Natural Resource management - Native nutrition

Holy Basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum) leaves and seeds can cure respiratory illnesses, common cough and cold as well as fever.

Surprising but Amla (Phyllanthus emblica) is so popular that it passes off for cocktails too now.

Hibiscus tea serves well for people suffering from menstrual cramps and heavy menstrual flow / discharge.

Oh a fresh orange juice!

Mint tea or orange peel tea helps one get good sleep.

A humble simple salad can be so nourishing, healthy and leaves you feeling so good!

Good fat like cottage cheese fresh fruit and green leaves with minimal spices makes a great salad as shown in this picture.

One whole Papaya for breakfast is oh so healthy!

Mango as ripe or as raw as in this picture makes for geat salads...

Traditional tenets and pastoral practices is proven to be sustainable and far healthier than mass dairy production. Question is if sustainable but lower production brings the additional nutritional and food security.

Native species of cattle produce milk sustainably without hormonal injections for xtra milk production.

Amla or Phyllanthus emblica is a godsent herbal medicine for those suffering from Cancer, Diabetes Hypertension, cholesterol and PCOD.

A bowl of fruit for breakfast helps me overcome issues like Irritable Bowel Syndrome especially when I am travelling.

This fresh vegetable salad included slices of black aubergines (brinjal), Capsicum (Bellpeppers), tomatoes, Knol Khol, / (Kohlrabi) onion, and minced cucumber. One can add tahini, ketchup, mint sauce, grated cheese etc, All placed one on top of another with minced cucumber topping the salad, all warmed up in a microwave and can be eaten as a starter or maincourse itself. So utterly healthy and refreshingly healthy!

Honestly, this was my attempt at making aubergine platter. But it was a filling meal all the same even if the presentation was not so haute!

A whole retinue of Soligas are on their way to report to duty at the LAMPS office in Billigiri Temple Hill Tiger Reserve in Karnataka. After signing for duty they walk across mountainous forests to collect honey and sell it to Large Scale Adivasi Multipurpose Society where non time forest produce is collected from tribals, sold to honey manufacturing companies and it is a case of putting people before the Planet, sustainably.

A glass of spinach soup is the go to Melatonin fix for treating insomnia.

Chilli soup anyone? No better gut cleansing pro biotic!

Millets are the much neglected cereal which will effectively regresss diabetes and other endocrine disorders. Millts are also bereft of gluten so they make for gret scrumptuous meals...

Vitamin C rich oranges help regress neuropathy for those dependent on life-long medication for klifestyle disorders.

Neem leaves are another godsend for thos suffering from endocrine disorders.

Papayas are actually star shaped and gives infinite scope for creative food photography.

The immortal mortar and pistle... is quite literally the base to make many a home remedy.

Moringa leaves is anothe godsent herb that fits into both oriental and occidental cuisine and helps control Diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, PCOD, and cholesterol.

Flowers on a Mango tree with a promise of a bumper crop.

Blueberries or Jamoon fruit in India (Sygizium cuminii) a safe fruit for diabetics.

Experts say that purest honey is colourless.

The biodiversity of South and Southeast Asia offers a wide variety of honey, nevertheless.

White hibiscus is meant to help those women who suffer from chronic white discharge and PCOD.

Green tea from all kinds of herbs is a manna from heaven for those who suffer from insomnia and mental health disorders like Alzheimers, Bipolar, Schizhophrenia, Clinical depression, Dementia, etc.

Fresh apricots are known for cancer curing proprties being a very rich source of Vitamin C.

Plant protein like sprouts are safe for Diabetics because of their propensity to nephritis.

Amla (Phyllanthus emblica) the celestial blessing for Planet Earth.

The Dodda Sampige Tree or the Big Champak Tree (Michaelia champaca) is the pagan goddess of the Soliga Tribe who dwell in the billigiri Ranga Temple Hill tiger Reserve.

Drumstick or Moringa is a multiple source of vitamins and makes for a complex carb mel, so satiating for Diabetcs.

Custard Apple is another fleshy sweet tropical fruiit that is permitted as safe for Diabetics.

Another tropical blessing, the Papaya is a safe source of native nutrition. Expats living in the tropics sink ther teeth into Papaya for breakfast without guilt!

Defining, and bellweather tropical fruit of Paradise.

Surprisingly, the leaves of the Papaya tree are found to be effective in treating Dengue... a disease which decimates the blood count of victims.

Whn Papayas are as raw as in this picture they can be treated and consumed as vegetables too, not just as fruit.

Buckwheat sprouts a source of protein and heat inducing characterisics, serves as wholesome breakfast for people from Siberia to Seychelles! Talk of agrometorological native nutrition!

Moong sprouts can be used as diverse micronutrients in salads, curries, side dishes, salad dressing etc.

Bittergourd a Manna from Heaven for diabetics. It is stuffed with fish in many South East Asian countries, and i made as bitter sweet cury in vegetarian households in India. But is safe home remedy for Diabetics.

Consumed as a fresh fruit, Apricots serves as whole meal for the Himalayan nomads in Central Asia and they claim, that it prevents cancer.

I found this huge bee nex on the upper branches of the Dodda Sampige Tree in Billigiri Ranga Temple Hill tiger Reserve while o my way to Karadigudda a mining quarry adjacent to the core area of the tiger reserve.

Fleshy plaintains are native to the Tropics. but it is essential to eat local crop ... for instance Asians should not eat South American plaintains and vice versa... as the fruits absorb the micronutrients in the soil and help consumer get locally needed vitamins. Market Access clause of World Trade Organisation is detrimental both to human beings' health and to the local economy.

It helps to eat varieties of fruits. That should not be a problem in the Tropics. but in those areas where one is dependent on fruit imports, native nutrition bears special significance and can be a challenge.

Traditional wisdom manifests richly in native nutrition, architecture, agriculture, and other livelihood related best practices. Photo credit: Malini Shankar

Asia has retained its traditional markets and bazaars but are in need of standardisation in packaging material, best practices, competitive prices, certification of produce, etc.

Herbs and spices make for a rich segment of native nutrition, critically significant in modern times when we are plagued by Pandemics. Herbs and spices are the secret treasure chest for even more secretive mysteries like COVID 19.

How can sticky rice be gluten free? Still seeking answers!

Moringa or drumsticks is the secret weapon against many endocrine disorders as also rheumatism bone ailments etc. Green cabbage comes with a rich supply of folic acid.

The Vitamin C in Amla is so potent that it is said to regress cacerous cells.

Grandma's recipes are the best, most time tested fortification for our lifestyle: including calories input and output;

Skipping the cream is a good idea most of all because that much milk was deprived to the calf. Humans only processed milk meant for the calf to make it an unhealthy obesity inducing cream cheese that will trigger a whole spn of vascular and endocrine disorders in Human Health.

The old bazaar systems are certainly lacking in cleanliness and hygience.

The chaos of market systems in large parts of Asia are vulnerable to market mechanisms and trade practices / pacts.

The probiotics value in green leafy vegetables supplements nutritional values so wholly that its consumption wholly nourishes us protecting us and livestock / pet animals too from all kinds of disorders, hormonal discrepencies etc.

One ought to eat atleast 5 cooked vegetables, 5 fresh vegetables and 5 green leafy vegetables per day. Besides, 5 fresh fruits, 5 dry fruits, 1 tablespoon each of 5 differet sprouts per day and 5 different forms of organically produced dairy produce ... its not easy to practise this. One has to diligently make meal plans and slave over the kitchen counter. But it rewards one with good health, daved bills on insurance and hospital visits and drug resistent health care.

Millets are the answer to the challenge thrown by the Green Revolution in India which supports - fiscally - only rice and wheat quite literally at the cot of the cereal diversity Indian native agriculture supports.

india's horticulture diversity at a glance.

Purple or chinese cabbage and Broccoli are both not native to naive agro diversity in the Subcontinent.

Green leafy vegetables are the staple for a native probiotic nutritive agro diversity. Here Myanmarese women are sselling green leafy vegetables. South Asia spawns a minimum of 20 green leafy vegetables per square mile.

Gluten free breads balanced with good fats from dairy products are the staple of people dependent on dryland Climate Smart agro ecology.

This is a complete meal, rich in pro biotics, and vitamins and proteins, good fats and complex carbs, Calcium rich and gut friendly... There is buckwheat salad, raw vegetanle salad, cooked warm vegetable salad, spinach n curd custard, (without any sugars or sweeteners), and a helping of raw vegetables itself... in this meal.

A tablespoon of fenugreek sprouts and a whole ripe plantain completed breakfast for me one day.

Dragon fruit slices topped with avocdo dressing, and coconut creme supplemened by sauteed okra drenched in flavoured yoghurt.

Mango slices with blue berries and red grapes ... a full fruit breakfast.

Five fruit meal - banana, avocado, mango, orange and grapes.

Cooked oats with coconut milk curry stuffed with ripe Papaya pieces, sweet pumpkin curry leaves and green chilies with grated ginger...

One portion of Iranian saffron rice.

Indian Tricolour on an airplane meal

Honey drenched pomogranite

Black pepper seeds, rock salt crystals, foxtail millet, citrus fruit slice, citroen, pumpkin, sunflower seeds, rosemarie... onion, and garlic.

That's a juicy meal!

Cheese slices and tomatoes with pepper and Zuccini, herbs, olives, and citrus fruit slices.

The mortar and pistle used extensively in Indian kitchens accounts for the freshness of the ground spices addin not only flavour but nutritional value in terms of probiotics to the native, gut friendly cusine in South Asia.