That's Fit

British celebrity chef and TV presenter, Antony Worrall Thompson, discussed organic salads in a recent magazine article. Sounds great, right? It would be, if one of the ingredients he recommended wasn't toxic.

Worrall Thompson has a passion for organic foods and meant to recommend using fat hen, a vitamin-C rich, edible weed that is plentiful in the UK. Fat hen would be a fine addition to salads, though it is quite high in nitrates. Instead of the relatively harmless fat hen, Worrall Thompson mistakenly recommended henbane -- a toxic plant that can cause vomiting, hallucinations, convulsions, and (in extreme cases) death.

Oops! Sounds like a salad you definitely DON'T want to eat. The magazine, Healthy & Organic Living, printed a warning to its readers. Worrall Thompson apologized for his error.

I tend to believe that, if it's good enough for NASA, it's probably good enough for my home. You know, with the exception of the astronaut food -- yuck. And so, hearing that bringing plants indoors is a secret weapon for NASA was all the convincing I needed to start bringing some of my greenery inside.

There are loads of benefits to having plants in your home, beginning with air quality. NASA sponsored research on the removal of chemicals from the air by plants, and found that houseplants helped remove pollutants like benzene, ammonia, and formaldehyde from the air.

Additionally, there's something called the Biophilia Hypothesis, which basically means that our ancestors might have passed on to us a desire to live in green, natural spaces -- a survival advantage for them. What that means for us is that we have a natural inclination toward other living things, and that simply keeping houseplants around could elicit a "feel good" response.

If you've read some of my other posts, you know I'm a fan of gardening and the resulting goodness: flowers, food, herbs, etc. I'm also a big fan of house plants, which, I believe, are supposed to evoke a sense of bringing the outside in and, thus, a sense of calmness and freshness. An aura that's anything but stressful.

But I find that sometimes keeping up with watering and caring for house plants can actually be a bit stressful, and therefore can cancel out a bit of their peaceful properties. This is not true if you choose succulents. I've had succulents I didn't water for an entire season that are still flourishing in their respective containers, so you don't have to worry about keeping up with a regular watering schedule. They don't get those unsightly brown, and dare I say, stressed, leaves. They require very little care and give big payback, in my opinion. One of the more well-known in this plant family, aloe, can even heal wounds as well as protect and beautify skin.

Beyond that, various types of these delightful little living things are perfect for adorning your windowsills, bathroom vanities, and other nooks and crannies throughout your home. And sometimes they can please the eye just enough to take the edge off of an otherwise frazzled day.