Eating Right - Add More Turmeric To Your Diet
If you’re not familiar with turmeric it is the yellow-orange spice used in Asian cooking. It contains curcumin which is being hailed as a powerful antioxidant and can help you make the leap to eating right.
In recent studies at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center curcumin has been shown to possibly help prevent and treat cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, pulmonary disease, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis and arthritis! Now that’s a powerful spice!
So what do the Asians know about eating right that we don’t? Well it seems that curcumin is a powerful anti-flammatory agent. Researchers now regard inflammation as a contributing factor in many chronic diseases. In addition, studies have also shown that the effects curcumin has on gene activity can actually starve and kill cancer cells.
Several institutions are now conducting human trials of curcumin to document its relationship to preventing and treating colon, pancreatic and rectal cancers as well as its effects on Alzheimer’s disease.
If you want to add this “miracle” spice to your diet you’re better off consuming straigh turmeric as opposed to commercial curry powders. You can find hole or ground dried turmeric in the spice section of most grocery stores. Ground turmeric is the most widely used form. It’s highly susceptible to light so it should be packed in an airtight tin and stored in a cool, dark place. Turmeric will begin to lose its potency after about six months, even sooner if exposed to light and/or heat.
When using turmeric keep in mind that the flavor usually gets stronger when cooked so use it sparingly. And that vivid yellow color–well it’s a powerful yellow dye so you don’t want to get it on your clothing!
You can find many recipes using turmeric
You don’t always have to think of “eating right” as tasteless tofu dishes. Learning to cook with healthy ingredients
February 04 2009 09:00 am | eating right
