Miracle tree, for real

We have moringa (kalamungay) trees growing everywhere in Hawaii. I had one that was so big that I cut it down to the ground over a year ago and it still produced stem shoots that I hacked off. And now I have another stem shoot working its way up and out. Filipinos use it in cooking and I have tried it in salads and soups but never really paid attention to it.

David Wong is the owner of Mountain View Farms in Waianae and pal Wandaful sent me a link to an interview that Anne Lee of the Star Advertiser’s Dining Out section did with him. Blew my socks off.

Imagine not using pesticides, herbicides or bringing in enhanced soil products to grow healthy vegetables by stimulating the natural microbiomes in the soil. I love his farm with his huge stumps of old moringa that produce useable shoots that are dried and encapsulated. I love how he takes care to produce oil from the seeds that can be used orally and/or topically. I am ordering a bottle for a dear friend who has cancer because it may work when conventional medicines will not. I will keep a bottle for myself because it may help my skin issues (dark sunspots, dry spots) and also arthritis in my hands. I will make a more concerted effort to incorporate the leaves into my diet. After all, it is free and nature’s gift to our well being.

As a side note, David was diagnosed with late stage lung cancer in 2014. Instead of doing the conventional cut/burn/poison treatments, he went to Korea instead. Diet was one of the key factors in him being cancer free to this day. He takes 2 capsules of moringa morning and evening, and a dropperful of the oil at night under his tongue.

I have tons of seeds from the poor hacked up never-say-die stump if anyone wants to start a plant. Moringa plants can grow super tall and now I am thinking to plant a row of them against my back fence to block out that terrible monster house apartment that totally took away my previously charming view with 120+ linear feet of roofline, windows, and walls.

I am knee deep in research to improve my soil using the Korean Natural Farming (KNF) protocols that David Wong adopted. I will be posting about that journey as time goes on. It starts with undercooked rice buried under leaves.

Wish me luck!

My new back view, thanks to a 2 story duplex a scant 5 feet from our fence. This monster extends out to double the length shown, blocking out the view of 3 existing homes.

How to make Black Garlic

Black Garlic is the latest addition to my daily arsenal. Yasumi Gojo of Healing Seitai gave me a few heads of black garlic and asked me to try them. Her husband made them in an old rice cooker and she was sharing it with her clients. Some of them reported better blood pressure and better health. Pal Ryuko who is in the beginning stages of Parkinson’s says it makes her feel stronger. I think that it is making my grey hair black again!

I began to eat one clove a day in the morning and increased to 3 cloves a day. I do like the taste of garlic and the only difficult part of it is peeling the paper off – but it is easy enough to do.

Yasumi taught me how to make this great health supplement with a rice cooker, and I now make my own black garlic with a lot of extra to share.

The recipe

  • Peel off most of the paper from each head of garlic (actually, this step is not necessary). I use the Christopher Ranch bag of raw garlic from Costco because it is grown in California. I can fit about 18 heads of garlic in the 5 cup rice cooker.
  • Lay down a layer of wooden chopsticks or popsicle sticks on the bottom of the rice pot so the garlic is not resting on metal. Cover the sticks with a paper towel, then pile in the garlic heads. Try to keep the garlic away from the side of the pot so it doesn’t burn. Cover the pile of garlic with another paper towel.
  • Close the lid, plug in the rice cooker, and set it on “warm”. Leave the rice cooker on warm for 10 days. The smell is quite strong during the first few days so I keep it in the garage. Unplug the cooker and remove the bulbs when cool enough to handle.

And that’s it! I store the blackened bulbs in a bowl on my kitchen counter and peel and eat 3 cloves every morning. When my supply starts to get small, I start a new batch in the rice cooker. Actually, I am constantly making batches of black garlic because I like to share with others who are interested and may have some issues that it could help, just as Yasumi Gojo shared with me.

Costco also sells black garlic. I like the bottle it comes in, and each bulb has only one round clove in it! However, it is rather pricey and it is also from China. Pal Wandaful said she looked up “black garlic from China” and didn’t like how sketchy their practices are with bleach and questionable fertilizers.

I think that I am having more benefits from taking black garlic than my hair getting darker, but I can’t say for sure. It is a natural remedy that has and entourage effect. I just learned about that while researching the benefits of CBD and cannabis. It is the effect on one’s body that doesn’t just treat one thing. It treats everything.

And for that, I am more than willing to have garlic breath in the morning until I brush my teeth. And since we still wear face masks, nobody really notices anyway.

Masks to help us all

Pal Jalna shared a video about wearing masks – presented by a young girl in the Czech Republic.

Aunty must admit to going on errands and not wearing a mask but after getting coughed on by a clueless girl who didn’t heed the 6 feet apart rule and was coughing without regard, I started wearing a mask and spraying my hands with sanitizer each time I touched something outside of the house.

Then, after watching this video, I will always wear a mask when I go out. Not just for my sake, but for all of us. Then we can get back to normal sooner, with an appreciation for what normal is (was).

Here is a video done by a surgeon teaching us how to make a mask: https://www.drstreicher.com/dr-streicher-blog/2020/3/a-surgeon-sewing-a-surgical-mask

Here is one that Kay of Musings shared and liked:  https://www.craftpassion.com/face-mask-sewing-pattern/ This one looks rather easy (the 1st one by Dr. Streicher is the easiest) but when you click on your pattern choice, do NOT click on anything that looks like a green box with “START” on it.  This will take you to another place – it is a link to an advertiser.  I don’t like that, but the patterns are good.

And here is another one that Kay shared and liked better because of the fit: https://www.unitypoint.org/filesimages/COVID-19/UnityPointHealth-OlsonMask-Instructions.pdf

Here is a no sew mask with a large handkerchief and 2 hair ties: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBVtkX0yJ4Y&feature=youtu.be  Very easy and actually brilliant!  This version and the first version with Dr. Streicher was shared by our president of the Hawaii Stitchery and Fibre Arts Guild.  Mahalo, Aileen!

Best wishes to all, and may the force be with you!

Hand Sanitizer recipe and virus update

Aunty’s Seattle based daughter sent an easy hand sanitizer recipe that she and her chemist PhD pal (Marcy Kang) made.

8 ounces (1 cup) of 91% Isopropyl Alcohol

2 ounces of distilled water

10 drops of your favorite essential oil

Mix in a bowl, pour into 2 oz. spray bottles and label them. (makes 4 bottles)

Easy!  Right?  Well, with this coronavirus craze going on, finding isopropyl alcohol was very difficult because most stores were sold out.  The only place I could find it was at the Pillbox Pharmacy in Kaimuki.  It was much more expensive there and I also ended up buying a pint of their awesome Oregon strawberry ice cream but both, imo, were well worth it.  You could use the more normal 60% isopropyl alcohol but it won’t evaporate as quickly.

How did it turn out?  Quite nice, with a strong alcohol after smell, which is rather comforting in this day of coronavirus paranoia.

Speaking of which

Dr. Edwin Endo sent an email about this virus and what to do.

Here is the text:

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT – A simple but good to know guide on Coronavirus

1. If you have a runny nose and sputum, you have a common cold

2. Coronavirus pneumonia is a dry cough with no runny nose.

3. This new virus is not heat-resistant and will be killed by a temperature of just 26/27 degrees (82-85*F). It hates the Sun.

4. If someone sneezes with it, it takes about 10 feet before it drops to the ground and is no longer airborne.

5. If it drops on a metal surface it will live for at least 12 hours – so if you come into contact with any metal surface – wash your hands as soon as you can with a bacterial soap.

6. On fabric it can survive for 6-12 hours. normal laundry detergent will kill it.

7. Drinking warm water is effective for all viruses. Try not to drink liquids with ice.

8. Wash your hands frequently as the virus can only live on your hands for 5-10 minutes, but – a lot can happen during that time – you can rub your eyes, pick your nose unwittingly and so on.

9. You should also gargle as a prevention. A simple solution of salt in warm water will suffice.

10. Can’t emphasize enough – drink plenty of water!

THE SYMPTOMS

1. It will first infect the throat, so you’ll have a sore throat lasting 3/4 days 2. The virus then blends into a nasal fluid that enters the trachea and then the lungs, causing pneumonia. This takes about 5/6 days further.

3. With the pneumonia comes high fever and difficulty in breathing.

4. The nasal congestion is not like the normal kind. You feel like you’re drowning. It’s imperative you then seek immediate attention.

Overkill and hype

It is better to be overly cautious but keeping our hands off of our face and clean are the 2 best ways to stop this virus from invading us.  In this day and age of internet news and reports, we sometimes have too much information and this can spread fear and survival behavior out of perspective.

Financially, it is killing the stock market and will affect Hawaii as a tourist destination, which will hurt us for a while.  We can’t do much about that but we won’t run out of toilet paper and water.

A year from now we will look back and breathe a sigh of relief.  For now, please keep on washing hands and don’t panic.

Like an Ohmmmmmmmm, for your lungs

Aunty is not a doctor of medicine so this is not medical advice.  Aunty must say that as a disclaimer, and also because Aunty sometimes tries weird (and wonderful) stuff.

Decades ago, in my twenties,  I attended a workshop on iridology (the study of the eyes) from the renown Dr. Bernard Jensen.  He stressed diet (you are what you eat), herbs and healthy lifestyles, attitudes and choices.

He did not like the choices of the traditional medical doctors which were dominated with 2 therapies – drugs and surgery.  He, and Dr. Richard Schulz (HerbDoc.com) were constantly criticized for their radical and risky therapies of nutrition, cleansing and herbal remedies.  Their retort was to ask: what is more radical and risky:   a) cutting or interchanging parts out of the body and/or bombarding the body with chemicals that have the ability to blast through and destroy cells and systems; or b) clean out and flush toxins from the colon and other body parts and then use natural plants and herbs to aid in the healing process?

Choices

Aunty feels that the main difference in modern vs alternative (sometimes referred to as pseudoscientific) medicine is that modern medicine treats the symptoms and the subsequent side effects and natural alternative medicine treats the causes.  To be a believer in alternative medicine, one must also believe that the body is capable of healing itself.

This is not to say that Aunty does not believe in modern medicine at all.  Because of the dedication, research, and the leaps and bounds of medical discoveries, modern medicine helps and is sometimes the reason we live long and well.  It’s also faster – take a pill and your headache goes away, put a stent in your arteries and your blood flows again, get a pace maker and your heart beats the way it should.

It is also the standard of choice for most people, and an easy way out.  Going the all natural route of diet or cleansing, changing one’s lifestyle and actually exercising and revamping attitudes takes a lot of effort, and it goes against the mainstream way of life, subjecting the ones who do the “radical” naturopathic route to ridicule and condemnation sometimes, “Oh yeah, so-and-so didn’t believe in going to a regular doctor, did only natural stuff and he died.”  A question to ask then is, has anyone ever died due to the intervention of modern medicine?  Drug overdose, mistakes and misdiagnosis, surgical errors, etc.?

It doesn’t hurt

So, in a roundabout way, Aunty comes back to the “Ohmmmmmmmmm” of this subject, for this “self healing of lungs” is neither naturopathic or modern medicine.  It’s other realm kind of stuff from Master Sha.  Whether or not you believe him to be a healer or not, this leap of faith into a different kind of exercise may make you a believer in your self, and your body’s power to heal.

Basically, it is: Sitting up straight, contracting the perinium (down there, ahem), placing a hand over the lower chakra (just below the belly button) and the other hand over the lungs, imagining golden light while chanting “Compassion”.  It sounds weird but very do-able.  Aunty’s doctors will probably not think much of it, but if it works for even one person, the weirdness is worth it.  Greater lung capacity and removing blockages is a good thing, right?

This Normal Aunty still goes to the doctor and sometimes (but not always) takes his advice.  Naturopathic Aunty takes nutritional supplements and herbal formulas for elimination (tmo, lol).  Weird Aunty is always looking at other methods for cures and maintenance of good health and wellness, because Aunty believes there is so much more that we do not yet understand until we search or take notice of what is revealed.

And thus, I share, for truly, I wish you good health, great lungs, and a long and prosperous happy life.

Your normally weird Aunty

 

 

What to do for a cold

Aunty rarely gets sick.  It could be because she reaches for Congaplex by Standard Process Labs at the first hint of a sore throat, sniffles, or being around others who are sick.

However, this time, with no Congaplex in sight, this cold that started as a slight sore throat became a cough with a fatigued body.  Yuck!

*Update alert!  Ever hear of the hydrogen peroxide trick?  3 drops in your ear, for 10 minutes.  It cackles and crunches in the ear.  Then, remove with a qtip.  Supposedly works 80% of the time to kick out beginning colds and flu!

So Aunty is staying home (couldn’t testify about Monster Houses today, boohoo) and away from air conditioning and drinking lots of warm liquids.  Here is what Aunty is doing, and feeling better.

Oil of Oregano

Oil of Oregano was recommended by Jini of ListentoYourGut.com.  This stuff can burn the lips, so it is important to do as instructed – load up dropperful, tilt back head, insert into open mouth and squirt in.  Close mouth and swallow.  Let this sit in the throat.  It WILL be hot but manageable.  Then, drink water.  Oil of Oregano absolutely kills any bacterial infection and works very well for flu/strep throat and sinus issues.

Stop Eating

There was a saying, “Feed a cold, starve a fever” but Aunty believes in not eating when sick.  Perhaps a little bit of rice and chicken noodle soup.  A bit of crackers.  Nothing greasy or sugary.  By doing this, the digestive system of your body gets a break and you also stay out of the kitchen and stop spreading germs.

Drinking liquids

Years ago, Dr. Bernard Jensen (renown iridologist) taught us about a drink for fasting or while sick.

Maple syrup, 1-2 TSP

Fresh squeezed lemon juice to taste

Dash of cayenne pepper

Hot water

This is actually very delicious and has enough calories to give you energy.   Aunty made a big bottle of it and took it to class yesterday.

Vicks Vapor Rub and Air Detox

Peppermint and eucalyptus oils have such wonderful smell, and Aunty rubbed Vicks Vapor Rub on her chest and sprayed a paper towel with Dr. Schulze’s Air Detox.  This paper towel is very handy to breathe through as well as use to wipe off common areas of exposure such as door knobs and handles.

Tapping

Something new that Aunty tried, with skepticism is “tapping“.  Here is a video explaining the process of boosting your immune system (so you get well).  It was quite revealing to Aunty – and by golly, it works!  Take a number reading, from 1-10 of how bad you are feeling before, then after.

Load up on vitamins and good stuff

We all know that vitamin C is good for colds, so drink a lot of orange juice or take supplements.  B12 patches also help to give you energy and help you heal faster.  Green tea, clothing that keeps you warm but not hot, socks, and

REST!

Take it easy.  Allow your body to heal itself by not doing what you don’t have to do.  Pamper yourself and you will soon be well.

SLEEP….

This is probably one of the most important tips when sick.  When we sleep at night, the body’s immune system kicks in and the healing begins.

Unfortunately, it is very hard to sleep when battling a cold that keeps us up at night and makes us so terribly uncomfortable.  Aunty would toss and turn and watch the clock.  Finally after a couple of nights of poor sleep, she went out and picked lemon balm leaves that grows like a weed, poured hot water over the leaves, and drank the tea before bedtime.  It really helped to calm and aid in a good night’s sleep, and then the real healing began.

Not sure about taking sleep aids such as sleeping pills or cough syrup with codeine.  To each their own and now Aunty will take better care of her lemon balm bush that she would whack at to get rid of.

Aunty’s Quite Wonderful Broken Bones

ToshiSee this cute little doggie?  His name is Toshi.  He is our daughter’s 7 year old Sheltie, and he is dangerous for old ladies who try to keep up with his running while walking on uneven Kaimuki streets.  That is how Aunty tripped, flew forward, and broke 2 bones in her left forearm recently.

As Aunty struggled up, holding her dirty misshaped wrist and battling shock, Toshi was not concerned and of no help.  This dog is far removed from the hero dog that he looks like – Lassie – the problem solving smart dog we all grew up admiring on our black and white TV screens in the “old days.”

Since no one was home, Aunty drove, one handedly to Kahala Urgent Care just before they closed for the night.  The entire staff was sooo nice and efficient, washing and wrapping Aunty’s many wounds, taking an Xray, being seen by a real doctor, putting the entire elbow, forearm and wrist in a splint, and sending Aunty home with discharge info and instructions to see an orthopedic doctor asap the next day.

Not choosing the emergency room

Why didn’t Aunty go to Queen’s emergency instead and have it possibly taken care of in one visit?  Aunty heard that after 6:00 pm, the ER staff is made up of the rookie doctors, because Queen’s is a training hospital.  No rookie (deceivingly known as “resident doctors”) for Aunty.  Also, their triage admission process is agonizingly long and requires sitting, waiting, moving, sitting, waiting, on and on.

Kahala Urgent Care was close by, uncrowded, and they did a great job of stabilizing Aunty’s arm.  It was also SO reasonable in price, HOW do they make money?

Dr. Atkinson and Thelma

thelmaAunty called the first name on the list that Kahala Urgent Care recommended, Dr. Robert Atkinson at Hale Pawa’a Building on Beretania Street, (808) 536-2261.  Thelma answered the phone.  Thelma!  A really nice young woman with an old fashioned name.  We hit it off and Aunty went in that day to see Dr. Atkinson.  Surgery was scheduled for the next day in the same building, on the 6th floor.

The 6th floor was top notch, clean, excellent nursing and operating staff, bright and modern, with a state-of-the-art operating room.  Aunty’s surgery went well, and a good friend took Aunty home to recover with a partial splint and a bandaged arm.  A follow up appointment for a hard cast was scheduled in a week.

Tammy and the Beautiful Cast

tammyAunty’s hand was still swollen and her wounds were still raw and open at her followup appointment so with a gentle suggestion from Aunty’s newest pal Thelma, Dr. Atkinson directed Aunty to see Tammy of the Hawaii Hand & Rehabilitation Services located in an adjacent office on the same floor (so convenient that the Xray room, rehab, casting, and doctor are all on the 7th floor!)

Tammy is a pretty Okinawan looking young woman who really knows her stuff.  See her picture with Aunty?  She followed Aunty’s coaching about angling her body, bending her elbow, and pulling back her face from her ears the way that Jalna shared in her photo shoot tips.  She looks good, yeah?

What impressed Aunty the most was how she “made” Aunty’s HOT pink gorgeous cast out of a flat sheet of plastic, expertly fitting, shaping, cutting, forming and adjusting – into a work of art that Aunty is SO happy to wear!  It is hard, super light weight, easily removable (Aunty was worried that she would get itchy in a regular hard cast), and comfortable.

Tammy went through a worksheet of hand exercises to speed along recovery and mobility.

Aunty is ready to hit the town

Aunty is going stir crazy at home as well as watching the weeds in her garden laugh and grow. Aunty’s wounds are almost healed with the application of Anti-Infection that kills ALL bacteria on contact but can cause screeching pain at first.  Aunty has also been on her BEMER machine (a future post) and using its infrared light attachment directly over the largest wound.

These therapies and the excellent care that the above fine professionals have provided, along with the help and food from friends and family have made this latest journey of a broken arm quite wonderful.

Aunty has cancelled some of her previously scheduled commitments, is taking it easy, and has a really good reason for not working at projects that have been put off anyway.

Life is good, even with a broken arm.

 

 

 

4-7-8 Breathing exercise for life, and magnets

breathingAunty first heard about this 4-7-8 breathing exercise from Kay of Musings.  This supposedly helps you fall asleep, and so Aunty, on the few occasions when it was hard to fall asleep at night, would breathe in, hold, and exhale continuously, and find herself becoming light headed – but still wide awake.

Then, a link in one of Dr. Mercola‘s articles was to Dr. Andrew Weil’s instructional video on only doing 4 breath cycles at a time, once or twice a day, and NOT as many as one is able to do.  This cycle of 4 originated in India and has health benefits of anxiety relief, lowering blood pressure (one of Aunty’s new health concerns), and can give one a refreshing boost as well as ease of falling asleep.

Here’s Dr. Andrew Weil explaining how to do this exercise:

Actually, Aunty did put her digital blood pressure cuff on while doing this breathing exercise and it DID result in a nicer lower blood pressure reading!

Aunty will be starting this practice daily. Sometimes while sitting on the toilet in the morning since nothing else is going on at that time.  *It seems like Kay of Musings and Aunty are on the same info plane because just yesterday, Kay posted about blowing while constipated.  What a coincidence, and SO worth a try!

Another practice (unrelated to toilet habits) that Aunty believes in is magnet therapy.  Kay has trigger finger and Aunty suggested she use magnets to help heal the area around her joints.  Sometimes Aunty grabs a business card magnet – those freebie things that come in the mail or are attached to phone books when they are first delivered – and lays it on the area of pain.  For Aunty, this is usually her neck and/or shoulders.  Perhaps it is her imagination, but it almost feels like the pain is lifted away.

In any case, these are 2 free methods of wellness that Aunty wanted to share with you today.  If anyone wants Aunty’s 4-7-8 breathing magnet as well as 3 other of her magnets, please email Aunty (aunty@hawaii.rr.com) with your U.S mailing address and Aunty will gladly mail out a set of her 4 magnets.  You can use these magnets as reminders on your refrigerator or file cabinet, or for temporary magnet therapy.

Wishing you peace, happiness, and wellness!

magnets