Every morning, after you brush your teeth, consider starting your day with a glass (8 oz.) of warm, filtered water with 1-2 teaspoons of organic lemon juice. Why lemon?

Lemon has more than 100 benefits. It is rich in vitamin C (great for your immune system), potassium (great for your heart), calcium (great for your bones), pectin fiber (great for your bowel), and it balances pH levels in your body. Most importantly, lemon helps flush out toxins that got stuck in your system while you were resting, so enjoy a refreshing glass of water with lemon first thing in the morning.

Don’t forget to rinse your mouth thoroughly after drinking the lemon juice to protect the enamel of your teeth. After few weeks, you will notice changes to your skin, digestion, elimination and weight, all for the better.

Also, this winter with its freezing weather and lots of snow resulted in serious sinus conditions for many people. When your sinuses are bothering you, here are few tips to help you recover quicker:

1. Drink only warm drinks

2. Prepare chicken soup or vegetable broth and sip it slowly from a mug, as you allow the vapors to reach your nose

3. Use a Neti pot to wash your sinuses. (www.webmed.com describes a Neti pot this way: “…a ceramic or plastic pot that looks like a cross between a small teapot and Aladdin’s magic lamp. Although nasal irrigation using the Neti pot has been around for centuries, its use is on the rise in the U.S. The Neti pot originally comes from the Ayurvedic/yoga medical tradition.”)

4. Keep your feet, belly and lungs warm—use a hot water bottle

5. With towel over your head, inhale the steam from a pot of special herbal brew (email me if you are interested)

6. Keep your hot humidifier going while you sleep.

7. Don’t wait. Get acupuncture, colorpuncture or essential oil treatments.

Here is another suggestion from one of my happy patients:

Had a bad head cold last week that made my forehead ache. I assumed sinus related. I took three drops of Eucalyptus oil and mixed it with a little oil (I used almond oil since that was what I had) and rubbed it on my forehead near my eyebrows, nose, cheeks, chest, and upper back. I did it a few times a day, definitely upon rising and before bed. My head barely bothered me the first day I used it and each day thereafter I was fine. I used it for a few days until my nose cleared up completely.

Peace, Mariola

Mariola Strahlberg, a Monsey resident, is a licensed acupuncturist who founded Shining Mountain Children’s Center in March 2004. Subsequently, she opened Shining Mountain Center for Peaceful Childhood, Inc., a non- profit to provide scholarships to children who could otherwise not attend the program. She is also President of the Janusz Korczak Association of the USA.

By Mariola Strahlberg