From the Inside Out!

Woke up one morning with bumps and rash on my arms  and trunk. I ran through a mental list of possible causes and ruled out the new medication that I started a few days prior. 
I ruled out dietary causes, jewelry, clothes, but thought it could possibly be a reaction to a new hair product. 
Nothing changed for a few days, though oral anti-histamine and steroidal anti-itch cream gave some relief. 

As a pharmacist, I knew enough to institute empirical treatment with topical steroids and oral antihistamines.  
This did help, but I could not stop puzzling over what the cause might be. 
While researching this topic, I stumbled upon an online article in Woman's Day that listed rash as one of the many manifestations of stress. 
Here's the excerpt from the article;

 It sounds strange, but your skin can be a pretty good barometer of your stress level. "Stress can cause a rash, usually raised red spots or hives on the stomach, back, arms and face," notes Dr. Lombardo. "While we don't know why it occurs, some experts believe that it has to do with the adverse effects of stress on the immune system—histamine is released, causing these itchy bumps."

That was a wake-up call.  I realized the tendency to underrate or downplay the importance of emotional health in many cultures (including mine) has negative outcomes. 

Research strongly backs the notion that many health conditions are either caused or exacerbated by stress and emotional/psychological disorders. Often, tension, stress and other emotional disorders that go unrecognized or unacknowledged manifest as insomnia, back pain, tension/stress headache, stomach or intestinal and even sexual problems.  

Women, especially, need to pay attention to physical symptoms that may herald unrecognized emotional distress - feelings of listlessness, irritability, heaviness, stress,  angry outbursts etc. 

It is important to create some mental “space” and to develop healthy coping outlets that allow processing of strong emotion and to have healthy outlets for those emotions and frustrations. 

Helpful coping mechanisms include: Sound Sleep, Meditation, Prayer, Walking, Leisure reading, to name a few.
Stay well...Be well.xoxoxo

Garlic Helps To Go Or Stay??

I have always been fascinated by natural remedies/ herbal medicine. I think with proper regulations herbal medicine has a lot to offer in terms of disease prevention and management.
The other day at work, a colleague of mine and I were discussing the benefits of natural remedies and she mentioned using garlic for the treatment of diarrhea…That was news to me!
She said her mum, who is a nurse, recommended it to her when she had travelers diarrhea while on a trip to India. What is the dosage, I asked, and she said she chewed one to two raw garlic cloves for  3 to 4 times a day for 3 days and it worked!
I only know about the proven benefits of garlic for cardiovascular disease prevention and heard recently about the benefits of garlic for the prevention of cancer and the common cold.
So, I did a little research, got conflicting findings about the use of raw garlic for the treatment of diarrhea, some studies like this one reported that raw garlic can actually cause diarrhea, while another study indicates garlic's benefits in the treatment of stomach ulcers.
 Diarrhea is often times caused by viral or bacterial infection and garlic is known to have antimicrobial properties. However, there are yet to be adequate studies to support the use of garlic (raw or processed) as an anti-diarrhea and the safe/effective dosage is still unknown.

Thoughts?

P.S  The University of Maryland Medical Center reports that typical safe intake falls around 2 to 4 grams of fresh garlic per day -- each clove is about 1 gram. 

Just A Cup Of Water….

Hey, Special!...How have you all been?...Taking care of yourselves, I hope........Now, let's talk about how to take care of ourselves with one of the most popular essential commodity...WATER!

Water, as they say popularly say in Nigeria, " no get enemy"..
Literally meaning: Water does not have enemies...which basically means, with water, you can't go wrong…. 
There are many posts online about the benefits of drinking water on an empty stomach(more like, first thing in the morning). Benefits like,  being a cure/prevention for cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, weight loss, clearer skin etc are yet to be scientifically/medically proven, however.

 Some school of thought even recommends not to brush your teeth before drinking water and/or not to eat until 45 minutes after drinking water to allow water to "wash out toxins”. 
I have been "practicing" drinking water first thing in the morning for a couple of years now because I thought…why not?... but I am not strict about the brushing teeth before or after, or about the 45 minutes wait before eating. I drink at least a cup (8oz) of water, sometimes 2 cups first thing in the morning. 

Personally, what I have found beneficial about drinking water in the morning is that my craving for sugar/grease has reduced.
Even though the popular weight management advice is that  breakfast is the most important meal of the day (here is the post about breakfast/meals, if you missed it), I would recommend, in addition to that, being well hydrated with water before the first meal of the day to everyone ,( including children), your body will thank you for it.

P.S:There are complaints of nausea, stomach ache resulting from drinking water on an empty stomach, my recommendation would be: Add a few drops of lemon or lemon/lime slices to the water and drink/sip slowly.

Easy On The Sugar...Pass The Salt,Please...

I am one of those people that sometimes check  food labels while grocery shopping. What I usually look out for are : sodium, caloric, and  fat contents, I seldom check for sugar content, but I do look out for and try to avoid, as much as I can, products with high fructose corn syrup.
Sodium have been labelled the "bad guy", for as long as I can remember, with regards to being one of the factors that can cause cardiovascular events.
However studies have shown that it is actually SUGAR that is the culprit!

The authors ( A pharmacist and a medical Doctor) of an article in Open Heart conclude that foods and beverages with high sugar content  may make a significant contribution to cardio-vascular  risk/diseases. They also suggest that  processed foods ( which tend to have high sugar content from preservatives and additives) be replaced by natural whole foods like fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts.
Below is an except from  Medscape. com:

"It is a little bit frightening that we have been focusing on salt for so long," Richard Krasuski, MD, from the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, told Medscape Medical News. Dr Krasuski was not affiliated with the research.
A reduction in the consumption of added sugars and, in particular, processed foods may translate into decreased rates of hypertension as well as decreased cardio-metabolic disease. In particular, a new review article suggests that sugar, not salt, appears to contribute to the majority of the hypertension risk associated with processed food.
The conclusion that sugar represents a greater danger to the heart than salt, Dr Krasuski said, was an "eye opener." He acknowledged, though, that he should have anticipated it. He and other cardiologists have noticed that the recommendations to increasingly lower salt intake have not resulted in the expected positive cardiovascular outcomes.
Nevertheless, the bottom line of the article's recommendation should be familiar and comfortable to most physicians: Eat less processed food.

Fart Facts…Hehehehe

Culled from Vox.com

Whether you try to hide it or not, you fart….everybody does!...An average person farts between 10-20 times a day.
But even though it's a routine activity,there's a lot about farting that you might want to know.

As part of research into the rich community of bacteria that live throughout our body, scientists have learned all sorts of interesting things about the bacteria that produces gas inside our intestines.
Here are 9 important things to know about flatulence.

1. We produce about 500 to 1500 milliliters of gas per day, and expel it in 10 to 20 farts.
    According to Purna Kashyap-a gastroenterologist at the Mayo clinic, A huge variety of foods like virtually all beans, most vegetables and anything with whole grains, contain complex carbs that we cannot fully digest. These foods end up in the large intestine, where microbes chew them apart and use them for energy, through the process of fermentation, and gas is produced as a by-product.

2. 99% of the gas we produce does not smell.
  Hydrogen, Carbon Dioxide  and Methane make up as much as 99% of the gas produced in our large intestines.All these gases are odorless, which why most of the time farts have no smell.
Research has found that the potent stink is largely due to the 1% or so of compounds with sulfur in them, for example onions, beans, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, broccoli and dairy.

3. Soda and Chewing gum makes you fart more.
A significant portion of fart is simply made up of inadvertently swallowed air, mostly nitrogen and oxygen. 
Some of the swallowing occurs while we are asleep, but it can be increased by drinking carbonated beverages and by chewing gum.

4. Farting is the result of a healthy, complex ecosystem in our intestines.
   It is unfortunate that  modern society views flatulence-a byproduct of bacteria living in our intestines, a negative.
The same bacteria that produce gas also generate vitamins and fatty acids that help maintain our colon lining, and may support our immune systems.

5. There’s a simple reason why we don’t mind the smell of our own farts.
  Human beings become habituated to all smells over time. That is why we become habituated to the characteristic mix of odors produced by the bacteria in our own body, which of course differs slightly from everyone else’s. As a result our own farts just don’t have the same impact on you- even though they are just as pungent for everyone else.

6. Yep! We can light a fart on fire..
   Because flatulence is partly composed of flammable gases like methane and hydrogen, it can be briefly set on fire.

7. ..And Nope! We can not hold a fart until it disappears.
   According to the physics of fart: A fart is a bubble of gas and there’s ultimately nowhere for it to go besides out of the anus. 
At times, after holding in a fart for awhile, it can seem to disappear. This is because you stop being conscious of it and it leaks out gradually.

8. Beano® cuts down on gas production by starving the gut bacteria.
  The over-the-counter product Beano® is found significantly reduce gas production in the hours following a bean-filled meal. 
Beano contains an enzyme called alpha-galactoside that cut complex carbohydrates into shorter, simpler carbs that are much easier to digest. As a result , they get broken down in the small intestines, rather than making it all the way down to the large intestine, where bacteria would ferment them, producing gas.

9. Starving fart-producing bacteria is not really a good idea.
   The amount of fart we produce is the result of both our diet and gut bacteria-unless we are experiencing problems like painful bloating, excessive amounts of gas due to lactose intolerance-it is not necessary to limit gas production.
However, many people who believe they suffer from excessive gas production actually just have trouble with the flow of gas through their intestines, probably due to constipation.

..So,please fart-along …LOL!

What Meal Of The Day Should Be The Heaviest?

Hello beautiful people…..Let’s talk about food….:)….after all, we all eat…and we do a lot with and around meals.
…..Familiar with this quote "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper”? .. 
The quote was popular a few years ago when calorie counting became part of weight management. I agree entirely with breakfast being the most important meal of the day (I regard the first meal of the day a “ breakfast"  regardless of the time of day you have it)  because I believe it contributes to how you “kick start” your metabolism and “wake” your taste buds up.
However, eating large during breakfast with the mindset  of eating less during the day doesn't always work, studies have shown. It actually does have  the opposite effect….You tend to eat more because your body is expecting the same portion it had for breakfast. This  study  shows that eating a large breakfast will not reduce food intake later in the day but could actually add more calories to total food consumption. 
The bottom line is to watch/monitor total daily calorie intake. A "stuffed" tummy is not the same as being “well-fed”...

These are tips for "balancing our plates":

• Keeping meal portion at a minimum. 
• Maintaining  consistency in  frequency, portion (plate size), and composition are important.
• When/If you skip a meal  or 2, for whatever reason like fasting, the next meal should be your usual portion (Not eating breakfast, lunch and dinner together) . Speaking of skipping meals, especially breakfast, there are conflicting results from studies done to identify the benefits of skipping  breakfast with regards to weight management…so it all boils down to what works for your weight and health.
• The importance of having fruits and vegetable included in our diet cannot be over emphasized-(the recommended portions are 5 servings of vegetables and fruits per day). 
• When hunger calls, answer with water first.

I tend to agree with health articles that recommends  healthy diet should consist of less processed/cooked food and more of uncooked/raw food (excluding animal products, of course)……..That might be a challenge for some of us that enjoy cooking,…. but it is do-able.:)...

One Swab Could Save a Life!…...

Thought someone might benefit from this…..

Omega-3 Fatty Acid And Depression.

 Earlier this year, I decided to start taking over-the -counter 1000mg Omega-3 fatty acids mainly to "confirm"it's benefits on moods-I had a couple of episodes of prolonged "moodiness” for a period of about 2 to 3 months.(Not sure if it was from hormones, stress or winter blues).Anyway, after  more than 6 months of taking Omega-3 regularly and I can attest to the fact that fish oil does is beneficial for mood regulation.
My capstone paper was on the "Benefits of Omega-3 Fatty Acid in Preventing or Treating Postnatal Depression", in the process I got a lot of information from  clinical studies that focused on the benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids-benefits ranging from preventing cardiovascular events, healthy skin to improving cognitive behavior in newborn and elderly.
The 2 common types of Omega-3 Fatty acid are the EPA and the DHA, which are readily available from oily fish like Mackerel, Sardines,Salmon,Herring. Most of the studies are yet to come up with the recommended dose of fish oil or fish per day,but the usual over-the-counter doses seem to be beneficial and at least 2 servings of fish per week is the general recommendation.
Within the body, EPA and DHA are found in very high concentration in brain tissue and are believed to play an important role in nerve function and mood regulation.However,the concentration of EPA and DHA can be depleted with age, pregnancy, or illness and thus would need to be replenished.

Depression  is a deadly disease that should not be ignored. Please reach out to people suspected to have depression,call and alert health professionals when you or someone you know is contemplating suicide.
Most people feel the  "blues" every now and again,didn't recognize it as depression /couldn't put a name to it and/or couldn't "shake it off”.
The major contributing factors to depressive moods are: Stress, Illness, Lack of sleep, Low socio-economic situations.

The signs for depressive moods to look out for are:(That lasts for more than a couple of weeks)
-Being easily irritable and tearful.
-Not enjoying and neglecting ones usual daily activities.
-Not paying attention to personal hygiene.
-Deliberately avoiding friends and family for no reason.
-Too much sleep or lack of sleep.
-Lack of appetite or too much appetite for food.

Keep Calm and Stop Ebola.

Important Information pertinent to the Ebola Outbreak:

1. The suspected reservoirs for Ebola are fruit bats.
2.  Transmission to humans is thought to originate from infected bats or primates that have become infected by bats.
3.  Undercooked infected bat and primate (bush) meat transmits the virus to humans.
4. Human to human transmission is only achieved by physical contact with a person who is acutely and gravely ill from the Ebola virus or their body fluids.
5.  Transmission among humans is almost exclusively among caregiver family members or health care workers tending to the very ill.
6.  The virus is easily killed by contact with soap, bleach, sunlight, or drying. A washing machine will kill the virus in clothing saturated with infected body fluids.
7.  A person can incubate the virus without symptoms for 2-21 days, the average being 5-8 days before becoming ill. THEY ARE NOT CONTAGIOUS until they are acutely ill.
8.  Only when ill does the viral load express itself first in the blood and then in other bodily fluids (to include vomit, feces, urine, breast milk, semen and sweat).
9.  If you are walking around you are not infectious to others.
10.  There are documented cases from Kikwit, DRC of an Ebola outbreak in a village that had the custom of children never touching an ill adult. Children living for days in small one room huts with parents who died from Ebola did not become infected.
11. You cannot contract Ebola by handling money, buying local bread or swimming in a pool.
12.  There is no medical reason to stop flights, close borders, restrict travel or close embassies, businesses or schools.
13.  As always practice good hand washing techniques, but you will not contract Ebola if you do not touch a dying person.
14. People can survive Ebola.It is not a death sentence.
15. Bathing with salt and eating bitter cola will not prevent or cure Ebola.
16. Severely ill patients require intensive supportive care-IV fluids or oral rehydration that contain electrolytes.
17. The serum that could potentially cure ebola will take months to manufacture. http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/cdc-issues-highest-level-alert-ebola-outbreak-article-1.1895154

For more information visit:http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/faq-ebola/en/

…Check Your Genotype….

June 19th 2014 is World Sickle Cell Day

Sickle cell disease affects millions of people worldwide. It is most common among people whose ancestors come from Africa; Mediterranean countries such as Greece, Turkey, and Italy; the Arabian Peninsula; India; and Spanish-speaking regions in South America, Central America, and parts of the Caribbean.

Signs and symptoms of sickle cell disease usually begin in early childhood. Characteristic features of this disorder include a low number of red blood cells (anemia), repeated infections, and periodic episodes of pain. The severity of symptoms varies from person to person. Some people have mild symptoms, while others are frequently hospitalized for more serious complications.

10 Food Ingredients We Should Avoid….

1. Hormones in Milk. In 1993, the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of bovine hormones in cows, which boosts milk production by about 10 percent. However, some cow hormones have been linked to breast, colon, and prostate cancers. 
2. Preservatives BHA and BHT. Manufactured from petroleum, these waxy solids are added to foods to prevent spoilage.The National Institutes of Health reports that BHA is “reasonably anticipated” to be a human carcinogen based on evidence of carcinogenicity in rats.
3. Olestra. Olestra is found in diet chips including Pringles Fat free, Ruffles Light, and Lays Wow. Studies show it blocks fat absorption. Along with unhealthy fats, olestra stops the body from taking in valuable vitamins and carotenoids. It can also cause stomach troubles.
4. Potassium bromate. This flour-bulking agent strengthens dough, decreasing baking time and thereby reducing costs for baked goods. Potassium bromate has been linked to kidney and nervous system disorders. The International Agency for Research on Cancer lists it as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”
5. Arsenic. As crazy as it seems, this notorious poison is permitted by the FDA to be used in poultry feed, where it acts as a growth promoter and enhances the color of the meat. Arsenic affects blood vessels in chickens and turkeys, causing them to appear pinker and therefore fresher.
6. Certain artificial colors. Five artificial colors (red 40, blue 1, blue 2, yellow 5, and yellow) are either banned or require warning labels when used in other countries. The Center for Science in the Public Interest states that risks include hyperactivity in children, cancer (in animal studies), and allergic reactions. Until the 20th century, food coloring was obtained from natural sources. Today, most artificial colors are made from coal tar. Most processed foods contain coal tar in the form of artificial colors.
7. Brominated vegetable oil. Brominated vegetable oil or BVO acts as an emulsifier in soda and sports drinks, preventing the flavoring from separating and floating to the surface. Elevated bromide levels have been implicated in thyroid diseases.
8. Ractopamine. It is fed to pigs and beef cattle to quickly build muscle. No long-term human safety studies have been done, although it has been tied to chromosomal abnormalities and behavior changes.
9. GMO foods. The vast majority of corn and soybeans grown in the U.S. are genetically modified, meaning the DNA in the plants has been changed in a lab. Genes from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals, or even humans are artificially inserted into the crops to make them more productive or less costly to grow. No clinical trials have been performed to determine the effects of GMO crops on humans.
10. Farmed salmon. Factory-farmed salmon, which makes up 80 percent of salmon on the global market today, are given antibiotics and fed artificial coloring. Tests have shown that farmed salmon contains 16 times more of the cancer-linked toxin PCB than wild salmon.

Got this from ChristianNews.com 

I really want to eat healthy and  I'm beginning to wonder what else is left to eat? *scratching my head*

Estrogen and Cancer.

..By Stacia Hachem, CEO Estrogen Gene Testing

This is an important information for women and those who love them.

The benefits of Estrogen

Estrogen is a potent hormone that is produced by the ovaries. The hormone is critical for female development and reproduction. Estrogen is essential for the full maturation of women and it controls important aspects of fertility and reproduction- Estrogen is one of the most potent and important molecules for women.

So, Does it really cause cancer?

Estrogen is associated with increased risk of venous thromboembolism, that is, blood clots in the veins. Perhaps most striking, high levels of endogenous estrogen (produced by the body) increase the risk of breast cancer in both premenopausal and postmenopausal women. In women who started having menstrual periods early in life( the time when the ovaries really start producing estrogen) their risk of breast cancer is higher than in those who started later. The same is true for those who are late to enter menopause(when the ovaries stop producing estrogen). For every 1-year delay in the onset of menarche (when periods begin), there is a 5% lifelong risk reduction in breast cancer.1 Similarly, every 1-year delay in the onset of menopause is associated with a subsequent 3% increased risk of breast cancer.2 In addition, women who have at least one full-term pregnancy have a 25% lower risk of breast cancer women than who have never given birth.3,4

Estrogen, the carcinogen

In December 2002, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) first included steroidal estrogens as a carcinogen and it has remained on the list ever since. The NIEHS states “steroidal estrogens are known to be human carcinogens based on sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in humans.” Therefore, women produce a carcinogen for most of their lives. This declaration is obviously not the whole story—as with any carcinogen, the level and duration of exposure influences the substances’ ability to cause cancer. In other words, the higher the levels of estrogen and the longer the exposure, the higher the risk of cancer is for the woman. The other important factor is that not all estrogens are the same. Notice that the NIEHS uses the plural term, “steroidal estrogens” instead of estrogen. This is because there are many different active estrogens in a woman’s body, some are worse than the others . For example, 2-hydroxyestradiol is fairly benign while 4-hydroxyestrone is associated with tumor formation.5

It takes many different enzymes to process estrogen. Your specific assortment of enzymes determines whether you make more good estrogens than bad, or more bad than good. But what determines the sort of enzymes you have? Your genes do – specifically, your estrogen metabolism genes. Over the past several decades, researchers have been studying the genes responsible for how a woman processes estrogen. They have found that certain combinations of mutations on these genes may increase the risk of breast cancer by as much as 13 times.6

What is a woman to do?

In general, most women fare better if they limit estrogen exposure throughout life; however, this is not always practical. If you are concerned about your estrogen exposure or overall estrogen health, there is a test that can determine how you metabolize estrogen. The Estrogen Gene Test is a simple saliva swab test that measures variations (single nucleotide polymorphisms, or “SNPs”) in the genes that control estrogen metabolism. Test results provide your doctor with your genetic profile as well as specific protocols (targeted nutritional and lifestyle interventions) that can be utilized to improve your estrogen health.

 References

1.            Hunter DJ, Spiegelman D, Adami HO, et al. Non-dietary factors as risk factors for breast cancer, and as effect modifiers of the association of fat intake and risk of breast cancer. Cancer Causes Control. Jan 1997;8(1):49-56.

2.            Breast cancer and hormone replacement therapy: collaborative reanalysis of data from 51 epidemiological studies of 52,705 women with breast cancer and 108,411 women without breast cancer. Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer. Lancet. Oct 11 1997;350(9084):1047-1059.

3.            Layde PM, Webster LA, Baughman AL, Wingo PA, Rubin GL, Ory HW. The independent associations of parity, age at first full term pregnancy, and duration of breastfeeding with the risk of breast cancer. Cancer and Steroid Hormone Study Group. J Clin Epidemiol. 1989;42(10):963-973.

4.            Ewertz M, Duffy SW, Adami HO, et al. Age at first birth, parity and risk of breast cancer: a meta-analysis of 8 studies from the Nordic countries.Int J Cancer. Oct 15 1990;46(4):597-603.

5.            Westerlind KCG, K.J.; Evans, G.L.; Turner, R.T. The catechol estrogen, 4-hydroxyestrone, has tissue-specific estrogen actions. J Endocrinol.Nov 2000;167(2):281-287.

6.             Cerne JZP-P, M.; Novakovis, S.; Frkovic-Grazio, S.; Stegel, V.; Gersak, K.; Combined effect of CYP1B1, COMT, GSTP1, and MnSOD genotypes and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. J Gynecol Oncol. Jun 2011;22(2):110-119.

…Wonders of Cucumber….

Culled from Conscious Life News

CUCUMBER TIPS & TRICKS THAT YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS!! 

1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

2.For a pick me up in the afternoon... Put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours. Slice some and put in your water bottle.

3. If you rub a cucumber slice along your bathroom mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.

4. Place a few slices of cucumber in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.

5. Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemical in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!!!

6. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free.
Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!

7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries by European trappers, traders and explorers for quick meals to thwart off starvation.

8. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don’t have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.

9. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!

10. Stressed out and don’t have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber will react with the boiling water and released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown to reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.

11. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don’t have gum or mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the photochemical will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

12. Looking for a ‘green’ way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but it won’t leave streaks and won’t harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.