Chew Your Grape Seeds

Chew Those Grape Seeds
 Yeah I know it doesn’t taste good, but those seeds are packed with some of the best anti oxidants out there.
 Just yesterday I picked up a bunch of juicy looking red grapes at the super market. For some reason just from the way they looked I could tell they were not the seedless ones. 

But I have already gotten my self used to chewing the seeds despite the bitter taste. 

Here is a list of some of the health benefits of Grape Seed Extract:
•    Healing wounds
•    Anti candida
•    Preventing skin cancer 
•    Cardiovascular benefits 
•    Preventing cognitive decline 
How does it work?

So grape seeds contain a number of oils including omega 3 and vitamin A. in addition to these they have other phytochemicals, if you are really interested on reading about the entire chemistry here is a great article. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4988453/   

There is some thing beautiful about the bitter sweet super healthy grape thing that is just so holistic. 

Fox Glove And Seal-Headed Men

What is he talking about?

Ok let me explain. 

I was thinking that I have not written in a while for this here blog and I really was racking my brain for something new to write about. 

So I thought to myself, there must an herb that is not commonly used that I have never written about. After studying and working with herbs for so many years there had to be at least one medicinal plant that I can think of which is out of the ordinary and that I didn’t write about yet. 

And foxglove “Digitalis Purpurea” is what came to mind. The reason I thought about it was because of its being mentioned in the book “The Mammoth Hunters” by Jean M. Auel. 

For those of you who don’t know the book it the third in a series known as the earths children. And its all about prehistoric man, its considered a historical fiction. 

I actually only read the first and third books of the series, but I really would like to get my hands on the rest of them and to read them as well. 

Anyway I had heard that she had really researched these books and even went to some of the archeological sights to make the historical parts of the book as real as possible. 

What does this all have to do with a seal-headed man you are asking?

I am getting to there, be patient just a bit longer. 

I wanted to read a little about Jeans research to see if I could find out some thing about how the prehistoric people used plant medicine, so of course I started searching the internet. 

But what I came across was the findings of the Cosquer Cave off the coast of France. I allow myself to say off the coast and not on the coast because the entrance to the cave is under more than 100 feet of ocean water. Inside of the cave are something like 177 pieces of prehistoric art. On of the things mentioned is a depiction of a seal-headed man. 

The seal-headed man thing makes me think about the idea that you can see all over the internet these days, which claims the we humans are a genetic combination of earthling and extra terrestrials. 

Not a topic that I was planning on ever getting into here but if you like it you are sure to find plenty to read online. 

Anyhow back to fox glove.

Digitalis I one of those plant medicines that have become a full blown western pharmaceutical for the treatment of certain hart problems.  

Because it is so powerful and possibly dangerous it is very rarely used today by herbalist. But still it goes to prove one of the points that I am always trying to make, plant medicine is not just some sort of folk remedy but a tried and tested science. 

A seal-headed man? Cool. 

Is It Healthier To Be A Vegetarian?

Is It Healthier To Be A Vegetarian?

So this has been a question that has come up many times when I am talking to people about healthy eating habits. 

The truth is that I truly believe that us humans are meant to be omnivores, meaning to eat both meat and plant foods. 

I do think that most people, especially in the western world, are eating to much meat and not enough plant foods. It could be that somewhere along the evolutionary line (you know if you believe in evolution) we started eating meat because of the lack of plant food during certain seasons.

The fact that the iron from red meat is better absorbed than that from vegetables is always a big point in my argument. But also the latest studies concerning omega 3. 

But as I was saying overall the western diet is unquestionably overdoing the meat thing. 

Anyway here is an article from Harvard medical school which brakes it all down very nicely.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/becoming-a-vegetarian?utm_source=delivra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GB20180110-Vitamins&utm_id=770388&dlv-ga-memberid=29317922&mid=29317922&ml=770388 

Of course you can draw your own opinion after reading it. 

Herbal Remedies For Cats

So I have written one post in the past about natural remedies for pets, when my sister in laws dog had gotten bit while they were by us for the weekend. 

Also in the past I have had great success treating my cats eye infections with chamomile tea.

But in the past few days our cat has gotten a cold and my son who is really attached to our pets really wants me to take her to the vet. 

The truth is that we are on a tight budget right now and the vet is not covered by our medical insurance. 

So I did a bit of online research and what I really understood is simple, I am going to try to treat my cats cold the same way I would treat a persons cold, I just need to adjust the method used to give her the remedies.

My plan is to make the same winter tea that I use for children.

Chamomile
Catnip
Yarrow
Elder
Linden 

Mix it with some chicken or tuna fish, not sugar and water like I do for the kids.

Also I want to get some good essential oils in her system. So my plan is to get her into a small bathroom and steam the place up, and then add the oils to some steaming water.

I think that that should do the trick, I will write a follow up post and let you know.