Amazing Benefits of Waterleaf
What do you know about it? Let me keep you updated on what waterleaf is all about.
Waterleaf is a great plant that is undervalued in Nigeria. It started growing from West Africa before it started spreading to other parts of the world like South America and Asia. It is regarded as a willful weed that grows all year most, especially in places they are not wanted, but they are unique plants.
With the difference in languages and nationality, waterleaf has different names. In Yoruba, it is called ‘Gbure,’ ‘Ebe-bonbon’ in Edo, in English it is regarded to as “Philippine spinach, sweetheart, flame flower, Florida spinach, potherb flame flower, and Lagos bologi.”
Waterleaf is an edible leafy vegetable; it is an herbaceous plant that grows in all-season- perennial throughout the year (be it a raining season or harmattan season), but it is incredibly abundant in the rainy season. According to the name “waterleaf”, it has a high moisture content within the range of 90% to 92% of the plant.
Nutritional Fact of Waterleaf
These elements are based on 2000 calories in your daily consumption.
Nutrition Value
Calories 23
Total carbohydrates 4 grams
Protein 2 grams – 22.1%
Total fat 0.4 gram
Trans fat 0 gram
Saturated fat 0 gram
Cholesterol 0 milligram
Sodium 36 milligram
Vitamin A 54%
Vitamin C 47%
Calcium 11%
Iron 25%
Health Benefits of Waterleaf
Waterleaf is an herbaceous, leafy plant that helps your body a lot. It is a lot easy to be added to your diet. It can be made used in different cuisine to prepare your various delicious dishes. You must take precautions to avoid overcooking it, to prevent losing some crucial vitamins and minerals you really need. The health benefits of waterleaf include:
Healthy heart
Strong bones and teeth
Aids digestion
Healthy eye
Support weight loss
Good for pregnant women
Prevent infections and diseases
Improve blood cell
Maintenance of the body tissues
Aids cognitive ability (brain health)
Enhance the proper function of the liver
Healthy Heart
It helps in regulating the activities of your heart. It also improves your blood circulation. And by so doing, it ensures regular supply of oxygen and blood in the required amount, to where they are needed. It prevents most of the heart diseases and stroke. It also reduces the level of cholesterol in your body.
This plant is capable of keeping your cardiovascular system in place if consumed on a daily basis. High blood pressure patients are advised to eat waterleaf because it decreases blood pressure.
Strong Bones and Teeth
Waterleaf makes your bones and teeth stronger because of the calcium element present in it. Calcium plays a vital role in bone formation in the body, and it is highly recommended for people with osteoporosis. Anytime you feel tired or weak, you might consider drinking waterleaf juice. In one sentence, waterleaf supports and improves your skeletal body structure to function correctly.
Aids Digestion
Gastrointestinal problems and conditions (like indigestion, flatulence, constipation, and IBS- Irritable Bowel Syndrome) reduce in your body after waterleaf consumption. It aids the proper digestion of foods. It is always said right from the time that too much of everything is bad, excess consumption of waterleaf result in stomach discomfort. You can eat it alongside other foods.
Healthy Eye
It is suitable for your sight. The presence of vitamin A enhances a healthy eye. If you have a low or poor vision, you should add waterleaf to your meals. The nutrients needed by the eye to be healthy are available in waterleaf.
The vitamin C present in the waterleaf helps to keep your eye healthy. It prevents your eyes from damages like conjunctival, hemorrhage, cataract, and dry eyes.
Support Weight Loss
The amount of fiber content present in it makes it a weight loss diet. To achieve your weight management journey, you must take it on a regular basis in a reasonable proportion. The fiber content provides bulk that reduces your intake of starchy food resulting in the prevention of obesity.
Good for Pregnant Women
Waterleaf should be added to your diet if you are a pregnant woman because water leaf aids blood circulation and removes bilirubin from the blood. (Bilirubin is a bile pigment which is a product of the breakdown of the heme portion of hemoglobin which occurs within macrophages as they digest red blood cells, too high level of bilirubin is capable of causing jaundice). It strengthens your immunity by preserving your red blood cells to live long and remain active. It keeps you, the mother, and the fetus strong and healthy.
Prevent Infections and Diseases
Your body contains bacteria and fungi that enter through the food you eat and the air you breathe in. So it can suppress the activity and growth of the bacterial and fungal, which are the cause of many infections and diseases. It functions as anti-fungal and anti-bacterial.
Before using the waterleaf, ensure that it is well washed with clean water to prevent infections.
Improve Blood Cell
Waterleaf is good for blood circulation and aids blood production. Protein and iron help in improving blood cells, both the red blood cell and white blood cell. It is recommended to treat various blood diseases like anemia.
Maintenance of The Body Tissues
Vitamin A and C generally help repair your body tissues and, at the same time, aids good vision. It helps in the formation and improvement of melanin – the skin pigment keeps your skin smoother; it eliminates dry skin.
It acts as an anti-oxidant. It can be used to treat any malformation and irregularities in your body. Eating enough water leaf keeps your body in good shape and gives you beautiful skin.
Aids Cognitive Ability
It enhances cognitive ability that protects your brain activities and tissues. It has a significant impact on your brain neurons. Due to its role in blood circulation, it improves cerebral blood flow to prevent brain conditions like cerebral hypoperfusion and schizophrenia. The presence of iron in waterleaf strengthens your brain muscles and tissues.
Enhance The Proper Function of The Liver
The leaves support the liver. Waterleaf lowers the concentration of enzymes in your liver.
Also, waterleaf regulates sugar level in your blood, it helps to treat diabetes mellitus. It helps in treating insomnia – sleeping disorder. The high dietary fiber in waterleaf slows down the digestion and the conversion of starch to simple sugar in your body. Waterleaf aids fertility, it improves libido if you are a male while it improves ovulation if you are a female. It is capable of healing your wound very fast, and it prevents cancer. Give it to your children because it improves their blood level.
You can eat Waterleaf raw or processed, it depends on how you want it. You can process it into juice or cook it as a vegetable in your home. Waterleaf juice is a beverage that yields excellence and significant result if added to your daily diets. The sauce is perfect for you if you always feel tired or weak. If taken in excess, it can cause kidney stones due to the presence of oxalate in it. Fortunately, 50% of the amount of oxalate in waterleaf is being removed through cooking or blanching.
Water juice is an immune booster. It is nutritious, refreshing, and delicious.
How to Make Waterleaf Juice
It involves a few steps to get it done. They are:
- Pluck and rinse the waterleaf carefully to get rid of the dirt and sands
- Chop it into tiny pieces, both the stems and the leaves.
- Put it into the blender, like two to three handful for excellent and easy blending.
- Add 1.5 liter of water, then blend it.
- After it has been appropriately blended. Sieve with a muslin cloth to remove the chaff. A dark green liquid will be produced. Then, enjoy your healthy natural juice.
The plants grow well in a cloudy and humid environment. These procedures will guide in successful planting of this plant. They include:
- Get a loamy soil, till it and apply manure and water. By so doing, the plant will grow ideally from the onset.
- Get a waterleaf seed and plant it on the tilled ground.
- If you plant it during the rainy season, there’s no need for artificial irrigation, but if you plant it in a dry season, always remember to water it daily.
- After planting, It takes the plant 8 to 12 weeks to fully grow up and harvest.
- Use a knife to cut the young shoot of waterleaf at the branches. In a few days, leaves and young shoots will begin to sprout out from the cut edges.
