Spotlight

Home cures

Home remedies never pose as complete alternatives to doctors and medication, they are just useful natural tips having no threat of side effects, and are known to cause improvement in health conditions. A perfect balance of doctors' diagnostics and home remedies can ensure good health.

The basic concept of home remedies has gained a lot of momentum in modern times. Home remedies usually use treatments based on herbal and natural healing. Although there exists heated debate regarding effectiveness of home remedies, its benefits cannot altogether be ignored.

Home cures provide natural antidotes for all ranges starting from serious diseases like cancer to trivial ones like the common cold. Coronary complications, hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, gastro-intestinal problems and other maladies like fever, migraine, toothaches, etc., are most common, afflicting the general masses. Effective home cures can help improve health complications. Of course, expecting a radical improvement will be disheartening, as home cures take their course of time.

Coronary cures
Coronary heart disease has become one of the major causes of death around the world and needs to be controlled. Major causes of heart diseases are elevated levels of cholesterol, uric acid and elevated blood pressure; also certain metabolic disorders and risk factors like obesity, smoking and lack of physical exercise. The symptoms include shortness of breath, chest pain or pain down the left arm, palpitations, fatigue, cold hands and feet.

A simple yet effective method to treat heart disease would be to drink milk with garlic every day. Ginger juice mixed with honey helps reduce chest pain instantly. Consumption of foods rich in Vitamin E and B such as leafy green vegetables, sardines, egg yolks, nuts, yeast, meat, low-fat dairy products and lentils are ideal food products for heart patients.

Arthritis appeasers
Arthritis affects not only the joints but also important structures such as tendons, ligaments, muscles and bones. The common denominator amongst all these conditions is joint and musculoskeletal pain. Pain resulting from arthritis is usually chronic. It is long lasting, ranging from weeks, months, and years to a lifetime.

Beetroot juice, diced beetroot - raw or parboiled, is extremely good for arthritis. You can also take pineapple juice everyday; it reduces swelling and inflammation around the joints that occurs in rheumatoid and osteo arthritis.

Blood pressure basics
Some of the causes of high blood pressure are obesity, stress, hormonal changes in women and high intake of sodium.

The most effective home remedy to treat high blood pressure is taking cloves of garlic. When there is sudden rise in blood pressure, lemon squeezed sherbet can offer instant relief. For long-term treatment, intake of papaya everyday is beneficial, it helps reduce high pressure completely. As for low pressures, soaked raisins can help fight the instant fall.

Gastro-intestinal remedies
Gastritis is caused by swelling or inflammation in the mucus membrane lining the stomach. Gastritis can either be mild or acute, chronic or severe. The most common symptoms are loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, headache and dizziness.

Chewing fresh gingers before every meal helps fight gastric pain. A very effective long-term treatment of gastrointestinal problem is to take a tea spoon of raw turmeric powder before every meal, this reduces the inflammation and brings gastric ailments under control.

Diabetic doses
Diabetes is a metabolic disorder, the way our bodies use digested food for development and energy. While the disorder mostly strikes obese people in their middle age, it is also common in the youth.

Half a cup of bitter gourd juice taken daily actively brings diabetes under control. And as for long-term ailments soybeans, celery, cucumbers, string beans, onion and garlic's inclusion in the diet of diabetic patients are known to be beneficial.

By Zannatul Lamea

Fried chilli fish cooked in tamarind juice
Ingredients
4 fish, medium-sized, cleaned
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
4 onions, medium-sized, chopped
3 green chillies, chopped
2 tbsp chilli sauce
6 garlic crushed
1 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
30 g tamarind
20 curry leaves
Salt to taste
2 Tomatoes, chopped

Method
Heat the coconut oil in a wok (kadhai); add mustard and fenugreek seeds. When they start to crackle add onions, green chillies, and garlic. Fry for a few seconds, and then add red chilli powder, chilli sauce and turmeric powder. Mix well for a minute.
Add tamarind juice and let the mixture simmer for some time.
Add fish, curry leaves, salt, and tomatoes. Cook covered for 10 minutes or till the fish is done.
Serve hot with steamed rice.

Chicken la mint (Murg Pudina)
Ingredients:
600-700g chicken, skinned, cut into 8 pieces
2 tsp ginger paste
2 tsp garlic paste
1 cup vegetable oil
salt to taste
1 cup yoghurt
1 cup cream
8 green chillies, pricked with a toothpick or fork
1½ cups mint leaves, chopped
2 cups coconut milk
48g almonds, blanched, peeled, sliced, fried until light brown
48g raisins soaked in water, sliced, fried for 2 minutes, drained and kept aside

Method:
Marinade the chicken pieces in ginger and garlic pastes for 45 minutes. Heat the ghee/oil; add the chicken pieces with the marinade and fry until lightly browned. Add the salt, yoghurt and cream. Stir until the yoghurt dries up. Add the green chillies and mint leaves and stir. Pour in the coconut milk and cook on low heat until the chicken becomes tender and thick gravy remains. Stir in the fried almonds and raisins.

At-home detox
Start small! Begin with a one-day program and gradually increase to one week or more.

Start the Detox Day right
First thing in the morning, drink one lemon squeezed in 12 ounces of warm filtered water. Lemon activates your liver to release toxins and helps to cleanse and move the roughage that stays behind in your intestines.

Take acidophilus or a probiotic supplement. Acidophilus is one of the many "good" bacteria and yeasts known as probiotics. Always take probiotics on an empty stomach.

Your detox meals
These meals are designed to jump-start your body into becoming healthier.

Breakfast: Eat oat bran cereal, brown rice, or any other whole grain cereal as long as it is unbleached and does not contain any added sugar or chemicals. Pair with unflavoured soy milk.

Lunch or Dinner: Eat any combination of beans, brown rice, oat bran, vegetables, and organic chicken, fish, or soy-products.

Try this super-cleansing juice as a quick way to up your veggie intake.

Detox Juice: Juice the following together: Aloe vera juice (which can be found in most food stores and with street vendors), apples, asparagus, beets (including greens), cabbage, carrot and carrot greens, celery, cucumbers, and parsley. You can also purchase vegetable juice from the store, but be sure that it has no added salt or chemicals.

Supplement your detox
Take a daily supplement of 1 tablespoon of flax seed oil, walnut oil, or deep-sea fish oil.

Green Tea is a strong antioxidant, and a great beverage choice for your detox. Be sure to drink decaffeinated green tea.

Ginger is a bowel and kidney cleanser. Make yourself tea from fresh ginger root during your detox.

Take an invigorating herbal soak
Soak for 20 minutes in a revitalizing herbal bath. Help draw out toxins by infusing your bath water with eucalyptus, peppermint, fennel, cinnamon, and epsom salts. Detoxification and cleansing is a healthy maintenance program for all seasons.

-LS Desk