Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Herbal leaves in our daily life - Part II

Herbal leaves in our daily life - Part II

Kindly use only if they are not allergic to you. I am providing inputs which i got from people who follow in village and sometime we also use to get immediate relief and avoid other medicine. If problem persist kindly consult a physician.


Ponnanganni keerai (Alternanthera sessilis/Dwarf copper leaf)

Ponnaganni keerai is very good source of iron. Improves the eye sight. Can be cooked as kootu and consumed with white rice. The juice can be extracted and boiled with sesame oil or coconut oil to prepare home made hair oil and used for Kanmai (kajal). This will be a body coolant so can be consumed to reduce body heat. Now a days lactation is becoming problem for ladies during child birth, this will improve lactation. As it is cool add pepper to the keerai kootu for feeding women. Try it out in small quantity and consume it only when it goes well with you. Brings down the constipation and piles problem


Veppa ellai or vembu (Neem leaves/ Melia Azaridacta Indica)

Leaves are good antibacterial and antifungal. This is a good air purifier. The leaves can be put in bath water and kept in sun for few hrs to get the extract of leaves. If your skin is not allergic to neem you can make the baby leaves of neem and make paste with kasturi manjal and apply for skin to remove the marks for skin. When my father suffered from chest cold the village people made kashayam using Veppam ellai, Thulasi & Adathodai leaves. They boiled the leave with water for 30 to 40 mins and shrinked the water to 1/3rd proportion and gave him. The chest cold gradually came down. We wont get Adathodai leaf so you can use Karpura valli. My grandma used to give paste ball of veppa elai so it will kill the germs in stomach. People who are trying for child don't consume it might bring down the sperm count.


Pudina ellai (Mint/Mentha leaves)

Mint is good for easy digestion, increases hunger. Mint is rich in antioxidant, vitamin A, C, potassium, folates, etc. We can make pudina thogayal using mint and keep for few days and use as a sidedish for idli, dosai, curd rice or mix and take with white rice. It is good for nerves when taken regularly, cold, and avoid vomiting sensation so, pregnant ladies can include this in leaf diet. you can also dry the mint leaves and keep. Dry leaves can be crushed and added to tea which provides good flavour to tea and health benefits to our body. Good for teeth so juice can be extracted and applied on teeth, also bring down the bad odour in mouth. Juice can be applied for leg joint pain also.


Thulasi (Ocimum tenuiflorum)

Thulasi is one of our holy herb. Good to reduce cold. Chromium salt is important to reduce the cholesterol level and sugar in blood so try to consume to keep your health. Thulasi can be used for cough, asthma and other breathing problem. When consumed along with medicine it will bring down the temperature during high fever. For kids thulasi leaf juice can be mixed with honey and given. The best and simple way for me is to consume few thulasi leaves daily


Vallarai keerai (Centella asiatica)

Vallarai is called brahmi and good to improve the memory power, removes absent minded, strengthen body, ulcer, arthritis and mental ability. Try to add vallarai keerai in our food from childhood. I used to make vallarai thogayal so required spices can be added and give with white rice or curd rice. It is an antioxidant, reduce anxiety, hypertension. The leaves can be dried in shade and boiled with water to make an energy drink (same as green tea). Don't use more frequently, use once a month or whenever possible.

you can try vallarai thogayal

Thuthuvalai keerai (Solanum trilobatum L.)

Thuthuvalai is good for liver, asthma & cancer treatment. We have to remove the thorn in leaves and make thogayal. Good to reduce cough, body pain. Chest cold can be reduced. According to siddhar's it is a kayakalpam and used for longitivity). This is a blood thining agent. Brings down body heat. You can add this to wheat flour and make rotis and consumed or can make rasam with the leaves.

Instead of using tablets for even small problem why dont we use the naturally available herbs and leaves. Simply including in our daily food also keeps us healthy and fit.

Also refer Herbal vegetables part I & part II

4 comments:

  1. where do we get the thuthuvalai leaves in Hyderabad

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    1. I don't know the exact place in hyderabad, but usually we can get in vegetable market or from street green venders

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