A BETTER WAY TO HEAL

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Throughout southern California and the Southwest, there are tens of thousands of carob trees, mostly along streets and in parks. The brown leathery pods ripen from September through February.

Cough and Sore Throat

Oil of eucalyptus is an active ingredient in many cough medicines, and eucalyptus trees are extremely common. You can simply pick a few eucalyptus leaves, make a hot tea by infusion, and drink it. The flavors of the various types of eucalypti differ, so you might smell around until you find one you like. This tea relieves symptoms of most breathing and respiratory ailments.

Cuts and Bruises

When you get a few minor cuts and scratches while doing work, do you reach for that tube of creamy stuff and rub it over your wounds? There's something better. You could just pinch off a bit of an aloe vera plant, break open the leaf, and spread that gel directly onto the cuts. Aloe has been used for centuries for such medicinal applications. Aloe is easy to grow in pots or in the garden, and is widely available at nurseries. Even the best bottled aloe preparations are not as good as the fresh plant.

Cheating Cholesterol

You have high cholesterol, and there are a number of things your doctor has told you to do: Cut out salts, fatty and oily foods, stop smoking, eliminate alcohol, exercise more, and lose some weight. Did you know that numerous studies have shown that including garlic and onions in your diet can reduce your cholesterol level? We don't normally think of garlic and onions as "medicine," but they have a variety of proven or reputed medical properties, and the lowering of cholesterol levels is perhaps the most documented. In this case, you simply eat your garlic and onions-ideally, raw when possible-in order to receive the beneficial qualities.

Another good way to lower cholesterol levels is to include foods in your diet that are high in omega-3 fatty acids. In 1986, two biochemists (Norman Salem, Jr., with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in Bethesda, Maryland, and Artemis Simopoulos of the American Association for World Health in Washington, D.C.) discovered that a common weed, purslane, is the richest leafy-plant source of omega-3 fatty acids. And purslane is such a common weed, worldwide, that you shouldn't need to plant it-you may just need to look for it. It is common in rose beds. To take advantage of purslane's benefits, you simply eat it in salads, or cook it in soups, stews, vegetable dishes, etc.

Headache

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