Abigails Herbs

Some people suffer with chronic asthma, and some people become easily winded and have difficulty catching their breath just being in high places like Denver or Mexico City. There are sever natural ways of protection for our lungs. Of course, the most obvious way is to avoid tobacco smoke; studies indicate that just being around smokers is more harmful to our lungs than actually smoking it.

One way to keep your lungs healthy is to eat tomatoes. I grow tomatoes in my garden. They love the sun and tomatoes are easy to grow as long as you water them and put them in a sunny spot to grow. Research shows that a daily serving of anti-oxidant-rich tomatoes, (such as in 1/2 cup of marinara sauce), may reduce lung damage caused by air pollution. The great thing about tomatoes is that the leucopine in them becomes stronger in cooked and canned tomatoes. Pretty amazing! It is the leucopine that fights off the cancer causing oxidants in our bodies.

Fish oil is another means to ward off breathing problems. Many airway troubles like asthma are caused by inflammation; experts advise getting omega-3 fatty acids from fish, walnuts or supplemants to reduce swelling.

Of course, exercise is key to general good health. Studies indicate that even simple exercise, such as taking a short walk, to climbing a set of stairs, to swimming, makes your heart beat faster. So, when your heart beats faster, it improves your lungs’ ability to take in oxygen.

Last of all, drinking green tea really keeps your lungs safe. Sipping three, 8-ounce servings of green tea per day significantly reduces your odds of developing lung cancer; and this is completely backed up by recent research all over the world.

So, healthier lungs can be obtained through mild exercise, eating and drinking right and avoiding tobacco in all forms.

I have such bad sinus headaches due to high humidity and seasonal allergies. It gets so bad that I have foggy brain and I can’t think straight due to the pressure that builds up inside of my head, around my sinuses and through my eyes.  As I walk through the halls I can hear everyone at work say “Watch out; Abigail is really spaced out again today!” But, they are right. It is trud that these never ending allergies cause me to be totally spaced out and then I lack productivity and it seems as though I need to do all my work tasks in slow motion when all I really want to do is to lay my head down on a soft pillow to never wake up until the headache is all gone.

I hate taking allergy meds because they make me very hyper and my heart starts to beat out of control; like tachycardia. Some allergy medications do make me drowsy; however, they are not effective. A recent study points to an all-natural alternative herb that alleviates allergies without side effects; green tea! In the Journal of Agircultural and Food Chemistry , Japanese scientists found that green tea’s high concentration of the powerful antioxidant EGCG blocks the production of two allergy causing compounds- histamine and immunoglobulin E – that cause a runny nose, watery eyes, and scratchy throat!

Researchers have not yet figured out a one-size-fits-all dose, so sip one to four cups daily until you feel relief. I have tried to drink green tea, and, happily, when I sip only one to two cups per day, I don’t get the allergies or the sinus pressure that I normally get when I don’t drink green tea. I love it. Those Japanese researchers certainly know what they are talking about!

By the way, additional research has revealed that those smart  people who took a green tea supplement(450 mg. twice  per day, to be exact), were 33% less likely to get a summer flu or to catch a summer cold. Green tea pays off!

Both black and green tea contain a concentrated dose of catechins. Catechins are substances which help blood vessels relax and protect our hearts. In a study of more than 40,500 Japanese men and women, those who drank at least 5 or more cups of green tea everyday had the lowest risk of dying from heart disease and stroke. Other studies involving black tea showed similar results.

You need only 1 to 2 cups of tea each day to start your heart off to a healthy lifestyle. Make sure the tea is fresh when you brew it. Ready to drink tea blends that they sell in the supermarkets are filed with sugars and water and thus, they do not offer the same heart healthy benefits. Once water is added to the tea, the catechins degrade and break down within a few days, losing their effectiveness. Tufts University professor, Jeffrey Blumberg, PhD, was responsible for performing nutritional studies in this area.

Other studies have found that milk may eliminate tea’s protective effects on our cardiovascular system, so it is wiser to flavor your tea with honey or lemon. I  love the taste of straight tea. so I simply drink it without any sweetener or extra flavoring in my cup. Now that’s my cup of tea!

I guess you have heard it said many many times that we should drink eight, 8 ounces of water per day for optimum health benefits. Then I read that you should let your body tell you how much water it needs in order to cleanse itself and the vital organs in our bodies. Then someone had told me that carbonated water is not good for us; (this was a nurse, by the way). Well, much to everbody’s shocked surprise, some researchers at the University of Pennsylvania recently questioned the old adage of drinking eight, 8 ounces of  H2O everyday. These researchers asserted that there is no evidence that water cleans out toxins, wards off weight gain, improves skin tone or has any beneficial health effects.

They said that there is simply no such eveidence to support this long standing theory of water wisdom. The newest assertion in the war of the waters is from a new study taken from the British Journal of  Nutrition, which shifts the emphasis onto the kind of water you drink. Researchers found that drinking carbonated beverages increases satiety and decreases the amount of calories consmed. While the authors of this study aren’t suggesting you drink soda to lose weight; their research suggests that sparkling water may decrease cravings more than non-carbonated water.

I purport that drinking a few glasses of cold or warm green tea each day will lead to weight loss. The catechins and polyphenols  in the green tea do burn fat cells and increase one’s metabolism. It is still important to consume filtered or spring water daily, although I can’t really say that eight, 8 ounce glasses is the magic amount.

Bodies under chronic stress not only have more reactive, inflammatory internal environments but also show anatomical brain changes. For example, the hippocampus, instrumental in making memories, has been shown to atrophy and grow smaller under stress. Other parts of the brain involved in self-care, sleep, fear and executive functions (decision-making) are also affected.

Just think about the last time you made a decision under duress– was it the best one you could make? Did you rethink it later when you were calmer? (What in the world was I thinking?!)  That is the effect of stress on executive function.

The bad news is that things from long ago shaped your biology and anatomy and can affect your health for your entire life!  The good news is, once you recognize this might be true for you, there are lots of things that can help.

To calm your nervous system, try mind-body therapies such as meditation, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and hypnosis or body-mind approaches such as yoga, tai chi and qi gong.  After only 3 months of daily meditation, hippocampal size has been shown to increase.

Other brain structures respond as well. For severe effects of trauma such as PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), cognitive behavioral therapy and EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) are effective.

Anti-inflammatory foods and herbs can help soothe the nervous system and reduce the inflammatory component of chronic stress. You have read it before:  fresh organic vegetables and fruits, whole grains and legumes, nuts, seeds, green tea, ginger and extra virgin olive oil are all part of a good diet.

Your integrative health practitioner can help guide you to appropriate resources for your particular situation. There are many ways that you can change the bothersome ghosts of your past before it affects your physical and emotional health forever.

Information in this article was from Bettina Herbert, M.D. from the Thomas Jefferson University’s famous Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine.

After drinking your green tea, take the used green tea bags (wet) and chill them in the refrigerator. Apply the tea bags to your eyelids for 10 to 15 minutes, with your eyes closed, of course.

Green tea contains tannins, which act as an astringent when applied to the skin and can help to reduce eye puffiness. Be sure to sip at least three large mugs of green tea per day, eveyday, for an antioxidant boost. Research shows that green tea is super rich in inflammation-fighting antioxidants. So drink plenty of organic green tea and get an added extra health and beauty benefit of using the green tea bags on your eyes for the ultimate anti-puff treatment.

There is evidence that new research shows that adding green tea and capsaicin to your diet could cut down on appetite and cut caloric intake. Capsaicin is a pain killer; it is the chemical found in hot peppers that causes the hotness effect. It triggers metabolism into action and kick starts faster burning of calories.

Green tea has also been found to boost metabolism and burn calories faster. I drink one to two cups of green tea each morning and for lunch I eat fresh jalapeno peppers from my vegetable garden. I am receiving comments from my friends who notice that I am losing weight. Of course, I exercise consistently too.

Since it is so stimulating to your taste buds, capsaicin can help keep you from overeating. Toss some hot peppers into salads, salsas and stir-fries. Brew a couple cups of green tea and drink everyday to rev up  your metabolism. Remember that green tea contains caffeine, so be careful not to drink it too close to your bedtime.

The health benefits of green tea are nothing short of extraordinary. The Chinese have used green tea for centuries because they have been wise to the life generating properties of this marvelous herb.

Well, green tea extract, developed into a salad oil is a healthy add-on  to vegetables, casseroles, salads and other recipes. It also has a pleasant and yummy taste. Research has discovered that the catechins in green tea are 100% more effective than vitamin C at preventing heart disease as well as other major illnesses. It has been found that green tea is 25% better than vitamin E   in preventing and combating certain health disorders.

Green tea has a compound known as ECGC, which is powerful at preventing cancers and other potentially fatal human conditions. Out diet plays a major role in the game of health and wellness. The green tea salad oil is just another way that we can consume this valuable herb and stay healthy well until old age. Drinking it as a tea is another option.

Studies show that breakfast eaters are less likely to be fat or obese than people who skip breakfast. Breakfast eaters are also more productive and are better able to concentrate than those who do not eat breakfast. There are great benefits to eating breakfast to start your day; a morning meal shifts your body from an energy-conserving state into a calorie-burning machine. Green tea is a good breakfast drink because it gives your metabolism an extra boost.

Here is a wonderful recipe for a blueberry and green tea smoothie as a breakfast drink which is refreshing as well as nutritious:

1. Brew some wholesome green tea at night and chill it in the refrigerator overnight.
2. Place the tea along with 2 cups of  frozen or fresh blueberries, 3 to 6 ice cubes, 12 ounces of fat-free yogurt, 2 tbsp. of whole, dry-roasted unsalted almonds and 2 tbsp. of ground flaxseed in a blender and mix together until smooth.
3. Add more water to the blender if you use unfrozen blueberries.

This eight ounce drink has only 334 calories; it has 13 grams of protein and only one gram of fat. It is packed with 7 grams of  healthy fiber. The rich antioxidants in the green tea and blueberries protect your body’s cells from free radicals which damage DNA in the mitochondria; the key ingredient in your body’s calorie-burning process. Almonds provide natural protein and healthy monosaturated fat. Flaxseed has omega-3  fats, with lots of  inflammation-fighting properties.

Brewing the green tea at night saves time in the morning. Drink one of the smoothies and refrigerate the other smoothie to drink on the following day.