Food and Medicine - Chestnuts
Have you ever heard about chestnuts being used as medicine and also a great supplement when it comes to diets? Along with peanuts and walnuts, chestnuts can complement your diet and strengthen your immune system. The Turks were the first who used chestnuts as food, feeding their horses with it. And because of that they noticed that sick horses often got better after eating chestnuts. So because of this they believed chestnuts have magical healing powers. In fact, the high starch content of chestnuts, is a substance which makes them rather nutritive than healthy. Because of this same nutritional power, in bad times, people used ground chestnuts instead of flour. Gradually they became consumed as food. Today we can find chestnuts in various forms: boiled, fried, baked or creams. They have a high content of antioxidants and vitamins. Traditionally it was believed that whoever carries a chestnut in their coat pocket will be free from rheumatic pains. In reality, things are not that easy to solve, but chestnuts can really help against rheumatism.
They are also helpful when it comes to your immune system. You just have to put 30 chestnuts in 5 liters of boiled water and let them boil until the water drops in half. Pour the resulting liquid in the bath tub and repeat the baths every two days. It will help in a proper functioning of the immune system. Chestnuts have a high content of protein and carbohydrates and have been successfully used for medical purposes for several decades. They also contain a high amount of anti-inflammatory substances.