Orgs

America’s WETLAND Foundation
In the largest public awareness initiative in its history, America’s WETLAND is raising awareness of the impact of Louisiana’s wetland loss on the national economy, world ecology, and hurricane protection.
What you can do (via the org’s site): Donate time and money. Volunteer with the America’s WETLAND Conservation Corps. Join mailing campaign. Receive e-mail alerts and newsletters. Persuade local officials to make your parish, town, or city an American WETLAND “Community Partner.”

Coast Guardians
The Coast Guardians are a group of New Orleans-area business owners, chief executive officers, and presidents from all sectors of the business community committed to rebuilding and protecting America’s Energy Coast, an area vital to the nation’s economic and energy security. The group was formed in cooperation with America’s WETLAND: Campaign to Save Coastal Louisiana.
What you can do (via the org’s site): Donate time and money. Get the fact sheets about the coast. Write your legislators. Tell friends in other states about the facts and get them to write their legislators.

Delta Chapter of the Sierra Club (and the New Orleans Group)
The Delta Chapter is the Sierra Club in the State of Louisiana. We advance the cause of protecting Louisiana’s environment in a variety of ways, including lobbying the state legislature in Baton Rouge, sponsoring a Mercury Public Education Campaign, raising public awareness about climate change, and working to keep the Atchafalaya Basin, America’s greatest river swamp, wet and wild.
What you can do (via the org’s site): Donate time and money. Get info about the groups gulf and wetlands restoration efforts. Read their blog. Email members of Congress about local environmental issues.

Gulf Restoration Network
The Gulf Restoration Network (GRN) is a network of environmental, social justice, and citizens’ groups and individuals committed to restoring the Gulf of Mexico to an ecologically and biologically sustainable condition.
What you can do (via the org’s site): Donate time and money. Educate yourself about Gulf issues. Get the Newsletters. Demand action by Congress on Gulf Issues. Join their e-action list to influence critical coastal restoration decisions happening in Washington DC.

Lake Ponchartrain Basin Foundation
Although the LPBF has been active in coastal restoration since its inception in 1989, it was in June 2005 that a formal program with a director was created (aka SAVE OUR COAST). This aggressive commitment to the coast was triggered by the realization that the coastal wetlands were getting worse and not better in spite of ongoing authorized restoration programs.
What you can do (via the org’s site): Donate time and money. Educate yourself about the coastline (“11 lines of defense” etc) and coastline issues. Help with conservation and habitat protection.

Save our Cypress
Save Our Cypress Coalition is a group of Louisiana conservation and environmental organizations. They are calling for consumers and retailers to stop purchasing and selling all cypress garden mulch until a verifiable, third-party certification program is operating to ensure no cypress is being sourced from non-renewable coastal wetland forests.What you can do (via the org’s site): Donate time and money. Write to Lowe’s, Home Depot, Wal-mart. Write your legislators. Educate yourself about the importance of cypress.

For a list of all the organizations working in New Orleans, visit: volunteerneworleans.com.
To find volunteering opportunities, visit: www.volunteermatch.org

Local Nurseries (by ZipCode)

Go native

Consider using native plants in your garden. Native plants are those that occur naturally or have existed for many years in an area. These can be trees, flowers, grasses or any other plants.

The advantages to using native plants include:

• Native plants are acclimated to climate and conditions and require minimal care.
• Native plants do not require commercial fertilizer or pesticides.
• Native plants provide food for wildlife and attract birds, butterflies and other helpful insects.

More Info:
Louisiana Native Plant Society

Folsom Native Plant Society’s List of LA Native Plants

	Month-by-Month Gardening in Louisiana by Dan Gill
	The New Orleans Garden: Gardening in the Gulf South by Charlotte Seidenberg
	Jacques-Felix Lelievre’s New Louisiana Gardener by Jacques-Felix Lelievre

Heirloom Plants & Seed Saving

An heirloom plant or heritage variety is an open-pollinated cultivar that was commonly grown during earlier periods in human history, but which is not used in modern large-scale agriculture. Since most popular heirloom plants are vegetables, the term heirloom vegetable is often used instead. The trend of growing heirloom plants in gardens has been growing in popularity in the United States and Europe over the last decade.

Before the industrialization of agriculture, a much wider variety of plant foods was grown for human consumption. In modern agriculture in the industrialized world, most food crops are now grown in large, monocultural plots. In order to maximize consistency, few varieties of each type of crop are grown. These varieties are often selected for their productivity, their ability to withstand mechanical picking and cross-country shipping, and their tolerance to drought, frost, or pesticides. Nutrition, flavor, and variety are frequently secondary concerns, if a concern at all.^wikipedia

One way to increase heirloom seeds is via seed saving. In agriculture and gardening, seed saving is the practice of saving seeds from open-pollinated vegetables and flowers for use from year to year. This is the traditional way farms and gardens were maintained. Much of the grassroots seed-saving activity today is the work of amateur gardeners, organic farmers, and enthusiasts with environmentalist interests. Open pollination is the key to seed saving. Plants that reproduce through natural means tend to adapt to local conditions, and evolve as reliable performers, particularly in their localities.^wikipedia

More Info:

chioggia beet

red burgundy okra

green zebra tomato
seedsavers.org pics & seeds

Seed Savers Exchange
Seed Savers Exchange is a nonprofit organization that saves and shares the heirloom seeds of our garden heritage.

The Southern Bulb Company
Southern Bulbs specializes in growing and supplying rare bulbs and other “tried and true” species of bulbs for warm climates.

Southern Seed Legacy
The Southern Seed Legacy maintains a collection of over 460 named varieties of southern heirloom seeds.

Louisiana Vegetable Planting Guide
Use this handy guide from the LSU Ag Center to make your seed selections and to guarantee growing success.

Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners
This book by Suzanne Ashworth and Kent Whealy is a complete seed-saving guide that describes specific techniques for saving the seeds of 160 different vegetables.

Before you sit down to eat that poached salmon, consider how far it has traveled to meet you for dinner. If it’s from the Pacific Northwest, it’s traveled at least 2700 miles, provided it got a direct flight to New Orleans. Now, consider how far those gulf shrimp from the local farmers market traveled. Probably just around 100 miles. By choosing the shrimp, you would be getting a fresher product. Why not consider taking the next step by taking the eat local challenge?

Go Green NOLA’s backyard orange trees

To take the eat local challenge is to commit to getting most to all of your food from local sources. Why should you eat locally? Or take such a challenge? One reason is that food grown locally did not travel far to get to your plate, thus conserving energy and emitting fewer greenhouse gases in transport than something grown across the continent or half a world away. Another is that buying locally-produced food supports your region’s smaller farms. Helping these farmers stay in business contributes to building local food security and keeping lands open instead of built up.

Tips to help you with Eat Locally:

• Commit to eating locally (however you choose or are able to define that, whether it be food from your backyard or produced within your state). Start small–for example, by replacing your fruit or vegetables with locally grown produce or coffee roasted in your region.
• Shop at your local farmers market (Use our guide to find one in your neighborhood.)
• Can, freeze, or dry your summer produce so you can enjoy it year-round.
• Ask your supermarket butcher or produce manager where their food comes from. Request locally grown produce, eggs, dairy, and meat. Do the same thing in restaurants you frequent, and get your friends to do the same.
• Read some of the guides explaining why you should care where your food comes from, such as this one from FoodRoutes, this one from the 100-Mile Diet, or this slightly different take from the International Society for Ecology and Culture.
• Grow some of your own food at home (even apartment-dwellers can grow herbs inside!) or in your community garden.
• Modify your expectations. Not all food is available locally all year round; not all foods are available locally, period. Don’t like beets? Try winter squash, dark, leafy greens, potatoes, citrus fruits, apples, storage onions, winter berries, and other foods available from local producers during the winter. (And thaw the vegetables you froze over the summer.)
• Finally, be realistic. Olive oil probably isn’t going to be available locally for most people; same thing with bananas, baking products, and many other items people eat every day. Don’t beat yourself up over a few ingredients from outside your foodshed; the point is to make as much of an effort to eat as much local food, and be as conscious about your eating habits, as possible.

Go really local by eating food from only a 100-mile radius.

If you have decide to take the eat local challenge, you are in luck. New Orleans and Louisiana in general is luckier than most other places. We have so much delicious local products, including Ponchatoula strawberries, Plaquemines Parish oranges, Ruston peaches, Bergeron’s Pecans from New Roads, La and Seafood and Fish from the Gulf. (Just to name a few, see more items in the local foods section.).

And if you are feeling extra-adventurous, limit your local food suppliers to those in a 100-mile radius from your home (i.e., the 100-mile diet). Use the map to figure out what is within 100-miles from New Orleans.

(We used excerpts from Erica Barnett’s article.)

More Info:

• Read more about the Eat Local Challenge
• Take NolaLocavore.org’s Eat Local Challenge for the month of June
• Or read the book:

Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith, J.B. Mackinnon Smith and MacKinnon revolt against the industrial model of food distribution and determine to spend a year eating nothing raised or cultivated beyond a 100-mile radius of their British Columbia home. They seek not just health benefits and fuel efficiencies but they also want to reconnect with small, local growers, millers, fishermen, and ranchers to create a community where the consumer knows both where the food comes from and who has produced it.

Types of Yoga

Hatha, Kundalini, Bikram, and Ashtanga yoga are the four most popular types practiced in fitness centers and local yoga studios throughout the U.S.

The lotus flower symbolizes the union of
the four elements; earth, air, fire, and water.

Hatha
Hatha yoga is the most widely practiced type in the U.S. and is excellent for beginners. It is a gentle practice where you move slowly and smoothly through dozens of poses (called asanas). The focus is on holding the poses and integrating your breathing into the movement. Hatha is a great way to stretch, work your muscles, get in touch with your body, relax, and decrease stress. Iyengar yoga, a form of Hatha, uses similar poses but focuses more on body alignment and balance, holding poses longer, and using props such as straps, blankets, and blocks. Like Hatha it’s also a good choice for beginners.

Kundalini
Kundalini yoga emphasizes rapid movement through the poses and emphasizes breathing, chanting, and meditation. It has a more spiritual feel than Hatha and focuses on energy balance in your body. Beginners unfamiliar with Hatha poses, chanting, and meditation, might find Kundalini more physically and mentally challenging then they are comfortable with and might want to start with Hatha.

Bikram
Bikram yoga is practiced in a room (sometimes unventilated) heated to about 105 degrees Fahrenheit. The idea is that muscles will loosen and sweating will cleanse the body and remove symptoms of disease and chronic pain. Please note: Because of the risk of dehydration and changes in blood pressure, it is recommended that people with an existing heart problem or high blood pressure should speak with their physician before doing this type of yoga.

Ashtanga
Ashtanga, or power yoga, is designed to build strength and endurance. It is an aggressive workout where you move quickly from one pose to another. There is little emphasis on meditation with Ashtanga, and at the end of the session you will feel more like you have completed a traditional weight training or calisthenic workout than you would with any other type of yoga. Ashtanga is for you if you’re looking for a tough, physically challenging workout.^{medicinenet.com}

Want more details? Read Yoga Journal’s Yoga Basics article.

Local Yoga Studios

Audubon Yoga Studio
511 Octavia St NOLA 70115, 504-821-9885

New Orleans Yoga Center
4436 Toulouse St #21, NOLA 70119, (504) 910-7445

NOLA Yoga
1937 Sophie Wright Place, New Orleans, LA 70130 (917) 568-6158

Swan River Yoga
2940 Canal Blvd. NOLA (504) 301-3134
2600 Chartres St. NOLA
7011 St. Claude Ave. Arabi, LA

Tapas Yoga
4413 Chastant St, Metairie LA, (504) 484-9579

The Yoga Room
4905 Freret St NOLA 70115, (504) 813-3738

Wild Lotus Yoga
4842 Perrier St, NOLA 70115, (504) 899-0047
2372 Saint Claude Ave (at
NOLA 70117

Yoga 108
8229 Oak Street NOLA 70118, 1-866-964-2108

Yoga Bywater
900 Louisa St NOLA, (504) 427-7993

Orgs

Alliance for Affordable Energy
The Alliance is a non-profit, public interest, membership organization dedicated to creating fair, affordable, environmentally responsible, community-based energy policies for Louisiana and the nation. Founded in 1985, today the Alliance serves Louisiana’s 1.8 million electric and gas rate payers by promoting citizen participation in the decision-making process, conducting community education campaigns on energy issues, helping citizens and businesses become more energy efficient, and working together for lower energy bills.
What you can do (via the org’s site): Donate time and money. Learn about energy efficiency and building, global warming and renewable energy. Get help with your electric bills. Get politically involved.

Common Ground Collective
Common Ground’s mission is to provide short term relief for victims of hurricane disasters in the gulf coast region, and long term support in rebuilding the communities affected in the New Orleans area.
What you can do (via the org’s site): Donate time and money. Visit their wishlist. Adopt a community. Learn about an wide array of common ground programs.

Global Green New Orleans
Immediately after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, Global Green USA was on the ground in New Orleans, evaluating how we could respond to the disaster. Since then, Global Green has unveiled an aggressive plan to rebuild New Orleans green, including the Holy Cross Project and Green School Initiative.
What you can do (via the org’s site): Donate time and money. Get info on green building. Become an E-Activist for building green in NOLA.

Green Light New Orleans
Green Light New Orleans is a New Orleans environmental organization. We help New Orleans low and middle income families and individuals make the switch from incandescent bulbs to energy efficient compact fluorescent lights (CFL), one house at a time. Our strategy is to actually go to the homes of New Orleans residents and install the CFLs ourselves, so the bulbs are put to immediate use. The service is free and our volunteers install the light bulbs
What you can do (via the org’s site): Donate time and money. Apply to get lights. Help install lights.

Hike for KaTREEna
Monique Pilié hiked the 2175 miles of the Appalachian Trail. The goal was to raise enough money to plant one tree in New Orleans for every mile hiked. She started a non-profit organization called “Hike for KaTREEna” and is now planting trees to reach that 2175 goal.
What you can do (via the org’s site): Donate time and money. Sponsor one or more trees. Help with tree planting events. Adopt a tree. Suggest places for trees.

LifeCity
LifeCity is a membership-based organization that supports the development of green businesses and local events, while educating consumers about green products and services. Consumers receive discounts to green products and services through our membership card, and certified LifeCity businesses receive greater visibility and support of LifeCity members.
What you can do (via the org’s site):Individuals with the Lifecity’s green card can support local green businesses and enjoy great discounts. Businesses reduce their ecological footprint and gain customers through an affordable process.

Make It Right 9
Brad Pitt and the Make It Right foundation are teaming up to help rebuild the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans after the destruction it suffered from Hurricane Katrina. (BTW- William McDonough, one of GoGreenNOLA’s favorite people, is on the design team!)
What you can do (via the org’s site): Donate money with all donations used to purchase houses or parts of houses. Learn about green building and materials. Get a cool shirt or hat. Get a pink bag made from the pink house installation fabric.

New Orleans Food Cooperative
We are a community group who believe in healthy, affordable groceries, and who support local and regional food production. We operate a Buying Club, and our first cooperative store.
What you can do (via the org’s site): Donate time and money. Join the Buying club. Become a NOFC member.

New Orleans Food & Farm Network
The New Orleans Food & Farm Network wants New Orleans to have healthy food to be affordable and accessible to everyone. The New Orleans Food & Farm Network works with individuals, organizations, growers and communities to increase avenues of access for fresh, local, healthy foods.
What you can do (via the org’s site): Donate time and money. Find out about the NOLA Community Food Charter, Grow New Orleans, NOLA City Farms, and NOLA Food Map Project. Learn about NOLA food and gardening.

Parkway Partners
Parkway Partners works to improve green space for all New Orleanians as it has for the past 25 years. Since Katrina’s devastation of 70% of the city’s tree canopy, we have launched an urgent reforestation campaign. This last planting season (October 2006 to April 2007), we introduced over 2000 trees into the New Orleans landscape.
What you can do (via the org’s site): Donate time and money. Join the Releaf New Orleans Initiative. Adopt a neutral ground. Support and establish a community garden. Start a schoolyard garden. Help save trees.

For a list of all the organizations working in New Orleans, visit: volunteerneworleans.com.
To find volunteering opportunities, visit: www.volunteermatch.org

Reclaimed Wood Frames by Bergeron Woodworks

Lovely Paintings by Ansley McBryde

Arts Market of New Orleans (aka Mid-City Art Market)
Last Saturday of Every Month, 10am – 4pm
Palmer Park (At the corners of S. Claiborne Ave, and S. Carrollton Ave)
The market showcases local and regional artists selling their pottery, furniture, jewelry, glass, painting, metal art, sculpture, photography, textiles and accessories, plus music, food, and children’s activities.

Freret Street Market
First Saturday of Every Month, 12noon – 5pm
Intersection of Freret St and Napoleon Ave
The market features up to 65 vendors selling many different kinds of items ranging from fresh produce and seafood, to one of a kind works of art and vintage clothing.

Harrison Avenue Marketplace
Second Wednesday of Every Month, 5pm – 8pm
801 Harrison Avenue (Parking lot of the old Lakeview Fine Foods)
The Harrison Avenue Marketplace will offer a distinctive venue and wonderful opportunity for restaurants, caterers and artisans to showcase their cuisine or craft to the residents of Lakeview, as well as patrons from surrounding New Orleans communities. The evening is designed to be one of an open air marketplace with live music, food, arts and crafts.

North Shore Art Market
Second Saturday of Every Month, 10am – 4pm
Lee Lane in Downtown Covington
The North Shore Art Market was formed to provide an alternative venue for artists to exhibit and sell their original works of art in an environment that appeals to a broad market of art enthusiasts.

OCH Art Market
Second Saturday of Every Month, 10am-3pm
Zeitgeist 1618 Oretha C Haley Blvd.
The market is a themed monthly market that takes place both inside and outside. The market showcases up to 40 vendors all who are selling handmade one of a kind arts and crafts. Themes for the markets include Asian Art, Folk Art, Recycled Art, Student Art, Photographic Arts and more. The building is a designated historic landmark and is a tourist attraction on its own. Each month the vegetarian pop up TSAI serves a hot and healthy brunch. The OCH Art Market is free, child and pet friendly.

Every time we turn on the television, there seems to be a show or series offering new and exciting ways to go green. Below, we have listed a few of our favorites.

Big Ideas for a Small Planet
Sundance Channel (or @ website)
This original documentary series focuses on environmental topics with interviews with forward-thinking designers and features on green products and alternative ideas that may transform our everyday lives.

design:e²
PBS (or @ website)
DESIGN launches the e² series and introduces inventive leaders and technologies driving sustainable practices in the buildings where we live, work, and play.

The Endless Feast
PBS (or @ website)
The Endless Feast travels the continent, bringing together local farmers and food artisans, food lovers and star chefs, as we explore the connection between the earth and the food we eat, one incredible feast at a time.

Chefs A’ Field
PBS (or @ website)
Chefs A’ Field takes viewers on a glorious culinary journey, exploring the vital relationship between the nation’s top chefs and their food sources, exposing the culture, taste, growing techniques, and stories behind their favorite ingredients. [GoGreenNOLA NOTE- Season 3, episode 9 highlights South Louisiana with chef John Besh both catching and preparing gulf shrimp!]

TED
Available exclusively online
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. The annual conference now brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

We all know we should Recycle, Reduce, and Reuse. And, if you are at this site, you probably already do. Now, we can extend this mantra from empty soda bottles and old newspapers to our favorite (and not so favorite) T-shirts and other clothing items.

Thanks to the DIY crafty movement, there are a plethora of books focused specifically on making our old clothes new again. Check out the following books (and video clip) and remake your wardrobe without ever leaving your closet!

(BTW- you can recycle sewing scraps into cleaning rags or stuffing for pillows or sew them all together into a crazy quilt.)

Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt Megan Nicolay This inspirational guide with DIY attitude has everything you need to know about the world’s great T-shirt: how to cut it, sew it, deconstruct it, reconstruct it, and best of all, transform it. Features more than 100 projects (plus 200 variations) for customized tees, tank tops, tube tops, T-skirts—even handbags, a patchwork blanket, iPod cozies, leg warmers, and more.

Rip It!: How to Deconstruct and Reconstruct the Clothes of Your Dreams Elissa Meyrich Rip It! shows how simple and fun it can be to transform a tired wardrobe into hip, one-of-a-kind new looks without spending a dime. Elissa Meyrich shows beginners and experienced sewers everywhere how to customize pieces found at cheap chain stores, thrift shops, or the far reaches of a closet and create fabulous new designs.

Sew Subversive: Down and Dirty DIY for the Fabulous Fashionista Melissa Rannels, Melissa Alvarado, Hope Meng Fashion hipsters Rannels, Alvarado and Meng give beginning sewers all the basics, plus 22 tempting projects. Their mission—”subverting” fashion—is all about “embellishing and customizing clothes—refashioning them to make them uniquely your own.” This can mean anything from altering the fit of a blouse with pin tucks and sewing ribbon stripes onto an old pair of jeans to whipping up a sun dress out of a pillowcase.

Compost is the “aerobically derived remnants of organic materials”, meaning its what you get when you combine the leftovers of plant and animal-based stuff, add a little air, water and nitrogen. The decomposition is performed primarily by aerobes (organisms with oxygen-based metabolism), although larger creatures such as ants, nematodes, and worms (this process is also known as vermiculture) can also contribute. This decomposition occurs naturally except for in extreme anaerobic conditions, like in landfills, very arid deserts or cold weather such as boreal winters or polar regions, which prevent the microbes and other decomposers from thriving. Decomposition happens even in the absence of some of these ingredients, but not as quickly or as pleasantly. Compost is used most often at the consumer level in gardening and agriculture as a fertilizer-type soil additive, and can also often replace commercial fertilizers.

Given enough time, all biodegradable material will compost. The goal in a composting system is to provide a healthy environment and nutrition for the rapid decomposers, the bacteria. Not all biodegradable materials are appropriate for backyard or at-home composting, though. Most backyard systems will not reach temperatures high enough to kill pathogens and deter vermin, so pet droppings, non-vegetarian animal manure, meat scraps, and dairy products are best left in the trash.

The most rapid composting occurs with the ideal carbon to nitrogen ratio of between 25 and 30 to 1 by dry chemical weight. In other words, the ingredients placed in the pile should contain 25 to 30 times as much carbon as nitrogen. For example, grass clippings average about 19 to 1 and dry autumn leaves average about 55 to 1, so mixing equal parts by volume nets approximately the correct range.

There are a couple of different common techniques for composting that use two primary methods. Active, or hot, composting, as the name suggests, occurs when the compost stays above about 90°F (32°C), allowing aerobic bacteria to thrive, killing most pathogens and seeds, and rapidly producing usable compost. Passive, or cold, composting occurs in many domestic garden compost bins in which temperatures never reach above 86°F or 30°C. If you put kitchen scraps in the garden compost bin and leaving them untended, you’re cold composting. This “scrap bin,” because it has a very high moisture content and doesn’t get active aeration, is likely to turn anaerobic and will not smell very good, though it will produce compost, after a while. This process can be improved by adding some wood chips or small pieces of bark, leaves, twigs, or a combination of these materials, throughout the mixture, helping to improve drainage and airflow.

Using compost improves soil structure, texture, and aeration and increases the soil’s water-holding capacity. Compost loosens clay soils and helps sandy soils retain water. Adding compost improves soil fertility and stimulates healthy root development in plants. The organic matter provided in compost provides food for microorganisms, which keeps the soil in a healthy, balanced condition. Nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus will be produced naturally by the feeding of microorganisms, so few, if any, other soil additives will be needed.

Anyone with a few extra square feet (even inside your kitchen or out on a deck or balcony) can produce compost; examples like these are a few options for those who don’t have the space to start a big heap in the backyard. Though a common misconception, properly aerated compost does not smell like rotten food (though the “passive compost” described above certainly can), which makes it possible for apartment and other small home-dwellers to create their own without making a big mess or raising a stink.

More Info:

LSU Ag Center Composting Webpage

How to Make Compost’s Composting Guide

United States EPA’s Composting Site

Treehuggers.com Compost: How to Make It, Bins, Piles and More

(Original Article by Collin Dunn for Treehugger.com; Chart from Wikipedia)

Recently, I started feeling some cold/flu symptoms. But, as always, I was kind of hesitant to taking over-the-counter cold medicine because, for me, the side effects of cold medicine usually make me feel worse than does the cold. So, instead of running to the conventional medicine cabinet, I thought I’d follow some advice I heard from Dr Henri Roca during his monthly appearance on a local radio show.**

He suggested taking Airborne, Ester-C, and Zicam/Zinc at the onset of a cold as they help shorten its duration. I followed his advice and did start to feel better. Plus, my cold only lasted a couple of days. But, I found the best treatment during my cold was using a Neti pot. (Dr Roca mentioned Neti pots, too.)

One of the more Aladdin lamp-like Neti pots.

A Neti pot looks like a cross between a teapot and Aladdin’s lamp. It’s used in an ancient Ayurvedic technique known as Jala neti, which literally means nasal cleansing in Sanskrit, where the practitioner uses the Neti pot to perform nasal irrigation.^wikipedia

I was a bit apprehensive to use the Neti pot the first time. The instructions said to fill the pot with warm water and about 1/4 of iodized salt. (The amount of salt varies by size of pot.) Once the salt was dissolved, I tilted my head and put the spout of the pot in one nostril and started to pour the water. While I waited for the water to come out the other nostril, I felt like the paper cup a magician uses when he does the “pour water into a paper cup and watch it disappear” trick as I didn’t think the water would ever come out the other side of my nose. But it did. During the whole process, I also made sure to breath through my mouth. I repeated the process on the other nostril.

After all the water had ran through it, the mucus in my nose was loose and ready to leave. This kind of grossed me out. I gently blew my nose and realized that my momentary disgust was outweighed by the benefit of being able to breath clearly. I used the Neti pot at least twice a day for the [short!] duration of my cold. It really made a positive difference. So much so that I’ve decided to give Neti pots as birthday presents to all my friends and relatives this year.

Neti posts are also good to use when you are suffering from allergies. They help clear the pollen and other allergens in the nasal cavity, thereby reducing congestion and the need to sneeze. I can now look forward to the Spring blossoms as I have my Neti pot at the ready to help me through the pollen they produce.

Neti pots are available at most local drug stores and/or health food stores. I suggest getting one with a handle as it helps with the pouring!

More Info:

• WebMD’s article about Neti pots
• Watch a video on how to use a Neti pot

*Lillian Lovich is NOT a health professional.
** Dr Roca appears on the Canon Hospice Health Hour.