Category: Health

Health, Home remedies for cold, Latino culture, Mexican traditions

Latino Home Remedies for a Cold

Mona Alvarado Frazier
Do not disturb-flickr.com
Do not disturb-flickr.com

That could be me in that photo. I have on my flannel cheetah pajamas underneath. For. the. third. day. I’ll probably stay in them tomorrow too.

For the past three days, I’ve battled a sore throat and aching eardrums with an arsenal of homemade recipes. Now I have a full blown cold, red nose, and I’m out of steam.

Yup, I took the Mexican traditional Yerba Buena (Spearmint) leaves from my little garden pot, boiled the leaves, sip sip, took more cups of this with additional vitamin C and echinacea. 

My throat rebelled and got tighter, so tight that I  almost choked trying to swallow the tea.Maybe I used the wrong herb.

Another Mexican remedy is honey, mixed with lemon and hot water. It felt good–for about one minute.  

Figured I’d buy a stronger tea with a blend of eight types of herbs, including ginger and licorice, called Throat Coat by Yogi Teas. Worked better, for a short 10 minutes. I even tried the yoga pose they suggest, for better breathing, on the box. 

Yoga pose for colds-Throat Coat Tea by Yogi
Yoga pose for colds-Throat Coat Tea by Yogi

And then the ears rebelled and reminded me who’s who every time I swallowed. I refused to try the Mexican remedy my boyfriend suggested: a rolled up newspaper, the tip of the paper cone in my ear while he lights a match and blows the air into the cone, something like that.

As soon as he said “light a match,” I stopped listening. 

“Ok, well try tequila with lemon and honey.” I didn’t have Tequila in the house, so I couldn’t take a shot. But, I do believe in 7Up, my childhood remedy for most things that ail you. 

The next day, the throat eased up a bit. Then my nose started dripping like a broken down faucet, so fast I couldn’t get to a tissue fast enough and yep, down my lip my mocos dripped. I know yuk. 

For the congestion, I found my trusty indigo jar of Vicks vapor rub. 

Now that stuff does make you feel better, but you go around stinking like burned eucalyptus leaves. And you can’t put it on your red sore nose, it stings. I know that for a fact now. 

So today, feeling worse off, I sent my kid to the store for pharmaceuticals, tissue, more 7Up, and soup. After three texts, he got the right stuff. I swear kids can do 1001 things with an iPhone but can’t remember four ingredients to battle a cold.

But, he came through and I can breath now, and I change tissues every five minutes instead of one. 

I really wish I could say that homemade is better, but not in my case. Now I’m going back to bed. I’m sure rest, hydration, and menthol rub will get me better. At least I hope so. 



Go Red Day, Health, Heart Health, Red Stilletos, Stroke, Women and Heart Attacks

Do You Want to Have A Heart Attack?

Mona Alvarado Frazier


We may say “Of course not,” but are we really doing all we can to prevent our risk of heart disease, heart attack, or stroke?

If you missed all the red dresses, lapel pins, scarves, and cool high heels on Feburary 1st, 2013, that was the tenth anniversary of National Go Red Day.

This is a day created to shine a spotlight on heart disease in women. But one day is just the start of the entire month of heart health awareness.

Heart disease strikes more women than breast cancer. It is the number one killer of women…

That’s right, one of every 31 women will die from breast cancer, and one in three will die of heart disease-

                   one a minute


That’s scary, especially when you can lower your risk by 80%: 

  • lower high cholesterol, 
  • reduce high blood pressure, 
  • eliminate smoking, 
  • stay near goal weight, 
  • 30 minutes of physical activity
  • control diabetes 
The other 20 % of risk comes from factors we can’t change: family history and age.

In the past 12 years, younger women are having heart disease, strokes, and heart attacks. A study*, which followed 1.4 million heart attack patients for 12 years, found that 42 percent of the women experienced a heart attack without any chest pain, compared to 30 percent of the men in the study. Heart attacks also led to death in more of these women — 

“…possibly because they didn’t think they were having a heart attack in the first place, and therefore put off going to the hospital.” 

Most of the women with these atypical symptoms were younger (less than 55 years old).

So what are the symptoms? 

In addition to chest pain and discomfort,watch for:
  • Fatigue
  • Shortness of breath
  • Pain or numbness in places like your jaw, arms, stomach, or back
  • Nausea or vomiting
  • Dizziness or lightheadedness
  • Breaking out into a cold sweat

Doctors say that many women think they are stressed, or have a pinched nerve, or have the flu, so they never go to the hospital. Sort of like the woman in this comedy sketch:


But in all seriousness, do you know what to look for in a person who may have just had a stroke?

Help yourself, and others, by remembering the acronym F.A.S.T: (Face, Arm, Speech, Time) or 
get the iPhone App “Spot a Stroke,” if that will make it easier.

There are still 20 some days left in this month, plenty of time to create new habits. 

Now that you have the information how will you take care of your heart this month (and every month)? I know there some very cool red high heels just waiting for you. 
                                        


*Journal of the American Heart Association 2011