Turmeric: The Super Spice

Are you stressed out? Do you eat too much sugar? Are you concerned about diabetes, heart disease, and/or stroke? Do you want to protect your cells from cancer? Are you struggling with depression?

If you answered "YES" to any or all of the above, then you might want to add some turmeric to your diet. (Most of us only turn to our spice cabinet when looking for flavorings, but many of our regular spices are highly medicinal in addition to being delicious.)

Turmeric is a spice used mainly in Indian dishes. It is the ingredient in curry powder that makes it yellow. Curcurmin is the active ingredient in turmeric currently being studied for its effectiveness at fighting inflammation in the body, reducing the risk of many types of cancer, and even relieving depression!

Turmeric has a very mild taste and can therefore be added to all different types of dishes without drastically altering the flavor. You can add a teaspoon when you make pickles, stir fries, scrambled eggs, tofu dishes, chicken salad, potato salad, meatloaf, chai lattes, or warm milk. These possibilities are just off the top of my head! Whenever you add turmeric to a dish, make sure to also add black pepper. This increases the bioavailablity of the curcurmin, and helps your body absorb it.

If you want to increase your consumption of curcurmin greatly, you can add a daily supplement. Turmeric or curcurmin supplements are readily available at Walmart, Costco, and probably most major grocery stores and pharmacies. Remember you want to look for a supplement that contains not just turmeric, but also black pepper extract.

Spice up your diet and your life while reducing your risks of disease! Not sure what more you could want from a humble root.