Awesome Tea Tree Oil for the Hair

1. It helps treat dandruff, and dry scalp.
2. It assists in hair growth.
3. It prevents hair loss.
4. It makes hair bounce and smoother.
5. It eliminates hair lice.

Try it now: 

Just take a few drops of tea tree oil and mix it with your daily shampoo that you use to wash your hair. Use this shampoo normally.  smile emoticoHope this can help you.smile emoticon

Amazing Mint for Dark Elbows, Neck, and Knees

Mint promotes collagen in the body. It helps maintain an even skin tone and makes skin glow and healthy.

Try it now. 

Procedure:

Boil ½ cup of water with a handful of mint leaves for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the juice of ½ lemon to it, strain and allow the solution to cool. Soak a cotton ball in this solution and rub it on your knees and elbows. Leave it on for 15 to 20 minutes, then wash it off with warm water. Follow this treatment 1 or 2 times daily until you are satisfied with the results. Hope this can help you smile emoticon

Ampalaya and Its Benefits

Bitter melon

Food

Description

Momordica charantia is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitaceae, widely grown in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean for its edible fruit. Its many varieties differ substantially in the shape and bitterness of the fruit.  source:Wikipedia

Scientific name: Momordica charantia

Family: Cucurbitaceae

Order: Cucurbitales

Kingdom: Plantae

Ampalaya Bitter Melon (Momordica charantia) also known as Bitter Melon is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitaceae, widely grown in the Amazon, Carribean, South east Asia such as Philippines for its edible fruit. Ampalaya or bitter melon also known as bitter gourd as the name implies has a bitter taste due to the presence of momordicin, and is believed to be among the most bitter of all vegetables.

What diseases can ampalaya cure?


It has been traditionally used to treat diabetes. Bitter melon contains a chemical that acts like insulin to help reduce blood sugar levels. People commonly use bitter melon for diabetes, osteoarthritis, athletic performance, and many other conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses.
The leaf juice is supposedly a good antitussive (i.e., it stops cough), antipyretic (i.e., for fever), purgative and anthelmintic (i.e., against roundworms). Ampalaya is also used to treat sterility in women and it can supposedly alleviate liver problems. Ampalaya is used as a herbal remedy to protect the liver from damage due to intake of alcohol and other harmful substances. Skin problems. Ampalaya is crushed or rubbed over the skin to alleviate symptoms of psoriasis, ringworm, athlete's foot, wounds, burns and ulcers.

Ampalaya herbal tea. Decoction of tea may be prepared from the powdered Ampalaya or Bitter Melon leaves, seeds and flower.


Ampalaya herbal tea or decoction
Cut or crush a cup of Ampalaya seeds, leaves and flowers
Steep in 4 cups of boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes
Let it cool and strain
drink a cup three times a day.

Ampalaya herbal tea is good to last for one day. Make new Ampalaya herbal tea as needed.

Dried ampalaya leaves, flowers and seeds are more potent, use at half dosage.

Ampalaya or Bitter Melon Juice. 

Ampalaya Bitter melon leaves and fruit (without the seeds) are pounded and juiced to extract concentrated juice. The juice can be taken at a spoonful for adults while teaspoonful for chilren. Ampalaya bitter melon juice can also be added to other plesant tasting juice for drinking. Dosage is 1 tablespoon 2 times a day until symptoms improve.

Benefits of Ampalaya for the Hair

1. It helps reduce hair fall naturally.
2. It gets rid of dandruff.
3. It can give you shiny hair.
4. It helps treating split ends.
5. It can combat dry and itchy scalp.
6. It helps straighten rough and tangled hair.
7. It can prevent oily hair.
8. It helps treating premature grey hair.

Start including this bitter yet healthy beneficial vegetable to your diet, you'll surely achieve these hair benefits.

• For shiny hair you can mix a cup of fresh bitter gourd juice with yoghurt and apply on your hair. Wash off after sometime.

• For Dandruff, you can prepare a hair pack by mixing bitter gourd juice and cumin seeds. Regular usage of this pack will rid you of dandruff within a month.

• For split ends, you can apply raw bitter gourd juice to your split ends and then comb gently. This should be done twice a week to get rid of split ends.

• For Dry and Itchy scalp, you can rub a fresh piece of bitter gourd on it and massage your scalp in a circular motion. Then, rinse off with clear water. To combat the itchiness, you can prepare a hair pack by mixing bitter gourd juice with either avocado or banana and apply it on your scalp. This should be used at least once a week to get rid of an itchy scalp.

• For Hair Loss, Bitter gourd juice helps in reducing hair fall naturally. All you need to do is mix bitter gourd juice with a dash of sugar and use this paste on your hair to get good results

• For rough and tangled hair, you can pour a cup of bitter gourd juice and allow it to soak for 10 to 15 minutes. Then rinse off your hair. This will help smoothen your hair texture and make it soft and shiny.

• For grey hair, Bitter gourd can also treat premature greying of hair. You can apply freshly squeezed bitter gourd juice on your grey strands. Doing this once in every ten days will reduce the grey hair growth.

• For oily hair, you should first limit the consumption of oily food. You can apply a mixture of bitter gourd juice and apple cider vinegar to remove the excess oil from your hair.

Counter indications:

When under medications for diabetes, hypertension, heart problems, etc., Taking Ampalaya in medicinal dosages may counter-act or aggravate its effectiveness. It is advised to consult your doctor before using this herb.

Pregnancy and Breast feeding. There is a study that suggests the abortive action of Momordica charantia in large doses during pregnancy. It is recommended to avoid its use more than what is found in food.

Banana: Uses and Its Health Benefits

"Of all trees, only banana have a heart."

"Sa lahat ng puno, saging lang ang may puso.

Scientific Name: Musa sapientum

Common Name; Saging, Kela, Platano, Cavendish, Fen ba jiao

According to Wikipedia, banana may have probably originated from the tropics of America especially southern Mexico where it was first cultivated and was later propagated in other tropical and sub-tropical countries in the continents of America, Australia, Africa and Asia. Description: Banana is commonly mistaken as a tree but it is actually a large perennial flowering herb with leaf sheaths that form trunk-like pseudostems that grows from a corm. Banana can grow up to 7 meters in height that has about 8 - 12 spirally arranged leaves that are up to 2.7 meters long and 0.6 meter wide.
The banana fruits develop from the heart, in a hanging cluster made up of tiers (hands), up to 20 fruit to a tier that ripen in 60 to 90 days after the first flower appeared.


Uses

Food: The ripe fruit of banana is used in many ways in the human diet—from simply being peeled and eaten to being sliced and served in fruit cups and salads, sandwiches, custards and gelatins; being mashed and flavored to ice cream, bread, muffins, and cream pies.

Banana puree is used as infant food, flavors to cake, pie, ice cream, cheesecake, doughnuts, milk shakes and many other products. It is also used for canning  with applesauce, and is combined with peanut butter as a spread. Banana nectar is prepared from banana puree.
Sliced ripe bananas, canned in syrup are used  in frozen tarts, pies, gelatins and other products.

The tree can be used as ornamental plants or for fiber. Banana fibers can be used as natural absorbent, bio – remediation agent for bacteria in natural water purifier, for mushroom production, they are also used in making of handicrafts, quality paper cards, tea bags, string thread, high quality fabric material, paper for currency notes and good rope for tying purpose.

Banana leaves are widely used as plates and for lining cooking pits and for wrapping food for cooking or storage. A section of leaf often serves as an eye-shade. In Latin America, it is a common practice during rains to hold a banana leaf by the petiole, upside-down, over one's back as an "umbrella" or "raincoat". The leaves of the 'Fehi' banana are used for thatching, packing, and cigarette wrappers. The pseudostems have been fastened together as rafts.

In the Philippines, the Pinatubo Negritos cut off a banana plant close to the ground, make a hollow in the top of the stump, which then fills with watery sap drunk as an emergency thirst quencher. Central Americans obtain the sap of the red banana in the same manner and take it as an aphrodisiac. It is also woven into a thin, transparent fabric called "agna" which is the principal material in some regions for women's blouses and men's shirts. It is also used for making handkerchiefs. In Ceylon, it is fashioned into soles for inexpensive shoes and used for floor coverings.

Medicinal Uses: All parts of the banana plant have medicinal applications: the flowers in bronchitis and dysentery and on ulcers; cooked flowers are given to diabetics; the astringent plant sap in cases of hysteria, epilepsy, leprosy, fevers, hemorrhages, acute dysentery and diarrhea, and it is applied on hemorrhoids, insect and other stings and bites; young leaves are placed as poultices on burns and other skin afflictions; the astringent ashes of the unripe peel and of the leaves are taken in dysentery and diarrhea and used for treating malignant ulcers; the roots are administered in digestive disorders, dysentery and other ailments; banana seed mucilage is given in cases of catarrh and diarrhea in India. Antifungal and antibiotic principles are found in the peel and pulp of fully ripe bananas. The antibiotic acts against Mycobacteria. A fungicide in the peel and pulp of green fruits is active against a fungus disease of tomato plants. Norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin are also present in the ripe peel and pulp. The first two elevate blood pressure; serotonin inhibits gastric secretion and stimulates the smooth muscle of the intestines. The young leaves are also used to lower fever, because of its cooling properties.


Banana is a very versatile plant where all of its parts provides its respective health benefits as used in traditional herbal medicine.

Health Benefits from Banana fruit

• Banana being rich in fibers, has long been used as demulcent and laxative to improve bowel movement.
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• Banana is used to treat biliousness and heartburn
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• Banana is used to promote lymphatic flow and to stimulate the detoxifying functions of the liver.
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• Banana is used to prevent scurvy
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• Banana is included in diet to help restore health and strength.
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• The flour made from green bananas is used for dyspepsia and flatulence.
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• Ripe bananas combined with tamarind and salt are used to treat dysentery and diarrhea.

Banana trunk and leaf juice health benefits

• Banana juice is used as an astringent
• Banana juice is used as styptic to control bleeding.
• Banana is used to treat fever
• Banana is used as emmenagogue to help menstrual flow.
• The mucilage of the trunk is used to promote hair growth.
• The juice of the trunk is also used for dysentery and diarrhea

Banana leaves and roots health benefits

• Banana young leaves are used as dressings for skin wounds to treat inflammation.
• Banana leaves are used as a cool application for headaches.
• The powdered roots of banana are used to treat anemia and cachexia
• Banana seeds used to treat inflammation of the mucus membrane of the nose and throat
• The mucilage from tender roots is used to check hemorrhage in genitalia and air passages.
• The sap of the roots are used as enema for diarrhea.

Health Benefits from Banana Flower

• The cooked flowers are used to treat diabetes
• The cooked flowers are also used to treat heart burn
• Sap from the flowers are used to treat earaches       

sources: wikipedia; medicalhealthguide 

Malunggay's Healing Wonders And How to Make a Herbal Tea

Scientific Name: Moringa Oleifera

Other names:

"Malunggáy" in Philippines 

"Sajina" in India, "Shojne" in Bengal 

"Munagakaya" in Telugu, "Shenano" in Rajasthani, "Shevaga" in Marathi

"Nuggekai" in Kannada 

"Drumstick Tree, Horse Radish Tree, Ben Oil Tree" in English

"La mu" in Chinese

Malunggay is a plant that grows in the tropical climates such as the Philippines, India, and Africa. It is widely used as vegetable ingredient in cooking, as herbal medicine for a number of illness and other practical uses. The plant can grow to as high as 9 meters with erect white trunks.

Malunggay or Moringa Oelifera (scientific name) is known for its healing wonders. Malunggay is widely used as vegetable ingredient in cooking, as herbal medicine for a number of illness and other practical uses. Malunggay is known as a very nutritious plant where it is used to combat malnutrition in third world countries especially for infants and nursing mothers. Malunggay is also called a "miracle tree" primarily for the various health benefits it can provide for almost all kinds of diseases and medical conditions. More over almost all of its parts have use - from its roots, pods, barks, flowers and leaves.

Malunggay's healing power

It good natural antibiotic.
Body aches due to infection. Boil some (7 stalks) Malunggay leaves in a cup of water. Drink it
while warm. Put a little salt just to taste.

The leaves are good for fresh wounds or cuts. Squeez the young leaves to extract juice. put the juice directly to the wound to prevent infection and swelling and to make the healing process faster.

It is good for those who have high blood pressure. Some eat the seeds to maintain their blood pressure normal.

It is good for a very nutritious meal or soup. Try Chicken tinola with malunggay leaves. If you are !00% pinoy, I am sure you know this.

Some use it for acne. If you have acne problems, it can help.

There are many more that Malunggay Tree can do. Listed below are some of the traditional herbal treatment of malunggay.

Malunggay Traditional Medicinal Uses and Health benefits

Scalp problems. Malunggay leaves pounded and combined with coconut oil is used to treat scalp problems and to promote hair growth.


Boosts immune system. Boiled malunggay leaves contain immune boosting nutrients used in sickness recovery.


Milk production in nursing mothers. Boiled malunggay leaves used to promote milk production in nursing mothers.


Asthma. Malunggay leaves combined with honey and calamansi or Lemon to treat cough and asthma


Skin rejuvenation. Malunggay is used as skin restorer to promote skin rejuvenation.


Hypertension. Malunggay soup is used to lower high blood pressure


Relaxant. Malunggay tea from bark or leaves is used to treat insomnia and restlessness.


Anthelmintic. Malunggay pod is chewed to treat and prevent intestinal parasites in children.


Diabetes. Malunggay is also recommended for sufferers of diabetes


Source of calcium. Malunggay is consumed to strengthen the bones especially for growing children and older people due ot high calcium content.


Anti-inflammatory. Malunggay oil or poultice is used to treat bone and ligament related conditions that involve inflammations such as gout, rheumatism, back pain, sprains and all srts of swelling.


Eye problems. Malunggay is also used to improve eye problems. Believed to contain high amount of vitamin A, more than that of a carrot.


Anti-cancer. Malunggay is used along with other herbal medicines to treat cancer.
Leaves and fruit used for constipation and as diuretic.


Skin diseases. Decoction of boiled roots used to wash sores, cuts, skin ulcers, wounds and other skin diseases to alleviate pain and promote healing.


Stomach problems. Malungay is also used for stomach and intestinal problems such as ulcers and constipation.


Abortificient. Malunggay roots and bark have been used as abortifacient.


Boosts fertility. Malunggay flower with soy milk is used as aphrodisiac and promote fertility for men.


Contraceptive. While malunggay roots are believed to suppress fertility, chewed as a contraceptive by women.

Snake bites. Malunggay roots are also used to treat snake bites,


Ear problems. The juice from malunggay roots is used to treat ear related problems (otalgia).

How to Make Malunggay Tea

A.) Pick out 4 to 5 branches from the tree. Choose those with lots of leaves.

B.) Place them on a tray and leave in a dry place anywhere in your home for 3-4 days or       until the leaves dry up and become crumpled. No need for sunlight.

C.) Pick out the crumpled leaves from the twigs and place in a dry pan over a low fire. Do not place water or oil in the pan.
D.) Cook the leaves, turning them over with a cooking spoon so that the leaves are cooked evenly. They are cooked when they are toasted but not burned.
E.) Store the cooked leaves in any container with a cover.

To make the tea, take a tablespoon of the cooked leaves from the container and place in a cup of hot water. Let sit until the water absorbs the green color and nutrients of the leaves. It takes the same amount of time as making ordinary tea from tea bags.
Remove the leaves from the cup.
Option: add honey.



Sources: ncc.gov.ph; medicalhealthguide.com/

Euphorbia hirta L. (Tawa-tawa)- How to Make Tawa-tawa Tea

Tawa- tawa (Euphorbia hirta)

Euphorbia hirta is a pantropical weed, originating from the tropical regions of the Americas. It is a hairy herb that grows in open grasslands, roadsides and pathways. It is widely used in traditional herbal medicine across many cultures, particularly for asthma, skin ailments, and hypertension. Wikipedia

Scientific name: Euphorbia hirta

Family: Euphorbiaceae

Order: Malpighiales

Kingdom: Plantae

Euphorbia hirta commonly known as Tawa-Tawa is a plant used in folklore medicine in the Philippines for the treatment of dengue.The leaves of E. hirta, locally known as “Tawa-Tawa” or gatas–gatas, are used to make a decoction that believe to alleviate viral infection and associated fever symptoms.It has been shown to increase platelets and bring down temperatures.Since the 1980s, it has also been used for sore eyes, cough, diabetes, dengue, malaria, gastritis, and diarrhea. It is also considered as a potential adjunctive treatment for COVID-19.

Tawa-tawa capsules are currently registered with the Food and Drug Administration only as a supplement with no therapeutic claims.

Tawa-tawa tea is said to be an effective cure for dengue. To find the truth behind tawa-tawa’s curative properties, students of the University of Sto Tomas (UST) – Faculty of Pharmacy conducted a study entitled “Investigation of the anti-thrombocytopenic property of euphorbia hirta linn (Tawa-Tawa) decoction in rat models.”Results showed that laboratory mice treated with the decoction of “tawa-tawa” had an increase in platelet count, reduced bleeding time and decreased blood clotting time. Based on the results, researchers concluded that administering tawa-tawa decoction to animal models help improve their healing mechanism.

How to Make Tawa-tawa Tea

In preparing tawa-tawa tea, 100 grams of the fresh whole plant (including roots) are washed and boiled in half a liter (500 ml) of water for 15 minutes. After cooling and paper-filtration, the decoction is taken by the patient at one glass every hour until the fever subsides.

Sources:

http://www.pchrd.dost.gov.ph/index.php; Wikipedia