This past week held American Thanksgiving, so I hope you'll forgive me for using a shortcut in my post today.
See, I got a nice e-mail from Aria, pointing my attention to an infographic put out by Cheap Nurse Degrees. Some of the remedies differ from my own preferences—but everyone's different, and this one seems designed to focus on what's in your cabinet.
Looking at that infographic, honey soothes burns on its lonesome, and ginger works better than tannins for nausea for me. I also prefer cloves more than parsley for bad breath.
I'd be more inclined to try witch hazel than Listerine on a blister, and my experience is that feverfew's better than peppermint for a migraine—if you're going to eat it. The oil-on-temples thing does help, but you want to use high-quality essential oil put in a carrier oil. For the foot soak, vinegar itself has been demonstrated as an antibacterial, and I wouldn't put vegetable (soy) oil on my skin—I have hot flash issues already, which soy worsens. Argan nut oil works best of the oils I've tried, and it absorbs quickly…but it's a good $6 an ounce or more, and what about people with tree nut allergies?
Again, your mileage will vary. But this infographic (and others) can be useful to give ideas or starting points.
But always look things up for interactions, no matter how perfect it is for what you need it for. I kept trying to figure out what I could give my poor grandfather over this past Thanksgiving, and everything I had would've caused issues for him, due to a particular health condition he has that isn't an issue for me. There's one herb that's supposed to help with the exact type of pain my mother has…but it has a risk of aggravating another issue she has, so my mother even refuses to try it.
Which is fine. I'm just back to the drawing board for both of them. Better to be safe than sorry.
And that's the detail that makes me a bit nervous about infographics: They rarely point out the potential problems, and some people take whatever they see in an infographic as gospel. That's worrisome, to me.
But infographics are still useful, and this one seems designed to mostly cover things you probably have in the cabinet. Do you have any others to share?
Do you have a story of unexpected herb effect? An opinion on my experiences or recipe? A question on herbs as medicine? Something you want to hear about making? Ask! I'm not the only person I know who does this kitchen remedy stuff, so if I don't know or make that item, someone else I knows probably does.
—M
