Fear and Loathing in Lancaster

There are a couple of things we've used here in the past couple of days that are interesting.
First, the fear.
The darling daughter is currently performing onstage at school. Last night was opening night, and she called about 2 hours before the start to tell me she needed a blouse. The day had also included an interpretive performance piece that she put together and it had taken place in the last half of the day. She was coming a little unglued. Along with the blouse, I delivered some Bach Rescue Remedy in a spray bottle. Rescue Remedy and I go way back. My sister and I started using it (I think this was the beginning) when we gave our first public talk. That would be Super Sunday 1995 I believe... Borders... discussing teas. We continued using it for public talks, and then the following summer when faire management - in their infinite kindness - nestled a competing booth right next door to us, we starting drinking it straight from the bottle. In fairness, Scotch whiskey in large quantities wouldn't have helped calm us in that situation. But I digress...

Our mother started carrying it with her because she had a disorder that sometimes caused her throat to spasm when she was eating, preventing her from swallowing completely. The Rescue Remedy helped quite a bit in that case. She fell in a restaurant once, and was shaking uncontrollably. She took a dose and watched as her hands stopped shaking almost immediately.

Flower remedies are made with the energy and essense of plants. It is along the same vein as homeopathic remedies. We are currently running a series of articles on creating your own essences by Kristena Haslam in The Essential Herbal.

In any case, the kids were thrilled to have a remedy for their stage fright. The Bach Rescue Remedy was a huge hit. Bach Remedies can be found at herb shops, health food stores, and on-line. Some progressive pharmacies also carry them.

Next up - the loathing.

I am getting too old to be carrying so much extra weight. It's gotta go, and so I'm trying some things that may or may not help. I've heard that good, apple cider vinegar encourages weight loss. It is also said to assist with digestion - like indigestion, heartburn, and reflux. I once listened to a lecture by David Winston, and he talked about the idea that instead of stopping the production of stomach acid to cure those problems, we in fact need MORE acid. I've wondered about that too. It seems that food stays in my stomach forever sometimes. So anyhow, I decided to try the vinegar. Oh. MY.. GOSH... that is some wicked stuff. I think the first time I tried it straight. Don't. Ok? Just don't do that. Next, I tried using a shot glass. One T vinegar, topping it off with water. Only slightly better, but possible at least.

We discussed this a bit on magazine Yahoo! list this week, and I am now mixing it with honey, water, and a little juice. And guess what? I LIKE it! It tastes great!

The real surprise is how it makes me feel. A while back we drank kombucha for well over a year. We brewed the tea, pampered the babies, massaged the mothers, and shared the scoobies. We always said that the drive and determination to open our shop came from kombucha. The vinegar feels a lot like that to me. Lots of energy, lots of confidence and an overall feeling of health. Apparently I DO need more acid.

A couple of words of caution: Never, never, never use distilled white vinegar for such a thing. That is really not for internal consumption. Save it for cleaning. Use ONLY good, live-with-the-mother apple cider vinegar. A few people also said that they knew people who drank too much and seriously injured themselves. Two people wrote in attributing deaths to drinking vinegar, but I strongly suspect that the people who were drinking it were doing so because they were already seriously ill. I am taking 1-2 T per day, diluted.