and beauty.
If lucky, we'll reach the age of maturity in good health, and with a vital spirit. The wisdom of the elders, the shamans, and the indigenous knew that nature was the cure, through herbs, plants, seeds, minerals, water and one's own awareness to movement, and breathing.
At the end of this article I'm assembling a list of home remedies that I've proven helpful for myself and my family along the way, and I hope that they can also be helpful to you.
One of my big questions has been understanding how in centuries past people not only survived, but endured extraneous labor under harsh and dirty environments. They constructed monumental projects; built pyramids, cathedrals, wrote volumes of works, composed, painted, sculpted masterpieces, fought wars on foot, and all done under the cruelest weather conditions, and dirtiest hygienic practices. How did these people without modern age comforts and medicine maintain their strength? And how did my own father survive malnutrition while surviving the Spanish Civil War's miseries? Well, he reveals that when he had the chance to eat, it was because he had stolen an apple from a farm nearby or some vegetable or ate a Calf that had been slaughtered in the neighborhood to be shared by all, and eaten fresh. None of those foods had preservatives nor chemicals and pesticides. My father is now 83 and still standing strong. He walks every morning at 6: AM for an hour come rain or come shine and does his routine exercises. His weakness is bread, and cheese, as is mine, but we're working on it.
Today, on a regular basis, we're being presented with new scientific cures, developed to heal any of our many tiny ailments continuously interfering with a wholesome lifestyle. Why do we now need so much medicine? There's a pill for everything, a solution for any discomfort. Should we not consider that these many ailments might be the effect of those superficial cures? Modern day eating habits are giving us new health problems to solve, and really what we are doing is feeding a vicious system that counts on us to not question. We are buying into what is presented to us through corporate advertisements. We buy the foods presented to us in pretty, sexy packaging, without asking ourselves what ingredients are actually going into these foods, and beverages. Then we find ourselves addicted and feeling ill, and lazy without the energy to move, or question. We then buy the medications advertised to make us feel better and take away the pain, but not cure it. All this done between mindless television programs that promote consumerism, greed, gossip and denial.
We are giving our power away, we don’t read the small writing, and we don’t want to be bothered. We just want instant gratification, as we increasingly abandon ourselves while making up stories for our weaknesses, inadequacies and ultimate loneliness. We want to believe that we are immune to negative consequences as we take a pill to relieve the pain, ignoring the root of the problem. It's mathematical, and logical; what you put in, you get out, what you give, you get. As The Beatles song says: "The love you give, is equal to the love you get." So love yourself.
First step towards a healthy lifestyle is acquiring a juicer!
Lets honor nature and lets honor our bodies, lets take control of our lives, and shape our future with wisdom and vision. Through our health we can regulate the evolution of our own culture. Lets take the time to imagine our health in the autumn of our lives. What is not imagined cannot be transformed. Earth is a wealthy, healthy and abundant planet that has enough to keep us safe and vital. Lets stop feeding a system that is destroying our existence.
Medicine, science and technology are wonderful instruments to empower us, and yet by the same token they can also disempower us, and hurt us. I believe in medicine, I have a wonderful doctor who I trust and visit as often as I need, but I don’t put my life in his hands, and ignore my responsibility to take care of myself with all my will and intelligence. I listen to my doctor, I also explain to him that I need to know if the medication he is prescribing can be replaced by whole foods, vitamins, and herbs. I ask why is the ailment appearing, what have I been abusing, or neglecting. I've been told that sugar is a poison, and too much salt as well. I didn't realize that sugar is in pasta, and bread. I don't drink sodas but I do love pasta and breads... Okay, so now I can't eat too much of that, maybe one pasta dish a week, and find a bread that is made without sugars and more with seeds.
We all have an innate intuition, like a sixth sense that we can activate and exercise as much as we desire. Our bodies speak to us, and we know when we need to stop and think about that part of our body that is trying desperately to tell us something. Of course, to change habits we need to suffer and sacrifice, but if we created this for ourselves in the first place we can change. So, we need to decide, do we continue with the habit that is killing us, or do we change it? And the older we get the more urgent that question is.
If you are young and losing sight of your weight, your flexibility, you luster, then write down everything you eat, every morsel of food and fluid you put into your mouth, and you will realize how much fast food, fried food, preservative filled foods you eat. If you want to live, and do things and enjoy the hard work you've accomplished, stop eating trash. Stop drinking alcohol like a fish. Use moderation! I love wine, but this month after the holidays, I'm fasting on alcohol completely.
Remember that sodas are all sugar, and remember that fast foods are filled with toxins. Drink water, at least 5 glasses a day, and eat raw vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Cook yourself a pot of lentils, garbanzos, or beans, with a little garlic, and a steamed vegetable and you'll see how filling that is.
As it is, life is already a challenge, already we have to learn to accept suffering, and tragedy, we have to realize that happy moments are just that, fleeting moments in a life of trials and tribulations. But if we can balance our life, eat healthy so that we don’t lose energy, inner peace, and stability, we might be able to handle our purpose more efficiently, be more dependable, and integral with ourselves.
Sometimes we are over worked, burdened, and too exhausted to do the right thing, so we go into the first place available to feed ourselves, without thinking. I’ve realized that those vulnerable times are when I get most sick. That's when it’s best to buy an apple and a banana to hold me over, instead of a drive-through hamburger joint with chemically infested food not even fit for animals.
Lets try to improve our everyday lives by becoming more aware of what we are fed into our minds, our hearts, and our bodies. We are nothing without the ability to think rationally, to unravel mind games that are only meant to manipulate us. Lets use our hearts to forgive, and care for others as we care for ourselves, and have a body that expresses flexibility, strength, and endurance.
We are born with certain predetermined genes that make us vulnerable to certain health issues. Ask your parents what runs in the family. Find out what you are predisposed to, and this way you then can start watching out for those dangers.
Like everything in life, too much of a good thing can kill you. In the name of love, a lot of harm is done in the world. Lets not be sentimental, and lets take charge. Know when you are replacing food for another void in your life, know when food is an excuse for laziness, lack of money, lack of will, lack of love, lack of something. Don’t eat, until you are feeling happy with your morning accomplishments, your afternoon accomplishments, your evening accomplishments. And don't eat between meals, if possible.
Why do we want to do this? I think because we want to evolve, we want to be happy, we want to understand, we want to embrace our true potential and other's.
If we look at how beautiful the world is, and accept its polarities, we won’t suffer so much the ups and downs, wanting to replace the down moments with some kind of instant gratification. Truth is defended with such fervor, and each side has has a point, but do you realize that each side has "fear" as its weapon? That is why the Buddhists have a point, there is no right or wrong, there is only love.
My mother passed on to me a few natural health tips that she says she learned from her great- grandmother. When the natural health food stores started to open up, and I was working at the first one in Los Angeles while still in high school, I noticed that my mother's home remedies were products now being packaged and sold at expensive prices. Ever since, I try to go straight to the source.
SUGAR AND LEMON mixed together and rubbed around the face is an excellent exfoliator, and smoother of the skin. It's also very good for elbows, hands and feet. I use it all over my body, and it's really great on my skin.
OATMEAL is also great for the face, if you put on a little and let it dry, it sucks clean the pores. When I was an adolescent getting pimples my mother gave me this little secret and then realized that at the health food store a new product had come out similar to my mother's home treatment. The jar of oatmeal scrub with a little honey was $8.00!
CHAMOMILE is good for the eyes. If you have a problem in the eyes, just place over each eye a cotton soaked in chamomile. My daughter's pediatrician in Barcelona recommended this treatment and ever since, I stand by it. Drinking the Chamomile tea soothes the tummy and helps with skin breakouts too.
SALT WATER is very good to clean the eyes, and the throat. Boil the water first, put a little salt, let it cool and then rub it around the eyes with infections, or for mouth infections, gargle that salt water.
OIL OF OREGANO was a saving miracle when I discovered it. My daughter had developed these huge skin warts on her right knee. I took her to every skin doctor I could, in Barcelona, Los Angeles and New York, and the best that they could do was burn the warts, and hope that they wouldn't return, but they always did. I kept researching, and visiting health food stores everywhere. Until I hit upon one in Jersey City, where the owner recommended Oil of Oregano. A small, very expensive bottle. He suggested, three drops in a glass of water for her to drink for a week straight, and a drop of the oil on each wart, covered with a bandage. Within a week, the warts were gone, never to return. Then I discovered that if you drink a glass of water with a few drops of oil of oregano each day, the lice won't come near you. Those early years of my daughter in school with lice rampant, oil of oregano was a blessing. Now any time I go to a place with mosquitos, or weird insects, I drink my glass of water with a few drops of oil of oregano. It's also a great antiseptic, and antioxidant.
BAKING SODA was my father's answer for almost everything. "If your feet smell" he'd say, "fill your shoes with Baking Soda over night and bath your feet with baking soda every day in a bucket of hot water. Magic! The stink was gone. He taught me to use BS with toothpaste for brushing. If I he had discomfort after eating too much, he'd drink a glass of water with a half teaspoon of BS and shortly after, the pain and bloating were gone. Now I'm reading that BS is a cure for Cancer too. You can read more about this treatment by Dr. Sircus: Breast Cancer Treatment.
CABBAGE is great for curing hernias, and intestinal problems. Drink a small glass of cabbage juice in the morning and you will notice your stomach alleviated, after a week you'll notice the difference, and after a couple months you will have forgotten all together you had that problem.
ALOE VERA is more common and we all know what a great plant that is right? Aloe Vera in water is soothing for the intestinal tract, and if you cut the inside of the plant and put it over your face, your notice healing, especially if you are sun burned or have dryness.
PARSLY & MINT LEAVES in distilled water is a great astringent for the face. Just chop up 1/4 cup of each and fill with distilled water at bottle. Use it after washing your face. You'll see the difference. It's great for very hot days when the skin gets greasy, or when you are going through a "Hot Flash" moment, for women going into menopause.
GRAPE SEED OIL .... next