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

out and to relax and nurture yourself.

Stop Sneezes and Sniffles and Stifle a Cold @ 53

Twelve Months

Once in a small village in Russia lived Mariushka,

a delightful young girl. After her mother died, her

father married an evil woman. The woman did not love her

new stepdaughter, Mariushka, and forced her to be a slave to her and to her daughter.

On a frosty January day, icy trees stood amidst other snowy shapes. Animals hid in their dens, not daring to show their noses outside. Meanwhile a wicked and jealous woman thought of tedious tasks meant to tire Mariushka so she would lose her freshness and not be more beautiful than her lackluster daughter.

The old woman ordered Mariushka to go into the forest and pick snowdrops for her daughter’s birthday the next day. Mariushka reminded her that snowdrops bloom in March not January. The stepmother persisted,

“Go to the forest and find these flowers under the ground. If you do not find them, do not come home.”

Mariushka went crying into the bitterly cold forest where the strong northern wind blew and a snowstorm ensued. Mariushka trudged into a clearing where 12 young and old men stood royally dressed in rich blue and gold clothing. They were surprised to see the tiny girl, dressed shabbily in a thin coat full of holes. Mariushka told them her sad story. The men were filled with compassion. The oldest man struck the ground with his cane and cast a spell. At once the coldest month of January ran away. The second man did the same, and February disappeared instantly. The third man raised his cane and warmth spread throughout the air; the sun appeared and the gray sky turned bright blue. As each man took his turn, each month’s passing hastened the seasons along. Milky, tender flowers bloomed throughout the meadow. The 12 men smiled and said, “Take as much as you can carry home. We did for you what we could, and we hope that your stepmother will be happy now.”

The poor girl, laden with snowdrops, ran back to her stepmother, sure that the vile-mannered woman would be amazed by her accomplishment. However, the stepmother appeared unimpressed, and Mariushka, 54 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

suffering from a cold she had caught in the woods, was left alone to nurse herself back to health.

Fortunately she understood the powers of healing herbs and became well overnight. Amazed that Mariushka had recovered

so quickly, her stepmother begged her to teach her about herbs and stopped placing impossible demands

upon her.

Nature knows best how to rid the body of toxins

When you get a cold, Mother Nature will help you cleanse and purify your body. Allow your body’s defenses to restore it to health. Do not disturb the process. Whenever my sister and I were young and caught a cold, Mama prescribed fasting. And, of course, we were to adhere to the following rules: r 1. Put yourself (or your children) in a warm bed.

R 2. Go without food, including fruits and fruit juices.

r 3. Drink distiled water with honey and lemon and herbal teas. r 4. Keep your bedroom refreshed and inviting.

r 5. Refrain from reading, watching TV, or listening to the radio. r 6. Keep talking to a minimum.

r 7. Sleep as much as you can and relax during this cleansing process. Stop Sneezes and Sniffles and Stifle a Cold @ 55

I call treating a cold “cleaning house.” Treatment usually lasts from one week to 10 days, regardless of the medicine you take. By following the simple methods that I mentioned above, it sometimes took my sister and me only three days to recover. Those days of relaxation and isolation restored our health and happiness (as Bernard Shaw said in Back to Methuselah, “I enjoy convalescence. It is what makes the illness worthwhile.”) Most importantly we did not put any over-the-counter drugs into our body.

I used these simple remedies with my sons when we lived in southeastern Europe. The weather, with the exception of summer, was cold, windy, rainy, and snowy. My oldest son was a member of a professional water polo team. He began playing when he was in first grade and played year-round in an outdoor pool with heated water. Water polo players often suffer from nose and ear ailments and my son was no exception. He would get a stuffy nose and otitis–ear infections. I used the magic phrase, “Go without food” with him many times. Fasting always helped to hasten his recovery.

Try the following infusions to rid the body of toxins.

r 8. Place one tablespoon of dried raspberries in eight ounces of boiling water. Steep for 20 minutes. Filter and drink one cup of hot raspberry tea twice daily—once before you go to bed.

r 9. Combine one teaspoon dried raspberries and one teaspoon peppermint flowers with one cup boiling water in a glass jar. Cover with a lid and steep for 20 minutes. Filter and drink one cup of hot tea before bedtime as a diaphoretic medicine.

r 10. This folk recipe original y cal ed for coltsfoot herb, which has been used at least for 2,500 years as an effective demulcent and expectorant. Coltsfoot contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which may be toxic to the liver, but these alkaloids are largely destroyed when boiled to