h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Some dear friends of mine are battling because their husband and daddy is ill with pneumonia. It suddenly occurred to me that I, who have had a lung resection due to a tumour(non malignant fortunately) am extremely fortunate at my great age not to have succumbed to winter's ailments.

I truly believe that it is because I have, nearly every single day of my life, had some FRESH citrus to eat, Not tinned, not bottled as in a soft drink, but FRESH. I either eat the grapefruit, tangerine, mandarin, (naartjie as we call them in south Africa) Let us not forget lemons, probably the citrus fruit with the highest amount of Vitamin C that can be found in any citrus fruit.I have also eaten KIWI fruit when I could not find fresh citrus as these also have a very high content of Vitamin C. You might notice that I have not put down oranges. That is for the simple reasonthat I have developed an allergy to oranges. However until you find that you are allertic please have thm.

I have always been an afficianado of citrus fruit and all my children also had plenty of citrus fruit. When my sons were at boarding school at Plumtree in Zimbabwe I used to have some friends of ours who farmed citrus in the Mazoe Valley in Zimbabwe, send them a crate of citrus every fortnight.Obviously it was a business deal.

This total belief in the healthy effect of citrus was proved when I was doing my research in the Cape Town City council offices in the 1970's I was going through all the Mayor's Minutes - a wonderful source of information - and I came to events in 1919. Well that was the year that the infamous Spanish flu attacked the world, and quite honestly a great many people world wide died.

Cape Town was not exempted and the biracial pupolation of the Mother City were dying in their thousands. A City councillor, whose name sadly escapes me, got hold of a donkey cart, filled the donkey cart with lemons from trees that he had in his garden and took them to the "townships" where the biracial population were living.

The effect was dramatic and all those afflicted made a dramatic recovery with this simple humane act of sharing the lemons he had in his garden with those who had the flu. This is something I have never forgottem. The fact that so many cold remedies are made with lemon would indicate that this is correct. But I do believe that fresh lemons, either as a drink or if one can bear their tartness eaten fresh, are the perfect antidote to many chest infections.

Well I hope this is of some use to some of you.

Christiane aka Alsoran80

14/III/2010 6.31 GMT

Thank you Christiane for the very helpful and useful information, my late father was very fond of freshly squeezed orange juice but he would also bemoan the fact that it was hard to get oranges without the formulade smell which was quite off-putting.

I am a big fan of cod liver oil and when possible have it in liquid form as well as high strengtth tablets apart the health benefits, I love the taste.

Another remedy for chest infectons is cabbage soup and the liquid taken from turnips when they have been cooked.

I am very sorry to hear that your friends are sol with pneumonia and I wish them a speedily recovery.

Katrine

I get Vitamin C from a lot of sources, including a multivitamin that I have with breakfast every day. I baked a blueberry cake a few days ago, and used orange juice for the liquid ingredient. I eat fresh fruit (bananas, apples, pears) and dried fruit (prunes, raisins, cranberries, cherries, all in small quantitites) every day. I rarely have colds.

Unlike some other animals, we humans cannot make Vitamin C in our bodies. I wonder if there have ever been any genetic mutations that gave some humans the ability to do this.

Christiane, I am a great believer in citrus fruit but have to be careful as it aggravates my arthritis. I always keep kiwi fruit in and I have both tinned and fresh fruit in season. As a child after the war, fruit was seen as a luxury and I only got fruit when my aunt brought it up from Evesham, Worcs. I can remember getting very upset because it was all made in to jam to give us something for the winter.

I have made up for it since and eat a great deal of fruit, though I find grapefruit givs me a stomach upset. my aunt used to eat half a grapefruit every day.

It is surprising how many people don't eat fruit so thanks for the advice. I hope people take note. I don't get colds etc. generally either.

Websailor

Be careful with grapefruit as it can interfere with several medications, in particular some blood pressure and cholesterol medicines. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/food-and-nutrition/an00413

My father really misses grapefruit. He can still have oranges and lemons though.

I am glad someone is awake, I forgot to mention that!

I'm not feeling peppy, but I'm awake.



Sort of....

Hi Ws

Nice to know that you also share my love and respect of the fruit of the citrus family. !!

I know that I would not ever get through winter if I did not have my lemon a day. which reminds me that I must ask my carer Personal assiatant - which my new carer has asked to be called - to get some for me today.

go well dear friend,

Christiane
Ar80

Friday 26th March 2010 5.44 GMT

Dear Count Zero,

I am not too sure if I am one of the luckless ones whose medication is affected by eating/drinking grapefruit juice. I know I love it, but when I read about the effect that it could have on one's medication, I stopped having it. Which I was very sad about as I loved it.

I am missing not being able to look forward to life in the night sky any more. Are you still enjoying your job? I am sure that you are.

Keep well,

Christiane
AR80

Friday 26th March 2010 5.43 GMT

So now my dear Paulh you are surely what a pity because we could talk!

Good night.

with good wishes

Christiane
AR80

Friday 26th March 2010 5.55 a.m.GMT !

I used to like grapefruit, but I stopped eating it because it interacted badly with a cholesterol medicine I was taking. Come to think of it, though, I'm not on that one any more. I should check to see if my current med can safely be taken if I eat grapefruit.

I did a quick search, and it turns out that I *still* have to avoid grapefruit.

I have not been a big fan of eating grapefruit because of it's bitter taste but I did have it once as a started grilled with sugar and it was very nice.

I don't know what tomatoes have but I know they have lot of vitamins and you can get them as supplement tablets. I am drinking apple juice at the moment, made from English apples and I think it has vitamin c in.

Katrine

There's a substance in the sticky coating of tomato seeds that is just as good as aspirin for thinning the blood to prevent strokes. The up side is that iyt isn't as hard on the stomach as aspirin is.

Hi dear friends,

I absolutely loved to distraction a sliced tomato and onion salad which |I used to make with chopped mixed herbs and garlic oil and vinegar, However I realise that I could hardly walk after eating that so stopped it - very reluctantly.

Now I grill tomatoes, and after slicing the top off, sprinkle them liberally with herbs and minced garlic and I am able to consume them without any ill effects.

However I am still very upset that I can no longer have my marvellous gazpacho which used to absolutely be the most deelicious cold soup I had ever had. However, I must remember to make a borsch over Easter. I also love that cold soup. My Russian mother-in-law taught me how to make the real McCoy. !!

With affeftion

Christiane
AR80

Sunday 28th Narch 2010 7.16

Hello there Christiane AR80 and everyone else! I agree with the importance of Vitamin C. I eat lots of raw vegetables and fruit. I eat two whole raw tomatoes every day! I very rarely get sick.

All the best,

Willem

When I was in Italy three years ago, one of the best lunches I had was a plate of mozarella chesse and sliced tomatoes.