henna

29th JUNE 09: HENNA LEAVES
When pitta predominates in the body, palms will be itchy and soles will have a burning sensation. To cure the itchiness and burning sensation, pound henna leaves with either slaked lime (sunambu) or lime juice. Apply on your finger tips, palms and soles.
The root of henna tree are said to have properties to cure cancer. Pound the roots, boil and consume the concoction. It helps to clear/clean dirty blood. The roots have antiseptic properties whereby it kills and clears free radicals in the blood.
If your throat is painful, swollen or have developed a wound in the mouth, boil the leaves and gargle the concoction. You can also consume the boiled concoction. Since it has antiseptic properties, it cures mouth wounds very easily.
Damaged nails are difficult to be healed or cured. New nails will never grow until the damaged nails are healed. Henna leaves are the only cure to heal damaged nails Grind the leaves into a paste and apply on the damaged nails until you see noticeable effect.

basil holy basil

26th JUNE 09: HOLY BASIL (Tulasi)
Holy basil is regarded as a holy plant and plants which come under the holy plant category are said to have properties to cure any types of sickness or disease.
Take 10 holy basil leaves and soak in a glass of water. You can eithera) soak the leaves in the morning and consume the water in the evening ORb) soak the leaves at night and consume the water in the morning.Dried holy basil leaves are good to be burnt together with incense powder. Combine dried henna seeds and dried holy basil leaves with the incense powder. According to Indian tradition, smoke from the incense powder mix will ward off bad spirits and negative vibrations and bring prosperity to the house.
Dried holy basil leaves can also be consumed as tea. Boil the leaves and add rock sugar for extra taste. Individuals from all ages can consume this hot beverage.Holy basil tea is very effective and provides temporary relief to patients who are suffering from high fever and cold.
Holy basil leaves also has the properties to remove toxins through urination. The leaves also serve as an antiseptic. Blend the leaves into a paste and apply the paste on external wounds. The paste will dry and heal the wound.

white lotus

25th JUNE 09: WHITE LOTUS FLOWER
Lotus plant grows in water and produces flowers of 4 different colours, i.e. red, yellow, blue and white.
If you intend to grow lotus in your home, all you need to do is make a shallow pond and place a plant in the water. Soon you will notice new growth will begin to sprout out. The flowers, roots, seeds, young flower stalk and young leaves are all edible. Compared to all parts of the lotus, the seeds has the most nutritional and medicinal value (see artcile 12th March 09: Lotus Flower for more details)
a) Break the flower petals and boil them in water. Consume the boiled water. b) Dry the petals and grind into powder form. Add one tablespoon of the lotus powder when consuming any type of beverage.
By consuming the petals either in dried or liquid form will help improve and increase brain functionality. According to Indian Medicine, white lotus flowers are effective in improving brain functionality while red lotus flower are effective in healing heart related problems.

Potatoes

24th JUNE 09: POTATOES
Potatoes have high content of starch and are grown extensively in China. It is used widely in Indian cooking and we should try to avoid eating potatoes as much as possible.
Most of us normally boil or cook potatoes with its skin removed. This cooking method is wrong and we must boil or cook potatoes with its skin intact. This is because when you peel of the skin after cooking, you will notice a yellow layer on the outer flesh. This yellow layer is said to have protein in it. Many of us are unaware of this and tend to peel and throw the skins away when cleaning the potatoes and end up consuming the starch only.
Eating a potato is equivalent to eating a plate of rice. For westerners, potatoes are regarded as their staple food. However for Indians, potatoes are eaten together with their staple food, i.e. rice. By eating this way, you not only consume a high content of carbohydrate but also have a high tendency to gain weight.
Individuals who are fat or obese should forbid themselves from eating potatoes. Potato is not only starchy but also is a gassy food which makes one to bloat. Therefore try to avoid potatoes as much as possible.

Sweet flag

23rd JUNE 09: SWEET FLAG ( vasambu)
Sweet Flag plant requires wet soil to grow. Sweet Flag is effective to treat gassiness and stomach aches in infants. Burn the root until it blackens. Crush or pound the burnt root into powder form and mix with castor or coconut oil. Apply on infant's stomach.
If your child is suffering from diarrhoea, prescribe them a small amount of burnt sweet flag. It provides a temporary relief before consulting a doctor. As for adults, mix 1 tablespoon of honey with the burnt sweet flag. Purging will also stop.
Pound sweet flag into powder form and boil with milk and consume. Sweet flag is effective in improving memory power. In Indian Tradition, Sweet flag is tied around an infant's wrist on the 16th day as it is believed that the smell will help build good memory power. By giving a minute paste of sweet flag to the infant will also help build good digestion system

snake plant marul

22nd JUNE 09: SNAKE PLANT
Snake plants grow in dry areas and do not need much water to grow. This plant only requires sun light and moisture from the wind to live. The leaves are generally used for medicinal purposes.
In Indian Traditional Medicine,the juice is normally squeezed out by heating the leaves under a flame. The extracted juice is poured into the ears to treat ear related problems.The juice has the properties to flush out dirty water and excess phlegm from the ears.Do this continuously for 3 days, at least 2to 3 times a day to notice the amazing results.
For children who are suffering from cough and cold, heat the juice before consuming.It works wonderfully in curing cough and cold. This plant also bears fruit and is used to prepare leyham to treat piles patients. Individuals who are suffering from piles due to excess heat in the body are advised to eat leyham made by snake plant fruit.This is because the fruit is a cooling food and piles patients are required to eat cooling food

cloves

19th JUNE 09: CLOVES
Cloves are one of the many spices used in Indian Cooking. Cloves not only give taste and fragrance to the food but also aids in digestion.
Grind 5-6 cloves with luke warm water and apply the paste on your forehead, nose and below the eyes, around your cheekbone area. The grinded cloves will help remove and heal sinus pain around the face area.
For temporary relief of tooth pain, bite the clove with your problem tooth. Cloves are known for its antiseptic and anesthetic properties. The juice from the clove will help kill bacteria and create numbness to the problem area. You can also apply clove oil on your cheeks to help release the pain. Just like the clove, the oil will help create numbness and remove the tooth pain temporarily.
Pregnant women tend to have vomiting problems due to indigestion and increase of pitta in the body. To stop the vomiting, boil 2-3 cloves and drink 2 ounces of the boiled herbal water as the clove helps digest food faster.

Red amranth

17th JUNE 09: RED AMARANTH (Sigappu Tandu Keerai)
Green leaf vegetables are good for our body as it has many nutritional and medicinal values. Besides green leaves, leaves which are red in colour are good to be consumed as it has high level of carotene and helps produce red blood cells.

There are many types of green leaf vegetables, i.e. tandu keerai, manali keerai, parathai keerai, kuppa keerai, manathakali keerai, agathi keerai and many more. Tandu keerai or amaranth leaf comes in various types.

On of the many types are the red amaranth leaves. Red amaranth leaves helps in producing red blood cells. Before cooking, wash the leaves at least three times to remove any dirt or stones. Add a pinch of black pepper powder, salt, 2-3 cloves of garlic and 1 green chilli or dried chilli (optional) when boiling the leaves. Make sure the pan is covered with a lid when boiling the vegetable. Smash the boiled leaves and serve.

Red amaranth leaves also aids digestion and ease bowel motion. Children or adults who consume red amaranth leaves continuously for 48days will experience an increase in memory power!

COMMON RUE (Aravatham Pacchai)

16th JUNE 09: COMMON RUE (Aravatham Pacchai)
The leaves have strong fragrance and in Tamil tradition, the leaves are used to tie around infant's wrist. The strong fragrance, when inhaled by the infant, will increase and helps build good digestion system.

Boil two leaves with water and consume the herbal drink. The herbal drink will cure constipation and aids in removing bad bacteria and dirt from the body. You can even dry the leaves and smoke it to prevent small insects, like ants, flies and flees from infesting your home. The leaves are also good to be eaten raw. Serve the leaves as garnish when preparing salads of your choice.

Pound the leaves and extract the juice. By giving one teaspoon of the extracted juice to your baby, it will help control kappa in their body. Therefore to treat infants and small children, you should have 3 types of plants, i.e. Holy Basil (Thulasi), Coleus aromaticus (Karpooravalli) and Common rue (Aravatham Pacchai). These plants are regarded as holy plants (thevigai muhligai) and considered pure. If you were to grow these plants in a pot, make sure you have them placed in a special and clean place. It is said that when woman with menstruation were to touch common rue (aravatham pacchai leaves, the plant will become dull.

The leaves can also prevent excess phlegm from developing and also kills bacteria and small tiny insects. Common rue leaves can also be grinded and used as a body scrub while bathing

Sunflower

15th JUNE 09: SUNFLOWER
Sunflower plant is native to Mexico and during the 14th century, the sunflower production was brought out of Mexico and became famous in many countries due to its usage.The roots of the plants to its flower are used for various purposes. The head of the sunflower tend to follow the predominate direction of the sun. The head normally faces to the east when the sun rises and changes it position to the west in the evening when the sun sets.
In Russia, oil is extracted from the sunflower seeds and exports more than 180, 000 tons of sun flower oil. In China, fibres from the plant's stem are used to produce china silk. The leaves are used to feed farm animals and the roots are used for medicinal purposes whereby it is boiled and consumed. The roots are used to treat malaria patients

Banana flower

11th JUNE: BANANA FLOWER ( Jantung Pisang)
Banana Flower has many medicinal values and rich in astringent properties. Foods which are rich in astringent properties are good in producing blood and works as a blood thickening agent.The astringent taste can be reduced significantly by adding the flower in "sambar".The over powering taste can also be reduced by making "kootu". Try to eat the flower once a week as the properties from the flower helpsa) Prevent urinary track problems and ease urinationb) Helps prevent kidney problemsc) Avoids failure or malfunction of prostrate veins andd) Increases appetite.Like banana, the flower is also rich in potassium.

Red sorrel

10th JUNE: RED SORREL ( Pulicha Keerai)Red Sorrel leaves are very sour. We should eat this vegetable as sourness is one of the six types of nutrients we need to consume to maintain a healthy body.Some cook the vegetable by boiling the leaves and throwing the excess water away. This is a wrong way of cooking as all the nutritional values in the water will be lost. . Before cooking the leaves, remove the core vein from the leaves and cut the cleaned leaves into small pieces. Add garlic, onion, 1 small brinjal, 1 tomato, 2-3 chillies and boil all the ingredients and mash the leaves. If you are suffering from piles, omit chillies with black pepper.The sourness property promotes salivation and effective in removing stones from the body. Stones are formed in kidneys, throat, mouth and gall bladder. The more saliver the body produces, the easier it will be for the saliver to flush out the remaining small tiny stones out from the system. Even specialist prescribes this vegetable to patients suffering from various types of stone problems.Therefore try to eat red sorrel once a week. This vegetable is not only tasty but also aids digestion

Ubi kayu tapioca

9th JUNE 09:TAPIOCA (Ubi Kayu)
Tapioca is rich in carbohydrate. During the Japanese occupation in our country, tapioca became the staple food. This was because rice was very expensive during the time. Tapioca was suitable as it was a cheap alternative and grown very easily in gardens.

Do not boil tapioca with its skin intact as boiling with its skin will cause the flesh to taste bitter. To consume tapioca the healthy way, you can either

a) boil the root and eat it with sugar and grated coconut OR
b) boil the tapioca and mix with chilli paste.
To prepare the chilli paste or "sambal", pound together 1 onion, 1 garlic clove, 2
dried chillies, and a small piece of ginger. Add salt and tamarind juice and mix well
with the boiled tapioca.

Do not fry the tapioca as it is oily and has no nutritional value. Try to add tapioca in your daily diet once a week as it helps provide energy.

Jambu air

8th JUNE 09:WATER APPLE ( Jambu Air)
Water Apple not only tastes good but also has high water content and a great source of vitamin C. 70 % of our body consists of water and due to its high percentage of water content, water apple has the capability of quenching your thirst if you are not in favour of drinking plain water or any other types of quench thirsting drinks.Water apple is good in curing mouth blisters. By eating and chewing the fruit slowly, the blister/s can be cured within 2 days. Children from the age of two can be given water apple juice to cure mouth blisters.Water apple juice is very effective in diluting the thickness of carrot juice. The mixture is a good nutritional food and provides a marvellous flavour combination. Water apple can also be added in salads. Try to consume water apple once a week as this fruit has high content of vitamin C.

Raja ulam

5th JUNE 09: RAJA ULAM
Ulam Raja leaves are eaten raw and are used in Malay cuisine. The leaves are used for ulam, a type of Malay salad.

The leaves have properties in
a) increasing digestion
b) removing excess gas from the body and
c) help increase body strength

The leaves cannot be cooked or juiced up. It has to be eaten raw. Our body is dominated by vata, pitta and kappa.
a) If pitta predominates, consume boiled cumin and coriander leaves water to stabilize the condition.
b) If vata predominates, consume raja ulam leaves to release the excess gas.
c) If kappa predominates, consume "thuthuvalai" leaves or "karpooravalli" leaves to remove the excess phlegm from the body

To have a healthy body and free of any sickness and diseases, we need to keep the three dosa's in balance

4th JUNE 09: BEETROOT
Blood is very important for our body. Individuals who have less blood count will tend to put on weight. To prevent this problem and to produce more blood, we normally opt to taking pills.

Instead of consuming pills, it is better to consume fresh food which can act as a medicine. This method is much safer and healthier. Beet Root is one type of vegetable that helps in blood production. It also helps to support proper spleen and liver function.

You can consume beet root by cooking or by juicing it. Make sure when juicing beet root, only a small piece of the vegetable is used. Blend the fruit together with a small piece of carrot as it helps provide a sweet taste. Drink the juice daily.

You can even grate the root vegetable and serve it raw as a salad. Add chopped onions, chilies and a pinch of sugar for extra taste

thuthuvalai

1st JUNE 09: PURPLE FRUITED PEA EGGPLANT (Thuthuvalai)
This plant is a thorny creeper that bears small sized fruits and effective in balancing the function of tridosha i.e. vata, pitta and kappa. The leaves are also effective in neutralizing the excess heat and gas trapped or formed in the womb.

Take 7 leaves and 7 black peppers. Pound or grind the leaves and peppers together into a thick paste. Shape the paste into small round balls and consume daily for 3 days. Stomach pain caused by extreme heat and excessive gas will disappear.

The leaves are best to be used to prepare "rasam". Pound the leaves and other dried spices in mortar and boil. "Thuthuvalai Rasam" is good in balancing the body tridosha system.

Siddha's of yore have declared Thuthuvalai leaves as a kaya kalpam (long life elixir). The leaves have the medicinal values of
a) producing blood,
b) increasing blood flow and
c) prevent blood thickening which causes many types of sickness

foot yam,சேம கிழங்கு

29th MAY 09: ELEPHANT FOOT YAM To consume the yam, remove the skin and wash the peeled yam. Cut the yam into small pieces and boil with a pinch of salt. Throw the boiled water away as the water cannot be consumed. Treat the cooked yam as potato.The difference between potatoes and yam is potatoes have high content of carbohydrate and yam has only 0.01 mg of fat in it.Benefits of consuming elephant foot yam are:
a) cleans urinary bladder
b) strengthen urinary bladder linings
c) ease bowel motion
d) cures all types of piles problemElephant Foot Yam relieves constipation problem and is rich in potassium, nitrogen and amino acid. Since the yam has many medicinal values, try to consume this vegetable at least once a week to gain the nutrients and help treat your body to prevent any major sickness or diseases

karisalangkani,karisalai

27th MAY 09: FALSE DAISY (Karsilangkani)
Pound and extract the juice from the leaves. Add this juice while preparing hair oilment. The juice has the properties to blacken grey or white hair effectively.

In siddha medicine, false daisy leaves are used to treat damaged spleen.Some individuals may suffer from wounds or damage due to

a) excessive alcohol consumption
b) excessive smoking
c) virus infection
d) a fall or an accident
e) or any other serious problems that has affected the spleen.

There are many plants that look similar to False Daisy. To determine whether the leaves are false daisy leaves, rub the leaves on your palm. If your palm blackens, the leaves are indeed false daisy leaves.

The blackening effect helps to treat graying problems and when consumed internally, it becomes a long life elixir (kaya kalpa).

Benefits of false daisy leaves
a) Helps cure all types of spleen problems
b) Helps spleen function efficiently
c) Helps spleen produce more blood which leads to a good body system.
d) Helps cure anemic patients by producing blood.

You can consume the leaves by juicing it or by eating it raw or cooked together with other green vegetables, Indian style.

செலரி,celery

26th MAY 09: CELERYCeleries are rich in nutrients and it has soluble salt properties which includes sodium, needed by our body. You can either stir fry or eat it raw as a salad. Blend 2 celery sticks and consume the juice. This will help reduce high blood pressure. If you feel your pressure is going up, feeling dizzy or heavy headed, blend star fruit and celery together and consume half glass of the juice. You will notice a big difference after 1 week or 10 days. Consuming celery regularly can help control your blood pressure. Make sure you also apply oil on your head to reduce heatiness which can be one of the causes of hypertension. Celeries are good in controlling body weight, removing excess water and ease bowel movement. When you are eating meat, chicken or any types of seafood, make sure you add celery in your meal as it provides a good combination and balances the body's yin and yang. When consuming celery, try not to cook it as it will lead to nutrition loss. Celery has great nutritional values, therefore try to add this vegetable in your diet. Celery is best to be consumed once in every fortnight and should be consumed raw. To live a healthy live and maintain a healthy body, eat more vegetables in raw form.