Recently I heard that a family member in her early 50s was being seen by a doctor for DVT and that she was hoping that there was a more natural way of dealing with it than the medications her doctor was prescribing. When I had digested this scrap of family ''information,'' I thought about my own lax position (denial, really) and how it would make sense for me to make some changes in my life while I still have some shreds of health and potential fitness. And, of course, I have inherited my mother's compulsive pop reading habit (in my case, the Internet mostly). So, I decided to research and write an article that would incorporate some preventative and alternative health principles into my life that might make DVT somewhat less likely to catch up with me than is likely the case now. I would also like to see our family member above and others benefit from these principles if they decide that they want to. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a critical health concern that af
One summer day a few years ago our younger son pointed out various exotic trees as we walked around our neighborhood. One with clumps of luscious blue-black berries caught my eye. Black Elderberry. I asked if the berries were edible, and he said they were. And the black elderberry ( Sambucus racermosa ssp pubens var melanocarpa ) is native to our Vancouver Island. As someone wanting to grow only native trees in my yard, I have the ethical go-ahead. (To read about why we should grow native trees if we grow trees, see this article about botanist Diana Beresford-Kroeger.) And... did the berries not have some medicinal benefits? I wondered aloud. He told me that indeed elderberries were noteworthy for staving off and remedying colds coughs, sore throats and flu. Customers' Most-Loved Gifts Click to learn more... A New Study from the University of Sydney, Australia, published in 2019 in the Journal of Functional Foods... shows that this amazing berry contains phyt