Onion is one of the most beneficial vegetables that is available in abundance and is relished by rich and poor alike. The labourers of North India mostly eat just roti and onion for their lunch. For them it is their dal, fruits and vegetables. Since onion is quite tasty and mixes well with other eatable ingredients, it is used all over the world in different countries in different forms. Onion can be eaten in the form of salad, vegetable or spice, cooked or uncooked. The onion potato combination is common for any Indian household. Chinese food is incomplete without spring onion. French onion soup is most favoured in Western Countries. Onion is not only beneficial to eat, it can be used as medicine in many cases.
Onion has proteins, fats, mineral salts, carbohydrates, sulphur, calcium, phosphorus, iron and vitamins which are essential for growth and maintenance of human body. Onion emits a very pungent smell(due to its sulphur content) when cut in and brings tears to eyes. This acts as a good lotion to clean the eyes. Those men or women who regularly cut and shred onion become immune to trachoma and similar eye troubles.
It is believed that accumulation of foreign matter in the blood disturbs the Blood Pressure. Onion is very effective in cleansing the impurities in the form of urine, sweat or solid waste. In Middle East, onion is considered to be most important food. The wanderers/ Bedouins might miss milk, dates or other fruits but not onion. Besides food, onion serves to quench their thirst in hot climate. Usually they eat one raw onion in empty stomach to keep the body fit.
Onion fed to a child in its first year improves voice and makes his vocal chord strong. In Greece, the age old tradition is to feed the infant with onion and milk. Some musicians/ singers in India consume onion early in the morning to keep their voice melodious and lung power high.
Onions are available in three colours namely white, red and yellow. White onion is juicy and soft on the system and sets right phlegmatic disturbance in the body. Red onion creates haet in the body and good for body with bilious temperament. Yellow onion is for those who have windy troubles. Regularly eaten as per suitability, onion makes the body soft and slender, complexion fair and skin glowing, improves digestive power and virility.
Onion can also be used as medicine for the following ailments.
- High Blood pressure:
Onion is a boon drug to normalise blood pressure. Just eat lots of white onion in your food and drink its juice mixed with lime juice every morning and evening. Avoid red onion. A little of physical exercise is a must.
- Hangover:
Onion is an ideal medicine to kill hangover from excessive drinking. Add a few pieces of shredded onion to a little lemon-juice with a pinch of salt and take first thing in the morning to get rid of hangover.
3.Acidity:
Grind to a uniform paste about 4-5 medium sized white onions, mix it with curd in a small bowl and swallow the mixture. For 10-15 days do not eat heavy, rich and spicy food. Continue the curd-onion mixture till the trouble vanishes. In a week or so the extra acidic effect will subside and you would start feeling normal. Have the paste once a week to prevent recurrence.
- Anaemia:
Take about four onions, extract juice and add half the quantity of honey and lick it as the first food after the morning cleansing rituals. Continue for a week and you would notice change in the face from pale to reddish. Gradually reduce the intake when the anaemic effect starts vanishing. Do not stop the treatment suddenly.
5.Asthma:
Take two spoonfuls of white onion juice and honey in equal quantity and lick it early in the morning for forty days. Chances are that you may be fully cured.
- Baldness:
If hair loss is not hereditary and is caused as an after effect of some disease or using scented oils, give the following a try to get back hair. Grind to a paste about two onions(preferably white) and apply evenly to your head(bald portion) and massage for 10-15 minutes. Then massage about two spoonful of honey on the bald portion and wash head after an hour. Apply only castor oil on your head before you go to bed.
- Bilious trouble:
Shredded onion in round pieces drenched in lime juice or vinegar if munched slowly will get rid of the extra bile generated by your organs.
- Constipation:
Add salt to the juice of two crushed onions and drink the whole lot in the morning. Acts like purgative to remove constipation. Continue till bowels are clean.
- Dark Facial Freckles:
For the ladies who use cheap creams and facial lotions, their face gets blackened due to burning of the outer skin of the face and a layer covers their face. Grind onion to a uniform paste, add honey and apply the mixture softly on the face. In a weeks time the burnt out layer gets dissolved and fresh skin will appear. Continue for two weeks more the treatment even after fresh skin appears. Then apply twice weekly to prevent reoccurrence.
- Diarrhoea / Continous loose motions:
Take a spoonful of onion juice at 3 hourly interval till cure.
- Epilepsy:
Affected persons should have a cut onion or shredded piece to smell at the time of trouble. For permanent relief have regularly a spoonful of onion juice every morning and evening.
- Heart ailment:
Regular intake of raw onion reduces cholesterol level in the blood. Light food with onion in sufficient quantity cures the trouble.
- Impotence:
Mix well 250 gms of onion juice with equal quantity of honey and preserve in a bottle. Have 25gms of this mixture daily after meals. In a few days youthfulness will return to the body. Whenever you feel weak have a spoonful of this mixture.
- Jaundice:
As soon as the symptoms of jaundice are noticed start giving onion juice to the patient. Small onions drenched in vinegar should be given at breakfast or lunch time. In 10-15 days the patient is cured.
15. Nose Bleeding:
It could be due to hot weather, heat generating food or any wound inside nose. Just put two drops of onion juice inside the nostrils. After a few sneezes, the nose bleeding will stop.
- Liver Trouble:
Irregular food habits, heavy and rich food cause liver trouble. Take onion chutney with lot of crushed onions mixed in it. Onion pickled in vinegar can also be taken for cure.
- Pimples:
Apply onion juice on the pimples and eat onion in your food when the acnes are mature. Face to be washed with honey and onion juice combination.
- Stomach disorders:
Eat a raw onion drenched in lime juice as the first thing for a few days to get rid of all types of stomach disorders. Take only light food. Raw onion reactivates the sluggish liver.
- Weak memory:
Take 5 gms of onion juice and equal quantity of pure ginger juice and cow ghee and whip the mixture uniformly in a large spoon and lick it thrice daily. It will also improve the eye-sight.
It is advisable to eat onion in any form cooked or uncooked(most effective in raw form) to keep the body fit. Those who cannot tolerate its smell can chew mouth fresheners like cardamom, cloves etc after they have onion rich food.
For details please refer to Diamond Pocket Books [New Delhi] series “ONION” by Ayurvedacharya Vipul Rao.
