Treat the cough with these two natural ingredients that you already have

by Sayer Ji

Image: www.kidsloveacupuncture.com

A remarkable new study looking at natural alternatives to medications found that compared to a systemic steroid, a combination of honey and coffee was superior in reducing symptoms associated with a post-infectious cough (PPC).

PPC is a cough that remains after a common cold or an upper respiratory tract infection for more than three weeks, and in some cases as long as several months. Conventional treatment may involve any number of powerful drugs, many of which have serious side effects, including codeine and dextromethorphan (so-called centrally acting antitussives), antihistamines, narcotics, and bronchodilators.

The new study, published in Primary Care Respiratory Journal, was conducted by researchers at Baqiyatallah University Hospital, Tehran, Iran from 2008 to 2011.[i] 97 patients who had experienced PPC for more than three weeks were randomized in double-blinded fashion into three groups:

A jam like paste was prepared which consisted of 20.8 grams of honey plus 2.9 grams of instant coffee for the first group ('HC').
13.3 mg of prednisolone for the second group (steroid, 'S').
25 mg of guaifenesin for the third group (control, 'C').
The researchers described the patient treatment protocol as follows:

"The participants were told to dissolve a specified amount of their product in warm water and to drink the solution every eight hours for one week. All the participants were evaluated before treatment and one week after completion of treatment to measure the severity of their cough. The main outcome measure was the mean cough frequency before and after one week's treatment calculated by a validated visual analogue cough questionnaire score."

The results of the study are summarized in the following table:

As you can see by the table above, the honey-coffee group saw their degree of cough frequency decrease from 2.9 before treatment to .2 after treatment, whereas the prednisolone group decreased only from 3.0 before treatment to 2.4 after treatment.

They detailed are as follows:

RESULTS: There were 97 adult patients (55 men) enrolled in this study with the mean of age of 40.1 years. The mean (+/- SD) cough scores pre- and post-treatment were: HC group 2.9 (0.3) pre-treatment and 0.2 (0.5) post-treatment (p < 0.001); steroid ('S') group 3.0 (0.0) pre-treatment and 2.4 (0.6) post-treatment (p < 0.05); control ('C') group 2.8 (0.4) pre-treatment and 2.7 (0.5) post-treatment (p > 0.05). Analysis of variance showed a significant difference between the mean cough frequency before and after treatment in the HC group versus the S group (p< 0.001). Honey plus coffee was found to be the most effective treatment modality for PPC. [emphasis added]

The researchers reflected on the implications of their findings:

"Each year, billions of dollars are spent on controlling and trying to cure cough while the real effect of cough medicines is not quite reliable.1,45 Even though PPC is reported to account for only 11–25% of all cases of chronic cough8 and it is not associated with disability and mortality, it can cause morbidity and is responsible for medical costs..."

Honey and coffee are natural edible substances that are safe, agreeable, less expensive than medicines, and easily available. Moreover, they have proved to be effective in a short period of time."

Given the relative safety and superior effectiveness of honey plus coffee versus prednisolone, this study adds to a growing body of biomedical research indicating that natural substances, including spices, vitamins and foods, are often superior in efficacy to synthetic drugs while often maintaining far higher levels of safety relative to them.

Source: greenmedinfo.com

Asian Honey: Banned in Europe, Is Flooding U.S. Grocery Shelves

Image: Raw For Beauty

Asian Honey, banned in Europe, is flooding U.S. grocery shelves. The FDA has the laws needed to keep adulterated honey off store shelves but does little, honey industry says.

A third or more of all the honey consumed in the U.S. is likely to have been smuggled in from China and may be tainted with illegal antibiotics and heavy metals. A Food Safety News investigation has documented that millions of pounds of honey banned as unsafe in dozens of countries are being imported and sold here in record quantities.

And the flow of Chinese honey continues despite assurances from the Food and Drug Administration and other federal officials that the hundreds of millions of pounds reaching store shelves were authentic and safe following the widespread arrests and convictions of major smugglers over the last two years.

Experts interviewed by Food Safety News say some of the largest and most long-established U.S. honey packers are knowingly buying mislabeled, transshipped or possibly altered honey so they can sell it cheaper than those companies who demand safety, quality and rigorously inspected honey.

“It’s no secret that the honey smuggling is being driven by money, the desire to save a couple of pennies a pound,” said Richard Adee, who is the Washington Legislative Chairman of the American Honey Producers Association.

“These big packers are still using imported honey of uncertain safety that they know is illegal because they know their chances of getting caught are slim,” Adee said.

Food safety investigators from the European Union barred all shipments of honey from India because of the presence of lead and illegal animal antibiotics.  Further, they found an even larger amount of honey apparently had been concocted without the help of bees, made from artificial sweeteners and then extensively filtered to remove any proof of contaminants or adulteration or indications of precisely where the honey actually originated.

An examination of international and government shipping tallies, customs documents and interviews with some of North America’s top honey importers and brokers documented the rampant honey laundering and that a record amount of the Chinese honey was being purchased by major U.S. packers.
Food Safety News contacted Suebee Co-Op, the nation’s oldest and largest honey packer and seller, for a response to these allegations and to learn where it gets its honey. The co-op did not respond to repeated calls and emails for comment. Calls and emails to other major honey sellers also were unreturned.

Read the full article here

Source: Raw For Beauty 

5 Foods That Could Save Your Life

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. While they do not lend themselves to being patented, nor will multi-billion dollar human clinical trials ever be funded to prove them efficacious, they have been used since time immemorial to both nourish our bodies, and to prevent and treat disease. So valued were these in ancient times that they were worth their weight in gold, and entire civilizations either rose to great power or collapsed as a result of their relationship to them.

What is even more amazing is that many of these “plant allies” are found growing in our backyards, and often sitting there in our refrigerators and spice racks, neglected and under appreciated. In fact, many of us use these daily unaware that this is why we don’t get sick as often as those who do not incorporate them into their diet. Let’s look at a few examples….

Though Mother Nature’s formulas are proprietary, she does not grant patents. ~Sayer Ji
1) Garlic – with the increasing prevalence of multi-drug resistant bacteria and the failure of the conventional, drug-based model to develop effective solutions against them (nor accepting responsibility for creating them), spices have regained their once universal reign as broad spectrum infection-fighters with sometimes life-saving power.

Garlic, in fact, has several hundred therapeutic properties, confirmed by a growing body of scientific research, which you can view directly on GreenMedInfo.com.[i] One quick example of garlic’s power, is in killing multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), which the mainstream media has termed the “white plague,” roiling the masses with a fear of drug-resistant (but not plant-extract resistant) they are made to believe they are defenseless against.

Last year an article was published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal showing that garlic was capable of inhibiting a wide range of multiple drug resistant tuberculosis strains.[ii] The authors concluded “The use of garlic against MDR-TB may be of great importance regarding public health.” Garlic’s anti-infective properties do not end with MDR-TB, as it has been demonstrated to inhibit the following pathogens as well:

• Amoeba Entamoeba histolytica (parasite)
• Cholera
• Clostridium
• Cytomegalovirus
• Dermatophytoses (a type of topical fungal infection)
• Haemophilus Influenzae
• Helicobacter Pylori
• Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1
• Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2
• Klebsiella
• Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus A. (MRSA)
• Parainfluenza Virus
• Peridontal Infection
• Pneumococcal Infections
• Pseudomonas aeruginosa
• Streptococcus Mutans
• Streptococcus Infections: Group A
• Streptococcus Infections: Group B
• Streptococcus pyrogenes
• Thrush (oral fungal infection)

This amazing list underscores how important it is to keep a supply of garlic close by!

2) Honey – bees produce a wide range of therapeutic substances beyond honey, e.g. propolis, bee venom, royal jelly, beeswax, bee pollen, etc., but this sweet, sticky stuff that we all love to dip our paw into occasionally, is the most well-known and most copiously consumed of them all – and for good reason, it tastes great!

But did you know that this sweet treat is one of nature’s most powerful healing agents, as well? Here is just a smattering of some of honey’s more scientifically researched health benefits and/or applications:

• Aspirin-Induced Gastrointestinal Toxicity (honey coats the delicate linings of the stomach, preventing aspirin-induced lesions and bleeding)
• Bacterial Infections
• Burns
• Candida infection (despite the fact that honey contains sugar, it demonstrates anti-fungal properties)
• Conjunctivitis
• Dental plaque (a recent study showed that Manuka honey was a viable alternative to chemical mouthwash in dissolving dental plaque)[iii]
• Dermatitis
• Diabetic Ulcer
• Herpes-related ulcers
• MRSA (especially for Manuka honey)
• 
  

There are many more uses for honey than covered here. Needless to say, replacing synthetic sweeteners or highly processed sugars or high fructose corn syrup with a moderate amount of honey may be a great preventative health step to take.

3) Apples – an apple a day does in fact keep the doctor away, especially cancer specialists it would seem.

For instance, one of the most well-established health benefits of consuming apples is to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer. The more apples you consume, the less likely you are to develop this potentially fatal disease.

To view the 5 studies that reference this relationship, go to the GreenmedInfo.com apple research page where you will also find 50 other health benefits of apple or apple byproducts (e.g. apple vinegar) consumption which include:

• Aging, Reduce Rate
• Allergies
• Allopecia (Hair Loss)
• Diarrhea
• Insulin Resistance
• Liver Cancer
• Radiation Induced Illness
• Staphylococcol Infection
• 
  

4) Sunlight – this one may throw some of you off, but sunlight possesses both energy and information with real, metabolic value and is therefore a source of usable energy for the body – and so, in a very real sense it can be considered a form of food that we consume through our skin by way of its built in, melanin-based “solar panels.”

Not only does adequate sunlight exposure result in the production of vitamin D, a hormone-like substance that regulates over 2,000 genes in the human body — and as a result prevents or ameliorates hundreds of vitamin D deficiency associated health conditions — but sunlight exposure itself has a unique set of health benefits not reducible to simply vitamin D production alone.

One of the more interesting studies performed on sunlight exposure, based on data gathered from over 100 countries and published earlier this year in the journal Anticancer Research, showed that there was “a strong inverse correlations with solar UVB for 15 types of cancer,” with weaker, though still significant evidence for the protective role of sunlight in 9 other cancers. Here are some additional benefits of sunlight exposure:

• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Depression
• Dopamine Deficiency
• Dermatitis
• Influenza
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Psoriasis
• 
  

5) Turmeric – quite possibly the world’s most important herb. Named “Kanchani,” or literally “Golden Goddess,” in the ancient Indian healing tradition, its healing properties have been deeply appreciated, if not revered for countless centuries.

Turmeric has been scientifically documented to have over 500 applications in disease prevention and treatment. It also has been shown to modulate over 150 distinct biological and genetic/epigenetic pathways of value in health, demonstrating a complexity as well as gentleness that no drug on the planet has ever been shown to possess.

As there are too many health conditions that turmeric may benefit to list, we are listing the top 10 as determined by the GreenMedInfo algorithm which calculates both the evidence quantity (number of articles) and evidence quality (human study valued higher than animal, and so on). Also, the number in parentheses denotes the number of studies on the database demonstrating the beneficial relationship.

• Oxidative Stress (160)
• Inflammation (51)
• DNA Damage (48)
• Lipid Peroxidation (34)
• Colorectal Cancer (24)
• Breast Cancer (60)
• Colon Cancer (52)
• Chemically-Induced Liver Damage (34)
• Alzheimer’s Disease (34)
• Tumors (23)

[i] GreenMedInfo.com, Garlic Research Page: http://www.greenmedinfo.com/substance/garlic
[ii] Pak J Pharm Sci. 2011 Jan;24(1):81-5. PMID: 21190924
[iii] Contemp Clin Dent. 2010 Oct ;1(4):214-7. PMID: 22114423

Source: Green Med Info | Image: Wikimedia Commons

Source: realfarmacy.com 

Yoplait yogurt is more like junk food than health food. Here's why

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Despite its cute, organic-looking ad blitz, the yogurt company still needs to work to make its products ‘so good’ for our bodies.

Image: Yoplait

Yoplait and other major companies bill their yogurts as health foods, but one hard look at the label tells a different story.
Last summer Yoplait made a splash in the food world when it cut high-fructose corn syrup from its yogurts, apparently in response to customer outcry. If you’ve turned on the TV at all this summer, surely you’ve seen the company’s self-aggrandizing commercials:

Yoplait’s removal of high-fructose corn syrup from its yogurts was a good move, for sure. The cheap sugar substitute is laden with genetically modified corn and has been linked to a higher prevalence of diabetes. The move followed a commitment in 2009 that its milk would come from cows not treated with rbGH (or recombinant bovine growth hormone), which has been linked to increased rates of infections in dairy cows, elevated antibiotic use, and unresolved questions about its links to serious human health risks, including cancer.

Hearing Lisa Kudrow’s adorable voice telling you how great Yoplait is for you now may cause some to want to run out and buy a case. Not so fast.

For one thing, it still has tons of added sugar. Yoplait Original has 27 grams of sugar—more than five teaspoons! And at 170 calories, 108 of which come from sugar, Fooducate put it perfectly: “Sounds more like a snack or treat than a health food.”

You might be tempted to buy the Light version, which contains only 14 grams of sugar (still a high number). Yoplait’s Light version replaces some of the sugar with aspartame, of which many nutritionists are extremely wary.

“Aspartame is not really any better than high-fructose corn syrup,” says Lisa R. Young, author of The Portion Teller. “I have never been a fan of artificial sweeteners, mostly because they don’t really help people lose weight and they are full of chemicals. While I am really not a fan of sugar or corn syrup, it really is a quantity issue—as both are still sugar!”

Additionally, Young says the long-term effects of aspartame are not known, though studies have connected it loosely with conditions like cancer, diabetes, difficulty losing weight, and birth defects. Yikes.
Michael Pollan famously said that if you can’t pronounce the ingredients list, it isn’t food. Pollan’s rubric would appear to be especially tough on Yoplait, whose yogurts contain no fewer than 14 multisyllabic ingredients—several of them actually made with corn, most likely of the genetically modified variety.

“Why ruin a healthy yogurt by adding in artificial stuff?” Young asks.
Yoplait has even been in some trouble of late for its claims. General Mills was taken to court in 2012 in a class-action suit claiming its Greek Yogurt is not yogurt at all. The product is made with protein concentrate, which the Food and Drug Administration does not recognize as an ingredient in yogurt.

Also, like Dannon, Yoplait dyes many of its yogurts with carmine, which is made from the “dried, pulverized bodies of the cochineal insect.”
How’s this for a better choice: Lightly sweeten some plain Greek yogurt with honey (preferable over five teaspoons of sugar), and add fresh or frozen fruit (instead of crushed-up bugs). Easy!

Source: Raw For Beauty

Oregon Bans Over 12 Pesticides for 180 Days After Bee Die-Off

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Image: Raw For Beauty

State officials in Oregon are temporarily restricting the use of more than a dozen pesticide products following the deaths of an estimated 50,000 bumblebees in the Portland area this month.

The measure, effective immediately, will last for 180 days while the Oregon State Agricultural Department investigates incidents of a mass bee die-off in the Portland suburb of Wilsonville, and a much smaller die-off in neighboring Hillsboro.

Eighteen pesticide products containing the active ingredient dinotefuran and used for ornamental, turf and agricultural applications have been banned for now.

“I have directed the agency to take this step in an effort to minimize any potential for additional incidents involving bee deaths connected to pesticide products with this active ingredient until such time as our investigation is completed and we have more information,” the agency’s director, Katy Coba, said in a statement released Thursday.

“Conclusions from the investigation will help us and our partners evaluate whether additional steps need to be considered.”

A pesticide known as Safari, which contains dinotefuran and belongs to a class called neonicotinoids, caused the deaths of an estimated 50,000 bumblebees  in a Target parking lot in Wilsonville this month, authorities said. Crews have wrapped the affected linden trees around the lot with protective netting to prevent further deaths.

The staggering number marks the world’s largest recorded mass-die off of bumblebees, experts said. Initial estimates pegged the number of deaths at 25,000, but that figure doubled after a second assessment, said Scott Hoffman Black, executive director of the Portland-based Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

Late last week, a second report of dead bumblebees emerged in the Portland suburb of Hillsboro. City officials were alerted a week ago to a cluster of at least 100 bees on the ground beneath a single linden tree downtown.

Following Wilsonville’s lead, the city of Hillsboro bought netting to wrap around the tree, public affairs manager Patrick Preston told the Los Angeles Times. The Oregon Department of Agriculture visited the site to take samples and test whether pesticides also played a role. 

The city of Hillsboro sprayed 200 trees with Safari in March, Preston said. As the trees were not flowering at the time, city officials were following label directions, he said.

The city has sprayed the trees with Safari for the past three years. This is the first time bee deaths have been reported, Preston said.

“If Safari is found to have been behind the bee deaths then we will not be using it anymore,” Preston said.

Valent U.S.A. Corp., the manufacturer of Safari, said in a statement this week that it was making a donation to pay for the protective netting surrounding the Wilsonville trees.  The company also sent an entomologist to work with city and state officials.

The company said it is committed to protecting pollinators, noting the product label warns against applying the product or allowing it to drift to blooming foliage if bees are present.

“Valent also promotes the responsible use of our products, and we are actively conducting outreach with our customers and industry partners to reinforce the importance of responsible use according to label guidelines,” the statement said.

But scientists with the Xerces Society said the discovery in Hillsboro shows that the pesticide can have a lasting impact in the environment, and have urged city and county governments to ban the cosmetic use of pesticides entirely.

Meanwhile, Portland’s ecologically-minded activists have organized a memorial for the dead bees. Organizer Rozzell Medina, an artist and educational activist in Portland, said that once he heard the bee deaths were caused by a pesticide, he became “very sad about it, very concerned.”

Medina soon realized that others in the community shared his distress. He decided to plan a memorial where people could gather, share information and discuss the incident.   

“This isn’t a funeral,” Medina, who earned a master’s in leadership and sustainability education from Portland State University and now works there as a program coordinator, told the Los Angeles Times on Thursday. “We’re not there to bury the bees or build little bee coffins. We’re going there to talk about what this means.”

The event will take place in the Target parking lot in Wilsonville where the bees were discovered.

Sources: Raw For Beauty
LAtimes.com

Top 30 Flowers For Bees

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Bees are vital. Without them, pollination of crops doesn't occur. Bees work tirelessly to provide us with our food, but are struggling in the wild. In recent years it has become apparent that bees, not just the honeybee, are under threat and some have already gone extinct. Find out on this lens which flowers to grow for pollen and nectar that will feed them and help them to increase their numbers. Insects and plants must now be taken care of by gardeners if they are to survive.The private garden is now a better place than the countryside for wildlife, since much agricultural land is now devoid of the diversity of flowers insects need to give them their 'five a day'. It is now thought by scientists in the field that insects need as much variety in their food as we do to get all the trace minerals and vitamins to keep them healthy, so go on, plant flowers for the bees!

HA= Hardy annual   HHA =Half hardy annual   P = Perennial   HB= Hardy biennial   HS= Hardy shrub

·  1

Cosmos (HHA) is an annual flower easily raised from seed. It’s also one of the very best for the bee. Grow it in groups, making the collection of pollen easier for the bees, who won’t have to fly as far to find their food. Cosmos grows 2-5ft tall, the majority reaching about 2ft. It’s from Mexico, so a half hardy annual. Plant out after all danger of frost has passed, and deadhead to keep them flowering continuously through the summer. These open, flat flowers will delight you as well as giving the bees a feast.

·  2

Aster (HHA) ‘Compostion’ or Michaelmass Daisies. Many modern hybrids have little or no pollen. easy to grow, colorful and late summer to autumn flowering, they provide food late in the season. Important if honeybees are to be well fed to get through the winter months.

·  3

Sunflowers (HA) are a great choice, available in many heights and colours to suit your garden space. Choose yellow or orange over red, which bees don’t like. Varieties exist now for the allergic gardener, containing no pollen. Obviously avoid these when wishing to attract bees.

·  4

Calendulas or marigolds (HA) are great for bees, especially the original single flowered pot marigold. Dead head regularly for a longer flowering period.

·  5

Primulas. (HP) The native primrose, (primula vulgaris), primulas of all kinds, even the drumstick ones are great early food for bees. Cowslips (primula veris) are also good members of this extensive family of perennial plants.

·  6

Rudbekia (HHA) are an extensive group of cone flowers from the aster family. A wide variety of heights, mostly available in yellows and oranges, sure to brighten your border and feed bees. There are also a few hardy perennial ones, of which ‘Goldsturn’ is my personal favourite. All are easy to grow from seed.

·  7

Scabious or cornflowers (HA), another aster family member, are mostly blue flowered and bees adore them. Dead-headed regularly, they’ll flower all summer long.

·  8

Lavender (HHS) There are plenty of lavenders to choose from, all needing plenty of sun and well drained soil, but they’ll reward you with plenty of fragrant flowers for cutting and drying. Just watch them get smothered in bees when they come into flower.

·  9

Bluebells (bulb) Another early food supply. Just a note of caution for UK growers. The native English bluebell in now under threat from the Spanish bluebell, which outcompetes and crosses with it. So please ensure you are planting the native bluebell to ensure you don’t endanger a bluebell woodland near you.

·  10

Hellebores (HP) The Christmas rose! A lovely flower to have in your garden from late winter to early spring, this plant will tolerate some shade and moist conditions, though not wet. When bees emerge from hibernation they need food fast. This one gives them a snack when there’s little else around.

·  11

Clematis (Perennial climber) The majority of clematis will provide pollen, and I’ve watched bees happily moving from flower to flower gathering their crop. Always plant clematis deeper than they were in the container, as this gives more protection against cleamits wilt. These plants are hungry and thirsty, so add good compost to the planting hole. They also like their roots in the cool and heads in the sun, so once planted I place either a thick mulch or a pile of stones or gravel around their roots, keeping them cool and conserving moisture.

·  12

Crocus (bulb) Early flowering, plenty to choose from, and planted in the autumn to flower year after year. These are great value and cheer me up as well as the bees!

·  13

Mint (HP), especially water mint, is loved by bees. It’s great in your cooking, too. Easy to grow, it can be a bit of a thug, so either grow it in a container or prevent its escape around the garden by burying a bucket (with holes in the bottom for drainage) and plant your mint into that.

·  14

Rosemary (HHS) A mediterranean herb, rosemary likes well drained soild and full sun. It flowers around April/May. A great culinary herb, bees will take advantage of the pollen as long as you prune it correctly. This is best done straight after flowering, as most of the flowers will appear on new wood. Don’t prune rosemary back to old, bare wood as these are not likely to regrow. Depending on where you live and soil conditions, rosemary can be short lived, so take some cuttings each year so you can replace the old plant should it dsie or become too leggy.

·  15

Thyme (H to HHS)) There are now quite a few varieties available, tasting slightly different to each other eg lemon thyme. However, I’ve noticed that the wild thyme (thymus serpyllum) attracts a lot of bee visitors and tends to flower more profusely. But they are all worth growing. Give them the same growing conditions as rosemary and lavender.

·  16

Hebe (HH-HS) This extensive group of shrubs have wonderful flowers for bees. Plenty of pollen, all on one flower and plenty of flowers on one shrub. They vary in height, are mosly blue or pink and tolerate most soils. They dislike too much wet, so a well drained soil is best. Water well, though, until established.

·  17

Borage, the bee herb. (HA) Borage is blue flowered, simple to grow and in fact one type grows wild in the UK, though originally from Syria. Easy, prolific and the bees love it.

·  18

Echinacea, the cone flower. (HP) Now available in a variety of colours, all of which will attract bees. Echinacea Tennesseensis will attract birds, bees and butterflies.

·  19

Mignotette. There are HA, HHA and Perennial members of this family. They are sweetly scented and will attract and feed your bees, especially Reseda lutea.

·  20

Thrift, or Sea Pink (HP) is a great plant for a rock garden, trough or wall. Holding its bright pink flowers well above the grass-like foliage, it will cheer your garden and make the bees come back for more! Give it well drained condiitons and lots of sun.

·  21

Sedums are also excellent plants for rock gardens and walls. There are many to choose from, but avoid Sedum Spectabilis Autumn Joy if you’re planting for bees. Biting stonecrop and English stonecrop (sedums acre and anglicum). are natives, and great for bees.

·  22

Sweet Williams (Dianthus barbatus) (HB) are fantastic flowers for bees. An old cottage garden favourite, bees are attracted to the pink or white flowers and we love the perfume! They are members of the dianthus family, as are Pinks and Carnations, all of which are good for the bees.

·  23

Monarda (Bergamot) (HP) This is the herb that flavours Earl Grey tea, but the bees love its flowers for pollen and nectar. Its folk name in the Uk is bee balm. It likes a moist but not wet soil and can cope with a bit of shade. Share it with the bees! Bergamot tea is a herbal treat in itself. Just pour boiling water on the leaves and allow about ten minutes before drinking.

·  24

Cornflower (HA) Easy to grow, cheap and cheerful, cornflowers are another cottage garden favourite. Thier blue flowers act like a bee magnet. Grow in as large a group as you have the space for. This makes it easier for the bees to spot them and saves them flying around more than necessary. It’s easy to save seed from one year to the next, too.

·  25

Poppies (HA-HP) All poppies are attractive to bees, and are laden with pollen in nice open flowers. Very easy to grow, especially the annual kinds, and easy to save seeds to sow next year. Enjoy their delicate petals while your bees enjoy a feast.

·  26

Verbena Bonariensis (HP) a tall, delicate looking perennial with purple/mauve flowers that add a tropical feel to your borders. This is easy to grow from seed and sown early enough will flower in its first year. One not to do without!

·  27

Snapdragons (Antirrhinum) (HHA) Plenty of choice in heights and colours. Have you ever watched a bee enter and leave a snapdragon? Their weight pulls the lower part of the petal down so they can get inside for their food, and you can hear them buzzing while they are in there. Lovely to watch.

·  28

Ageratum (HHA) Easy to grow, with heads of blue flowers and another member of the compositae family, so lots of food on one flower head. This is one of my favorite annuals in the garden. Just don’t plant out until all danger of frost has passed and dead head for more flowers.

·  29

Echinops (globe thistle) (HP) This lovely blue thistle is very ornamental, even when not in flower, standing about 36″ tall. Bees and butterflies love the flowers which provide plenty of nectar. Easy to grow from seed and will come back year after year.

·  30

Digitalis (foxglove) (HB) Foxgloves make great food for bees. As they are poisonous, protect children from them and handle wearing gloves. As long as these precautions are taken these are wonderful plants for the garden and the bees. A woodland plant, they’re useful for a shady spot.

Other articles you may enjoy:

Study: Pesticides Are Leading Cause of Bee Die-Offs

Create a Honeybee Haven with Native Plants and Flowering Herbs

More Than Honey (A Bee Movie): The Not So Talked About Factory Farming of Bees

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“If the bee disappears off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left.” Albert Einstein

More Than Honey is a new documentary written and directed by Markus Imhoof. In his new documentary, Imhoof travels the world to take an in-depth look at honeybee colonies in California, Switzerland, China and Australia. Imhoof is more than qualified to make this exposé on the harm being done to bees as he is a second generation bee keeper. This movie sheds light on the  not so talked about aspect of moving bees all over the country to pollinate monoculture crops. After watching this documentary, one can only “bee” left feeling sorry for these poor little buggers as they represent an entire other scale of factory farming that is equally as harmful as the over crowded cattle yards or chicken houses.

Official synopsis from the film’s website: ”

Over the past 15 years, numerous colonies of bees have been decimated throughout the world, but the causes of this disaster remain unknown. Depending on the world region, 50% to 90% of all local bees have disappeared, and this epidemic is still spreading from beehive to beehive – all over the planet. Everywhere, the same scenario is repeated: billions of bees leave their hives, never to return. No bodies are found in the immediate surroundings, and no visible predators can be located.

In the US, the latest estimates suggest that a total of 1.5 million (out of 2.4 million total beehives) have disappeared across 27 states. In Germany, according to the national beekeepers association, one fourth of all colonies have been destroyed, with losses reaching up to 80% on some farms. The same phenomenon has been observed in Switzerland, France, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Austria, Poland and England, where this syndrome has been nicknamed “the Mary Celeste Phenomenon”, after a ship whose crew vanished in 1872.

Scientists have found a name for the phenomenon that matches its scale, “colony collapse disorder,” and they have good reason to be worried: 80% of plant species require bees to be pollinated. Without bees, there is no pollinization, and fruits and vegetables could disappear from the face of the Earth. Apis mellifera (the honey bee), which appeared on Earth 60 million years before man and is as indispensable to the economy as it is to man’s survival.

Should we blame pesticides or even medication used to combat them? Maybe look at parasites such as varroa mites? New viruses? Travelling stress? The multiplication of electromagnetic waves disturbing the magnetite nanoparticles found in the bees’ abdomen? So far, it looks like a combination of all these agents has been responsible for the weakening of the bees’ immune defenses.”

Source: http://www.realfarmacy.com

Create a Honeybee Haven with Native Plants and Flowering Herbs

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Nowadays it’s pretty well-known that honey bees around the world are in decline. Even Monsanto and other companies that churn out pesticides are acknowledging the problem with a grand charade called a “Honey Bee Health Summit.” While we have little sway over the chemical corporatists, we can do other things to help the honey bee.

The best way to go about this in our own yards is to plant flowering trees, shrubs, and perennials native to your region. At PlantNative you can select your state and get a list of native landscaping plants. The red maple tree attracts honey bees in droves in the early spring. Perennials like purple coneflower, blanket flower, and beebalm are beautiful bee-attracting plants. Set aside a space in the yard for a mini prairie garden, which is low maintenance and full of year-round color.

Native Plant Wildlife Gardening has a great list of native plants for attracting honey bees. Use a variety of plants with different flowering times to provide year-round food. Plant flowers in large patches rather than a single one here and there, which will make it easier for bees to find.

Clover is not the nuisance plant that herbicide companies proclaim on their bags of product. Let clover grow and flower for the bees; it will die back as the grass starts to grow in late spring. Lawns can be seeded in the fall with red clover, which will bloom in the spring and provide a bounty for the bees while you enjoy the beautiful blooms.

Flowering herbs are honey bee magnets. Basil, borage, oregano, mints, and salvias are all great choices. Oregano can serve as a groundcover in a wildlife garden. Let basil flower and reseed for a continuous supply of leaves for yourself and food for the bees.

Many vegetable plants are attractive to honey bees, especially the cucurbit flowers (cucumbers, squash, melons). Broccoli makes lots of small yellow flowers that really bring in the bees, so let some broccoli go to flower after you get a few good harvests. What a joy it is to know that our pollinator friends are having a feast on the flowers after we have feasted on the vegetables. Mustard greens also make good flowers for bees and other beneficial insects.

Just as important as planting bee-friendly plants is to avoid the use of chemical pesticides. In a well managed garden using the principles of Integrated Pest Management, pesticides are rarely needed. And most problems can be dealt with using organic products like Neem oil that do not harm honey bees or other beneficial insects. Chemical pesticides leave a residue on pollen, which the bees pick up and bring back to the hive.

Source: Justin Gardener, REALfarmacy.com

Cinnamon & Honey Weight Loss Tip

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A simple recipe claimed to help you lose weight. Many of you may not think of eating honey for weight loss, but honey is a useful food to help you lose weight. Since it is a simple sugar, NOT a refined and processed sugar, it contains vitamins, minerals, nutrients and is good for you.

Honey helps boost and speed up the metabolism which helps the body burn fat.

Honey has a healthier glycemic index (GI) than sugar, therefore it doesn’t cause a sugar rush, but it is gradually and progressively absorbed into our body.

Cinnamon stabilizes blood sugar levels and increases the metabolism of glucose. Since high blood sugar levels can lead to increased storage of fat, cinnamon helps prevent this. Cinnamon improves insulin function. Thus, you lose weight.

The cinnamon and local honey clean parasites, fungus and bacteria in the digestive tract. The honey will also help stabilize blood sugar levels, which result in less food cravings. You will also have a feeling of fullness and satiety.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp of organic local honey
1 tsp of organic cinnamon
To make it simple: One part cinnamon and two parts honey is what is required for this recipe.

Instructions:
Put the cinnamon in a bowl
Boil 1 cup of water
Pour the hot water over the cinnamon
Steep for 15 minutes
-Add honey to the -cooled- liquid
Why add honey to the cooled liquid? – hot liquid will destroy the enzymes in the raw honey.

Action: Drink twice a day: 1/2 cup in the morning and 1/2 cup before going to bed. Take on an empty stomach.
You may experience more energy and better sex drive.

As always consult your health practitioner before starting a new diet.

Source : Dave Sommers, StepIn2MyGreenWorld

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Strawberry Banana Pops

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1 heaping cup of strawberries, 1/2 cup of plain yogurt, 2 tbsp of local raw honey (optional), 1/2 banana. All organic!
Action: 1. Blend strawberries and 1tbsp of honey in a blender or food processor.
2. In a small bowl - stir the plain yogurt with 1 tbsp of the strawberry puree and tbs of honey.
3. Fill ice pop molds with strawberry puree and yogurt and alternate to make layers and slices of bananas and strawberries.
4. Insert sticks and freeze for 4 hours or until frozen . (When ready, run under hot water to release). ..... Do you really need the nutritional macro's on this one? Its practically all carbs with a gram or 2 of fat and protein from the yogurt. Therefore not a complete meal. To complete it, add some protein. Otherwise enjoy as a healthy snack!

Source: Dave Sommers, Alex Body Revolution

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Natural Sinus Relief

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This can be used for colds or fevers or sinus and is an excellent all-around I want to be healthier drink. Action: warm water (not hot), 1 tbsp. local raw honey, 1 tbsp. organic apple cider vinegar -like Braggs, a squeeze of lemon juice (organic lemon), a pinch of cayenne pepper

Source : Dave Sommers, RAWBINA

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Cinnamon and honey, super healing duo!

Both honey and cinnamon are, by their selves, helpful for natural healing.  Mix the two, and you may have some surprising benefits.

Try making some toast and spreading coconut oil over it, then sprinkle some cinnamon on it, and finally add some honey on top.  You can also make some hot tea and add both raw honey and cinnamon to it.  Cinnamon and honey also can be combined and worn as a mask to help with skin surface problems like pimples and acne.

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The Health Benefits of Cinnamon & Honey

Unusual Uses For Raw Honey

Health benefits of cinnamon!

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