Alternative remedies

" alternative is awesome"  North American alternative medicine or Dominican? The Dominican alternative could = mamajuana    .  In the campo they have different types of bottled remedies...

Hahahaha  oh yes Dominican remedies...... You are cracking me up.....

Another Dominican remedy:  Turmeric Tea  (The  turmeric plant looks a lot like ginger, the root is similar but orange in colour).  Also the use of Malagueta (allspice) in teas or added to coffee http://www.botanical-online.com/english … erties.htm

North American alternatives such as Oregano Oil or Tea Tree ( melaleuca )  Oil can be readily made.  Oregano grows wild in some areas...  Tea Tree shrub is originally from Australia but has been grown in the DR.

I am going to request this part of the conversation be moved to its own thread guys.....

There may be hidden benefits in a traditional Dominican cook's spice rack - here's a list:  http://www.dominicancooking.com/1011-th … -rack.html . 

Many of these herbs are the same as those used in Indian cooking for which there are documented health benefits (e.g. https://experiencelife.com/article/5-healing-spices/ ).

Many many remedies find their "roots" in  food, herbs etc.   I laugh at some of the remedies that just don't make any sense, BUT many have real value!

After my bout of dengue I was told to drink this juice -   cherry juice with  red pepper juice (sugar added of  course)  and let me tell you I was sooooo sick of this stuff. BUT when discussing with my American doctor there is real value in the natural vitamin content.  But please do  not try to make me drink that now............  I drank it for months.... eyuckkkkk.

If a person is diabetic, the mantra is "eat the fruit, do not drink the juice" .  My Dominican esposa has been through a lot of training for her diabetes, we arethinking of growing stevia as a sweetener.

Another American doctor is interested in Tia Clara's listing of Dominican culinary herbs, see the comments here http://www.dominicancooking.com/5819-he … oking.html .  The web page includes cilantro ancho and local names for both the DR and Puerto Rico...

Agreed on the juice!!!  Diabetes here is rampant and the diet sucks!!! WHITE rice,  WHITE bread, WHITE pasta..... and huge amounts of them.  Lots and lots of deep fried and NEVER enough vegetables!

My esposa currently lives in  Alberta, Canada and her sister in Sabana de La Mar.  It was a slow process to change how her sister cooks, she sister used to make the traditional deep fried fish with lots of oil and over cooked (lots of gas with max heat).  The cooking process was changed to using a non-stick or seasoned frying pan with very little oil (~2 tbsp.) then only 7 minutes per side.  There was a noticeable triple win:  fish tasted better, cooking oil lasted longer, and propane gas lasted longer.   Most importantly her Dominicano husband likes the fish this way.

As to rampant diabetes, we could not agree more.  The symptoms of severe neglect are ugly ( leg amputations, blindness, or even premature demise), the solutions involve change which is difficult - it is as though people are in denial.   The diagnosis ( a simple blood test ), then seeing a doctor for a prescription - metformin is cheap...

Many refuse to change.  Thry will say: if I didn't eat rice, I didn't eat!

Hi everyone

I remember the Moringa revolution a couple of years ago, they went crazy about it and many did a few extra pesos selling the plant... today you don't hear about it anymore, but it was really a funny thing.

Cheers

All hype and no substance unfortunately.

Yes all hype. I actually tried it for a week and made me sick.  Funny my friend who turned me on to it swore by the stuff.  When I told him it made me feel "not right" so I stopped.  He said he had many of the same symptoms (used the stuff for a year) and he stopped as well and I a week felt much better.

Bob K

As to general health as well as for a help with Diabetes try going to a gluten free (wheat free) diet.  It is amazing. I am a diabetic and by going "wheat free" and changing nothing else about my diet I dropped my morning sugar level by 5 points, and I feel much better generally.
Great book out there called "Wheat Belly"

Bob K

Great advice.

Siempre

Bob K

Hi all...

Bob another book you may be interested in is called "Eat 4 Your Blood Type" we've used it for about 5 years now and it really seems to make a difference...

Another "diet" is the "GAP" diet, gut and psychology syndrome.... makes alot of sense on how food or wrong food impacts your health.

Not preaching, just sharing....

Another change we made was in portion sizes - not eating too much at any one time and no pressure to eat everything on the plate.    This meant learning to like leftovers - some chefs rave about "yesterday's" soup.

Good posts and recommendations


Bob K

Any locavores out there? 

There are benefits to eating local http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/7_benefits … ocal_foods ; some Dominican veggies - green bananas, green plantains, green breadfruit, yellow yam, white yam, pumpkin, cassava/yucca (*)....  Lets not forget the fresh fish caught overnight and eaten that day. 

(*) A note on yucca, we found that it drove my wife sugar levels up.  We also found a difference between  parboiled rice ( Uncle Ben's) and polished rice (pure white), she can tolerate parboiled and brown rice is best,  but has to be very careful with polished rice.