You may realize one fine day that your "body cart" is not able to pull you. You may feel that it is not able to drive your actions. Sipping into a hot cup of Bournvita may not be able to remove that feeling of sluggishness and an unusual heartbeat usually after exercise may make you feel collapsed. You may be sick and tired of putting loads of makeup to hide that paleness in your skin. Sudden leg cramps, headaches and sleeplessness at night may compel you to pay a visit to your physician. He will prescribe some tests and the reports delivered to your doorstep will present certain figures and you can easily understand the data just to find out that you have a below-normal hemoglobin count.
It is hemoglobin which transports dissolved oxygen to the body cells and tissues. A low hemoglobin count indicates that your cells are not getting adequate oxygen supply. And this means you are not getting enough "fuel" or energy to continue with your daily routine. So, as you can understand, it's not about a set of numerical figures and counts, it's about your overall well-being and even existence. And nature has given us enough scope to fulfill our body's needs or to replenish the lost nutrients. This is how home remedies can allow you to recover from anemia:
- Eat Dates: Dates or dry dates are very helpful in increasing blood hemoglobin level and in curing anemia, in turn.
- Drink Beetroot Juice: Taking beetroot juice or raw beet root is an excellent natural remedy for anemia.
- Take Soybean and Ragi: Soybean and Ragi (finger millet), taken in any form, benefits the anemia patients.
- Eat an Apple Every Day: Drinking apple juice or eating an apple everyday has proved to be an effective remedy for anemia.
- Eat Falsa Fruit: Eating falsa fruit can also cure anemia.
- Eat Blackstrap Molasses: Blackstrap molasses, containing 3.5 mg of iron per tablespoon, has been used in folk medicine as a "blood builder" for centuries.
- Take Vitamin and Iron Fortified Cereals: Consume cereals which are fortified with a nutrient punch of iron, vitamin B12 and folic acid. Pour some milk over the cereals and enjoy the wholesome goodness.
- Take Leafy Greens: Green leafy vegetables like spinach contain loads of iron and folic acid. The leafy green contains 3.2 mg of iron and 130 mcg of folic acid per 1/2 cup.
- Consume Vitamin C Rich Foods: Eat foods rich in vitamin C while including whole grains, spinach and legumes in your diet. This will enhance your iron absorption. If you drink tea, then include it between the meals and not with the meals. Tannins in tea form a bond to the iron (more specifically, to the non-heme iron found in plants), thereby limiting the body's ability to absorb this important mineral.
- Take Almonds: Almonds contain copper to the extent of 1.15 mg per 100 g. The copper along with iron and vitamins acts as a catalyst in the synthesis of hemoglobin.
- Take Ground Black Sesame Seeds With Milk: Soak one teaspoon of black sesame seeds in warm water for a couple of hours. Ground the seeds and strain the resultant. Mix it with a cup of milk and sweeten with jaggery or sugar. This emulsion has been found to treat anemia effectively.
- Consume Cow Milk With Honey, Longer Pepper and Black Pepper: A mixture comprising of 250 milliliters of cow milk, 10 grams of pure ghee (clarified butter), 1 gram of sugar, 5 gram of honey, a pinch of Longer pepper and a pinch of black pepper, if taken daily for 2 to 3 weeks will help to cure anemia.
- Drink Cow Buttermilk With Sugar Candy: Pure cow buttermilk mixed with sugar candy (mishri), if consumed for 3 to 4 times a day will give you good results.
- Eat a Raw Onion: Eat a raw onion or drink raw onion juice everyday to improve your hemoglobin levels.
- Take a Mixture of Spinach and Tomato Juices: Take a mixture of spinach and tomato juice daily.
- Consume Indian Gooseberries (Amla) Everyday: Eat an Indian Gooseberry every day. You may also consider consuming three teaspoon of gooseberry juice with three teaspoon of pure ghee. Continue this regime for 21 days to fight anemia.
- Eat Jaggery: Jaggery is a good source of iron and so consider replacing sugar with it as much as you can.
- Consume a Mixture of Jaggery and Groundnut: Consume jaggery and groundnut or roasted Bengal gram together. It is a great combination of iron and protein.
- Cook Food in an Iron Vessel: Cooking food in an iron vessel will allow some iron from the vessel to get transferred to the food, thereby improving its iron content.
- Eat Organ Meats: Organ meats especially livers, being rich sources of iron, should get included in your diet if you are struggling hard to defeat anemia.
Anemia forces you to challenge yourself as you try to struggle hard with your energy loss. You come out with fresh plans in the morning, but ultimately have to give up leaving your "Things to do" list incomplete. So anemia is creating a gap between what you wish to do and what you are actually able to do. And just imagine what anemia could be causing in pregnant women and their fetuses. Before your life takes a wrong route maintain some precautions - eat healthily and consult your doctor for symptoms. And remember, eating leafy greens does not mean that you are just a category of "herbivore".
