I have five kids. Previously, I was healthy. But, since last few days, I feel tired in the afternoon. I don’t feel like working. I want to take rest. I don’t know what is happening to me. Doctor had given me pain killers which are not effective enough. Can you please tell me, why I feel so exhausted (Mrs. Noshaba).

Advice: One of the reasons of this exhaustion is that you are working more than your capacity. It is not easy to take care of five children. Besides you don’t pay attention to your diet. You should take paratha, egg and tea in the breakfast. Do take some fruit in the afternoon. Orange, fruiter and mandarin is good for having vitamin C. Doctors say that body deficit in vitamin C is vulnerable to cell damage and exhaustion. Please do one thing, keep organs at home and whenever you feel exhausted, take its juice, you will feel refreshed. Our female gets lost on domestic chores and forgets to take care of themselves. It results in irritation, exhaustion and leg aching. Orange is full of vitamin C. Its juice is very refreshing. Some of women use vitamin C tablets of 500 mg for two weeks, to keep their health fit. However taking, fresh orange juice is more beneficial. Breakfast should be taken be taken regularly and properly so that you can work well throughout the day. Take care of your diet; eat fruits, vegetables and meat. Those female, who take care of their diet, do not feel exhausted. Last year, I happened to see an old woman. She was preparing a dry mixture of grains, semolina (sooji) and dry fruits. She said that it was very effective for back ache. She used to eating it every winter to remain fit and feel no back ache. She also took fruits in the noon. She had eight children. Her daughters-in-law make fun of her but she does not give up taking care of her health.

Clean the Dark Elbows

Both of my elbows have grown dark from the joints. They look very odd. How can I remove these spots? (Shaheen).

Advice: You don’t clean your elbows with soap very well. Cut a lemon into two pieces and pour some sugar over them. The sugar grains should be big. Rub your elbow with this lemon dipped in sugar grains until sugar melts. Clean it with tissue and clean it again with other part of lemon with sugar. Wash the elbows later, in few days; your elbows will be clean. Lemon helps to clear the skin colour. After that you can apply some cream or petroleum jelly. It cleans the dirt. You have to work a bit for this result. Wash after ten minutes with water and apply rose water, a few drops of glycerine will also keep the skin soft.

Don’t let the Vegetable Whither

 I keep vegetables in fridge but they whither. Please tell me how I can save them from this. (Sh, A, Karachi)

Advice: Wash the vegetables, drain water and dry them. Then wrap it in soaked cloth. It will be fresh for a few days. Never keep green vegetables in plastic bags. You can wash spinach etc. before refrigerating it. But after a few days wash them again in dead cold water, they will be refreshed. Don’t buy too many vegetables, buy whatever is sufficient for you. Don’t cook vegetables on high heat. It will waste the nutrition. Green leafy vegetables like spinach can be saved after boiling them.

Benefits of sweet potatoes

I am 22 years old but I look to be 10 to 12 years old. With the arrival of winter I get cold and flu, nose running and sneezing problems. I need to go for urine again and again though I am not diabetic. Please tell me some nutritional prescription which can help me to cure. (Shehla, Lahore)

Advice: Winter is about to come. You must eat sweat potatoes. Boiling it in water will reduce its nutrition. Baking it in hot sand is ashes are more beneficial. It is very useful for people like you. It makes muscles strong and you will look healthy. You can bake a half kg of it and eat it daily. Gradually increase its quantity. You can add black pepper, cumin seeds and brown cardamom grains grinded in equal quantity and a little salt to sprinkle over it. It will cure all your mentioned problems. Old people used to say that eating it for 40 days during winter makes the body healthy for the whole year.

Moreover, you can also take one tea spoon of Nijella Sativa (Kalonji), six tea spoons of olive oil, warm it on low heat and add Nijella Sativa; turn off the stove after three minute, cool it down and stain it though a thin cotton cloth. Pour one drop of this oil in both sides of nose at night, if you sneeze too much or have blocked nose or have a pimple in nose.

The Dryness of Body:

In winter, I face a problem of having dryness on all my skin after taking shower, especially, my hands and feet get totally dry. Please advise!

Advice: In winter, the body usually gets dried. Baby oil is available in the market. Take a few spoons o baby oil, pour one table soon oil into a bottle add some water. Apply it on whole body after taking shower. It will reduce dryness from your body. If you don’t get baby oil, you can use olive oil instead. You can add rose water for fragrance. If you apply olive oil to kids before shower, they look very clean afterwards.