The Healing Benefits of Pineapple
Fruit for Thought: Pineapple
The Pineapple* (Ananas Comosus*) is a tropical plant with edible fruit. It has a bright yellow fibrous inner flesh that is naturally very sweet and best when ripe. Its aroma is pleasant, and the juice thirst quenching. Pineapple does not ripen well post-harvest, and it is available year-round.
**Botanical name:
**Ananas comosus, the most economically significant plant in the Bromeliaceae family.
**Native to:
**The plant is indigenous to South America and is said to originate from the area between Southern Brazil and Paraguay. Columbus encountered the pineapple in 1493 on the Leeward island of Guadeloupe. He called it piña de Indias, meaning “pine of the Indians,” and brought it back with him to Europe, thus making the pineapple the first bromeliad to leave the New World. Many say the fruit was first introduced in Hawaii when a Spanish ship brought them there in the 1500s. The fruit was cultivated successfully in European hothouses beginning in 1720.
Healing Benefits:
As a very subtle healer of many body ailments, below is a list of some of the benefits of pineapple:
- Its most essential ingredient is bromelain, a natural anti-inflammatory and painkiller. In the upper respiratory tract, bromelain fights bronchitis and sinusitis. Bromelain is effective in healing stomach ulcers and repairing body tissues.
- Pineapple juice contains natural collagen which boosts the immune system.
- Damaged, chapped or burnt skin can be reconditioned by drinking pineapple juice.
- Pineapple contains detoxifying elements and chemicals that stimulate kidney functions.
- Helpful in treating bruises, cuts, muscle pain, arthritis, joint pain, sprains, and back pain. Pineapple has proven to positively supplement recovery from knee injury, reduce fever, body wrinkles, and aid digestion.
- Consuming pineapple often drastically reduces recovery after surgery.
- Excellent antidote for cardio-vascular disease due to its ability to break-down cholesterol compounds.
**CAUTION:
**Children should not eat it in excess as it can cause gingivitis in children.
Recipe: Spiced Tropical Fruit Compote
Makes: 6 servings, 2/3 cup each Active Time: 20 minutes Total Time: 50 minutes
Whole spices give a subtle but distinct flavor to this tropical fruit compote. Here the fruit is not cooked in the syrup, but simply macerated so that the taste remains fresh and distinct. The spiced syrup is also a wonderful sweetener for hot tea or as a base for a veggie-stir-fry.
**Ingredients: **
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh pineapple juice
1 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest
1/4 cup lime juice, (2 limes)
10 whole cardamom pods
8 whole allspice berries
8 whole black peppercorns
8 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
3 kiwi, peeled and sliced
2 mangoes or papayas, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
2 seedless tangerines or small oranges, peeled and sliced
2 star fruit (carambolas), thinly sliced
1 cup fresh pineapple chunks
1 banana, peeled and cut into thick slices
Directions:
- Combine sugar, pineapple juice, lime zest and juice in a small saucepan.
- Tie the spices in a small cheesecloth bag and add it to the saucepan.
- Bring the liquid to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
- Cover the pan, reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.
- Toss all the fruit in a serving bowl.
- Add syrup and stir gently.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Remove spice bag and serve.
About the Author
Now is the Time for an Ayurvedic Spring Cleanse
Spring has been shown to be the best time for a cleanse, which may just be the best action you can take for your health today. The ancient science of Ayurveda provides a safe, evidence-based, and comprehensive way to do it.
Cleansing, or detoxing the body, has been a key practice throughout the 5,000 years of Ayurveda’s history as a system of natural healing. Now, research explains the impressive results of the Ayurvedic cleanse.
Dr. John Douillard is a leading Ayurvedic practitioner who has been incorporating Ayurvedic detox programs in his practice for decades. He explains that poor digestion is at the core of the need for detoxification.
“I think most people don’t realize that our ability to digest well is directly linked to our ability to detoxify well,” Doulliard said. “In one survey, [it was] reported that 74 percent of the American population have a digestive imbalance of some kind, suggesting that not only are we not getting the nutrition that we need, but we’re also not getting the waste out as efficiently as we could — and there are waste, toxins, and pollutants everywhere. So, even if you eat really clean, which is obviously a really important thing, you’re still being exposed to toxicity, which means that you have to be able to digest well to detoxify that. That’s why Ayurveda is all about making sure with every change of the season, we do our best to reset — a deep rejuvenation to repair the digestion and detox organs and pathways. They’re actually creating a whole new population of bugs in your gut that are based on this year’s model, which gives you the stability and immunity for the entire year.”
Given these compelling reasons, what are the best indicators to notice if it’s time for you to do a cleanse?
“How is your digestion? Do you have a food intolerance? When you look at your tongue in the morning, if it’s white or coated, Ayurveda calls it ‘ama’ or undigested food. When you’re toxic, you’re tired, and not getting the energy from the lymph delivery of fat — your immune system is compromised and you can’t take the trash out, so it starts coming out through your skin. This gives you brain fog, headaches, rashes, indigestion; all these things begin to happen,” Douillard said.
