Eye-Care - Herbal remedies for Eyes

Most people tend to neglect simple eye-care,taking a gift of vision as something that will always stay with them.In order to preserve normal eyesight a body must receive all the necessary nutrients. So it is important to pay attention to what we eat. However, except foods, necessary for eye care, there are also some herbs and easy exercises that are beneficial to the eyesight and can fight eye diseases.

Carrot juice is a perfect provider of nourishment for healthy eyes, as it is a richest source of vitamin A. This juice can be taken in any amount and at any time. Twice a year use carrot juice as a treatment-drink 1 glass of it every morning during 1 month.

Parsley juice is very effective at many eye diseases. Cataract and conjunctivitis are among them. It is one of the strongest juices; therefore it is not advisable to drink more than 30-40 ml a day. Use mix of parsley and carrots juices.

Beet juice provides a good eye-care by cleansing the eyes, blood and the whole body. Add 2 tbsp of beet juice to the mix of carrot and parsley juices.

40 g of crushed calamus (sweet flag) roots put in 200 g of 40 % alcohol or vodka, cover with tight lid and let stand in dark place for 8 days, squeeze out and filter. Take 20 drops 2 times a day before meal.

2 tsp of sweet flag roots put in 1 cup of boiling water and steep, covered, for 2 hours. Filter and take ¼ cup 3 times a day 30 min before meal.

1 part of crushed barberry leaves combine with 5 parts of 40% alcohol or vodka, let stay for 5 days and filter. Take 30-40 drops 3 times a day before meal.

10 g of dried crushed schizandra berries put in 1 cup of boiling water and boil for 15 min at low heat, filter and add boiled water to make full cup again. Take 1 tbsp twice a day. (Both times before lunch.). Schizandra is not recommended at insomnia, hypertension and heart and vascular diseases.

1 cup of wheat kernels mix with 1 tbsp of sugar and warm boiled water, just enough to moisten the wheat. Let stand in dark place for 12 hours. After that keep the wheat in fridge. Take 1 tbsp in the morning on empty stomach. When this portion is done take a break for 10 days and repeat. For the full course of eye-care treatment you will need 3 cups of wheat kernels. It is a powerfull eye care remedy.

This remedy is believed to be able to treat myopia at any stage. Place layers of elder berries and sugar in glass jar and let stand for 3 days outside in the sun. Take 1tsp 3 times a day 15 min before meal for 1-2 months. Repeat 1-2 times a year if needed.

Take 1 tbsp of fresh onion juice, mixed with equal amount of honey, 2-3 times a day.

Combine mash of rue grass (10 parts), mash of parsley (1 part) and honey (1 part). Take 1 tsp 3 times a day 30-40 min before meal.

Every day wash red, tired and scratchy eyes with strong tea.

Puffy eyes:

Peel and grate small raw potato, squeeze out excess juice and cover 2 pieces of cheese cloth with the mash. Place them on eyelids for 10-15 min.

Cut raw potato and place pieces over each eye. Keep on for 15 min.

Dissolve 1 tsp of salt in 1 cup of hot water, soak cotton balls and place them over the puffy areas.

A mix of 1 tbsp of parsley, 1 tbsp of fennel and 1 tbsp of mint put in 1 cup of boiling water. Let stand for 10-15 min. Wet cotton swabs and place on eyelids for 10 min.

In 1 cup of boiling water put 15 g of crushed motherwort herb and steep for 40 min. Filter and take 1 tbsp 3 times a day before meal. Also can be used as compresses for eye-care.

Fill a bowl with very cold water. Lower a face into the water for 25 seconds. Pick it up and wait for 30 sec, then again lover upper part of the face (eyes and forehead) into the water and open eyes for a few seconds. Repeat few times.

Add 5 tsp of dried eyebright grass to 1 L of boiling water and steep for 20-25 min. Filter and drink 1/2 cup 3 times a day. Also use as eye drops and compresses for eye inflammation. The remedy believes to improve vision as an eyebright herb considered to be the best for eye-care.

Mix together bilberry berries and bird cherry. 2 tbsp of mix put in 1 cup of boiling water. Steep for awhile and drink 1/3 cup 3 times a day.

Home Theater Decorating Tips

A home theater needs to be functional before it's anything else. Those who have put in the expense to build a "theater" in their home need to be sure the sound and visual and placement of seating is just right before they'll delve into decorating, but when that time comes, there are some tips to add to the room aesthetically without taking away any of the functionality.

A room of this sort is bound to have floor speakers, and speakers that surround your peripherals and centrally located speakers for both the front and back of the sitting area. In some of the newer homes or the more expensive remodels, some, if not all, of these speakers may be placed in the walls of the home. Yet usually the floor speakers will remain out and near the television. The tops of which may be a prime opportunity for knickknacks when decorating. There may be shelving on the walls in this room for speakers or for remote controls. Those shelves are also a great place for decorative touches.

A typical theater room is designed something like this: The television is centrally located either mounted on the wall or standing just in front of it. There are floor speakers on either side of the television and another smaller speaker centrally located above the TV. There will be more speakers either mounted or on stands placed on either side of the seating area and one more speaker centrally located behind the seating area. Finally, there will be a special speaker called a subwoofer placed somewhere to the side of the seating area. The seating area is located around what some refer to as the "sweet spot" because during the action scenes in intense movies when the music swells, the vibrations of that sound are felt in the seating area. All of this is necessary for the functionality of the theater room. What's left is what you have to decorate.

In order to keep the functionality of a theater room, you must realize that the room needs to be dark. This is no room for growing plants or bright colors painted on the wall. Rich earthy tones will work here. Along with this, keep knickknacks to a minimum. This room is for viewing the television, not your china collection. Do not place fragile things in this room. There will be much vibration in this room and that may cause a fragile item to fall from its perch and break. Keep your decor simple here. Use rugs to add color to the room and hang pictures to add depth to the walls. Do not clutter up this room with much more than this.

Before anything else, a home theater needs to be functional. If you'll also entertain in this room, keep your decor to a minimum and use unbreakable items. Add color through the means discussed above and be okay with a sparsely decorated room. It will provide much enjoyment and sometimes simple really is best.

Article written by Lee Dobbins.

My dream home theater system

Nothing beats having a killer home theater system. Big screen TV with high-definition, surround sound where I can plug in my iPod Nano, the latest DVD technology, video on demand, an Xbox 360, a hookup for my digital camcorder - the list goes on and on. Man, I'd love to have an awesome home theater inside my house. I'd never go outside if I did! And there's just some much stuff to choose from when it comes to building your own home theater. Seating, systems, design, brand names, video games; I could easily spend thousands of dollars creating my dream home theater system. Of course, I don't have thousands of dollars to spend, but I can still dream about it!

My perfect home theater system would be completely wireless. No cables or cords whatsoever. And it isn't as far fetched as it sounds. More and more home theater systems are being built and designed to be wireless. That doesn't just include the home theater itself. That includes other aspects of the home theater like video games, PVRs, DVD players, video cameras and more. Pretty soon, the home theater cable connection won't even have a cable to connect! Now how awesome is that?

I'd have a big screen HDTV with crystal clear surround sound that would blow my mind. And when I got my home theater installed, up and running, I would plop myself on the couch with a seven-pound bag of popcorn and watch anything and everything that I can. Hey, that's the point of having a great home theater sound system, to watch stuff! The images would be clear, the sound immaculate and it would all work with only one remote control. Now that's a great home theater!

Of course, I would have an Xbox 360 or Playstation hooked up to this bad-boy. High-definition games played on a massive, high-def screen? I'd have every video game humanly possible and would completely immerse myself playing them!

A home theater allows you to experience TV rather than just sit and watch it. Imagine watching a hockey game where a hard body check on the boards rattles your bones too. Or watching war movie thinking you're going to be shot at. Or watching your home-movies on such a screen that it makes you feel like you're at the event all over again! Or playing the hottest and coolest Xbox or Playstation games! With your own home theater, seating is always at a premium and it's an experience like no other. And when you want to listen to music, just hook up your stereo system to your home theater. Imagine listening to Dark Side of the Moon on high-definition, high fidelity surround sound speakers? Any music fan will tell you that it would be the ultimate audio experience, and a home theater allows you to enjoy just that!

In the early 1990s, people decided to cocoon, or stay home rather than go out. Not so far after, home theaters got more and more complicated and detailed. Home theaters used to be exclusively for the super-rich, and their home theaters are actually movie theaters right at home, with home theater seating and everything. But with some careful saving and research, anyone can have a great home theater to fit their budget, lifestyle and space. As for me, one day I'll have an awesome home theater of my own, with a huge TV, amazing sound - all wireless of course! Until then, I'll just keep on dreaming about it!

Jeff Saunders

Folate-Rich 'Super Tomato' Could Cut Birth Defects

WEDNESDAY, March 7 (HealthDay News) -- You say tomato, scientists say "fewer birth defects."

U.S. researchers say they've created a folic acid-enriched "super tomato" that could cut the rate of birth defects, anemia and other folate deficiency-linked problems in the developing world.

"We used the tomato, because it is a very good model to work with," explained study co-author Andrew D. Hanson, professor of plant biochemistry at the University of Florida at Gainesville. "Now we want to move the strategy we have developed into cereal and tuber crops such as sweet potatoes."

Hanson's group published its findings in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Folate deficiency is associated with birth defects such as spina bifida and also with heart disease and some cancers. Grain products in the United States and other western countries are now fortified with folic acid, and pregnant women are advised to take folate supplements if necessary.

Unfortunately, folic acid supplies are much harder to come by in less developed countries, Hanson said, so genetically engineered crops could help prevent deficiency in those areas.

Hanson worked in close collaboration with Jesse F. Gregory III, professor of food science and human nutrition at UF. They targeted two molecular pathways by which tomatoes (and other plants) make folate -- one that produces a molecule called pteridine, the other producing another molecule, p-aminobenzoate (PABA). Those two molecules eventually become linked in the process that creates folate.

"Humans don't have the ability to produce parts of those pathways, which is why we require [folate] as a vitamin," Gregory explained.

In 2004, Hanson and Gregory reported that they had added a gene to the pteridine pathway in tomatoes. That doubled the tomato's production of folate.

"It was a synthetic gene, a DNA sequence based on a mouse gene," Hanson said. "But that engineered tomato plant was not good enough."

Keeping the engineered tomato plant intact, they added a second gene, this time one extracted from a weed calledArabidopsis. The gene is commonly used in plant genetic work on the PABA pathway.

That genetic manipulation resulted in amajorincrease in folate production, Hanson said.

"The tomatoes that we are reporting in this paper have very substantially elevated levels of folate," he said. "If the fruit is ripened on the plant, there can be 25 times more folate than normal."

The work is just beginning, he emphasized. "We have produced a few experimental plants," Hanson said. "This is a proof-of-concept study. With just two genes, it is possible to substantially increase the folate level of fruits. This is a demonstration that it can be done."

Now the goal is to show that the same increase in folate production can be achieved in plants that are dietary staples in many countries, he said.

"The most important targets of future work are cereal crops that are used around the world," he said.

"Rice would be a major target. Various groups are working on this, and we are in partnership with them."

The Florida researchers have collaborations with centers in Britain, France, Belgium, Australia and African countries, Hanson said.

"We will also be trying other genetic engineering strategies," he said.

More information
There's more on folate deficiency at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
SOURCES: Andrew D. Hanson, Ph.D., professor, plant biochemistry, and Jesse F. Gregory III, Ph.D., professor, food science and human nutrition, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Gainesville, Fla.; March 6-9, 2007,Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences