Healing Herbs Of Paradise Lemon Grass

The way they ward off the mosquitoes in Bali is with lemongrass. Specifically, citronella, a type of lemongrass.

Lelir and Westi showed me how they grow citronella (Cymbopogon nardus) in their huge herb garden. My own garden in Florida has just a fraction of what they have. 

Mosquitoes don’t like the smell of lemongrass, so they stay away. House flies don’t like it either. In fact, researchers have found most bugs will avoid areas with the lemongrass oil. 

I’m sure you’ve heard of citronella candles for your backyard to keep the bugs away. But what if you’re out walking around? Then you need to take lemongrass oil with you.

What I do is break open a couple of stalks and crush them in my hand. I enjoy the lemony aroma and then I dab it right on my skin instead of chemical bug spray.

It also makes a delicious tea … because lemongrass isn’t just for candles. It has a lot of health benefits.

That's why there are hundreds of lemongrass plants growing in Westi’s garden.

Westi explained that his ancestors didn’t exactly understand what fungal infections were, even though they experienced them quite often. But they have always used lemongrass for effectively curing these infections. Studies now back up this ancient use.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi found lemongrass has incredible power against fungus. It destroyed 100% of the yeast C. albicans, which, when it overgrows, can cause infection and immune suppression. 

When doctors at the Federal University of Campina Grande in Brazil looked to lemongrass to treat a fungal infection that’s common there, the essential oil from lemongrass cured 80% of the infections.

Lemongrass is effective against chronic pain, especially connective tissue pain. The essential oil made from lemongrass is great at soothing ligaments, tendons and cartilage

It’s also good for relieving inflamed tissue from a sprain, tennis elbow or Achilles tendonitis. And it works for rheumatism and arthritis. In one study, animals given higher doses of lemongrass oil had 100% of their pain relieved.

Traditionally, lemongrass is used in treating internal inflammation, not just acute inflammation and pain.

In one study lemongrass inhibited formation of cytokines, the inflammatory molecules that can cause dysfunction in the energy-producing centers of critical immune cells. Many other studies on lemongrass have found similarly powerful, anti-inflammatory effects.

Lemongrass protects the heart as well, by increasing antioxidants in heart tissue.

And one powerful effect of lemongrass that most people don’t know about is that it can raise HDL17 and stop LDL cholesterol from oxidizing.1

Why is that so important?

When LDL oxidizes, it can form atherosclerotic plaque that can block arteries and cause heart attacks. Heart attacks are rare in Bali, and with powerfully protective plants like lemongrass in common use, it’s not surprising.

Lemongrass oil is a powerful antifungal as well. One study showed that lemongrass oil vapor worked well against fungal growth. This means that using lemongrass as an aromatherapy would be highly effective against fungal growth.

Lemongrass has a very important function in traditional Balinese cuisine and medicine. Westi told me lemongrass played a big part in one of his favorite parts of childhood

(Cymbopogon citratus)

Balinese name: Sereh

When I was growing up, the evening meal was an important time for my family. This was the one time of day when everyone was together, and our meals were lively events.

Mother always wanted to know what we’d learned in school that day and my father usually had something to share from his day in the rice fields… or stories of selling his carvings to local tourist shops.

Mother served up steaming bowls of rice and lots of fresh vegetables — whatever was in season. And, of course, we always had plenty of her homemade Bali hot sauce — called “sambal sereh” — on hand.

Even today, one taste of Mother’s recipe can bring me back to my childhood in an instant. Almost everything tasted better when you added sambal sereh. It could turn even a bowl of plain rice into a feast.

One of the main ingredients in Mother’s hot sauce was sereh — lemongrass. You’ll find this herb growing in almost every kitchen garden in Bali. And not just because Bali hot sauce is so popular.

Lemongrass is one of the most versatile herbs. We use it to flavor foods… as an aromatherapy scent… to aid digestion… as an antispasmodic… even as an insect repellent.

This herb also eases diarrhea, kills many bacteria and fungi and calms fevers and flu. It’s very effective against gastritis.

As you can imagine, rice farmers often suffer with athlete’s foot. When the rice is young, the paddies are flooded and traditional farmers work barefoot or in sandals all day. In a hot, humid place like Bali, these are perfect conditions for fungi to grow.

For many generations, Balinese farm families have made essential oil from lemongrass and applied it to these fungal infections. The athlete’s foot usually clears up within a week or two.

Lemongrass tea is delicious, with a warm, lemony flavor. We drink this tea on its own or mix the lemongrass with other herbs to make various herbal teas. But many Balinese also keep a spray bottle of lemongrass tea in the kitchen.

This may sound a little odd, but lemongrass contains citronellal, the same chemical found in citronella. Many people like to mist themselves with this tea before they go outside. It’s an easy — and fairly effective — mosquito repellent.

 Herbalists like Lelir and her parents also use lemongrass to relieve headaches.

But of all of the uses we have for lemongrass, my mother’s sambal sereh will always be my favorite. — Westi

My Own Research and Discoveries

Lemongrass has several benefits:

Lemongrass is anti-bacterial, anti-diarrheal and effective against worms.

In traditional Mexican medicine, lemongrass is used to reduce anxiety and calm people down. One study looked at lemongrass’ calming effect. They tested it in mice and found that not only were the mice calmer and less anxious, they also seemed to stay calm no matter what. They were immune to annoying external stimuli like flashing lights.

Lemongrass can cure a stomach ache and even gastric ulcers. At Cariri Regional University in Crato, Brazil, scientists looking into lemongrass’ effect on ulcers were shocked. They treated mice with lemongrass oil and then tried to give the mice ulcers… and they couldn’t! Even using three different potent ulcer-inducers, the mice were protected.

Lemongrass also promotes the health of the friendly microflora in your gut that help you digest food and make B vitamins.

Many types of lemongrass relieve headaches, just as Westi described. Australian natives have used it as a headache cure for countless centuries.

Researchers discovered that many kinds of lemongrass contain eugenol, an antiseptic oil that is a proven painkiller. Eugenol works by stimulating an enzyme called “UGT1A10” that converts chemicals and foreign substances to a water soluble fat that your body quickly flushes out, relieving aches and pains.

That makes it ideal for treating headaches and inflammatory conditions. In fact, eugenol is almost as effective as aspirin.

Here is What I Recommend

Pain Relieving Tea

You can get lemongrass oil at your local health food store or on online. Look for pure Cymbopogon citratus on the label. It may also be labeled “Melissa oil” in Ayurvedic shops.

Tea made from the raw leaves relieves pain, too. I don’t recommend the dried leaves for tea because they’re fibrous and not very appealing floating in your tea.

I like to make the tea right from the plants in my yard. To make it, all you need are some fresh lemongrass stalks and a quart of water.

1. Boil the water, and in the meantime clean fresh stalks of lemongrass. Then cut and discard the green upper part of the stalks. The white part is what you make the tea with.

2. A trick I learned from Lelir is to tenderize the stalks by gently pounding them. This will release the oils into the tea.

3. Put the stalks inside a teapot and pour the boiling water over them.

4. Steep for 5 minutes and serve.

Bali-style Hot Sauce (Sambal Sereh)

Gather the following ingredients:

• Two lengths of fresh lemongrass

• Three medium red onions or shallots

• One chili pepper — choose one based on how hot you want your sauce

• Salt

• Salad oil

Remove the upper portion of the lemongrass — from where the “hairs” begin to grow on the stalks. (You can use these “hairy” parts to make tea.)

Finely dice the lemongrass, onions, and chili. Mix thoroughly with a dash of salt and a few drops of salad oil/