Dr. Jarvis, way back when, took into account the harsh environment in which he and his patients lived when he wrote about treating heart disease.

He wrote, "According to American Heart Association statistics, Vermont has a good deal of heart disease directly attributable to climatic instability. Vermont folk medicine includes ways to aid the heart, the blood vessels and the blood supply so that heart attacks may be avoided, the heart will not wear out as quickly and its life may be prolonged."

He goes on to remind us that the heart is the motor of the human machine and that it works on sugar.  He says the blood contains at all times one teaspoonful of sugar and that this amount is so essential that, if it were reduced to half that amount, you would pass out and if it were increased by half, diabetes might make its appearance.  Not only do we need this sugar for immediate use by the heart but there must be a constant thin trickle of sugar going through the intestinal wall. He recommends that honey be your sweetener of preference because honey contains two sugars, dextrose and levulose. Dextrose passes swiftly into the blood while levulose is more slowly absorbed, maintaining a steady level of blood sugar.

Jarvis also discusses the minerals necessary to run your motor and gives us a formula by which to keep it turning over longer than the average three score and ten years. He says, except for silver and gold, practically all minerals are in on the action. In Vermont folk medicine there is an extremely simple prescription for replenishing the mineral needs of the body: 2 teaspoons of hioney and 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water one or more times each day, depending on how much mental and physical work you do. It tastes like apple cider. The vinegar brings the mineral content of the apples while the honey brings the minerals in the nectar of flowers.