by Michael Marisa has started going through a course to become a family herbalist. It has already helped our family’s health dramatically and I am a huge proponent of finding natural herbal cures to help with the many maladies that befall us in our time. The main approach that we are taking is one of prevention. According to what Marisa has learned, many of the health issues that we have are due to putting bad things into our body. We are trying to eat unprocessed natural foods more. We are making green smoothies for our children’s breakfast instead of fruit loops. We are using homemade soap made with natural ingredients.
Regardless of our belief in herbal health care, I still had to laugh out loud as I read through one of Marisa’s books, Herbal Home Health Care by Dr John R Christopher. With some of the cures I felt that maybe the cure was worse than the primary problem. Let me give you a couple examples.
Hiccups: According to the book, hiccups are often caused by eating or drinking too much too fast. The cure it gives is to try and relax and take a teaspoon of onion juice. Not thanks Dr Christopher. I think I will try to hold my breath instead, or maybe just live with the hiccups. The thought of drinking onion juice makes me throw up in my mouth. After that cure, I would have to find an herbal cure for upset stomach and vomiting.
Earache: The cure for earache is pretty simple. All you have to do is “lightly bake a large onion, cut it in half while warm and bind one piece of onion over each year. Hold bandage on with a nightcap and leave on all night.” Thanks Dr Christopher but I don’t know if I will be able to sleep with onions on my ears. Not to mention that no one has nightcaps anymore. Can you imagine what someone would think if I answered the door with a nightcap and onion earmuffs on?
I am sure there are other funny cures out there. Let us know if you have heard of or used any.
6 comments:
I get hiccups all the time! If I get them once during the day chances are I'll get them at least half a dozen more times that day. Sometimes they are related to eating (usually starchy foods like bread and rice) a lot of times they just randomly come on. My remedies in order of minor to totally stubborn hiccups is: Hold breath, drink water while holding breath, eat a spoonful of sugar. The sugar, or some reason helps stop the worst cases of hiccups.
The next time you have hiccups, try this! Get a glass of water with a straw and put it in the seat of a chair or something else low...plug your ears very tightly with your fingers....bend over and take three drinks. I just learned this last year and it has worked every time. Hope it works for you!
I third the drinking-through-a-straw-while-holding-your-ears method!!
And yeah, I don't know about onion ear muffs!
I was told by a medical student that hiccups were like little seizures because you were thinking of too many things so if you concentrate on one thing, your hiccups will go away. That would explain the drinking through a straw and plugged ears thing. Are you really going to be able to think about anything else while you're trying that? In middle school, someone told that if I hiccuped one more time he would give me $5. I couldn't do it -- I was concentrating on getting just one more hiccup out. I really wanted that $5...
I might sleep with lightly baked onion earmuffs for preventive reasons...and for fun. I know what to wear next time you knock on my door.
When I get the hiccups, I eat a spoon of peanut butter. Works every time! I know what the hiccups are and why peanut butter works, having a minor in health science, but I don't know what brings them on.
my sister became a master herbalist through Dr. Christopher down in Springville. She has all kids of remedies, she chops up an onion, bakes it and then secures it to her chest with an ace bandage when her chest is congested.
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