Why Slippery Elm?

Healing / Herbs / Maintenance / Strong Body

Many people have asked why I substitute cornstarch in my bath bombs recipes with Slippery elm. After all, it makes the bath bomb a funny color and a bit misshapen. Here’s why.

One of my most favorite herbal remedies is Slippery Elm or Ulmus rubra. This little tree bark packs a healing punch like no other. It’s demulcent properties hydrate, cool, and heal everything it touches. Imagine a warm bath that hydrates, reduces swelling, and heals your skin as you soak.  That is the “why” of all herbal remedies. Maximum improvement through small changes.

So, I’ll take the funny color along with a little misshapen bath bombs to have them work double and triple duty and make you the best you can be.

Other great things about Slippery Elm/ Ulmus Rubra

It is nutritive and a great source of nutrition for convalescence. Slippery Elm is a great survival food. It treats sore throats, bronchitis, or even voice over use. It heals stomach and colon inflammation, it used to treat colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, colic, dysentery. Again, it heals everything it comes in contact with.

Marshmallow root is a good substitute for Slippery Elm in a pinch.

Is Laughter Truly the Best Medicine?

Healing / Maintenance / Preservation / Sound Mind / Strong Body / Therapeutic

It is said that Hippocrates prescribed laughter to his patients in 4 B.C.E. Was he on to something or was he a fraud?

How Laughter Helps

Actually, modern research agrees with Hippocrates. Researchers have been studying this since the 1970’s, but it really gained traction in the early 80s  when writer Norman Cousins cured himself of ankylosing spondylitis with vitamins and laughter. In the mid 80’s a study by Dillon, Minchoff and Baker (1985) found laughter increased antibodies that fight infection. Du Pre’s 1998 study indicated laughter increased the disease-fighting killer cells and lowered blood pressure.

Further research shows that those who scored high on a sense of humor scale also score high on optimism and self-esteem measures that results in quicker recovery, increased stress coping abilities, enhanced immune function, and reduced pain experience (Friedler 2010, Lefcourt 2002). In some cases, all you need to do is think about laughing to accrue these benefits (Berk, Berk, and Tan 2008).

Conclusion

So, is laughter the best medicine? It increases antibodies and enhances the body’s immune functions, lowers blood pressure and stress, speeds recovery,  reduces pain, and according to Cousins, cures incurable diseases. — That’s a resounding YES.

 

5 Tips on Goal Setting for Well-Being

Preservation / Sound Mind

Goals are extremely important to our sense of well-being. But, not just any goals, research has shown goals with certain characteristics are achieved easier and help make us happy. Here’s the skinny on goal setting for a high completion rate and max benefit.

  1. Make goals that have personal meaning to you.
  2. Make goals that align with your beliefs or value structure.
  3. Goals that focus on helping others bring more satisfaction and higher completion rates than self-serving goals.
  4. Approach goals are easier to achieve and give more sense of fulfillment than avoidance goals. For instance, I want to meditate every day (approach) is more attainable than I want to cut sugar out of my diet (avoidance).
  5. Highly abstract goals work well for long range goals but concrete goals work best for short range.

Remember, making progress toward goals brings a higher sense of well-being than achieving the goal. Or as Denzel Washington’s character said in The Equalizer, “Progress not perfection.”

Alzheimer’s Disease from a Neurological Perspective

Sound Mind / Therapeutic

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the number one neurological disease in America and is the most common form of dementia.  The side effects of this disease are devastating to the patient, the family and the community where they reside. This paper investigates 3 new treatments for AD, TMS with cognitive training, deep brain stimulation, and insulin therapy. All show signs of slowing the progression of AD but insulin therapy has the most promise because it is non-invasive, has better results and less time consuming than the other therapies.

Continue reading“Alzheimer’s Disease from a Neurological Perspective”

Anorexia Nervosa- media glamorization

Preservation / Sound Mind / Therapeutic

The major objections noted include concerns about glamorizing and glorifying eating disorders, as well as teaching “tips and tricks” for weight loss and hiding behaviors from treatment providers. Psychology Today rips Netflix new video regarding anorexia nervosa.  Thanks to Psychology Today for pointing out the foibles of this movie – as …

How to Stay Hydrated Like a Pro All Summer | Family Living | laramieboomerang.com

Healing / Maintenance / Strong Body

While most people know that water is critical for your health, what you may not know is that water makes up about 55 to 65 percent of your body. Many may be surprised to know that losing only four percent of your body weight — roughly the equivalent of riding …

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