To begin, a 100 gm.dried gooseberry has as many as 3000 mg (approx.) vitamin C. Whenever you need this vitamin, just eat a gooseberry with some common salt. It is that simple. Vitamin C so obtained gets absorbed in our body quickly. Pickles and sherbet made form gooseberry are tasty. Ayurveda advises us to eat gooseberry everyday for our well being.
Gooseberry tree is grown all over India and many other parts of the world except in extreme climates. A normal gooseberry is round shaped ( nearly 2 cm. in diameter) and solid. The 6 lines on its surface are equally placed. It comes in yellow, green or copper colour.
Gooseberry in combating many ailments such as breathing problems, diabetes, arthritis, heart problems and so on. It is useful in hair growth too. a cup of fresh gooseberries has fiber, vitamin C and potassium and i=has cancer fighting qualities. But processed gooseberry powder, now available, has only half the quantity of vitamin C. Such powder has 180 calories while a cup of fresh gooseberries has just 65 calories.
Disease resistant properties of gooseberry are utilised in a number of medicines. Its good qualities improve working of all organs in our body. A spoon of gooseberry juice woth honey helps in digestion and passing urine. A spoon of this juice added to a cup of bitter- gourd (karela in Hindi) juice and taken daily, helps in regenerating insulin in our body and in reducing sugar content in blood. This medicine taken along with rigorous practice of diet as recommended by doctors will control diabetes. Again a spoon of gooseberry juice mixed with jaggery ( gur in Hindi) taken twice a day regularly, alleviates arthritis pain, over a period.
No wonder then, that gooseberry is an essential component in the age old ayurvedic tonic Chyavan Prash!
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