DINNER IS HERBED!

Kick-start your taste buds with fresh sprigs in your meals. You do not have to be a gourmet chef to increase your appreciation of the aroma and taste of herbs in food. All it takes is a little experimentation. Ensure your herbs don't overpower the dish. Start with the small quantities and add more if you so desire, and as your experience grows. Each herb has its own unique flavor and aroma that complements certain foods, and combines well with other particular herbs. Fresh herbs are almost invariably preferable to dried herbs, which lose a lot of volume and essential oils in the drying process.
Herbs can be used as "medicine". Fresh herbs have many good qualities to help your body system to cope against certain symptoms or it can help you to prevent illnesses. Herbs were used much more in a old day medicines. One of the most famous doctor that used nature to heal the body and prevent it to get sick was Alfred Vogel. We all know his Vogel products that many health shops and even chemist sell today. He said: " The nature, is the best doctor".

When you buy fresh herbs choose the ones that looks really fresh. You can mix herbs in your salads and here some advise how to use certain herbs easily in your food.

Basil
Fresh basil goes well any kind of dish with tomatoes. Sprinkle torn fresh basil leaves on your tomato salad or in your tomato soup. You can mix basil into a marinade of oil and garlic.

Mint
Mint leaves can be used for herbal teas: put few mint leaves on your mug and add hot water, let it cool down. This type of tea can be drink cool during the summer. After dinner it will help you digest. Mint goes well with Mediterranian food and same as other herbs you can add some torn leaves in your green salad. Fresh sauce for fish can be a yogurt/mint sauce.


Rosemary
Rosemary is very good for your blood circulation. It can be used in many vegetable dishes and with meat, fish and chicken. You can add rosemary in your soups and sauces as well.

Persil
This herb will help you kidneys to cleanse. Make persil tea same way than mint tea. drink this tea at least ones a day and it will help you to detox your kidneys.
Persil is excellent on top of the potato dishes and in soups. Always ad it at last don't let it boil, this will keep it fresh taste and as all the other herbs you can add some persil in your green salads. It contains a lot of vitamin A and C. It also contains vitamin B12 which is important for the red blood cell development.


Thyme
Thyme is excellent herb for cooking and it has calming effect on your digestive system. It can also be used in fresh salad.

Cumin, Coriander, Fennel, Anis and Aneth
Some of these herbs we can used the part of the plant and all of them have seeds that can be used in cooking. They are said to be warming seed spices that helps your digestive system. They also helps agains cold and infections. A mild fennel or anise tea helps the babies digestive problems.  Fennel tea has cleansing properties and it will help you for water retention, it has mild diuretic effect.

If possible make your own small herb garden at you home. In wintertime you can keep few pots next to your window and in summer you can plant your herbs in your garden or if you have a balcony. It is fun and you will always have some fresh herbs. Go and visit a garden center next to your home and ask the personal there to give you some  advise how to grow your own herbs. Growing your herbs at you home you will also have a nice fragrance in your kitchen. There are so many different herbs just try new ones and experiment them in your everyday cooking. And try to grow your own, it's fun for you and for your children too, you can teach them that some plants can be eaten and they are healthy too.

MINDFULNESS MEDITATION

Mindfulness meditation is not about achieving bliss or tranquility. Rather, its aim is to see things as they really are more clearly. This meditation is a form of "mind training". It will help you to bring awareness to the thing or a moment. To really notice what's happening right now. For example: often when you are drinking coffee or tea... How much attention you bring to the beverage that you have in your cup? Most of the time you are busy doing other things and the cup is "just there", like my green tea cup right now next to my computer. I am drinking tea while typing but my mind is in the words and not in the aroma and the warmth of the tea... So next time you making for yourself a cup of tea or coffee, smell the aroma of your tea or coffee, hold the cup between your two hands and feel the warmth of it. Feel how you drink taste, enjoy it, enjoy the moment. Forget everything else. Just have a "relationship" with you cup. Your will get more out of your short coffee or tea brake. This next meditation will help you to find a way to be more in the moment and you will learn to observe with awareness and perceive more accurately what your experience really is.
Start with 5 minutes daily. Gradually add a few minutes to your session each day until you can sit for 20 minutes.

1. Sit in a comfortable position on a pillow, chair, couch or floor.
2. Listen to the sounds around you while you relax. Practice letting the sounds come and go without holding on to them or pushing them way.
3. As you inhale think "in" and as you exhale, think "out". Let this action be a kind of home base.
4. When your mind drifts and thoughts starts to wander, pay attention what comes up. You may be aware of a pain in your shoulder for intense, or think about the argument from the night before. Acknowledges this thought and feeling, spend a moment with it and then bring your awareness gently back in to your home base. Rather than rushing past the new sensations you experience, bring your full awareness to them.
5. If you find yourself getting stuck in an emotion or sensation, it may help to put a mental label on it, to identify it as "anger" or "pain". Then bring your awareness back to your breath.
6. The traditional way to end this meditation is to acknowledge the positive energy you have created and to dedicate it to yourself and others. Try to practice this meditation everyday.

ROOIBOS TEA

One of my favourite herbal tea is rooibos tea, South Africa's gift to the world. Our family has been drinking it since we moved to South Africa in '92 and ever since we always have few packet of rooibos tea back travelling in our suitcase where ever we go. It grows only in a certain area in South Africa and you can drink it all day long. It is a good evening drink before bed time, because it does not contain any caffeine and it has a calming effect.  You can buy rooibos tea bags or loose tea in many health shops but also in supermarkets.

Rooibos is a member of the legume family of plants. The rooibos shrub can grow up to 2 meter in height. The erects red coloured rooibos stems contain many dark green needle shaped leaves. The rooibos shrub produces small yellow flowers in spring through early summer. Each flower produces a one seeded small bean. Rooibos has a long tap root, sometimes up to 2 m in length, enabling the plant to survive periods of drought.


Parts used

Only the rooibos leaves and twigs are used. Rooibos leaves are harvested in summer, cut or chopped and are left to ferment. During the fermentation of the rooibos leaves, some chemicals are oxidized by enzymes resulting in the typical red colour and flavour of rooibos. Unfermented rooibos tea is also used and contains more antioxidants. Unfermented rooibos tea has a yellow color rather than the red colour of fermented rooibos.

Phytochemicals

Aspalathin, Nothofagin, Caffeic Acid, Chrysoeriol, Isoquercitrin, Orientin, Isoorientin, Luteolin, Vitexin, Isovitexin, Lutein, Rutin, Flavonoids, Quercetin, Polyphenols

Medicinal properties

Rooibos has anti-carcinogenic and antimutagenic effects. Rooibos tea is used for its anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic properties. Consumption of rooibos tea may relief fever, asthma, insomnia, colic in infants and skin disorders. Rooibos extracts are used in ointments against eczema. In South Africa it is very common to give rooibos tea to babies who suffer from stomach cramps (colics).

Rooibos is the only known source of the phytochemical aspalathin. In vitro and animal studies have indicated that quercetin and lutein help to prevent cardiovascular disease, some cancers and stroke. Rutin has been associated with the maintenance of blood vessels walls.

Because rooibos contains no caffeine, it is suited for babies and children. The low level of tannins in rooibos will prevent problems with iron absorption.


Sasaki YF et all (Mutat Res 1993;286:221-232) showed in their study ' The clastogenic-suppressing effects of green tea, Po-lei tea and Rooibos tea in CHO cells and mice' that fermented rooibos tea reduced cancer-associated changes in animal cells induced by the certain mutagens both in vitro and in vivo. Other researchers found that rooibos extracts from fermented rooibos leaves reduced cancerous transformation of mouse cells irradiation with x-rays. They found that extracts from unfermented green rooibos tea did not show this protective effect.

Other facts

Rooibos is grown only in the Cederberg area and around the villages Clanwilliam and Citrusdal, which are situated to the north of Cape Town in South Africa. Efforts to cultivate rooibos in other areas or countries with similar climates have failed. Apparently rooibos needs a very specific climate and soil to grow. Rooibos tea has always been very popular in South Africa. To make the popular rooibos tea, the dried rooibos leaves are boiled in water and is often consumed with milk. Rooibos tea is much appreciated because it does not contain caffeine and is low in tannins.

Other names:
Rooibos tea plant, red bush, red tea.

Source: http://www.phytochemicals-info.com/