Natural cold remedies

Coughs, cold and Flues are a pain at any time of the year.  I personally find that pharmaceutical remedies have very little effect on me.  So I've complied a list of natural alternatives that I find do help.  However, it is important to remember that illness must be recovered from - there is no quick solution.  You just can't wish it away; no matter how much you may try.  The best thing to do is allow it to past on through.


Coughs and sneezes.

If mucus comes out, get into a tissue and into a bin as quickly as possible.  This is the quickest way to help heal your body.  The longer infected mucus stays in lungs/sinuses the more severe the infection can get.

Honey and lemon tea. Or Honey, Lemon, and Ginger if you prefer.

This best when using freshly squeezed lemons and real honey, preferable from your local region.  The lemon is acid enough to kill the bacteria in throat (This is why lemon is traditionally served with fish), and provided a nice shot of vitamin C to boost the immune system.  Honey, more then just making this mixture palatable, has anti-bacterial properties and has been show to sooth inflammation.  Ginger soothes nausea, and has anti-viral qualities.  Perfect mixture for counter acting sore throats.

Salty water.

Gargling a mixture of salty water every 3-4 hours is a quick way to keep a sore through clean.  The taste is very unpleasant but it is effective.  The salt water serves to kill microbes while the gargling motion helps remove mucus that may be covering bacterial infestation.

Eucalyptus oil.

Eucalyptus is a handy decongestant if you can get hold of it.  Apply a small amount to the bottom of your nostrils or burn some in an oil burner.  This will simultaneously sooth sinuses and act as an expectorant.

Garlic.

Eating loads of garlic on a regular basis will boost immune function.  However this more of a preventative measure.  Eating it while sick will help you immune system cope but not enough to be noticeable.  It also had anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties.

Echinacea.

Like Garlic, this another herb that helps boost immune function.  It has been shown to be particularly good for staving off colds an flues.  However, this is also a preventative measure.


 Astragalus


This little example of Chinese herbal lore is another good preventative measure.  Like Garlic it can boost the immune system and is often recommended for people with weaken immune systems.


Willow Bark capsules.

Willow Bark is a natural pain killer.  This is a good all-rounder, whether you are taking them for colds or for migraines.

Hot Steamy Showers.

Ordinarily, the Thought of filling the bathroom with steam horrifies me as complete disregard for the environment.  This concern aside, filling your lungs with steam in the shower is the perfect way to loosen up the mucus in the airways and sinuses - encouraging the infected mucus to literally leak out, taking the bacteria with it.

Fruits and vegetables.

Eating fruits and vegetables is important for general health.  It is even more important to eat healthy when ill, even though this is the last thing most of us want to do.  Fruits and vegies will provided lots of vitamin C for immune function and, by eating a variety, all the minerals/vitamin that support vitamin C absorption.

Fish and Shellfish

These are naturally higher in Zinc then most vegetables.  Zinc is important mineral to the absorption of vitamin C (but not the only important factor).

Sleep.

Sleep is so very underrated.  When I'm sick I can sleep up to 18 hours a day.  I wake up better for it.  Sleep is integral to healing of any sort.

Caffeine.

Caffeine, despite the fact that it is added to so many pharmaceutical drugs that supposedly help us fight colds, is something that should actually be avoided while you are ill.  It will over stimulate your body, leaving you worse for the wear.  Worse, the body will struggle to remove it from your system, taking away valuable energy from the immune system while it is trying to fight infection.

Junk Foods.

Again, these are something you want to avoid.  Heavily processed foods are harder for the body to break down, stealing energy from the immune system.  Quite often these foods also come with a range of preservatives and other nasty chemicals which serve to confuse the body even more.  Really Sugary foods have even been shown to feed bacterial infections.

Fresh Air

This is an important way to clear infections from you room/house.  People often forget that is a room is closed up it is just recirculating the same air.  This means it is also circulating any spores of infectious diseases that have been carried into the room.

Banana Coconut Muffins; Gluten, dairy, and egg free.

This is the first of my muffin series, continuing my banana obsession.  It's a sweet way to get fruit into your brekky.

Ingredients:

Gluten-free flour, 2 cups
Soy Milk, 2 cups.
Egg replacer, 2 teaspoons
Bicarbonate of soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons
Sugar, 1 cup
3 Ripe bananas
Desicated coconut, 1/2 cup

Directions:

Pre-heat the over to 180 degrees. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and stir the egg replacer, sugar, bicarb, and desicated coconut.  Mix the soy milk thouroughly, an electric mixer may need to be used as gluten-free flour has a tendendcy to form lumps.  Mash the bananas in a seperate bowl and then stir the mash into the muffin mixture.  Grease a muffin tray or two.  If you have muffin paper cups it is advisable to line the muffin tray with these as it makes it easier to remove the muffins from the tray.  Place the muffin mixture into the lined trays and pop into the oven.

The benefits of cereal

I went off cereal for a very long time.  This is partly because my dairy allergy was not fully picked up on until I was well into my 20's.  Having cereal with cow's milk when you're allergic to it is just a recipe for a bad tummy.  Needless to say, that for quite a while the thought of eating a bowl of cereal was enough to make me feel ill.  However, I have recently started eating it again and realised there were benefits. :)

1) It's cheap.  No-Brainer there.  A 500g box of Gluten-free cornflakes will last me 7-10 days.

2)  It's simple.  There's no possible way it can upset your stomach unless you are actually allergic to one of the ingredients.

3)  Cereals are mostly starchy carbohydrates rather then sugar.  This is an important point in that quite often nutritionist will tell you how sugary cereals can be.  Coco pops, for example, has 35g of sugar per 100g.  On the offset, this sounds like a lot.  What people don't realised that this sugar content is halved when milk is added; slowing down the overall absorption of the sugar and giving your body time to burn it off before converting it to fat.

4)  Most cereals are fortified.  Those of us with dairy allergies can really struggle to meet our daily calcium requirements.  Most cereals now contain 57% of the Recommended Daily intake of calcium.  Making it just that bit easier to get enough calcium.  Fortified cereals also contain Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, B2, Folic Acid, B12, and Iron.

Shaving the electricity bill

Those costs just keep rising.  It is getting harder then ever to prevent the money from leaving our pockets. I've complied a list of ways in which to save on your electricity bills.  Some require money, so require none.  Hopefully there will be a suggestion here everyone can use.  Of course, if anyone has suggestions to add, feel free to leave a comment.

1)  If it's not at use, the object goes off at the wall.  Most important tip there can be - as this automatically cuts down on consumption.

2)  Question whether you need to run the item or not. eg. tumble dryer - Clothes will dry just as well on a clothes line or an airier.  Vacuums - do you need to vacuum?  On hard floors sweeping is just as effective.  We have so many electrical appliances at our disposal, quite often we forget that there are other ways of getting things done.

3)  See what other companies are offering to sell kilowatt hours at.  Do your research, the quickest way to a lower bill is to switch to a cheaper Company.  A note of warning however, make sure you do your research on the companies reputation as well.  The last thing you need is to end up in a  contract with a cowboy company.

4) See what alternatives you can get hold off.  Solar power generators are quite easy to get a hold of and will run quite a lot of you electrical appliances if it is placed in sufficient sunlight.

*  If you own your own property it is well worth seeing what alternatives you can have installed on your land.   Solar power is good by wind turbines can be better.

5)  Make sure your property is well insulated and that windows are thickly glazed.  These will cut down on the cost of heating/air conditioning.

6)  Heating or cooling your property/room.  Have your heater set to the lowest temperature you can stand and rug up.  Conversely, set your air conditioning unit to 25 degrees and find other ways of keeping cool.

7) Moderate the temperature of your bathes/showers and use less water.  The less water used and the lower the temperature you desire the water to reach, the less electricity is used heating the water.

8) Upgrade any electrical appliances to newer appliance with good energy use ratings.  The older alliances and electrical are the less energy efficient that are likely to be.  Items made in the last decade have had to pass much stricter codes then their predecessors.  Again this an area in which you will want to do your research.  Just because it's new does not mean it is the better option.

9) Upgrade all your light bulb to more energy saving versions.

Garlic butter; dairy free

Garlic butter is very simple to make.  It is perfect for use in home made garlic bread or as a savoury spread for sandwiches.  It is a perfect condiment to melt over vegetables or salad.  the uses of garlic butter are only limited to your imagination.

Of course I shouldn't call it butter!

Ingredients:

450gs of margarine; room temperature
4 cloves of garlic; minced
2 teaspoons of chives; finely diced
50gs of margarine; cubed

Directions:

Melt the cubed margarine in a frying pan as a low heat.  Lightly fry the minced garlic.  It is important to to this over a low heat so that the garlic doesn't burn - If it burns is will be incredibly bitter.  After approximately 8 minutes of shallow frying place the pan to one side to cool.  Place the rest of the margarine in a mixing bowl and blend in the fried garlic, including the oil, and the chives.  when the herbs are blended through scrape the margarine mixture into a Tupperware container, cover and place into the fridge to set.

Coping with writer's block

The first thing that happens when I attempt to start work on an assignment or project is that my brain has a minor freeze as to how to go about writing it.  Because of this I've had to come up with several techniques in order to combat writer's block.

1) Ease off the coffee.  Contrary to common belief, caffeine does not help you get work done.  Caffeine is a  stimulant.  To a degree it will make you brain work faster, however after a certain point it will actually over-stimulate you.  This will mean you will be easily distracted from your task and fidget/pace incessantly.  This is not a frame of mind in which anyone can work.  This is why it is important to limit you caffeine intake.

2)  Fruits, vegetables and seafood.  It is incredibly important o have a healthy diet.  A good diet will impact on your overall health.  Better health will mean that you are better able to cope with long periods of study as you will be able to work longer with reduced exhaustion.  Fish and vegetables contain several nutrients that are vital to the production of chemical neurotransmitters in the brain. This will improve concentration and ability to use and retain information.

3) Water.  Drinking plenty of water has many health benefits.  I have devoted an entire article to this earlier.  Water will improve concentration and will support the brain function.  Goes without saying that this is incredibly important.

4)  Exercise.  It is important to have a health amount of exercise in your lifestyle.  It also will stimulate your ability to think by increasing blood flow to the brain and encouraging the production of endorphins - neurochemicals important to brain function and reduction of stress.

If making these changes to your lifestyle doesn't help  there are a few only solutions that might work.

5) Meditation.  Clearing you mind and relaxing can sometimes remove the anxiety/stress that is stopping you from getting the words out that you need.  Try some simple breathing exercises - get yourself into a comfortable position and focus on counting your breaths.  Just breath.  Alternatively, you can try visualisation exercises; pick a favourite scene and slowly build up details until you have the whole picture in your mind.  Imagine yourself walking around the scene picking up objects and sensing them - touch smell ect.  This will relax your body will building up your ability to focus.

6) Free writing.  Open a notepad or word document and start writing.  It doesn't matter what you write. In fact don't focus on what you are writing.  Just let the words flow out.  At some point, you will be hit by inspiration and and begin to write on the topic you were blocked on in the first place.

7)  Structured questions.  If you already have a good idea of what you want to say but are having trouble getting this down on paper, begin asking yourself structured questions.  Eg  I need to introduce an an article for my assignment.  I will ask myself questions like 'what is the article?', 'Who was it written by?', 'When was it written?', 'What is it about?', 'What do I need to do with it?' ect. This can be adapted for writing scenes for novels.  Ask yourselves questions like 'What is going on in the scene?', 'Where is it set?', 'Who is in this scene?', 'How are the dressed?' ect.  After you have devised and answered these question you will have enough information to write this into a paragraph/chapter.

Chocolate covered ginger; dairy free

This is a very simple treat to make.  However it is also very messy.  There a certain itens that are desirable to have in your cupboard - a pan and a glass bowl that is large enough to sit in the pan without falling in.

Ingrediants:

Block of vegan chocolate
200gs of crystallised ginger
50gs of margarine

Directions:

Half fill the pan with water.  Place this on the stove and place the glass bowl in the pan.  Break the chocolate block into chunks and place in the bowl to melt.  As the chocolate melts stir in the margarine - this will ensure that as it begins to set it is easy to break up.  Line a large Tupperware container with greased baking paper.  Fill this with the crystallised ginger pieces,. spread, spreading them pieces as evenly as possible along the bottom. When the chocolate in the pan has completely melted, pour it, while still hot, onto the crystallised pieces and stir it through before the chocolate begins to set.  Cover the Tupperware container and place in the fridge so that it can set.  When you remove the Tupperware container from the fridge you will need to remove the chocolate ginger from the Tupperware by pulling out the baking paper.  The ginger can now be broken up into pieces.