Natural Lemon

Every so often I experience heartburn and recently, I heard of a natural remedy- a tablespoon of lemon juice in a glass of water. It seems counter intuitive to drink something acidic when the acid is roaring in your stomach, but it does work! My theory is that it immediately sets off the enzymes to counteract the acid, because it is acidic. But, that is just my theory...

Using this type of remedy puts me in mind of my nursing career. I quickly learned, along with the medical approaches, that nutrition, life-style, and many other factors contribute to health or lack thereof. I have been drawn to a more holistic method of dealing with disease prevention and health promotion. Each method has it's place and can be combined nicely with understanding. I have a family doctor who is very willing, for example, to suggest massage therapy for tight muscles, rather than prescribing a muscle relaxant or pain medication. However, when medication is needed, I am happy to take that.

My mother and her side of the family have influenced this natural healing. They loved to garden and use the fresh fruit and vegetables. They lived a healthy life style with lots of activity, fresh air, and very little processed food. We had milk, cream and butter from our milk cows, and pork from the pigs we raised. In fact, mom made lye soap from pork fat. We had preserves in winter, including canned chicken, fruit jellies and jams, and pickles. We were nearly self-sufficient on the farm where I grew up, but did buy coffee, tea and sugar, etc. As time progressed, there were more bought things, and even some processed food like breakfast cereal instead of oatmeal.

I know we will not be able to back to that same type of self-sufficiency, but there are many things that can be incorporated to stay healthy. The down side of that generation was the lack of medical care. Moms and infants died at childbirth, and that is much rarer now. I am thankful for the times we live in, but sometimes wish we had a little more "natural lemon" in our lives.