parsley: not just a garnish

This pretty green herb can add much more than decorative value to your kitchen. Parsley is rich in antioxidants, and is a great source of the essential nutrients vitamin C and vitamin A (via beta-carotene), as well as vitamin K, folic acid and iron. These nutrients are linked with heath benefits including heart health and protection against arthritis.

Parsley tea can be a fertile woman's best friend. Parsley is also known to nudge along a late period; its mild emmenagogue properties can stimulate menstruation, as long the lateness isn't due to pregnancy. Parsley is traditionally thought to relax the cervix and improve digestion, so it is also useful in relieving menstrual cramps and bloating. To prepare the tea, simply fill a mug with fresh chopped parsley and steep in hot water for about a half hour. Drink a cup every few hours to stimulate menstruation or ease menstrual distress.

feel great in 08: vitamin b-complex

A late night of merriment and champagne can upset an earnest New Year's resolution before it even has a chance. While the traditions of boozing on New Year's Eve and turning a new leaf on New Year's Day may contradict each other, your resolutions can be easier to face with the help of vitamin B complex.

While there's not much evidence to support the theory that vitamin B deficiency contributes to hangovers, numerous anecdotal reports of b-complex easing the consequences of partying inspired me to try it out. The results proved so effective that I now keep a bottle of sublingual b complex in my purse when I go to parties to share with friends. Unless you're wearing a lampshade on your head at the night's end (in which case you'll have to just dump all resolutions and sleep it off), vitamin B complex can save the day.

yoga at your desk

Spending the day seated at a desk can leave you weary. The video above is from a series of desk yoga sequences that are suitable for the office. The 4 minute routines will leave you more refreshed than an afternoon espresso. If a video is too obtrusive for your work situation, try this inconspicuous series.

SAD: Winter's silent bummer

I notice it first around the end of daylight savings time; a mere week of walking home from work in the dark triggers sleepiness, lethargy, and general ennui. It typically peaks in February, (although the start of March is often terrible) at which point I dedicate myself to sleeping until the crocuses start to bud.

Many people slow down in the winter; increased eating and sleeping during the cold, dark months becomes a form of human hibernation. However, some experiences of winter that move past rest to a period of prolonged distress, sadness, and anxiety could be attributed to seasonal affective disorder (SAD). If you suffer from internet-induced hypochondria, keep in mind that the rates of SAD are relativity low; only about 1 in 20 people are thought to have SAD. However, one of the simplest and least obtrusive treatments for SAD is a walk during lunchtime, and that would be a healthy lifestyle addition for anyone, the depressed and the hypochondriac alike.

SAD is caused by limited exposure to light during the darker months, and standard treatment for SAD is light therapy. Light-boxes are typical, but one study demonstrated that walking for an hour a day in winter sunlight can be as effective as 2.5 hours of light therapy. Its important that the sun be absorbed through the retina, so avoid wearing sunglasses while outside. Since daily exercise improves overall health, this treatment can have numerous health benefits.

In more severe cases of SAD (or if its too cold and miserable to go outside), light therapy shows efficacy in numerous clinical trials. 30 minutes a day in front of a 10,000 lux lamp improved symptoms in 3/4 of research participants in trials at Columbia University.

And of course, if you're feeling hopeless, worthless or suicidal, talk to someone and seek professional help.

Big hopes for a little bulb

Health beverages are abundant in Japan. Between the amino-acid infused water and vitamin c fiber drink, you'll find airplane bottles of ginger extract, garlic extract, and various extracts I could not identify by the picture on the bottle. While visiting my boyfriend who was living in Tokyo, I had the (unfortunate) opportunity to test the antibiotic properties of garlic.

I'm pretty sure I transported a bug from the US, because my man got terribly ill the day after I arrived. Having no luck finding echinacea, zinc, or any of my regular cold combatants, I selected garlic extract. The bottle looked almost identical to the one on the right, but the the drawing on the label depicted garlic instead of ginger. He drank one every few hours and was feeling much better within a day.

Today I crossed the boundary from calling my sneezing allergies to accepting I'm coming down with something, so I'm loading up on odorless garlic extract tablets. Hopefully it will help salvage my weekend.

How sad is your state?

The nonprofit agency Mental Health America released a report that ranks depression for each state. The organization developed a composite measure of depression levels based on data from SAMSHA's National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health and the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (two of my favorite data sets!).

Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, and New Jersey were found to be the mentally healthiest states, while Idaho, Nevada, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming were found to have the poorest mental health.

Available resources, affordable treatment, insurance coverage, and utilization of available services were all factors associated with better mental health. So basically, the more people who can and do use mental health services in a state, the lower the suicide and depression rates. States with more generous mental health coverage tended to be the states where more people accessed treatment, resulting in lower suicide rates.

Who paid for this research, you ask? Why, the kind folks at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. How nice of them! I'm sure they weren't thinking at all about their meds down the pipeline, like Pristiq, an anti-depressant undergoing regulatory review right now, or vabicaserin, an anti-depressant currently in phase 3 research. I'd love to see a marketing map of target advertising audiences when Pristiq is approved. Oh wait, I already posted it above, silly me. However, while I am suspicious, I don't classify this kind of industry support as "bad", just saddening. Data like this informs the psych health policy debate while helping to destigmatize mental health treatment, so studies like this need to get done. Unfortunetly, as it often seems when it comes to mental health, only ones willing to foot the bill are those with potential for financial gain.

Ode to Ginger

Ginger tops my list of favorites for both spices and home remedies. I became addicted to the flavor, pink picked sweet slices with sushi and the zest in my dad's stir fry, and never thought about why my mom would get me ginger ale whenever my stomach was upset.

I became passionate about ginger after learning that it is traditionally served with sushi to combat any bacteria that may be ingested with raw fish. The simplicity of such a delicious tradition made ginger my favorite tummy stand-by.

There's data to show that ginger helps with motion sickness, morning sickness, post-operative surgery related nausea, chemotherapy nausea, and inflammation, and it is thought in Traditional Chinese Medicine to increase energy and heat.

For a cheap treat, make some fresh ginger tea by steeping fresh ginger root for 5-10 minutes in hot water with a dash of honey and lemon.

the data is in: grandma was right!

Always delighted to read clinical evidence that supports home remedies, I'm happy to report that honey got some evidence-based positive press today.

In a comparison of buckwheat honey, dextromethorphan (DM) cough syrup (honey-flavored, notes the abstract) and no treatment for cough in children, honey was rated the best by study participants and their parents.

The study, conducted by researchers at Penn State Pediatric Center in Hershey (the sweetest place on earth demonstrating its nature, as usual) was recently published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. It should be noted that funding was provided by the National Honey Board, and industry-funded government based agency whose mission statement focuses on the promotion of honey; however I'd be surprised if the honey industry handles its investigators the same way as big pharm.