Could Lemon Be A Coronavirus Wonder Drug?…
Let’s be real, we are in for the ride of our lives with possibly the worst pandemic of our times. Unprecedented, unpredictable, unfathomable and unthinkable are some of the uns’ that comes to mind when describing the sheer havoc, sadness and confusion this disease has caused so far across the globe. No one, no matter their scientific credentials or experience saw this coming and contrary to what you might think, we are not quite sure anyone knows the origin of this deadly plague either. Experts are looking every which way to try and find a cure in what seems like a race against time, while everyday people are hearkening back to natural remedies and customs to saves their own lives. It is for the sake of my own sanity and well-being that I too went back to my roots to dig up my family’s tradition of using citrus fruits, natural herbs and bushes to heal.
For many years, I was akin to the magical powers of natural medicines, starting as a child in deep rural Trelawny, a mountainous parish in part of Jamaica’s rural landscape. My grandmother a descendant of Jamaica’s indigenous Maroon tribe, was a staunch believer in healing by nature for everything from a toothache to a broken ankle. I went to the doctor only twice before I turned sixteen; once after I was born and the other time for my polio vaccines. Even that didn’t sit too well with the herbal wonder woman I called mama’, who once crushed the leaves from the custard apple tree and wrapped them in cotton fabric to heal my two broken wrists and who also used the burnt oil from a kerosene lamp to treat my diarrhea. She was assured and methodical in her treatments. A bout of the flu would be met with …”Come here, drink this” she would say, forcing a plastic cup of whatever was grounded, crushed or brewed from the earth in her tea pots and sieves. Whatever it was would not necessarily be pleasant; like the black instant coffee beaten in her wooden martar’, mixed with overproof rum, salt and lime for that pounding headache and fever or that mixture of five different bushes she pulled from its roots to make a concoction that healed your pain in record time. My grandmother’s house boasted a lush landscape of herbs, fruits and vegetables. Everything we consumed if it didn’t come from my grandmother’s yard, came from my father’s farm. One item was constant in my grandmother’s house at every table, in every room and every crevice was a single lemon or lime. It was purely natural to me to see citrus fruits all over our house so there was no need to ask why my grandmother would consistently squeeze lemon in the corners of the house before she prepared us or bed or during times of civil or personal concerns.
I never understood and appreciated the power of lemon until my grandmother’s best friend ‘Majul’ passed away in her home. A few days after Majul passed, I happened to see my grandmother and Majul’s relatives squeezing lemon around the make-shift morgue (I didn’t know it at the time) made from burned coal and hundreds of coffee beans placed under the bed where she laid lifelessly. I remembered asking an older gentleman who was guarding the door of the room why they were squeezing so much lemon on the floors. I am pretty sure he responded, but his response eludes me to this day, yet that day marked the beginning of my appreciation for lemon and citrus peels. Years later, I understood it to be that the lemon was to eradicate any smell from the decaying body. As a natural antiseptic and anti-bacterial agent, it is pretty powerful.
Lemon is best used as a natural form of preventive medicine. In fact lemon is most effective overtime. Although mostly popular for uses like a sore throat and the common cold, lemon has the power to heal and cure multiple ailments from high blood pressure to male infertility. In the case of this monster of a pandemic, the coronavirus has proven to be unmatched, however stories are emerging of persons who successfully beat the virus. What’s not clear is if these individuals had an enviably sound immune system or what their dietary habits are like. I was particularly keen to share my own anxiety with the virus and how lemon is helping me combat it.
I traveled to Canada in the height of the media blitz about the Coronavirus in Wuhan. At the time roughly four weeks ago, it was a news blurb in the North American Continent. We heard and read stories of what the virus was doing to some citizens in the Chinese province, but little did the rest of the world know what was coming. I was part of a production crew that headed to Toronto for a two weeks stint which saw me, my crew and cast drive miles at a time to get to our various filming locations. We interacted with a plethora of the characters, businesses and venues that is now part of the general caution zone in the city. Knowing what I knew about the Canadian weather and having to welcome a contingent from four different countries, I made sure my production assistant packed lemon cough drops and individually packaged hand sanitizers in the castmember gift bags. Although I was promoting precautionary measures against the common cold; turns out that we might have protected ourselves from so much more. By the time we wrapped filming in the Canadian city, Toronto had reported its first confirmed case of Covid-19. A few days after I came back, I began feeling light flu symptoms starting with that dreaded scratchy throat.
When I realized what was happening in this part of the hemisphere and having started to experience what was being reported initially as the first signs then of the virus, I immediately took control of my immune system and subsequently my well-being. To begin with; acknowledging that I was high risk based on my health history and secondly that I was susceptible to the virus based on where I lived, how I commuted to work and how I interacted on a daily basis was the first order of business. I stopped going into the office which eliminated the daily commute on crowded subways and buses, deep cleaned my home and started powering up with juice cleanses and my sacred lemon regimen.
I don’t know for sure if I have the virus as I have not requested testing (don’t even know where or how to do so) nor do I qualify in my state for that matter given my subtle symptoms. However, based on my’ concerning’ results from the CDC official self-test tool created in collaboration with Apple Corporation, coupled with my own personal feelings about what I am currently experiencing; you can’t convince me otherwise. I am pretty sure you might be reading this and feeling the same way. I am definitely fighting ‘something’ as my mother gave out when I explained some of my symptoms to her. Being an advocate of my grandmother’s natural medicinal practices herself, I am extremely fortunate to have my own mother’s wisdom and practice of natural remedies in this uncertain time. Being in quarantine with her is like reliving my childhood in my grandma’s house back in the early seventies. Our mornings start off with black coffee, sprinkled with salt, lime drizzle and a splash of rum. This took some getting used to as we are both not currently coffee drinkers. When I complain about the taste, she says… ‘drink it, it’s medicine’. I drink at least five cups of hot water and lemon a day, a mixture of lemon juice and honey a couple times to wade off my consistent scratchy throat and ever so often, I make a hot pot of lemon, ginger, garlic, turmeric with or without honey to build up my immunity.
My mother is part of a growing movement of WhatsApp health groups that meet daily on Zoom conference calls to discuss health, diet and prayer among other things. Her most fervent participation is in a largely Caribbean immigrant group organized by her church consisting mostly of health care professionals, vegetarians and vegans. In light of our current health crisis, most of the meet ups now are about Covid-19.
Call it coincidence or just confirmation, much of the best-practices and remedies they discuss lately have been mostly everything my grandmother taught me about the power of lemon and citrus in general. Basically everything I have been doing since my return from Canada in early March. Although I can’t tell for sure what my immune system is up against; I am pretty sure Lemon is my wonder drug, which leads me to ask; could it be the one thing that could help you fight the initial onset of the virus? No one knows for sure, but I wanted to share with you some of what I do everyday to wade off any virus that I believe is too close for comfort. As supported by herbalists, traditional ‘bush doctors’, naturopathic and alternative medicine professionals including well regarded Jamaican Naturopathic consultant Maureen Minto, below are some general uses of Lemon and other citrus fruits that may work wonders in your life and for your health.
1.Diabetes: The dried citrus peel may be added to your diabetic formula, which will assist in balancing blood sugar levels.
2. Digestive disorders: Lemon peel will improve digestion and also get rid of mucous in the abdomen. It will also counteract abdominal swelling.
3. Gallstone: Equal parts of lemon juice and olive oil are to be consumed during a day of juice fast. There is a special drop-and-roll exercise that should accompany this procedure.
4. Colds, fever, flu, asthma, tuberculosis, and other respiratory illness: Drinking up to three lemons per day is effective in destroying virus, bacteria and fungus. It is one lemon to one glass of water. Lemon with salt or honey is also an effective remedy for colds and flu.
There is one sure way of knocking the flu for six and this is with a juice we call the Citrus Punch. All you need is an orange, a lime, a lemon, a grapefruit, two pegs of garlic, one stalk escallion, 1/2 of an onion, and up to four bird peppers. Blend the ingredients. The gut of the citrus is also to be added to the mixture.
5. Sore throat: Gargle honey or salt with lemon juice.
6. Constipation or detox: A glass of lemon juice is said to cleanse fat from the blood, detoxifies the body of free radicals (toxins formed from the oxidation of fats), promote bowel activity, and reduce the toxicity of heavy metals such as lead, mercury and arsenic. The cleansing effect of lemon reduces hiccough, biliousness, ‘gas’, and general bellyache.
7. Abscess, ‘boil’, ‘corn’: A slice of lemon tied to the affected area overnight will greatly relieve the pain and bring pus to the surface where it can be easily removed.
8. Liver complaints: Lemon juice should be taken in a glass of hot water one hour before breakfast every morning to stimulate the liver and encourage the body to release uric acid and other poison as well as remove the symptoms of jaundice.
9. Ulcerated stomach: The question often asked, ‘How can one take lemon juice with an inflamed or ulcerated stomach, wouldn’t a strong acid like this irritate the stomach?’ The natural stomach acids are four times stronger than the acid found in lemon, so you can drink one lemon diluted in a glass of water which is very healing for stomach ulcers.
10. Uterine hemorrhages: Dilute lemon juice and it should be taken as cold as possible. This will stop the abnormal bleeding.
11. Male infertility: There are scientific studies that confirm that vitamin C will increase fertility. At the Healthy Living Herbal clinic our male clients are placed on our lemon cleansing diet to correct infertility even though most men erroneously believe that sour things decrease libido.
12. Sleeping disorders: Drunk alone or in a glass of molasses or honey, the nutrients found in lemon will help in the metabolism of tryptophan, a brain chemical responsible for the sleep and wake cycle.
14. Stress and thyroid hormone: Lemon oil or teas from the skin will stimulate the adrenal function to release epinephrine and norepinephrine as well as thyroid hormone, while the lemon juice will nourish the brain and nerve cells.
15: High blood pressure: A lemon or lime squeezed in a young coconut water.
16. Macca’ or thistle is used to remove elements from the flesh.
17. Eye treatment for cyst, cataract and glaucoma formation: Drop lemon juice In the eye.
18. Lemon may be applied to sunburn, sore and skin irritation.
Disclaimer:The coronavirus is perhaps the most serious health crisis of our time and shouldn’t be taken lightly. If you feel that you may be strickened with the virus and are experiencing severe symptoms, you should definitely seek urgent medical care. Lemon is a good boost for the immune system in general, but not a cure for any disease.
If you are concerned that you might have the Coronavirus; click here to self-test.
(Written by Heather Elliott Whitehead)
