What You Need

• White eggs
• Cold water
• Vinegar (Roughly 2 Tbsp to every pot of eggs you boil, except for the onion skins)

Natural Dye Ideas

• Pink

  Beets - Cut 1 beet into chunks and cook with the eggs. The eggs will turn a pale Victorian pink.

• Pale Blue

  Crushed Blueberries - Put about ¹/₄ cup frozen blueberries in a tall glass of water with two cooked eggs. Stir the blueberries, squish them against the glass and the eggs. The eggs will turn a pale blue with some very interesting specks and streaks where the fruit touched the shell.

• Vivid Blue

  Purple Cabbage Leaves – Boil 2 eggs with roughly half of a head of purple cabbage. Contrary to the striking purple color of the dye, the eggs will turn a brilliant bright blue.

• Bronze-Orange

  Yellow Onion Skins – Boil 2 eggs with the skins of roughly 3 yellow onions. The eggs will turn a rich bronze-orange color. The onion skins will leave a design on the eggs.

• Red

  Lots of Red Onion Skins.

• Violet Blue

  Fewer Red Onion Skins.

Dyeing the Eggs While They Cook

1. Use a separate pan for each color.
2. Add the eggs, natural substance, roughly 2 Tbsp vinegar and cold water to a pan. You just want to cover the eggs with water. (You want the color to be as concentrated as possible so be careful not to use too much water or else the color will be diluted.)
3. Bring the eggs to a boil and let the mixture boil for 1 minute. Remove the pan from heat, cover it with a lid, and let simmer for 10-12 minutes.
4. Transfer the eggs, liquid, and some of the natural substance to a bowl and let them cool completely. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator to let the eggs dye for several hours or overnight. (Include some of the fruit/vegetable substance to add patterns and specks to the eggs. If you want a more solid color, let the eggs soak over night in only the colored liquid.)

Dyeing the Eggs After They Are Cooked

1. Place the white eggs in the bottom of a deep pan. Cover with roughly 2 Tbsp vinegar and cold water. Bring to a boil and let boil for one minute. Remove the pan from the heat, cover it with a lid, and let simmer for 10 to 12 minutes.
2. Using a separate bowl for each color, mix the natural dyes with the eggs. You want the eggs to be completely covered by the dye but you want the color to be as concentrated as possible.
3. Once the eggs are dyed, remove them from the colored liquid, rinse them with cold water and let them air dry for 5 minutes. Pat them dry with a paper towel. For a shiny finish, rub them with vegetable oil. Be careful with all of the dyes as they may stain.

In addition to fresh air, exercise, skin brushing to stimulate lymph circulation, sunshine, and water (drinking, bathing, steams, and saunas), healthy fasting includes digestive cleanses and fresh juices.

The two key times for natural cleansing are the times of transition into spring and autumn.

Dr. Gittleman has created a comprehensive program of internal cleansing, outlined in her book The Fast Track One-Day Detox Diet, that begins with organic foods, features a day of juice fasting, and transitions back to organic food.

“What’s the point of getting all those toxins out of your system only to load yourself up again every time you sit down to dinner? All the detoxing in the world won’t keep up with the load of chemicals you’re consuming if you continue to eat conventionally farmed food,” she says.

Juice fasting, preferably with as much organic produce and pure water as possible, provides fiber and nutrients, while making it easy to transition to and from solid foods.

After fasting, Dr. Haas recommends raw or cooked low-starch (low-glycemic) vegetables, including a little sauerkraut to help stimulate digestive function.

“A laxative-type meal including grapes, cherries, or soaked or stewed prunes can also be used to initiate eating [solid foods once again], as they keep the bowels moving,” he says.

And consume friendly bacteria in fermented foods like yogurt with active and live cultures or take a quality probiotic product, adds Dr. Gittleman.

Dr. Hass recommends that fasting be done only under the care of an experienced physician, usually one who is a naturopathically trained MD, DO, ND, or DC. It’s not recommended for pregnant or lactating women and anyone planning surgery.

In addition, “people with cancer need to be careful about how they detoxify, and often they need regular, quality nourishment,” he adds.

“Some people go to extremes with fasting,” he warns, “and begin to lose essential nutrients. Excessive detoxification can be a concern; finding balance is the key for each of us.”

This spring will be perfect for you—if you’re a bird or a bee.

If you’re a human who suffers from allergies, it has the potential to be a nightmare.

After we suffer through the tree pollens in March and April, grass pollens hit most of the country in May and June.

But, Mother Nature has a way of balancing things out. Even as she challenges your sinuses, she offers remedies to ease your pain.

Allergy-Fighting Foods

Try some of these foods known to naturally help with hay fever, congestion, and other allergic reactions when spring is in the air.

• Broccoli

  ​Bring on the broccoli when your sinuses are blocked.

  This member of the crucifer family is high in vitamin C: one cup of raw broccoli contains about 80 milligrams (mg).

  Research has shown 500 mg of Vitamin C daily can ease allergy symptoms.

• Citrus fruits

  Thanks to their mega-doses of vitamin C, citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons, and grapefruits are good weapons in the quest to breathe freely when pollen and other irritants are in the air.

• Collard greens

  Collard greens offer allergy-fighting carotenoids.

  To help your body absorb their nutrients more readily, eat collard greens with a fat. Try sautéing them in extra-virgin olive oil.

• Elderberries

  Elderberries contain flavonoids that reduce inflammation.

  Ease your suffering by imbibing some elderberry wine, enjoying a glass of juice, or spreading some jam on toast or crackers.

• Garlic & Onions

  The quercetin in onions and garlic (apples too) acts like an antihistamine so it minimizes allergic reactions.

  Try roasted garlic or carmelized onions on a slice of pizza or with bruschetta.

• Miso soup

  Miso (and other broths) are known to help mitigate the mucus that builds up in the nasal passages during allergy season.

  Other mucus-clearing foods include spicy foods, such as horseradish, cayenne, or chili powder.

• Beets, purple/red grapes

  The anthocyanins that give certain foods, such as beets, purple or red grapes, berries, and cherries, their dark violet-like color have anti-inflammatory properties that can reduce swollen membranes that make breathing difficult.

Tea for Allergy Relief

A wide variety of herbal teas can ease seasonal allergy symptoms. Here are a few to try.

• Rooibos Tea

  Rooibos has components that naturally block the release of histamines.

  Rooibos is even thought to help allergy-sensitive systems to metabolize the irritants.

• Ginger Tea

  Ginger tea is a natural antihistamine that helps reduce nasal inflammation.

• Peppermint Tea

  Peppermint tea is a natural decongestant that can slow the production of histamines and the symptoms that go with them.

• Green Tea

  Green tea is rich in antioxidants and helps block the body’s reaction to allergens like pollen, dust, and animal dander.

Many of us who live in northern climes eagerly anticipate summer, craving the sunlight and heat that we miss the rest of the year. We look forward to the season’s arrival so much that we can forget that even the lazy days of July and August come with their own challenges. Seasonal stressors include too much of a good thing (sunburn), things that make us itch (bug bites and poison ivy), and allergies (to all sorts of things, including pollen).

Fortunately, there are numerous homeopathic remedies to help us truly savor summer.

Homeopathic Help for Allergies & Hay Fever

The smorgasbord of seasonal allergies begins in early summer with grass pollen. As summer progresses, the list grows to include allergens such as ragweed and goldenrod.

Experts recommend that in dealing with allergies, you should choose the remedy most like your symptoms. If three days pass with no relief, you are likely using the wrong remedy and should try another, according to James Balch, MD, and Mark Stengler, ND, authors of Prescription for Natural Cures.

“When you first notice improvement, stop taking the remedy unless your symptoms begin to return.”

Homeopathy for Ragweed

• In keeping with the homeopathic principle that “like cures like,” some homeopaths recommend that those suffering from ragweed allergies try Ambrosia (ragweed) for relief and those allergic to goldenrod use Solidago (golden rod).
• Consider Arsenicum iod to quell a frequent desire to sneeze, and Natrum mur 6C six times daily for a constant nasal drip that resembles raw egg white.
• If sneezing and a runny nose are accompanied by hot, stinging, swollen, and watering eyes, and symptoms seem worse indoors, consider Allium cepa 6C six times daily.
• Euphrasia 6C six times a day is a common remedy to soothe red, itchy, and burning eyes, thick eye discharge, and sneezing that worsens at night.
• Try Pulsatilla 6C six times daily if sneezing that worsens indoors is accompanied by nighttime congestion.

Remedies for Insect Bites & Stings

• Wasp, yellow jacket, or bee got the best of you? If the pain lessens after ice or cold applications, try Ledum (wild rosemary) 30C every half-hour for further relief. This is typically the first remedy given after a bug bite.
• For swelling and burning pain, Apis (crushed bee) 30C every 30 minutes may be useful.
• Carbolicum acidum is useful if you’ve been stung multiple times.

Remedies for Poison Ivy, Oak, & Sumac

• The bane of summer, these poisonous plants can make life feel unbearable. If your rash feels better when you’re submerged in a very hot bath, use Anacardium. However, if any kind of warmth only aggravates your condition, Sulphur may be the more appropriate remedy.
• Those tormented at night by itching can try Rhus toxicodendron for relief.
• Graphites helps address rashes with pustules that weep a glutinous, honeylike substance.

Homeopathic Help for Sunburn

• If you overdid your time in the sun, apply a soothing calendula-based gel, spray, or ointment to your burn.
• For mild sunburn, when the skin is pink, slight swollen, stinging and burning, use Apis mellafica 30C as soon as possible, 5 pellets every hour until relief, recommends Christophe Merville, D.Pharm, of Boiron.
• Urtica urens has been used to ease the pain of first-degree burns (painful redness but with no blistering, which is typically a second-degree burn).
• Dennis Chernin, MD, MPH, author of The Complete Homeopathic Resource for Common Illnesses, recommends using the 30C potency “every five to ten minutes.”
• Alternatively, try Belladonna 30C. To minimize the blistering and pain of intense burns, consider taking Cantharis 30C.

Treating Sunstroke

This is a dangerous condition, so remedies should never be given in place of professional care. However, remedies can be given while a person is being transported to a healthcare professional. If accompanied by fever, headache, dilated pupils, reddened face, and stupor, use Belladonna. Use the 6th, 12th, or 30th potency every 30 minutes for the first two hours. After giving a remedy for two hours, reduce frequency to every one to four hours.