Moringa Vegetable is a Miracle for Healthy Life
This Lowly, Dark Green Vegetable Nourishes People Through the Ages
Jun 18, 2009
For the past 19 years of this life, there is always at least one serving of kamunggay soup on Tobes’ dining table in his retirement home in Talisay City, Philippines. It goes well with fish and other vegetables like yellow squash or chayote.
Miracle Vegetable
Tobes said that kamunggay is the one vegetable that has miraculously made him healthy all these years.
The Moringa stands out to be the most nutritious of vegetables, researches found out. Also known as drumstick tree or horseradish tree, it is a perennial soft wood with low quality timber that grows practically in every backyard of Philippine homes.
The Moringa is however a native of the sub-Himalayan tracts of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. It has become an important tree in the tropics and are cultivated in Africa, Central and South America, Sri Lanka, India, Mexico, and Malaysia.
A research study by Jed Fahey of the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland revealed that Moringa leaves have more vitamin A than carrots, more calcium than milk, more iron than spinach, more vitamin C than oranges, more potassium than bananas. Its protein quality rivals that of milk and eggs.
The kamunggay is also an effective antidote for constipation and hyperacidity with its leaves made into soup and mixed with other vegetables like yellow squash or chayote.
Healthy Combination
It was only about 19 years ago since Tobes made eating kamunggay a habit. “I started eating kamunggay in 1990, when I began to feel I was sick,” he revealed.
His diet then instantly became a healthy combination of vegetables, fruits, and fish plus a health supplement composed of organically grown kamunggay, ampalaya, and garlic. He still sometimes eats fried foods, but uses canola oil as a healthier alternative.
The whole regimen changed his life entirely, for Tobes regained his good health and was able to sustain it now that he is 88.
Health Benefits
The Department of Agriculture in the Philippines is pushing for the massive production of indigenous vegetables to combat iron-deficiency among pregnant women and malnutrition among children.
International organizations concerned with health and nutrition such as the Trees for Life, Church World Service, and the Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization have advocated Moringa as the natural nutrition for the tropics. Several pharmaceutical companies have also developed health supplements from the Moringa against diabetes and hypertension.
Considered one of the world’s most useful trees, almost every part of the Moringa tree can be used for food and as foliage for livestock.
In Siddha medicine, the drumstick seeds are used as a sexual virility drug for treating erectile dysfunction in men and for prolonging sexual activity among women.
The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, meanwhile, is making further studies to verify the hypotensive, anti-cancer, and anti-bacterial values of Moringa that traditional healers of the Orient have long known.
Holistic Health
Tobes said that long life means having holistic health, with good diet and regular exercise. For about 17 years too, he pedals everyday his stationary bicycle for at least thirty minutes. This is enough to strengthen the muscles in his legs, improve his blood circulation, and empower his heart.
Finally, there is his effort at ensuring his spiritual well-being. “I read the Bible everyday and write poems about God and faith. This is my expression of spirituality,” he said.
He said good health has to be a holistic combination of good diet, regular exercise, and spiritual nourishment.
