All posts by HealthyLife

HealthyLife is a part of www.WeRIndia.com, an all India – centric website (https://healthylife.werindia.com) and is solely owned and operated by WeRIndia.com. It is a Indian nutritional portal providing educational articles.This nutritional port was launched on February 5th, 2015.
Many benefits of common plant - Oxalis

Home remedies of Indian Changeri Oxalis

Home remedies of Indian Changeri Oxalis: -Oxalis sp. also known as Sorrel Changeri or Indian Changeri (O. corniculata) is a common, indigenous plant that appears everywhere. Commonly considered as a weed Oxalis has many good qualities. This plant leaves have culinary benefits and can be used for many remedies. In traditional systems of Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha Medicines Oxalis plays an important role. Taste of leaves is sour-acidic and slightly sweet and it is somewhat like tamarind taste.  It is a good source of Vitamin C.

Culinary uses:

  1. In many small towns and villages of India people use leaves for preparing tasty dishes. Rasam, raita with coconut, green chutney and for salad. It also replaces tamarind for spicy sambar dish.
  2. Oxalis rasam: Instead of adding, tomato, tamarind or lime juice for traditional rasam, one can add oxalis leaves and prepare rasam with daal. It has a unique taste.
  3. Oxalis spicy buttermilk: Oxalis leaves paste added to buttermilk along with little green chilli, cumin, asafetida, salt and seasoned with mustard and curry leaves has a special taste.
  4. Oxalis chutney: Just like coriander chutney one can prepare green chutney using Oxalis leaves. No need to add lime juice or tamarind as Oxalis leaves itself has sour taste.

Home remedies:

The extract of Oxalis leaves in Ayurveda is called Changeri swarasa. It has many useful health benefits and cures many conditions.

  1. For insect bites: Oxalis leaf juice helps in reducing the itching and pain of insect bite. It also reduces the swelling caused by insect bites.
  2. For indigestion: Oxalis leaf juice mixed in buttermilk should be taken for indigestion. Add cumin and salt for this oxalis buttermilk – it controls indigestion and helps in easy digestion. Another way to control indigestion is – boil the oxalis leaves in water and cool. Add buttermilk to cooled water and drink.
  3. For chronic dysentery: Extract oxalis juice and add to 1 tsp of juice add 1 tsp of honey and consume twice a day.
  4. Jaundice cure: Twice a day mix about 2 tsp of oxalis juice in one cup buttermilk and drink.
  5. For piles: Oxalis Changeri ghrita (=ghee/clarified butter) helps in curing problems related to piles and intestine.
  6. Cosmetic application: Oxalis leaves paste with sandal wood applied helps to release wrinkles.
  7. Low appetite: Green chutney with oxalis, ginger and mint leaves increases appetite.
  8. Knee and joint pain:
  • Oxalis juice with garlic – grinded and made to a paste can be applied for joint pain. It reduces swelling and pain.
  • Another way to use it is, frying oxalis leaves in castor oil and use as poultice on the joint pain.
  1. For headache: Apply paste of oxalis leaves to get relief from headache. One can add fresh corn of few green (black) pepper along with oxalis. Prepare paste and apply on both sides of forehead.
  2. For good sleep: Oxalis juice also heals insomnia and reduces sleep problem.

Indian sorrel contains high concentration of oxalic acid. People who have rheumatism, gout or kidney stones should avoid using Oxalis.

Grandma’s remedies: Healthylife.werindia.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author: HealthyLife | Posted on: September 13, 2017
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Add few more grandma's handy tips to your list

Add few more of grandma’s handy tips to your list

Add few more of grandma’s handy tips to your list

  1.  Apply petroleum jelly to get used to new shoe. Stop blistering by applying soft deodorant behind heels.
  2. To remove odor from shoe, use cat litter. Fill cat litter in old sock & place inside the shoe to absorb smell.
  3. If your favorite cloth is shrunk after washing don’t get disappointed. Add baby shampoo to luke warm water and soak the shrinked cloth half an hour. Remove and use normal water to wash.
  4. To de pill your cloths/jeans use razor. Run the razor softly on the cloth and remove the puffs.
  5. Apply tea candle wax on winter shoe and use hair drier to melt the candle. Wax will spread on the shoe equally and keeps your shoe water proof.
  6. Do you know? Freezing the denim one a while helps in removing odor and long lasting.
  7. To remove make up foundation from your blouse or shirt use shaving cream. Apply shaving cream on the makeup foundation mark and leave it for few minutes. Wash using gentle detergent.
  8. If you don’t have place to store your clothes, rolling your clothes (not suite or expensive clothes) than folding the cloths should help. Same technique you can apply while packing suitcase for your trip.
  9. To keep the original color of jeans, while washing jeans use one cup of distilled vinegar. Vinegar helps to set the color of jeans.
  10. To remove red wine- Dab red wine as much as possible. Apply salt on the red wine and dab as best as you can. Then use white wine to neutralize the stain followed by adding baking soda and wash the cloth.
  11. If your cloth has bleach spots, use a matching color sharpie and covet the spots!
  12. To remove oil stains from clothes, use talcum powder. Put talcum powder on oil marks and allow it to sit for few minutes. Wash clothes using regular detergent afterwards.

Collection: From grandma @ Healthy life

Author: HealthyLife | Posted on: September 12, 2017
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WHO OWNS SEEDS? IS IT FARMERS OR INDUSTRIAL GIANTS?

Who Owns Seeds? Is It Farmers Or Industrial Giants?

Seed is constantly creating and recreating itself. Farmers, who sowed, bread, saved and exchanged seeds for thousands of years, always own the seeds.

Sadly, the arrival of commercial seed industries changed the whole picture.

These Multinational Corporation had successfully taken away the ownership of seeds from the hands of the farmers in the form of patents. At present, seeds are largely controlled by industrial giants like Monsanto, Du Pont, Syngenta and Bayer.

A patent is an exclusive right granted to an inventor to make and sell the patented product. Patent prevent farmers from saving or exchanging seed, therefore, undermining the farmers’ rights or seed sovereignty. Patent creates monopolies, which undermine the choice of farmers as well as all citizens as eaters.

A seed is not an invention. That is why patents on seeds are illegitimate. Even in a genetically engineered crop, the original seed come from farmers. Patents on seed are  based on biopiracy.

Patents on seeds  which allow corporations to own seed are illegal at many levels. (http://seedfreedom.info/)

First, seed is not an invention. Seed is constantly creating and recreating itself. To treat seed as a corporate invention and grant corporations patents on seed violates ethics or patent law itself.

Secondly, all seed has been evolved by nature and farmers over millennia. The corporation takes farmers varieties, use the trait they found commercially useful, and take a patent or intellectual property right. Patents on seed are always based on Biopiracy.

Thirdly, patents on seed allow corporations to prevent farmers from saving and exchanging seed. Thus patent violates farmers’ right to save, use, reuse, breed and exchange seed as their commons.

Fourthly, patents on seed allow corporations to sue farmers’ after the GMO is owned by corporations.They genetically contaminate farmers’ non GMO crops. This happened to Percy Schmeiser, the Canadian farmer.

Fifthly, the international law that forced patents on seed, the TRIPS agreement, is itself currently illegal because it exists in violation of the mandatory review built into the agreement.

The below article explains how one of the major seed industry is under attack for capturing seed freedom from farmers of Ghana. 

Seed Freedom Under Attack from Monsanto-backed G7 Initiative

By Heidi Chow  (http://www.commondreams.org/)

Heidi Chow is a food campaigner with “Global Justice Now”.

“My mother gave me some seeds to plant. And I’m also giving those seeds to my children to plant. So that is ongoing, every time we transfer to our children.  And that is how all the women are doing it. We don’t buy, we produce it ourselves.” Sitting together in the heat of the Ghanaian sun, Esther Boakye Yiadom explained to me the importance of seeds in her family and the transfer of knowledge between the different generations of women.

The ability to save and exchange seeds, after each growing season is an age-old practice that ensures that small scale farmers have seeds to sow the following year. The seeds are free for the farmer and they have the knowledge of what seed is required, for what conditions and the different tastes that complement the food they cook. Where they do not have a particular seed, they can ask other farmers in the community to share seeds. This ‘freedom’ is essential for sustainable livelihoods as well as ensuring communities have access to nutritious and culturally relevant food. But this is all under threat by a proposed bill – dubbed the ‘Monsanto Law’ – in Ghana that would bolster the power of multinational seed companies whilst restrict the rights of small farmers to keep and swap their seeds.

For FULL ARTICLE, please click on below link

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/05/15/seed-freedom-under-attack-monsanto-backed-g7-initiative

Image courtesy: http://www.farmradio.org/

Author: HealthyLife | Posted on: September 9, 2017
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Carrot Apple & Cherry Salad

Roasted Carrot, Apple and Cherry Salad

Ingredients:

1. Basting oil:
(a) 1/2 cup Pure Olive Oil
(b) 1 large clove peeled garlic, minced
(c) 2 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
(d) 1/2 tsp ajwani seeds

2. Salt and pepper to taste

3. Dried cherry 1 cup

4. Apple 1 cup sliced

5. Carrots – about 1 cup

6. 1 tsp flax seeds or sunflower seeds

7. Dry walnut

8. Lime juice

Preparation:

  • Preheat oven to 4500 Toss carrots in large bowl with basting oil. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange in single layer on baking sheet. Roast 10-12 min. Remove from oven; set aside t cool.
  • Alternate to oven: If oven is not available use Indian tava & roast the carrots in little olive oil under low to medium heat with salt and pepper.
  • Toss carrots, apples, pineapple, salt and pepper, walnuts, flax or sunflower seeds, little lime juice and olive oil all in the bowl and serve.
Author: HealthyLife | Posted on: September 6, 2017
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Healthy eating tips

Healthy eating tip: Set yourself up for success

To set yourself up for success, think about planning a healthy diet as a number of small, manageable steps rather than one big drastic change.

If you approach the changes gradually and with commitment, you will have a healthy diet sooner than you think.

  • Simplify. Instead of being overly concerned with counting calories or measuring portion sizes, think of your diet in terms of color, variety, and freshness. This way it should be easier to make healthy choices. Focus on finding foods you love and easy recipes that incorporate a few fresh ingredients. Gradually, your diet will become healthier and more delicious.
  • Start slow and make changes to your eating habits over time. Trying to make your diet healthy overnight isn’t realistic or smart. Changing everything at once usually leads to cheating or giving up on your new eating plan. Make small steps, like adding a salad (full of different color vegetables) to your diet once a day or switching from butter to olive oil when cooking. As your small changes become habit, you can continue to add more healthy choices to your diet.
  • Every change you make to improve your diet matters. You don’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to completely eliminate foods you enjoy to have a healthy diet. The long term goal is to feel good, have more energy, and reduce the risk of cancer and disease. Don’t let your missteps derail you—every healthy food choice you make counts.

Think of water and exercise as food groups in your diet.

Water. Water helps flush our systems of waste products and toxins, yet many people go through life dehydrated—causing tiredness, low energy, and headaches. It’s common to mistake thirst for hunger, so staying well hydrated will also help you make healthier food choices. Exercise. Find something active that you like to do and add it to your day, just like you would add healthy greens, blueberries, or salmon. The benefits of lifelong exercise are abundant and regular exercise may even motivate you to make healthy food choices a habit.

Image credit: Photo by Whitney Wright on Unsplash

Author: HealthyLife | Posted on:
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Grandma's tip

12 Handy tips from Grandma

Try these handy tips from grandma while working around the home.

1. To avoid smell of cabbage during cooking keep a piece of bread in the vessel.

2. To get rid of garlic odor from hands, wash stainless steel vessels.

3. People chew gums and stick it to furniture. To remove gums, keep a cloth in freezer and take it out. Use this cold cloth to remove stuck gum.

4. To keep banana fresh for few more days, wrap the top of the banana bunch with a plastic wrap.

5. Soak lemons in hot water for few minutes then cut and squeeze. Soaking in hot water helps to release more juice from lemons.

6. To remove refrigerator odor, add a Tbs of baking soda and lemon juice in warm water. Keep it inside refrigerator for few hours. OR use same mix water to clean the refrigerator.

7. If you are constantly sneezing for no reason, press your tongue against the back of your upper teeth to reduce sneezing.

8. Keep an onion near your pillow to reduce stuffy nose while sleeping.

9. Sometimes we laugh for no reasons and it may cause embarrassment.  To avoid this just pinch yourself twice.

10. Use sprite or coke to clean the mirror! (and toilet!!)

11. Add 1 tsp of baking soda to 150 ml water and mix well. Use it as mouthwash to stop bad breath.

12. To remove ink from clothes saturate the ink stain with hairspray, and then blot at the stain. Then, wash the items immediately with laundry detergent and color safe bleach (or chlorine bleach if it’s a white item).

Author: HealthyLife | Posted on: September 5, 2017
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letapose

How Yoga Calms the Mind and Body ?

Leta Koontz-Stuyvesant

What’s the difference between a cheerleader and a yogi practicing back bends and splits? From a distance, the two would appear to be doing the same thing. But if you looked a bit closer, you might notice that the yogi is breathing more smoothly, slower, and more evenly. You might even observe that while the cheerleader is looking around, smiling at everyone, the yogi’s face is relaxed and his or her gaze is focused. While externally the differences between the yogi and the cheerleader may seem slight, the internal differences are significant.

Most yoga classes in the West focus exclusively on asana, the physical postures of yoga. While it’s a good thing to stretch and tone, it’s an even better thing to stretch and tone while slowing down the breath and incorporating other yogic meditation techniques. One such technique is the use of drishti, focusing the gaze, which helps to quiet the mind. When the gaze is fixed on a single point, the mind is less likely to be distracted by thoughts provided by visual stimuli (the carpet in here is ugly . . . I can’t believe that guy is wearing those pants…). These thoughts distract and pollute the mind, causing it to constantly churn and fluctuate.

Yoga is famous for its ability to heal and bring peace of mind. But how does the practice of yoga accomplish this?

There are two nervous systems in the human body: sympathetic and parasympathetic. The sympathetic, commonly known as the “fight or flight” system, causes the blood pressure to rise, the breath rate to quicken, and stress hormones to flood into the body. Historically, this occurred to prepare the body for fighting dangerous animals. But in today’s world, we experience this response while we are sitting in traffic or feeling stressed at the office. When this system is overly stimulated, we can experience health consequences such as ulcers, migraines, and heart disease.

The parasympathetic nervous system lowers blood pressure and slows the pace of the breath. When the blood no longer has to rush to the muscles, it is free to travel to the digestive, reproductive, glandular, and immune systems – systems made up of organs that are more necessary to long-term survival. The body now has time to heal the damage accumulated during our daily battles. Studies have shown that long, deep breathing encourages the actions of the parasympathetic nervous system and allows relaxation and healing to occur. The yogi practices breathing meditations called pranayama, which encourage the actions of the parasympathetic nervous system.

So while the yogi and the cheer leader both gain strength and flexibility from practicing back bends and splits, the yogi is able to reap additional health rewards from the addition of pranayama. But even more is happening within the yogi. The yogi is working to calm the fluctuations of the mind.

Try this little exercise: take a break from reading this article and spend the next five minutes concentrating on the breath and nothing else.

You probably discovered that your mind wants to think about everything but the breath. Our minds have a tendency to wander, to disconnect from our bodies, to daydream and fret about the future, to reminisce and stew over the past. Humans have evolved the ability to automatically breathe even while sleeping. While breathing does not require conscious awareness, focusing your attention on your breath will force you to focus on what’s happening right now, at this very moment. Focusing on your breath doesn’t allow your conscious mind to drift away, but encourages it to stay connected in your body and in the now.

But why shouldn’t we allow ourselves to daydream or reminisce, it seems harmless? Well, frequently when we are reminiscing about the good old times we begin fear to these events won’t occur again. The more time we spend in reverie, the less open we are to the good things that are happening right now. Often, even when we are the midst of a good time, we begin to worry about it ending and start plotting to make it happen again. We miss out on embracing the moment fully while it is unfolding. And while having goals in life is a good thing, spending hours daydreaming won’t get you any closer to making your dreams come true. Being lost in fantasy can often lead to disappointment when reality hits.

The quality of the breath reflects the quality of the mind. There is a connection between our mental, emotional and psychological states and the pace and depth of our breath. For example, when we are frightened, we take short, quick, shallow breaths. When we are deeply relaxed or asleep, we take long, deep breaths.

While our mental state influences our breathing pattern, we can choose to change our breathing pattern and thereby change our mental state. When you relax and slow the pace of the breath, the pace of the mind is similarly calmed and quieted. Over time, you begin to act and think from a state of peace. The more time you spend in this place, the more likely you are to act with patience, understanding, and compassion.

The breath also helps us to stay connected to the present moment. Staying in the now frees us. We can move on from past grievances and sorrows and can view the world as it really is, without false expectations. We learn to accept ourselves and others as we and they currently are. Being in the moment allows you to be fully present when you spend time with the people you love.

Our mood is also affected by how we feel physically. Ever try to be friendly when you have a stomach ache? Asana helps to keep our muscles, joints, and fascia strong and flexible. The practice of asana also helps reduce blood pressure, stimulate the immune and glandular systems, reduce insomnia, and heal the body in innumerable other ways.

The simple practices of asana (yoga postures), pranayama (breathing), and drishti (focusing) lead the yoga practitioner to not only a state of optimal physical health, but to a state of peace. These practices help to connect you to the present moment, to others and to your true self.

Leta Koontz-Stuyvesant has been studying yoga since 1998. Her first instructor was Lori Brungard. In 1999, a trip to India focused her interest in Ashtanga yoga. She teaches at Schoolhouse Yoga in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

For more visit: http://www.yogamovement.com/resources/howyogacalms.html

Image credit: Photo by Elly Fairytale from Pexels (Free for commercial use)

Author: HealthyLife | Posted on: September 4, 2017
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Ragi Manni For Babies

Ragi manni for your baby

Ragi or finger millet is very rich nutrient food. It serves all nutrients that a baby needs for growth. Ragi has calcium, iron and many more important nutrients. Major portion of ragi is carbohydrate about 80%. The fat percentage is quite less which is good!. Protein and fiber contents vary but range from less to moderate. Do you know? Ragi mudde is a favorite dish from Karnataka, India. One ball of ragi mudde serves good amount of energy. Ragi manni is a simple dish made out of ragi flour as one of the important ingredient. It is good for young little stomach. It is also known as “super food of babies“. It is a traditional food and is gaining more popularity with young parents as they now know the value of ragi ! Ready made ragi manni flour will be available easily. But, homemade flour is better and safe for the babies.

To start with one can feed baby (4 month and above) ragi manni made out of only ragi flour. Eventually, you can add other ingredients can be introduced to this ragi manni one by one. Watch for allergic reactions. If you see any allergy then take out the particular ingredient.

Ragi manni FULL Ingredients:

  1. ¼ cup wheat
  2. ¼ cup jowar
  3. ¼ cup green gram
  4. 1 cup ragi/Finger millet

Preparation method:

  1. Wash and soak above ingredients separately overnight.
  2. Next morning drain the water and allow them to sprout. You can sprout them (separately) by tying a cloth or use sprouting utensils.
  3. After 24 hours, take out the sprouted seeds and dry them under hot sun. There should not be any water content left.
  4. Grind dried sprouted seeds to powder. Strain the powder to get very fine powder.
  5. Store the powder in an air tight container.

To feed baby: For 4 month and up:

  • To 1/4 cup milk add 1 to 2 Tbs water and 1/2 tsp of ragi hittu.
  • Mix well and transfer to a container. Cook this mix well on medium to low heat. Make sure there is no lumps left.
  • Take out the manni, add little ghee/clarified butter, very little salt or sugar or date syrup and feed the baby.
  • See how baby feels with salt or sugar – accordingly you can add either one of them.

Read more at: Healthylife.werindia.com

Author: HealthyLife | Posted on: September 3, 2017
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