Almonds

The common soft-shelled almond is one of my favorite herbals. Eaten regularly they help clean the lymphatic system, clear nasal and lung congestion and prevent constipation. These properties have been known to Chinese and Western herbalists for a long, long time.

When I get up in the morning with a bit of phlegm in my nose, throat or lungs, I put a few drops of almond flavoring (from the Health Food store) in my breakfast food. I usually use bitter almond rather than the more common sweet almond although both are effective. Should you be badly congested or constipated, take a few drops on a spoon and taste it. It will put you tongue in a dither and clear you out quick.

I make my Bitter Almond flavoring from essential oil: about 40 to 60 drops in a pint (4/5 pint to be exact) of vodka. A pint of this will last for a year. A half or quarter ounce of essential oil used at this rate will last many years.

Bitter Almond is what makes Coke into Cherry Coke although they use synthetic stuff and not the real thing.

Since almonds are really a peach, or peaches are really almonds, organic peach pits are good too. Please use only sweet ones though: the bitter ones contain prussic acid, a cyanide compound which can be very poisonous. Also Bitter Almond essential oil should be marked 'fpa' to let you know it is "free from prussic acid".

Almonds are also nutritious in other ways such as proteins, vitamins, minerals and so forth. It is best to eat them in the morning so that the lungs, large intestine and lymphatic sytsem can make best use of their herbal qualities.

Also, the smallest dab of essential oil on the tongue can clear an asthma attack. A dab of essential oil on the tongue will blow your head off - so don't be eager with it. For regular daily use, use the flavoring described above.

Sweet almond oil - not essential oil - is used in cooking, salads and makes a wonderful massage oil. Used as a bath oil it will keep your skin soft and supple and prevent the dry crinkley look that is part of the aging process.

Then, there is always Marzipan, almond paste, a condiment which is much used by fancy confectioners as a candy: medicinal candy.

All nuts are best eaten raw. Once upon a time, farmers and country folk used to sit about in the winter eating nuts collected in the autumn. They lived long and healthy lives because nuts are extremely nutrritious. In these times we city folk sit about munching potato chips or having a "beer' which are almost nutrition-free. Then we wonder why we are subject to colds, flus, bowel complaints and other modern diseases. If we ate more natural and organic food we probably wouldn't have these problems. If you don't believe this, just go out and read old tombstones in country grave yards. You will find that people died in infancy or in childbirth or in their nineties. The reasons are plain: organic food, fresh raw vegetables and an early-to-bed-early-to-rise lifestyle. I'll bet they slept with their bedroom windows open too.