Walking 6 Miles a Week Keeps Your Brain Healthy

In today's Natural News, there is a great article summarizing the latest studies on walking and its impact on memory function (and aging, and preventing Alzheimer's Disease or dementia).  Great thing to learn from it: walking 6 miles a week is a major health benefit.  That's not that much, is it? 

Of course, they report that 9 is even better than 6, and there's discussion of "brisk" walking - is it "brisk" walking when my dogs are pulling me along at a semi-run, because they've got a scent on the trail?  Sure feels brisk, lemme tell ya. 

How to keep track of that mileage?  I use a fabulous pedometer: the Omron HJ-112.  It's not that costly, but it is pricer than the $5 pedometers at WalMart.  I keep it in my pocket and if it's not accurate enough for NASA, it's accurate enough for me - I think it comes darn close, based on the trail markers. 

How many steps equal 6 miles?  I've always heard that while each person is different, it's a safe estimate that 2000 steps equals one mile of walking.  So, 6 miles?  12,000 steps a week. 

You can do that.  Yes, you can.  No one says it has to be 6 miles at a time, you could do half a mile in the morning, half in the evening every day but Sunday and get this done.  Maybe park farther away from the office? store entrance? 

Or, take a morning and evening constitutional.  Doesn't that sound sophisticated - "I'm taking my morning constitutional" just means more than "I'm off for a walk."  You're almost British, maybe Bostonian.  You might start wanting to wear tweed.

Seriously. Boost up your walking during the day if you're not hitting this target already.  Your brain will thank you for it -- and walking is great, especially in pretty places. 

Ginger Tea Recipe - Natural Pain Relief that WORKS

I'm still drinking my homemade Ginger Tea - and it's still proving to be very effective as a pain reliever. Once again this weekend, I skipped it and my foot (tendon injury) woke me up with a sharp pain on Saturday night as I tried to move it against the sheets. Yesterday and today, I'm drinking my Ginger Tea and no pain. Just like I'm taking a pain pill - but I'm not.

For those of you that might like to try my Ginger Tea recipe for yourself, here it is:

Get yourself one big, fat hand of fresh organic Ginger Root.  Fat fingers, because you will want lots of meat left after you take off the bark.  Cut away the bark, and then cube the flesh of the root - maximizing the surface area that will be exposed to the water as it brews.

Boil yourself a big tea kettle of water and then brew (I use a cute tea pot that reminds me of the English countryside) three organic green tea bags together with the cubed fresh ginger.  Let it steep a long time.  Me, I let it go several hours because I want all that ginger to free itself into the liquid. 

Grab a pitcher that has a cover/lid.  Blend your steeped ginger/green tea with cold water in the pitcher, stevia to sweeten it to your taste.  Use all the steeped ginger from the teapot, or if it's too strong for you, then save some in a glass jar in the fridge -  a handy second batch when you're ready. 

I think the green tea helps with the flavor, as does the stevia.  Plus, they both are helpful in their own right (antioxidants, etc.) and that can't hurt when you're healing. 

For those of you interested in learning more about Ginger as a natural alternative to aspirin, ibuprofen, or naproxen, check out these sites:

University of Maryland Medical Center
(where the med school reports that ginger is "commonly" recommended for nausea and vomiting caused by motion sickness, pregnancy, and chemotherapy, as well as a "digestive aid for mild stomach upset," (whatever that means) and as a help for "inflammatory conditions such as arthritis" along with heart disease or cancer.

Consumer Affairs
The consumer site references studies published in the Journal of Pain (as well as research done by several American universities), where ginger is recognized as a pain reliever in either its raw or heat-treated forms.  It also points to ginger as being a big pain remedy in Chinese medicine, and reports that ginger has both anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties similar to non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. 

Dr. Andrew Weil
Dr. Weil, the recognized alternative medicine practitioner who periodically shows up on PBS, also recommends ginger for pain relief.  All for the same sorts of things that the University of Maryland does -- nausea, muscle/arthritis pain, etc. 

Vertical Farming: Have You Heard About This Yet?

Over at The Vertical Farm, they've got some very interesting info for you.  For instance, these folk are advising that within the next 40 years, we'll be facing the basic need of feeding around 3,000,000,000 (three billion) mouths. 

We can't do it with the farmland we've got now.  Problem.  Unless we get creative and farm differently.  One solution: vertical farming. 

Which, yes, is something a lot more complicated that the Baker's Rack Vegetable Garden I tried to grow long ago on the apartment balcony -- but at least I got that footprint idea right ....

It sounds pretty darn smart - especially the recycling aspects, and the idea of safe water and safe food.

For more info, watch this: