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

of nettle, agrimony, strawberry leaves, and heartsease into an enamel pot with one quart of boiling water. Steep overnight in a preheated but cooling oven. In the morning filter and warm the mixture. Drink one cup three times a day. This herbal mixture is an effective healer of al ergic rash and pimples. It is an excel ent cleanser, especial y in food intolerance which provokes different diseases where a blood purifier is needed such as digestive upsets, kidney il nesses, childhood anemia, congestion, skin rashes, urinary infections, and respiratory problems. r 38. Duckweed nastoyka (infusion) is used to treat almost al alergic conditions, especial y skin rashes and swel ing of a nervous origin. Wash fresh duckweed plant. Put one teaspoon in a glass jar. Add 50 ml (two ounces) vodka. Seal the jar and store in a cool place for seven days. Stir occasional y. Filter into a pitcher. With your fingers press the mixture through cheesecloth to extract more liquid. Then pour the strained liquid into a pre-washed dark glass bottle. Use a funnel if necessary. Pour 15-20 drops of tincture into two ounces of water and take three times a day. Any part of the plant can be used in nastoykas with vodka. This method offers two benefits:

a.) Al active ingredients are extracted.

b)Vodka is a natural preservative, so nastoyka/tincture can be used for two years, if stored in a cool place.

102 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

Ailments: allergic rhinitis, nasal mucus, sneezing, hay fever, conjunctivitis, allergic asthma, provoked by

plants; trees; flowers pollens; hay, street, house, and bookshelf dust; or animal hair.

Remedies:

r 39. Make or buy fresh birch juice and drink it for one month as a substitute for water or tea.

r 40. Mary’s Root powder. Wash a dry peony root. Dry, and grind it to a powder. Take three tablespoons a day 30 minutes before a meal. This effectively treats al ergic rhinitis because the root’s bark is a good antibacterial and it can be used to heal more complicated il nesses such as abscesses, skin inflammations, eczema, liver disorders, and nervous conditions. This powder (1½ tablespoons a day) can be used to treat children with a strong al ergic rhinitis. This condition can be ful y treated in three to five days if peony powder is taken regularly as prescribed. If a child doesn’t like the taste of this powder, mix it with cherry or apricot preserves and offer it with a cup of hot water, sweetened with honey.

r 41. Place one tablespoon of Greater celandine aerial parts in a large glass jar. Add two glasses of boiling water. Let steep for three hours. Take two to four ounces twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. This herb is an anti-inflammatory, diuretic and cleanser, and a liver stimulant. Avoid in pregnancy. r 42. Grind to a powder burdock and dandelion roots. Mix wel and place two tablespoons of the mixture into a glass jar. Add 24

ounces of cold boiled water and steep overnight. In the morning boil the liquid for 10 minutes and steep for an additional 10

minutes. Drink four ounces four to five times a day before any meal and before you go to bed.

A Sickness of the 21st Century @ 103

r 43. Grind dried duckweed to a powder. Mix it with honey in equal proportions. Take two grams of the mixture twice a day.

r 44. You can make an effective natural medicine from the blossoms of the Self-Heal (Prunel a vulgaris) plant. Dry the plant in the sun and grind the blossoms to a powder. Take one tablespoon three times a day with hot tea.

r 45. Make Self-Heal nastoyka. Combine one tablespoon of Self-Heal powder with eight ounces of boiling water. Steep for three to five minutes and drink hot.

r 46. Combine one tablespoon chamomile flowers in a glass jar with eight ounces boiling water. Step for 10 minutes. Take one tablespoon four times a day. r 47. Combine one tablespoon of calendula (pot marigold) with four ounces boiling water. Steep for one hour. Take one tablespoon three times a day.

r 48. Combine one tablespoon of peppermint leaves with four ounces of boiling water. Steep for 20 minutes. Take one tablespoon three times a day.

r 49. Combine two tablespoons of nettle with two cups boiling water. Steep for two hours. Drink two ounces four times a day before meals.

104 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

Ailments: allergic dermatitis, hay fever, nettle rash Remedies:

r 50. Two remedies were used to treat these conditions in our family. Grandma made her nastoyka Black Knight to treat skin problems. Put one teaspoon crushed black currant leaves in a teapot and pour two cups boiling water over the leaves. Let it infuse for four hours and then strain through a nylon sieve into a pitcher. Store in a cool place. Add a wedge of fresh lemon and take ½ cup four times a day.

Eat plenty of fresh gooseberries. The medicinal properties of these berries are very effective in the treatment of skin problems, because they contain vitamins A, B, C and bioflavonoids which help to improve circulation and strengthen the capil aries to free the skin of al ergic reactions.

r 51. Rinse throat with herbal infusions, using valerian root to calm the nervous system. Combine one teaspoon of valerian root with two cups boiling water. Steep for 10 minutes. Rinse the throat once a day in the evening. Keep the remaining infusion in the refrigerator up to three days but no longer.

r 52. Make infusion with motherwort herb. Use the same method of preparation as in #51.

r 53. Take a shower