Completed: 7. Learn About Nutrition of Foods and Herbal Remedies
My intention of this goal is pretty simple: I wanted to better understand the nutritional value of the foods that I eat and I wanted to be able to look into my kitchen cabinet and potentially find a cure for an ailment instead of popping a pill.
Learning about the nutrition of foods was basic. I Googled nutrition value of a particular item whenever it interested me. I also wanted to understand what certain ingredients do to your body. I’m a physical educator, so I know how to read labels, but there are a lot of things on labels that don’t make sense. For example, when a label says, “a good source,” it only means it has at least 10% of whatever that item is. Also, the FDA does not have an official definition of what “natural” means. Pretty interesting.
For the herbal remedy side of this goal, I also conducted my research on Google, but whatever I typed in, I got a million spam sites trying to sell me their “natural remedy” products. I found great information on health.com. I also found information on nutrition.gov.
There wasn’t anything in particular I wanted to cure. I just wanted to be more informed. Here are just a few herbal treatments I read more about that I plan to incorporate into my routine:
- Chamomile: A well-known herbal treatment for those who suffer from anxiety. Maybe one Sunday when I’m watching a Packer’s game, I’ll sip some chamomile tea!
- Flax seed: I’ve heard a lot about Flax seed and Flax seed oils, but up until now, didn’t understand the benefits. Flax seed has been shown to reduce your LDL cholesterol levels. My family has a history of high cholesterol and mixing flax seed in my diet could be very beneficial to me.
- Ginger: Lyssa has always told me how ginger helps with stomach issues, but I didn’t know just how much it could help. Ginger has been shown to help a great deal with nausea and vomiting. There’s nothing on this planet I like doing less than vomiting, so I’ll be sure to keep ginger in our house at all times.
-Kris