What To Do With Flowers After Valentines Day

When you are done with beautiful Valentine’s Day flowers, if you received roses you have an opportunity to recycle them into something equally wonderful. Rosewater is a traditional and safe natural cosmetic which can used as a soothing lotion or compress for sore or inflamed skin says Pamela Allerdice in her book Natural Remedies from A – Z.

Refresh your eyes -Wipe diluted rosewater (2 to 1 ratio of purified water to rosewater) over the eyes with a clean cosmetic sponge to refresh and tone.

For compresses, soak a piece of clean lint or cotton in pure rosewater and lay over eyes, throat, cheeks and chine for 10 minutes whilst lying down.

Burned or inflamed skin - Rosewater is a simple and effective treatment for inflamed or burned skin.

Skin Toner – combine rosewater, half and half with witch hazel to make an economical and effective skin toner or all over body splash.

Hand softener - Blend 3 teaspoons cornflour with 125 ml rosewater; heat gently. Add the juice of one lemon and 2 tablespoons glycerine and simmer, stiring, until the mixture is thickened. Pour into a sterilized glass or ceranic jar, cool and cover. Stored in the refrigerator it will keep up to one month.

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Rosemary has been recorded in every herbal and medical text since very early times, and it has long been regarded as a preserver of youth says Pamela Allardice writing in Natural Remedies A – Z. Rosemary has been much researched and used a a medicinal herb. It was first noted as having preservative qualities centuries ago when meat was wrapped in crushed rosemary leaves to stop it from spoiling.

Rosemary Tea - A tea made from fresh rosemary is beneficial for headaches and digestive disorders.

Rosemary Oil - With its powerful aroma, rosemary oil is an effective inhalant and decongestant. Use oil of rosemary on a child’s chest to ease a cough. Rosemary oil is also an effective rinse for oily hair and skin. Here is a simple recipe for a rosemary hair rinse:

Rosemary Hair Rinse Recipe:

Add 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar and 5 drops Rosemary essential oil (or you can use a tablespoon of dried rosemary) to 1 cup of water. You may leave this rinse on your hair or rinse with water. The vinegar smell will go away when your hair dries

Rosemary Tea or Oil – Add rosemary tea or oil to bathwater to improve circulation.

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Healthy Diets

I read a really good article in Woman’s Day Magazine about which fruits and vegetable are the best to eat. Some fruits and vegetable are better than others at preventing disease. According to the article, Italian researchers put a group of adults on a produce rich diet with participants eating a high antioxidant diet for two weeks and then a low antioxidant diet for two weeks. After being on the high antioxidant diet the participants had significantly improved liver function and lower blood levels of key inflammatory markers which help cut the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

Here are the fruits and vegetable you should eat more of to get the benefit of antioxidants:

Fruit
Berries
Black Grapes
Grapefruit
Oranges
Pineapple
Plums

Vegetables
Arugula
Beets
Broad beans
Brussel Sprouts
Mushrooms
Radicchio
Red Peppers
Spinach
Swiss Chard

Here are the fruits and vegetables you should eat less of:

Fruits

Apples
Bananas
Melons
White Grapes

Vegetables

Carrots
Celery
Cucumber
Eggplant
French beans
Leeks
Lettuce
Potatoes
Radishes
Zucchini

See our related article on Antioxidants

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Dark Chocolate

Guess what!! Dark chocolate really is good for you and I have proof. Harvard Researchers recently found that cocoa flavonoids (protective substances that are also abundant in dark chocolate), improve blood flow to the brain. Increased blood flow to the brain can help slow the mental decline that occurs with the aging process.

Hurray for Harvard! Happy Valentines Day early. Go forth and consume dark chocolate and know your eating brain food. Give someone dark chocolate for a Valentines Day Gift and know you giving the gift of health too.

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Food Ingredients to Avoid

Dr Oz recently came out with a list of top ten ways to live healthier and one of the items on the list was five ingredients to avoid. Some of these you already may know but some may surprise you.

High fructose corn syrup was the first item on the list. When you start looking at ingredients in processed food you will be shocked at how many contain corn syrup. Corn syrup has been linked to a lot of health problems such as diabetes and ADD in children. So check your labels to make sure you are not getting too much. If it is the first ingredient listed reconsider the product.

Sugar – We all know to avoid this but sometimes we don’t realize how much sugar products that are marketed as healthy contain. For instance, I love yogurt and yogurt has acidopholus which is a probiotic which is really good for you but yogurt has too much sugar for me. After I eat it I am not satisfied and I get hungry a half hour later. Some cereals that are marketed as being good for you have a ton of sugar in them. So check labels, anything over 10 grams a serving is too much sugar.

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What are Fibrocystic breast lumps? They are fibrous components that are the supporting ligaments of the breast. The cystic component relates to the milk ducts and the milk producing units. According to Dr. Melissa O’Toole, medical director of the Memorial Hermann Southest Hospital Breast Center, “When a woman gets a cyst, it’s just a weak spot in the ducts. It pouches out and sometimes it’s very dramatic – cysts the size of golf balls.”

Breast Lumps

Large or bothersome cysts can be treated with needle aspiration. The fluid is drawn out, and the cyst collapses. Mammograms show whether or not there’s a mass in the breast, and more importantly the shape of it, and what the border looks like. Ultrasound determines if a mass is fluid filled, indicating a cyst; or solid, indicating a tumor – which may be fibroadenoma, a benign mass.

Melanie Meyer, a naturopathic doctor offers these suggestions to prevent and ease the symptoms of fibrocystic breasts:

1. Avoid caffeine, including black tea, coffee, cola and chocolate.

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