After reading this article, you might start sounding like your grandmother to your family and friends. They might roll their eyes, but you can point to research and science to support these old wives tales. They've proven themselves to be true time after time. They cover everything from health to weather. So, the next time your grandmother gives you advice, you might listen a little more carefully!
1. Green potatoes kill
This is true; however, you would have to eat two very large potatoes. Green potatoes contain the nerve toxin solanine. Even just a few bites from a green potato is enough to make most people vomit, but you have to ask yourself: Why would anyone eat a green potato anyway?
2. An apple a day
An apple a day keeps the doctor away, right? While apples are super-nutritious, full of vitamin C, pectin and fiber, we can’t go so far as saying that eating an apple each day will prevent things like diabetes, arthritis or cancer. However, a study in 2013 did find that if people over the age of 50 ate just one apple every day, they could help prevent heart attack and stroke.
3. Persimmon seeds and snow
Another old wives’ tale says that you can take a persimmon seed and cut it in half, and the shape you see inside the seed will tell you the kind of winter you are going to have. If you see a spoon shape, then there will be lots of wet, heavy snow. If you see a knife, there will be plenty of cutting, cold wind. A fork means a mild winter with only light, powdery snow.
This sounds a little crazy, but a study done in Jefferson County, Mo., found that this old wives’ tale has been correct 14 out of 18 years.
4. Hair of the dog
One old wives’ tale says that “a little hair of the dog” that bit you (a shot or two of the same alcohol you were drinking) is a quick “cure.”
Adam Rogers, the author of Proof: The Science of Booze — says there is a bit of science behind why it works. Still, he discourages it.
5. Baby boy or girl?
There are as many old wives’ tales about how to tell if you are carrying a boy or girl as there are blades of grass! One of them, however, appears to be true.
Deliveries that are fairly quick appear to be, more often than not, girls. Long labor times, or hard labor, usually mean it’s a boy.
One study found that, while boys are not necessarily bigger or heavier than girls, their heads are generally larger, resulting in a longer and more difficult labor.
Have you found any of these tales to be true? Are there any other valid old wives tales we should add to the list?
Article Source: Off The Grid News
