Nowadays, healthy living is not only a lifestyle but also a goal that should be achieved. Some people out there have started this kind of lifestyle in order to reach the goal while others are striving to adapt with the new healthy lifestyle which sometimes could be really hard. Well, don’t force yourself too much but you could start it slowly by starting to realize what you eat. If it is hard for you to avoid some foods that considered harmful for your health entirely, perhaps you could start by reducing the amount and increasing the amount of fresh vegetables instead. Dill is one of the herbal plants you should add to your daily diet because at least the health benefits of fresh dill could cover your unhealthy lifestyle.

What is Dill?

Dill is best known as herb instead of green vegetables but it is commonly found in the kitchen as part of food flavoring and seasoning. However, compared to its cousin from the same family Aplaceae, celery, dill is not really popular. Celery is well known worldwide while dill is only commonly found in European cuisines and some area in Central Asia. The dill leaves are available in the form of fresh dill and dried dills and the dried form is well known as dill weeds. Besides the leaves, the seeds of dill are also edible and commonly used as food seasoning as well though the best thing to get all the benefits of dill; you should consume it if fresh. Fresh dill is very aromatic and has strong flavor which is similar to caraway.

Nutritional Value of Dill

From the table above, it could be said that fresh dill contains amazing amount of vitamins and minerals especially Vitamin C and Vitamin A which could cover the daily intake of Vitamin C and Vitamin A just by consuming 100 gram of fresh dill. Surely you have realized that Vitamin C and Vitamin A are two powerful sources of antioxidants that are strongly required by body to fight free radicals. Besides vitamins, fresh dill is also packed with some minerals compounds and one of them is iron. Iron is also essential for human metabolism because this compound responsible to the production of red blood cells to promote healthier and smoother metabolism. To learn more about the health benefits of fresh dill, the list below will tell you why it is very important to add fresh dill to your daily diet.

1. Greats for Digestion

One of the health benefits of fresh dill is this leave is really great for digestive system. It could help promoting healthier digestion as well as dealing with some digestive conditions like constipation, diarrhea and dysentery.

2. Relieves Constipation

It is not easy to deal with constipation sometimes but fresh dill is well known to be great for digestion. Adding it to your daily diet may prevent and relieves constipation naturally.

3. Improves Bowel Movement

Normal bowel movement means normal stage of metabolism. Healthy metabolism is the key to healthy body.

4. Prevents Excessive Gas

Excessive gas in your stomach is not only making you uncomfortable but if you take it wrongly could be really dangerous and fatal. Consuming fresh dell could prevent excessive gas accumulated in your stomach.

5. Solutions to Diarrhea

Diarrhea is common condition that occurs when digestive system is attacked by certain bacteria. However, dill contains anti-microbial agents as well as anti-fungi properties that could be the solution to this condition.

6. Could Treat Dysentery

Dysentery is a condition that occurs when there is infection caused by bacteria that infected the digestive system. Dill which is considered to have powerful anti-microbial agents could help dealing with condition and kill the bacteria that cause dysentery.

7. Natural Remedy to Insomnia

Vitamin B Complex found in fresh dill and flavonoid is the great combination for natural remedy of insomnia because they have calming effect that make you sleep better.

8. Promotes Bone Health

To have healthy bone is you should consume foods that are rich of calcium and other minerals. Luckily, fresh dill contains all of those minerals that required by your body to promote bone health.

9. Protections Against Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is probably common condition suffered by those who are entering senior age but you could avoid it entirely by starting consuming foods rich of calcium when you were younger.

10. Manages Blood Sugar Level

There are a lot of studies have been conducted to find out whether there is correlation between fresh dill and blood sugar. The fact is the correlation is very close and strong because dill could help in managing the production of insulin.

11. Natural Immunity Booster

Well, from the table mentioned above you could see that the amount of vitamin C per 100 gram of fresh dill is enough to cover your daily intake, so of course fresh dill is a natural immunity booster to protect you from viral infections and other types of infections as well.

12. Contains Anti-microbial Agents

Some studies have stated that dill is toxic to some bacteria such as Fusarium graminearum and Staphylococcus aureus.

13. Helps Calming Down the Hiccups

There are some factors that could cause hiccups from allergies to nervous disorder. However, no matter what the factors that cause it fresh dill could help calming it down.

14. Contains Anti-inflammatory Properties

As contains anti-inflammatory properties, fresh dill is great to treat some conditions caused by inflammation and one of them is arthritis.

15. Maintain Proper PMS Circle

The flavonoids found in fresh dill could help women maintaining the proper PMS circle especially for those who have problem with their PMS.

16. Reduces the PMS Symptoms

Cramps are likely to happen during PMS, some are light while some could be severe. Consuming fresh dill could help reducing the PMS symptoms like cramps.

17. Respiratory Disorders

Allergies and coughs are considered as light respiratory disorders and flavonoids along with some natural compounds found in fresh dill could help dealing with those conditions.

18. Remedy to Depression

According to some studies some compounds found in fresh dill could act as antidepressant agents that could help treating depression.

19. May Treat Epilepsy

Epilepsy considered as one of the common neurogical disorder and to treat it required prescribed medication to prevent the episodic seizure. Some studies show that taking fresh dill is giving similar effects to those prescribed medications.

20. Great for Oral Organ

The antibacterial agents found in fresh dill are great for your oral organ especially for teeth and gum health.

21. Fights Bad Breath

Do you want to fight bad breath? Well, the aromatic aroma of fresh dill is an excellent breath freshener.

22. Prevents Cancer

One of the main factors that cause the development of cancerous cells is free radicals and antioxidants are the only way to fight it. Fresh dill is actually a great source of antioxidants since it is so rich of Vitamin C and A.

23. Could Act as Body Detox

Fresh dill could increase urination and in other words, it could improve the removal process of toxins through urination.

24. Remedy to Anemia

The only way to effectively treat anemia is consuming foods that are rich of iron to help promoting the production of red blood cells. From the table above per 100 gram of fresh dill could fulfill up to 51% the daily intake of iron.

25. Cholesterol Lowering Benefits

Regarding this matter, some studies have been conducted to prove that fresh dill is actually excellent solution in lowering cholesterol level.

26. Contains Powerful Antioxidants

From the table above you could see that dill contains high amount of Vitamin C and Vitamin A which considered as powerful antioxidants. Vitamin C is also well known as ascorbic acid that also could promote optimal absorption of iron from food.

Cautions of Fresh Dill

For food seasoning and herbs, fresh dill may not significantly cause some reserve effects but still there are some cautions you should aware of when using or consuming fresh dill.

• Fresh dill may be great for women during menstruation period because it could maintain the proper circle and reduce the cramps but it is strongly forbidden for pregnant because it could lead to miscarriage. Though there is no intensive study yet about fresh dill consumed by breast-feeding women but to be in the safe side is better to avoid it or at least reduce the dosage.
• Using fresh dill directly to your skin is not recommended because there are some compounds contained in fresh dill that could increase skin sensitivity. In other words, skin becomes more sensitive to sun and may increase the risk of sunburn.
• Those who are allergic to celery and caraway should avoid fresh dill as well because dill comes from the same family with celery.
• If you are using fresh dill as part of home remedy or traditional medication perhaps consulting it to your doctor is highly recommended to avoid negative medicine interaction that could be harmful for your health.

Additional to health benefits of fresh dill is this plant is great as insect repellent. If you have children around and want to protect them for insect bites, perhaps planting some dills around your house is a great idea. Surely it is much better solution than depending on the usage of chemical based products that could be dangerous for children and harmful for environment.