Never again will you use oregano just to add flavor and aroma to your dishes! Foods, mainly plants and spices, can and should be used as natural medicines. Oregano is much more than a seasoning because its oils contain powerful antioxidants that heal your body.
In fact, it contains 40 times more antioxidants than apples and four times more than blueberries. And today I am going to reveal to you how to use this plant to make the most of its virtues. Hello everyone.
I'm Dr Veller, and stay until the end to see how to activate the medicinal power of oregano. How is it better to consume it? You will also see what diseases it helps fight.
If it is better to use its fresh or dried leaves. How is oregano tea prepared and how to make homemade oregano oil? But I also want to tell you about the risks and care you should have.
So what is oregano good for? Its benefits are for our entire body because it has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. But especially it has these four impressive virtues.
The first benefits for cough and digestion. Consuming its fresh or dried leaves with food, but better still, in the form of tea helps reduce coughs and colds. This is a natural alternative for when we have the flu, colds and we have that feeling of an irritated throat that causes us that dry, annoying or secretive cough.
Other scientifically-backed natural alternatives to relieve coughs and throat irritation are ginger, lemon tea, honey, a tablespoon. But on the other hand, going back to oregano, studies have also been carried out that showed it to be able to relieve digestive discomfort, such as that feeling of bloating, heartburn or that something fell heavy on you. For this you can have a cup of tea after meals, especially if you were left with that feeling of poor digestion.
Does oregano have benefits to prevent or fight cancer? Well, here the experiments are very encouraging. They showed that when oregano extract was confronted with different types of cancer, it had the ability to slow down their growth or even cause death.
Many will tell me that these are just experiments, but I am going to answer two things. One. For me this is very hopeful.
Now we need someone to put up enough money to fund bigger studies and run other bigger experiments. And two, even though this has not yet been confirmed by large studies. Everything we can do in our lives to reduce the risk of suffering from those diseases that shorten our lives, we must try.
Oregano has been around for a long time and has very few side effects. You just have to take into account some risks and care that I am going to tell you about. But this plant is one of the easiest ingredients to use, cheap within everyone's reach, and it has tons of antioxidants.
The problem is that many of us don't know how to use it. We are not taking full advantage of its virtues. And today, in addition to showing you its culinary use, I am going to show you four medicinal ways to use oregano.
This is very similar to what happens with the bay leaf. Most leave it on the side of the plate, do not consume it and in this way its healing effects are being lost. We explain all this to you in much more detail in our book.
Third benefit, oregano to fight infections. Its active ingredients have the ability to destroy viruses and bacteria. And that is why its properties, antibiotics, are already being investigated.
Oregano has already been shown to be capable of destroying at least 20 types of bacteria. Among them some that infect our skin wounds or cause us urinary infection, pneumonia. Other studies showed that thanks to the anti-inflammatory properties of oregano, it is capable of relieving the pain of muscular contractures or inflamed joints.
Although the studies on this are still small and there is no official recommendation, its greatest benefits are seen when oregano tea is consumed to relieve coughs or poor digestion. So. What is the verdict?
Oregano is capable of curing or helping with some diseases. We believe in its benefits, especially when you add other foods, antioxidants, anti-inflammatories and other healthy habits to this. And even more so when these herbs are used to replace other products that are harmful to our body.
For example, one of the most frequently asked questions in our practice is how do I reduce salt intake? Because the food is like it loses a little flavor. Well, oregano leaves, black pepper, turmeric, mustard powder, among many others, are excellent natural and very healthy alternatives to give your dishes a very intense flavor and at the same time have medicinal effects.
And that they have shown in different studies to be able to reduce the risk of the diseases that kill people the most, such as cancer, heart attacks, and strokes. Of course, always associated with other healthy habits and foods. Now.
Why does oregano have so many benefits? The key is its oils. Its active ingredients are mainly rimol, carvacrol and rosmarinic acid.
These names, which may not sound like anything to you, are plant chemicals that help repair our body. They act directly on your cells fighting free radicals. Watch this because an animation explains more than a thousand words.
It's a browning apple. And that is what slowly happens to our bodies when free radicals damage our DNA and oxidize us. And the problem is that when you realize this because you have some symptom of chronic inflammation, kidney problems in the liver or wherever, in many cases it is too late.
And while even in advanced cases, there's a lot that we doctors can do to help people. The ideal is always to try to prevent or at least slow down the progression of these chronic diseases. Free radicals increase in our body for many reasons.
For example, when we consume processed foods full of toxic substances. Or when we consume an excess of sugar, when we are sedentary and spend a lot of time sitting down. When we smoke or even in the air we breathe, when we are exposed to environmental pollution.
Getting out of the sun improperly also increases the amount of free radicals. Even when we are stressed, we have a bad day, we sleep badly, our body is inflamed. And this is the problem.
In excess, free radicals accelerate the aging of our body as I showed you in the apple. And this is directly implicated in the appearance of diseases such as cancer, heart attacks and even dementia. Now, the good news is that oregano has been compared to various types of herbs and has been shown to be one of the most antioxidant-rich.
Even more than some fruits like red berries. Mind you, there is some very interesting research where small amounts of oregano are compared against small amounts of blueberries. In this study it was shown that oregano has four times more antioxidants.
I'm not telling you to eat the same amount of oregano as blueberries. But I am showing you the importance of giving more attention to this herb. Let us now see the ways to use.
How to take advantage of its medicinal virtues. Well, its leaves, both fresh and dried, can be used in your dishes. Now you can also use oregano tea, homemade oil and we are also going to talk about essential oil.
A very practical and easy way to prepare tea is to boil 250 milliliters of water. You add five or six leaves of dried oregano or its fresh and crushed leaves. You let it boil for three minutes, turn off the heat and then let it rest for five more minutes.
Then filter its leaves and you can enjoy the tea. The dose is one to two cups of tea per day. You can use it above all to relieve the symptoms of coughing, throat irritation or to relieve digestive discomfort.
Another way to use oregano is directly in your meals. You can use five or six dry leaves or fresh and crushed. You add it at the end of cooking in the last two or three minutes or, if not, directly on the plate when it is already served on the table.
If you have the crushed dried leaves, you can easily use a teaspoon of tea two or three times a day in your food. Now let's see how to make homemade oregano oil. For this you can use a base oil such as extra virgin olive oil.
Can another type of oil be used? Of course. Almond oil, coconut oil, sunflower oil.
We recommend extra virgin olive oil for being one of the healthiest. And the ratio is as follows. For every ten milliliters of olive oil you will use five grams of oregano.
You can use both dried oregano and its fresh and crushed leaves. First you have to bring the olive oil to a simmer until it is lukewarm. It doesn't have to be very hot.
Immediately you pour the warm oil into a dark and hermetic glass container together with the oregano leaves and close it very well. You store this in a dark and cool place for 3 to 4 weeks, making sure to mix it two or three times a day so that all its active ingredients can be incorporated into the oil. And that's it, you already have homemade oregano oil to use with your salads or for massages.
Just make sure that before using it, filter the leaves so that only the liquid part of the oil remains, taking the opportunity to squeeze the leaves with a spoon so that all its active ingredients are finished extracting. Try to use this oil within 30 days. The dose can be a teaspoon of tea 2 to 3 times a day with your meals.
Now it is worth clarifying that this homemade oil is not the same as the essential oil that you are going to buy in health food or supplement stores. And for that let me tell you about the risks and side effects of oregano. In general, when it is consumed in the way that I told you about in the video and in those doses, it does not cause great discomfort.
What I recommend is that you avoid it if you are allergic mainly to mint, basil or lavender, since there may be some type of cross-reaction with oregano. And whenever any substance or product, however natural it may be, causes you any symptoms, or if you have a chronic disease or any health problem, consult your doctor and nutritionist. Now.
Be careful with the essential oil. Don't consume it. It is not the same as the homemade oil that I showed you earlier.
The essential oil is much more concentrated. It's the one you buy in health food stores that comes with a dropper. This should not be ingested.
It is prepared from many leaves and also from its stems, and then it goes through a steam distillation process. That is why it is much more concentrated and can cause nausea, diarrhea, very significant gastrointestinal discomfort, and even interfere with some medications that you may be using, especially if you are taking medications to thin your blood, anticoagulants. This essential oil is used more to massage the skin, but never in its pure form because it can cause reactions.
If you want to use it, I recommend that you dilute it in some other type of oil, for example extra virgin olive oil and apply it that way. But if it causes any type of skin reaction, avoid it. The best way to consume any product is always in its natural form.
What we most recommend is to consume its dried or fresh leaves along with your meals. Use the oil as we show you or in the form of tea. Well, at this moment I want to ask you something very important for us to share this video, subscribe to our channel and activate notifications so you don't miss the next videos.
Leave us your comment. This helps us a lot to continue growing. A very big greeting from my corner of the world.
