Herbs for health

bshubbard — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:34:00 GMT

Herb plants have many benefits in the garden. Many are perennials that flower for long periods, they add perfume to the garden, are reasonably drought-resistant, and they expand over the years to usefully cover an area of not so good soil. They also add flavour to salads, cooked dishes and refreshing drinks, and, most importantly, are an aid to better holistic health.

This morning our garden - after an early morning shower and with the heat of the rising sun - was as relaxing as an aromatherapy parlour. Wandering round it to see what spring flowers would be out for Easter, we harvested rosemary for an energy-stimulating infusion before going out for a four-hour mountain walk to celebrate Richard’s 72nd birthday and 16 years of surviving cancer by following a Mediterranean diet and avoiding radio- and chemo- therapies.

Along the way we collected horse radish to grate into olive oil to have with lamb chops at dinner and to boost our metabolic rates, garlic to mash with tomatoes frozen from last year’s crops to spread on home-made bread at lunch time – a popular tasty and natural antibiotic and antioxidant snack along the Med - jasmine and thyme flowers to flavour some of the latest batch of Kombucha, and parsley and basil to add to our breakfast salads.

Tomorrow and the day after we may make other choices for we have set out to have as many edible herbs, flowers, vegetables, and fruits as possible growing in the garden - and all are grown ecologically. Month by month others are using our trilogy of books ‘Your Garden in Spain’, ‘Growing Healthy Fruit in Spain’ and ‘Growing Healthy Vegetables in Spain’ to do the same.

To us it seems the natural thing to do and we feel good for our age because of it. The only surprise is that the surgeon who suggested that Richard risk a follow-up to his two operations has never contacted us to find out if he is still alive!

Clodagh and Richard Handscombe are practical holistic gardeners living in Spain who wrote their books to share their ideas and experiences with others. For more information visit their website www.gardeninginspain.com.

The health secret of olive oil

bshubbard — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:38:00 GMT

Olive oil is good for us, as we all know, but now researchers have finally unlocked its health-giving secrets.

The essential ingredient seems to be a chemical called oleocanthal, a natural antioxidant that is every bit as powerful as painkillers such as ibuprofen.

And the better the quality of the olive oil, the more oleocanthal you get. It's important to buy extra virgin olive oil, and to choose one that has more of a bitter and peppery taste which may induce coughing if you were to drink it neat.

The oleocanthal causes the tickle at the back of the throat - and that's what may be the secret of the famed Mediterranean diet. Oleocanthal is a phenol that helps stop the oil from turning rancid, and it also happens to stops inflammation-causing enzymes from forming.

The health secret of olive oil was discovered by accident. Dr Gary Beauchamp, of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, was tasting some freshly-pressed olive oil when he noticed a burning sensation at the back of his throat. It was exactly the same sensation as the bitterness and burning he experienced when he tested liquid ibuprofen in cold medicines.

"The moment I felt that burn, I saw the whole picture in my head," he said.

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Herbs for health

The health secret of olive oil