Papaya: for health and beauty

By Pet Melliza/ The Beekeeper

A colleague at the Iloilo Capitol, Hector Velez, vouches it was papaya that 
cured his two daughters. They have been stricken two years ago with recurring 
high fever and he was already determined to rush them to the hospital the next 
dawn. 


He thought of papaya to relieve them from the pain for the night: he crushed its 
leaves, from his backyard at Januiay, Iloilo, then extracted the sap. His sick 
daughters took two tables spoon of extract each. The next morning, while 
preparing to go to the hospital, he chanced upon the two girls seated at the 
sala watching TV. He ordered them to go back to the bedroom but the two replied 
they already felt good. That was it, they recovered completely.

Another friend, Tony Dimavivas of Pavia, Iloilo, had a niece confined to the 
hospital for dengue hemorrhagic fever. Alex Centena called him up to visit him 
in Calinog, Iloilo and taught him to extract the sap from papaya leaves, from 
his commercial farm. They were able to collect about 12 ounces of the liquid 
which he brought to the hospital. A table spoon, three times a day, helped in 
the quick recovery of the child.

We have been taught that papaya slows down one’s sex drive, and softens male 
erection. But hold a minute. Research shows otherwise. 


“Papaya contains arginine which is known to be essential for male fertility and 
also carpain, an enzyme thought to be good for the heart. Fibrin also occurs and 
this substance is not commonly found in the plant kingdom; in man it forms part 
of the blood clotting process. The papaya is an excellent source of vitamin C, 
with 82mg per 100g (4oz), and is rich in carotene. After treatment with 
antibiotics the use of papaya juice will quickly assist the restoration of the 
normal bacteria in the gut which will have been destroyed by the treatment. 
Papaya is good for many digestive disorders and is excellent for improving poor 
digestion. It has also been recommended as part of the treatment for cancer. 
Therapeutically it can often be combined with pineapple juice in which there is 
another important enzyme. bromelain. 
“The skin of the papaya is a first class external treatment for skin wounds and 
places that do not heal quickly. The pulp from the juicer can be used for this 
and as a poultice.”


Just click the mouse and the quote above becomes available to you 
at http://www.home-remedies-for-you.com. 

We are lucky that papaya can grow as lush here in the Philippines, if not better 
than, as in its place of origin which is Latin America.

Papaya has become a feature ingredient in the culinary tradition of Ilonggos. 
Think of the native chicken broth and green papaya pops into your mind along 
with lemon grass. Ilonggos are fond of green papaya as well as the ripe one. We 
pickle green papaya or cooked it as the more nutritious substitute of sayote 
even without chicken but along with other vegetables like cadios, tagabang and 
balunggay.

At the Iloilo Terminal Market, green papaya averages P15 per kilo while the ripe 
one P20-25. In other words, the green one fetches a better price than palay. The 
papaya farmer harvests and sells repeatedly from the same source while a rice 
farmer harvests only once; he/she must start all over again for the next 
cropping, that is, prepare the soil and replant anew and shoulder all the inputs 
that comes in the cropping cycle. Papaya is drought resistant and its farmer 
need not distress himself/herself, like his/her counterpart in palay farming, 
where to get water from.

The science, more accurately, the business of cosmetics has also enlisted 
papaya, whether green or ripe, in its inventory; its soap helps cleanse, tone 
and lighten the skin. It works to make one pretty just as it protects the skin 
and hasten its recovery from injuries.

Papaya is particularly recommended for the dramatis persona of my series 
“Virginia Palanca-Santiago Exercise of Raw Power” if only to prettify her. 

Virginia Palanca-Santiago, the regional director for Western Visayas with office 
in Iloilo City, and concurrently, the assistant director of the Office of the 
Ombudsman-Visayas, is described in these columns as the embalmed version of 
Mommy Dionisia, a moral pygmy whose sense of right and wrong is as revolting as 
her looks.

Yes, Virginia, papaya is not only for good health; it is prized for beauty enhancement properties as 
well.


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