Monthly Archives: July 2013

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Healthy Lifestyle topic for today is Bitter Melon (Gourd) and Health.

Momordica charantia or karela or Bitter Gourd is a tropical vegetable. The vegetable skin is warty in nature like that of a crocodile. It is bitter to taste. The plant is slender and is a climber. It bears yellow flowers. The bitter gourd is available in many sizes.

Bitter gourd is rich in vitamin A, B1, B2 and c and contains minerals like calcium, phosphorous, iron, and copper, potassium and beta-carotene. It aids purify blood tissue, enhances digestion, and stimulates the liver. Pregnant women and nursing mothers should avoid eating bitter gourd. Since ancient times, the extracts of Bitter gourd have been used in natural medicine. Bitter gourd is a blood purifier, activates spleen and liver. It is a purgative, appetizer and digestive. All parts of the plant, the seeds, leaves and vines, are used for medicinal purposes. Like most bitter fruits and vegetables it promotes digestion. Primarily Asians used bitter gourd to treat malaria. It is said to have a positive effect in controlling the blood sugar level and is termed as 'Plant Insulin'. Three active constituents in bitter melon know as steroidal saponins (charntin, insulin-like peptides, and alkaloids) are believed to be responsible for the blood-sugar lowering. Rich in iron, bitter melon has twice the beta carotene of broccoli, twice the calcium of spinach, twice the potassium of bananas. It is used to treat blood disorders like blood boils, scabies, ring worm etc.

Nutrients present in the bitter gourd include phosphorus, manganese, magnesium and zinc. It is also among the best-known sources of thiamine, foliate and riboflavin.

There are many health reasons why you should take this bitter vegetable seriously. Here are a few:

Alcoholism

It is an antidote for alcohol intoxication, and helps purify, restore and nourish liver. Its juice is also beneficial in the treatment of a bad hangover.

Blood Purification

It has blood-purifying properties. As a result, the juice is used in the treatment of blood disorders like blood boils and itching due to blood poisoning. Have it little by little on an empty stomach daily, in 4-6 months you will see enhancement in your state.

Cholera

Fresh juice of leaves of bitter gourd is also a useful medication in early stages of cholera.

Diabetes

The bitter gourd is particularly used as a remedy for diabetes because of its hypoglycemic action. It contains insulin-like peptides, alkaloids and charantin, all of which act together to lower blood and urine sugar levels without increasing blood insulin levels. These compounds activate a protein called AMPK, which is well known for regulating fuel metabolism and enabling glucose uptake, processes which are impaired in diabetics. You can take the juice of 4-5 bitter gourds every morning on an empty stomach, add seeds in powdered form to food or prepare a decoction by boiling the pieces of this fruit in water. If you are taking medications to lower your blood sugar, adding bitter gourd might make your blood sugar drop too low. Monitor your blood sugar carefully.

Eye problems

The high beta-carotene and other properties in bitter gourd make it one of the finest vegetable-fruit that help alleviate eye problems and improving eyesight.

Good for stomachimmune syatw

It contains cellulose which is a very good source of fiber thus preventing constipation. It also good digestive agent and helps in stimulating the secretion of gastric juices. This can be very helpful for people with dyspepsia. However, sometimes it may worsen heartburn and ulcers.

 

Immune booster

A glass of bitter gourd juice in the morning can help to strengthen your immune system and increase your body's fighting power against infection. Researchers hypothesize that bitter melon is as an immunomodulator. One clinical trial found limited evidence that bitter melon might improve immune cell function in people with cancer.

Improved Stamina and Energy

Bitter gourd has proved to be a best source for enhancing stamina and energy. Consuming bitter gourd daily improves the energy levels and stabilizes sleeping patterns.

Piles

Fresh juice of bitter gourd is good for patients suffering from piles. Take a mixture of bitter melon juice and buttermilk every morning for about a month and you will see an improvement. A paste of the roots of bitter gourd plant can also be applied over piles to get a favorable result.

Skin care

Bitter gourd is also effective in treating skin diseases or skin infections, eczema and psoriasis. It also helps in keeping the skin free from blemishes and keeps the skin glowing. The blood purifying properties make sure that you don't get acne.

Weight Loss

It stimulates liver for secretion of bile juices that are very essential for metabolism of fats. Thus, if you want to have a perfect, slim figure, then bitter gourd can help you.

 

Healthy Lifestyle will love readers to leave their feedback, comment and share on this article.

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Dang Shen is the Pin Yin (Chinese) name for the botanical name of Codonopsis pilosula. A common nickname for this herb is “Poor Man’s Ginseng.” This is because the actual Ginseng is too expensive, and Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) can provide similar benefits without the high cost. As an energy tonic, Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) can also offer other health benefits. Since it is gentler than Ginseng, it can be taken as a supplement more often with fewer side effects.

Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) is a shrubby flowering plant that grows along the river banks or streams and shaded areas under larger trees. Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) cultivated around the world for its beauty as an ornamental plant and its healing properties. It is native to Northeast Asia, which includes China and Korea. It can grow up to eight feet high and has a tendency to move onto other larger trees. The leaves are heart-shaped, and the flowers are bell-shaped with purple and yellow coloration on the petals.

Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) been used in China for over 2,000 years as a tonic for the lungs and spleen to strengthen and enrich the blood, counteract the metabolic activity. Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) commonly known as a heart tonic. It been used to strengthen and tone the heart by helping it to vibrate in a steady, regular rhythm. It used to strengthen the liver and stimulate the production of bile.

Historically, Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) thought to have properties similar to ginseng. The Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參), indicated that it was ginseng from the Shandang region; shen is the key word to describe ginseng or a ginseng-like herb. Like ginseng, Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) referred to as an adaptogen, a substance that non-specifically enhances and regulates the body's ability to withstand stress. Adaptogens increase the body's overall performance in ways that enhance the whole body resist infection. Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) thought to serve the whole body by boosting strength, increasing stamina and alertness, rejuvenating the body, strengthening the immune system, aiding recovery from serious illness, reducing stress, and stimulating the appetite. Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) used to treat a variety of afflictions, including asthma, digestive disorders, fatigue, and high blood pressure. Nursing mothers drink the tea for its galactagogue steps to increase their production of milk.

In the mid-1980s, scientific interest raised in Dang Shen’s, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) potential cardiovascular benefits, especially in patients with ischemic stroke or coronary artery disease/angina. More recent studies have focused on possible roles in liver disease (hepatitis and cirrhosis) and as an antioxidant.

 

CAUTIONS: Not for use if one have the hormone-sensitive disorder such as breast or prostate cancer, or are using anticoagulant drugs. Codonopsis Root (Dang Shen) 黨參 should not be used in cases of infection of the digestive system. Side effects been reported, like dizziness, discomfort in the chest area, nervous and anxious, dry mouth.

Herbs in Chinese Medicine: Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) the healing herb Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) - in Energy formulas.

Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) is toning; it is ideal for building energy and effective for Chi of the body.

 

This healing herb is in the Ginseng family and therefore; it resembles ginseng and has the same medicinal properties. However, Ginseng is stronger. It is a perennial herb, and its primary purpose is to create energy. It is suitable for mild chronic disorders that do not need the right influence of Ginseng. Sometimes it used in meals of stew and soups because it is an excellent prevention to heart disease. It used in place of Ginseng as it can be far too strong and expensive. It is milder but still has building energy use.

Dang Shen’s, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) properties

•Aids in digestion

•Helps loose stools

•Aids a weakened immune system and stimulates the nervous system

Improves body function, anti-fatigue and gives energy

•Raises blood sugar

• Enhances blood coagulation

• Improves the function of macrophages.

To take it

•Suck on the bark like a stick

•To be taken raw

•Cook it

•Take it in herbal formulas

Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參)

Radix Codonopsis Pilosulae

Properties: The herb is sweet in flavor, neutral in nature, and acts on the lung and spleen channels. Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) being sweet, neutral, moist, not dry, not greasy and gentle in intensity, it can not only invigorate spleen-qi but also nourish blood and stimulate the production of the body fluid. With its effects similar to, but weaker than those of ginseng, Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) can be used to replace ginseng, but the dosage of Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) should be doubled as much as that of ginseng wherever ginseng used except for emergency treatment of collapse. Therefore, Dang Shen, Codonopsis pilosula (黨參) often used to treat deficiency of spleen-qi and lung-qi, tonifying the lung and control of body fluid and blood.

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