Archives for August 2014

August 28, 2014 By Vrushali Athavle 1 Comment

TULSI- Solution to all ailments

Tulsi or Basil leaves is a small light green to dark purple colored plant, which is often seen to be grown in front off or near houses in a special pot or special small masonry structures in almost every Indian home. Whether you like keeping plants at home or not, this sacred and medicinal plant is seen in every house. It is considered sacred in India and a manifestation of goddess Tulsi, a consort of God Vishnu.

Talking about its medicinal properties, Tulsi is classified as an adaptogen: It adapts itself to whatever ailment the body is experiencing. Name any body part, beginning from your head, eyes, mouth, throat, stomach, or kidney, Tulsi has a cure for it.

Its anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties makes it a much talked about herbal plant in medicine…

Let’s quickly go through some of them:

Head: In heating summer, by applying the paste of crushed Tulsi and Chandan will give you immediate cooling and relief from headaches.
Eyes: Dark Tulsi is known to be rich in Vitamin A and hence no doubt that it helps in curing eye soreness and night blindness.
Mouth: Soaking Tulsi seeds in water at night and consuming it in the morning along with milk will surely give you relief from mouth ulcers. I have tried this and it has benefited me by giving immediate relief.
Teeth: A paste made by sun drying the tulsi leaves and mixing them with mustered oil is known to maintain dental health and gives you relief from bad mouth odour.
Nose, throat, and chest: Water boiled with basil leaves and a pinch of salt should be used to gargle to get relief from sore throat. Almost all the ayurvedic cough syrups and expectorants have tulsi as their main component, as it is known to melt the mucus giving relief to bronchitis and asthma patients.
Fever: A hot and tasty tulsi decoction made by adding cardamom, clove, coriander seeds, Jeshthamadh or Jashthamadh or Mulethi with small amount of jaggery helps to bring down fever after one has drunk the decoction in small portions.
Kidney: In case of renal stone the juice of basil leaves and honey, if taken regularly for 6 months will flush them via the urinary tract.

The flavonoids in tulsi leaves are believed to reduce the risk of platelets forming clots on the arterial wall, preventing coronary heart disease and heart attacks.

Tulsi juice is also beneficial is treating many of the skin infections like ringworm and other skin diseases.

Note: These are only general guidelines as a first aid. It is always better to see a doctor depending upon the intensity of the case.

August 27, 2014 By Parwage Alam 1 Comment

Neem and its Health Benefits

Have you ever come across a lady or a man chewing a stick as a method of brushing his or her teeth. Well this is very common in the villages of India. They ain’t chewing any stick they are chewing Neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) sticks.

Neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) tree commonly seen and available in India everywhere yet, only a few are aware about neem and know that it is an integral part of Ayurveda for the benefits associated with it. The beneficial properties of Neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) have been recognized in the Indian tradition for thousands of years. Each part of the Neem tree has some medicinal property. It is an herb that is commonly available, throughout the year and has benefits that only a few natural products can provide.

Neem is known by many different names, Nimm, Arya Veppu, Azad Dirakht, DogonYaro, Neeb, Nimtree, Vepu, Vempu, Vepa, Bevu, Kohomba, Vembu, Tamar, Paraiso, Antelaea azadirachta, Arishta, Arishtha, Azadirachta indica, Bead Tree, Holy Tree, Huile de Neem, Indian Lilac, Indian Neem, Lilas des Indes, Lilas de Perse, Margosa, Margosa Tree, Margousier, Margousier à Feuilles de Frêne, Margousier d’Inde, Melia azadirachta, Neem Oil, Neem Tree, Melia azadirachta, Nim, Nimb, Nimba, Persian Lilac, Pride of China.

In East Africa it is also known as Muarubaini (in Swahili), which means the tree of the 40, as it is said to treat 40 different diseases.

Neem has anti- bacterial; anti- parasitic, anti- fungal, anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties that not only benefits your health but can help you get rid of common beauty problems that you face in your daily life. All parts of neem are used for preparing many different medicines, especially for skin disease.

Neem leaf is used for leprosy, eye disorders, bloody nose, intestinal worms, stomach upset, loss of appetite, skin ulcers, diseases of the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular disease), fever, diabetes, gum disease (gingivitis), and liver problems.

The leaf is also used for birth control and to cause abortions. Various parts of the Neem tree have been used as traditional Ayurvedic medicine in India. Neem oil and the bark and leaf extracts have been therapeutically used as folk medicine to control leprosy, intestinal helminthiasis, respiratory disorders, constipation and also as a general health promoter.

Neem which is rich in Vitamin C also helps in getting rid of skin problems like blackheads, pigmentation, dullness and ageing thus leaving the skin with a youthful glow.

Some Ayurvedic use of Neem:

Leaf: Leprosy, eye problem, epistaxis, intestinal worms, anorexia, biliousness, skin ulcers,

Bark: Analgesic, alternative and curative of fever.

Flower: Bile suppression, elimination of intestinal worms and phlegm.

Fruit: Piles, intestinal worms, urinary disorder, epistaxis, phlegm, eye problem, diabetes, wounds and leprosy.

Twig: Cough, asthma, piles, phantom tumour, intestinal worms, spematorrhoea, obstinate urinary disorder, diabetes.

Gum: Scabies, wounds, ulcers, skin diseases.

Seed: Leprosy and intestinal worms.

Oil: Leprosy and intestinal worms.

To throw more light on the importance of having Neem can be seen through this that on the auspicious occasion of Gudi Padwa which is mainly celebrated in Maharashtra as a new year, after the Gudi is worshipped the offering or prasad as they call it in local parlance is made of Neem leaf paste, tamarind, Ajwain, pulses and jaggery is distributed. The Neem leaf paste is said to purify the blood and build immunity against diseases.

A traditional Indian plant medicine has now led to several therapeutically useful preparations and compounds, due to which the scientists are exploring more information about this medicinal plant. After have read all the above information it’s now time to make good use of centuries-old knowledge on Neem through modern approaches of drug development.

August 26, 2014 By Ami Shah 1 Comment

Health Benefits of Garlic‎

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of garlic? It’s a herb having a strong odour and pungent flavour that leaves behind a bad odour after having it. It is used by many cuisines around the world to add flavour to food. But, it enhances the flavour of the food, making it more scrumptious!

There are many who do not eat tubers and root for varied reasons including religious. But, I really feel they are losing out on such an important food ingredient!

Garlic has many medicinal, therapeutic and culinary uses. Most of the health benefits of garlic are attributed to the compound allicin. So, cooking garlic destroys allicin which in return destroys the health benefits. One should try and use garlic in a raw form wherever possible. This can be done by finely chopped in salads/buttermilk to avoid the pungent flavour.

There are ample of health benefits and other advantages…here are a few advantages

Boosts immunity: This herb could help keep those cold-weather colds and flus at bay. Try steeping garlic into a tea by steeping chopped garlic in hot water. Add a bit of natural honey to soothe your throat and cut some of the intense garlic taste.

Full of antioxidants: You can add few garlic cloves (finely chopped) to your salads as it is very rich in anti-oxidants. These antioxidants can kill the bacteria that cause acne. Next time you have a pimple, try rubbing a sliced clove of raw garlic.

Heart friendly: It helps in reducing hypertension, coronary heart diseases.

Anti-inflammatory: Garlic has anti-inflammatory properties. If you have psoriasis, a skin condition related to inflammation try rubbing garlic oil directly on the affected area for relief.

August 22, 2014 By Balwant Singh Leave a Comment

Strength Training and It’s Benefits

We have covered so many topics across fitness and health. Strength training is one aspect of it. I have always been fond of strength training. If performed properly, strength training can provide significant functional benefits and improvement in overall health and well-being, weight training can increase Bone Mineral Density, Muscle mass. Weight Training increases Tendon and ligament strength and toughness, improved joint function and range of motion, reduces potential for injury . Strength Training will tone your muscle.

Strength training or weight training or anaerobic training all are same. In anaerobic exercise Cells are using ATP (Adenosine Tri Phosphate) as a source of energy or glucose in the absence of oxygen and usually Last up to 2 minutes .

I had started doing strength training at the age of 16 with traditional Indian squat , surya Namaskar and push ups but that time my knowledge was limited about strength training. After some time I realised that my immune system is performing better. I used to fall sick more often like fever, cold but weight training really helped me to make my immune system stronger.

Weight training can be done using Own body weight, elastic bands ,dumbbells, barbells , kettle bells.But I prefer using own body weight where There is no investment required and some time I use dumbbells for weight training.

Weight training helped me to come out from depression and stressful conditional.

If you are feeling depressed or feeling stressed try weight training .After weight training session Endorphins Level increases in the body .Endorphins are the neurotransmitters released by pituitary gland which makes one feel better. Neuromuscular coordination improves . One benefit of strength training is that during training you are burning the calories but effect will remain for more time because of the increased muscle mass.So weight training will help to increase the B.M.R.as muscle need more energy to survive.

What happens in strength training?

During strength training session there will be wear and tear in the muscle fibre but that damage will be repaired after good sleep and proper nutrition and your muscle will become stronger. Your muscular strength and muscular endurance will go up after 2-3 session But for hypertrophy (increase in muscle mass) you need more training session and proper nutrition and Rest.

During weight training blood flow will increase to a particular muscle There will be more supply of nutrients to that muscle and muscle will increase in size and strength. Smaller muscle need less time for recovery but bigger muscle like hamstring or quadriceps they need more time for recovery and proper nutrition is also important.

But before starting weight training you have to prepare your body and mind . so start with proper warm up, during or before exercise ballistic stretching can be done where you are not holding the stretch .After your Training session perform cool down and static stretching where you will hold the stretch for 10-15 seconds.