Information on popular complementary and alternative medical topics

Diet is a very important factor in maintaining health or correcting illness. Give your body its natural food: whole grains, salads, fruit, meat in moderation (if you cannot give it up altogether), wholemeal bread and flour, and all those concentrated energy goodies like dates, figs, nuts, and dried fruits. You will lose weight, and your energy and enjoyment of life will grow each day. Have a browse around your local health food store and see what a tempting array of exotic, tasty, nourishing food comes under the heading of “what is good for you”. You will be astonished at the variety of gourmet meals you can prepare from natural ingredients.

I have known many, many people who have been dissatisfied with the results obtained from orthodox medicine and have turned as a last resort to a natureopath or herbalist. I have never yet met one who has been dissatisfied with natural medicine and natural living and returned to his former diet and chemical drugs.

*23\181\8*

Creeping thymes come in a multitude of types, the grey woolly thyme with its furry bluish-grey leaves and pale flowers; Shakespeare thyme, growing in a little cushion of light green; the white and pink-flowered Thymus serpyllum for small lawns in a sunny spot; and many others. Each will cover a large area in quite a short time, particularly if reflected heat from rocks and stones can reach it.

Light soil suits all the thymes best, but they will grow in heavier soils if necessary. Don’t feed them too much; poorer conditions suit them better. Artificial fertilizers can even be fatal to them, or at best can cause leaf-drop and yellowing of the remaining foliage. Thyme is the poor man’s herb: it will just grow and grow and grow.

Thyme tea is often prescribed for sore throats and colds. Take a good handful of the fresh herb, pour a cup of boiling water over, let it stand for a few minutes, and then sip slowly. Taken internally this way, the antiseptic thymol can kill many germs and bacteria in the throat and respiratory passages.

On the culinary side, thyme stands as one of the Big Four, which include sage, parsley and marjoram, these being used together in a bouquet garni for flavouring soups, stews and hotpots. Its best-known use is to flavour grilled, roasted or broiled meat, but it can be a vegetable “flavour-saver” too. The Romans used it with soft cheese, and in liqueurs.

*146\181\8*

Country Fruit Bake

Soak 4 oz. dried apples and 4 oz. dried apricots (separately) in hot water just come off the boil, for 3/4 hour, then drain. (You can drink the liquid later when it has cooled.) Butter a shallow oven-proof dish. Cut a banana into inch-long sections and arrange over the bottom, then add the drained fruit and 5 or 6 leaves of garden mint or spearmint, and pour over the top half a cup of sweet cider in which 3 tablespoons of honey have been dissolved. Sprinkle generously with fine-grated lemon-rind, dot with butter and bake uncovered at 300 degrees for 1 ? to 2 hours, or till fruit is tender and glazed.

Mint Chutney 2 lb. apples 4 oz. raisins

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 cup chopped mint

3/4 pint vinegar 4 oz. brown sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Peel and core the apples, and mince or chop finely with the raisins. Add all the other ingredients and cook all together until of jam-like consistency. Bottle immediately, and seal well.

Mint and Raisin Sandwich Filling

Mix equal quantities of chopped raisins and mint leaves with a little hot water to give a spreadable consistency.

For a Cold Platter

Whip cream cheese through with a little top-of-the-milk, add a few caraway, dill or fennel seeds. Form into little balls and serve with chunks of fresh pineapple topped with an applemint or pineapple mint leaf.

Lemon Cucumber

Peel and slice thinly a firm fresh cucumber. Arrange in layers with salt, lemon juice and chopped fresh garden mint leaves in between. Garnish with a dob of sour cream.

Beetroot and Mint Salad

1 lb. cooked beetroot

2 tablespoons chopped mint French dressing

Lettuce

Peel and slice the beetroot. Wash and dry lettuce and arrange on a large platter. Pour over the french dressing and garnish with the chopped mint.

Mint Jelly

1 pint water

1 lb cooking apples

1 ? cups of mint

Green colouring

Sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

Wash the apples, chop coarsely (no need to peel or core), and simmer in the water until the fruit is pulp. Strain the mixture by hanging in a muslin or jelly bag overnight. For each pint of juice, add 1 lb of sugar and boil rapidly until thick. Allow to cool, then stir in the lemon juice, finely-shredded mint and a few drops of green colouring. Seal in small glass jars.

*116\181\8*

Here are a couple of suggestions for cold platters:

Open Sandwich

Mash an avocado to puree, add some mayonnaise, chilli powder, a few drops of lemon juice, tomato quarters, black olive halves, sprigs of fresh dill. Blend loosely, and serve on lettuce on rye bread.

Pepper with Dill

Seed and wash half of a small red or green pepper. Fill with a mixture of cottage cheese blended with chopped dill, diced black olives and diced cucumber, the whole bound together with a little sour cream. Garnish with watercress or garden cress.

Dill Sauce

Here is a seventeenth century recipe. A modern bouillon cube can be added if stock is not available.

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 tablespoons flour (wholemeal if possible)

1 1/2 cups stock

2 tablespoons chopped dill 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice 1/2 tablespoon sugar, raw 1 egg yolk Salt and pepper

Melt the butter, blend in the flour, and add the hot stock gradually, blending constantly to keep smooth. Add all the other ingredients except the egg yolk. Keep this aside until the sauce is slightly cooled (to avoid curdling) then add the yolk, and whisk again. This is a delicious sauce for beef.

Cucumber Sauce

1 large fresh cucumber 1 oz. oil or butter 1 oz. flour (wholemeal) 1 tablespoon chopped dill

1 cup sour cream

2 cups stock or 1 bouillon cube dissolved in 2 cups of water

Peel the cucumber, remove the seeds and chop it into dice, then melt the butter or put the oil in a pan, and add the flour, stirring well. Add the stock or bouillon, then the diced cucumber, a small pinch of sugar and a drop of lemon juice. Simmer slowly for about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the chopped dill and the sour cream just before serving, and reheat quickly.

Seafood Salad

Cook 2 cups of long-grain rice in plenty of salted water, till the grains are fluffy and plump. Wash with cold water to separate the grains, and allow to cool and drain completely. Place the rice in a bowl and add the following: a small tin crabmeat chunks, 1 red and 1 green pepper, chopped, a little sliced celery, several good-sized leaves of fresh dill, chopped, and toss with 3/4 cup of good mayonnaise to which salt and 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice have been added. Chill well before serving, piling into a mound in the centre of the serving platter, and garnish with fresh whole dill sprigs.

Shrimp Moulds with Dill

1 small can tomato juice 1 oz gelatine

1 1/2 cups shrimps (or prawns)

Juice of half a lemon Dash of cayenne Several chopped gherkins Sprigs of fresh dill

Tablespoon of chopped green pepper

Soften the gelatine in a little cool water, then heat gently to dissolve. Gradually stir in the tomato juice, then all the remaining ingredients. Leave the mixture cool until nearly set (otherwise all the shrimps will sink to the bottom of the mould), then spoon into individual moulds. When set, turn out onto a bed of cucumber slices and garnish with more sprigs of dill and a few of the shrimps.

*85/181/8*

Borage has been planted by commercial strawberry growers to assist in the growth of the young plants. The borage is also helped by the strawberry plants, and grows extremely well. Thus the two are true companion plants, each stimulating the growth of the other. A plant of borage every 12 to 18 feet along the rows has been found a suitable distance. There is room for much experimentation and tabulation of such companion plants that can be of value to commercial growers. Several instances are mentioned in this book, and if you have any such experiences with your own gardening the Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening Association Inc., of Stroudsberg, P.A., U.S.A., will be very glad to hear of them. Only by collecting information from farmers and gardeners all over the world can such results be evaluated, and as world food problems increase any methods of increasing crop growth and yield can be of great importance. Who knows, your own “helpful hint”, based on proved experience, could help cancel out in the long run some of the problems of feeding the earth’s population.

*55\181\8*