5/21/12

Turmeric: a Great & Potent Antioxidant


Some great antioxidants include cinnamon, goji berries, acai, red wine, and blueberries. These are known in the media as being some of the best antioxidant sources. One of the best antioxidants however comes from turmeric. This is a spice that’s used quite often in curries. This spice is also one of the most powerful spices when it comes to antioxidant properties.

In India this spice has been used for thousands of years. They use it in spice, dyes and for Ayurvedic medicine which is traditional Indian medicine. One of the best fat-burners is turmeric and it has great healing qualities compared to other foods and spices. This spice is a great anti-oxidant and it also has anti-bacterial properties.

What exactly is Turmeric?

This spice grows on shrubs in tropical parts of Asia and in India. The roots of the plants are ground up to make the spice turmeric. The main substance is the spice is called curcumin and it’s a bright yellow color.  The yellow spice has a pungent odor and it has good medicinal properties. You can use the spice for a body cleanser, to treat fevers, to aid digestion, to treat infections, to aid arthritis and it is good for liver or gall bladder disorders. The spice may even help to burn fat and you can use it to help prevent heart disease or Alzheimer’s disease. The stores of antioxidants in the turmeric spice help to fight against free radicals which impact disease, cancer, and premature aging problems. Natural health practitioners recommend turmeric when there’s a need for a good potent antioxidant.

Fat Burning and Digestion Aid

This spice is good to help digest fats since it stimulates the bile to flow from the gall bladder. It’s a good spice for digestion and for fat-burning. It’s also a good compound for reducing inflammation symptoms from diseases such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis according to studies.

For the functioning of the heart the spice has good anti-platelet substances which help to keep blood from clotting easily. This helps prevent strokes and heart attacks. When you take turmeric the curcumin helps to lower the chemical homocysteine which is a predictor of heart attacks when levels are high in your body. The curcumin can also help to prevent the oxidation of plaque in the walls of arteries. Since the spice is good for anti-inflammation it’s successful in treating rheumatoid arthritis, joint pain, and osteoarthritis.

How Turmeric Helps Reduce Cancer

The Turmeric spice is a powerful cancer fighter. Some studies have indicated that the spice can prevent tumors from growing and, in people who already have cancer, it can slow the spread and growth of the cancer. When mice were injected with the cells of cancer the curcumin in the turmeric were more effective than the cancer drug paclitaxel. The curcumin in the spice also works well with the anti-oxidant quercetin which is found in foods such as onions or apples. This combination helps to prevent the formation of polyps in the colon. Studies have shown that the size of pre-cancerous polyps reduced by as much as 50%.

Alzheimer's disease and Turmeric

New studies have indicated the turmeric is effective in treating Alzheimer’s. Studies of Indians with a high intake of Turmeric in curry have a very low rate of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Those with Alzheimer’s have plaque buildup in their brain and Turmeric can break down the plaque and provide better brain health.

Ways to Get Turmeric into Your Diet

You can get high levels of curcumin by using turmeric in your cooking. You can get it in curry but it’s usually a combination of spices and not just Turmeric. It’s much better to use the pure form of this spice although curry has good properties too and you don’t need to avoid it.

Try the spice on various foods and see how you like it. You’ll get amazing benefits when you use this spice in your daily dishes. You need to be careful when you use the spice because it can stain quite easily. Try it on steamed cauliflower, onions, green beans, other vegetables or even on sautéed apples.

You can try turmeric with raw vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, radishes or sweet pepper. This spice is also good for dishes that require lentils. You can use it in salads for an orange-yellow hue and for added flavor in the salad. Add turmeric regularly and try it out with many of your favorite healthy recipes. Another option is to use it with egg salad and it gives it more flavor than before.

How to Get the Spice Daily and Receive the Benefits From It

Spices like turmeric and cinnamon have some amazing health benefits but you might find it hard to use them more than a couple times per week. The best way to make sure you get this spice is to take it in capsule form. You can get these capsules from health food stores or you can make them yourself by buying empty capsules and then filling them with turmeric. Buy the spice in bulk from health food stores since its more pungent and fresher tasting.

Richard Jefferson is the head blogger at www.somanabolicmusclemaximizerdownloads.com.  You can learn more about dieting, spices and muscle building by visiting his site.

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