Welcome to Alternative Health Tips

Foods To Help Hair Growth

Foods that help give you extra Biotin in your diet ( a nutrient essential to healthy hair) include brewer´s yeast, brown rice, bulgur wheat, green peas, lentils, oats, soybeans, sunflower seeds, and walnuts. Incorporate them into your daily diet and help your hair stay thick and healthy!

Eliminate Stinky Feet With Tea

If smelly feet are a problem, wash your feet daily with anitbacterial soap and wear ONLY cotton socks. Dust feet with cornstarch and sprinkle some into your shoes. It´s also advisable to soak you feet daily in either white vinegar or in a mixture of black tea. Brew 2 tea bags in a pint of boiling water for 15 minutes, then add tea to 2 quarts of cool water and soak for about 20 minutes. It may take a week or so but great improvement generally occurs by doing this.

Power Of Chili Peppers!

According to a list compiled in Smart Guide To Healing Food, the nutritional powers of chili peppers:
*Lower cholesterol
*Help prevent blood clots
*Improve Circulation
*May help prevent heart disease
*May reduce cancer risk
*Act as decongestants - even for those suffering breathing problems from emphysema
*And strange as it may sound - may HELP prevent ulcers!

Is Kelp A Helper For Dieting?

Kelp is a sea vegetable that is a concentrated source of minerals, including iodine, potassium, magnesium, calcium and iron. It assists in making thyroid hormones, which are necessary for maintaining normal metabolism in all cells of the body. A good amount to take ranges between 1,000 to 1,500 mg daily, which can aid in weight loss.

Types of Fasts

Some specific fasts have been utilized for helping specific problems, and these include the Guelpa Fast - a 3-day saline fast, often used to address rheumatic conditions; the Schroth Cure - also used for treating rheumatism, but this fast alternates "dry" days with liquids over a period of two to three weeks.

What Herbs Help Hangovers?

Herbs that help ease the discomfort of a hangover include White Willow (Nature´s aspirin) and Skullcap and Ginseng, which cool your overheated gastric juices, energize the nervous system and detoxify. But if you really want to take care of business, Milk Thistle is the king of liver toxifying herbs.

Water & Your Liver

Water is vital to your health because it assists the body in metabolizing stored fat. This is important because your liver can get overtaxed when your kidneys don´t get enough water. Your liver metabolizes fat and it can´t do that at its maximum potential if it has the added responsibility of the kidneys´ job of filtering out toxins.

Dehydration & Kidney Stress

Dehydration poses the GREATEST threat to the health of your kidneys and the process of blood purification in your body. This rates as THE most common type of stress we inflict on our kidneys, which are ready and waiting to take on the task of ridding our body of toxins. IF you are feeling thirsty you are ALREADY dehydrated, so make it a point to drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water every day - and more if you are working out or perspiring excessively.

Herbs For Bad Breath

A few steps can help alleviate bad breath and these can be something as simple as chewing some parsley, cilantro or basil during the day or after a meal. These little green sprigs are extremely rich in chlorophyll, which works wonders against nasty breath odors. Breath-aid can also be gotten from herbs, including rosemary, ginger, eucalyptus, cardamon, spearmint, or peppermint. These herbs are all rich in cineole, a strong antibacterial antiseptic. Thyme is another helpful herb due to its content of thymol, another antibacterial property.

Making Your Tootsies Toasty

The spices in your cupboard can tickle your tastebuds but they can also be used to warm up cold feet. Just combine 1 tablespoon of cayenne powder and 1 teaspoon of ginger powder - mix together and sprinkle 1/8 teaspoon into a pair of socks - and slide your chilled piggies inside. The combination of muscle-warming cayenne and muscle-relaxing ginger works wonders to ease your tired feet, whether you´re kicking back and relaxing, sleeping or walking around. It is a gradual warming but lasts for a few hours. This powder combo does stain so use dark socks or socks that are expendable. Also, if you have any cuts, this powder can really sting. Keep away from your eyes also, and wash your hands thoroughly after touching mixture.

Herbs To Treat Canker Sores

Burdock is an outstanding blood cleanser that helps clear the kidneys of excess waste, which is a common cause of canker sores. Burdock is available in tincture form and recommended intake is between 30 to 60 drops (mixed in a small amount of water) three to four times per day. Other helpful herbs include Goldenseal, also available in tincture form. Use 20 to 90 drops three times a day.

Cupping Treatment

Cupping, the use of small rounded cups made of bamboo, pottery or glass, has been used by the Chinese as a form of treatment since the third century B.C. A match is lit and held inside the "cup" and then the match is removed and the cup is quickly applied to the skin, creating a vacuum of sorts which makes the cup stick tightly to the skin. The cups are usually left on the body for about 15 minutes during which time they actually increase circulation & blood flow to the specific area being treated. Conditions that respond well to cupping include rheumatism, stiff neck, lumbago, and shoulder ailments.

Water & Constipation

If your intestines don´t have the proper amount of water in them to function properly, constipation is a common side effect. Adequate water intake helps relieve constipation, easily and naturally. The magic number is eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day.

Water & Its Benefits

Water has many more benefits than simply quenching your thirst. Here´s just a sampling of WHY water is so VERY important to your health.*It helps suppress appetite and helps maintain proper muscle tone.
*Reduces fat deposits in the body and rids the body of waste and toxins *Water intake helps reduce sodium buildup in the body, a VERY good thing for helping blood pressure stay at healthy levels.

Pitta, Kapha & Vata

The terms Pitta, Kapha & Vata may sound more like the names of fraternities, but they are actually terms associated with Ayurvedic medicine. Pitta is the force of heat & energy (linked with the sun) that controls digestion & all biochemical processes within us. Kapha (the force of water & tides) is influenced by the power of the moon & is the stabilizing influence that controls the fluid metabolism with us. While, Vata (associated with the wind) is the force that controls movement & the functioning of the nervous system in the body.

What´s Chi or Qi?

Chi (pronounced chee) or qi is the vital energy life force the Chinese believe to be the basis of all life. Chi circulates through the body through 14 major energetic pathways called meridians. Most of these meridians connect to one major internal organ, with the power then enabling the organ to function correctly. We cannot see meridians with our eyes but modern science has shown their existence through the use of electronic measures. Acupuncture treatments make use of these meridians.

Tame That Toothache

Toothache making your life miserable? Then break out some clove oil (available at all health food stores) - and douse the tip of a cotton swab with the oil and dab onto the aching tooth. You should begin feeling some relief almost immediately. Clove oil is extremely effective because it is an antibacterial, an antiseptic and an analgesic. It is also VERY powerful so avoid getting too much extra on your gums as this may irritate them.