BARLEY....don't ever overlook this!

If you have enjoyed this article and know someone who would enjoy it, would you kindly share it with him or her?

Healing and cleansing with barley

High in fibre, barley is also a kidney cleanser.
Better yet, regular intake of it helps prevent heart disease.
BARLEY water was always a regular drink when we were still living at home.
Whenever we had to go for a medical exam that included a urine test, my mum would make us drink barley water a day before it to make sure we got a positive result!

My mother was a wise woman. I later found out from an Australian naturopath that barley is known to be a kidney cleanser, and she happily downed glasses of it at a meal we had in a coffee-shop here.
Barley is good for your intestinal health too.
Try to eat the barley grains you find in your drink or sweet broth with "fu chook "(beancurd skin in Cantonese) and ginkgo nuts.
It's high in fibre which feeds the friendly bacteria in the colon and helps speed up the transit of fecal matter in it. In this way it helps prevent haemorrhoids and colon cancer.

The propionic acid and beta glucan from barley's insoluble fibre also help lower cholesterol and prevent the formation of gallstones.
Eating barley regularly is a preventive step against heart disease as, besides the fibre content, it is also high in niacin, a B vitamin good for lowering cholesterol.

Diabetics should eat more barley as the fibre will prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high. It also provides relief from constipation or diarrhoea for those suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Barley is rich in selenium which prevents cancer and relieves symptoms of asthma and arthritis. It is a good source of manganese, copper and phosphorous.
Malt sugar comes from sprouted barley which, when fermented, is an ingredient in beer and other alcoholic beverages.

Barley, whose Latin name is " hordeum vulgare" , has been cultivated for more than 10,000 years. Since ancient times, barley has been used for healing purposes and has been known to the Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Athletes in Greece and Rome in those days were known to eat barley bread to give them strength.

Besides the usual things we do with barley, I enjoy having it in a western soup. The larger pearl barley is used and I love the sticky bite of it.

Here's a recipe for barley soup:

Barley soup with roasted garlic
1 cup pearl barley 5 cloves whole garlic,
roasted 2 litres chicken stock, steeped from 1 chicken breast simmered in three litres water
2 tbsps vegetable oil,
2 large onions,
diced 2 carrots,
diced 2 stalks celery,
diced 150g turkey ham,
cut up 1 tsp ground white pepper
1 tsps sea salt or to taste 1 tbsp chopped parsley.

Method
1. Wash barley and soak it in a bowl of water for three hours. Drain.
2. Heat oil in pan and fry onions. Add carrots and celery, then the barley and fry for three minutes.
3. Add chicken stock, pepper and roasted garlic and simmer over low heat for at least an hour, or until barley is soft.
4. Add salt to taste and serve the soup garnished with chopped parsley.

[ Contributed by Violet/Yu Sing Tong through D2 ]

Unk Dicko's comments:
I could have died twice in 1965 and in 1970....if not for the healing powers of BARLEY!
What happened back then?
In 1965, since I started working in govt service..I had an income, not much but sufficient for me and a few like-minded friends to start on body building to keep fit and in shape.
The "workout gym " was at my old home in Geylang. We made it ourselves.
Food in those days were just enough for survival for people like us..all humble folks.
There was just not enough proteins in our daily food intake to sustain our body building programme.
So, I went down to North Bridge Road to shop for weight-gaining supplements.
I chose Weider's Weight Gain formula which came in cans. The content was in powdered form
and looked similar to Milo or Ovaltine.
But it was not very good tasting.
However, it produced the desired results...fast. I gained weight and added on muscle mass through the regular workouts.
The instructions on the can said clearly...consume 1 can daily.
I consumed half a can daily as I figured we are Asians and the advice was applicable for Americans ( Weider...was manufactured in USA ).

One fine morning, towards the end of that year, I suddenly felt dizzy...went to the toilet and found my urine was all red! I was passing out blood.
Without a moment's hesitation, I took a slow walk to my family doctor just outside Lorong 40, Geylang. Dr Thung L H, a very genial and lovable GP took a look at the bottle of "red urine" I had brought along and immediately wrote me a referral to be admitted to the SGH. He told me
to go straight away...no delay!
That was what I did and I was in the renal unit for about 5 days. The head of the unit was a very-well known Prof who recommended that I should drink BARLEY water every day and if possible eat the barley too. He told me to buy the raw barley, not those processed ones.

My kidneys were overworked by too much proteins consumed ( Weider's formula) in a short time-span. The tiny capillaries in the kidneys burst causing internal bleeding ...which could have been fatal.
Soon as I consumed lots of barley...my condition improved tremendously!
No drugs were issued to me for my treatment.
The only cure was Barley!

The same thing happened again in 1970 when I somehow forgot the earlier, near disaster 5 years before. Again I was passing out pure blood and again I was rushed to SGH.
The good Prof was still there in the same renal unit.
He gave me that same advice again...take plenty of Barley.
Again I recovered !

I have since been a great promoter and supporter of Barley as a healing cereal.