and some have experience in treating and solving health problems.

More and more "regular" doctors have accepted treatment methods such as the benefits of acupuncture, massage for many conditions, better diet, use of herbs and so on. There are limits, and often side effects, to some standard medical efforts.

My field is Ayurvedic herbalism and related measures, and have a lot of information I can post when I have time. I have seen herbs and sometimes dietary changes help people (including myself) with issues such as rheumatoid arthritis, high BP, gallstones, kidneystones, repeated boils, UTIs, prostate problems, insomnia, allergies, urinary incontinence, and many more. I hope to learn a lot from others with their knowledge and experience.

There are many "old fashioned" home care methods that were in common use a few generations ago that actually work and are cheap, such as castor oil packs, fomentations using alternating hot and cold water, and the like, which are easy to do. I am sure there is a lot of knowledge here on Free Republic that can be shared.

I would like this thread to stay civil without distruption, so my request is that people who think natural health methods are bunkum, make your own thread.

[little jeremiah]

What I want to do is find out details, not generalized speculation. Real information is detailed and conclusive.

Generalized speculation is fine and part of the process, but it doesn’t lead to a conclusion and shouldn’t be the basis of a strong opinion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That’s why I did hours of research years ago, and that is what my viewpoint is based on.

[Califreak]

“I have known people who got rid of non-natural fiber clothing and starting wearing only natural fibers (cotton, silk, linen, wool, hemp) and noticed a big difference in health.”

That makes perfect sense to me. My skin feels like it’s suffocating if I wear polyester.

[Califreak]

I was pondering seasonal food the other day.

It makes sense.

There is a time and a season for everything.

Of course!

There must be a good reason God made it that way.

[Califreak]

I like to put cumin, salt, pepper and cayenne in buttermilk.

That’s tasty if it’s scorching hot and you don’t want something heavy or you just want to use up your buttermilk before it goes bad.

[Jane Long]

Speaking of natural/non-toxic...I came across this dishwashing tablet recipe and I plan to make these....

Here are the basic ingredients you will need....

Recipe...

1 Cup Borax – Used as a detergent
1 Cup Super Washing Soda (Sodium Carbonate / Soda Ash) – Used to soften the water for cleaning and as a detergent
1/4 Cup Epsom Salt – Also used for water softening
1/2 Cup Lemon Juice (reconstituted is fine) – Used as a rinse aid and to disinfect (Optional) Ice Cube Tray
(Optional) Storage Container for finished tablets

Step 1: Measure out the dry ingredients
Step 2: In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the Borax, Super Washing Soda and Epsom salt. Stir these ingredients until well blend
Step 3: In a smaller bowl, measure out 1 Cup of the mixture from Step 2
Step 4: Add in 1/4 Cup of Lemon Juice to the small bowl from Step 3, it will begin foaming
Step 5: Stir the foaming mixture thoroughly. If the mixture is clumpy, add small amounts of lemon juice until smooth, but not runny.
Step 6: Add 1 Tbsp of the mixture to each space in the ice tray and use your fingers to lightly tamp it down into the molds. If the mixture is sticking to your finger, then you may want to add more lemon juice on the next batch.
Step 7: Let the homemade dishwasher detergent tablets dry for 12-24 hours and then release them from the ice-cube tray molds. Once they are released, let them air dry for another 24 hours. If there are any rough edges on them, you can use a cheese grater to smooth them up
Use these as you would normally use other products in your dishwasher. If the tablets do not fit in the detergent compartment, you can crush one into a powder or place one in the bottom of your dish washer. You can also use an alternate mold to better suit your needs–just make sure that you have at least 1 Tbsp of the detergent in each tablet.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“There must be a good reason God made it that way.”

Agree 100%

This includes cleansing organs.

[little jeremiah]

What a great recipe. Most automatic dishwasher tablets or powder is nasty stuff. There is natural/non toxic kind, I’ve found some when staying with my parents years ago but of course it is expensive.

I have no dishwasher (hands) but I will copy this out to share with others.

[little jeremiah]

If I wear even part polyester my skin feels suffocating plus as though being pricked by tiny little pokey things.

One of the reason that natural fiber clothing (and bedding) is it facilitates the flow of energy in the body, whatever one wants to call it. Artificial fibers hamper this. Kind of like static electricity.

[little jeremiah]

That’s interesting; in Indian cooking they make drinks out of yogurt and water and often add salt and cumin or other such spices, whisk up and drink after meals as a refreshing digestive aid. It would work very similarly with buttermilk.

[Jane Long]

Thanks. I plan to make the recipe this coming week. I’ll post test results :-)

[little jeremiah]

Oh good.

I do most cleaning with white vinegar, a squirt of natural non-fragranced dish soap, and some orange essential oil. I add baking soda and borax for sinks, tub, toilet. Occasionally Bar Keepers Friend if it needs bleaching. Many house hold cleaners are quite toxic, including clorox. I used to use clorox especially when I rented a house that had a lot of mold and breathing it in damaged my lungs.

[GOPJ]

Ayurveda also teaches the utility of seasonal eating and habits for promoting health. Foods and activities that are beneficial in winter may be harmful in the summer, and vice versa.

Interesting.

[little jeremiah]

In the winter the body needs to warm up; in the summer needs to cool down. All foods and drinks (and herbs) have different properties; among them are heating and cooling. Some are obvious - chili peppers are heating, and ice cream is cooling. Some aren’t so obvious. Raw foods are cooling, like lettuce, cucumbers and most fruits. So better to eat more of them in the summer and less in the winter. It’s a matter of balancing heat vs cold, (just to use this particular example) depending on season, body type, and also health status.

[Califreak]

I think I found something like that on a website about ayurvedic medicine.

I googled why am I craving buttermilk and found that.

It is very tasty.

[Califreak]

I only buy clothes at the thrift store.

It used to be because I’m cheap but now it’s even more because most of the stores in my price range only offer cheap polyester.

It’s like the 70’s came back there’s so much polyester out there now! Wild prints and everything but instead of polyester leisure suits we have track suits.

The ugly blocky shoes are back too.

Gross!

[little jeremiah]

Tomorrow I’ll post some more information that hopefully may be useful. I will put a link to a site where one can determine his/her constitution, and there are recommendations for foods, types of exercise and other variables that will help balance that particular constitution. I’ve done the test a few times and so far it’s pretty accurate.

It does not determine temporary imbalances, though; which I do with more detailed questions.

[little jeremiah]

I have bought most of my clothes at thrift stores my whole adult life due to not having much money; but now they all smell so awful by the time I’ve washed them 10 times and hung out on the clothesline for 6 months to get the odor out, the’re worn out! Many thrift stores spray the stores with horrible fragrances and probably lice killer. I can’t get it out.

I used to sew and am going to have to re-start doing that.

[Califreak]

Oh thanks.

Looking forward to that!

[Califreak]

I sew but I’m not very good at it. It’s more expensive to make your own clothes and good fabrics are getting more difficult to find even in garment districts.

At least, according to the supersewers on patternreview.com, which is a very good, very active sewing forum.

I make quilts and such but usually out of thrift store/estate sale fabrics because fabric is so expensive now.

[genesismt]

BKMK