RemedyGuru.com: Natural Remedies and Holistic Healing

TODDY PALM (TAL, BORASSUS FIABELLITER LINN)

Toddy-palm is abundantly grown in moist climate and coastal areas. It is famous for its sweetish juice which flows from a ‘cut’ made on the flowering stalk of the tree. It has cooling effect. It is stimulant, dispels phlegm and stops further production thereof, it antiphilogistic, laxative. Medicinally,, its juice is used to eliminate dropsy, gastric catarrh, inflammatory states. Its juice is given in TB also and, for this, the patient should drink a glassful of fresh juice for 2-3 months.

It is also given in diabetes, after it has been mildly fermented. In pthisis (TB) it is also given with an addition of aromatus (in addition to fresh juice). When palm juice has been fennented, it is used as a toxic liquor and for its low price, is very popular and frequently used by working and poor classes. In liver troubles, veneral diseases (gleet, in particular), as an antidote to poisoning. As a sweetener, it is frequently used in its sugar form. Its Jaggery (Gur), is an appetiser,. rejuvenator, a shield against cold, cough and sputum.

Best form of palm derivatives is its fresh juice which has medicinal, curative and health boosting qualities. A word here about fermented juice wliich is sold and consumed in lieu of popular IMFL (Indian made foreign liquour). Scores of people die after drinking fennented juice of palm. If the liquor is well protected from insects, mosquitoes and poisonous species of such nature, and is also not exposed to any poisonous object, it can do no harm, except causing bearable intoxication but it becomes a killer drink if some poisonous insects gain entry into it.

Whether used in pure juice, jaggery or fermented form, it must remain free from dust, insects and other poisonous matters. In a way its juice (fresh) is a tonic for the whole body. Gandhi ji named its juice as “NEERA” which is diuretic, nutritive and prophylactic drink. It also tones up nervous system.

SUGAR CANE

Like plain juice, sugar cane juice should also be consumed in raw and fresh form. Molasses, khansari (Desi khand), jaggery (Gur). Aconitic acid, bagasse are the bye-products of juice of sugar cane. It consists of sucrose 20%, invert sugar 0-2%, Fibre 8 to 16%; and water 75%. Its juice quenches thirst, is tonic and rejuvenator and nutritious drink during summer months; protects body from heat and also from bad effects of heat and sun-stroke. If taken with fresh milk, it provides instant energy.

In collapse stages, it should be given for providing heat and strength to the body. ‘Kheer’ of sugar-cane juice (fresh), milk and fine quality rice are boiled on slow fire, for being converted into a palatable and healthy dish. Diabetics and persons with poor digestion and torpid livers should never drink juice o£ sugarcane or any of its bye-products. Those who consider themselves healthy should take its juice in very moderate quantity, because it is capable of causing loose motions. But, those who have costive bowels or persons with chronic constipation, having low vitality, sparingly built (but not diabetics) should take its juice as long as and in as much quantity, as is required, until they are freed from aforesaid symptoms.

Too much use of jaggery can cause skin eruptions, boils, pimples etc; hence persons prone and amenable to skin infections, should use all its products with much care. Some people mix up juices of tomato/carrot and sugar cane also for removal of debility and also to gain instant energy. Sugar cane is an easily available and cheep product and its juice gives in return, much more than one pays for it, but judicious caution is still advised on its selective use.

Commercially, Sugar cane juice is utilised for processing glucose of which its juice is a main ingredient. Being rich in sucrose it is a source of instant energy. It is maintained that taking seme jaggery (Gur) after meals helps to digest food. Workers, working on stone-crushing machines, those who have to inhale dust quite often, fall victims to cough, 1 aboured breathing congestion of lungs and other respiratory problems, should take about 100 gms of jaggery, which is an abundant in alkalinity, will have most of such health problems eliminated, in addition to helping them to better digestion and expulsion of dust particles, sputum, clearance of lungs and, above all, provide them much needed strength. Taking syrup of jaggery, diluted with fresh water, will also enhance their physical well-being and also help in restoring good and sound health.

Due to its cost-effective factors and high food values, its juice is preferred to branded cold drinks and synthetic, canned and artificial juices. But it must be taken in fresh form only—free from dust, flies and other atmospheric bad effects. Taken in moderate quantity and divided doses, it is a boon to all but, if taken in excess and repeated quite frequently, it can prove quite harmful too. It should be taken never on empty stomach. Certain varieties of sugar cane juice have not much sugar content and, thus, they are easily digested also. Clarified crystal sugar is processed chemically and, thus loses much of its nutrient value. Crystal sugar is said to be more harmful, and its intake should be restricted after 40 years of age, as it causes more harm than any good.

PEAR (NASHPATI)

It is found in temperate zones. In Sanskrit, it is called ‘Amrit PhaP (A nectarine fruit), it has two varieties, one quite soft and. the other quite hard. The price factor determines its quality—Pear having soft pulp and skin is more expensive but the one which has hard pulp and skin is a bit cheaper but the food value does not vary much.

It is juicy fruit and its seed is quite hard, almost akin to apple-seed. Its juice is quite light to digest but its skin is not utilised while eating (of hard skinned variety only) but the fruit, with soft pulp has very soft skin and is often not severed from the pulp. It is digestive, easy to digest, carminative, keeps skin healthy, is a mild laxative, removes anaemic conditions, fever, dysentery and diarrhoea, cold, cough, as it is rich in mineral and vitamins. Its fermented juice is almost like ‘Cider’

Pear is also useful in heartburn, in acidity, removing thirst. It is claimed to be more useful than apple even, because it contains tartaric Acid and Gallic acid. It is especially useful before, during and after fever-—if given before fever it helps to prevent it, if given during fever, it helps to ameliorate symptomatic complications and, if given after fever, it helps to remove weakness and also restores the system to normalcy. Its juice helps also to eradicate diseases of perverted or weakened appetite, is an appetiser, is digestive.

Its juice is also useful to fortify strength of heart, mental faculties, alacrity. Its judicious and selective use helps to maintain balance in ‘Tridoshas’ (cough, bile and wind). Persons easily amenable to catching cold, even on slightest climatic changes, those who are phlegmatic, whose spleen malfunctions, should continuously use it, particularly in unripe form. Its skin should also be removed, particularly of the coarse varieties of pear.

BASIL (TULSI, OCIMUM SANCTUM)

Basil is no alien to Indian homes and is often grown therein as a holy plant. It is a holy plant and is worshipped due to its health and medicinal properties. It is neither used in the form of cooked vegetables nor is it used in fruit juice form. It is said that it keeps the homes free from germs and insects. Black Tulsi is considered to be more useful than the ordinary variety.

Its flowers and oval-shaped leaves are used to get rid of many disorders. All medicinal and purifying qualities of basil are attributed to its volatile oil. It is pungent in taste and is an excellent appetiser. It improves digestion, is of immense value in arresting excess of bile in the system, controls and dispels the phlegm, flatulence and purifies blood impurities. Not only its seeds and leaves, but its stems, shoots and roots are also used to dispel many a disease. Its use in juice form, raw green leaves or dried up leaves (under shade only), either alone or in combination with other ingredients which help to enhance its utility, us will be evident from following revelations.

Digestive disorders: Indigestion and ache in stomach can be cured and controlled by taking 5 ml mixture of equal quantity of basil and ginger juice. Nausea and vomiting can be contained by mixing basil juice with a little of powdered Cardamom and honey. Excess of bile formation can be regulated by taking onions, ginger and basil juices in equal quantities.

Intestinal worms can be expelled by taking 5 ml of basil juice. If one has repeated complaints and discomforts due to indigestion and flatulence, one should take, after major meals, mixture of ginger and basil (5 ml in all), adding some black salt and black pepper powder to it. Loose motions and diarrhoea can be controlled by preparing a decoction of sugar and basil leaves.

Hysteria, Headache, Insomnia: To induce sleep, keep thymol and basil leaves under pillow. Add some pepper (black) with basil juice and store in a well covered up bottle to be smelt daily to have relief in hysteria and hysterical fits—It is both preventive and curative. For relief in headache, apply camphor mixed basil juice on forehead. If this preparation is inhaled (without being inserted into nostrils) it will also remove nasal blockage and congestion, thus facilitating respiratory process.

Skin Disorders: To get relief from acne, itching, pimples, blackheads, black spots and various other skin disorders apply lemon juice, mixed basil juice on affected parts.

Respiratory Problems: Basil is a specific remedy for providing relief in most of the respiratory problems which are symptoms only but their originating causes lie somewhere else. Following suggestions may be tried.

(1) Infantile cough, vomiting, loose motions, cough can be controlled if 3-4 drops of basil are mixed with mother’s milk.
(2) To tone up respiratory process mix up, in equal quantity juices of basil and ginger, and some honey and then lick it.
(3) Add sugar candy (10 mg) to 5 ml juice of basil and piper longum powder to have chest pain, fever and dry cough relieved. It may cause excessive perspiration which is a welcome sign.

APRICOT (KHOMANI)

Its pit is soft like a plum but more winged and broader. It is round or rounded oblong but it is akin to peach in appearance. Its flesh is yellow or orangish yellow in colour. It is available all over the world and its kernel, if soft, is used in eating also. Its stone is quite hard and has an almond-like seed within it which, if sweet, is also eaten. It is eaten fresh, in custard or is canned. It is also dried up and used as a dry fruit. Its taste is sweet with some citrus tinge with it. In India, it is generally grown and found in hilly areas.

It is taken in raw form also. It has natural sugar content and is also rich in vitamin ‘A’. In off season, its canned juice is used to keep up health and also to get rid of nausea and vomiting. Iron is found, in abundance, in its dried variety. Us size, shape juicy content, size of kernel and the seed vary according to qualities of the soil on which it is grown.

MULBERRY (SHAHTOOT)

It is grown in hilly forests. Its colour is either green, yellowish green, dark brown or reddish black, though its food value remains unchanged. It is a favourite food for the silk worms. It cannot be preserved for more than 1-2 days, and that also when a water-soaked cloth cover is provided to keep it fully covered. Unripe fruit may cause heat and bile, besides being hard to digest but ripe fruit is sweet, dispels impurities of blood and does not let bile to increase.

It makes up for the deficiency of intake of water, removes thirst, dispels heat, helps to digest food. For brain fag, use its juice in the form of syrup. It is preventive of heat and keeps body cool. Pomegranate juice and honey also counteract bad effects of its excessive use. Its juice (or raw form) should always be extracted fresh and used instantly.

LICHI

Lichi is no alien name and is a frequently used fruit. It is available in U.P., West Bengal and Bihar. Lichi of Dehradoon is red and small-sized and is abundant in sugar content, has water and soft pulp. Lichi of Bihar (Muzaffarpur) is not big in size and is abundant in sugar content. But lichi of Bengal is bigger in size, red and highly juicy, but does not have much sugar content. Its stone is also small and soft. It has plenty of soft pulp. It is taken in raw form, after removing its outer rind and its stone is also not used.

Lichi is processed to prepare jam, syrup and jelly. Its juice is canned. Being available in summer months, it quenches thirst, dispels, bad effects of heat, keeps body cool, serves as a laxative, removes constipation, It prevents sun-stroke and heat-stroke. If its juice is given after bad effects of heat-stroke, it will do away with its bad effects. It should be taken in moderate quantity only and never in excessive quantity, as it can cause bleeding and urinary problem. Diabetics can take it in very moderate quantity for a changeover only but not as a substitute for fruit juices of other fruits. In addition to being sweet in taste, it is slightly citrus also and thus can help in digestive process, if taken after meals.

Generals Remarks on Fruits Juices

Fruit juices should always be extracted, mechanically or manually. Only at your homes. Always use fresh fruit for juicing purposes and juice should be extracted for the quantity which is desired and required to be utilized. Once juice has been extracted, it should never be stored in a fridge or any other device. Moreover, do not also store, cut/chopped/ sliced pieces of fruits, in advance, or in anticipation of juice extraction at a late hour.

Dust-ridden, pre-extracted, exposed to germs and bacteria, stale, pre-sliced, residual juice should never be taken because it is capable of causing more harm than good. Instead of being a potent vehicle for improving health, giving succour to the ailing, aiding in removal of diseases, such unhygienic and exposed fruit or their juices will expose the body system to many other health hazards.

Fruits juice is a boon to the ailing, healthy, old, young and infants. It should never be taken stomachful or heated on fire, exposed to sun, cooled down by ice or any other cooling agent (excepting, of course, where otherwise specifically mentioned or when the situation demands so). It should always, as far as possible, be taken in its pure form. Taste and avarice for palate satiation must not take precedence over its use for health reasons. Do not add anything to it—take it in pure, bland and undiluted form, adding only permissible ingredients, only when situation warrants.

Fruit juice is an instant restorer of energy. It is nature’s gift to mankind to compensate for the lost and exhausted energy, at not much cost. If used judiciously, in moderate and requisite quantity, it will not only enhance general health status of person but will also serve as a prophylactic device. Those who cannot digest any food item can live only on fruit juice. So, it is an excellent food substitute, beside being curative and a tonic but the only precondition is that it must be fresh, pure, and taken moderate, and requisite quantity only.

Blending of various fruit juices with vegetables is quite useful in health and diseased states. Fruits available in off-season should always be avoided, because they are neither nutrient nor useful. Some authorities are against blending of fruit and vegetable juices. Their reason being that both have varying digestive durations—fruits get digested much earlier than the vegetables.

General view: ‘Germs do not cause disease but they appear in the same way as flies do when garbage is lying about. Where there is garbage, there are flies and germs. So, if the human body is kept free from any garbage or filth or waste products, then it can remain free of disease.’ This is what Dr. Stanley Davidson has opined about presence and causation of diseases in human body.

Continue reading Juice Therapy: Recommended Juices for Anemia and Acne

(High) Blood Pressure: It is commonly known as hypertension and its main cause is inflexible hard arteries (arterio-sclerosis), sedentary life, worries and anxieties of modern way of living, excessive use of fats, spices, tobacco, alcohol etc. are the usual factors which precipitate rise of blood pressure. Treatment, through juice therapy is the same, as suggested under arterio-sclerosis and angina (pectoris). Try to eliminate, to the best possible extent, the basic causes which trigger off the disease. But to hasten the curative effects add also tomato and marmelos juice.

Continue reading Juice Therapy: Recommended Juices for Treating High Blood Pressure, Low Blood Pressure, Bronchitis, Burns, Beriberi, Bile Excess, Backache and Insect Bites and Stings

Allergic Disorders: Allergic conditions are caused by aversion, unsuitability or sensitivity to certain foods, weather conditions, pre-sence of excessive heat in the body, habitual and chronic constipation, certain psychic and emotional disturbances. Except margosa, treatment is the same, as suggested under ‘acne’ above. Avoid the allergy causing substances such as, extremes of cold, exposure to cold, sun and heat; dust; eggs, -meat, fish, prawn, chillies, beet, carrots. Allergy may manifest itself in the form of high fever, skin eruptions like pimples, itching (even pruritis), urticarea (netlle-rash), eczema, cough, cold, asthmetic problems, digestive disorders etc.

Continue reading Juice Therapy: Recommended Juices for Treating Allergic Disorders, Adenoids, Asthma, Anorexia, Arthritis,Ascites, Amenorrhoea, Angina, Appendicitis and Arterio-Sclerosis

Headache (including migraine):

Headache is merely a symptom wliich is caused by factors, such as fever, nasal congestion, sinusitis, tension, stress, lack of sleep and proper diet, malnutrition, catarrh. But, migraine is caused by mental tension; stress, strain, any sort of worry, constipation, irregular and indiscreet food intake, one-sided, (only left or only right-sided, headache) which is often accompained by nausea and vomiting is, in most cases, relieved by vomiting or in some cases, by snuffing too. Hemicrama is also another type migraine but the only difference is, it is more on one-sided, and there is no nausea or vomiting.

Continue reading Juice Therapy: Recommended Juices for Treating Headache (Including Migraine), Heartburn, Liver Disorders, Menorrhagia, Motion Sickness and Muscle Cramps

Eye-Complaints: Deficiency of iron and Vitamin ‘A’, exposure to strong and blindening light, undue strain, mental stress (sudden), injury, glare, foreign-body entry, wrong use of certain medicines, close application of eye-sight at a stretch, poor diet are a few amongst many of probable cause, leading to various eye-problems. First of all, if the basic cause has been discerned, try to eliminate the same. Next, regular use of beet, carrot, orange and spinach juice will suffice to keep eyes and vision in a normal and healthy state.

Continue reading Juice Therapy: Recommended Juices for Treating Eye-Complaints, Fever, Fatigue, Flatulence, Gastric Ulcer, Goitre, Gout, General Debility and Hair Loss

Cold and Cough: Exposure to cold, in any fonn may cause running from the nose. There may be slight feverishness, ache in the body. The patients feel nin-down and weak. Cough, is only a symptomatic off-shoot of some other disorders. Cough may be due to tonsillitis, laryngitis, throat irritation, exposure, asthma, catarrh etc. may be usual causes or cough may be dry or phlegmatic.

Continue reading Juice Therapy: Recommended Juices for Treating Cold and Cough, Catarrh, Constipation, Corns, Diarrhea, Diabetes and Dysentry

Overweight/Obesity/Corpulence/Extra Fat:

Dieticians and physicians have prescribed normal weight—according to sex, W and height of an individual—and also calories needed to meet physical needs of body, keeping in view amount of labour put in by a arson. But every person has own life-style, eating pattern and habits, financial limitations, stresses and strains of modern (so-called) arid fast life. Truly speaking, overeating, fatty food, lack of exercise, sedentary life style, excessive use of carbohydrates, meat and alcohol are said to be contributory factors for causing obesity.

Continue reading Juice Therapy: Recommended Juices for Treating Overweight/Obesity/Corpulence/Extra Fat, Prostate Enlargement, Osteoporosis, Sore Throat and Tonsillitis

Apple: Old adage ‘An Apple a day, keeps the doctor away’ was not unknown to our ancestors who used its juice to remove general weakness and run-down condition of body; anaemic conditions and low vitality. It was also used for healthy skin and general upkeep of health, for better complexion, for making up iron deficiency. General rule, for intake of juice, is that it should never be gulped down, rather it should always be slowly sipped, so that the juice mixes up with the saliva. This rule should be equally applied to other fruit/vegetables juices also.

Continue reading Juice Therapy: Home Remedies and Age-Old Time-Tested Use of Juices