gloria, I too gave up diet sodas awhile back. I now drink club soda but add blueberry or pomegranate concentrate and maybe a little liquid stevia...very tastey and a much healthier way to get that carbonation fix...LOL
Medicinal Herbs
Sounds great. I am using club soda to make the ginger ale.
Where there is a will there is a way!
Good suggestions on carbonated drinks. The blueberry sounds good. grape sounds good too.
Aspartame has been linked to several problems. Which i can't remember now but can always tell the difference after i quit drinking coke awhile.
Gloria, i know people who never have health problems too.
Mine all seem to be auto immune related. Some just being linked to auto immune disease.
That poor woman with the schizophrenia. They fixate on a hallicanation (SP) and to them it is so very real and nothing can convince them otherwise. Their world is a constant nightmare. I knew a woman that beleived her tv was telling her to kill herself. She eventually did.
Wineaux, where do you get your liquid stevia? An herbal store? I tried growing some once and making my own. It turned into a green mess. LOL
Vickie
Too much sugar is really bad for the body, so I try to use as little as I can. Sometimes add a little Splenda to my tea, but I don't really want to get into that much either...mostly very small amounts of sugar. For the most part, I really can't stand really sweet things now. I use cereal from a health food store to avoid the sugary cereals that grocery stores sell and it tastes so much better to me than the "regular" cereals. But sodas are a very hard addiction to get rid of...still working on that. I crave the colas.
The idea of tumors cured me of colas. I was drinking them all day long. One 2 L bottle after another.
My main replacement is green tea.
cando1, I mix 1 part soda water/club soda and 1 part juice all the time; I think even the 100% Juices are a bit syrupy so it makes it easier for me to drink. I also like that it makes it into sparkling juice. If it’s 100% juice it’s about the healthiest thing you can drink.
Aspartame is evil stuff; I’ll take calories over Aspartame any day.
LindaTX8, I’m a complete cola addict, but I’ve found that I can avoid it if I try by drinking the afore mentioned drink or Ice Tea mix; homemade ice tea would be a healthier option, but I’m lazy and it’s so nice to be able to just grab a spoon of mix and a cup of water.
cando, I buy liquid stevia at the grocery store and I know the health stores carry it...you could also go on line. One bottle will last you forever, a little goes a long way.
Thanks zhinu, I'm going to get some soda or club soda next time i go to town. I should drink more cranberry juice,think i'll try that combo and grape.
Have you ever tried making ice tea with just hot tap water and let it steep like sun tea for an hour or so? Thats my easy way.
wineaux,Thanks i know my grocery store does'nt have it. Will try health food store. I need to look around and see what all they have anyway.
Vickie
I do brew tea and drink iced tea (part herbal, part regular tea) or water. One or two sodas, that's all I might drink a day. I'd like to give it up entirely.
cando1, I've made sun tea and I've made instant tea/hot chocolate/cider with hot tap water, but never hot tea made in hot tap water.
Just a note on tea antioxidants: green tea and black tea are loaded with antioxidants - cancer fighters, age fighters. But the health benefits are highest if you drink the freshly brewed tea within the first ten minutes. They fade away after that. So the green tea formulas are not the health dynamo that a fresh cup of tea can be.
I gave up diet soda a LONG time ago; too many headaches and skin problems (which went away when I gave them up). I LOVE my Dr. Pepper, but disciplined myself and stopped drinking soda altogether and dropped 7 pounds. I still have the occasional DP but what has saved me is my iced tea maker. I make herbal teas -- vanilla rooibos and Celestial Seasonings blueberry are my favorites -- and they quench thirst SO much better. No sugar coating that you have to take another swallow to get rid of. I still crave the carbonation occasionally, but I'm honestly getting to where I prefer the tea. Not actual tea -- even though I'm southern born and bred, I've never been able to acquire a taste for tea. (I know, I'll be drummed out of the belles for saying that.)
Most people eat such a narrow range of foods and drinks also.
Its just a habit to masticate yourself into obesity. I just lost 30 pounds myself, but it was because of salmonella poisoning.
But now I have to learn to eat like a 30 pounds less person. There is a big change in my larder! and a lot less lard on me.
I hadn't heard about drinking the tea immediately. But I have heard that stale tea isn't good...it's best used within 3 months after harvest. Has anyone thought about growing some real tea themselves? I have mint, lemon grass and things like that. But would like to grow a little real tea. What do you think?
http://southwestblend.com/Home_Pet_Garden/tea_plants.htm
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/606/
Here is a DG article on home grown teas.
And here is my article on camellias. The real tea plant is a type of camellia - so if you can grow camellias - you can grow tea.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/359/
I think the tea you buy though is fermented.
This message was edited Oct 17, 2008 11:35 AM
My understanding is that black tea is fermented.
Cando1, your kidney (lack of) doesn't cause the kidney stones. DH has 35% of one kidney only and never had stones. And, I have never heard of Coke/diet Coke causing them either. There can be many causes. We have two friends that get repetitive stones. One had his parathyroid gland removed to great success. It was causing excessive calcium in his system and producing the kidney stones. The other one had his stones tested and they determined excessive proteins were the cause. For him, a change in diet was enough.
So now the AMA is pushing vitamin D supplements. Dr suggested them and I got to reading on it before I bought into it. I found this info "If you are taking a vitamin D supplement, drink the equivalent of 6 to 8 glasses of water a day to help prevent a possibility of kidney stones. It is thought that kidney stones may be prevented by avoiding dehydration."
Sounds like the medical field is generating their own business. I said no to the D supps. I spend at least 15 minutes daily in the sun with 40% of body exposed (well maybe not that much ~ lol) to sun. I do drink that much water but why trigger a chance for kidney stones!
Not a 'tea' drinker here. Only herbals and I love the blueberry or mandarin orange spice chilled as a iced tea also. The diet sodas produce too much gas for my liking. Although I must say I can get addicted to carbonation but have sworn off on sodas. That is one quick way to drop some pounds! The carbonated juices do sound good. Although some can't digest sugar, I prefer the few calories in a tsp of sugar to the chemicals like aspartame.
The darker the urine - the more water you need .
Every time I pee , I drink a glass of water . We have 2 glasses of water in bath room . 1 for me 1 for wife .
We keep 2 bottles of water in car and generally replace one every day .
aspartame. It is in everything. I even found it in a container of yogurt. Pod I agree with you - even a half tsp of sugar - like organic cane sugar or honey will sweeten whatever you want. But that is all you need. Some people can't taste sugar and they use it by the 1/2 cup measure.
Can't stay healthy that way. That much sugar throws off the whole body chemistry.
If you get local honey to use as sweetener it'll also help with allergies.
I have consumed volumes of local honey for that reason. It works for me however the sources for local honey have dried up. Lack of bees, and in the spring we had a massive amount of rain that destroyed my bee mans' hives by washing them away. If DH wasn't so nervous around the bees, I'd consider keeping some myself.
I drink a kidney cleansing tea for four weeks, at least once a year. The tea contains the following herbs:
Marjoram, Cat's Claw, Comfrey Root, Chicory Root, Fennel Seed, Goldenrod, Gravel Root, Hydrangea Root, Marshmallow Root, Uva Ursi.
They are soaked overnight, then simmered into a decoction for 15-20 minutes. I drink a cup and a half of this in small increments throughout the day, away from meals. The first day I tried this tea, I thought it would be a penance to get through 4 weeks of it. By the end of the second day, I was craving it. After a week, I had felt a squeezing motion in my back in the location of the kidneys. This was followed by a sensation of pressure moving down my back in the area of the ureters. It was not painful, just different and interesting. The herbs in this tea (developed by Andreas Moritz) soften any kidney stones and calcifications for release. I'd rather clean out any developing stones gently than have them take me down later.
If you are interested in this tea, I recommend you research each of the ingredients so you understand what they do.
garden-mermaid, I know many of them and will take your advice to do the research on the rest. Do you use equal amounts of each?
marjoram, comfrey root, cat's claw - 1 oz each
all others, 2 oz each
Present moment sells 1 recipe of the tea already mixed:
http://presentmoment.com/product_info.php?cPath=16&products_id=4941&osCsid=f35a6b9ffcfef6ce93a7459a1ff9ed36
Heavens, miss a day and get really behind.
Laura,I tried making hot tea one time from hot tap water. Was lukewarm yuk.
Gloria,You know you're sick when you lose 30lbs. I only lost 15lbs when i was in the hosp for kidney stones in April.
It took a week to find the stone,lodged in the opening of the ureter and kidney. And i had waited a week before i went to the ER. It was a mess and i was badly dehydrated. Did i say i hated DR,s,hosps, etc.
Im proud of you for keeping off the weight.Go girl!!
Thanks podster, i seem to only get stones in this one kidney despite what the professionals says or so my Dr. says. It is somehow geneticle(SP) flawed and thats where the stones form.
My thyroid is not functionally good either, as well as other glandular organs.(The autoimmune disease.)These stones are calcium crystals.
I passed another one two days ago.
Love those herbal teas espically in the winter.Have you tried any of the Bigelow teas. I bought the Perfect Peach
not long ago. I like it even if it has some artifical flavoring. It's mostly real thing.
I've always loved camamille and this year only one plant came up after 10 yrs of growing wild.Will have to replant next year. I grow most of my herbs for tea.
Podster,I've been reading about the Vit.D research too and like you dismissed it. Seems much better to get a little sun. The sun helps with depression and recent study suggests with memory too. Had you seen that the AMA is backing off the sunscreen theory too. We still have a good supply of local honey. Something else comman sense says is good for you.
gardenmerm,I'd like to look into those herbs too. I already know most of them.
Have a good day all,
Vickie
2:32 am? You need some of that chamomille tea! LOL Have tried some of the Bigelow teas but not their peach. Their apple spice has way more cinnamon than my throat likes!
I am a skeptic when the AMA or DRs recommend anything! and always question why...
At least our GP is receptive to vities, minerals and herbs. He is fairly knowlegeable as I asked him about Bilberry and he was familiar with it. Amazing as it is not as common.
The industries have "hooked" us on sunscreen and now want us to experience vitamin D -- by paying for it. Think about it.
No, I'm NOT a conspiracy theorist. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not...
I usually search if I have a question about something recommended and look for the original studies. At least you can read the abstract if not the whole thing.
Vit. D is important, but skin cancer is no fun either. I worked outside in the Al/Tenn/Missisippi and S. Carolina sunshine for 12 years - sometimes through the winter. I wore a big hat and big white men's shirts from the local thrift store (they had been used by welders and had ventilation holes in them).
I don't have skin cancer - at least not yet anyway - and Ive never used sunscreen.
I've had one case of skin cancer. In very sunny parts of the country, it's extremely common. The sunlight is now more intense than ever because of the harm done to the earth's atmosphere. The dermatologists here see skin cancer cases all the time. I also have Osteopenia, a form of pre-Osteoporosis. My bones are a bit brittle. So I take my medication for that and a calcium citrate type supplement.
I see so many women in the south working in their yards in shorts and scanty halter tops. I wonder what is the percentage that wind up with skin cancer.
It really is not that much trouble to wear a hat and long sleeves -- something breezy.
A few years ago I talked to an eye doctor who works in St. Thomas. He said the incidence of eye damage - from the sun is rampant there - and in facts increases the further south you go.
I wear transition lenses to protect my eyes. Sunglasses with uv screening work as well but you have to wear them.
The Southern sun is something to protect yourself from -- eyes and skin. Especially with global warming - the effect is increased.
gloria, I like your form of sunscreen. Something rebels in me at the thought of covering my body in chemicals. I do occasionally use sunscreen if I know I’m going to be in a situation where I will get sunburned if I don’t wear something, like if I go swimming, but generally I just try not to be in the sun too much and cover as much as is reasonably possible when I am going to be in the sun for awhile. I get a couple random sunburns, usually from being in the car or in and out a lot on a hot sunny day, but it’s maybe 3 a year and not bad ones.
One of the major sources of damage is the arm that's out the window for drivers.
The car windows are shaded but they don't screen uv rays.
Big hat, big shirt gets my vote! It takes very little sunlight to get our D requirements.
How much sunlight we need to get our vitamin D requirements will vary with lattitude and skin colour. It's still better to cover up rather than use the sunscreens when possible. Many of the chemical sunscreens have proven to be carcinogenic in themselves. A few researchers think a large part of the dramatic increase in skin cancers are linked to the increased use of chemical sunscreen!
Well, I didn't use sunscreen before I got skin cancer. The dermatologist said that light-skinned, blue-eyed people are the most at risk for skin cancer. And that too much exposure of the skin to too much UV radiation (UVR) over the years was the cause. Texas is a very high UVR state. The most dangerous time for high UVR exposure is when you are young...but of course, any time in your life counts. I've seen pictures of special clothing to block UVR. But honestly, it makes my skin crawl to even think about wearing them in the high heat and humidity that we deal with often. Only clothes with very tight woven cloth (like denim) and covering a LOT of skin are considered to really block a very high percentage of UVR. So I try to limit my time being outside during the high-UVR 10 a.m. to 4 p.m time period. And I do use sunscreen sometimes and wear as much clothes as I can stand in the heat...which isn't a whole LOT of clothing when temperatures are really high, to be honest.
Oh, and I have a little shade thingy on the side window of my truck when I drive.
This message was edited Oct 21, 2008 5:20 PM
I wore oversized white cotton shirts - men's dress shirts when I worked out side. The guys wore blue chambray shirts.
The light weight cotton that has been washed 100 times is very cool in the heat.
The space between skin and fabric makes for a cool breeze -- if there is a breeze at all.
I agree loose light colored clothes are best. What did our grandparents and on back wear? Mostly light colored clothes worn loosely in most areas of skin. At least in the south.Don't forget the widebrim hats and parasols.
Gloria,What period did you do your Archeology studies in? What a facisinating career? Liked your story on Camillias too. I love to read yall so keep feeding me tidbits to look at.
I've never had skin cancer but then i'm medium complected and not so prone to sunburn although i've had it some. Aloa vera is good for mild to moderate sunburn. I try to get some sun in the winter for depression and vit.D. As i get older i understand why old people injoy the sunshine. It's warm and it just feels good.
Laura, i rebel at the thought of putting chemicals all over my skin too.
Bridgetlilly, I'm not a conspiracy theorist either.LOL b-U-T I do think some men will do just about anything for money?
Vickie
Cando1: I am light-skinned with pale blue eyes so Im pretty susceptable to sun damage. Archeology was in the 1970-80s - mostly along the Tennessee and Tombigbee Rivers. I love writing. So glad you liked the camellia article.
Actually, the research favors dark clothing for blocking UVR. Dark very tight-woven clothing like denim or other thick cloth. I think anything that keeps you cooler tends to block less light.
Certain foods can prevent sun damage also. Foods with vitamins C and E.
Vitimin A repairs sun damage.
http://nutritiondiva.quickanddirtytips.com/Foods-that-prevent-sunburn.aspx