UWS Sidewalk Medicine Chests, The Sequel

By Lydia Wilen

Due to a very respectable response (more than 5,000 views) to my previous article, Sidewalk Medicine Chests on the UWS: Safe, Natural Remedies From Bubbies and Other Experts, I have produced (pun intended) a sequel, once again encouraging you to stop at your local fruit and vegetable stands for some specific produce for what ails you, or some tasty treats that can help prevent those ailments in the first place. 

You may wonder, “Who is she to tell me what to eat? I don’t see ‘Dr.’ before her name, or ‘MD’ after it.” That’s true. My sister, Joany and I were raised on the folk remedies that our grandmother (Bubby) brought with her from “the old country”.  They worked…most of the time…and they were non-addictive, inexpensive, with no negative side effects.

And so Bubby’s cures inspired us. My sister and I became new-age and age-old health researchers and remedy collectors. This was long before the Internet became everyone’s health consultant. We interviewed and reviewed published work by homeopathic and integrative physicians — medical doctors who combine conventional treatments with complementary and alternative medicine. They made sure that everything we recommend is, if not effective, at the very least, safe. 

“Chicken Soup and Other Folk Remedies” was our first book, followed by many others, filled with the input from readers, as well as viewers and listeners to TV and radio shows we appeared on.

Now you know the who, why, and how, here’s the what.

An A-Peel-ing Bruise Eraser

Apply the inside of a banana peel to a bruise or scrape and keep it in place with a bandage. Change the peel every four hours. It will lessen the pain, reduce the discoloration, and speed the healing.

Whether or not you’re using the banana peel for a remedy, the banana itself is a beneficial fruit. If you’re taking a diuretic, you may be losing too much potassium from your system, which may be causing leg cramps. If that’s the case, eat a banana or two every day. You may also want to consult with your doctor about taking you off the chemical diuretic in place of a natural one.  

Natural Diuretics

For occasional mild water retention and bloating (may happen to some women while menstruating) try one or more of the suggestions below.  If you have an on-going problem, be sure to consult your healthcare provider for guidance. If this is a hardly-ever condition, select the vegetable or fruit that is convenient and appetizing. 

• Start by taking a leek. (Sorry. The comedy writer in me couldn’t resist the line.) Similar to but a bit milder than a scallion, eat leeks raw in salads or use leeks in soups and stews.  
• Eat a piece of watermelon first thing in the morning and do not eat any other foods for at least two hours.
• Eat celery raw in salads or cooked in soup. Due to its high water content, good fiber and low calories, it’s a smart snack that also prevents dry mouth.

Native Americans used the food they grew to keep themselves healthy. Their corn crop gave them corn silk as a cure-all for urinary problems. Due to corn silk’s diuretic properties, it can help flush out toxins and bacteria from the urinary system, and may prevent and even help heal UTIs. 

Now and into September, your local fruit and vegetable stand will have corn on the cob. Select what seems like the youngest corns, the ones that have the least brown-colored silk strands sticking out. Peel off the husk and then remove the silk threads. Take a handful of corn silk and steep it in 3 cups of boiled water for 5 minutes. Strain and drink the tea throughout the day. Corn silk can be stored in a glass jar. Do not refrigerate it.  

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep…But Can’t

If you have occasional insomnia, this remedy may bring tears to your eyes. Chop a yellow onion in chunks and place the chunks in a jar with a cover. Place the jar on your night table. Once you’re in bed and having trouble falling asleep, uncover the jar and take two deep whiffs of the onion. Re-cover the jar, lie back and think lovely thoughts. You should be asleep within 10 to 15 minutes. When my sister and I talked about this remedy on television, to help viewers remember it, we would sing these words to The Tokens’ The Lion Sleeps Tonight: “Smell an onion, a yellow onion.  And you will sleep tonight.” How many of you just sang that?

It’s Wise to Moisturize

The late Dallas beauty expert Paul Neimast, would often recommend green Thompson seedless grapes as a moisturizer. He said to cut each grape in half and gently crush it on your face and neck. Be sure to let the grape juice get at the corners of your mouth and carefully around your eyes. According to Neimast, it’s great for getting rid of crow’s feet and the tiny cracks around the edges of the mouth. Leave it on for about 20 minutes and then wash it off with tepid water and pat dry.

The Thompson seedless grape season is now, late summer to autumn. And grapes can be frozen.

Got a Cold?  Get Out the Garlic

Of course you know to have chicken soup when you have a cold. Be sure to cut in cloves of garlic.  

This is another garlic remedy for the common cold::

In Russia, garlic was known as Russian penicillin. It has been reported that colds (along with your friends) actually disappeared within hours — a day at most — after taking garlic. Keep a peeled clove of garlic in your mouth between your cheek and teeth. Do not chew it. Occasionally release a little garlic juice by digging your teeth into the clove. Replace the clove every three to four hours. The allicin in garlic is an excellent mucus-thinner and bacteria killer. It’s no wonder many commercial cold remedies include garlic.

After that remedy, I would be remiss without including breath fresheners, also available at fruit stands:

• Suck a lemon. If that is too drastic, squeeze some of the lemon juice. add a little honey, then rinse your mouth with it and then swallow it.
• Chew on a piece of orange peel
• Chew sprigs of parsley.  Its rich Chlorophyll content acts as a powerful deodorizer.

Got Gout? Get Out the Bing Cherries All Year

In Part 1, bing cherries were mentioned as a remedy for gout. The season is ending for cherries. If your fruit stand still has them, buy them and freeze them. Here’s how: remove the stems, then wash and dry them thoroughly. Next, remove the pits. If you don’t have a cherry pitter, use the brute approach by holding the cherry between the fingers of both hands and rip it in half. Then remove the pit. Or you can position the smaller end of a chopstick on the stem hole and push the pit out of the cherry. Now for the freezing part: spread the cherry meat out on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and put the sheet in the freezer for two hours. Then transfer the frozen cherries to a freezer-safe bag or container and put it back in the freezer and unfreeze whenever you please. 

Once again, I am listing my nearest and dearest fruit stands, along with the one Judy left in the comment section.

• NW Corner of 70th Street on Broadway
• NW Corner of 72nd Street on Broadway
• Westside of Broadway between 73rd and 74th Streets
• SW Corner of 68th Street on Columbus Avenue
• SE Corner of 90th Street and Broadway across from Chase Bank

We’d love it if you would add your go-to stands to the list.

Read the original story: Sidewalk Medicine Chests on the UWS: Safe, Natural Remedies From Bubbies and Other Experts

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