Aloe Vera: Why It’s Good For You
Aloe vera used to be a sunscreen soother, and nothing more, but now, nutritionists, doctors, and consumers themselves are singing praises for other health benefits of aloe vera.
What is aloe vera?
Aloe vera is a succulent plant found mainly in Africa and the Caribbean. It thrives in dry climates and survives by holding all the liquid it needs in its thick, juicy leaves. There are actually more than 400 species of aloe in the world—aloe vera is the most popular.
How can you benefit from aloe vera?
First, the classic use of aloe vera as a sunburn soother still takes the cake as the most common use of this exotic plant. Not just sunburns, but all burns, benefit from the cooling relief that aloe vera provides, as well as its effect at reducing inflammation. You can either buy aloe gel (mass-produced and in bottles) at your local drugstore, or you can break off a section of an aloe leaf and smear the gel directly onto your burn. For greater surface area, you can peel a large section of the plant and apply it that way.
Next, aloe has recently been discovered to supply other health benefits—not just for your outsides, but for your insides. Here’s how:
• A few teaspoons of aloe juice a day could help improve digestion and help treat heart burn
• Aloe helps promote healthy guns and teeth.
• Ingested aloe can help strengthen skin and reduce wrinkles.
• People who drink aloe vera juice see an increase in their energy levels.
• You can boost your immune system with aloe vera.
• Aloe vera can help diabetics balance blood glucose levels.
• You can replace Tums or other heartburn medication with all-natural aloe vera.
• Similar to reducing burn inflammation on the outside of your body, aloe vera can reduce inner inflammation and can help conditions like colitis.
• You can detox with aloe juice. It’s known to be an innards cleanser.
• It can serve as an excellent laxative.
While aloe vera has been around basically forever, it’s only in recent years that people are rediscovering the advantages that this healthy green plant brings to the body. You can buy the plant and extract your own juice or gel from it (for internal or external use), or you can visit nearly any health food store and purchase energy drinks with aloe vera, aloe supplements, gel, or liquid that you can easily add to other juices for a healthy and tasty drink.
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