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| Sunday, 14 July 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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By Chitra Weerasinghe Home cures the Japanese way What do women - sorry anybody for that matter - talk about when they have company? Strangely it is about the roaring cost of living; that big hole in the budget when you've got to seek medical attention; the trials and travails of bus travelling; garbage disposal and other environmental hazards. The list is endless. Being most interested in health, I was reminded of grandma's advice that it is always good to have some knowledge of first aid before you rush to hospital and that a stitch in time, where first aid is concerned, would save nine by way of medical bills. Of course, you've got to ensure that the advice and help you get from those anxious to assist in times of emergency are correct for, at times, some people in their great anxiety to be of assistance offer the wrong advice or do the wrong thing; and that due to no fault of their own but sheer ignorance. If a man falls from a tree there'll be many to help carry him. But those who lift him may not be aware there is an art in doing that; that they should carry him carefully and not clumsily to prevent any damage to his spinal cord and so save him from having a serious secondary injury. Then again if a person has a heart attack he should not be moved but left to rest. The worst thing to do is to lift him, put him into a vehicle and whisk him off to hospital. A doctor should be summoned home. Talking of accidents, illness and first aid, it is said that in every Japanese home, the medicine chest has a cure for almost any ailment. As examples of the variety of home remedies practised in Japan here are a few you may wish to follow. For fever the Japanese are said to mix 2 tablespoons of grated white radish together with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of grated ginger in 1.5 pints of hot water. When this concoction is taken, the patient sweats and the fever subsequently subsides. For burns, what do they do? They mix the white of an egg with soy sauce and apply that mixture directly on the affected area. Their cure for baldness is equally interesting. Balding Japanese men are said to eat wakama, a type of seaweed, daily. They take it in their soup, with rice, vinegar and cucumber. A cure for diabetes is in eating plenty of seaweed and rice cooked with red bean and roasted sesame seeds. And men who suffer from a hang over boil cloves and drink the water while it is hot. For headaches the cure is to mix one teaspoon of sesame oil with a teaspoon of ginger juice and to apply that mixture to the area from which the pain emanates. This is also said to prevent dandruff and falling hair. Those afflicted with intestinal parasites are asked to eat a handful of raw brown rice instead of breakfast for a few days. The remedy for nightmares is to eat yams for each meal, until the nightmare phase passes away. For rashes a simple remedy is to rub a slice of cucumber to the affected area. For a sore throat, they eat roasted orange seeds. A good remedy for pyorrhoea is to take the head of an egg plant preserved in salt, fry it until it is burnt, then mix its ashes with salt, grind to a fine powder and brush the teeth with it. Apply this to the outer gums each night before retiring to bed. Vinegar and your blood Have you heard of that old saying that vinegar dilutes the blood? Well! That saying was based on ignorance of the human metabolism. Today it has been proved that vinegar is good for the health; that it stimulates the digestive juices and so influences the human metabolism in a positive way. Vinegar is also said to play an important role in preventing obesity especially if salads prepared with vinegar are consumed daily. This helps in decreasing that craving for sweets. In ancient times vinegar was an important item in a medicine cabinet. Bowls of vinegar were placed in sick rooms to prevent the danger of infection. The smelling bottles of ancient times did not have cologne or perfume, but vinegar. And here is a quote from the famous French Madame de Sevigne (1626-1696) to her daughter. ``Always keep control of your morals and your smelling bottle filled with vinegar under your nose, to never fail in life.'' Even as a beauty remedy vinegar has its tradition. The most beautiful woman of her time, Lukrrezia Borgia (1480-1519) had a bath with vinegar each morning as she felt that was the only way to remain fresh and beautiful. At a time when the lemon was not known, cooks in ancient China, Egypt, Greece and Rome used vinegar as one of the four indispensable tastes - sweet, salty, bitter and sour. In ancient China, the vinegar jug was the symbol of life. Hot vinegar inhalations were used to fight colds and migraine. Vinegar was a proven remedy in oral hygiene. A mouth rinse of three tablespoons of vinegar per glass of water prevented bad breath, forming of plaque and bleeding gums. Vinegar in your bath water refreshes you. There is no better aftershave lotion than vinegar. For tired, aching feet, immersion in warm vinegar water is the best rejuvenator. Vinegar added to your bath water and used as the last rinse is ideal for dry hair. It makes the hair silky and shiny too . A glass of lukewarm water with one part honey and two parts cider vinegar taken in the morning does wonders for blood circulation and metabolism. What's more fish could be transported over long distances covered with sugar and vinegar and still remained fresh. And this valuable product was created by accident. It is caused naturally by the fermentation of alcoholic substances. Vinegar bacteria (smallest fungi) present in the air convert the alcohol into vinegar acid through oxidation. |
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