Botanical names of herbs sometimes tell you what the herb does. Motherwort’s botanical name is Leonurus cardiaca, meaning “lion hearted.” It is, indeed, a supreme herb for the heart.
Here are some of the things Motherwort does for cardiovascular health:
Iodine. It’s a component of thyroid hormone, critical for fetal and childhood growth and development. It also regulates metabolism, digestion, heart function, reproduction and many other aspects of adult health. Hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid) will result if someone is deficient in iodine, and can also result from other issues. Most of us in the West have enough iodine, though studies have found that a significant number of pregnant or lactating women in the U.S.
One of my favorite exercise routines is doing Surya Namaskars (sun salutations). Each Surya Namaskar makes you stretch and use muscles you didn’t even know you possessed and more than that—it regulates your body processes at an elemental level, unlike any other exercise. I began with barely managing to do 12 a day but now do 32 in one go. And I plan to increase it as I go along. So here go my reasons for doing the Surya Namaskar, and why you should get on the sun salutation bandwagon too.
Frankly, with words like chia, flax, probiotics, goji, and more making the rounds, it’s understandable to become sick of the whole bandwagon of health food and stick to a normal diet instead.
“Human health is only as good as the land we grow our food in or on.”
A.W.Erickson, 1945
In other words, we reap what we sow. Trying to build a healthy diet from plants grown in unhealthy soil is like building a house without starting with a foundation. It is essential to consider the origin of foods (and other products one consumes, too!) if one aims to live a well-balanced life…with a healthy amount of selenium in store.
Join Basmati.com every week for a Q&A session with one of Basmati’s practitioners, Melissa Hill (FDN-P)! We know that there is a lot of confusing information out there, which can make applying health advice overwhelming. Sometimes, it’s best to ask a practitioner directly, so each week we’ll cover a common health question!
You may have heard the word “ashwagandha” get thrown around the health scene lately, and no…it’s not a cool, new yoga pose…Ashwagandha, also called “Indian ginseng,” is an herb, or more like a root, that is useful for everything from adrenal health to hair growth. And although it’s most famously known as an adaptogen, it’s got plenty more tricks up its sleeve. Here are just some of the ways that ashwagandha can completely turn your health around for the better.
Join Basmati.com every week for a Q&A session with one of Basmati’s practitioners, Melissa Hill (FDN-P)! We know that there is a lot of confusing information out there, which can make applying health advice overwhelming. Sometimes, it’s best to ask a practitioner directly, so each week we’ll cover a common health question!
Sitting in the pit of the throat, supporting the thyroid and parathyroid, the larynx and the vocal chords, sits Vishuddhi Chakra. Literally translated as “Visha” = impurities/poisons and “Shuddhi” = to purify, this vital center sits as the vortex for taking in that which is sweet and that which is considered “poison” from our environment and our experiences for potential purification. I say “potential” because this possibility exists with the proper use and activation of the Vishuddhi chakra, though not all are able to harness its power for personal reward.
At 40, many of us have a million things on our plate. Our kids are still young and demanding, our parents are still around and need some help, our jobs still take a big chunk out of us – and there are so many niggling issues our body keeps bringing to the table, including difficulty in losing weight.
The 40 Checklist