A 3 in 1 cure with lemons

Mix 1 teaspoonful of
Lemon juice
Ginger juice  +
 Honey
in 1 glass of warm water .
Drinking this mixture in the mornings 2-3 times a week will keep the heart diseases away, maintains the blood pressure levels and also ensures good digestion.

(People suffering from asthma ,cough and body pain need to avoid drinking this mixture.)

Follow the link below for a similar tip to lose weight faster:
http://simpleayurvedichealthtips.blogspot.in/2010/03/ayurvedic-way-to-reduce-weight.html

A tip to control heavy bleeding in ladies..

figs-crystal sugar and honey image.Picture released into the public domain by author:Madhavi Madhurakavi.

Mix and pound 100 gm of dried figs with 100 gm of rock candy sugar powder and 50 gm of honey.Store the mixture in a clean dry glass jar.
Eating 10 gm of this lehyam twice or thrice a day during the period  will significantly reduce the excessive abnormal flow.

The Audhambar tree - Goolar fig

image source : wiki .Picture in the public domain

Scientific name :Ficus racemosa
Hindi : Goolar
Tamil and Malayalam : Atthi pazham
Telugu : Medi, Udambaramu
English :Cluster fig

This tree holds a great religious significance as it is the tree favoured by Lord Dattathreya.
Generally the flowers are not seen as the fruits are a cluster of the flowers and the fig wasps take up the duty of pollinating them.
The great Telugu poet Yogi Vemana who is very famous for his simple yet profound quatrains (usually in the "Dancing lady meter") described it thus :

" Medi pandu chooda melimaiundu  
Potta vippi chooda purugulundu"

Meaning -  The  fig looks fine on the outside but there are many insects inside the fruit - Which goes to say that appearances can be very deceptive.

This tree has many medicinal properties .It is found near temples and can be easily recognized by clusters of fruit growing directly from the bark.

Photo author:J.M.Garg .GNU free documentation license.Lineated barbet eating gular fig

For long and lustrous hair

30 gm of  Daikon Radish *  pieces are eaten with 3 pinches of peppercorn * powder in the evenings when the stomach is not too full.This can be done for a month.

This ensures good hair growth.

*   Mullangi in Tamil -Telugu -Muli in Hindi

*   Peppercorn -Miriyalu in Telugu ,Mizhagu in Tamil , Kala mirch in Hindi.

Kalanchoe laciniata- for headaches

Kalanchoe-image author:Leo Michels -in the public domain.

Kalanchoe  - image in the public domain by Leo Michels

This plant is interesting to watch as a mature leaf has many tiny plants growing in the leaf nodes.It is an ornamental plant for the same reason.Similar plants are classified under Bryophyllums.

Telugu - Patra beeja (which means the seed is the leaf )
Tamil - ( similar plants) Katti pottal kutti podum  - (Which literally means -the leaf gives birth to young ones.)

Some similar species are known as  -Leaf of life, Pregnant plant.
The leaf is needle like ,dark green ,succulent and corrugated at the leaf nodes.

The leaf is crushed well and the juice is massaged on the forehead for the head pain to reduce.

A good tip for men's health

Cotton is a very common cash crop and in spite of the fierce competition from other fibers , cotton clothes are still preferred in summers.This plant  has many medicinal properties .The root decoction is known to cure many female disorders but this particular tip is for improving men's health.

The Indian cotton plant-image in the public domain .

The flowers of the Cotton plant (Gossypium herbaceum) are shade dried and powdered and stored .
 Milk is boiled well and mixed with boiled green gram dal * and sugar.This sweet mixture or kheer / Payasam is mixed with 3 gm of the cotton flower churn  and eaten.This improves the reproductive health in men.

* Green gram dal - Pesara pappu in Telugu
Pacha paruppu in Tamil
Moong dal in Hindi.

4 'O clock plant leaves for heat boils in summer

image source-wiki-in the public domain-Mirabilis jalapa

Latin name : Mirabilis jalapa
Telugu-Pattida puvvu,chandrakaantham,chandhrakantha
Tamil- andhi mandarai or anji mandaram
Hindi - Gul abbas
Kannada -Naaluku ghante hoo (meaning it blooms at 4 )
aka -beauty of the night .

This plant looks like a small bush and the flowers bloom in the evenings hence the names.The flowers are a very attractive and range from bright purple to pink to yellow and white.
This plant is quite common in India and it blooms through summers.

People suffer from heat boils in summers.They are painful and don't seem to go away.
This is remarkably simple tip for the problem.
Pluck one leaf -wash it well and pat dry.Smear a few drops of Castor oil over both the sides of the leaf and graze it over the flame for 2-3 seconds on both the sides.The leaf wilts immediately.When the leaf is lukewarm place it on the boil .It is ideally kept on  the boil for a few hours.
This can be done once a day for 3-5 days.
The boil reduces in size and disappears.
( My mother used to do this for me when I was young - and it always worked really well ).

An ayurvedic aid for rectal prolapse

Prolonged constipation in a few people results in a rectal prolapse.This is a condition in which the rectum  protrudes a little through the anus.
This simple recipe helps in reducing the problem.
Tender lotus leaves are washed well and dried and powdered.The petals of the lotus flowers* are also dried and made into a churn.Both the powders are mixed and an equal quantity of rock candy sugar (mishri ) is added.This mixture is stored in a clean dry glass jar.
A small spoon of the powder is taken along with water two times a day.Meanwhile the constipation problem should be avoided.
This helps in bringing back the rectum to a normal position.
Rectal prolapse is also known as Ghuda bramhsa in Hindi .
The lotus plants should have been growing in a good marshy area which is irrigated with normal clean water.
For more posts on rectal prolapse click on the tag below.

follow this link for vaginal prolapse problem.

http://simpleayurvedichealthtips.blogspot.in/2010/07/simple-remedy-for-dropping-of-vagina.html

* Lotus -Thaamara, Thaamarai, Kamal.

The Tree -Spirits

People praying to trees is a familiar sight in India .The trees which enjoy the most devotion are  -the Peepul tree and the Khejri tree (Sami / Jammi).

The method of collection of the medicinal herbs  is sometimes as  important as preparing the medicine.A small prayer of thanks is said along with a request to heal the person who uses it .This being only logical - Gratitude is a fine virtue to possess  and it would be most rude to pull a branch  from a life form however primitive it is considered to be.

This extract from the book " The kingdom of Faerie " by Geoffrey Hodson  explains more about the tree's state of consciousness.
The author is a famous philosopher , clairvoyant and Theosophist who published many articles for the Theosophical society.

A tree may be regarded as having a soul, because a portion of the monad-bearing life-wave pervades it,   and,evolves by means of incarnation within it; its evolution is quickened when a nature-spirit takes charge of a tree.

The first effect is the quickening of responsiveness in the dreaming consciousness of the tree.

The nature-spirit, being so much more highly evolved, appears also to act as a link, or channel, for energies from higher levels of 

consciousness, and so fulfils a function.

In taking up its abode in a tree, the nature-spirit appears to unify itself with the complete cell life of the tree, thus making homogeneous that which was heterogeneous; it, therefore, may be regarded as an expression of the soul of the tree, though at the same time it is a separate entity.

Horse gram soup for losing weight

Horse gram -image released into the public domain by Madhavi Madhurakavi.

Latin name : Macrotyloma uniflorum
Telugu : Ulavalu
Tamil : Kollu
Hindi-Kulath
Malayalam : Muthira

This is mainly used as fodder for cattle but recently it's in the limelight for its health benefits and medicinal value.

30 gm of presoaked  horse gram is boiled in 500 ml of water till the beans soften. The beans are mashed well .The mixture is filtered and the soup is spiced  with a pinch of cumin  (jeera ) powder ,rock salt and pepper powder.
It is ideal to drink this soup / stock in the winters as it is 'heat producing' .In the summers the quantity should be reduced.Beginners can start with 15 gm of the beans as they may not stomach it well and then gradually increase the quantity to 50 gm.
This is a good aid in reducing weight fast.
For more weight loss tips click on the tags below.

Multani mitti scrub

Multhani mitti  ( Fuller's earth) is a clay like powder which can adsorb some impurities and oils. A bulk of it is used in industries but it's  more famous for its cosmetic use. The constituents and colour may vary depending on the source.

Using this mitti as a gentle scrub while taking bath is extremely beneficial in the summer season.This pacifies the pitta doshas and opens up the pores of the skin .
The eye area needs be avoided.
Do click on the' summer tips ' tag below the post for more tips to beat the heat...