Spice Your Way to a Healthier Life
An overview of health benefits and natural remedies found in our spices.
The nutritional benefits of spices are beginning to be so well known that many spices are popping up in the vitamin aisles in larger stores and can be found in capsule form. Doctors recommend taking a multi vitamin, as maintaining a balanced diet is becoming increasingly difficult. Organically grown fruits and vegetables, while healthier, are out of the price range for many consumers. These consumers are left with a product which has been over processed and chemically treated for a variety of reasons. How can we improve our odds in the war of eating healthy?
One way would be to enlist the aid of your common household spices. Not only do they make your food taste better, but ounce for ounce some spices are worth their weight in gold.
Cinnamon
Take cinnamon for instance. What would pumpkin or apple pie be without cinnamon? Cinnamon can be used in the treatment of athlete’s foot, body odor, diabetes, erectile dysfunction, fever, heart burn, diarrhea, and nausea. Cinnamon is now found in capsule form and can be taken as a daily supplement.
There are a number of herbs, teas, and spices containing fungicides including cinnamon, fennel, basil, black currant, dill, lemon, orange, sage, thyme, tarragon, spearmint, and red clover.
Brewing up any combination of these can provide an anti-fungal boost to your every day consumption because each of these listed contain ten or more anti-fungal properties a piece. If preferred a cotton ball soaked in the tea could be applied directly to the skin.
Cinnamon is not the only spice known to help the body use insulin more efficiently. According to research bay leaves, cloves and turmeric can also be beneficial. A pinch or two of these steeped in black tea (camellia sinensis) for ten minutes provides a blood-sugar-lowering drink.
Cinnamon, an aphrodisiac? In studies performed on medical students measurement devices were attached to the student’s penises to test their reactions to a variety of aromas. Maybe there is some truth to the saying “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” in that the aroma of pumpkin pie, and even more so hot cinnamon buns was shown to improve the blood flow and increase erections in the participants. The best results were achieved with nutmeg, cinnamon, and lavender aromas.
Sprinkling some cinnamon or cardamom on toast can aid in treatment of acid indigestion and heartburn. This spice has a strong anti-microbial action which can settle the stomach.
Anti-microbial properties are those which are capable of killing or inhibiting the growth of microorganisms or bacteria, fungi and viruses. This also makes cinnamon a good choice in the treatment of some fevers. A drop of cinnamon oil on an insect bite helps to relieve the itch.
Basil
Another common spice found in thousands of kitchens would be basil. Basil is a wonderful addition to many of our favorite Italian dishes, but it is also an excellent choice as an insect repellent, and for the treatment of bad breath, warts, emphysema, head aches, and high blood pressure.
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jeannie | Sep 19, 2007 | Reply
this is great!!!!!! We all need to give the spices another look; sometimes we forget just how good the natural herbs and spices are for us. Thanks Judy for the reminder. Keep up the good work.
S L J | Sep 20, 2007 | Reply
Thank You very much. This just may save my life!
Judy Sheldon (-Walker) | Sep 20, 2007 | Reply
Thank you so much for your encouragement. I have a passion for nutrition and another for writing, so this was an act of love. I don’t put anything in my writing without verifying sources because good information is only as good as it’s source.
Bransby | Sep 21, 2007 | Reply
Don’t want to seem pedantic, but aren’t Sage and Basil herbs rather than spices?
Judy Sheldon (-Walker) | Sep 21, 2007 | Reply
Thank you for reading my article, Bransby. Actually sage and basil are both and their health benefits are still amazing.
Judy L Sheldon (-Walker) | Sep 24, 2007 | Reply
Thank you so much for your encouragement. You have inspired me to dig up more research on spices and herbs and write another article.
Tom | Sep 24, 2007 | Reply
Everything they say about turmeric seems to be true. I have suffered from pretty severe joint problems for a year now and been medicating heavily on anti-inflammatory drugs, which in the end relieved no more than about 20% of my pain. I found fresh turmeric root in a store nearby and started putting inch-size pieces into my daily smoothie. My ailments -vanished- in two days time, I kid you not. Now I’m back living a normal, med-free life again. Only thing is, as soon as I stop eating the root, the symptoms return. But that’s ok, seems like a cheap price to pay considering the effects.
Judy Sheldon (-Walker) | Sep 25, 2007 | Reply
Tom, I am glad to hear of your discovery, and hope you continue to have good days. I learned so much from doing research for this paper and am now doing a second one to cover the spices and herbs I missed. Thank you.Your comment means a lot to me.
Tom | Oct 1, 2007 | Reply
No problem. I’m also consuming a lot of sage and cinnamon, which seem to have helped out quite a bit with cognitive abilities such as concentration and memory, but the rest of the herbs are either pretty hard to find (at least fresh), or hard to do something with. Would be nice to hear some ideas on how to ingest larger doses of them. The old “just add some to your favorite whatever” advice, doesn’t work, since I have found you need pretty heavy concentrations of the stuff and at a daily basis.
Judy | Oct 1, 2007 | Reply
Tom, it’s great to hear from you again. Since I have done the research I have been using more spice on my meals, but also popping Turmeric capsules. My hip pain is gone. Cinnamon is also available in pill form. I love hot spiced apple cider with cinnamon sticks. Heat a 64 oz bottle of apple juice, 1/3 cup of brown sugar loosely packed, a tsp. of pumpkin pie spices and 1/2 dozen cinnamon sticks in a crock pot. The aroma is delightful, and so is the flavor. I take it to work on cold days and never have any left over.
The World’s Healthiest Foods is loaded with recipes. Did you check out my second spice article? I found another site that offers recipes.
Valarie Thompson | Oct 2, 2007 | Reply
You are right on! Great article! Before chemical medicine, pre-prepared foods, antibotic feed animals, pesticides, herbicides people ate & healed themselves, from the earth provided herbs, spices, foods which all were & still are filled with many, many nutrients with unlimited benefits. I’ve been eating the healthy way for about 20 years now. The last time I was sick was 1990. I attribute my good health to eating a super delicious, super healthy diet which includes all the spices you’ve mentioned in your article and many more. I have to say, turmeric is one of my favorite herb/spice to use daily. It’s takes your food to another level of taste and health!! Everyone should use it. Yummy!
Darlene McFarlane | Oct 2, 2007 | Reply
I am familiar with many spices but I didn’t know about Basil.
A good and informative article with great tips.
Thanks for sharing.
Jared Stenzel | Dec 28, 2007 | Reply
I never really use spices that much, but this has made me think of the many things I could “spice” up with spices.
Patz | Apr 18, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for your article. It added up to my wife’s list of healthful spices. My wife, beset with thyroid cancer for almost 16 years, finds relief from cough and colds using garlic, ginger and onions. We’re in a tropical country so these are easily accessible and quite cheap. I detest the smell of garlic though. Recently we have been drinking “tanglad” or lemon grass steeped in hot water. Lemon grass is believed to cure some forms of cancer although in-depth studies appear to be lacking. Well, better take chances than never at all.
Judy Sheldon | Apr 18, 2008 | Reply
Patz, You are right, nature’s bounty is more plentiful, healthier, and safer than a number of medications out there. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope some of the information provided has been helpful.
zeeknay tzfat | May 8, 2008 | Reply
Here in Israel we use sage dry or fresh whole leaves boiled as a wonderful solution for digestive problems. I take them off the plant in my garden and boil whe needed.(It would be a good idea to check several sources as to home much can be taken, as you above mentioned tremors). I had read that a small ammount in hot water daily is fine to drink.Of course this depends on how strong a boiled solution was made. Believe me, I’ve made it very strong and when needed drunk 5,6 large cups with hot water.Some don’t like the taste, but I find it exotic.
zeeknay tzfat | May 8, 2008 | Reply
p.s.
I see that some people find it hard to obtain sage. Here in Israel, as well as much of this part of the Middle East,Turkey,Syria,Lebanon etc. it grows wild, and also in parts of Europe. You can probably obtain it in a special nursery or online for seeds to plant.Like I said, here it grows wild.Even in pharmacies and drug stores they sell it to those who live in cties dried in a nice sized package for only around $3.75!
Judy Sheldon | May 8, 2008 | Reply
Zeeknay Tzfat, thank you for leaving your comments & providing us with more information. I believe that God provides us with many natural treatments.
CAROLYN'S DESIGNS | Jul 11, 2009 | Reply
THIS IS VERY INTERESTING TO ME .I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN INTERESTED IN THE MEDICINAL PARTS OF SPICES & HERBS. I HAVE ON MY COUNTER NOW DANDELIONS & BOTH OF THE PLANTAINS TO DRY . BUT I MADE A PRACTICE NEVER TO USE ANYTHING UNTIL I RESEARCHED IT . ALL OF THIS IS SO AMAZING TO ME.
GOD GIVES GREAT GIFTS JUST FINDING HOW TO USE THE IS THE MAIN KEY . AS I SAID REALLY ENJOYED THE INFORMATION. VISIT MY BLOG !
Judy Sheldon | Jul 13, 2009 | Reply
Carolyn I did some browsing to see if I could find your blog and came across a delightful one. Please send me your blog address so I can be sure I was visiting the right one. Thanks for the visit.
Thanks & God bless.
gaffneygirl | Jul 13, 2009 | Reply
Thanks. I’m always interested in knowing more about healthy eating and natural cures.
Judy Sheldon | Jul 14, 2009 | Reply
Gaffneygirl, thanks for the support.
Our Healthier Living | Apr 2, 2010 | Reply
Who wants not lead a healthier life? Obviously everyone. Most important part of our healthier living is healthy food. I think naturals are always better than other. So, I like to be stick with any type of natural food not only milk. I believe the most important part of our healthier living is healthier food.
Judy Sheldon | Apr 3, 2010 | Reply
Our Healthier Living, like your tag. It should be the goal of all.
Take care & God bless.
BC Doan | Jun 29, 2010 | Reply
Judy, I love this article, and have been using all of this spices in my cooking. I must have done something right
Judy Sheldon | Jul 1, 2010 | Reply
Icy, bless you. I logged into Triond and saw a comment on this old article and nearly fell out of my chair. I should have known it was from you. Who else is always there for me but you and Chan?
And of course you are doing something right if you are using spices when you cook and prepare food.