Why Papaya is More Than a Colorful Dessert

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Papaya is often a favorite "filler" fruit. If you prepare fruit salad and wonder what else to put in or feel that it lacks something brightly colored, you add in papaya chunks. You may also want to put some thick consistency to your milk or fruit sauce so you add in slices of papaya. I remember loving a natural fruit salad served to us (no cream, milk, or sugar) that tasted strangely "creamy." Then I found out it had overripe papaya sauce in it.

I wonder why there still isn't any papaya flavored ice cream?

Papaya is definitely tropical, abundantly growing in the Philippines and neighboring Asian countries like Malaysia, Thailand, India, and Sri Lanka. Go to any province in the Philippines and you're sure to find papaya trees, even in fruit. When I was young, my friends and I would pick raw, green papaya and slice them up and soak them in vinegar and salt. We ate that as some kind of a pickle-snack as we told each other stories under some shaded tree after classes.

Ripe papaya is good as both dessert and cooking ingredient. It is made into a sauce, pickle, or preserved as a fruit jam or marmalade. Filipinos also love mixing it in soup menus like Tinola or nilaga. It is rich in Vitamins A and C, as well as antioxidants, especially the seeds which are also potential ingredients of nutraceuticals. Papaya has immuno-stimulating properties and the seeds can be used in treating gastrointestinal infections and even have anthelmintic activity.

Experts say the fruit with its seeds have bacteriostatic activities that aid intestinal pathogens while papaya leaves are said to relieve asthmatic symptoms, amoebic dysentery, and even fever. The leaf extract has vasodilation benefits and together with the antioxidant found there is said to help reduce heart problems. The papaya aqueous extract is believed to help heal burns as it did in a test involving rats that suffered burns.

Finally, ripe papaya is rich in dietary fibers and is a favorite delicious remedy for constipation in the Philippines. Here's a tip--choose one that is very soft to the touch but not too overripe as to be rotten. This has lots of fibers (aside from Vitamins A and C--yellow fruits are Vitamin A fruits, remember?) and is very good for smooth bowel management.

In the Philippines, you get a choice between oblong or small rounded papaya varieties. The small and rounded type is usually sweeter and richer in flavor. Papayas in this country also come in either yellow insides or red insides, with seeds or seedless. As for me, among herbs and plants in the Philippines and Asia that bear edible fruits, I prefer those with seeds.

Asian Herbs for Mind Power

Mind power is so important. The mind should be in power over the body and command it to obedience. As kids practicing martial arts, we would try to imitate the Zen masters and effect what looks like meditation for mind power. But it's all form and no essence--purely cinematic.

But ancient Chinese herbalists had secrets to brain power. They kept a list of Asian herbs for mind power and will strength. The herbs were supposed to keep your mind relaxed and super encouraged to seek higher plains for developing your full potentials. Here are some of them:

• Powdered Pearl. This is a Shen tonic (Shen has to do with a group of mind relaxing herbs) for empowering the emotions, control fear, anger, and frustration. 
• Peony. A root herb that relaxes the muscle and purifies the blood. That works for a more relaxed mind (as we know that blood feeds the brain with oxygen and nutrients). For women having troubles with their menstrual periods, this herb relaxes them. 
• Pinellia. Aids in digestion and clears the lungs of phlegm. Of course, if your tummy and breathing are okay, that relaxes your mind and empowers it. 
• Pine Nuts. This reportedly made Taoist priests live longer. Knowing how your life is prolonged can definitely make you relax. 
• Polygala. A popular mind relaxant herb. It also strengthens your will to reach new intellectual and spiritual heights and helps you stay positive to fulfill your potentials. Some say it aids in dreaming good dreams.
• Polygonatum Sibericum. It is a Yin tonic for brain vitality. It is good for minds often over worked and over stressed. It nourishes and strengthens the brain.

Herbs are said to often nourish at the cellular level, and thus penetrate deeply for nourishment. But Asian herbs for mind power are said to affect the brain in more ways than the cellular realms.