Natural Home Remedies

There are lots of home remedies we can use for minor ailments.  Here are a few I wanted to share:

• Olive Oil for Eczema: Olive Oil is packed with natural anti-inflammatory antioxidants that when rubbed directly on skin can help moisturize.
• Milk to Help You Sleep:  Your mother was right!  Warm low-fat milk before bed can help you relax.  Milk contains tryptophan, an amino acid that can help you to relax.  Just like the after Thanksgiving Slumber.
• Ginger for Stomach Aches: Boil a few pieces of fresh ginger root in water, strain and drink like a tea.  It is a natural way to relieve stomach aches, morning sickness, and motion sickness.
• Soy for Hot Flashes: Soy contains isoflavones - plant based compounds that have natural estrogen like activity.  Some research suggests (and also my Dr.) that soy may help maintain hormone balance during menopause.
• Lemons for Detox: Add lemon juice to your water first thing in the morning for a natural way to detox your liver.  Also considered a diuretic, lemons are  thought to aid in urinay tract infections and to flush out bad toxins in the body.

More Benefits of Flax (Especially for those of us who are post-menopausal)

An article in Women's Health (July/August 2009) I read gave me more great news about the benefits of flax.

Flax has more lignans (a unique group of phytochemicals (plant chemicals) known as phytoestrogens, estrogen-like compounds that also act as antioxidants) than any other food. This is good because the estrogenlike compounds help reduce appetite and help shrink fat cells.

When you are post-menopausal your bodies estrogen production drops 40 or 60 percent. Eating a diet rich in healthy foods (and regular light to moderate exercise like walking) can improve your health and over all well being. By including more soy and flax in the diet as well as eating a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, seeds, nuts, and healthy oils, and decreasing animal fat intake, you can help work thru the regular symptoms of menopause and also improve you overall sense of well-being.

You can buy flax seed at most grocery stores. Great ways to get more flax in your diet is to sprinkle it on cereal or oatmeal, add it to your yogurt or smoothies. Also look for the ingredient in multigrain bread and cereals. Kashi has several choices of cereal containing flax (Honey Almond Flax Cereal).

These estrogen like compounds are also found in sesame seeds, hummus, and dried fruits.

More Disease Fighting Foods

There is some controversy surrounding soy products. For the most part I have always heard that soy is good for you. As someone who had "surgical menopause" and does not take Hormone Replacement Therapy, soy products were recommended to me by my doctor due to the natural estrogens found in soy to help with symptoms related to menopause. I drink soy milk, eat tofu, and eat snack bars that contain soy. I think along with regular exercise, a healthy diet, good sleep habits, and having soy in my diet, I have not had any symptoms from menopause that would require me to resort to medication. It's not the same for everyone but it has worked for me.

There is fairly strong evidence that soy plays a part in heart protection and helps to lower cholesterol. The isoflavones, naturally occurring plant compounds found in soy, show some of the same characteristics as human hormones, and may help protect against breast and colon cancer, may ease menopausal symptoms, reduce risk of heart disease, and improve bone health.

The negative comments I have read about soy surround not eating soy if you have estrogen related breast cancer.

But most of the articles I have read consider soy a "Super Food" and recommend including it in your diet for the added benefits of heart protection, cancer protection, and relief of menopausal symptoms.