Potato Juice (raw)
The potato is the most popular and widely-used vegetable in the world. It is one of the most strongly alkaline of all foods, being rich in potash and soda. It is therefore, very helpful in maintaining the alkali reserve of the body and a natural antidote for an overdose of acid. It dissolves away uric acid and lime.
The raw potato juice therapy is considered one of the most successful biological treatments for arthritic and rheumatic conditions. It has been used in folk medicine for centuries. The old method of preparing potato juice was to cut the potato into thin slices without peeling the skin and place them overnight in a large glass filled with cold water. The water should be drunk in the morning on an empty stomach. Fresh juice can also be extracted from potatoes and drunk diluted with water on 50:50 basis, first thing in the morning.
Rhubarb
Rhubarb is a vegetable grown for its long thick leaf stalks, which are used for sauces and pies. The dried rhizomes of the plant constitute the drug. The rhizomes should be collected from six or seven years old plants, just before the flowering season. They should not be decorticated. The tuber is pungent and bitter.
Rhubarb is an anti-inflammatory food. It is especially beneficial in the treatment of rheumatism. The green stalks of this vegetable should be pounded with an equal quantity of jaggery. A teaspoonful should be taken three or four times a day. This will alleviate pain and swelling.
Sesame Seeds
The sesame is a well-known oilseed. It is probably the oldest of all cultivated seed crops. It has been regarded as a food of high value throughout Asia since ancient times. There are three varieties of sesame seeds: black, white and red. The black variety yields the best quality of oil and is also the best to use for remedial purposes. The oil extracted from sesame seeds is of a very high medicinal value.
Black Sesame seeds possess anti-inflammatory property. Their use has thus been found beneficial in the prevention and treatment of frequent joint pains in arthritis and other rheumatic afflictions. A teaspoon of the seeds should be soaked overnight in a quarter cup of water and taken first thing in the morning for this purpose. The water in which seeds are soaked should also be taken along with the seeds.
Tamarind
Tamarind is a large, handsome, symmetrical spreading tree. All the parts of the tree have medicinal virtues. Its leaves are cooling and antibilious, while the bark is an astringent and tonic. The fruit pulp is digestive, antiflatulent, cooling, laxative and antiseptic. Its seeds are also astringent. The leaves of this tree are an anti-inflammatory medicine and thus highly beneficial in prevention and treatment of arthritis, rheumatism and gout.
The leaves should be crushed with water and made into a poultice. This poultice can be applied externally over the inflamed joints and ankles. This will reduce swelling and pain.
Turmeric
This unique medicinal spice is a potent anti-inflammatory food. The active ingredient of turmeric is curcumin, which gives it its intense cadmium yellow colour. Studies show that aircumin is an anti-inflammatory agent on par with cortisone. It has been found to reduce inflammation in animals and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis in humans.
In an experiment, the prime compound in turmeric, improved morning stiffness, walking time and joint swelling in 18 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. In fact, 1,200 mg of curcumin had the same anti-arthritis activity as 300 mg of the anti-inflammatory drug phenylbutazone.
Vegetables
The treatment of arthritis through liberal use of vegetables has been found very effective. Giving up flesh foods may help cure arthritis. This has become evident from a widely acclaimed study conducted in 1991 by Norwegian researchers. This study showed that meatless diets relieved rheumatoid arthritis symptoms in nine out of ten patients.
This was because animal fat incites joint inflammation, according to researchers. Dr. Jens Kjeldsen-Kragh, M.D., of the Institute of Immunology and Rheumatology at the National Rheumatism Hospital of Oslo, conducted a study about the usefulness of vegetarian foods in arthritis. He found that switching to a vegetarian diet resulted in improved grip strength and much less pain, joint swelling, tenderness and morning stiffness in about 90 per cent of a group of arthrites patients, compared with controls eating an ordinary diet.
The patients noticed improvement within a month, and it lasted throughout the entire year-long experiment. Dr. Kjeldsen Kragh concluded that about 70 per cent of the patients improved because they avoided fats that are likely to instigate the inflammation process. This proves that vegetable cure is stronger than drugs.