5 Amazing Health Benefits Of Eating Jaggery In Winters

Jaggery, one of the most commonly-found kitchen ingredients in Indian kitchens, is not only one of the best natural sweeteners but also houses a lot of health benefits. Following are 5 of the various health benefits of the golden goodness!

* Boosts Immunity

Jaggery is an amazing source of antioxidants. It also contains minerals such as zinc and selenium. These elements help preventing free radical damages and boost our immunity system. Since ancient times in India, consuming a lump of jaggery a day is considered very beneficial for our overall health.

* Good For Blood

Organic jaggery is considered to be a very good natural blood purifier. Though its effect are slower than the allopathic medicines, consuming a small lump of jaggery works like charm for our blood. Is known to increase the count of haemoglobin in our blood. Therefore, consumption of jaggery (in any form such as laddoos, kheer, halwa, etc., and even as plain jaggery) is considered very beneficial for pregnant ladies. Being rich with iron and folate content, jaggery helps prevent anaemia. The potassium and sodium content in jaggery together play an important role in maintaining blood pressure in our body.

* Detoxifies Internal Organs

Since thousands of years, jaggery is used as a natural detoxifier. It plays a major role in detoxifying internal organs such as liver, stomach, intestines, kidneys, etc. by flushing out harmful toxins from our body. Certain properties of jaggery activates the digestive enzymes in our body, which helps us digest food properly and also help one get rid of indigestion. A cuppa warm water with organic jaggery and half a lemon’s juice is one of the best domestic remedy to cure constipation. Not only this, the wonder-food is also known to benefit our lungs by cleansing them naturally. Those who live in polluted areas are recommended to consume a spoonful of organic jaggery everyday.

* Helps Soothe Period Cramps

This is a lesser known fact that jaggery benefits women in a lot more ways – helps soothe period cramps, ups the levels of haemoglobin, maintains the hydration levels in our body in heavy-flow during periods, helps in releasing more endorphines during periods (this helps relax our body), etc. During periods, consume a glass of solution of lukewarm water and jaggery; this will help you tackle period cramps for the day.

* Works As A Coolant

Not many know this – jaggery is a natural coolant. Many Indian homemade recipes of desserts and welcome-drinks include jaggery as the sweetener instead of processed sugar – recipes such as Aam Panha. In many rural places even today, especially in Maharashtra, guests are welcomed with some jaggery and raw onion, and then are offered water. Ayurveda experts say that the combination of jaggery and onion is one of the best natural coolants, even better than a glass of water.