10 natural medicinal kitchen ingredients

When you have some minor ailment you would like to use some natural cure. Some of the ingredients available in your kitchen have great health benefits.Not only these ingredients useful in our cooking, it also helps to solve various health issues without any side effects.

Following are the ten ingredients useful as medicines.

1) Turmeric

source: wiki

One of the common spices used in cooking, turmeric has antiseptic, antibacterial and anti inflammatory properties. You can use this to cure common cold, cough, pimples,bruised skin etc. A teaspoon of  turmeric mixed in warm milk cures cold slowly but effectively.

2) Ginger

source: wiki

Ginger has amazing quality to improve digestion. Eating fresh ginger just before lunch fires up the appetite. If you are feeling sick and nauseous chew on a piece of ginger. Ginger also helps in reducing flatulence. Adding piece of ginger in tea helps in nose and throat congestion as well as giving enjoyment in cool weather. Ginger is added in many recipes for its digestive properties and amazing taste.

3) Cinnamon

Cinnamon is widely used as spice in cooking but it is often used to treat cold, indigestion, heartburn and menstrual pains. It also helps lower cholesterol but it should be always taken in mild quantity.

4) Garlic

Garlic is best known as adding flavour to the food. But it is also known for its medicinal usage. It helps lower cholesterol and  prevent heart strokes. It can be used to cure cough, asthma, indigestion, toothache etc.

5) Lemon

Lemon has many medicinal uses as it can be used to treat headaches,throat infections, dental problems,dandruff,insect bites etc. It also helps to increase immunity system.

6) Honey

Honey is not only used  to flavor in cooking but it has got amazing qualities to treat cough,morning sickness, weight reduction etc.

7) Onion

Onion a very good source of vitamins, folic acid and fiber. It is very effective in the treatment of the common cold, cough, bronchitis, pneumonia, hay fever, and asthma. It is also effective in combating stomach infections, nausea, and diarrhea.

8) Cloves

Cloves are  high in various vitamins, minerals and fiber. Cloves are used to treat  toothache, oral ulcers, sore gums, joint inflammation, muscle aches, body pain, indigestion, nausea, vomiting, gastric irritability, and  flatulence, Excess use of cloves for some  may cause allergic reactions.

9) Cardamom

Cardamom is used as flavorings and cooking spices in both food and drink, .
For medicinal uses it is used  to treat infections in teeth and gums, to prevent and treat throat troubles, congestion of the lungs,  inflammation of eyelids, and digestive disorders.

10) Cumin seeds

Not only is  cumin seeds used in cooking  to enhance flavour it also has immense medicinal value. Cumin seeds have anti-inflammatory, carminative, antiflatulent, and antioxidant properties. Besides using it as herb in cooking, it is used to enhance appetite, treat  digestion, vision, strength, and lactation. It is used to treat diseases like fever, loss of appetite, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal distension, edema etc

In conclusion, the benefits of these and many more  kitchen ingredients work to keep us healthy and  treat illness. We should use them in our daily routine. However, if symptoms persist, doctor should always be consulted.


Sources for pics and information ( wiki)

10 things to do for woman's safety

Safety of women is very important when she travels alone. There has been many changes over the years and women travel at odd hours in many places. One act of violence and life is shattered. There have been many cases of women being attacked with or without company. Though lots of safety measures are in place, there are certain things to do when women feels unsafe in public and when she is alone.

1) If someone follows you
Instinct tells you to run to your home but that won't be right. Stay calm, try to call someone and let them know what is happening and your location. Try to reach to a place where there is lot of public and light. This is sure to distract the person who follows you with bad intentions. Be confident and if you are confronted make sure to create a lot of noise so people get attention and help you out.

2) Closed spaces
Many of us use public transport for travel and there is always a crowd doing lot of pushing. Some creepos try to take advantage of such situation to grope you or touch you. Be very much aware of surroundings and if  this happens create lot of noise as other people would help you to nab the culprit. Take care of your belongings to as they tend to get misplaced or stolen during such places. Even when you have to take lift and there seem some rowdys inside, do not take the lift. Wait for it to empty or use the stairs.

3) Best friend
If for some reason you have to travel to any area which might not be safe make sure to have a trusted company with you. Do not travel alone.  If you have to go to any area make sure to let your whereabouts known to your family of close friend. Some times when you are taking late night train, be sure the compartment you are travelling  in is not empty as people take advantage of such situation. 

4) Trust your instincts
Women always have their sixth sense on which tells them to be on their guard all the time. If your sixth sense tells you the person or the place you are going to is not right, do not try to be brave and go ahead. Instinct would tell you to move away from that place so always trust what your instincts tell you.

5) Safety on streets
Always be aware of your surroundings where ever you go. Avoid places like restroom, parking area or parks in dark and when you are alone. Do not wear or carry too much jewellery on you and avoid going to ATMs during late hours. If you are confident, there are less chances of being a victim.

6) Scream
Now this situation needs full awareness of situation and surroundings. Do not want to get some innocent in trouble. do we? If you encounter something unpleasant, don't get scared and scream the loudest to get attention. Stay calm and be smart. Use common sense to avoid anything harmful. 

7) Pepper spray
Very important thing to carry in your purse. Be sure to keep it with easy access and which can be removed fast. Spray it directly in the attacker's eyes. The effect wont be lasting long but it would give you enough time to run and get some help. This is very basic tool for self defense.

8) Cell phones
Keep your cellphone battery fully charged with enough credit to make emergency calls. If there is some unwanted situation, call up a friend or family and keep talking making them aware of your location and surroundings. Keep the call on till you reach your destination. Always carry the phone in your hand just in case you need to make quick call.

9) Self defense
The top most safety tactic is to learn basic self defense. Some people do not pay attention but it can turn out helpful when its needed. Judo, karate etc are the form of self defense. If someone jumps on you or attacks you suddenly your basic training in self defense comes in handy. Kick the person in the most vulnerable parts of the body. It is eyes, chest and genitals. Take some classes to learn the basics.

10) Women helpline
In India, 103 number was created to help the women.  Once the call is received, an attendant will take down the area name and intimate the nearest beat marshal. Keep the number on speed dial to ensure fast access. Not many are aware of this number and many measures are being planned to ensure safety of women.


Remember, stay calm, confident, aware and smart but not over smart. Do not do things which can cause damage you. Do share this article if you like it.

Top free image editing softwares

I have rounded up 10  free image editing softwares which  really works great in enhancing our pictures. Most of bloggers professional or amateurs want their images to look real good. Though Adobe Photoshop is good but for beginners it can be a daunting task. Below is the list of some easy and good image editing programmes  in random order.


1) Pixlr

source: pixlr

This site not only helps you edit your pictures, but also give special effects. One of the best I came across with all the features and on top its free.

2) Fotoflexer

source: fotoflexer

The best online  image editor  which allows you to enhance your images which a normal photoshop can and its extremely easy to use it. You can use different fonts and create effects to make your image look astonishing.

3) Fotor

source: fotor

  Fotor allows you to edit and enhance your images, make collages, do a retouch on the pictures and much more. It is simple and easy to use program online and since I have used this on my blog, I know it works wonders for the pictures.

4) Pho.to

source:pho.to

 Edit your photos with multi functional editor of pho,to. Redo the pics to remove any imperfections in the photos.  Create fun photos and use fun frames and collages. One of the best sites I have come across is this.

5) Picmonkey

source: picmonkey

Easy to use and edit, touch up, make collage or redo the pictures. However it has basic features but good for amateurs.

6) Gimp

source:gimp

  GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is free software which can be downloaded and it works as good as adobe photoshop.  It is used to enhance picture quality or do touch ups. It can be used in any operating system.

7) piZap

source: pizap

Easy to use  for editing your pics and using props. You can also make collages from this site.

8) Picadilo

source: picadilo

 Picadilo's choice of editing tools consists of many different and unique instruments to help you in getting the results you want:  It has brushes, selections, effects and much more that has the power to enhance photographs. It is free and no need to register. You can make nice collages too from here.

9) Befunky

source: befunky

 BeFunky Photo Editor lets you apply photo effects, edit photos and create photo collages with collage maker. It is free and  easy to use program online. The effects you can create on your images is amazing.

10) Lunapic

source: lunapic

 This is one of the site I have used a lot in the past. It has many features to create many effects.animation and collages with wonderful backgrounds. Over the years the look has changed but it still remains favourite site.


I am sure you all have more favourite sites. Please share  in comments below what is your favourite.
Also in my previous post I had shared image hosting sites. Do check that too.

Top ten free photo hosting websites

You have loads of  pictures and photographs you want to save or share online. Maybe you have a blog or website and you need to upload high quality pictures but the data usage exceeds. So you need some place where you can upload your photos for storage and sharing. Below are top ten sites I found useful. What is more they are free and some of them have large capacity to store photographs.

1) Imageshack
Top of the list is Imageshack as it not only offers unlimited free space but also it has full support and no ads. You can sign up and save all your photos in this site and use them on blog or websites.

2) Imgur
This site has limited space but it is useful for sharing on social networking sites as well as blogs and websites. Register and store all your pictures in one place.

3) Photobucket
This is the best I found and it gives 2 GB of free storage or space available for your original photo files, or videos under 10min. It also gives free photo editor to enhance the quality of the pics.

4) Picassa
From  google, it offers free usage upto 1Gb.After that for additional usage the costs are :

10Gb: $20 per year
40Gb: $75 per year
150Gb: $250 per year
400Gb: $500 per year

It is the fastest and easiest sharing options from  google.

5)  Imagebam

It offers 10 MB File Size Limit,Unlimited Uploads, and it is easy to use. Read the FAQs on the site to know more.

6) Postimage

A good site to upload and store your images. It also gives link to embed in your blog posts.

7) Free image hosting
You can upload and store your images here and get a code to use on the blogs or websites.The site runs on several dedicated linux web servers. Registration is not required, but creating an account lets you manage your uploads and use other extra feature

8) Mejuba
A relatively new site, I  have not used this but when I was searching for stuff I found this one to be good. It has unlimited usage. It also lets you transfer your photos from other sites.

9) Photodekho
Another new site  which I found during my research. You can have an unlimited number of albums on PhotoDekho.com. Not only this, each album uploaded by you may have any number of photos. Adding more to this feature, every photo will get uploaded no matter how big it is (in other words, there is no limit to photo-size too). Hence you can keep on updating your collection with time without worrying about the availability of storage.

10) Tinypic 
Among the best is tinypic hosting site. Some years back tinypic had removed a lot of images from their sites. But  currently it is perfect to host and store images. You need to sign in to keep your images and share via link on the blogs, forums or websites.


Note: Personally I would prefer photobucket, imageshack and imgur over others. The above info is based on some of my own experience with some sites and some is plain research info. Try it as you find it fit.