Tag Archives: Natural Medicine

The Natural Health Benefits Of Lemon Water

January 19, 2012 The Natural Mammas

The natural health benefits of drinking lemon water are wide and varied. Plus, it makes your water taste great!

All you have to do is get an 8-12 oz glass of water, and cut a lemon in half. You can use a whole if you like, or, you can use smaller portions (say 1/4) of lemon but still total at least a whole lemon a day throughout the day.

From here, just squeeze, squeeze, squeeze and squeeze some more, then, drop the wedge in your glass. Now drink up and you can reap all these rewards….

Increased Metabolism

Relief of Heartburn

Improved Digestion

Increased Energy

Vitamin C

Increased Immune System Functioning

Regulate Constipation/Diarrhea

Calcium, Potassium and Magnesium

Cleanse and Detoxify the Body

Relief From Heavy Periods

Natural Treatment Of Colds, Coughs, and Flu (especially hot lemon water with honey)

Improved Liver Functioning

A note of importance – Lemon water is incredibly advantageous especially when drunk first thing in the morning. The body is dehydrated from its long period of rest and coffee and other types of caffeinated beverages actually further that. Instead, many have switched from coffee to lemon water in the morning and find a distinct improvement in the type of “pick me up” they feel.

Also, as noted above when you’ve got a respiratory infection warm water with lemon and honey is very effective in soothing the throat and providing anti bacterial support to the respiratory system from both the lemon and the honey used. You can also take your lemon this way even when you’re feeling great. In fact, having some honey daily is a nice habit to take up as well!

And, regardless of when or how you take your lemon water, some do say that over time lemons can have a negative effect on the teeth. For this as well as to avoid the pulp and seeds, some find it best to use a glass straw when drinking their lemon water.

At this point, all that’s left to do is go ahead and pick up some lemons and start incorporating lemon water into your diet today. You’ll start feeling the benefits almost immediately!

Natural Family Medicine

Natural Medicine For Even The Worst Canker Sores

December 3, 2011 The Natural Mammas

We get canker sores (aka mouth sores) quite regularly here at our house, especially hubby and the boys. Often caused by stress, at least for my guys, we also find them to be somewhat hereditary as grandma gets them wicked bad too.

For years I’ve been looking for a natural remedy that would help ease the pain the canker sores caused as well as make them stop appearing, but, nothing seemed to work.

Then, one day about a year or so ago now, an herbalist friend gave us a tincture of Spilanthes.

Commonly known as the “toothache herb” Spilanthes (Acmella Oleracea) is quite an amazing and beautiful plant. Native to South America, it has nice big green leaves and beautiful yellow and red blooms that appear on tall thin stems above the leaves.

The herb’s most notable property is the numbing effect it has on the teeth and gums; hence its nickname. Spilanthes has also been found to increase saliva production and, it also offers antifungal and antibacterial properties which can benefit the mouth as well as the entire body.

Additionally, Spilanthes offers antiparasitic properties which has made it useful in the treatment of malaria, and, it can be used topically on skin infections and wounds with great success.

Back to mouth sores though. Spilanthes is simply excellent for mouth pain of any kind really including, toothaches, teething in babies, and cuts and sores in the mouth

To use the herb, many people simply chew the leaves and flower heads, but having a bit more precision in the method of application is better for mouth sores; which is where the tincture comes in handy. Just a few drops of the Spilanthes tincture and the pain of the canker sore subsides instantly. The numbing effect it gives isn’t quite like a chemical numbing agent, it’s gentler; yet interesting all the same as all numbing agents are!

The biggest perk we noticed from using the Spilanthes tincture though is how it helps the sore heal so much more quickly; a huge blessing. The increase in saliva it produces is interesting too, yet oddly enough a nice bonus when you have a mouth sore as having a dry mouth makes them hurt more.

While we never used the synthetic numbing creams on our mouth sores that much, sometimes, they’d get so bad just a bit of relief was needed. I never liked the thought of rubbing those chemicals into out systems though; especially the kids who have gotten them as young as 2 and who needed pain relief the most.

No more of that though! We’re hoping to add Spilanthes to our new herb garden this spring actually so we can make our own mouth sore remedies because we’re all so grateful we can use this lovely plant as an excellent natural medicine to help us heal even the worst canker sores – and now, you can too!

gallery, Natural Health

What Natural Medicines Do You Rely On?

September 16, 2011 The Natural Mammas

You never know when someone’s going to need some type of remedy to fix them up; the probability of something happening is even higher when you’ve got a family. Now, I’m definitely no boy scout – I’m not always prepared, it’s actually quite the opposite – but, I do keep around a few staples in the medicine cabinet that we’ve come to rely on for our natural health care.

Arnica

The homeopathic remedy Arnica is definitely the first medicine I think of when I consider natural medicines we rely on here at our house. It’s amazing for bruises; we’ve avoided many a black and blue mark by taking Arnica after injuries. And, it’s just as good for sore muscles and trauma.

Garlic and Mullein Oil

Garlic and Mullein oil (or just garlic oil if you can’t find it w/the Muellin) is excellent for curing ear infections. In fact, I’ve known people to say they just stick a clove of garlic in their ear if it is achy and have avoided antibiotics that way too. The oil form is a bit more comfortable to put in the ear than the clove and is highly effective in our experience; especially if you catch the ear infection/ache right at the start.

Tea Tree Oil

Tea Tree Oil has multiple uses in our home because of it’s antibacterial properties. For natural health care we’ve used tea tree oil as a soak for particularly nasty scrapes (just a few drops in a bowl of water and soak for a bit) and you can make a light antibiotic spray the same way just put into a bottle w/a spray nozzle.

Valerian Root

I keep Valerian Root around as we all have difficulty sleeping from time to time either because of illness or sleeplessness. A touch of Valerian is excellent for getting the sleep needed to heal and rejuvenate and it doesn’t make you “need it” or feel “groggy” in the morning. There are even formulations w/out alcohol made for children too.

Honey

We all love honey! Even when we’re not sick but, especially when we’re not feeling well. Honey too has anti bacterial properties so is quite beneficial in many ways. The kind of honey is somewhat important – organic honey is great, there is raw honey and that has even more health benefits and then there are certain types of raw honey that have more beneficial properties than others. Any type of honey can be healing inside and out though.

Some of the ways you can use honey include taking spoonfuls to help coat a sore throat, in warm water to sooth a cough/respiratory illness, and on a bandage to help heal, fight infection, as well as to prevent the bandage from sticking to the wound.

What are your favorites? Are there natural medicines you always keep stocked? Some you can’t stand?

Of course we all have to make different choices about our health care from time to time and there have been quite a few situations in my life where I’m exceedingly grateful that allopathic medicine has been there to help return someone I love back to health too. Maybe there are some medicines you rely on that might not be described as exactly natural but are totally essential.

Please, come share about what you’ve got in your medicine cabinet so we can all stay healthy and heal our families as naturally as possible.