Homespun Healers

I pride myself in having a strong immune system.  In fact, not so very long ago, I even bragged that I had not had a cold in over 3 years.  I am not sure that boasting is a good thing. Especially, after having done so, I caught the most horrible cold, and I am still trying to recover from it. 

We have all heard about the healing benefits of chicken soup, drinking lots of fluid, and getting sufficient rest while suffering with a cold. So, I am not only going to give you my own chicken soup recipe, but I am going to pass along some other helpful home cold remedies.

Tea is not only comforting to drink, but it’s especially beneficial  in helping to fight a cold.  Try some ginger tea the next time you have a cold. Ginger is known to boost immune system activity.  Stir 1/2 tsp of ginger into a cup of hot lemon tea.  For extra soothing and sweetness add honey to taste.

Double up on Vitamin C.  For a “treatment” dose, take 1,000 – 2,000 mg a day – in two or four 500 mg doses – in order to shorten the duration of the cold and minimize severity of symptoms.   Note: At high levels of Vitamin C intake, up to 3,000 mg a day or more, diarrhea becomes a side effect.

 At the first sign of scratchy throat, mix 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp table salt, and 1/4 cup warm water, and gargle twice a day.  This is one of my tried and true home remedies.  If you gargle soon enough, it will prevent a nasty throat infection.  

To make your own decongestant vapor, boil one quart of water, and remove from heat.  Add 5-10 drops of eucalyptus oil to the water, and stir.  Test the heat rising from the pan with your hand before placing your face over the pot.  Once the water is a comfortable temperture, drape a towel over your head to trap the steam as you breath in the decongesting vapors.

As I promised, here’s my chicken soup recipe:

Using a large soup pot, add the following:

2 (16 oz) cans of tomato sauce

1 package already shredded carrots (fresh, not canned, not frozen)

1/2 package frozen peas

7 stalks chopped celery

1 chopped onion

2 tbsp chicken bouillion powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp salt (or more to taste)

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper powder (the heat in this pepper helps to drain sinuses)

3 chicken leg quarters

Add enough water to fill the pot 3/4 full.  Boil all of the above ingredients for about an hour. Take chicken quarters out, remove the meat, and throw away the skin and bones. Return the chicken meat to the pot.

While water is boiling, add 8 oz. of whatever kind of noodles that appeals most to you. I like pretty soup, so I used bow ties. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally so that the noodles do not stick.  Serve with biscuits, crackers, or garlic bread. 

Serves 6 -8  (Or you could just freeze some for another time. )

ENJOY!

Now it’s your turn.  What are some of your tried and true cold remedies?

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts, sliced thinly

a couple of stalks of broccoli, heads broken up into small florettes and tender part of stalk sliced diagonally

small can of mushrooms or about a cup of fresh mushrooms, sliced

one medium onion, halved and cut in thin wedges

one cup cashew halves

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon ground ginger

soy sauce to taste

red pepper flakes to taste

Add garlic and ginger to olive oil and bring oil mixture to medium high heat. When oil sizzles when one piece of chicken is added, you know it’s hot enough to begin stir frying. Stir frying is done quickly over medium high heat. Add all the chicken and stir fry, tossing until chicken is just cooked through, no pink showing. It only takes a very few minutes. Remove chicken from pan and add broccoli and onion. Stir fry until onions are transluscent, about 2-3 minutes. Add the chicken back to the mixture and add in the mushrooms and toss together. Add soy sauce and red pepper flakes to taste. (If you like, you can add about a heaping tablespoon of corn starch to about a 1/3 cup of water and stir until smooth. Add this to the stir fry to thicken the juices.) Finally, add the cashews and just toss for another minute. Remove the pan from heat and serve with brown rice (or if you prefer the less healthy white rice, you can use that.)

One morning this past week on Good Morning America, I heard a news story saying that belly fat in middle age can now be linked to dementia later on.  This really got my attention because dementia happens to run in my family.  My grandmother’s aunt and then my grandmother both suffered from dementia starting in their seventies.  And they both lived to be very old, both of them well into their nineties.  Dementia is not fun for the demented or for their loved ones.  So, I have a healthy fear of this disease.  That’s why I paid even closer attention than normal to this topic of excess weight in the mid-region of the body.

The study was done with Kaiser-Permanente patients.  They found that the ones with the most belly fat were nearly 3 times as likely to get dementia as the ones with the lowest belly fat.  The researchers said that it doesn’t matter so much what you weigh as where you carry your fat.  If you have most of your fat in your hips and thighs, then you’re lucky.  That kind of fat is not nearly as harmful as the fat carried in the abdominal region.  They call this visceral fat. 

Why is this particular fat so harmful?  Because this fat is alive and the researchers believe that it makes toxins in the body.  These toxins can lead to heart disease and diabetes as well as dementia.  Dementia was already linked to diabetes and heart disease even before this study.  And in addition to this study, I had read numerous other articles saying that belly fat is especially dangerous. 

So, it’s not as important what you weigh as how large you measure around the waist.  The guideline for healthy belly size is no larger than 35 inches around the waist for women or 40 inches for men.  If you have a larger waist size than that, you’re at risk.  And, of course, the larger the measurement, the larger the risk.

 What to do?  Get a tape measure and see what it shows.  And then start to take action to get rid of the excess belly fat.  You can do that by exercise and a healthy diet, especially rich in MUFAs (MonoUnsaturated Fatty Acids).  MUFAs can be found in olive oil and peanut oil, in nuts, and in fruits such as olives and avocados.  Yes, olives and avocados are indeed fruits!  So, incorporate these belly fat fighting MUFAs in your otherwise balanced and healthy diet.

I am pledging to get my tape measure out and see how many inches away from a healthy belly fat waistline I am.  I have a feeling it’s a long way.  But that’s okay.  I can whittle it down to a healthy size for my physical health and my mental health.   And I can have fun doing it.  How about some delicious cashew chicken stirfry?  See?  Let’s do it together.

Diana