Thread: Health benefits of natural herbs, spices, fruits, vegetables and vitamins

Lemon Grass (Dtakrai) helps reduce blood pressure, cuts down on uric acid, cholesterol and other toxins held in body. It also stimulates digestion, blood circulation and helps with indigestion and gastroenteritis.

Detoxifies the liver, pancreas, kidneys, bladder and digestive tract.

It also helps relive insomnia and stress.

Ginger (keeng) helps to relieve arthritis, joint pain and helps with digestive problems. It does not interact with medications.

Tamarind (Makahm) protects against vitamin c deficiencies, reduces fevers and helps prevent colds. Is a great anti-oxidant and helps to lower cholesterol.

It is also a mild laxative and can be used as a natural colon cleanser.

The Pandanus Leaf (Bai Dtoey) is a diuretic and has anti diabetic properties.

It is the leaf that smells pleasant that is often in the back window of Thai taxis.

The Bitter Mellon (Mara) helps to control diabetes. There have been a lot of studies about Bitter Mellons and diabetes management and it has been a natural miracle herb for many diabetics. It also helps with psoriasis.

That is all for now!

Very good thread, might even enhance the quality of some lives.

Originally Posted by chitown

Tamarind (Makahm) protects against vitamin c deficiencies, reduces fevers and helps prevent colds. Is a great anti-oxidant and helps to lower cholesterol.

I like the Tamarind, eat em like dates. Always have some around when in Thailand and always brink a kilo back to the UK

^ Google cooking bitter melon - quite a few recipes on that, also try blanching for a couple of minutes in boiling water before using them.

Originally Posted by Propagator

Originally Posted by chitown

Tamarind (Makahm) protects against vitamin c deficiencies, reduces fevers and helps prevent colds. Is a great anti-oxidant and helps to lower cholesterol.

I like the Tamarind, eat em like dates. Always have some around when in Thailand and always brink a kilo back to the UK

Nothing wrong with the fresh stuff, and I always carry a suitcase of produce on trips back, but most Patel grocers have good quality tamarind (umli).

Recipe for aloo puri: Get some bubble puris (make sure they're fresh and crisp), prick on the soft side, fill with boiled potato and sprinkle with bhel. You can buy tamarind powder or paste but better to hand squeeze yours into a sauce, mix with plain yogurt, lay liberally over the potatoed puris, add coriander, cumin, chilli and other herbs/spices according to taste, and enjoy!

Why am I salivating!

The Holy Basil leaf (Bai Gkapro) has a bunch of health benefits. it is found in amy Thai foods and also is eaten raw with Vietnamese cuisine.

It helps eliminate phlegm from the bronchial tubes as it is a natural expectorant and excellent cough medicine.

It also helps reduce some fevers, reduces cholesterol and cures mouth ulcers.

Holy Basil leaves also reduce stress, strengthens the kidneys and will help expel kidney stones.

Kaffir Limes (magrood) cleanse the blood and aid in digestion.

It can also be used as a deodorant.

If you cut it up and place it on the floor of your kitchen or house, it will chase the roaches away!

Mint leaves (saranaeng) not only have health benefits but mint oil also is a natural mosquito repellent.

Mint is well known for its ability to sooth the digestive tract and reduce the severity and length of stomach aches. To cure stomach aches, put dried mint leaves in boiling water, then, when it cools drink it.

Mint teas have shown great promise at easing the discomfort associated with irritable bowel syndrome, and even at slowing the growth of many of the most harmful bacteria and fungi.

The well-documented antifungal properties of mint are thought to play a role in the treatment of asthma and many allergy conditions as well.

It is even thought that mint may have benefits as an anticancer food. Mint is known to contain a phytonutrient called perillyl alcohol, which has been shown in studies on animals to prevent the formation of colon, skin and lung cancer.

Got joint pain? Try Galangal (kah). It is like ginger or turmeric and is supposed to be an excellent anti inflammatory.

Just waiting for the benefits of malted hops & yeast.

Water melon can act like viagra

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Just waiting for the benefits of malted hops & yeast.

A glass of beer is one of the best ways to keep your body healthy, at least according to the German Brewers' Federation.

There are a lot of health benefits in malt and hops," said Hahn, adding that moderate beer consumption, about half a litre a day for men, could help reduce the risk of strokes and lower cholesterol levels. He added that the hops in the beer also helped prevent cancer, while there was also clear scientific evidence to show that beer could help fight osteoporosis and lower the risk of dementia.

Barley grain is as ancient as the human civilization but sadly overlooked as far as the health benefits we can derived.

The past few years, barley has been the toast of those in alternative and preventive medicine sector. They claimed that by taking barley regularly can help reduce high cholesterol levels, arrest type 2 diabetes, help fight obesity, delay aging process, etc.
Just recently, barley got its biggest boost when the US Food and Drug Administration announced that whole grain barley and barley containing products are allowed to claim they reduced the risk of coronary heart disease

Originally Posted by geoff

I am a diabetic, and have tried Bitter Melon, (Mara), but as it's name implies, it is very bitter to taste. Has anyone got a good recipe, or a good way of eating this making it a bit more pleasant. I normally have it in soup with wheat germ. This seems to ease the bitterness, but there must be other ways. Any ideas?????

It often is sold stuffed with minced pork, in a broth. Not so bitter then, but I don't know if the prolonged cooking destroys any of the goodness.

Originally Posted by chitown

about half a litre a day for men

That's a tad lower than I was hoping for. 3 to 4 litres would be spot on.

Benefits (Kratiem) of Garlic -


Cardiovascualr Health and High Cholesterol - If you enjoy eating Mediterranean or Far Eastern food you’ll notice that garlic is used a lot. The good news is that people from areas also have low incidences of cardiovascular disease.
Cholesterol can be a confusing area of health. On one hand it is essential whilst on the other hand it can kill us. This is because there are two types of Cholesterol – HDL and LDL. The latter type is considered bad. Modern medicine has found that garlic contains allicin which scavenges hydroxyl radicals (OH). This is turn is thought to prevent LDLs from being oxidised.
Unfortunately a number of studies that have been carried out have shown mixed results. It only goes to show how much more seriously natural remedies needs to be taken. Of course, we all know that there’s no incentive for drug companies to research natural products due to the lack of financial reward. If you have problems with high cholesterol go ahead and take some garlic. Just make sure it’s part of a balanced diet and you don’t ignore your doctor’s advice.
Allicin naturally increases antioxidant enzymes atalase and glutathione peroxidase in your blood. It can help against the damaging effects of nicotine and slows the aging process of your liver by inhibiting lipid peroxidation.


Anti-Bacterial – Garlic has 1% of the potency of penicillin and can ward off a number of bacteria such as Listeria, Salmonella, E. coli, Cryptococcal meningitis, Candida albican and Staphylococcus. The problem with most antibiotics is that bacteria develops resistance to them, however this is not the case with garlic.
These benefits were first realized back in the early 19th century when English priests caught infectious fever. The French priests, who ate garlic everyday, didn’t.
Blood Clots – Clinical trials, which were published in the Journal of Hypertension, showed that the blood pressure of volunteers was reduced 1 – 5% after taking garlic supplements. This may not sound a lot but this small reduction can reduce the chance of a stroke by 30-40% and heart disease by 20-25%



Garlic also thought to help with acne because of its antibiotic and blood cleansing properties. When using garlic in your food, make sure your crush and chop it up. This will help release the active compounds. Another way to take garlic is by placing a few cloves in a bottle of olive oil and then drizzle it over a salad.

• Garlic is most effective when crushed or chopped and when raw.
• One clove a day will improve your health and 2-3 cloves will help prevent a cold.
• When cooking garlic wait until the last 10 minutes of cooking to add the garlic.
• Be careful about taking too much as it can irritate your digestive system.
• Don’t microwave garlic as this kills the active ingredients.
• Don’t take garlic instead of a healthy balanced diet.
• Garlic supplements may interact with certain drugs such as anticoagulants.