Grow Your Own Medicine by Mim Beim

Author:Mim Beim [Beim, Mim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-7304-9494-2
Publisher: ABC Books
Published: 2011-09-04T16:00:00+00:00

Grapefruit

Ever since the 1930s, when the Hollywood, or Grapefruit, Diet became popular, grapefruit have been associated with weight loss. Which is a shame really, because there is not much evidence backing up this claim. However, if you eat half a grapefruit and drink a glass of grapefruit juice several times a day, exercise like a demon, and consume no more than 800 calories (3400 kJ), you too can lose weight on the Hollywood Diet. Nevertheless, grapefruit do offer various other health benefits.

In recent years, grapefruit seeds have been garnering attention as a natural antimicrobial.

AT A GLANCE

How easy to grow Fairly easy

Part used Herbal use: seed; culinary use: fruit

Goes well with As an antimicrobial: garlic; for liver health: dandelion, globe artichoke or St Mary’s thistle

Also known as Citrus x paradisi

How to use Fruit: food; seeds: food, tincture

Climate zones 1–6 (the warmer the sweeter)

Companion plant Comfrey

Pot No

MEDICINAL USES

Grapefruit helps normalise hematocrit levels. Hematocrit is the percentage of red blood cells in our blood, so it is potentially useful in those with a tendency for anaemia. Ruby grapefruit not only taste great, the pink colour is due to the antioxidant pigment lycopene, helpful for guarding against prostate, bladder, lung, cervical and skin cancers. One of the few bitter fruits (especially the pith), grapefruit helps the liver and digestion by activating the bitter tastebuds, which in turn trigger the vagus nerve to stimulate the liver, gallbladder and entire digestive tract.

Grapefruit seeds are strongly antimicrobial, effective against many types of bacteria, including E. coli, Salmonella and Staphylococcus, as well as fungal infections such as Candida albicans and Aspergillus, and certain protozoa. For this reason, grapefruit seed extract is widely used in the food and cosmetic industry as a preservative, preventing spoilage of products by these microbes. These natural antiseptic powers seem to be selective, however, leaving alone various beneficial microbes, including the ‘good bug’ acidophilus. Eating a couple of seeds daily (or a drop or two of grapefruit seed tincture) will kill various ‘bad bugs’, such as Candida albicans, in the digestive tract, leaving room for more harmonious individuals of the bowel microflora population. But be warned: grapefruit seeds are lip-curlingly bitter.

GOOD FOR

Fruit

Internally: Anaemia, constipation, sluggish liver. Ruby grapefruit helps guard against prostate and other cancers.

Seed

Internally: Candida, fungal and parasitic infections, especially of the bowel.

Topically: Fungal and bacterial infections of skin and nails.

Caution: Grapefruit juice and pulp contain chemicals that slow the actions of certain enzymes in the liver (P450 3A4) that metabolise some drugs. For this reason, if you enjoy drinking grapefruit juice, and take prescription medication, ask your practitioner if there is any interaction between your medication and grapefruit.

HOW TO USE IT

Fruit

Internally: Eat fresh fruit or drink the juice. Seed

Internally: Chew one or two seeds daily, or take four to five drops of tincture (see page 34). Grapefruit seed is extremely bitter, and may be toxic in large amounts. Topically: Apply the tincture direct to fungal or bacterial condition of skin or nails.

GROWING YOUR OWN

It is thought to be the clustering habit of

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