Natural Remedy
Apples should be eaten every day, whenever they are available. The old adage, ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ is a reminder of the efficacy of apples in avoiding illness of many kinds. Apples are rich in Vitamin C and other plant chemicals such as pectin, which benefits the health by soothing mucous membranes and increasing resistance to disease.
Apples contain quercetin which is an anti-cancer component, as well as being helpful for the heart and lungs health. Quercetin , like pectin, has an anti-inflammatory action on the mucous membranes.
Apples are a healing food which have vitamin B17 laetrile in their pips, which is an anti-cancer component.
Apples are good for the teeth. They are a famous preventer or cure for constipation and colitis, and for lowering bad cholesterol in the blood. Apples are helpful for maintaining heart health and in stabilizing blood pressure. They are also thought to prevent alzheimer’s, if they are eaten regularly.
But did you know that the Lungs can benefit from apples? Asthma and bronchitis or persistent coughs can be helped by eating apples. The apple diet is not a ‘stand-alone’ treatment, but it is well worth eating a meal of apples if you have a bout of coughing. Of course, you must visit your doctor or naturopath, homeopath or ayurvedic practitioner if you have a lung problem of any kind. But do consider apples as part of your treatment.
Eating an apple desert such as the one I have listed below, or eating two grated apples raw, can relieve coughing almost immediately. I have noticed benefits to the lungs from eating both raw and cooked apple, but I think that if you have a persistent cough, or wheezing, then the cooked apple eaten warm has more benefit.
I have been using apples, both raw and cooked, to cure a chest complaint which I have had for a while. I think it was pleurisy. The cough was helped immediately I began the apple treatment, and the chest pain disappeared after several weeks of incorporating apple in my daily diet. It seems that my immune system stays strong while I continue to eat apples every day. When I relaxed the apple treatment, as well as the homeopathic, herbal (olive leaf and zinc) and vitamin supplements I have been taking, the cough came back with an inkling of the same chest pain I had had before.
I did see a doctor about this, and had an X-Ray done – just one – to see if there was any cancer on the lung. But the X-Ray showed only hyper-ventilated lungs, and, fortunately, no trace of cancer. The doctor could not help me any more that that, since I did not want to take an antibiotic.
So I pulled out all stops to do a natural cure. The apple treatment is an integral part of the programme I followed, which included various vitamins, herbal remedies, homeopathy, and abstaining from bread and wheat, with very few dairy products or sugar.
Here is a simple but delicious recipe for a stewed apple meal to help a persistent cough.
Recipe for Stewed Apple Dessert:
Grate two large apples with their skins left on. Do not peel the apples. I like granny smiths, but any apple will do.
Put your apples into a saucepan with 2 and a 1/2 cups of water.
Bring to the boil and turn the heat down. Cook gently for 5 minutes.
Turn off the heat.
Add half a cup of dates.
Add 3/4 cup of oatmeal bran, or rolled oats. I prefer the oatmeal bran, as I think it has more nutrients than standard oatmeal.
Stir. Put the lid on the pot and leave on the warm stove with the heat turned off.
Wait for five minutes, then serve. Put either a knob of butter on top of the apple dessert, or a tablespoonful of olive oil.
If you have a sudden attack of coughing, then take the apple desert on its own as a meal. Eat a large bowl of it. Make sure you use some of the pips of the apple in the dessert, as these contain valuable healing nutrients, such as laetrile, or vitamin B17, also known as amygdalin. And do keep the skins on the apple. Healing components such as pectin and potassium have a high concentration in the skin of the apple. So make sure to use that skin. If you grate the apples, then the skin is easy to eat once the apple has cooked.