Grandmother's Medicine

There are some things in life that just feel good.   There are some medicines that just make sense, some things that don’t need scientific validation for us to know that they are good for us.
In fact sometimes I think that “science” either purposefully or not is there just to confuse us.  I remember being dumbfounded a number of years ago when science deemed that -“yes indeed, breastmilk is the best form of nutrition for babies” –WELL DERRRRR!!
It’s interesting to see that two of the top Editor in chiefs of the most prestigious medical journals have come out admitting that scientific research today, needs to be looked over with a more sceptical eye. 
This is what Dr Richard Horton of the Lancet had to say:

“The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness.”

Another editor in chief, Dr Marcia Angell, this time of the prestigious New England Medical Journal had this to say:

“It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of the New England Journal of Medicine”

The reason is that most scientific research is funded by industry and in it is in the interest of the funder and the recipient to come a favourable finding for the funder of the research.  Studies with undesirable outcomes are just suppressed by the funder, meaning the researchers work is not published.

I think it’s time we took our health into our own hands and started listening to our common sense when it comes to health and healing.   Good food makes us feel good. It is that simple.  No scientific evidence needed.
Let’s look back to our wise grandmothers who used food as a healing. One of the staples in the healing pantry is good old Chicken Soup.  Or what the trendy inner suburban cafés call Broth.

Here’s my basic Chicken Broth recipe

Ingredients:
1 whole organic chicken
1 whole organic brown onion with skin on
3-5 whole cloves of garlic
1-2 teaspoons of Celtic sea salt
3-4 litres of filtered water
Optional herbs- Rosemary, thyme, parsley
Optional 2 sticks of celery & 2 carrots cut roughly
Optional 1 tbs of apple cider vinegar

Method:
Put the whole chicken in a large pot, add the rest of the ingredients.  Add enough water to cover the chicken.  Simmer on a low heat for 1 ½ -2 hours.  Pick meat of the chicken and reserve.  At this point you may use the broth or you can add the bones of the carcass back into the pot and simmer for longer.  The longer you simmer the stock, the more rich and concentrated the flavour will become.
When you are happy with your broth, remove it from the heat.  Allow it to cool and store in recycled jars in the freezer for later use.  To avoid the glass breaking in the freezer don’t over fill the jars, allow about 5cm for expansion and the broth to cool fully before freezing.

Our grandmothers were wise, not ignorant.
~Respect~
   
  Melanie

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