Cucumbers are Cool...And Curative!

While I very seldom read email forwards, the ones from my grandma tend to be useful and from reputable sources. This one, detailing the health benefits and myriad household uses of cucumbers, caught my attention. I already knew cucumbers were healthy. An alkaline food, they help balance pH and are one of the only foods that never cause me acid reflux. They really seem to help settle my stomach and are refreshing. I also love me a cucumber peel facial. Here is the email forward verbatim:

Never thought that CUCUMBER can do so much!

The Amazing Cucumber

This information was in The New York Times several weeks ago as part of their "Spotlight on the Home" series that highlighted creative and fanciful ways to solve common problems.

1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.

3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.

4. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminium to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.

5. Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the photochemical in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!!!

6. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!!

7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explores for quick meals to thwart off starvation.

8. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don't have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.

9. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!

10. Stressed out and don't have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber with react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown the reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.

11. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don't have gum or mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the photochemical will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

12. Looking for a 'green' way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won't leave streaks and won't harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.

13. Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!!

Pass this along to everybody you know who is looking for better and safer ways to solve life's everyday problems.

Lemon Juice, Coconut Oil, Apple Cider Vinegar, Oh My!!!

I was so excited to discover the above chart on MindBodyGreen.com. I am all about utilizing natural, chemical-free remedies whenever possible. I intend to try all these products for the various uses listed as I am chronically chemically sensitive and striving to eliminate the toxins from my life.

Resolutions, Revisions, and Regrets

As we approach yet another new year, it is a time to reflect upon the last 365 days of life and how they were spent. This year I experienced a lot of changes in mine, both positive and negative. Overall, it was a good year mainly because I finally found a job I am both capable of doing and enjoying. However, I am still struggling with the fact that I am not where I want to be health-wise after suffering through three years of POTS. Luckily I discovered that my symptoms respond positively to weight-bearing exercise, so I am going to make that more of a priority in the coming year. Another resolution of mine is to phase out all chemical-based cosmetics, and personal and household products. I do not like to waste things, so I am simply using up or giving away the old, and when I replace a product I will replace it with something green and chemical-free. I hope that this shift in products will be reflected in my health. I also intend to gradually eat better and buy organics whenever possible. That's about it for my resolutions this time. I'm keeping it simple. I used to be a fan of elaborate lists and detailed action plans, but since work has been consuming so much of my time lately, I figure it's best to have a few basic, realistic resolutions in mind that I can actually stick to.

After recently finishing the first two seasons of Being Erica (in my opinion it's one of the best shows on television), I realized that I too, have a long list full of regrets--19 of them to be precise. For those of you who haven't seen the show, it's the story of a woman in her early thirties who just can't seem to get her life together, although she is bright, well-educated and has a lot going for her. She visits a "therapist" who engages in unconventional therapy sessions with her where he enables her to travel back in time to relive her biggest regrets. The show is what I would classify as a dramedy: Erica is a highly relatable character and the flashback scenes to her teen and college years are generally very funny. But the show also deals with some serious subjects and subliminally encourages viewers to evaluate their own lives and regrets.

Looking over my own list of regrets I couldn't help but wonder if reliving a few of them differently may have prevented me from getting sick. For example, if I would have not cancelled my wisdom teeth surgery out of fear my freshman year of college, maybe I wouldn't have developed the infection and cyst that resulted in an emergency surgery senior year. Or, perhaps I was destined to get sick anyway and having the surgery sooner would have only meant that I got sick even earlier in life (which definitely would have been worse considering I probably wouldn't have finished college if I had developed POTS as a freshman). On my list of regrets are some silly, some serious, yet living any one of them differently may have altered the course of my life significantly. My question for you, dear readers, is if you could travel back in time to relive any regret, what would it be and why? How would you do things differently and how would it alter your life today? Just something to ponder as the new year approaches. Perhaps the most important resolution I have for the upcoming year is to live a life free of regrets.