ZAFRAN - Saffron and its BENEFITS

Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Saffron crocus grows to 20–30 cm (8–12 in) and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are the distal end of a carpel. Together with the styles, or stalks that connect the stigmas to their host plant, the dried stigmas are used mainly in various cuisines as a seasoning and colouring agent. Saffron, long among the world's most costly spices by weight, is native to Greece or Southwest Asia and was first cultivated in Greece. As a genetically monomorphic clone, it was slowly propagated throughout much of Eurasia and was later brought to parts of North Africa, North America, and Oceania.

The saffron crocus, unknown in the wild, likely descends from Crocus cartwrightianus, which originated in Crete; C. thomasii and C. pallasii are other possible precursors. The saffron crocus is a triploid that is "self-incompatible" and male sterile; it undergoes aberrant meiosis and is hence incapable of independent sexual reproduction—all propagation is by vegetative multiplication via manual "divide-and-set" of a starter clone or by interspecific hybridisation. If C. sativus is a mutant form of C. cartwrightianus, then it may have emerged via plant breeding, which would have selected for elongated stigmas, in late Bronze Age Crete.

Saffron's taste and iodoform- or hay-like fragrance result from the chemicals picrocrocin and safranal. It also contains a carotenoid dye, crocin, which imparts a rich golden-yellow hue to dishes and textiles. Its recorded history is attested in a 7th-century BC Assyrian botanical treatise compiled under Ashurbanipal, and it has been traded and used for over four millennia. Iran now accounts for approximately 90% of the world production of saffron.

Health Benefits of Saffron:

Digestion: Saffron is helpful in the improvement of digestion and appetite, because it helps in improving circulation to the organs of digestion. It coats the membranes of stomach and colon which help in soothing gastrointestinal colic and acidity. Kidney and liver problem: This spice s found to be extremely beneficial for the treatment of kidney, bladder and liver disorders. Saffron is considered as a blood purifier

 
Gas and acidity:  Saffron is effective for providing relief from gas and acidity related problems.

Arthritis: It helps in relieving inflammation of arthritis. Saffron also provides relief from joint pains. It is very helpful for athletes as it eases fatigue and muscle inflammation by helping the tissues to get rid of lactic acid which gets built up after strenuous exercise.

Insomnia: It is said that saffron is also a mild sedative which can be used for insomnia and even treat depression. Taking a pinch of saffron with milk before bed helps in sleep disorders like insomnia.

Fever: Saffron also contains the compound “crocin”, which scientists believe that helps in reducing fever. Crocin found in saffron also promotes learning, memory retention, and recall capacity. 

Eye problem: Saffron improves eye and vision health. In a recent research study, every participant who took saffron had vision improvements. Notably, saffron has been reported to significantly helping vision in the instance of cataracts.

Gums: Massaging the gums with saffron helps in reduce soreness and inflammation of the mouth and the tongue.

For MEN: 
Take a pinch full of Saffron threads and on a low flame cook them slowly in MILK. Consume it with a little bit of sugar just before going to bed. Its a natural source to remove IMPOTENCY in MEN by leaps and bound. Try it and believe in its wonders.

How to Use Saffron?

Saffron is used to improve taste and smell in many food items . You can use saffron in kheer, above sweets, in dishes like biryani, risotto, paella, fabada or pote gallego etc. You can adda pinch of saffron in your daily glass of milk. Applying milk mixed with saffron on skin refine the skin tone.

How to Choose Saffron?

Saffron is very expensive. There are also many adulterated and fake products being dyed to imitate saffron. To find out whether you have pure saffron or not, immerse a bit of the product in warm water or milk. If the liquid colors immediately, then the saffron is fake. Pure saffron must soak in either warm water or milk for at least 10 to 15 minutes before its deep red-gold color and the saffron aroma begin to develop.

Cinnamon - Health Benfits

Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods. While Cinnamomum verum is sometimes considered to be "true cinnamon", most cinnamon is derived from related species, which are also referred to as "cassia" to distinguish them from "true cinnamon".

Cinnamon is the name for perhaps a dozen species of trees and the commercial spice products that some of them produce. All are members of the genus Cinnamomum in the family Lauraceae. Only a few of them are grown commercially for spice.

In classical times, four types of cinnamon were distinguished (and often confused):

• Cassia (Hebrew קציעה qəṣi`â), the bark of Cinnamomum iners from Arabia and Ethiopia, literally 'the peel of the plant' which is scraped off the tree.
• True cinnamon (Hebrew קִנָּמוֹן qinnamon), the bark of C. verum (also called C. zeylanicum) from Sri Lanka
• Malabathrum or malobathrum (from Sanskrit तमालपत्रम्, tamālapattram, literally "dark-tree leaves"), several species including C. tamala from the north of India
• Serichatum, C. cassia from Seres, that is, China

Cinnamon has been known from remote antiquity. It was imported to Egypt as early as 2000 BC, but those who report that it had come from China confuse it with cassia.

1. Numerous studies show that cinnamon regulates blood sugar, making it a great choice for diabetics and hypoglycemics alike.  That’s also great news for anyone who wants stable energy levels and moods.

2. It reduces LDL cholesterol levels.  LDL is also known as the harmful cholesterol.  Reducing it may help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

3. It has natural anti-infectious compounds.  In studies, cinnamon has been effective against ulcer-causing H. pylori bacteria and other pathogens.

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls and Pastries

4. It reduces pain linked to arthritis.  Cinnamon has been shown in studies at the Department of Internal Medicine, Kangnam Korean Hospital, to reduce cytokines linked to arthritic pain.

5. Research at the University of Texas, published in the journal Nutrition and Cancer, shows that cinnamonmay reduce the proliferation of cancer cells, holding promise for cancer prevention and sufferers of the disease.

6. It is a natural food preservative.

7. It contains fiber, calcium, iron, and manganese—albeit small amounts to the typical dose of ground cinnamon.

8.  It’s been proven effective for menstrual pain and 9. infertility.  Cinnamon contains a natural chemical called cinnamaldehyde, which studies show increases the hormone progesterone and decreases testosterone production in women, helping to balance hormones.

Honey and its BENEFITS

Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to, as it is the type of honey collected by most beekeepers and consumed by humans. Honeys produced by other bees (bumblebees, stingless bees) and insects (honey wasps) have different properties, and they are not discussed in this article.

Honey bees transform nectar into honey by a process of regurgitation and evaporation. They store it as a primary food source in wax honeycombs inside the beehive.

Honey gets its sweetness from the monosaccharides fructose and glucose, and has approximately the same relative sweetness asgranulated sugar.^[1][2] It has attractive chemical properties for baking and a distinctive flavor that leads some people to prefer it over sugar and other sweeteners.^[1] Most microorganisms do not grow in honey because of its low water activity of 0.6.^[3] However, honey sometimes contains dormant endospores of the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, which can be dangerous to infants, as the endospores can transform into toxin-producing bacteria in infants' immature intestinal tracts, leading to illness and even death.

Health Benefits:

1. Prevent cancer and heart disease:
Honey contains flavonoids, antioxidants which help reduce the risk of some cancers and heart disease.

2. Reduce ulcers and other gastrointestinal disorders.
Recent research shows that honey treatment may help disorders such as ulcers and bacterial gastroenteritis. This may be related to the 3rd benefit…

3. Anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-fungal:
“All honey is antibacterial, because the bees add an enzyme that makes hydrogen peroxide,” said Peter Molan, director of the Honey Research Unit at the University of Waikato in New Zealand.

4. Increase athletic performance.
Ancient Olympic athletes would eat honey and dried figs to enhance their performance. This has now been verified with modern studies, showing that it is superior in maintaining glycogen levels and improving recovery time than other sweeteners.

5. Reduce cough and throat irritation:
Honey helps with coughs, particularly buckwheat honey. In a study of 110 children, a single dose of buckwheat honey was just as effective as a single dose of dextromethorphan in relieving nocturnal cough and allowing proper sleep.

6. Balance the 5 elements: 
Honey has been used in ayurvedic medicine in India for at least 4000 years and is considered to affect all three of the body’s primitive material imbalances positively. It is also said to be useful useful in improving eyesight, weight loss, curing impotence and premature ejaculation, urinary tract disorders, bronchial asthma, diarrhea, and nausea.

Honey is referred as “Yogavahi” since it has a quality of penetrating the deepest tissues of the body. When honey is used with other herbal preparations, it enhances the medicinal qualities of those preparations and also helps them to reach the deeper tissues.

7. Blood sugar regulation:
Even though honey contains simple sugars, it is NOT the same as white sugar or artificial sweeteners. Its exact combination of fructose and glucose actually helps the body regulate blood sugar levels. Some honeys have a low hypoglycemic index, so they don’t jolt your blood sugar. (Watch this video Sweetener Comparison where I compare stevia, brown rice syrup, honey, molasses and agave, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each.)

8. Heal wounds and burns:
External application of honey has been shown to be as effective as conventional treatment with silver sulfadiazene. It is speculated that the drying effect of the simple sugars and honey’s anti-bacterial nature combine to create this effect.

9. Probiotic:
Some varieties of honey possess large amounts of friendly bacteria. This includes up to 6 species of lactobacilli and 4 species of bifidobacteria. This may explain many of the “mysterious therapeutic properties of honey.”

10. Beautiful skin:
Its anti-bacterial qualities are particularly useful for the skin, and, when used with the other ingredients, can also be moisturizing and nourishing! For a powerful home beauty treatment for which you probably have all the ingredients in your kitchen already, read Carrot Face Mask.

Haritaki, Harad, Harh, and Terminalia chebula (Toxin Remover, Anti-Agieng)

Terminalia chebula 
Its one of the best herb which can be used to reverse ageing. Its usage consists of both in powder and as an fruit preserve (Murabba). It helps remove TOXINS quickly and much effectively. It can be used for any one in any age. If in powder form it should be taken no more then a 1/2 teaspoon before going to bed and one has to make sure to have empty stomach at the time of intake or at least you should have passed 4 hours or more of dinner at the time of going to bed. It helps in HAIR growth, strengthens the liver, over all the body all the muscles get stronger. Can be used by both MALE and FEMALE, without any hesitation. 

Natural Toxin removing (Haldi-Turmeric)

Dear readers Turmeric has been a great, the most ancient Toxins remover used in the Sub-Continent countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan). It should only be taken before going to bed in an EMPTY stomach. 1 Teaspoon simmered (cooked with milk on low flame) in a glass of milk and when the process is continued for 4 weeks, the results will be there. firstly your SKIN will start to nourish and so on the results will show up slowly and steadily. But as in every HERBAL treatment patience is a virtue, because there are no SUPERMAN tonics yet.

Get whiter teeth without using artificial stuff!!!

Hi,

Respected readers getting whiter teeth has been a typical thing for which DENTISTS charge a massive amount of MONEY.

 I have tried an age old process from my elders and it has certainly helped me get whiter teeth in a small span of time.

Take small piece of CHARCOAL. Crush it to fine powder form. Use a toothbrush to gently brush your teeth. Then see the results. Enjoy.