Kids are little musketeers, who always want to explore this world in all the available ways. During their exploration, they use their hands, legs, mouth, and nose. During this process, the parasites in any of the substances they explore get contacted and enter any one of their body parts.

Worming

Parasites are organisms that live in the host organism, and getting energy from it also makes the host become weak. These parasites lay eggs and multiply themselves from just 1 or 2 to lakhs together.

Unable to believe?

But it’s the truth.

They multiply quickly and will start to show symptoms nearly after 6 months or a year. They make themselves persistent to lay eggs. What a strong foundation! 

Name of the Parasites

Hookworms, Tapeworms, Flukes Pinworms, and many others, but these are common among humans.

Hookworms

Present in the intestine, usually spread through feces and contaminated surfaces like soil. It penetrates through the skin of the host from the contaminated soil surfaces, which have eggs or larvae. It enters the host body and is stuck inside the walls of the intestine by its hooks.

Tapeworms

Live in the contaminated drinking water with its eggs and larvae. They also live in the intestine and stuck its head to it. It lives for long years if not treated properly.

Flukes

Common in animals, but humans will get infected by eating the raw meat or not properly cooked meat of those animals. It lives in the intestine.

Pinworms

Usually small creatures, common among children, live in the colon and anus. The female worms lay eggs in the anus at night-time especially which makes sleeplessness in kids.

Symptoms

• Diarrhea

• Loss of weight

• Anaemia

• Stomach pain

• Sleeplessness, Hastiness

• Lack of appetite

• Blood in stools, pain in anus

Causes

Unhygienic Activities/Lack of Personal Hygiene

Playing in mud or sand. Having food without proper cleaning of hands and vessels

Usage of Contaminated Water

Living in a developing country like India, getting water itself is a big thing, right? Using contaminated water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning plays a major role in getting infections.

Playing with Pets

Pets usually get parasites in their hair all around the body. It always licks its body ie., self-cleaning. Touching, hugging, and holding the pets while playing, and patting automatically make the parasite enter our bodies.

No Proper Sanitation

After the use of the toilet, no proper cleaning of hands and bowels in turn makes way for infections easily.

Uncooked or No Proper Cooking of Meat

Parasites are common in animals, humans use to get them by eating the animals in their raw form or not cooking them properly.

Treatment

As a wise saying “Prevention is better than cure”. A major way by following a healthy and hygienic way of living we can avoid these infections. But once get infected, there is no need to be panicked. This can be cured effortlessly by our daily foods. 

We know the six tastes. Sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent. The last 3 tasty items pungent, bitter, and astringent food items help in paralyzing or killing the parasites inside the body and excreting them out naturally.

Bitter gourd: It acts as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent. It is rich in potassium and magnesium. It has twice the amount of calcium as spinach. It can be used in gravy, fry, or shallow fry as a side dish. By having this at least once a week, we can avoid or expel the worm inside our body. Both of my naughty boys' favorites are the gravy with tamarind!

Turkey berry: It has anti-microbial and anti-bacterial properties which help to fight anemia. This iron-rich berry can be consumed with vitamin C-rich food for its absorption. It can be made as a gravy in raw form or dried form with tamarind extract and peppercorns. It is so yummy!

Raw papaya: Papaya has papain enzyme. It helps to reduce pain, inflammation, and swelling. It has also been used to improve digestion and to treat infections related to diarrhea, and allergies. The ripen one can be taken as a snack, weekly twice which in turn helps in maintaining good eyesight with its vitamin A.

Pomegranate juice: It has anti-viral, antioxidant, and anti-tumor properties. It is rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, and folic acid. It helps in improving the immune system. The leaves, and barks can be made as a decoction to drink, very useful in case of dysentery or diarrhea. 10-20 ml of the decoction stops it in kids.

Garlic: By chewing 2 cloves of garlic daily for a week will stimulate the paralyzing effect on the worms. So for kids, boiling 2 cloves of crushed garlic in milk once in a week works unknowingly best within 3 months.

Pumpkin seeds: Just mildly roast the pumpkin seeds, and grind them in as powder. Add 1 tbsp in the milk regularly for a month. This will start to keep the worms at bay.

Carom seeds: Take ½ tbsp of carom seeds, and boil it with 1 glass of water (approximately 125 ml). Once it becomes 1/3 of glass (around 30-40 ml) as a decoction. Strain the decoction and give 20 ml to the kids. This will make wonders for the kids and aids in digestion too. 

Cloves: It has antibacterial, and antioxidant properties. Rich in manganese. It helps to reduce the stress level which in turn hastiness will drop automatically. Add cloves with carom seeds and a pinch of turmeric to make a decoction. Strain it and give 10-20 ml to kids after an hour of food. It stimulates digestion and also slowly helps in decaying the worms in the intestine.

Turmeric: It is an anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and whatnot everything. A single component but multiple special in nature. Curcumin in turmeric is a major component in reducing diabetes, stress, and heart diseases, and cures Cancer. In addition, helps in paralyzing the parasites.

Pineapple: It is rich in vitamin C, vitamin B complex thiamine, and manganese. It aids in indigestion and improves the immune system. Eating 50 - 100g for kids is a healthy snack.

Neem leaves: It has anti-inflammatory, anti-hyperglycaemic, antiulcer, antimalarial, antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral, antioxidant, anti-mutagenic, and anti-carcinogenic properties. It helps in killing the parasites effectively. Having 4-5 baby Neem leaves before morning milk will help a lot in killing parasites effectively. No need for separate preparation of decoction or anything. It makes hassle-free expulsion of Parasites.

Vitamin C-rich food automatically improves your immune system. This helps in killing the microbes inside the stomach and defecate them

By using the above food items in our day-to-day food, we can get rid of worms in our stomachs and lead a parasite-free life.

Let us see the remedies by mix and match method which makes it easily edible.

Remedy 1: A Decoction

Ingredients: Baby Neem leaves 3 to 4 arch, Cumin seeds-1 tbsp, cardamom 2 nos, turmeric 1 pinch, onion shallots 2 nos.

Preparation method: Take a glass of water measuring 150 ml, put all the above ingredients, and allow it to boil. Stop it once in turns green in color nearly 75-100 ml. We have this decoction as the first-morning drink for 15 days once on empty stomach. It must be warm neither hot nor cold. 10-20 ml for kids around 1-2 years, up to 50 ml for elders at least monthly once. No food consumption after this decoction for at least half an hour

Remedy 2: A Smoothie

Ingredients: Papaya-100g, pineapple-100g, coconut -50g, pumpkin seeds-10g, cloves-2 nos, Banana -2 nos

Preparation method: Grind it as a smoothie and drink it as an early morning drink and wait for 30 minutes to eat any other food. Adults can have it as a smoothie. But for kids, strain it since it couldn’t be swallowed easily. From 20 to 50 ml kids from 2 to 10 years can drink. It is rich in fiber and a complete smoothie to deworm.

Remedy 3: A Soup

Ingredients: Turkey berry 5-10 nos, turmeric powder- a pinch, peppercorns 4-5 nos, cumin seeds a pinch, 2 nos garlic cloves crushed, 2 onion shallots crushed

Preparation method: Take 150 ml of water and add the above ingredients to it. Allow it to boil till the Turkey berry can be mashed easily in hand. Once it can be mashed in hand stop the fire. Strain it and drink the water around 20- 30 ml for kids from 3 to 10 years. Turkey berries 4-5 nos must be consumed by kids.  Adults can have it like soup in the evening weekly once.

Deworming plays a vital role in the growth of children. It helps them to imbibe the nutrients properly from the food fully. We, parents, help our rock stars to rock always by parenting them in all the ways naturally ie., Organically.

Let us all join our hands together in making our kids free from parasites effect by de-worming them. Simply, by adding proper food items at regular intervals.

See you all with yet another useful topic! Take care!