Health Tips from Cambodia
«សូមឲ្យអាហារក្លាយជាថ្នាំរបស់អ្នក ហើយថ្នាំក្លាយជាអាហាររបស់អ្នក»
«Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.»
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Krou Khmer - Nature as the medicine cabinet
“Krou Khmer” are the healers and herbalists of Cambodian traditional medicine. They are experts in health care and healing. For centuries, they used to treat diseases making them the first people who formulated medical wisdom. The Krou Khmer traditional medicine is a form of naturopathic medicine. It uses natural remedies like roots, barks, herbs, and leaves, motivating the body’s vital ability to heal and maintain itself. Kind of magical for many, the traditional Khmer medicine stems from a deep understanding of life. It also develops a system of manipulating the human body.
Many trees in Cambodia contain substances to treat diseases. Some trees grow in the deep forest, near lakes or next to our house. Some medicine we eat almost every day, but we don’t know the healing effect. For instance, banana can cue our stomach, carrots can cue our veins, guavas can heal diarrhoea. Some scientific pills are derived from these trees as well.
Let’s look at banana and carrot from a natural medical perspective.
Banana - Bananas are among the most important food crops on the planet. Bananas are a healthy source of fiber, potassium, vitamin B6, vitamin C, and various antioxidants and phytonutrients. Bananas may be beneficial for heart health due to their high levels of potassium and antioxidants. What’s more, their resistant starch and pectins may promote colon health.
Carrots - They are crunchy, tasty, and highly nutritious. Carrots are a particularly good source of beta carotene, fiber, vitamin K1, potassium, and antioxidants. They also have a number of health benefits. They’re a weight-loss-friendly food and have been linked to lower cholesterol levels and improved eye health. What’s more, their carotene antioxidants have been linked to a reduced risk of cancer.
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Traditional Diet - A wellness platter low in fat and low in calorie
The Cambodian diet is naturally nutritious, full of fish and other seafood, vegetables and fruit. Unlike many Western countries, Cambodian meals are generally low-fat and low- calorie.
The most popular vegetables used in soups, stir-frys and salads are bean sprouts, carrots, cabbage, cucumber, red pepper, watercress, string beans, egg plant, bok choi, a variety of greens, broccoli, green onion, red onion, mushroom, lemon grass and bell pepper.
The most common spices are garlic, pepper, turmeric, tamarind, chili, ginger root, basil and cilantro.
Fruit, such as papayas or mangos are often used in sauces or cooked as vegetables. Jackfruit, durain, longans, lychees, coconut, mango, papaya and bananas are also commonly eaten fresh for dessert.
Coconut milk with banana, sugar and tapioca is another favorite, as is sticky rice filled with pork, jackfruit or banana.
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From a modern perspective - If you’re eating a healthy, well-balanced meal plan, restricting your fat intake isn’t generally necessary. However, under some circumstances, a diet low in fat may be beneficial to your health.
A diet low in fat can:
- Assist with weight loss due to fewer total calories consumed
- Help reduce the risk of obesity and heart disease
- Help lower cholesterol levels
This type of diet may also be helpful if you have trouble digesting or absorbing fat, if you’re recovering from gallbladder surgery or if you have gallbladder or pancreas disease.
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Drinking honey & lemon in the morning - To treat dehydrated and an upset stomach
Some people believe drinking a mix of freshly squeezed lemon juice and honey that sat out overnight to collect the evening dew can cure sore throats, as well as be beneficial in many other ways, like: Aids Digestion, Detoxifies Body, Clears the Skin, Helps Increases Immunity, Honey and Lemon Water: Benefits & Uses, Good Remedy for Throat Infection, Boosts Your Energy. Benefits of Honey & Lemon
Lemon is one of the most important ingredients in Cambodian cuisine. Fresh lemon juice makes a great ingredient for flavour as a condiment and also complimentary to salad dressings and dipping sauces. Otherwise, preserved lemon is excellent for cooking.
In traditional medicine, Cambodians use preserved lime for treating a dehydrated and an upset stomach. The elders would advise that if you ever get sick and everything becomes tasteless or food can’t stay in your stomach, try the Cambodian preserved lemon drink because you’ll be surprised how much it can assist in curing your sickness.
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Bitter lemon - For skin and (kidney) stone.
Bitter melon can be squeezed into water to cure high temperatures. Despite its strong bitter taste, bitter melon is rich in various nutrients that can improve your health in a number of ways. The use of bitter melon in traditional medicine dates back 600 years ago.
Here are some of the amazing health benefits of bitter melon.
Good for your stomach: Like most plants, bitter melon’s high fibre content improves the bowel movement and relieves constipation. The bitterness actually increases saliva production and helps in the secretion of gastric juices that stimulates digestion, preventing stomach ulcers, acidity, indigestion and colorectal cancer.
Helps in treating diabetes: A report published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews in 2012, revealed that bitter melon contains hypoglycaemic and insulin-like (Polypeptide-P) compounds that can help lower blood sugar levels in patients with type-2 diabetes. Regular consumption of bitter melon can provide additive effects when taken with conventional diabetes medication.
Lowers cholesterol and obesity: Recent studies have shown that bitter melon can help treat hypercholesterolemia and lower dangerously high levels of bad cholesterol. Reducing cholesterol significantly reduces heart attack, heart disease, and stroke. Studies have also shown that bitter melon increases lipid metabolism that helps to burn fat thus preventing obesity.
Getting rid of kidney stone: Most kidney stones are hardened formations of calcium phosphate or calcium oxalate. Bitter melon can be helpful in ridding the body of kidney stones by naturally breaking them down. Bitter melon also reduces the high acid that produces painful kidney stones.
Great for your skin: Bitter melon is considered as one of the best food for curing and treating acne, pimples and other skin problems and allergies like itching, rash, etc. because of its anti-fungal, anti-biotic and anti-inflammatory properties. It is also useful in treating blood disorders like blood boils, scabies, itching, psoriasis, ringworm and other fungal diseases.
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Ginger to sprain and swollen limbs
Crushed ginger is sometimes rubbed on sprained or swollen limbs. Ginger is beneficial in growing a sprained ankle effects-like swelling, and discomfort. Only fill a container with eight cups of water and put a cut ginger root of about 2-3 inches into it. Boil the water in the container for 5 minutes, turn off the heat, and then keep the ginger water in the container until room temperature. Then, soak a warm cotton fabric with water and cover the swollen sprained ankle with it. It is necessary to initiate this care within 2-3 days of the injury moment. Often, when it is too dry, do not apply it, because it will aggravate the skin and inflict tissue damage.
If you don’t have ginger, try garlic. Garlic may be a really effective home cure for sprains, easing the discomfort, improving healing rates, and boosting the immune function simultaneously. What you need to do is wash the wounded spot, dry it thoroughly, then take a spoonful of garlic juice and combine it with a spoonful of coconut or olive oil. The mixture should be lightly massaged for around 10 minutes onto the wounded region, and then washed thoroughly. For better performance, this should be practiced twice a day for 2-3 weeks.
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Sadoa leaves - To combat high fever and skin irritations
Sadoa, a bitter vegetable, is believed to prevent sickness in traditional Khmer medicine. The leaves are used in the traditional medicine as a tonic to prevent illnesses and support good health. Sadao leaves are also used to reduce symptoms associated with fevers and skin irritations. It is largely used as a preventative medicine due to its high antioxidant content. Antioxidants are substances that may protect your cells against free radicals, which may play a role in heart disease, cancer and other diseases. Free radicals are molecules produced when your body breaks down food or when you're exposed to tobacco smoke or radiation.
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Fasting
There are few fasting traditions in Cambodian culture. Locals report that certain groups of very dedicated Buddhists fast. Fasting has been associated with several health benefits, including weight loss, improved blood sugar control, decreased inflammation, and enhanced heart health. It might also offer protection against certain conditions like cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. Fasting does not necessarili mean you don’t eat for days or week, but rather to reduce the window for eating and not earing. A typical method is named ‘intermittant fasting’. Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where you cycle between periods of eating and fasting. Intermittent fasting may benefit heart health, reduce inflammation, and improve cell repair processes. It may also help burn fat. There are many different types of intermittent fasting, such as the 16/8 and 5:2 methods. That means your window for eating is 8 hours and fasting for 16 hours.
Here are 10 health benefits when doing intermittant fasting Intermittant Fasting Benefits
Changes the function of hormones, cells, and genes
Can help you lose weight and visceral fat
Can reduce insulin resistance, lowering your risk for type 2 diabetes
Can reduce oxidative stress and inflammation in the body
May be beneficial for heart health
Induces various cellular repair processes
May help prevent cancer
Has benefits for your brain
May help prevent Alzheimer’s disease
May extend your lifespan, helping you live longer
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Cambodian Noodle Soup - For a longer life
Cambodian Noodle Soup (នំបញ្ចុក), served on New Years, Prachum Ben and at housewarmings, is a special occasion dish representing long life. The soup is made with fish, lemon grass, lemon leaf, turmeric and coconut milk, and served with fresh vegetables, such as string beans,
Lemongrass might help prevent the growth of some bacteria and yeast. Lemongrass also contains substances that are thought to relieve pain and swelling, reduce fever, improve levels of sugar and cholesterol in the blood, stimulate the uterus and menstrual flow, and have antioxidant properties. Some of the additional health benefits of lemon leaves, apart from being good for human skin, include having sedative and antispasmodic properties, thus helping in relieving the symptoms of disorders such as insomnia, nervousness and palpitation.
Turmeric — and especially its most active compound, curcumin — have many scientifically proven health benefits, such as the potential to improve heart health and prevent against Alzheimer's and cancer. It's a potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. It may also help improve symptoms of depression and arthritis.
Green beans, string beans, or snap beans are a rich source of vitamins A, C, and K, and of folic acid and fiber. They have similar nutritional benefits to snap peas and okra. Bean farmers harvest green beans while the beans are still in their pod before they have had a chance to mature.
Studies show that sprouts may help reduce “bad” LDL cholesterol, which causes the buildup of artery-clogging plaque. Bean sprouts may also increase levels of “good” HDL cholesterol, which helps clear fatty deposits from the blood. Evidence also suggests that sprouts can lower another blood fat known as triglycerides.
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Honey & Wine - For chest pain
Honey with wine is supposed to be good for chest pain. The term honey wine is sometimes used as a synonym for mead, although wine is typically defined to be the product of fermented grapes or certain other fruits, and some cultures have honey wines that are distinct from mead. Mead was produced in ancient times in Cambodia, and has played an important role in the mythology and traditional medicine.
Today, many people drink mead just for fun, but what they do not realize is that mead provides a lot of health benefits as well. Benefits of Mead
1. Anti-inflammatory Benefits: The main ingredient of mead is honey, which proves beneficial in killing human pathogens, which in turn promotes quick healing. It also gets rid of any external pathogens in the body that result in causing symptoms of redness, itching and soreness.
2. Relief with Upper Respiratory Tract Infections: Honey is believed to reduce any kind of inflammation and infections in the respiratory tract. It is the most common remedy at home to sooth your throat during a cough or any kind of throat infection. Its antimicrobial healing properties are a factor with this benefit.
3. Management of Gastrointestinal Diseases: It is said that honey helps manage issues like gastritis, duodenitis and ulcers in the gastric system. Honey stops the adherence of the pathogens that cause the diseases in the intestinal epithelium. In later studies, it was also found out that honey can keep bacteria from adhering to intestinal epithelial cells.
4. Makes You Fit and Healthy: Many people who avoid sugar consumption, as it is unhealthy if consumed in excess, don’t consume wine or beer either. They believe that white sugar has many negative effects on the body and health, but they should remember that mead does not contain white sugar. Mead is made using honey and yeast honey is very beneficial for the body. It includes many antioxidants, enzymes, minerals, and even vitamins that will regulate your body’s metabolism and keep you fit and more vital.
5. A Good Source of Protein: Mead has a high protein content, maybe even higher than the protein in meat. The basic procedure of making mead everywhere is the same, but some people like to add optional additions of spices, fruits and other flavors. It can also include herbal flowers and some herbs, making it a heavenly drink. Mead is even called the “nectar of gods” in some places, as folks believe that God sent this drink that has magical healing abilities.
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Congee - To lower body temperature
Congee with dried mudfish is also believed to lower body temperature. Congee or conjee is a type of rice porridge or gruel eaten in Cambodia. Congee has been used preventatively to promote good health and digestion for centuries. It provides the environment for the proper function of the spleen-stomach and it’s transformative abilities.
In traditional medicine, it was suggested that eating some hot congee right after taking herbal decoctions can help reinforce the medical function in promoting sweating and getting the pathogenic energies out together. In addition, one of the applications for congee, was to protect the stomach by balancing out the herbs delivered for medicinal purposes—a vehicle to directly target the affected areas of the body.
Nugget: The massive Angkor Wat complex holds the honour of being the world’s largest religious structure covering 1,626,000 square metres, or about 400 acres. Angkor Wat is so large that it’s more than double the size of the world’s second-largest religious complex, Sri Ranganathasvamy, a Hindu temple in India.
