Contrary to what Juan Ponce de Leon thought when he searched for it in the 16th century, the fountain of youth is made of anti-oxidants, not water, and it's a lot easier to find than the famed explorer thought. Research on aging from the University of Florida shows that anti-oxidants slow down aging process...
Saw Palmetto Berries is an herb which is needed in the U.S. today. The average male over age 50 may suffer from a variety of reproductive ailments, such as prostate problems, low back pain, and diminishing sexual vitality — this herb can help in alleviating some, if not all, of these symptoms. Likewise, women who may experience...
Garlic is among the oldest and most versatile of the documented natural remedies. When Hippocrates, the father of diagnostic medicine, was busy noting which treatments worked for the Greek people he treated, he listed garlic. A total of twenty-two ancient Egyptian remedies were found to use garlic, as noted in the Ebers Papyrus dating from the sixteenth century B.C.E.
- By Toby Balter
Aloe Vera called Nature's Miracle has been associated with myth, magic, and medicine since pre-biblical times. All over the world today, Aloe Vera is a common household plant. It is one of the most talked about, yet most misunderstood plants in history.
- By Micki Iborra
Herbology evolved into a healing art in China through observation and usage. This knowledge was compiled and passed down for refinement through the centuries. Herbs, like everything else in Chinese Medicine, are classified according to their energetic qualities and functions.
Worldwide consumption of olive oil has grown rapidly in recent years, but climate extremes and disease have seriously damaged this year’s crop in many regions and pushed prices up.
Among the many properties of the various essential fatty acids—including the omega-3s, the omega-6s, and so on—are the anti-inflammatory effects of the omega-3s. These substances produce the “prostaglandins of peace” whose actions counter those of the pro-inflammatory prostaglandins responsible for inflammation.
We’ve long known that that the gut is responsible for digesting food and expelling the waste. More recently, we realised the gut has many more important functions and acts a type of mini-brain, affecting our mood and appetite. Now, new research suggests it might also play a role in our cravings for certain types of food.
The World Health Organisation recommends we limit our sugar intake to 10% of our total calorie intake a day because of the negative effect that sugar has on our health. Boys and girls around the age of three require around 1,100 calories a day, which means no more than...
A healthy body is a key for a healthy mood. It is essential to know that there are many factors that can create an unhealthy body as well as poor mood—and that there are steps you can take to reverse the process.
Science has a simple and incredible trick that will help you lose weight. The idea, it seems, is to make portions appear bigger because this leads people to serve and eat less.
While other nations have successfully reduced their sodium intake, Australians are still eating too much salt, and paying the price with our health; a high-salt diet can lead to high blood pressure, one of the key contributors to heart disease.
- By Peter Bane
Botanicals can be incorporated into wines, cordials or teas, used in cooking and made into tinctures or salves. Some are applied topically as a poultice. Some plants we dry and use as teas or decoctions.
Both rats and humans are omnivores, and both use flavour conditioning – learning through taste and experience which foods are good to eat and which to avoid. So if a particular flavour is associated with a desirable outcome like feeling full, this makes it more palatable, whereas a stomach illness would make it unpalatable.
Ginseng, the root of the plant Panax ginseng, is one of the most commonly used herbal medicines and is often sold as an over-the-counter remedy for fatigue. Although it has been used by humans for thousands of years, more recent research has begun to investigate therapeutic and pharmacological uses including anti-allergy and anti-inflammatory properties.
Using real, whole foods as the starting point for her recipes, Leanne Brown offers shopping tips and cooking techniques that help users optimize both the dollar and nutritional value of their meals. While the cookbook was conceived as a tool for SNAP recipients, who wouldn't like to eat better for cheaper?
The future of food arrived at Waitsfield Elementary School — a tiny brick throwback in Vermont’s pastoral Mad River Valley — just after lunch on May 15, 2014. Rachael Young slipped into the kitchen as surreptitiously as possible. “Let’s see if we can do this on the sly,” she said to me. “I don’t want them to see anything ahead of time.”
Plaque on prehistoric human teeth offers a whole new perspective on our ancestors’ diet and their relationship with plants. The research suggests that prehistoric people living in Central Sudan may have understood both the nutritional and medicinal qualities of many plants, including the purple nut sedge (Cyperus rotundus), regarded as a nuisance weed today.
We all need to eat, and whenever we do, we make choices. We make these choices all day long. Cook at home or eat out? Fresh or frozen? Raw or cooked? Sweet or savory? Cheap or expensive? Healthy or maybe not-so-healthy? Real or decaf? Cream or sugar? Tall or grande?
The Farmer needs more frequent meals and snacks compared with the Hunter. The varying dietary needs of Farmers and Hunters also means they are different when it comes to their most common health problems and diseases.
Our understanding of fats – including which ones are actually good for us – is evolving. We know for example that red meat and meat products, cakes and biscuits, which are rich sources of saturated fatty acids, are associated with an increased number of cardiovascular deaths.
There is nothing mysterious or even particularly clever or skillful about making healing formulations from plants. Intimidated by the pharmaceutical elite, we think that to be of any use a medicine must be made by a Ph.D. wearing a white lab coat. Not so! If you can make a cup of tea or cook a simple meal...
Some obese people may be able to remain metabolically healthy despite their size because their bodies produce low levels of a certain molecule. High levels of the molecule, called heme oxygenase-1 or HO-1, are linked to metabolic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, as well as high blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol...