One of my favorite remedies for healing damaged skin is calendula oil. Calendula is another name for Marigold — the same ones we see commonly in gardens– and when the flowers are infused into an oil base the healing effects can be astonishing.
Calendula oil has anti-oxidents and offers antiseptic and antibacterial properties as well as being anti-inflammatory when applied topically. It helps heal cuts and scrapes and is effective on rashes, eczema, burns, and dry, chapped, or cracked skin.
One of the best uses for calendula oil is for diaper rash, where it works miracles for healing tiny tushes.
Bed sores, rug burns, and even broken or varicose veins will respond to the healing power of calendula. Try applying calendula oil after cosmetic waxing or laser procedures to calm the skin and reduce the inflammation and redness quickly while bringing a sense of relief to the site. As a bonus, it will reduce scarring.
Researchers at the Amala Cancer Research Centre in Amala Nagar, India, published in the Journal of Basic and Clinical Physiology and Pharmacology, Volume 20 2009, that they saw a dramatic increase in the healing speed of skin wounds, concluding: “The data indicate potent wound healing activity of Calendula officinalis extract.”
Calendula oil is a good ingredient in regular skin care formulas for its anti-aging properties and to promote healthy skin.
Personally, I keep a bottle of calendula oil as part of my standard first aid kit and use it instead of Neosporin or other antibacterial cream on minor wounds or burns.
Reader question: Your meals are more “healthy” than my family is used to. Thus, they won’t eat it. Is there a way to make your dishes more MODERATELY healthy while still reaping the benefits of one pot cooking?
Thanks for any advice you can give on adapting your recipes. I saw you on PBS AGES ago.
– Barbara, Denver
I wish I could feign surprise, Barbara, but I’ve heard occasional variations of this lament over the years. Usually it is something along the lines of: “We’re not used to eating so low-fat and are missing it. Why can’t you write a cookbook where your recipes include a stick of butter?”
To which, I answer, “You are welcome to eat whatever you want to eat. You can put whatever you want into your ownGlorious One-Pot Meal — even a stick of butter — when you make it at home, that is part of the beauty of this cooking method, but if you want a cookbook that contains these kinds of recipes, there are lots out there and mine is not one of them. The first titles that come to mind are those of Paula Deen, who famously insists you can’t make anything without a stick of butter. Not to be snarky at all, because I do admire her in many ways, but look where that got her.
Honey and Spice Pork Glorious One-Pot Meal
But, I poised this question to a group of GOPM-lovers recently and here is a sampling of what they said:
— “You gave us the technique, but it is up to us to decide what we put inside the pot. Include things your family already loves, like sausages and potatoes, and then add some things they don’t know they love yet, like vegetables.”
— “Try the Glorious Macaroni and Cheese recipe from the cookbook — it’s got all that gooey cheesy goodness, but is healthier than the mix from a box. My family loves it!”
— “Use fattier cuts of meat and bone-in/skin-on chicken pieces. The resulting sauce will be savory and contain more fat, which gives it more mouth-satisfaction and of course, renders it a little less healthy.”
— “Use your favorite prepared sauces, salad dressings, or marinades. Bottled barbecue sauce does a great turn on meat in a GOPM, for instance. Just because Elizabeth prefers organic brands doesn’t mean you can’t use your own favorite versions.”
All of these are great ideas. A couple more I could add to help ease your family into the GOPM-way of cooking:
— Start with recipes that have sauces, like African Peanut Butter Chicken, Chicken Satay, or Chicken with Savory Port Mushroom Sauce (all found in the Glorious One-Pot Meals cookbook published in 2009).
— Try recipes that use ingredients you already know your your family likes, like Fiesta Steak or Honey and Spice Pork.
— Of course, you can always add butter! I would start with 1-2 tablespoons of butter in a 2-quart Dutch oven, and I might place it on top of the protein, so that it sinks into the flesh. This is a restaurant trick, as in the reason why that steak at the steakhouse tastes so much better there than at home is because it is soaked with butter before being grilled. Of course, it will add calories and saturated fat, too, but then, isn’t that what you’re looking for?
— You could add more oil. Try drizzling olive oil over the meat and veggies before putting the pot into the oil. Or drop a tablespoon of coconut oil in the base of the pot after greasing the dish.
— Don’t tell anyone everything cooked in one pot! If they don’t see it, they won’t know to complain. See the above photo of Honey and Spice Pork: I don’t think that plate looks like it was all cooked in one pot, even though it was. Separate out the ingredients when you’re serving.
— And finally, start off by following your first few GOPM recipes to the letter until you get the hang of it and you’ll have better results than if you wing it out of the gate. Check out these free video cooking demonstrations to see what its all about.
Hope this helps ease your family into healthier eating with Glorious One-Pot Meals! Happy cooking!
I was not surprised, though, as both colic and migraines can be the result of food and chemical sensitivities and both can often be relieved by targeted dietary and lifestyle strategies. It’s common to see these kinds of hypersensitivity-triggered inflammatory reactions manifesting up and down a family tree in all sorts of ways. In my own family tree we see IBD, migraines, Crohn’s, hives, fibromyalgia, chronic constipation, MS and other auto-imune disorders, as well as colic and other GERD/acid reflux issues. The predisposition toward being hypersensitive can most definitely be a genetic trait, but it can often be managed pretty successfully with the right strategies.
In an example of how reliance on formal research studies can lead us astray, CBS News noted:
Previous research suggests gastrointestinal problems – like from something the baby ate – might cause colic, the condition marked by excessive crying in an unhealthy child. But researchers have been trying to prove that link for more than 50 years, without much luck.
The disputes to this argument include:
a) We know allergens can be transmitted through mother’s milk. Often simply adjusting the nursing mother’s diet can help clear up problems the baby is having, but the trick is to figure out what is causing the problems.
b) We know that sensitivities vary from person to person. We cannot assume that all babies can tolerate all formulas or all breast milk just because some can. Obviously, babies with colic are having gut problems.
c) We know that hypersensitivity reactions can include gastro-intestinal issues like diarrhea or constipation, but they can also manifest as headaches, body aches, a feeling of being uncomfortable in your own skin, and a myriad of other symptoms. Babies can’t tell us much about what is bothering them, and it can be difficult or impossible to guess correctly.
d) We also know that Type IV hypersensitivity reactions can be dose-dependent as well as delayed by up to four days, which makes finding the dietary link incredibly difficult without professional help.
Having survived a colic baby – and having been one myself – and looking at the hypersensitivity trail in my own family as well as seeing in my clinical practice as a traditional naturopath how targeted dietary adjustments can make these symptoms go away, it has become increasingly clear to me that colic, like migraines, can have dietary links.
The FDA has spent the last five years testing the lead levels in hundreds of brands of lipstick. About 400 tubes were found to contain above average amounts of lead. What they haven’t tested is the effect that lead is having on women who wear these lipsticks.
“Just because there’s lead in lipstick does not mean that there’s a danger. It takes a lot of lead over a long period of time to cause symptoms or damage,” according to Dr. Bruce Hensel in an NBC report.
With all due respect, Dr. Hensel, as I said in a 2008 post on lead in lipstick, I don’t believe that any levels of lead could be healthful in a product that gets eaten off your lips and reapplied constantly. Heavy metal toxicity can be slow, insidious, and catastrophic to your health.
The FDA has been receiving suggestions to look into lead in lipstick since the 1990s, in particular the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has put on the pressure, so I’m glad they’re moving on it now. Let’s hope they don’t bend to the cosmetics industry who would like to keep their million-dollar formulas intact, even at the expense of their consumer’s health.
For me, the most surprising brand to see in the top ten highest levels of lead was a lipstick from The Body Shop. It just doesn’t seem to conform to the mission of its founder, the late, great, Anita Roddick. Maybe they just didn’t know.
If you suspect you might be suffering from heavy metal toxicity, some signs you can check for are a black tongue or black veins on the underside of the tongue, or a thin black line stretching horizontally across the base of your fingernails. There are a number of ways you can eliminate the heavy metals from your body, some safer than others, so research carefully before undertaking any treatment.
It seems so much of what I do these days as a Naturopath practicing holistic nutrition for people in chronic physical distress is focused around digestion. Digestive issues go hand-in-hand with most chronic ailments as either the root cause or an unfortunate side effect of inflammation. But have you ever wondered what digestion actually looks like?
For over a decade I’ve been a vocal evangelist for the benefits of eating whole foods rather than processed foods. Finally, there is a video that graphically shows exactly what happens to processed foods during digestion and why we might want to avoid them.
Using a patented Mouth-to-Anus (M2A) camera and sensors loaded into capsules and taken orally, TEDxManhattan 2011 Fellow Stephani Bardin shows us exactly how differently our bodies handle processed foods than they handle whole foods.
Be warned: you might not want to watch this while you are eating!
With all due respect, Dr. Hensel, as I said in a 