During the glorious Easter weekend I actually got round to doing a bit of gardening, which was great! However, for the next few days, my back and the backs of my legs ached quite a bit! I swim most mornings, but different muscles are used for gardening. I should have had a soak in the new A. Vogel Atro-Bath Oil!

Atro-Bath Oil relaxes tired muscles, helping to soothe away aches and pains after physical activity. Atro-Bath Oil contains the extract of freshly harvested Arnica montana flowers which helps to relieve tired, aching muscles. It also contains essential oils to help keep skin soft.

It has a wonderfully strong smell, with the old-fashioned herb Wintergreen, and a good soak in it should help clear your head, too!

We have 2 - sachet trial packs for just £1.99, or 250ml bottles for £9.99.

Glucosamine is well known for helping to ease joint pain, but some people do not like taking large capsules or tablets. However, Nature’s Aid have just brought out a High Strength Apple and Blackcurrant Cordial Glucosamine Liquid, and it is simply delicious! It is citrus free (citrus fruits can aggravate joint pain), contains added Vitamin C (which helps the Glucosamine to work) and has no added sugar. It contains no artificial flavours, colours, lactose, yeast, gluten or salt. A 25ml serving contains 1500mg of Glucosamine HCI. The 1 litre bottle contains 40 servings for £9.99 and you only need to take it once a day. Dilute 25ml to 4 parts water. Best served chilled.
 

A 40-year review of research found a daily dose could halve the risk of breast and colon cancer. Vitamin D has also been shown to play a vital role in heart disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis. It is also essential to bone health.

Recent studies at Winthrop University Hospital in New York have shown that Vitamin D stimulates “innate immunity” by activating peptides in the body that attack bacteria, fungi and viruses.
“Vitamin D supplementation, particularly with higher doses, may protect against the typical winter cold and flu...Since there is an epidemic of Vitamin D insufficiency in the US, the public health impact of this observation could be great,” the authors write.

Solgar have introduced, alongside their regular Vitamin D, Vitamin D3: Also called cholecalciferol. Vitamin D3 is real vitamin D. All other compounds are either metabolic products or chemical modifications. It costs just £4.99 for 100 Softgels, each containing 400IU, derived from fish liver oils.

If you totally avoid the sun, recent research indicates you need about 4,000 units of vitamin D a day! Which means you can't get enough vitamin D from milk (unless you drink 40 glasses a day) or from a multivitamin (unless you take about 10 tablets a day), neither of which is recommended.

If you don't get vitamin D the way Mother Nature intended, from sunshine, you need to take supplemental vitamin D3 cholecalciferol. Since most of us get a lot more vitamin D from sunshine than we realize, most of us need about 2,000 units a day extra.

 

During the long winter month’s we usually almost hibernate and consequently gain some extra weight in the process, we tend to eat heavier meals and of course we have the festive season to get through.

For our ancestors, gaining extra fat was necessary to sustain them over the freezing winter. After the winter cold their bodies would start to lose the extra weight as they started hunting and gathering again.

Today, with central heating in most homes and everywhere we shop, gaining weight is no longer essential, but of course we do!

The New Year is awash with resolutions, weight loss plans, joining a gym, eating less etc etc. Every year we make these promises to ourselves but realistically it is the wrong time of the year as the winter cold is still upon us.

GET ACTIVE
Now Spring is in the air, we have increased daylight hours, the daffodils have been and gone. We have the occasional warm day and new growth springs up everywhere. It is perfectly natural for us humans to start feeling livelier and looking forward.

We naturally become more active and many sports and leisure centres offer new activities at this time of year. It is also the time when we think of our own wellbeing and will treat ourselves to a course of Therapy treatments to kick start the feel good factor.

FEEL GOOD

Spring is also a wonderful time of year to get out. The trees are coming into blossom and spring flowers are everywhere. Walks can become amazing journeys with changes of colour almost daily and of course you can spot many new born lambs in the fields.

Birds too are collecting building materials for their nests. So there are many wonderful things to see and all free, courtesy of nature. How sad it would be for us if we let all these wonderful sights go by without taking any great notice of it.

With this new energy of spring and more opportunity to increase our activity, we get a real chance to lose any excess weight we may have gained, as this is the time when our bodies are naturally ready. It is also the time to start taking care of the things that are on show i.e. our feet, hair, skin, hands all of which benefit greatly from any one of my therapies.

Jane Henry practices Holistic Therapies at The New Therapy Centre, Herbs, Gardens and Health, Northdown Rd., St Peters. Call 01843 600201 or 07866 073806.

Having been called a “celeriac” recently, reminded me of some recipes for using that odd looking, but delicious vegetable. (I am not “coeliac”, just wheat and dairy food intolerant but, as wheat intolerance is often confused with the much more severe coeliac condition, I suppose the malapropism is understandable.) But I am definitely not a vegetable!

Suggested ways of using celeriac (turnip rooted celery or celeri–rave)

Celery flavoured root vegetable full of vitamin C and potassium (a mineral essential in small quantities for energy and health)

Preparation

Peel with a sharp knife to remove skin and put immediately into water with lemon juice added to keep its white appearance.

Raw

Can be grated, added to lemon or orange juice to keep its colour, and used as a salad vegetable.

Cooked

Celeriac rice – grate 1lb celeriac and sauté in butter or olive oil with 16oz finely chopped onions until soft but not browned. Add to 8oz of long grain rice, salt and pepper to taste, 12 fl oz chicken stock and 5 fl oz lemon juice. Simmer for 25 mins in a large saucepan.

Meanwhile soak 4oz sultanas in warm water to plump up. Drain and add sultanas and the zest of a large orange to the rice and celeriac mixture.

Pile into scooped out orange skins to serve for special occasions. Delicious as a separate rice salad or to accompany poultry (roast chicken, turkey, duck etc.)

Roast – Cut into large pieces, par boil, then roast as potatoes or parsnips.

Casseroles and stews – cut into small pieces and add with all other vegetables (carrots, onions etc.)

Separate vegetable – cut into thin strips (like matchsticks or “julienne”) and simmer until just tender in water with lemon juice added.

Soup – peel 16oz celeriac, 8oz potatoes and 1 onion. Cut into pieces, fry gently in butter or olive oil for 4 minutes. Add 30 fl oz of chicken stock, salt and pepper to taste and a small bunch of fresh herbs (bay, thyme, rosemary, parsley etc.). Bring to boil and simmer for 40 mins. Liquidise (can be frozen at this stage if wished). Add ¼ pt milk, “alternative milk” or water when reheating (makes 2½ pts.).

Pam Piggott 3/04/07
 

Are you looking for a range of good quality, chemical free make-up? If so, please help us to decide which range to stock.

Inika is a range of mineral cosmetics from Australia. They are kind to your skin and gentle to the earth.

They capture Mother Nature’s richest and most flamboyant hues. They are 100% pure and natural (as mineral mines cannot be classified as organic, neither can the products, although they are everything but), and Inika guarantee never to use potentially harmful chemicals, fillers, bismuth oxychloride, parabens or talc.

Their boxes, paper stock and brochures are all recycled or from sustainable forestry.

Their cosmetics are Vegan and also cruelty free, and no animals were harmed in the making of their cosmetic brushes.

Check out Inika’s online shop to view the range at www.inika.com.au/

Lavera Trend Sensitive is a range aimed at the over 30’s. It is especially formulated for sensitive and allergic skin. Most of the range is vegan, but the lipsticks contain beeswax. Ingredients other than minerals are mostly organic and all natural, and they are against animal testing.

View their range at www.lavera.co.uk/

Email juliet@herbsgardenshealth.com with your vote.
 

A sophisticated, acquired taste. Contrex is the king of Calcium at 486 mg/liter, and it is rich in Magnesium and Sulphate, with only a modicum of Bicarbonate for such a high mineral product - in all, a rare, beneficial chemistry. Furthermore, there is almost no Sodium, Chlorides, or Nitrates.

Contrex® Natural Mineral Water comes from Contrexéville in the Vosges region, the largest natural forest in France.

In 1774, King Louis XVs doctor built the first spa in Contrexéville. Contrexéville was the only place for people to enjoy the benefits of Contrexéville water.

Contrexéville water was recognized as a Natural Mineral Water by the French Government in 1861 and was first bottled in 1908. In 1976, Contrexéville brand became Contrex.
Contrex is an elite water, and has been thrilling connoisseurs since 1760.

69p for 500ml or 99p for a litre. Try it now!