Mama's Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health and the Pleasures of Natural Living (6 page)

Several years ago I read an article, “Doctors Are the Third Leading Cause of Death in the U.S., Causing 250,000 Deaths Every Year.” It was published 26 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

in the largest and the most respected medical journal in the world, the
Journal
of the American Medical Association.
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I remember getting a feeling of desperation after reading this article. None of the wire services picked up this story; the news media let it slip by. Perhaps the publishers decided that an article documenting the tragedy of the traditional medical paradigm of the United States might cause several million readers to rise up and ask questions.

When I mentioned this article to one of my friends, a journalist and breast cancer survivor, she said, “I think that this number, 250,000, is even higher now.” The author, Dr. Barbara Starfield of the John Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, described how the U.S. health-care system may
contribute
to poor health. The figure, 250,000 deaths per year, is comprised of so-called iatrogenic cases! This term is defined as “induced in a patient by a physician’s activity, manner or therapy.”

Another analysis concluded that consecutive patients experience negative effects in outpatient settings with 116 million extra physician visits, 17 million extra prescriptions, 17 million hospitalizations, 3 million long-term hospital admissions, 199,000 additional deaths, and $77 billion in extra costs. However, evidence from a few studies indicated that as many as 20 to 30 percent of patients receive inappropriate care. The poor performance of the United States was recently confirmed by the World Health Organization, which used different data and ranked the United States 15th among 25 industrialized countries in healthcare. In any case 250,000 deaths per year from iatrogenic causes constitute the third leading cause of death in the United States, after deaths from heart disease and cancer. Shocking news, isn’t it?

We know that every doctor graduating from medical school takes the Hippocratic Oath to treat people no matter what. Doctors make a sacred promise “to do no harm,” but statistics show that doctors and hospitals
do
make mistakes. Another report that I found shocking was from the Institute of Medicine. It showed that medical mistakes are a common and potentially life-threatening risk.

Dr. Joseph Mercola, from the Optimal Wellness Center in Shaumburg, Illinois, had this to say about it in his newsletter: “It is an intolerable situation, especially when it’s taking place in the United States, which leads the world in medical advances.”8

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So what are we waiting for? Our ancestors survived by being smart and keeping themselves healthy with help from Mother Nature. Most of us come into this world as healthy human beings. Our bodies are designed to maintain the best in us. We are built to be solid, strong, and energetic. We can keep our bodies free of toxins and cleanse our systems periodically with herbs such as burdock, chamomile, dandelion, and garlic. Our natural resources, such as the sun, earth, and Nature, provide us with optimal energy. Thus we are perfectly capable to self-heal when we are sick or injured.

We are intended to live a long and healthy life, but only on one condition: we must take our health into our hands and maintain the knowledge of how to do that. We are our own best friends. So take good care of your best friend. By knowing the curative and preventative qualities of herbs and plants, we can safely treat our ailments and prevent further diseases, weaknesses, or hopelessness from wreaking havoc in our lives.

We must take control of our health
while we are still healthy
. Medical research organizations are not proponents of preventative medicine because their work is based on illness.

“There is no money to be made from healthy people.” This statement is excerpted from an article, “The Life That Is Costing Hundreds of Billions of Dollars,” published by a health organization in New Zealand.9 “This is why the medical and research establishments are not in the least interested in prevention (practically all diseases are preventable).”

Preventive care
is
the solution to disease. It can keep us healthy and free of illnesses. We can do it! We just have to learn
how
to do it. How can we begin to think differently about how we maintain our healthy bodies and help prevent serious illness? First, get smart! Keep up to date on the latest research on alternative health measures. We must equip ourselves with this powerful tool. With knowledge we can provide first aid and preventive healthcare in our own homes for ourselves and our families and avoid spending a fortune on doctor visits and drugstore prescriptions. Greek mythology tells us that Apollo, the god of prophesy, music, and healing, equated the medicinal worth of the common garden radish to that of gold, rapeseed to silver, and turnip to lead. Apollo later fathered a son, Asclepiad (Roman, Aesculapius), who is known to us now as the ancient Greek god of medicine and healing.

Aesculapius in Roman mythology is a god of healing. His name became synonymous with “doctor” or “healer” in an ironically playful way. Aesculapius 28 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

or Asclepiad is known as the god of healing who became so skilled that he attempted to resurrect the dead, thus angering Zeus, who struck him dead with a thunderbolt.

The medical profession has adopted his symbol, a staff entwined by a snake.

I know some great American and European doctors who not only employ the use of well-known antibiotics and other drugs under their strict supervision, but they also prescribe and make their own healing herbal remedies. They garnered these natural remedies from centuries of wisdom, proven by generations of healers in Europe, Asia, and North and South America. They know that their patients rely on their knowledge and attitude. Good doctors are compelled to gain victory over disease.

Popping an over-the-counter pain tablet may provide temporary relief from a simple headache, but most of these drugs will not provide relief for migraine headaches—and loading up on chemicals over long periods of time does the body little good. Why not try a natural remedy instead?

Not everyone knows that most of us have in our kitchens a well-stocked

“apothecary.” Even today the common garden radish, swede, and turnip are valued in folk medicine for their healing properties.

R 1. One tablespoon of garden radish juice, squeezed from the root and taken three times, is helpful in decreasing coughs and soothing a hoarse voice. It is useful in treating dysfunctions of the liver and gal bladder, including the formation of stones in the kidneys and liver.

R 2. Garden radish juice makes an excel ent massage emol ient in the treatment of rheumatism and colds.

R 3. Although in most cases not as effective as radish juice, the juice of a turnip mixed with honey settles a cough.

R 4. Cooked and pulverized turnip root used as a plaster helps heal gout in the foot.

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R 5. A plaster of washed, fresh cabbage leaves applied to the forehead and temples relieves headaches.

R 6. Try the same plaster to soothe a burn, bruise, or external abrasions. R 7. Systematical y chew sauerkraut to make weak gums stronger. R 8. A wart rubbed with the fresh juice of sour apples over 10 days wil darken, decrease in size, and then disappear.

R 9. One tablespoon each of rum, glycerin, and lemon juice mixed and rubbed into the scalp strengthens the hair.

R 10. A cotton pad soaked in the freshly squeezed juice of two to three garlic cloves or one cut garlic clove rubbed onto the affected area treats skin disorders, including eczema and balding. Garlic acts as an effective antiseptic, antibacterial, and antifungal healer for other infected skin conditions such as acne.

R 11. Drink ½ cup of freshly squeezed cabbage juice 30 minutes before breakfast, lunch, and dinner for three to four weeks to help with weight loss.

R 12. A freshly grated beet, mixed with one tablespoon sour cream, is used to treat acne and purulent (festering) pimples by applying to the affected area for five minutes.

R 13. Strong black coffee made with freshly ground coffee beans can be used as a hand bath and to treat nail fungus.

R 14. Painful corns can be treated by rubbing them with fresh tomato slices for 15 minutes a day for two weeks.

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In your kitchen you will most likely find a vegetable that sailors have used for ages to treat burns, stomach ailments, and scurvy while navigating the high seas—the potato.

Potato (
Solanum
) is a perennial plant. In many countries it is “second bread.” It is almost impossible to find another plant that is so similar to the simple bread we eat every day. As a main food product, the potato is also one of the favorites in “people’s medicine,” and it can usually be found right in our pantries.

Potato is a diuretic, and if cooked, can successfully treat respiratory diseases. The following remedies are best when used with organic potatoes. R 15. Cook two to three potatoes in water. Drain. Dice potatoes and keep in the same pot. Cover your head with a towel and breathe in the potato steam for 10 minutes. Repeat the same procedure three to four times every two to three hours to ease breathing. The potato is called in Italy
tartufolli
or “devil’s apple.” The potato came to Europe about four

centuries ago when Pedro Cieza de Leon, 13, stowed away aboard a ship of Spanish sailors, who were to be the

first conquerors of South America. He eventually found himself together with them in a wonderful country called Peru. While Spanish soldiers searched for gold, killed the Peruvians, and burned their homes, little Pedro was mesmerized by the people of Peru. Their strange-looking buildings and well-made furnishings fascinated him. He wanted to learn more about the lifestyles of the bronzed inhabitants of Peru, so he wrote down everything he saw.

In 1553 in the Spanish city of Seville, he published the
Chronica del
Perú.
In this book we find his early reference to the potato. He wrote,

“Pappa is a special kind of ground nut. It becomes soft when cooked, like a baked chestnut with skin no thicker than a truffle (mushroom).”

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Healthy title

title

Body @

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Spanish sailors were the first to try potatoes. Later the potato made its way to Italy, where the Peruvian
pappa
was renamed
tartufol i
. From there it gravitated to other countries.

By the end of the eighteenth century women in France were obsessed with the potato as a design accessory. They made potato flower bouquets and decorated their hair with single blooms. The popularity of potato flowers was booming. It seemed that there were not enough to go around, and people begin making artificial potato flowers. Only at the beginning of the nineteenth century did French farmers begin to cultivate potatoes for food under the enthusiastic support and promotion of French pharmacist, Antoine Parmantié. Around the same time the potato flower became a favorite

in Germany and was planted in flowerbeds adorning palaces. More than a hundred years ago a Russian tsar gave an order to farmers to cultivate potatoes. This order provoked so-called potato rebellions because Russian farmers did not want to

plant the “devil’s apple.” But today the potato is popular in Russia, as it is everywhere in the world. Each nation

considers it as their own native plant.

R 16. Potato in a Dress Uniform. Wash a potato wel and bake it in its skin. Cook one beet in water until soft. Peel the skin off both vegetables. Mince the beet and mix with the potato flesh and with one teaspoon olive oil or sour cream. Then eat it. It helps to reduce high blood pressure.

R 17. Wash one organic potato and dry. Make a fresh juice in a juicer from this potato and its skin. Drink it to normalize stomach acidity and to regulate the digestive system. It wil also treat stomach and intestinal cramps. Potato juice is also helpful in treating heartburn, dizziness, and vomiting.

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R 18. Drink ¾ cup fresh potato juice before breakfast. Then lie down for 30 minutes. You can eat one hour later. Do it for 10 days, then take a break for 10 days. Continue the same procedure for another 10 days.

Fresh potato juice helps people with duodenal ulcers and stomach and gastritis problems. R 19. Fresh organic potato juice is a welknown recipe in folk medicine for Remember:

treating headaches. Take ¼ cup

potato juice two times a day—in

Try these remedies under

the morning before breakfast and

the supervision of your

before you go to bed.

physician. You should

Fresh organic potato juice helps those

use fresh potato juice

suffering from tuberculosis. European

scientists confirmed that the potato

at once. Never store it.

contains a highly valuable substance—

Make fresh juice

tuberose, which destroys micro-bacteria

as needed.

and combats tuberculosis. The Latin

name for potato is
Solanum tuberosum.

R 20. As a preventive measure, people with stomach and duodenal ulcers can drink fresh potato juice twice a year—in the spring and in the fal . Take ¼ cup potato juice two times a day before meals for two weeks. Make a fresh portion every day.

R 21. Raw potato helps to treat hemorrhoids (piles). Cut in a tubular shape and use as a suppository at night.

R 22. Peel the skin of one raw potato, cut the potato into chunks, cover with water, and cook without salt in an enamel pot. When the potato is soft, strain through a nylon sieve into a teacup and drink ½ cup or one tablespoon of the concoction three times a day. This is a good home remedy for treating a sore throat or a cold.