Healing vegetables and gourds

Potato (Solanum tuberosum)

For medicinal purposes, tubers and potato juice are used. The main active principles of potatoes are starch (about 20%), proteins (up to 2%), vitamins C (up to 42 mg%), vitamins B-1, B-2, B-6, PP, folic acid, carotene (up to 56 mg%), fat (up to 0.15%).

In addition, potatoes contain magnesium (up to 32 mg%), prevail from mineral salts in tubers : iron, manganese, nickel, cobalt, iodine, calcium. In terms of iron content, potatoes are second only to pumpkin, beets and spinach and are on a par with green onions and carrots. And in terms of copper content, potatoes surpass all vegetables and fruits, giving priority only to mushrooms.

During winter storage of potatoes, the vitamin content in it is halved, and by spring it does not exceed 30% of the autumn level. When cooking tubers without peel, up to 50% is lost, and with peel, up to 30% of vitamin C. To reduce the loss of vitamins during cooking, pour potatoes not with cold water, as most housewives do, but boil it and boil it under a tightly closed lid.

Potato protein is absorbed by the body almost completely.

The medicinal use of potatoes is popularly known for a long time. In Chinese traditional medicine, potatoes, along with other medicinal plants, are widely used for encephalitis, metabolic disorders, and skin diseases.

People used freshly grated potatoes for treatment, applied it to wounds and burns.

Fresh potato juice is widely used as a means of neutralizing the increased acidity of gastric juice in case of hyperacid gastritis and peptic ulcer - 100 ml each, half an hour before the last meal before bedtime.

Juice, squeezed from raw tubers of red potato varieties, is recommended in folk medicine for gastritis and peptic ulcer, high acidity and severe headaches.

A proven folk remedy is the use of hot boiled potatoes for respiratory diseases. To this end, well-washed potato tubers are boiled and mashed in a hot state without draining the water in which they were cooked. The patient is planted comfortably near a vessel with mashed potatoes, covered with a blanket and left to breathe hot steam. It is very useful to add 3-4 drops of turpentine to the potatoes.

When taking dishes from potatoes, diuretic effect is observed, which is important when preparing therapeutic nutrition for kidney and heart patients.

The antimicrobial and anticystic properties of potatoes are noticed. Moreover, young tubers stored in sunlight have more antimicrobial properties than long-term stored in the dark. The maximum amount of antimicrobial substances was found in young green shoots of potato tubers.
Starch contained in potatoes activates the exchange of bile acids, helps to strengthen the synthesis of vitamin B-2 by intestinal bacteria, a precursor of enzymes and coenzymes that accelerate the conversion of cholesterol to bile acids and its excretion from the body.

Currently, starch obtained from potatoes is used as an enveloping, anti-inflammatory agent for gastrointestinal diseases, for burns, and it is also used as the basis for powders and filler for powders and tablets.

It should be recalled that the toxic substance of potatoes is the glucoalkaloid salanin. It is found in all parts of the plant, in fruits, green tops, sprouts, and especially green tubers lying on the surface.

Also, based on Katofel, drugs were obtained, in particular, the drug "Inhibin". Tests of this drug indicate a good therapeutic effect on burns, stomach ulcers and poisoning with some poisons.

But, among other things, potatoes and a good cosmetic. A potato mask makes the skin elastic, smooth, removes traces of fatigue on the face and smoothes wrinkles on the neck.
For this, every 1-2 days, a mask of 2 tbsp. Is applied to the skin of the neck. l freshly cooked mashed potatoes and 1 tsp. fresh honey. The mask is covered with wax paper on top. The procedure lasts 40–45 minutes, then the mask is washed off with warm water. This procedure is best done lying down.
For a mask on the face, it is better to cook large potatoes, make mashed potatoes with milk and one egg yolk. Warming up in a steam bath, it is applied with a thin layer on the face for 20 minutes and tightly covered with a napkin. Then the mashed potatoes are washed off with hot water, and then washed cold. And from potatoes, boiled in their skins and mixed with sour cream, make masks on the face with dry skin.
For swelling under the eyes, masks from grated raw potatoes help. It is applied to clean skin of the lower eyelids for 20 minutes, then washed off with cold water or infusion of chamomile flowers, and the eyelids are greased with cream.
Raw potato juice cleanses the skin from acne. To do this, add 0.5 tsp to 0.5 cups of potato juice. fresh honey. The mixture is applied to the face for 25¬30 minutes daily for two weeks. After a week, it is advisable to repeat the course of treatment.
In the absence of time, this procedure can be simplified and 2-3 times a day simply wipe the face with a napkin dipped in potato juice. Such procedures also contribute to the removal of age spots.
Potatoes can also be used to treat hands with flaky, reddened and inflamed skin. This can be done by applying freshly prepared hot mashed potatoes to them in a compress for 10-15 minutes. Instead of mashed potatoes, you can use the broth in which potatoes were cooked for baths. The duration of the baths is 25-30 minutes. The procedure well softens the skin of the hands and gradually eliminates peeling of the skin.
You can wash your face with the same broth if you are sure that the potato was grown without the use of chemicals, otherwise allergic complications may occur. Sunburned skin is also treated with a compress of raw grated potatoes.
And finally, with calluses and painful cracks on the heels, baths of potato peels and flaxseed are recommended. To do this, 0.5 cups of washed potato peelings and 0.5 cups of flaxseed need to pour 0.5 liters of water and cook until a thick slurry is formed. In this slurry, lower the legs for 15¬20 minutes, then wash them with warm water, and grease the cracks with 2% iodine tincture. In conclusion, the foot procedure should be greased with cream.

Onion / Latin name
Allium cepa
In medicine, onions have been known since the time of Hippocrates. The healing properties of onions were recognized by all nations. The Romans believed that the strength and courage of soldiers increased with the use of onions, so he entered the military diet. At one time, Abu Ali ibn Sina used onions in the treatment of jaundice, juice cured the suppuration of ears and ulcers.
The book "Mahzan-ul-Adviya" provides such data: onions open upclogging, increase appetite, eating it and inhaling its smell eliminates the adverse effects of spoiled air during mass diseases and pestilence - with cholera and plague.
There is evidence that during the great epidemic of typhoid fever and plague in 1805, Russians who consumed large amounts of onions did not get these diseases. In connection with the presence in the onion of various active substances, it has long been used by the people with a wide variety of diseases.
In folk medicine, onions are used as a diuretic and diaphoretic, for scurvy and impotence. In addition, it is now widely recommended for intestinal atony, colitis, atherosclerosis, hypertension, hypo and avitominosis, rhinitis, influenza, furunculosis, roundworms (pinworms).
The disinfecting effect of onions allows you to use it at home to treat flu: for 2 to 3 minutes several times a day inhale volatile substances from a fresh cut of onions.
It has been established that fresh onion enhances appetite, increases the digestive glands, has well-defined diuretic properties, helps to dissolve sand and small stones in urolithiasis, softens cough and helps eliminate sputum.
Recently, onions began to be used for influenza, tonsillitis, trichomonas inflammation of the female genital organs.

In scientific medicine, onions are most often used in the form of an alcoholic extract. It is recommended for constipation accompanied by diarrhea. The first two days, take 20 drops 3 times a day after meals, the next two - 25 drops and another 5 to 6 days - 30 drops.
With round worms (pinworms), onions are successfully used fresh 15 to 20 g for 7 to 10 days
In the treatment of tonsillitis and respiratory diseases (bronchitis, tracheitis, bronchopneumonia), good results are obtained from the use of onions in the form of inhalations. In this way, lung abscesses were successfully treated. In this case, the patient was covered with a double-folded sheet of head and a plate with fresh onion pulp was brought in for inhalation. The session lasted 10 minutes for 30 to 40 days in a row. Then a month-long break was made and, if necessary, the course was repeated.
Onion juice mixed with honey is a good way to prevent the development of eyesore.

Onion juice is used for coughing, bronchitis, and even whooping cough (preferably with honey): 500 g of peeled and chopped onion, 50 g of honey, 400 g of sugar; boil in low heat for 3 hours, then cool and pour the liquid into a corked bottle, take 4-6 tablespoons per day.

For inflammation of the throat, it is recommended to take inside the gruel from grated onions with grated apples and honey (to taste), 2 to 3 times a day, two to three teaspoons.

To remove pinworms and roundworms from the body, onions are eaten on an empty stomach, sometimes with herring, and then cleanse the stomach with a laxative. Onions baked in dough or boiled in milk are used in the form of compresses, freshly mashed onions are successfully used for injuries (bruises).

corns and warts are removed with fresh onion juice or onion, previously boiled in table vinegar. For hair growth, onion juice is rubbed with fingers into the roots of the hair (1 to 2 times a week for 2 to 3 tablespoons). After lubrication, it is recommended to tie a head with a towel for 1 - 2 hours, and then wash your hair with soap and water, as usual.

To prevent wrinkles on the face and to remove already existing ones, an ointment of the following composition is used: onion juice - 30g, honey, white lily juice, and white wax - 30g each, all this is heated in a clay pot over low heat or for a couple, mixed with a wooden stick until cooling.

Cut pieces of onion attached to the temples and to the forehead eliminate a headache. As a multivitamin, onions are widely used for hypo- and vitamin deficiencies.

There is information about the sugar-lowering properties of onions, and therefore it is recommended for patients with diabetes to eat baked onion soup. Onion pulp, wrapped in a thin canvas of cotton paper tissue and applied to the wound, cleanses it of pus, reduces soreness and promotes its rapid healing. Baked onions are used to accelerate the maturation of carbuncles, abscesses and alleviate pain in hemorrhoids.

Onion is considered a harmless cosmetic product. Onion juice is recommended to lubricate the scalp with seborrhea, nesting baldness, to strengthen and grow hair. Hair becomes silky, soft and shiny, and the skin does not peel, dandruff does not form. Freckles turn pale from onion juice. The intake of onions, as well as onion masks (from a mixture of onion gruel with honey) prevents the appearance of wrinkles, the face becomes fresh.

Despite the wonderful healing properties of onions, it must be borne in mind that overdose or abuse can harm the body, especially with diseases of the stomach, kidneys and liver.

Bulbs contain 0, 01 - 0, 05% essential oils, 10 - 11% sugars, phytin, nitrogenous substances, 10 mg% vitamin C, 60 mg% vitamin B-1, carotene, flavoloids (guercetin), enzymes, saponins, pantothena acid, mineral salts (potassium, phosphorus, iodine, iron) volatile and other substances.  onion leaves also contain, sugar, proteins, and vitamin C. Bulbs and leaves contain essential oil, which gives them a specific smell and pungent taste.

Onions are the basis of spices in the preparation of meat dishes, soups, salads, pickled vegetables, cooking sauces, stewed vegetables and spicy mixtures.

Sowing carrots (Daucus carota subsp. Sativus)

The medicinal properties of carrots have been known for a very long time. At one time, Abu Ali ibn Sina recommended carrot root vegetables as a diuretic, and also used them in the treatment of intestinal pain, chronic cough and pleurisy. Brewed root vegetable recommended for dropsy. In "Mahzan-ul-Adviya" it is reported that carrots dilutes matter, opens up blockages in the liver and strengthens the stomach. Morkov is useful for pain in the chest, stomach, liver, for removing stones from the kidneys and bladder, has a diuretic effect, it is also taken for chronic cough and pleurisy. Carrot jam is easily digested, it is useful for dropsy. Carrot jam with honey strengthens the intestines and helps digestion.


In folk medicine, the roots of carrots are used as a diuretic and solvent for stones and sand in the bladder. For this, carrot root crops are usually used, but carrot seeds, especially wild ones, which sometimes grow in vegetable gardens, but more often near roads, in fields and in dry meadows, are much more effective for medicinal purposes. A powder or a decoction of carrot seeds is also used for digestive disorders and as a carminative, but mainly for kidney stones. Outwardly, the root crop of carrots is used for burns (cake), for cancer (juice inside and out), with fresh purulent wounds.

Carrot seeds in the form of a powder or water infusion have a provocative and anti-fermentative effect, and therefore are used as an anthelmintic and in digestive disorders (fermentative dyspepsia).


The people widely use carrots for burns, frostbite, long-healing festering wounds and ulcers. For this purpose, fresh carrots, ground on a grater, are applied to the affected areas or washed with carrot juice. Carrot juice is rinsed in the mouth and throat with inflammation, it gives good results with thrush in children.

Carrot activates intracellular oxidation - reduction processes, promotes epithelization, regulates carbohydrate metabolism, has a mild laxative and diuretic properties, improves digestion and increases milk excretion in nursing women. Carrot juice consumption is indicated in the first days of myocardial infarction, as well as for pregnant women, nursing mothers, children and those whose eyesight is highly demanding.


Fresh carrot juice is also used for anemia, gastritis with low acidity of gastric juice, it also has anthelmintic properties. In the latter case, fresh juice is recommended to be taken on an empty stomach. However, fresh carrots and carrot juice are contraindicated in case of exacerbations of peptic ulcer and enteritis.

Carrots, as a multivitamin, should be consumed frequently, the recommended dose is 50-100 g, but it is more useful with a small amount of fat for better absorption of carotene in the digestive tract, while carrots should be rubbed on a fine grater.

From the seeds of carrots was obtained the drug daucarin, which is the sum of flavanoids. It has an antispasmodic and coronary vasodilating effect. It is prescribed for chronic coronary insufficiency, manifested by pain in the heart and behind the sternum, at rest or after physical exertion.

Ways to use at home: to prepare a decoction of carrot seeds at the rate of - one tablespoon per glass of boiling water, steam all night in the oven, take hot three glasses a day. Powder from seeds: 1 g in three divided doses per day.

The seeds contain essential oil (1, 6%), which includes pinene, limonene, cineole, geraniol, citral, caratol, daucol, dipeptene, azoran, flavone compounds, fatty oil up to (13%), daucosterol and other substances. The flowers contain flavonoids - quercetin and campferol as well as anthocyanin bases

Of medicinal interest are all parts of the plant (root crops, tops, seeds). Carrots also contain a complex of biologically active substances - sterols, lycithins, volatile, mineral salts (cobalt, potassium, iron, copper, phosphorus, calcium, iodine, boron and others), enzymes, polysaccharides, pectins, fiber), sugar (up to 15% ), organic acids, flavanoids, essential oils, (up to 0.014%), umbelliferone and other substances.

Healing properties of plants

In recent years, despite the abundance of various industrial preparations introduced, it has become increasingly common to use medicinal plants. The historical practice of using plants gave a lot of observations that strengthened the confidence in the usefulness of certain whole plants or their parts. Long-term observations of the plant world and experiments allowed us to learn a lot of useful things.

As you know, most useful, vital substances enter the body only with food. A lot of both cultivated and wild fruits, vegetables, fruits, as well as ornamental plants have healing properties. Plants that go to food contain a diverse set of vitamins that are easily digestible. , carbohydrates, proteins, enzymes, enzymes, amino acids, fats, mineral, aromatic, and other valuable biologically active substances that will play an important role in metabolism.

It should be noted that the use of synthetic drugs (vitamins) is often accompanied by an undesirable side effect on various human organs. The use of drugs from plant materials either completely eliminates undesirable consequences, or the side effect is insignificant and easily eliminated. And food products that have medicinal properties are almost harmless.

Plants -

  an indispensable component of the natural environment, normalizing the body in any of its states, the flora contains all the substances that a person needs. Long before the discovery of vitamins and their role in human life, our ancestors already consumed dozens of wild-growing green herbs, revealing for themselves their important healing properties.

However, it is necessary to warn those who rely only on themselves in the treatment (harmless home remedies). Scientific medicine objectively disagrees with the healing of the healers over their health. Only the attending physician who knows the methods of diagnosis and monitoring the condition of the body can recommend a particular drug, thoroughly familiarizing with the history of the disease.

The pharmacy network has a fairly large assortment of various narrow medicinal plants and approved fees: vitamin, pectoral, gastric, weak, appetizing, choleretic, diaphoretic ... Usually they are sold through the pharmacy network in packaged form indicating the method of application. The main forms of application of medicinal plants are: infusions, decoctions, tinctures, powders, teas, fees, ointments, and less commonly juices. In order to use medicinal plants for therapeutic purposes, usually convenient dosage forms are prepared. Such at home can be infusions and decoctions.

Preparation of infusions and decoctions at home

Collection, drying and storage of herbal medicinal raw materials at home

Active, biologically active substances are localized in different parts of plants unequally: in some they accumulate in large quantities, in others - less. This explains the fact that in most cases only parts of it are used from a medicinal plant. Medicinal raw materials can be: bark, leaves, buds, roots, buds, flowers, fruits, seeds, peel and others .. The content of the active substance in the raw material may not always be in the same amount. It depends on the phase of plant development, on the individual characteristics of the active substances themselves, on the time of year.

In different medicinal plants, the active substances are contained in different parts: in some in the underground organs (roots, rhizomes), in others - in the whole aerial part of the plant, in the third - only in the leaves and buds, and in the fourth - in the flowers. The collection and drying of various parts of medicinal plants have their own particularities.

The aboveground parts of plants (leaves, flowers, fruits) are harvested only in good weather, since plants moistened with dew or rain do not dry well, deteriorate when dried, and the content of active substances decreases in them. The underground parts of plants (roots, rhizomes and tubers) can be harvested in any weather, as they are washed after digging. After harvesting, they should be quickly delivered to the place of drying.

Typically, leaves are collected before or during flowering, when they are fully developed and active substances accumulate in them during this period. Leaves should not be harvested very early, long before flowering, since during this period they are still poor in biological active substances. On the other hand, plants get sick when they lose their leaves and other organs (flowers and fruits) early, and do not develop normally.

Leaves are usually picked by hand without damaging the plant itself. In this case, it is necessary to monitor the purity of the raw materials so as not to collect dried, yellowed, dusty and damaged by insects or fungi leaves. Grass should be collected at the beginning and during the period of full flowering, sometimes until the end of flowering and at the beginning of the fruiting of the plant. Gather grass by poo cutting the harvested part with scissors, a knife, pruning shears or sickle. A plant with a root should not be pulled out, especially a perennial one, since this gives the raw material contaminated (mineral impurities such as earth, sand and others get into the raw material) and, in addition, the natural thickets of medicinal plants are destroyed.

Flowers and inflorescences are harvested in dry, clear weather during the period of their full flowering by hand, cutting off individual flowers or the whole inflorescence using scissors, knives and pruners.

Fruits and seeds are harvested during their full ripening. In some cases, the fruits are harvested in an unripe state, they ripen during drying. Juicy fruits and berries are picked by hand with care, so as not to damage, do not crush them, otherwise they will quickly deteriorate. The kidneys are harvested during such a period of development when they start to grow, swell, but not bloom. At this time, they are most rich in active medicinal substances.

For medicinal purposes, the bark is removed from young trunks and branches in the spring during abundant sap flow, bud swelling and during the first period of leaf blooming. Doing this on the indicated parts of the trees (oak, buckthorn, viburnum) make two annular cuts at a distance of 15 - 20 cm each from a friend, connect them with a longitudinal section and remove the bark, prying it with a knife. So that the crust does not twist into tubes, it is cut lengthwise into strips 1.5 - 2 cm wide and 7.5 - 10 cm long.

Digs up roots and rhizomes either in the fall, when the aerial part of the plants already dies, or in the early spring, before the plant has not yet consumed nutrients for growth. They are cleaned of the earth and damaged parts, washed thoroughly in cold water (active substances dissolve in hot water or their chemical composition changes).

Medicinal raw materials at home can be dried as follows: the grass must be dried quickly to avoid caking and spoilage. For this, the grass is immediately scattered with a thin layer immediately after collection so that no more than 1–2 kg of raw material falls per square meter. So that they are dried faster and not finished, they are often turned over. 

Sprinkle the plant on some, on paper, on a clean mat or burlap. It is better to build a simple attic dryer. For this, four-angle frames are knocked down.

Leaves are dried in dryers, in attics and in rooms in a draft. They are stored, as a rule, as a whole (unmilled) in closed cans, cellophane, paper bags placed in cabinets. The flowers are dried in the attics under an iron roof. Kidneys are dried in ovens, ovens, dryers, in attics under an iron roof or in a well-ventilated dry room. They store dried buds in closed glass, porcelain jars or in dense plywood boxes laid out by paper in dry rooms.

Fruits, berries and seeds are dried in the air, in the attic or in the oven. Store in glass, porcelain jars or in packages of thick paper.

Natural drying is the easiest, most convenient and affordable way, which is often used at home. Directly under the influence of sunlight, drying of seeds, fruits, bark and underground organs (roots, rhizomes, tubers, bulbs) of medicinal plants is allowed in the sun. The aboveground parts - grass, leaves and flowers, are not dried in the sun, because under the influence of sunlight they lose their natural color: leaves and grass turn yellow, or turn pale, flowers often lose their appearance. Under the influence of sunlight, the chlorophyll pigment, which gives the green color to plant organs, decomposes. At the same time, other complex chemical compounds, including the main active substances, are destroyed in plant tissues.

Medicinal fees are a mixture of dried and crushed parts of plants. At home, tea is most often prepared from one, To obtain powders, plants can be crushed in a special crush; to obtain juices - presses, juicers. Leaves, grass and bark are cut, coarse leaves are crushed into coarse powder, roots and rhizomes are cut and crushed, seeds and fruits are crushed, or used whole. Flowers, with the exception of chamomile and linden, are not chopped.

At home, the dosage can be carried out using household items, in particular measuring cups, a dining room, a dessert, a teaspoon. The dose of grass is indicated as follows: 20.0 - 200.0, which means: 20 g of medicinal raw materials per 200 g of boiling water; if there are no weights, then you need to know that this is equal to one full tablespoon in one glass of boiling water or cold water.