Health

For two years, Michelle Marcon suffered from constant pain because of a herniated disk in her lower back, arthritis in both hips, and bone spurs in her heels. After walking for only a couple of minutes, pain would shoot down the back of her legs, and her left foot would go numb. “My pain got so bad that I had to quit my job,” says the Chicago-area dog walker.

With these tiny insects infesting the scalps of 12 million Americans annually—mostly children under 12—an effective remedy is high in demand. However, the main ingredient of most head lice treatments is an outlawed agricultural pesticide called lindane.

All too often, the return of autumn means another round of nagging colds and flus. Don’t want to spend the next six months wrapped in a cocoon of blankets, downing hold-your-nose cough syrup and mystery capsules? Forget about starving the cold and feeding the fever, and follow the lead from three healing methods—ayurveda, naturopathy, and traditional Chinese medicine.

House plants do a lot more than just brighten up a room—they also help remove the toxins that cause indoor air contamination. Former NASA scientist Bill Wolverton harnessed his knowledge of the purifying powers of plants with his recent invention of a high-tech air filter that looks just like an ordinary potted plant (www.phytofilter.com). However, we prefer the real thing.