Tag: carrot

  • ‘Carrot juice good for cleansing’

    ‘Carrot juice good for cleansing’

    Freshly pressed raw organic carrot juice is a good cleanser. It is ideal for the liver as it stimulates livers’ cleansing, according to a phytotherapist, Dr Francis Elegbuo.

    Phytotherapy is the study of the use of extracts of natural origin as medicines or health-promoting agents. Phytotherapy medicines differ from plant-derived medicines in standard pharmacology.

    Dr Elegbuo of Franel Food Supplements and Natural Health Clinic in Ijegun, a Lagos suburb, said this healing root stimulates the natural immunity.

    “One of the reasons for its effectiveness as a cleansing tonic is the fact that it increases the number of red blood corpuscles and hemoglobin in the blood, in this way improving oxygen transport to the cells. Research has shown that it also renews and revitalises interstitial fluids, so this is deep tissue restoration at its best.

    “At the same time, the influence extends to the intestines where fresh carrot juice is a regulator of intestinal activity, slowing it down in diarrhea and increasing activity in constipation. Even the lungs are affected by its healing power with noticeable improvement in pulmonary infections including tuberculosis, chronic bronchitis and asthma.”

    Dr Elegbuo recommended the freshly extracted juice of 50 to 500 grams of carrots a day, “preferably on an empty stomach. It can be combined with other vegetable juices including sugarcane. This is really quite a delicious way to treat fatigue or stress and you can take advantage of the many fresh vegetables and fruits when you need a quick cleansing tonic. Remember to cook your vegetable and juice your fruits,” he said.

  • Sitz bath, carrot can combat cervical cancer, says expert

    Sitz bath, carrot can combat cervical cancer, says expert

    A natural health practitioner has recommended regular consumption of carrots and sitz bath, which is a warm, shallow bath that cleanses the perineum (the space between the rectum and the vulva or scrotum) for the prevention of cervical cancer.

    This, according to the Director of Programme, Green Centre Academy, Darlington Okafor, can help to put the disease at bay.

    He said vegetables and fruits are good for preventing cervical cancer, stressing that carrot is one of such vegetables.

    “Carrots have strong antioxidant properties and they contain falcarinol, which is a natural compound that is highly effective at slowing down the development of cancer. Scientists found that those with pre-cancerous tumor who eat plenty of carrots as less likely to develop full-scale tumor.

    “So, women can cook their carrots or eat them raw. It is best to keep the carrots whole during boiling or steaming and chopping them only afterwards to retain the antioxidant nutrients and falcarinol. Also, maximum benefits can be gotten from drinking two glasses of freshly juiced carrots thrice a week,” Okafor said.

    Carrots, he said, are vegetables, which have water soluble vitamins but the vitamins may be lost if the back is peeled before washing. To avoid this, people should wash them without peeling and eat with the back,” he said.

    Advising women, he urged them to maintain good hygiene by washing their private part with clean water. They should also work on their hormone, eat proper diet and enjoy sitz bath from time to time, he added.

    Sitz bath, Okafor said, can be a part of a woman’s daily personal hygiene, thus providing relief from pain or itching in the genital area where cervical and uterine cancer occur.

    “It is important to know that female genitalia are complex and delicate. The major role of the female genitalia is to hold the miracle of life in the section called uterus. For some women, this role may never get fulfilled because of cancer of cervix and uterus,” he said.

    He urged women to protect their genitalia since it is more exposed than those of men, stressing: “It is continually exposed to infections”.

    Women, he said, should maintain good hygiene in this area by avoiding products, such as soap and dust (When they stand to urinate by road sides) and contraceptive foams into it.

    Besides, the female reproductive system, he said, is capable of cleaning itself naturally to maintain its acidic PH level.

    “If any foreign substance is introduced into it, the acidic state which serves as protection against bacteria and fungi will be lost and it will become home to various infections.

    “A common example is the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). This type of infection should be avoided like a plaque. This is because the presence of HPV and HIV are most likely to be followed by cervical cancer.”

    Describing how cervical cancer occurs, he said, it starts at the cervix or neck of the uterus, that is, the cells lining before it begins to grow uncontrolled and changes from pre-cancer to full cancer. “A study by the University of Washington in the United States found that cervical cancer is common among women who became sexually active before age 21 and have had more than one partner. This is because the vaginal mucosa and the cervix are not matured at such young age.  Smoking and multiple pregnancies are other causes,” he said.

    Okafor said the presence of cervical cancer is indicated by abnormal vaginal discharge, persistent pelvic pain, abnormal vaginal bleeding, especially during or after intercourse.

  • Carrot, lemon, garlic, others good for blood purification

    Carrot, lemon, garlic, others good for blood purification

    Carrot, lemon, garlic and green leafy vegetables are good for blood purification, a natural health practitioner, Dr Chigoziri Moses, has said.

    In an interview with The Nation, the medic said fruits and vegetables help to remove toxins and unwanted substances from the blood.

    Moses said fruits and vegetables contain micro-nutrients, which remove impurities from the body, particularly the blood.

    He said people who eat raw herbs, especially juice, would maintain   a healthy blood.

    “A simple way to remove toxins from the blood is to drink a glass of carrot juice one hour before or after breakfast. Carrot is a rich source of vitamin A, which helps eliminate toxins from the body,” he said.

    Beet, Moses said, is another vegetable that is well-known for its strong blood purifying properties.

    It is a rich source of nutrients, such as flavonoids, amino acids, folic acid, magnesium, calcium, potassium, vitamin A, and vitamin C, he added.

    “Beets help to reduce blood pressure, purify blood, and support the production of red blood cells. Beet juice is very strong and so it is recommended that people drink only one-fourth of a cup of beet juice or mix it with juices of other vegetables, such as carrot, spinach or cucumber,” he said.

    He described lemon as an effective blood cleansing agent, adding: “People can add some drops of lemon juice and a tablespoon of honey to a glass of warm water and drink it on an empty stomach in the morning.

    “This also helps people to lose weight. It strengthens immune system, improves the glow of your skin and enhances digestion, as well as treats respiratory problems, toothache and gum bleeding.”

    Garlic, he said, can also help to lower high blood pressure. “It eliminates plague from arteries. This medicinal herb is also useful to improve the flow of blood and relax its vessels. So, people can eat a few cloves of garlic daily to purify their blood.

    “Garlic supplements are also available in the market. People may not feel comfortable to chew cloves of garlic due to its foul odour. This should not pose a challenge to anyone as they can get the same result by cutting a clove into pieces with a knife; after that pour the pieces into the mouth and drink it with a glass of clean-drinking water. This way, you overcome the foul-smelling garlic odour.”

    Green leafy vegetables, he said, contain chlorophyll, which is good for cleansing the blood.

    “The green leafy vegetables have excellent blood purifying properties. It helps to remove toxins from the blood and intestine. In fact, juice fasting is considered to be one of the best ways to purify or cleanse the blood. People can drink juices of green vegetables, such as stinging nestle, barley grass, spinach, parsley, alfalfa, and garden-egg leaves to get rid of toxins from the blood,” Moses said.

    Explaining how blood purification works, he said blood can be likened to a car, which is used for transportation, and as such, require a routine maintenance if it is to last.

    Blood, he said, can be purified through a simple and affordable way by using herbal juices or direct eaten of raw dietary herbs.

    This, he said, would save people the pain of visiting the hospital.

    Moses said there are many disorders in the blood, caused by oxygenated blood that cannot make the circuit of the body without restriction.

    “There are many reasons blood flowing around the body may be inhibited. For example, clots may form in the larger veins in the leg or pelvic area, travel to the lung, and become trapped in the pulmonary artery; that results in diminished blood flow and less oxygen getting pumped to the rest of the body,” he said.

    He urged people to purify their blood with dietary herbs, saying they are readily available.

    “When you take appropriate measures to take care of your blood, you avoid a lot of health crisis which include a condition called pulmonary embolism, which is difficult to detect, but usually accompanied by a sudden shortness of breath and can be life-threatening. When plague or fatty deposits form along the walls of the arteries, it causes them to harden and constrict. Hypertension also known as high blood pressure (HBP) occurs because blood exerts greater force against the walls of the narrowed and/or more rigid blood vessels.

    “Hypertension can lead to stroke, pectoris angina (chest pain), kidney damage, and heart attack. There are other health challenges associated with blood circulation performance,” he said.

    Moses said if toxins and other unwanted substances are eliminated from the body, the people would have healthy body, adding: “A proper blood cleansing process done effectively, will remove toxins from the body.”

    He said blood purification would also improve the conditions of people’s skin, boost energy and ward off skin conditions, such as acne, rashes, skin infections, eczema, and psoriasis,” he said.

    People, Moses said, can purify or detoxify their blood by adding blood cleansing foods and herbs to their diet, and as such, flush toxins out of their blood.

  • The poisoned carrot of an Ibadan State

    SIR: Nigeria Election 2015! There have always been some asinine, farcical and insincere features to the politicking and electioneering in Nigeria, even long before the real election times. Nothing has ever been normal or straightforward with politicians; if they are not involved in one corruption scandal or the other; they are involved in bloodletting, mudslinging and what not. It is entirely typical and with my universal experience, has come to realise that this particular trait of “insincere, do-or-die politics” is unique to Nigeria. Please I stand corrected and educated.

    Anyway, before I continue, and in order not to be seen to be hypocritical, let me say my sympathy lies with the opposition All Progressive Congress, APC, so most of what I will be saying, will of course be biased against the ruling People’s Democratic party, PDP. But what I say should be weighed and balance with truth.

    In my state of Oyo and in my city of Ibadan in particular, the PDP and its gubernatorial candidate and other aspirants are on a downward trend, and one of the causes of their demise is due to their outright lies, deceit and sincerity in their promises to the people. I listen to their campaign jingles and other electioneering gimmicks, and I could not but help marvel at their inanities, and how their mediocrity shows through every time. I am not even worried by their reputation for insincerity anymore; it is the quality of their deceitful claims.

    The PDP jingle on radio stations (I never watch the TV stations), sponsored by an Ibadan daughter who happens to be a junior minister in President Jonathan’s mediocre cabinet, make claims of improved agriculture, an effective, efficient and easily accessible healthcare system, building and reconstruction of roads, empowering of women, improved electricity supply, enhanced, youth employment, refurbished and standard airports and improved rail transportation, etc.

    My problem with this jingle is the dangling of the carrot of the creation of an Ibadan State, if Mr Jonathan is re-elected. This outright deceit and wrong promise is too much for me to take. With others asking for Oduduwa State in Osun State, and Ijebu State in Ogun State, and who knows how many others such small states to be carved out of the 26 existing states, it becomes pertinent to ask the disseminators of these lies how and why President Jonathan intends to prioritise the creation of an Ibadan State, assuming he can single-handedly do this or push a bill through in the National Assembly, over the others.

    We should also ask the Oyo State Coordinator of President Jonathan’s Campaign, what mileage or advantage this will be to the whole people of Oyo State, if, as a campaign slogan, she is asking for the Oyo State people to vote for Jonathan, and at the same time telling them that their state will be split up and Ibadan exorcised from the rest of them, giving the Ibadans an advantage, which they already enjoy anyway, as the most populous and most metropolitan and most developed of the people of Oyo State?

    I therefore find it very deceitful and condescending to the people of both Ibadan and the encompassing Oyo State to be assailed with such obviously fraudulent political promises and guarantees to get their votes.

    But then I figured it out as soon as I know who the Coordinator is. Treachery and trickery, artificiality and grandstanding are not strange to them. Her father, a prominent, yet self-centred son of Ibadan, is likely to be one of the brains behind this creation of Ibadan State.

    So, this poisoned carrot of an Ibadan State is bound to backfire. It will not work. Yes, I don’t mind an Ibadan State, but what’s the use of having it now; a state that will keep on going to Abuja to beg for a meagre monthly allocation; and because it will not be an oil-producing state, it will be getting pittance; a state that will not be able to stand on its own industrially because of short-sighted and clueless elites; a state whose existing industries are moribund and a lack of political will is not them resuscitate them. I don’t know.

    Anyway, since it is a poisoned carrot at the end of the stick, the donkey will never catch up to eat the carrot, so we can conclude that, in the meantime, we are safe from the warped, insidious, invidious plans and chicanery of those who want to create private empires and states for themselves, where their fellow people will be their serfs and servants perpetually or allow them to perpetuate them and theirs in power continually.

    Forget it for now.  Let the Truth be said always.

     

    • Akintokunbo A Adejumo

    Lagos