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Recently
18 Ayurvedic medicines made in India were tested abroad and found to
contain heavy metals like lead, mercury, and/or arsenic according to a
study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association
(JAMA) and testing by Health Canada, the Canadian Government’s
Health Department. Health Canada has warned consumers not to
use some of these Indian Ayurvedic medicines. Home remedies may be a
better choice for us. Then brush your teeth with the powder of the bark
of neem, banyan, or Terminalia arjuna. After brushing, rub
sesame oil or mustard oil over the gums. Aloe Vera
The WHO
manual called The Use of Traditional Medicine in Primary Health
Care also has many interesting home remedies using the aloe vera
plant: called Ghrita Kumari in Bengali, aloe and common Indian
aloe in English, Ghret Kumari in Nepalese, Grha Kumari in
Sanskrit and Komprika in Sinhalese. Externally it is used for
burns and sprains. Internally it is used for jaundice, constipation,
loss of appetite, gas formation in the stomach and leucorrhoea
(foul-smelling discharge from the genital tract). The manual tells
you how to use the aloe. In burns, the juice or the pulp of the fleshy
part of the leaf is applied externally. For sprains, the pulp or the
juice may be gently rubbed over the affected part two or three times.
The external skin of this plant’s leaf should be sliced off with a
knife and the fleshy pulp should be made to a paste, using a pestle
and mortar. It will be a little tough to take out the juice from the
pulp because it is so fleshy. So you can slightly roast the whole leaf
over fire. Then it is easy to take the juice out from the pulp. Just
squeeze it out through a soft cloth like linen etc. The aloe is a
good friend to have when you suffer from loss of appetite, have gas,
continuous constipation, stomach ulcers or leucorrhoea. For all these
ailments the juice or pulp of this plant is given. You can add a pinch
of salt or sugar to the juice, which is bitter. For treating children
with aloe juice you can add honey, sugar, or jaggery to it. For a
patient suffering from jaundice, the juice or pulp should be given by
adding jaggery or sugar (salt should not be added). The dose: both
pulp and juice of the aloe should be given in a dose of one
teaspoonful (5 ml) three times per day, preferably on an empty
stomach. Keep an aloe plant on your kitchen windowsill for instant
use for cuts and burns while cooking, etc. It helps reduce
inflammation, swelling and itching. Using it fresh is best. Just cut
off a piece of the leaf, squeeze out the gel and apply it to the
wound, two or three times a day. You can leave the area open or cover
it with a gauze. Aloe is good for dandruff too: Break a branch off
your plant and slit it open, to scrape out the gel. Apply this
soothing ointment to your scalp. Leave it on for five minutes or ten.
Then wash it off with shikakai or soap or shampoo. You can even use
the gel as an insect repellent. This succulent must be grown in a
soil mix of one part red earth, one part compost and one part sand. It
likes bright, indirect light. Do not over water it. NASA, National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, has also recommended it as a
plant that helps to clean up indoor air. It releases oxygen and
absorbs carbon dioxide at night, and for this reason, can even be
considered for the bedroom, says NASA. In the garden powdered aloes
dusted on plants repel rabbits. Aloe gel is good to rub over a tree
where you have to cut one of its limbs. The tree surface will heal
fast. You can even mix the aloe juice with water to make a spray for
your plants. Because its gel is bitter, it does not attract pests
and can be grown indoors and outside. Today this useful plant, which
also heals sunburn, is proving to be of help to treat leukemia and
diabetes. So pick it up today and have a handy kitchen doctor. It was
aptly called The Plant of Immortality. History tells us that Alexander
the Great learned about its healing powers when he conquered Egypt in
332 BC and he told his soldiers to close off the island of Socotra
where it grew, to make it available only for his army. Thankfully
today anyone can buy this plant that costs very little and often grows
on the wayside.
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