Mama's Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health and the Pleasures of Natural Livin, Svetlana Konnikova [classic fiction .TXT] 📗

and vital energy. Grandma was looking at the blue expanse of morning sky and said, “It’s Ampel who sent this miracle, the stork, to us. Look at the sky. It will remind you that you live in this wonderful world, you are healthy and happy, and you should be always grateful for that.”

It always surprised me how my tiny, old, and loving Grandma had an amazing ability, even in sad stories like Ampel, always to see something good and happy. I guess she looked very often to the sky. You may think this a strange thought, but it is not so strange after all. Ancient people said that if you look at the sky for a short time, especially in the morning, it will dispel evil from you. It is as if by meditating on the sky that

you cleanse yourself of all negative thoughts and

wrong actions.

Dried grapes—raisins—are included as a

main ingredient in the treatment of seriously ill

people and those recovering from surgery. They

help them to overcome weakness and fatigue and

gain renewed energy, which they lost fighting the disease. Raisins help also those feeling down or exhausted due to changes in weather conditions.

46 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

r 37. Mix seven ounces each of raisins, dried apricots, and dried prunes. Chop in a food processor. Chop 25–30 smal walnuts and mix them wel with the dried fruit. Your natural medicine is ready to eat. Put it into a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid and keep in the refrigerator. Take one ful tablespoon a day and drink eight ounces low-fat buttermilk or kefir. This mixture strengthens your immune system to sustain any infections and brings a good supply of energy. You can give one ful teaspoon of this mixture to your child recovering from a cold or flu, along with ½ cup of low-fat buttermilk or kefir.

High-calorie raisins are a good, nutritious product and are very effective as a diuretic, to eliminate gall-stones, to enrich the blood, and to rejuvenate your body. Raisins are especially good for people suffering from arrhythmia and heart weakness.

r 38. Make ½ cup strong Indian, Ceylon, or Earl Grey black tea. Add one teaspoon honey. Mix wel and pour ½ cup fresh grape juice into the tea. One cup of this tea-grape juice drink is a good natural healer for such difficult conditions as intestinal or stomach disorders and dysentery. r 39. If you suffer from bronchitis or bronchial asthma, go in June to the Napa Val ey in California or another vineyard. Walk there for at least one hour and breathe in the smel of smal , delicate green flowers of the blossoming grapevines. Eat one cluster of green table seedless grapes a day and you’l feel better. My favorite is so-cal ed “Lady’s Fingers” because the berries have an elongated, oval form like long, graceful women’s fingers.

In our supermarkets I have found good brands from organic vineyards suppliers.

You can also drink one glass of white natural grape juice. A Healthy Spirit Lives in a Healthy Body @ 47

Warning:

r 40. Gather fresh grape leaves.

Wash them well and dry outAbnormal uterine

doors under the sun. Then beat or mill

bleeding is a serious

the leaves in a mortar to make a powcondition. Seek medical der. Take one to two teaspoons with

one cup warm water to stop uterine

attention first.

bleeding.

Nastoykas (special y prepared liquors, infusions, and decoctions made with grape leaves, can treat skin disorders, according to Tibetan medicine.

r 41. Wash 10–15 grape leaves and put them in a pot with two cups boiling water. Boil for 10 minutes. Then leave to infuse for 15

minutes. Warm up again, if needed. Soak a towel in this infusion and use as a compress or wash irritated skin with it.

r 42. Make vegetarian grape golubtsi or “grape leaves.” This is the most enjoyable way to treat yourself with a nutritious and healthy meal.

r 43. Make a healthy grape compote or “Rainbow berries,” which is also one of our family recipes. Wash two to three bunches black grapes. Put them in a pot with four cups cold spring water. Bring to a boil. Cook 10 minutes. Mix in one tablespoon sugar, honey, or fructose. Put a smal bunch of grapes in a tal , wide, clear glass jar and pour grape concoction over it. This nutritious dessert tastes yummy and it looks very attractive with a grape cluster

“swimming” inside. Enjoy!

48 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

Here is my grandma’s recipe:

Prepare 30–40 young grape leaves; two tablespoons olive oil, corn oil, or butter; two onions; 10–12 baby carrots; one parsley root; ½ cup uncooked rice, two tablespoons tomato puree or three freshly cubed tomatoes; ½ cup lemon juice; ½ cup sour cream; one cup chicken broth; one cup tomato juice, two teaspoons sugar or honey; one teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon black pepper; one teaspoon fresh dill; and one tablespoon fresh parsley. Pour boiling water on the