Category Archives: General Health
When most people make a salad they generally include lettuce, but these days the cost of lettuce and other vegetables is hard to believe. Persistent high inflation due to failed central bank policies (MMT, QE, ultra-low rates) means that we will all have to learn to be more thrifty and resourceful. Sri Lanka’s economy has already completely collapsed, while Zimbabwe is abandoning its own currency and using gold and silver as legal tender, no doubt harbingers of trouble for other poor, indebted nations.
(more…)Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) is an evergreen bush with woody stems and small, elliptical leaves. It is an aromatic plant in the mint family, a cultivar of the wild mountain thyme (Thymus serpyllum) which grows in Asia Minor, North Africa and the Mediterranean. The goats love the sweet thyme called thrimby that grows on the parched rocky slopes of the Greek islands, their milk tasting of it, as well as the other foraged herbs such as sage, sideritis and wormwood. The leaves of the plant are used for making tea while the essential oil is extracted from the whole plant.
(more…)Chickweed (Stellaria media) is a delicate, inconspicuous herb that you find growing about the shady parts of the garden amongst the other weeds. It is the colour of grass with small, white, star-shaped flowers and slender green stems. The whole plant can be used fresh in a salad together with other greens from the garden such as dandelion, sow thistle and sheep sorrel.
(more…)Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), also known as Indian Ginseng, is a plant in the nightshade family found growing in India, Nepal and China. The powdered root is used in Ayurvedic medicine as a rasayana, which means tonic, to promote a youthful state of mind and health. It improves the health of emaciated children, treats constipation, enhances the mood, and assists with cognitive decline in the elderly, thereby helping all age groups.
(more…)The term dementia covers a range of conditions that afflict the elderly mostly Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia (stroke). These conditions produce progressive impairments in thought, memory, language, living skills and other behaviours. The symptoms profoundly affect the patient’s quality of life and cause increasing difficulty and distress to caregivers.
(more…)The seeds of the Acacia (Acacia spp.) have been gathered for food by Indigenous Australians for tens of thousands of years. Also called wattle, the Acacia is a genus of plants in the legume family known also in Africa and the Mediterranean since the time of Herodotus, where the wood was harvested for shipbuilding, the bark for ropemaking, the leaves as an animal fodder and the branches for firewood.1 In Australia, Acacia is the second largest genus of plants containing over 700 species and many of them produce an abundance of seeds that were valued in some parts as a staple crop.2
(more…)Whether eaten as a vegetable or taken in the form of a herbal tincture, kelp is nourishing to the body. Kelp is rich in many minerals particularly iodine, magnesium, potassium, calcium, sulphur, iron, zinc and copper because these minerals are available to the growing weed from the sea, just like other nutritious sea vegetables (nori, kombu, dulse, wakame). While low in protein and fats, kelp has plenty of fibre and good levels of important vitamins (A, B2, B12, C, D, E, K).1
(more…)We may well be living in stressful times, with many people facing uncertainty about what the future will bring. We also experience difficult personal problems from time to time that cause a lot of worry or heartache until they reach a resolution. Of course we expect things to turn around; however, the potential for stress to become chronic is real for people who are prone to worrying and feel they cannot cope well with change.
(more…)The Ginkgo tree (Ginkgo biloba) is still found growing wild in China, the only species remaining from an ancient genus that originated in the Jurassic period. It is a tall tree which has fan-shaped leaves that turn yellow in Autumn, and edible nuts that are toxic if eaten in quantity, especially when raw.
(more…)Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is an enzyme involved in the folate and methionine cycles, encoded by the MTHFR gene. These cycles are involved in the conversion of homocysteine to the amino acid methionine using activated folate, 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) and vitamin B12.
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