Abigails Herbs

You are all aware of who Dr. Andrew Weil is?  He is a medical doctor and one of the world’s leading health experts. He is always featured in Prevention magazine, giving health advice for wellness and disease prevention. Dr. Weil says that ginger root tea ” really relieves cold symptoms.”  Go to DrWeil.com and read his advice for yourself.

His recipe for winter health is to get a pot and, over high heat,  combine two cups of cold water and a one inch piece peeled, grated fresh ginger; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for five minutes. Add one-half tsp. of cayenne pepper; simmer for one minute. Remove from heat; add two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, one clove of garlic (crushed) and honey. The tea’s anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting qualities relieve congestion.

This winter, if you need to relieve stress, I recommend Hawthorne tea. Hawthorne tea is so calming that it is called “nature’s Valium.” Shane Ellison (The People’s Chemist.com), author of Over-the-Counter Natural Cures, says that Hawthorne tea “reduces irritability and relaxes your muscles.” Yet here’s one very important muscle it helps you flex: “Your heart; it strengthens contractions while controlling blood pressure.”

Yes, cinnamon helps to regulate blood sugars and it speeds up our metabolic rate to help us burn more calories at a faster rate, so that is all the more reason why we should use cinnamon in our foods and in our baked goods as well. My grandmother used to bake with nutmeg and cinnamon all the time, but she had no idea that cinnamon was so healthy! Now, research shows that this wonderful spice can help to heal sore throats when mixed with warm water when gargled. It has many other healthy uses too. But right now, I want to share this great recipe  for Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter Cookies with all my readers. This puts a new twist on an old-fashioned recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

one-half tsp. kosher salt

1 cup natural peanut butter (creamy)

three-fourth’s cup maple syrup (natural)

one-half cup carrot puree

one-half cup canola oil

2 tsp. vanilla extract

one-half cup raisins

non stick cooking spray

To make carrot puree:    Peel and chop 3 carrots, about 6 oz. each. Place in a pot with small amount of water and cook, covered, until very soft, 10-15 minutes. Drain and puree in food processor or  blender.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, Farenheit.  In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Set aside.  In large bowl, mix together peanut butter, maple syrup, carrot puree, oil and vanilla.  Stir until combined.
2. Pour flour mixture over peanut butter mixture.  Turn batter over with spatula about 7 times.  Do not over mix!  There will be dry spots. That’s OK.  Stir in raisins.
3. While batter is resting, coat 2 baking sheets with cooking spray.  Using a 2-oz. ice cream scoop, drop tablespoonfuls of dough onto baking sheets 1 inch apart.  Fill small bowl with water and, using fork, press down on dough, making criss cross on each cookie; wet fork each time.  Bake 8 – 10 minutes.  Transfer cookies to wire rack; cool completely.  Store in an airtight container for up to four days.

We know that grapeseed oil is used often for massage because it is a great carrier oil. It brightens the skin and it absorbs into the skin easily. However, grapeseed oil can be used in a good way for cooking. It has Vitamin E in it and it contains linoleic acid, which is good for one’s immune system and assists in slowing down the deleterious effects of aging.

I don’t about you, but I like dark chicken and turkey meat. It is more moist than the light meat and it tastes better to me. Some people prefer the lighter poultry meat. I have found lately, that the darker chicken meat is less expensive, so it helps me to save money. I also got hooked on shelled edamame; you can buy the edamame at Trader Joe’s in the frozen food department. They are green soybeans and they taste delicious. Well, here is a recipe for Mushroom Chicken Fricassee, which combines shelled edamame and fresh tarragon. It has an Asian fusion flavor to it:

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds chicken legs and thighs (without skin, for healthy reasons)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 Tablespoons grapeseed oil
• one large red onion, halved and cut into one-quarter inch-thick slices
• one Tablespoon minced garlic
• one pound mushrooms, cut into one-quarter inch-thick slices
• two tablespoons minced fresh tarragon
• two cups canned whole roma tomatoes with juice, roughly chopped
• one cup shelled edamame

During the cold months of winter, I often use the crock pot to slow cook some really delicious, warm comfort food. I put the ingredients in the pot in the morning before I leave for work and by the time I get home in the evening, the food is ready to eat for dinner. My good friend made a Moroccan stew for a pot luck dinner party a few weeks ago and it was so delicious, everyone ate it up.

Here is a recipe for stewed Moroccan chicken which is very yummy and  the cumin and turmeric in it helps to prevent illnesses by building a healthy immune system. It takes about 25 minutes to prepare and 6 hours and 25 minutes to  cook in the slow cooker. The couscous absorbs both the sweet and the spicy flavor of this stew.

Ingredients:

12 ounces of boneless chicken breasts cut into one-inch pieces

one & 3/4′s  kosher salt

one large yellow onion, halved and cut into one-quarter inch slices

2 garlic cloves, minced

one and a-half cup carrots cut into 1/2 inch diced pieces

two tsp. turmeric

one tsp. cumin

one-half tsp. ground cinnamon

one-fourth tsp. ground ginger

one-half cup dried lentils

two cups low sodium chicken broth

one, 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained

one-half head cauliflower, cut into florets

one-third cup currants or raisins

one tsp. each lemon juice and zest

one cup dried couscous

sliced almonds as desired

1. In a Dutch oven or a slow cooker, toss chicken with salt. Add onions, garlic, carrots, spices and lentils. Pour in broth and one cup water, cover and cook until lentils are just tender for 5 hours on low or on 2 and one-half hours on high heat, or, for one and one-half hours on the stovetop on simmer.

2. Add tomatoes, currants or raisins, lemon zest and juice and cook until cauliflower is tender for one hour on high for slow cooker or about 45 minutes at a simmer on the stove.

3. Prepare couscous according to package directions. Serve stew over couscous and sprinkle with almonds. Serves six.

If you are a working mother, like myself, you probably get frustrated withyour lack of time to prepare healthy meals for your family. Most healthy meals take more time to prepare and cook, right? When there is not enough time, it is easy for us to be tempted to order  at a fast food restaurant or order Chinese for take out. Anyway, healthy food can be prepared quickly, with the help of a pressure cooker.

My mother used to cook certain foods in her pressure cooker when I was growing up. I never knew why she chose to use a pressure cooker. She was a working mother too and needed to make good use of her time. It works by using pressure combined with heat to cook foods quickly so that dinner can be on the table in a flash, without depending on big Macs and greasy French Fries.

Foods prepared in a pressure cooker lose less water so less oil and butter are required to keep foods moist. It also enhances the flavor of food so you won’t need excess salt or sugar. Also, vitamins and nutrients are better preserved when you prepare food in a pressure cooker since so little liquid is required and only tiny amounts are lost during the cooking process.

A  pressure cooker makes preparing beans and whole grains that would normally take forever on the stovetop quick and easy; and it does a great job of melding flavors together. It’s excellent for preparing steamed vegetables and low-fat meats quickly – and is a natural for making healthy soups and stews.

Most people don’t get enough whole grains in their diet because they’re intimidated by how long it takes to cook them. Quinoa, barley, flax, millet, bulgur, buckwheat and steel cut oats can all be prepared in a pressure cooker in record time. Simply add the whole grains along with the required amount of liquid and let the pressure cooker do its job. Using a pressure cooker reduces the preparation time of grains by about 50%. This makes serving healthy breakfast food fast as a breeze.

Be safe though! Read the directions for using a pressure cooker carefully and follow all safety precautions. I had a good fariend who suffered third degree burns from the steam of her pressure cooker. The steam that comes out when you open one up is very hot. Modern pressure cookers have new safety features that make them much safer than the older models. Use your pressure cooker often, but use it safely. Healthy eating!

When I was a kid, I made pomanders for the holidays. Pomanders are simply oranges, studded with cloves. Amazingly, this simple holiday decoration can perk us up! I know that the holidays are well over, but I hold on to my pomanders for as long as possible. I save my pomanders because the citrus scents of this decoration have been proven to improve  focus and increase concentration by more than 30%.

But what really powers this energy-booster are the cloves. When researchers exposed volunteers to the spicy fragrance of cloves, brain scans revealed a surge of activity in the region responsible for alertness and the volunteers also had a sharper memory! Pretty cool!

Another remnant of the holidays that I save for as long as possible are pointsettias. Yes, I keep these pretty holiday plants growing in pots inside of  my home until they stop growing every year. I do this because the lovely pointsettia plant helps me to breathe easier as it purifies the air around us. NASA research reveals that the pointsettia is one of the moist effective air purifiers around.

Many house plants filter some harmful chemicals and pollutants from the air, but because this festive Mexican plant has super-sized leaves, it can absorb a whopping 99% of indoor air toxins that you’d otherwise be breathing into your body! And, guess what? Those bright red petals are not flowers; they are actually red leaves that have turned scarlet. So, keep your pointsettias around and breathe easy.

Lots of people, including myself, are sipping green tea for its health benefits. Some people take green tea extract so they don’t have to drink as much tea. This is especially common among people who are trying to lose weight since studies show that green tea may boost metabolism.

There’s good news and bad news for taking the extract as a supplement for weight loss. According to a new study published in the Journal of Nutrition, drinking this valuable tea does appear to help with weight control. Not only does it promote fat loss, but it even decreases the risk of fatty liver – a condition that’s often seen in people who are obese.

Researchers are concerned about the safety of taking green tea extract pills for weight loss because of the very high doses of  polyphenols they contain. The polyphenol that seems to be most  effective for weight loss is EGCG, and particularly when combined with caffeine, it appears to be an effective fat burner.

Unfortunately, though, too much of a good thing can cause other health problems and there’s the concern that taking the extract (pills) can be toxic if taken over a prolonged period of time. This is because the green tea extract contains up to 50 times the amount of ECGC found in a single cup of green tea. High doses of polyphenols have caused liver and kidney toxicity in animals. There are even cases of liver toxicity in humans from taking the extract which was resolved once it was stopped.

Sipping a cup of this wonderful tea may be a safe and effective way to burn more fat, but the long-term safety of taking extract (pills) isn’t known. Studies show that drinking up to ten cups of this tea a day is safe for most people – although some individuals will experience mild stomach upset. Until more is known, it is best to drink this tea and hold off on taking the extract until more research comes out about its long-term safety. Be safe – sip warm cups of tea everyday, but no more than six cups. You will be healthier and thinner as a result.

Sipping two cups of sage tea daily helps people feel at least 11% calmer, even during periods of high stress, research studies show. This nutrient-rich herb slows the breakdown of acetylcholine – a  key brain chemical that improves mood and eases anxiety, Stanford researchers explain.

If you find the sage tea to have a bitter, taste, just add honey or your favorite sweetener. Also, eating 3 ounces of protein at breakfast and at lunch can nix stress flare-ups in as little as 10 days, research suggests. Protein-packed meals prevent anxiety-triggering blood-sugar lows, plus they boost production of norepinephrine, a hormone that helps the brain cope with external stressors.

Eating pretzels can also prevent that oh-so-common pounding heart and anxiety surge. Research shows that a short-term rise in sodium dampens production of a powerful anxiety-triggering stress hormone, explains Eric Krause, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacodynamics at the University of Florida. So, eating a salty snack, such as pretzels or salty peanuts immediately before a high-stress event can prevent that oh-so-common pounding heart and anxiety surge.

Listen to this news; brand-new research shows you can dial down stress – and feel truly calm, cool and collected- in as little as five minutes, simply by pretending to be relaxed. Focus on taking slow, deep belly breaths, relaxing your shoulders and speaking in a soothing voice, suggests John Garrison, Ph.D., director of Lahey Clinic’s Stress Management Program.

Shield yourself from prostate cancer with flax! Consuming two tablespoons daily can block the growth of prostate cancers thanks to flax’s lignans . Lignans are compounds that help the liver excrete toxins before they can fuel abnormal cell growth. This fiber-rich seed can cut your artery-clogging LDL cholesterol by as much as 10 per cent.

Believe it or not; men who sip four, 8 ounce cups of coffee daily have a 60% lower risk of developing prostate cancer. Peter R. Martin, M.D., a professor at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University, claims the “two compounds in coffee soak into abnormal cells and stop them from turning cancerous.  These compounds are chlorogenic and caffeic acids.

Also, British research reveals that men who eat four garlic cloves each week reduce their risk of prostate cancer by 44%. This is because garlic’s sulfur compounds prevent the rapid cell division necessary for these cancers to grow and spread, say the authors of the study.

Another point about prostate cancer prevention; soaking up 20 minutes of sun daily helps stall the growth of prostate cancer. The body makes vitamin D when exposed to ultraviolet light; and, vitamin D nourishes prostate cells, helping them grow and divide normally, explains Michelle Holmes, M.D., associate professor of epidemiology at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Taking 1,000 units of vitamin D each day can also do the trick. By the way, a daily dose of sunshine will also help cut your breast-cancer risk by 30%.