Mama's Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health and the Pleasures of Natural Living

Mama's Home Remedies

“The suggestions in this volume bring fruitful advice and invaluable
worth. Most people have forgotten that the simple things are at the center
of soulful nurturing and this health publication is an exemplary model
of such authentic knowledge. This book offers us an outline of happiness
and health. Everyone will benefit from these jewels of understanding
and I am sure that you will be as rewarded as I was after embracing
many of these natural prescriptions."

—Anna Maria Clement, PhD, NMD, codirector and chief health administrator
of Hippocrates Health Institute

ƒ

“I thoroughly enjoyed reading “Dialogue with the Trees of Strength and
Everlasting Life” in
Mama’s Home Remedies.
Svetlana Konnikova
fills this delightful essay on the importance of trees in our lives with
fascinating legends, appealing real-life personal and family stories,
poetry, home remedies, interesting nature facts, and motivating
aphorisms. She even includes a chart of the Trees of Life; mine is the
walnut, the tree of passion and power. Her descriptions of scenery paint
colorful pictures that make me want to go to the places she portrays.
I am proud that she quotes from my grandfather Joyce Kilmer’s poem,

“Trees.” I hope that her work will help to instill a deeper reverence
for the environment in readers everywhere.”

—Miriam A. Kilmer, artist and granddaughter of poet Joyce Kilmer, author of “Trees”

Mama's

Home Remedies

Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another.

— Juvenal (A.D. 50-130), Roman Writer

A. K.

An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes

which can be made in a very narrow field.

—Niels Bohr (1885–1962), Danish physicist and Nobel Laureate
Mama's

Home Remedies

Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health

and the Pleasures of Natural Living

Svetlana Konnikova, MA, AN

Foreword by Anna Maria Clement, PhD, NMD

PUBLISHED BY AURORA PUBLISHERS, INC.

Mama's Home Remedies

Copyright © 2008 by Svetlana Konnikova. All rights reserved. Cover photograph Copyright © Richard T. Nowitz /SuperStock, Inc. The copyright in this book is ful y protected under U.S. and international copyright law. No part of this book may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. For information regarding permissions, write to Aurora Publishers, Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 5970 S.W. 18th Street, Ste.117, Boca Raton, FL 33433. Illustrations by Alexander Khmelnitsky and Anatoli Smishliaev. Used by permission.

Konnikova, Svetlana

Mama’s Home Remedies/ Svetlana Konnikova

p.cm

Includes Index

Library of Congress Control Number: 2007932536I

ISBN-13 978-0-9791758-3-1

1. Health. 2. Natural Healing. 3. Herbs, Plants. 4. Mind, Body, Spirit. 5. Cookery. 1. Title.

Available wherever books are sold, or order from

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Printed in the United States of America

Published January 2008

First edition

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii Poem

A Fine Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter 1 — Rose Hips Tea Party. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Chapter 2 — “Even the Badger Knows…” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Chapter 3 — A Healthy Spirit Lives in a Healthy Body . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Chapter 4 — Stop Sneezes and Sniffles and Stifle a Cold . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Chapter 5 — A Sickness of the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Chapter 6 — Ourselves, Our Children, Allergens, and Happy Cells . . 111

Chapter 7 — Clever Remedies to Outsmart Headaches . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Chapter 8 — Sleeping Beauty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Chapter 9 — When Your Head Is Swimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Chapter 10 — Don’t Be Afraid of Good Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Chapter 11 — Trips to the Fairyland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Chapter 12 — Dialogue with the Trees of Strength and

Everlasting Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Chapter 13 — As Isis, So Is Mama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Chapter 14 — Nature’s Green Clinic: Useful Herbs,

Plants, Fruits and Vegetables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Natural Health Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Bibliography
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Useful Addresses/Herbal Suppliers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Credits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

A Note About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

About the Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

The information and recommendations in this book have been practically tested and proven by many people. However, the information contained herein is to be used as a reference source only. The author of this book is not a physician and the procedures, ideas, and suggestions in this book are not intended as a substitute for the medical advice of a trained health professional. Some herbs and plants used as remedies or food, internally or externally, can cause allergic reactions in some individuals. These methods should not be used for long-term problems and serious illness. Consult your doctor or qualified health-care practitioner before adapting the suggestions in this book. Always seek the advice of your physician about any condition that may require diagnosis or medical treatment.

The statements made by the author regarding certain products and services represent the views of the author alone, and do not constitute a recommendation or endorsement of any product or service by the publisher. The author and publisher disclaim any liability arising directly or indirectly from the use of the book. Neither the author nor the publisher can be held responsible for claims arising from the inappropriate use of any remedy in this book or from the mistaken identity of any herbs or other components of the recipes herein.

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viii ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

M
ama’s Home Remedies
is an easy-to-read, learn-and-do practical guide written for people unfamiliar with the basics of common herbal remedies but who wish to derive benefits from the medicinal properties of herbs. These herbs have been healing peoples of the world—Sumerians and Babylonians six thousand years before the Common Era; Scythians (second and third centuries B.C.E.), the first and oldest tribes of ancient Greece and Russia; and Egyptians four thousand years ago. This book is written for everybody who has a desire to improve his or her health naturally. Hundreds of natural treatments, small real-life anecdotes, and inspirational notes are garnered from the personal observations, experience, and life philosophy of several generations of women in one family and their friends, passed down through centuries.

The therapeutic properties of more than 100 medicinal herbs, plants, and trees are examined herein along with the true, lyrical and romantic memoirs of a family who for many years supported each other. Life experience is paralleled with ancient mythology and Grandma’s folk tales, fairy tales and legends.

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Preface @ ix

Svetlana Konnikova has penned an important book using the wisdom of the ages for the age in which we live. Her time-tested, natural remedies were born out of necessity in generations past when the pharmaceutical approach was not available. This hearty group was fortunate to live off of the earth, from the earth and wholly healthfully. Most often, it was our grandmothers and mothers who nursed us back from sickness and on rare occasions they may have seen the village or town’s doctor who also used herbs, food and love as a remedy. Each ethnic culture developed their own natural pharmacy determined by their unique environment, long history and personal needs. Svetlana’s northern European offerings are sophisticated since these hearty people who lived in severe conditions manifested an equally strong system of earth’s healthcare.

The suggestions in this volume bring fruitful advice and invaluable worth. It is impressive to note the thoughtfulness and maternal care that was taken in weaving this guide together. As a native European who has worked in complimentary healthcare in North America for decades, I can confirm the value of this priceless counsel. Most people have forgotten that the simple things are at the center of soulful nurturing and this health publication is an exemplary model of such authentic knowledge. As days pass, modern people are rushing toward the edge of a precipice. It is abundantly clear to any thinking person that we must halt this self-destructive pattern and once again come to our senses. Each of us must take personal responsibility for al aspects of our lives; most importantly, our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health. x ^ Mama’s Home Remedies