What Can You Do With Leftover Lemon Peels?

 

Lemons are bright, refreshing and smell divine. They have a huge number of benefits for health, hair and skin too. But did you know lemon peels are nutritional powerhouses? Lemon Peels contain a spectrum of vitamins, minerals and fiber (calcium, potassium, and vitamin C) that can give you a nutritional boost. Here are a number of ways you could make use of your leftover lemon peels. 

Amazing uses of Lemon Peels:

1. Lemon Olive Oil: Firstly, zest some of your peel and use or freeze it for later use. Next, add one cup of olive oil to three cups of your lemon zest to give your olive oil a nice lemon flavour. Let the mixture set for two weeks before straining it (to remove the peel bits) and use the oil with a new makeover!

2. Lemon Ice cubes: Give your drinks a new twist by adding lemon ice cubes! Just add some lemon zest to your ice cubes and let the flavor release into your drink when the cubes melt. You could also add long strips of the peel to your ice cubes.

3. Trash Can Odor Remover: Throw a few lemon peels at the bottom of your can. This will help absorb all the odor and keep your can smelling fresh.

4. Microwave cleaner: Throw in a few lemon peels into a microwave-safe bowl and fill it with water. Heat the bowl on high for about 5 minutes, and let the steam do its job. It will stick to the walls of the microwave, and after a quick wipe down with a towel, your microwave will be squeaky clean.

5. Get Rid of Ants: Yes, lemon peels can also be great ant repellents. Throw some peels by the crack of a door, or any small spaces where ants can enter into your home. If you’re having problems with ants in your kitchen because of the sugar, add some peel to your sugar jar as well.

6. Skin Brightening scrub: You could use the lemon peel to brighten your skin and make it smoother. You would need epsom salts and lemon infused oil for the same.

7. Vitamin C powder: Cut the peels into small squares and place them on a clean cloth. Leave them in the sun for a few days , and once they’re completely dried, add them to a coffee grinder to turn them into powder.  You can add a teaspoon to a smoothie, or just eat it plain to get filled with a great source of Vitamin C.

8. Cutting board Sanitizer: Lemon’s natural acidity provides great antibacterial properties to home cleaning. After properly cleaning your cutting boards, rub the surface with half a lemon. Let it sit for a couple of minutes before rinsing.

If you’ve come across some more interesting uses of lemon peels, please share in the comments section below.

Edited by Pragya Sharoff

http://www.curejoy.com/content/can-leftover-lemon-peels/

Great Homemade Recipe for Whiten Hands and Feet

https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2015/11/15/21/27/hands-1044882__180.jpg

The skin on your hands and feet requires care if you want them to look nice. There are many night and day creams that promise whitening effect on the skin, but they are often ineffective.

Hands and feet are the most exposed body parts to UV-rays and environmental pollution. The skin on these parts cracks easier and faster. If you have more melanin in your body, your hand and feet skin will have a darker tone than the rest of the body, so in order to prevent uneven darkening, you can try this natural remedy with lemons, which have the ability to lighten skin tone.

Lemons are rich in vitamin C and antioxidants, which lighten the skin tone and stimulate new cell growth. Here’s how to prepare the remedy. 

https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2014/11/09/17/44/foot-523930__180.jpg

Ingredients

Lemon juice

Cucumber juice

Baking soda

Coconut oil

A pinch of turmeric powder

Preparation

Mix all the ingredients to create a paste – the amount you use depends solely on your needs. Mix well until you get a creamy mixture. Apply the paste on your feet and hands and leave it on for 20 minutes, before rinsing with water. Repeat the process for 15 days to see the difference – you can take before and after photos to really see how the paste works.

Tips

You can get a similar paste by mixing lemon and cucumber juice with a pinch of turmeric. The procedure stays the same.

After applying lemon juice on your skin, make sure you avoid sunlight for a few hours, or you will get adverse effects. 

http://naturalremediesforlonglife.com/great-homemade-recipe-for-whiten-hands-and-feet

Have you ever tried to whiten your hands or feet? I do this in a quick way with lemon in my kitchen while squeezing it into a dish or preparing my lemon water. If I stay with a lemon butt in my hand I drive my fingers in it, turn round and then they look pretty whiter. This is a quick remedy after getting coloured by a carrot or beetroot. Baking soda and cucumber do a similar work. 

Fresh vs. Frozen Vegetables: Which one is more Healthy?

The fresh fruits and vegetables are more expensive than frozen. It is difficult to keep them for a long time, though, so many people prefer to eat fresh fruits and vegetables as compare frozen, and the reason is that fresh produce are healthy. Is that true?

It is well known that fruits and vegetables are very healthy, be directly consume at maturity, and the reason is that the nutritional content of the vegetables will be at the top level at the peak of maturity. But health experts say that this may be true only if they are eating vegetables or fruits in season pounds. So it can be frozen for vegetables to be better than fresh vegetables alternative, if they are not dealt with in the normal off-season.

When frozen vegetables are better than fresh

The cases in which frozen vegetables are better than fresh, it is when they are transported long distances before being sold in the markets. Then frozen vegetables are more nutritious. Nutrition experts explain, however, that frozen vegetables are often picked before they ripen, which means they did not get the food content fully.

As well as the transfer of fruits and vegetables long distances, making them lose a lot of food content, for example, lose the fresh spinach half the content of folic acid after eight days, as vitamins and minerals decreases inside the stored incorrectly, and that exposing the high light and heat.

This applies, of course, the fruit also. Nutrition experts say that the qualities of fruits sold in German shops are not quite high, as is often the sale of fruits and vegetables before maturity.

The benefits of frozen foods

And perhaps the most important characteristic of frozen fruits and vegetables is that it is often harvested after maturity, and using hot water is peeled, which helps to kill bacteria and stop some active enzymes that damage the fruits and vegetables quickly. And then it is frozen what helps them keep food contents.

It should be noted that frozen fruits and vegetables much better than canned. The canned vegetables and fruits lose a lot of important nutrients when kept inside tins. Health experts advised to avoid buying frozen fruits and vegetables if they are chopped or crushed, Addressing fruits and vegetables before freezing lose a lot of food, as well as the need to ensure that fruits and vegetables frozen completely free of additives such as salt or butter.

On the other hand, can help buy frozen fruit and vegetables to save money, which is the best option for those who wish to address them in the off-season. With the exception of that fresh fruits and vegetables remain the best, especially if they were purchased from farmers directly after picked immediately, stored away from buying from the sale of food stores.

Posted by: Jodie Jackson, December 4, 2015 in Healthy Food

http://www.ehealthtribune.com/fresh-vs-frozen-vegetables-which-one-is-more-healthy/

Cough Remedies for Kids

Kids have it worse than adults. They go to school or daycare, which seems to be a cesspool of germs, and they bring everything home.(...)

Their immune systems are not yet strong enough to fight off things like that common cold, and while everyone can get it, kids are much more prone. Kids also have a tendency of not thinking about how germs can get transferred from Nancy’s crayon to Timmy’s mouth.(...)

What are some of the remedies that will work for your kids? There are so many cough remedies for kids out there, including over the counter and drugstore types, but what will actually work? According to the National Institutes of Health, kids suffer from about six to ten common colds per year. Unfortunately, there are not medications that will make a child’s cold disappear.

When it comes to the common cold, it is time that heals.

The common cold will last from about seven to ten days and most medications that claim to treat the cold usually only treat its symptoms. (...)

Cough suppressants and decongestants all provide temporary relief that make it easy to breathe and reduce coughing.

Cough Suppressants

Cough suppressants are designed to do just that; suppress the cough. (...) Coughing occurs when mucus builds up and causes a post-nasal drip down the back of the throat. Naturally, the body produces mucus to help trap bacteria from getting into the body’s system. When a child has a cold, his or her mucus can become thicker and make its way through the nose or the back of the throat.

The post-nasal drip will tickle the back of the throat and the natural urge is to cough,(...)  Some cough suppressants work by blocking the cough reflex. For a cough accompanied with phlegm, the best thing to do is get rid of the phlegm. Guaifenesin is a remedy that helps thin the mucus so it comes out much easier.(...)

There are natural cough remedies such as menthol and camphor. These treatments usually come in three forms. The liquid form is used with a vaporizer that will help the child to breathe easier. However with asthma this may not be a good idea. They can also come in the form of an ointment, such as Vicks, which can be rubbed on the chest or even on the feet with socks. If there is an odor free variety that would be best for asthma patients. There is also the lozenge form, which the child can suck on. This method may be the easiest for children as there are flavors that taste like candy and what child doesn’t love that?

Decongestants

The common cold causes the lining of your nose to swell by the blood vessels and tissues becoming larger. This swelling of the nose makes it hard to breathe and the nose becomes congested. (...)

Decongestants come in many forms such as nose drops, nasal sprays, liquids, and tablet. While children may be fearful of swallowing a tablet, liquids are an easy way of getting the medicine to the body.

Home Remedies

There are countless home remedies for the common cold, and chicken soup is one of them. Although the chicken soup itself does not prove to actually cause any physical changes in the body, it tends to have a placebo effect on children which can make them feel better.

(...)Vitamin C can come in the form of vitamin tablets, chewable vitamins, or gummy vitamins for children. It is also in citrus fruits such as oranges and grapefruits, or even in orange juice. When your child has a cough, give them some orange juice and chewable vitamins. They will love the taste, and it can help them feel better sooner. The citrus of lemon mixed with honey is also said to help with sore throats when your child has a cough.

The best way to get rid of a cough soon is through much rest.(...) The body has everything it needs to feel better, but children need to sleep for it to do its work. Use these remedies to promote a more comfortable rest for your child and allow their body to heal itself.

By Pat Bass, MD Asthma Expert

http://asthma.about.com/od/asthmacam/fl/Cough-Remedies-for-Kids.htm

Natural home remedies: Colds and flu

It may be “just a cold,” but it’s nothing to sneeze at. And the flu can make you feel downright drained. Fortunately, fast action on your part—including these simple home remedies for colds and flu—can mitigate the misery

Natural home remedies: colds and flu

Is it a common cold or the flu? If your symptoms are above the neck—congestion, sore throat, sneezing, coughing—you probably have a cold. If you have all those symptoms plus a fever of 38.8˚C (102˚F) or more, headache, muscle aches, extreme fatigue, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting, you’re more likely to have the flu.

What you can do for colds and flu

• For a sore throat remedy  fill a 250 mL glass with warm water, mix in one teaspoon of salt and gargle away. The salt really does soothe the pain.

• Add a squeeze of lemon juice to a glass of warm water for the more traditional sore throat gargle. This creates an acidic environment that’s hostile to bacteria and viruses.

• Chicken soup is a time-honoured remedy that is tried, tested and true.Chicken soup stops certain white blood cells (neutrophils) from congregating and causing inflammation, preventing large amounts of mucus from being produced. The hot soup also thins the mucus. Adding freshly chopped garlic to your soup gives the system a powerful boost. While garlic kills germs outright, it also appears to stimulate the release of natural killer cells, which are part of the immune system’s arsenal of germ-fighters. Spike your soup with red (chili) pepper flakes to increase the broth’s decongestant power.

• Drink as much water as you can—eight or more 250 mL glasses—to keep mucous membranes moist and to help relieve dry eyes and other common flu symptoms. Fluids also help thin mucus so that it’s easier to expel.

• Natural home remedies
• Our best healthy soup recipes
• 9 ways to boost your immunity

• To help keep mucus loose, stay in a moist, warm, well-ventilated room. To keep the air in your bedroom moist, place bowls of water near the air ducts or run a humidifier.

• Cut short your cold with a blow-dryer. As outlandish as it sounds, inhaling heated air may help kill a virus working its way up your nose. Set your hair dryer on warm (not hot), hold it at least 45 cm (18 in) from your face, and breathe in the air through your nose for as long as you can—at least two or three minutes—preferably 20 minutes.

• Wear wet socks to bed. Believe it or not, this soggy strategy can help ease a fever and clear congestion by drawing blood to the feet, which dramatically increases blood circulation. (Blood stagnates in areas of greatest congestion.) Best method: Warm your feet in hot water. Then soak a thin pair of cotton socks in cold water, wring them out and slip them on just before going to bed. Put a pair of dry wool socks over the wet ones. The wet socks should be warm and dry in the morning, and you should feel markedly better.

• Try soaking your feet in a mustard footbath. In a basin, mix 1 tablespoon of mustard powder in 1 L of hot water. The mustard draws blood to your feet, which helps to relieve congestion.

• Another oldie: try a mustard plaster for chest congestion. Grind up three tablespoons of mustard seeds, add water to make a paste, and then slather it on your chest. The pungent aroma helps to unclog stuffy sinuses, while the heat improves blood circulation and eases congestion. Don’t leave the plaster on for more than 15 minutes, however, or your skin may burn. You may want to smear on a bit of petroleum jelly before you apply the plaster to protect the skin.

• Breathe easy with steam. Pour just-boiled water into a large bowl. Drape a towel over the top of your head to trap the steam, and breathe in through your nose for five to 10 minutes. Don’t lower your face too close to the water or you risk scalding your skin or inhaling vapours that are too hot. To make steam inhalations more effective, add five to 10 drops thyme oil or eucalyptus oil to the water. Keep your eyes closed as you breathe in the steam, since both essential oils and steam may irritate your eyes. On the go? Dab a few tissues with eucalyptus oil and hold them under your nose whenever you feel congested.

A natural boost for colds and flu

• At the first hint of a cold, suck on a zinc gluconate lozenge every few hours. Don’t take zinc gluconate longer than a week, though, because excessive zinc can actually weaken immunity. Avoid zinc lozenges that contain citric acid or are sweetened with sorbitol or mannitol; these ingredients seem to weaken the mineral’s effectiveness.

• As soon as you notice cold or flu symptoms, start taking 500 mg of vitamin C four to six times a day. If you develop diarrhea, cut down on the dose.

• Take one 250 mg astragalus capsule, twice daily, until you’re better. This ancient Chinese herb stimulates the immune system and seems to be highly effective at fighting colds and flu. To prevent a relapse, take one capsule twice a day for an additional week after your symptoms are gone.

• Goldenseal stimulates the immune system and has germ-fighting compounds thatcan kill viruses. As soon as you begin to feel sick, take 125 mg five times a day for five days.

• At the first sign of the flu, take 20 to 30 drops of elderberry tincture three or four times daily for three days. Elderberry has been used in Europe for centuries to fight viruses.

• Oscillococcinum, commonly called Oscillo, is widely recommended by naturopaths and herbalists to reduce the severity of flu symptoms. Be sure to use it within 12 to 48 hours of the first appearance of your symptoms. It comes in packages of three to six vials. Buy the three-vial pack and take one vial every six hours.

• A dose of garlic—a natural antiseptic—will do a job on those viruses. If you’re feeling very brave, hold a small clove or a half-clove of garlic in your mouth and breathe the fumes into your throat and lungs. If it gets too strong as the clove softens, just chew if up quickly into smaller pieces and swallow with water.

• For a serious congestion-busting blast, buy fresh horseradish or gingerroot, grate it and eat a small amount. To guard against upset stomach, wait until after a meal to try this.

• Drink a cup of ginger tea. Ginger helps block the production of substances that cause bronchial congestion and stuffiness, and it contains compounds call gingerols, which are natural cough suppressants.

• During cold and flu season, take 20 to 30 drops of Echinacea tincture in half-cup of water three times daily.

Adapted from 1,801 Home Remedies, Reader's Digest

http://www.besthealthmag.ca/best-you/home-remedies/natural-home-remedies-colds-and-flu

The flu may hit one gender harder than the other

NEW YORK -- The next time a guy you know gets the flu, you may want to show him a little more sympathy.

A new study shows that men may be more likely to catch the flu than women and suffer more from the symptoms, CBS New York reports.

That's unfortunate news for many men, since experts say a flu-filled winter could be on the way.

"This year they are predicting that it's going to be a particularly bad year," said Dr. Jake Deutsch, clinical director at CURE Urgent Care, told CBS2's Maurice Dubois. Health officials say this year's flu vaccine is leseffective than usual against certain strains of the virus, leaving many people vulnerable even if they got a flu shot.

Play VIDEO

Why you should still get a flu shot

The study from Stanford University School of Medicine found that the flu vaccine may be more effective in women than in men, and for women who do get the flu, the study found they are better at fighting the virus off.

"Are men less equipped to deal with infection? Technically, yes," Deutsch said.

The reason, according to the study that was conducted on mice, is the female sex hormone estrogen.

"The female mice that produced estrogen produced an enzyme and that enzyme was able to help them fight infection," Deutsch explained.

It may be a simple result of evolution. "There's an idea there that estrogen, which is native to women's endocrine system, is there because part of their role is to be nurturers. They have to take care of not only themselves, but their families," he said.

Some women, however, interpreted the findings a bit differently: as scientific evidence backing up what they already believed, that men are bigger babies when it comes to getting sick.

"They seem to whine more and they seem to want to ride it out longer," one woman told CBS New York.

"They think they don't need help and they don't accept help, and they don't take medicine," another woman said.

Of course, some men disagreed, but Deutsch had to admit he's seen signs of it himself. "Anecdotally, I can say that a lot of times guys are wimpier when it comes to being sick," he said.

The study could eventually help pave the way for new immune-boosting drugs.

"I think there is the possibility of somehow delivering the key elements of estrogen to men in a safe way in order to activate that enzyme," Deutsch said.

Doctors do not recommend that men take estrogen supplements, but they do suggest other ways of boosting immunity, including getting plenty of sleep and vitamin C.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/flu-hits-men-women-one-gender-harder-than-the-other/

Discover the astounding healing properties of clove oil

(NaturalNews)You may be familiar with clove oil used by the dentist. Some of us have used clove oil to self medicate a toothache. Clove oil is an externally applied local antiseptic that numbs on contact. But very few are familiar with a variety of other clove health benefits, which includes combating Candida.

About Cloves

Clove was originally indigenous to the Spice Islands, now known as Moluccas Islands of Indonesia. The largest producer of clove now is Zanzibar along with Pemba, an island that's part of the Zanzibar archipelago.

The evergreen Eugenia arena tree puts most of its punch into the pink flower buds that grow on it. The buds are picked before they fully flower. When the pink buds dry and turn brown, they are ready for market.

The dried buds contain an aromatic oily substance that is the essence of clove's medicinal and culinary properties. It's wise to purchase cloves in their bud forms. Purchased powders may have lost most of their potency by the time you buy and use them. Dried buds hold up to three times as long.

Whenever you want clove as a powder, you can grind the buds in a coffee grinder. When you shop for cloves, pinch the buds with your fingernails. You should get a strong aromatic scent and a slightly oily feel. Choose organic if possible to avoid irradiated clove spices.

Clove's oil is the key for spicing foods and promoting health. Cloves can be used to make teas by putting the buds or powder into hot (not boiling) water. But the biggest health bang for the buck comes from clove essential oil.

Clove Oil

Clove oil is produced by a steam distillation process. So you're probably better off buying the oil rather than trying to make it yourself. Clove oil is available almost anywhere.

Clove oil is an unusually powerful antioxidant. Antioxidant capacity is measure by ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity). Although the dried buds or powders rank highly among anti-oxidants, clove oil is the monster antioxidant.

As an essential oil, clove's ORAC rating soars to over 10 million. Most other antioxidants are rated in the tens of thousands to a maximum of a few hundred thousand at best.

Producing the oil from clove buds concentrates clove's eugenol, the main active ingredient of clove. Eugenol is an anti-inflammatory. Clove's flavonoids also contribute to the high ORAC level of the essential oil.

And clove oil is a great anti-fungal. It's even recommended by many who treat Candida. The oil is also useful for direct applications to outer skin fungi, such as ringworm and athlete's foot.

Nutritional/Medicinal Value

Clove is one of the highest sources of manganese you'll find. Manganese is vital for metabolism, contributes enzymes, promotes bone strength, and also adds to clove's high ORAC antioxidant value.

Magnesium, calcium, vitamins C and K also make strong appearances in clove. Clove is high in fiber also. Omega-3 is in abundance in clove as well as many phytonutrients that enhance the immune system. Clove greatly boosts your humoral immunity, which protects your blood and tissues.

Clove has anti-viral anti-bacterial properties as well. It has been discovered to help prevent adult onset diabetes by tripling insulin levels.

Caveat

Young children and pregnant or nursing women should avoid clove.

Clove oil is very strong. It can cause temporarily uncomfortable problems. Too much can cause manganese toxicity. So the oil should be diluted as a product or used by putting drops into tea.

September 15, 2011 by: Paul Fassa

http://www.naturalnews.com/033579_clove_oil_healing.html#

Aronia berry, 'the healthiest fruit in the world,' hits the High Street

A berry reckoned to be the healthiest fruit in the world will soon be available in Britain's shops for the first time. 

The aronia is a 'superfood', richer in anti-cancer antioxidants than raspberries and more modern imports such as the goji and acai.
It even has three times the level of antioxidants found in blueberries. Now a six-year plan by Marks & Spencer to cultivate the berries in Scotland has come to fruition and they will be in its stores from Monday. 

The plant is native to North America, where early settlers gave it the name 'chokeberry' because it is so sharp when eaten raw. 

The aronia berry – which is similar in appearance to a cranberry – is also said to help ward off heart disease. 

American Indians believed it was a good aphrodisiac. 

The move to grow the plant in the UK will satisfy environmentalists, because it will be more ecologically sound to transport the berries to M&S shops than if they were imported. 

Because it needs damp, mild conditions in which to grow, it is an ideal crop for parts of Scotland. 

The introduction of the aronia berry has also been influenced by Britain's Polish population – it has long been popular in their home country. 

The introduction to shop shelves of the aronia berries will feed the growing demand for 'superfruits'. 

M&S has seen a 40 per cent increase in sales of blueberries in the past year. 

Its berries specialist Emmett Lunny said: 'We are proud to bring one of the healthiest berries to the High Street.'

The berries, which contain high levels of vitamin C, are too tart and sharp to be eaten raw, but are ideal for sauces in summer puddings or on cheesecakes, or blended into juices and smoothies.

The store group will be the first major High Street chain to stock the fruit, which it is selling for £1.99 for a 220g pack. 

The berries are being grown by Thomas Thomson in Blairgowrie, Perthshire.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1050077/Aronia-berry-healthiest-fruit-world-hits-High-Street.html