Natural Living Tips

I thought maybe we’d take a slightly different direction today. That is, a Western medicine one. Those who read this blog regularly probably assume, and rightly, that I do have an alternative medicine slant, this being an organic blog and all.

However, I do still believe in Western medicine.The way I see it, the two fields are both legitimate precisely because they don’t really overlap all that much. Alternative medicine primarily has to do with health. Maintaining it, strengthening it, putting us in line with nature so our bodies, products of nature, can more easily and efficiently move through their environment.

Western medicine, on the other hand, has more to do with sickness. Meaning, when your body is way off center, you might need some sort of technological intervention to get you back. A U-turn, a sharp curve left, something that’s out of the ordinary, because if you stay on the nature path when you’ve got a serious problem, you cannot forget that nature also has the capacity to kill you. Sometimes, nature is actually our enemy, and we must circumvent it. Failure to recognize this truth can be deadly.

The reason I’m writing about this now is that a case was just reported out of Sydney where a middle-aged couple was convicted of manslaughter for not seeking medical help for their 9-month old daughter who died of severe eczema, (pictured here) a common skin ailment among babies that is easily treatable. My nephew even had it for a few weeks.

In this case, the eczema was left untreated for 5 months, and the baby, Gloria, died of infections from open wounds in her skin as a result of the rashes. They finally brought her in to hospital when an eye infection was literally melting her corneas, but by then it was too late. The reason they did not take her in is that the father, Thomas Sam, a college lecturer in homeopathy, resorted to homeopathic techniques instead.

Homeopathy is a theory of treatment based on the assumption that an extremely diluted mixture of a substance that would otherwise cause similar symptoms at higher doses in a patient can actually cure a patient of those symptoms. This is fine, even if a bit strange, because it can’t really hurt you. But relying on that to the exclusion of Western intervention can, indeed, kill you, as it did to this baby.

Recently, my wife was prescribed a series of homeopathic treatments, to which I raised my eyebrow, but was OK with because other forms of treatment were also included. I remember being opposed to the practice because I didn’t see any scientific merit in it, but thought that, on the off chance that there’s something scientific to it that we just haven’t discovered yet, I’d be willing to give it a shot. But not at any risk.

Back to the story at hand, Sam refused to take Gloria to a hospital even after her hair actually turned white from the disorder. By the time he finally did, it was too late.

“Gloria was subjected to significant pain over an extended period of time and the omission of the offenders to seek proper assistance for her may be characterized accurately as cruelty,” Johnson said. “Each offender fell profoundly short of their parental obligations to their infant daughter.”

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I’m in a solar mood today. I often am. I really think it’s the future of the energy market, because, when it comes down to it, everything is solar powered. The sun is the Earth’s only source of energy, ultimately speaking.

With that in mind, let’s turn to Waterbury, Vermont, where Green Mountain Coffee Roasters just completed the installation of a 572-panel solar array to power its coffee-producing operations. Altogether, the array provides 100 kilowatts of electricity to the plant. They are teamed up with Green Mountain Power, which has promised to install 10,000 panels in 1,000 days in the state of Vermont. I’ll be here counting and reporting.

“In addition to generating clean electricity for use in our facility, the array also demonstrates the feasibility of solar panels as a viable solution for producing power in Vermont,” said Paul Comey, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ vice president of environmental affairs, said Thursday.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters also offers its employees group discounts on solar power systems through a green benefits program with groSolar. They donate $1,000 toward an employee’s solar electric system, which also receives a $0.25 per watt installation discount. Now THIS is the kind of stuff we need to get off of foreign oil. If you’re going to pass a multibillion dollar stimulus, you might as well do it here and focus it in on this stuff.

And it seems this environmental company is getting place. Its most recent quarterly report had a 61 percent increase in revenue and 123 percent boost in profits. Wow. I might just buy some stock right now.

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Healing herbs have a very long history. Before anything else herbs were the only medicines around. Knowledge was passed on from generation to generation. Keepers of this knowledge were revered by their tribes. They were probably discovered over time by observing other animals taking them and by trial and error. The error side of things must have been expensive in terms of life and health.

But no matter how they were discovered, they are gifts of nature we should treasure and use.
Modern drugs are in fact derived from nature so in a round about way, medical science still believes in them. In fact there is a very interesting trend where many formally and scientifically trained physicians are combining modern and traditional medicine - with excellent results.
Healing herbs can help prevent illnesses, can cure illnesses and can help reduce secondary effects of modern drugs.
Below you will find 5 highly beneficial medicinal herbs that are:

• less expensive
• easily available
• and have clear medicinal benefits

Aloe Vera. This is now wildly recognized and used. The gel is taken by making a cut on the leaves. It can be applied to cuts and burns. Many people use it as a sort of cream against wrinkles and making the skin smoother. It is also effective against infections and also used for constipation. Application: Topically (don’t ingest)
Balm, Lemon. As a compression you can apply it on cuts and abrasions. In the form of an infusion it can aid your digestion. The leaves can also be placed in a bath for a relaxing soak. Application: Infusion or compression.
Basil. This is very good against infections, it helps with your immune system and very useful to treat acne. Application: Infusion or tincture.
Chamomile. Many people recommend you always have some chamomile leaves in the house. As tincture you can use it for inflammation of the joints, for cuts and for abrasions. It is also used to help with digestion and menstrual cramps.Application: Infusion or tincture.
Garlic. Has been used since before history began. Its beneficial properties have been known for centuries. Apart form its cooking properties, it is very good for blood circulation and therefore cardiovascular, cholesterol and blood pressure benefits. For breathing ailments such as flu, colds and coughs. Application: Infusion or tincture. You can also eat the cloves, or squash them. Even in tablet form.

Note: Herbal remedies do not replace your physician’s care. If you are undergoing treatment always consult your doctor.

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When you look at medical practices over the centuries, specially in the Western world, there is the idea of ignorance and near savagery. The middle ages for example had barbers, later to be known as doctors, whose main practice was to remove teeth and molars.

When sickness and fever struck, patients were bled either with knives or leeches. Maggots would be put on an infection to eat, and therefore clean, the infected area.

The idea of cleanliness was not an issue. After all a bath once a year was a risky business with the real danger of catching a chill and then worse.

Perfumes were expensive and brought from the East, and were the main alternative to body odors. They weren’t readily available so smells were an interesting ingredient of day to day life.

During the 14th century when the Black Plague struck Europe, it ravaged populations everywhere, but specially in the cities where sanitation was lacking in extreme.

But there is another side to history. The Moors and the Arab culture at the same time had taken great strides in many subjects, including mathematics, astronomy and medicine.

The Chinese and oriental societies, as well as those in the Americas, in India and even Africa, had a down to earth knowledge of medicine which was based on the natural world.

Herbs and plants were the necessary ingredients of medicine.

During the Middle Ages in Europe, the day to day medical practices were in fact more advanced than has generally been acknowledged.

Natural remedies were the only options. A lot of mumbo-jumbo did take place, but then again hasn’t it always.

In fact today, in this day and age, isn’t there also a lot of mumbo-jumbo, camouflaged in pseudo-scientific jargon?

In the thirteen hundreds there was a magical thing called “the sponge”. It was rarely used and thought to have magical properties. Few doctors had access to one of these.

It was a sponge that had been soaked in a herbal mixture - nobody was really sure what it was but amongst other things it had a paste of opium.

The sponge was soaked in water and placed over the patient’s mouth. When his breathing became deeper and louder the doctor knew he had fallen asleep and proceeded with the operation.

Although the magical qualities that surrounded the sponge were unknown, it was in fact a form of anesthesia. Unfortunately the knowledge behind it was lost and so was anesthesia (except for large doses of alcohol) for five or six centuries.

Now at the early stages of the XXI century many natural remedies are again coming to light. Some new, some known to different cultures and some being resurrected from days gone by.

One of the major benefits of natural health is that an important part of the philosophy behind it is the view of the person and his community, the physical side of the individual as well as the psychological and spiritual side.

In essence, a holistic view. And all this stresses the health issue from the point of view being healthy, before needing to heal.

In short the process would be:

• Being healthy (current state),
• Keeping healthy (preventive)
• Correcting ill heath (healing)

Many years ago I read about medical practices in China, and the practical wisdom this society used. A doctor received a monthly retainer from his patients, as long as they were healthy.

The moment they became ill he immediately applied his healing knowledge, but the payments stopped. Professional success was measured by the patients that were healthy and not by those that were cured.

In short a doctors job was to keep his patients healthy - he also had to cure them, but if they reached this state, he had failed on his first obligation.

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