I was reading an article from the Associated Press. Poor man’s Gatorade saves Bangladeshi kids. The ingredients are, according to the article, “A pinch of salt. A fistful of sugar. A half liter of water.”  This simple mix saves the lives of children who come down with diarrhea. In the United States, we probably can’t quite wrap our minds around dying from such a mundane ailment as this, but it is fact and Bangladeshi moms pass down the recipe from generation to generation.

Because of this article, I flew back a few years into my first child’s babyhood. One day, due to his having a high fever, I called my brother, who lived a block away and who was also a fireman/paramedic, to ask him to pick up some things at the nearby health food store. On the list was an “all natural” performance drink. He dutifully bought that, but also included apple juice in the bag. He had determined, by reading the labels, that apple juice had far more of the needed electrolytes than the performance drinks. I’ve remembered this ever since.

When my kids were very little, they never drank pure juice, I always watered it at least ½ way. It was far more refreshing for them, especially since we live in Florida and were usually at our lumber mill all day long in those days. Little did I know how perfect this recipe really was.  I thought it might be interesting to look up some information on this subject and typed in “electrolytes in apple juice” as a Google search. There it was, “Rob Declares War on Gatorade.” Yahooie Louie.   It’s true!  The blue stuff (orange, green, yellow, purple, red) just isn’t all it’s made out to be! You might like to take a peek for yourself, so click here.

Then I checked out the videos available for the same Google search and found one telling about how apple juice is good for enhancing memory.  Something about its preventing loss of the essential neurotransmitter, acetylcholine.  Hmm.  A word I can pronounce.  So, maybe I can understand the information too!  Let’s see.

Yes, sounds very sensible.  An apple a day… we can make sure to add one for our kids and ourselves…keeps the doctor away.

Flickr Creative Commons image credit:   svacher

However!  I can’t stand the thought of our skin absorbing that stuff.  So, I keep a little bowl of extra virgin olive oil out on the counter and dip into that every little while.  I also use some of my coconut oil if I happen to be having some for breakfast or lunch.  These natural, healing, plant oils are so much better for us.

I always think of Sophia Loren and the story I heard years ago of her practically drinking olive oil and bathing in it.  I always admired her youthful looks and didn’t much care if it was the truth or not.  Now I just hope it is.

Some use the olive oil on their babies skin and it is great for gently removing cradle cap (cradle crap as one of my younger siblings used to say).  Ever used olive oil soap?  Very soothing.

Here’s a video to help with some of your questions.  Turn off the music in my sidebar if you haven’t already.

I absolutely love virgin coconut oil.  The flavor is awesome and the oil is soothing.  I don’t cook with it, yet, but I do use it on my skin and on my bread.  Mixed with a dribble of honey and spread on toast in the morning is a delightful experience.

This is something I’m going to try next.

No, really, it’s Aloe Vera, here to save the day!

We have aloe growing in pots around the side yard and have always used it for sunburns as well as injury burns.  What a smelly sap it has!  Yuk!  But we suffer through the smell because we know how soothing the cool gel is and how wonderfully fast it relieves the burn pain and peeling, and insights rapid healing.  Really, really, really.  For us it does!  Even though we keep our plants outside, they grow very well inside and enjoy an arid climate.  Aloe Vera is a succulent and stores moisture in its leaves.  The plumper, the better for our purpose.

Has anyone out there drunk the aloe juice available from the health food stores?  I just got a small bottle and can tell you it is far worse tasting than the smell of the fresh plant sap!  But it’s good for us, right?  I surely hope so.  Why is it that we have the old saying, “If it tastes good, it must be bad for us?”  That means, “If it tastes bad, it must be good for us.”  That can’t be a rule of thumb, no way.  I’ve heard that the fresh sap tastes better, but haven’t tried it yet.  I think I will ’cause I don’t know how I’m gonna make myself buy anymore from the store.

So, back to using aloe plants for burns…

Pick ( I use a paring knife) the outer leaves only, leaving the inner ones to continue growing.  Wash them if a faucet is handy, but it is not necessary.  Sometimes the outer edges will have short spines that can rub and irritate the burn while wiping the sap onto the skin, so you might like to shave those off with the knife blade before application.  With the knife’s tip, slice into one of the outer edges, cutting deeply, almost to the other side, filleting the leaf open like wings.  Then simply wipe the juice onto the skin by holding the leaf as a cloth and applying in strokes.  Use as many as your plant can afford to give up yet still continue growing.

Now, my plants are very delicate little things with white spots on them and very understated spiny edges.  Here is a video about how a commercial grower does the filleting of each leaf by hand, extracting only the insides and leaving the outer skin to discard.  I could not do that with my finer strain of plant, they are simply too small.

I suggest, before using Aloe Vera yourself, you do a bunch of research online and make a decision as to what product and what method you could benefit from.  Happy peeling!

A note I’ve found while reading:
“Aloe (aloe barbadensis – not aloe vera!), may cause bladder and kidney damage.” from Kombucha: the miracle fungus By Harald Tietze

Here’s a cute link. not in English, but I love the little video that plays.  Watch to the end to see who gets the Floradix!

Also, the product labels in the health food stores here are red, not green.

Yet another fine way to encourage healing and boost energy for our bodies!

Have you ever heard that you need to drink water after an energy session?  This is why -  we want to make it very easy for energy to flow within us and to allow our bodies to more expediently heal themselves.  Here is a reminder to everyone. Please drink about 6-8 glasses of water a day.

Of course, that’s like saying the speed limit on the curve is 35 mph. We all think that is an underestimate and that the DOT is playing psych games with us. We know we can probably do 10 mph over the estimate and not run off the road…..right? Gosh, I’ve never let that out into the daylight before. Teehee. The sign does remind us to slow down and that we should heed the speed limit if we want to live. So, even if we get close to drinking that number of glasses a day, it’s better than too little water.

Really, we need to remind ourselves to drink “plenty”, not too much and not too little, of water. Some even think that we eat because we mistakenly think we are hungry when we are really just thirsty. Learn to watch for signals that you are not adequately hydrated. These might be things like, I’m not thinking clearly, I’m tired, my urine is dark, my skin is dry, I’m becoming constipated….

By drinking water, we can feel as upbeat as this Youtube video looks and sounds!