An Effective and Proven Weight Loss Fruit

I discovered this amazing fruit recently! It took off 5 pounds from me in a week, and 10 pounds from my wife in 2 weeks! It's called a plum, pickled plum to be exact. So I researched on it and found that [as expected] plums are naturally rich in dietary fibers. Not just that, it also has natural vitamins and antioxidants. That explained my added high-energy experience! It's supposedly an effective and proven weight loss fruit!

Fermented and Dried Plums

I love eating dried plums called prunes. I buy them from any supermarket and they are definitely effective as a natural purgative. I love the taste, too, and I also love its thick juice form. But fermented plums are altogether different. I had a taste of it about 2 weeks ago and it was awesome! Plums are said to grow in cold places, not in the tropics, but I featured these plums here on my PhilAsian Herbs blog because these fermented plums I'm talking of come from Singapore..and partly from China. Well, here's the story.

My former boss, Roman, asked me to try the plums he's been taking to lose weight. He said it took off 5 inches from his waist! Hmm, I was kinda doubtful and curious. A 5-inch waist width decrease? Come on! He said he wanted my wife to especially try it, she being a bit flabby at the sides. So, okay. We tried this so-called effective and proven weight loss fruit.

Fermented Food is Powerful!

And indeed, my wife lost weight fast! I did, too. So I researched on this particular kind of fermented plums and saw how it was effective for health and weight loss. To start with, any food fermented becomes more powerful in nutrition and health effects. They become rich in microorganism or good bacteria and the action of good bacteria with food enhances its nutritional value, like in the case of plums. This is also more apparent with teas. Fermented teas become more powerful in antioxidants, like in the case of fermented Oolong, black, and Pu Er teas.

Colon Health

Fermented food is perfect for digestive health, especially colon health. Colon health depends on the health of microflora through good bacteria growth. With colon health comes regular disposal of human waste. And if no putrefying food is present in the colon [ascending, descending, and transverse colon], then no toxins and poisons and heavy metals stay there to react with bad bacteria. No disease can develop that way. Remember that diseases, especially cancer cells, live in highly acidic environment.

And with colon health comes easy and quick assimilation of food nutrients into your body. Which explains why I felt more energized after eating the fermented plums. And these plums are especially fermented with green tea and Pu Er tea extracts for fat burning and fat blocking effects, respectively. They are an effective and proven weight loss fruit. You should try it. To try it, see this site!

Herbal Immune Booster: It's Cheap and Commonly Found in the Philippines!

People all over the world have been searching for the ideal herbal immune booster, something that's cheap and commonly found around them. Of course, there are a lot of herbs, plants, and fruits reported to be powerful herbal immune boosters, but they are hard to find (sometimes, you have to scour the farthest places in the world like Indiana Jones or a Tomb Raider did to get to them) and cost too much for ordinary people like me.

So where can we find a powerful herbal immune booster we can afford and take daily? Well, one day as I and my wife were busy sorting out things at home and cleaning old stuffs, we heard a herbal nutrition and wellness expert being interviewed on the radio (DZAS). She was a certified organic and herbal enthusiast operating a clinic called Tree of Life somewhere in Manila (you can also check their Facebook page).

You Won't Believe What It Is!

You know what she said? The ideal and affordable herbal immune booster is--Kalamansi! It's been around us since time immemorial, it's cheap and always available in wet markets, supermarkets, and even street corner stores (sari-sari stores) here in the Philippines! Yeah, I knew that kalamansi or Calamondin (Science calls it Citrofortunella microcarpa) was good for health and body resistance, but she said amazing things about the small but terrible citrus fruit. It does not only boost the immune system, it cleanses and empowers the colon so that it stays in tiptop shape to help the body absorb vital food nutrients! And, of course, prevent cancer. And because it deals with colon cleansing, it's a super weight loss citrus fruit!

The Power of Kalamansi

The power of kalamansi is in its rich Vitamin C content. And this vitamin is known to be a potent immune system booster, aside from a known cancer fighter. Simply put, if you are sickly, take lots of Vitamin C daily from fresh fruits. And aside from Vitamin C, some experts say Kalamansi also has other vitamins and minerals. Kalamansi is really among small but powerful herbs and plants in the Philippines and Asia.

Dosage

No, you don't take kalamansi with sugar and water to be a herbal immune booster. A kalamansi drink like that is refreshing, but if you want a power-packed herbal immune booster and colon cleaner, take it this way: 30 minutes before breakfast, take 15 to 28 freshly squeezed kalamansi fruits, drinking them in a glass as soonas they're squeezed. Acidic? Nope. Freshly squeezed kalamansi is alkaline. Just make sure you drink it as soon as the kalamansi is squeezed.

Safe, all-natural and
organic weight loss product.

Why 15 to 28 pieces? Well, that's what the experts say. My guess is that, the number is necessary for an immune boost. I take 15 each morning about 30 minutes after my water therapy and 30 minutes before taking fruits like bananas. I used to easily catch cold and cough, but not anymore since I've been doing this herbal immune booster morning health ritual. I thank God for that!

Kamias: Ferment It!

This is what I love to do with kamias: ferment it!

As kids, we'd pick kamias fruits which grew in abundant clusters even on the lowest parts of the tree and try to hit each other with them. The super ripe fruits easily crushed on our faces and the watery, sourly juice would splash on our shirts. Ha! That was so much fun!

I never understood why so many ants would love to hang around the kamias tree, going up and down with excitement, when its fruits are super sour. Up to this day, my only guess is that the flowers probably have something to do with it. Or, probably its o.61 grams of protein makes ants crazy about it. I don't know.

Of all the sourly ingredients used for my favorite native Sinigang recipe, kamias is my favorite. The dish has the right sourness and you get to eat the fruit, besides. And it's easy to cook: just put in the fruits while boiling the fish or meat to tenderize them and then crush the fruits when tender to help ooze out its fruity flavor. You get lots of fibers.

Kamias has vitamins and minerals--Vitamin C to be sure. It has iron, protein, and calcium, to name a few. Eat the fruit raw and you get all the nutrition. If you can't eat super sour raw fruits like it, then try slicing the crunchy fruit (it's like pickles) really thin and mix it with ripe mangoes, tomatoes, and onions, with a sprinkling of salt or preserved fish (bagoong in Tagalog).

Or ferment it!

This is among my favorite kamias preparations. Locally we call it "burong kamias." Just fill a glass jar with the fruit (wash them thoroughly) and fill with half water and half Del Monte sugarcane vinegar or any vinegar derived from plants. Add salt to taste. Ferment it (or let it stay) for 5 days. Keep in a cool dry place in your kitchen. After 5 days, it's ready as a super dip for any fried dish--fish, meat, pork. The fruit is also now more eatable with 90 percent of its sourness diluted in the concoction. I like crushing the soft and silky fermented kamias with my tongue and getting all the subtly sourly succulence. So, what's the best thing to do with kamias? Ferment it!

Medicinal Uses

Now, the fruit and leaves have medicinal uses, too. Pound the leaves until they have the consistency of paste and apply that topically to skin irritations, mumps, acnes and pimples, rheumatic pains, pruritus, and even for the relief of cough and hypertension. Rub the paste gently on your throat for coughs and forehead for hypertension.

For fever and cold, kamias juice does wonders. If you cannot tolerate the sourness, add in wild honey. Some in Deep Asia use the leaves for venereal infections. 

More importantly, kamias is said to be anti-diabetic. Some clinical studies show that it's good as an anti-diabetic therapy. 

Because it's anti-bacterial, the fruits and leaves are good for fighting gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. So, some folks use the crushed fruits and leaves for cleaning their hands, face, and body and then washing them with water.

The fruit looks and tastes somewhat like Balimbing probably because it's a relative. Kamias is called Averrhoa Bilimbi scientifically. Anyway, whatever it looks or taste like to you, for me this is the best preparation for kamias: ferment it!

Is Mabolo Good?

As a kid growing up in the La Loma North Cemetery where various fruit trees were abundant in the 1960s, he was very familiar with it. "We would climb up the Mabolo trees and harvest the red, furry fruit in summer," he said fondly.

Mang Kardo told me lots about herbs and plants in the Philippines and Asia which abound in the cemetery. It was his fruits and herbs haven then.


Mabolo's furry skin sometimes causes itchiness, and the red color can stain clothes. So be careful when you pick or handle the fruit or peel it. After peeling, you see the beige color of the eatable fruit inside. It looks like an apple but smells like banana. It crackles a bit like an apple when you bite into it.

Plant science calls it Diospyros blancoi, but old folks in Deep Asia simply call it Mabolo. The mature tree produces very hard quality wood known in the Philippines as Kamagong and is suitable as a native bolo knife handle, probably thus the name "Mabolo." But, is Mabolo good for herbal remedies to treatment ailments?

The Mabolo leaves and bark are considered natural herbal remedies, good for getting rid of some stomach pains, cough, skin ailments, fever, dysentery, and diarrhea. Some folks claim the same is good for diabetes, heart problems, and high blood pressure.

The fruit itself is considered a herbal fruit. It can help nourish the body so it can heal itself naturally. This is possible by providing us with Vitamin B, protein, iron, and calcium. The fruit is also mixed in fruit juices by dicing it to pieces, or as food dish or stew ingredient.

One day, I finally saw Mabolo at the wet market I always passed by in Frisco in Quezon City when I was in High School. I bought some and ate the fruit for the first time. It was good. That settled the question in my mind: Is Mabolo good? Indeed, it is.

Though a fruit, I thought of featuring it here as among herbs and plants in the Philippines and Asia considered as all-natural herbal medicine. More people should learn about it.

The fruit is abundant in the months prior December but is also sometimes available in summer. In some posh and popular supermarkets, they sell it all year round. Not many in Deep Asia, even in Manila, are familiar with it, and many more have not tasted the fruit.

They don't know what quality nutrition they have missing in their lives.

Is Mabolo good?

As a teenager hearing about the fruit for the first time in my life, I asked this question to Mang Kardo, our property caretaker.