Australian Yoga Journal — July 2017

july 2017

yogajournal.com.au

70

shogaols, help kill and prevent the

spread of cancer cells.

DAILY GOAL About 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon

dried ginger a day, taken in 1/8-

teaspoon doses, may help quell nausea,

aid digestion, and prevent constipation.

Or you can ingest 1 to 2 teaspoons of

freshly grated ginger per day, raw or

boiled in tea.

TRY ITCombined with garlic as an

aromatic recipe staple, or as a healing

tea:

• Chicken or fish curries


• Fresh herb chutneys


• Spice rubs


• Ginger and honey tea

TURMERIC

ORIGINSDried and ground,

turmeric has been spicing up food in

Asia for at least 25oo years. India is a

major exporter.

HEALTH BENEFITS A staple of Indian

and Chinese medicine systems,

turmeric is also the latest darling of

nutrition researchers, mainly because

of curcumin, the compound that

imparts the spice’s yellow colour.

You name the health concern—

including diabetes, heart disease,

cancer, and possibly Alzheimer’s—

and it seems like curcumin helps

prevent or treat it. “In addition to

curcumin, turmeric has more than

a hundred other active components,

which probably act synergistically to

benefit your health,” explains Sahdeo

Prasad, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow

at the Department of Experimental

Therapeutics, MD Anderson Cancer

Center, in Houston, Texas.

This powerful synergy may

explain turmeric’s impressive health

creds: It may help heal peptic ulcers,

reduce symptoms of irritable bowel

syndrome (IBS), and zap some of

the carcinogens found in cigarettes.

Another article in the Indian Journal

of Dental Research suggests making

a paste—1 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp

salt, and 1/2 tsp mustard oil—and

rubbing it on your gums twice daily

to treat gingivitis (inflammation of the

gums) and periodontitis (gums

receding and forming infected pockets).

DAILY GOAL About 1/2 teaspoon per day

is enough, although more might be

needed for certain medical conditions,

says Prasad. Curcumin is fat soluble,

so cook turmeric with some oil or

coconut milk to enhance absorption.

Combining it with black or white

pepper also improves bioavailability.

TRYITIn a range of savoury recipes

thanksto its relatively mild taste:

• Beans and chickpea dishes


• Rice dishes


• Red or yellow curries


• Vegetable stir-fries

CLOVES

ORIGINSCloves are the

flower bud of the clove tree,

dried and sold whole or

ground. Native to Indonesia,

cloves are also cultivated in

India and other Asian countries,

as well as Tanzania and Brazil.

The infamous East India Company

introduced cloves to India in 18oo.

HEALTH BENEFITS Cloves ranked first

in a French study of the 1oo foods

highest in polyphenols, a large group

of antioxidant compounds found

in plants. To put this in perspective,

a mere half-teaspoon of ground

cloves contains as many antioxidants

as a half-cup of blueberries—often

touted as a top antioxidant-rich

superfood.

So far, research on cloves and

its polyphenols has been mainly

conducted in test tubes or on lab

animals. Even so, early results look

promising. For example, cloves are

a great source of the antioxidant

eugenol, which has been shown to

suppress the spread of melanoma.

They’re also rich in gallic acid, found

to boost memory and tamp down

brain inflammation that leads to

Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

DAILY GOAL Exact levels aren’t yet

known, but a dash goes a long way—

the menthol-like flavour can take over

quickly and burn your mouth if you

overdo it!

TRY ITCombined with other spices to

lend rich flavour to such foods as:

• Coconut-based curries


• Fruit-poaching liquid


• Hot herbal tea


• Rice biryanis

CHILLI

POWDER

ORIGINSPeople in what is today called

Mexico were eating hot peppers as far

back as 8ooo years ago. It wasn’t until

the 15th century, when Christopher

Columbus and crew ‘discovered’ the

peppers, that they were introduced to

Europe. It’s believed that Portuguese

traders then brought them to India,

where they quickly became a beloved

staple. Though hot peppers are grown

all over the world, India is now a major

producer.

HEALTH BENEFITS Hot peppers that are

dried and sold whole or ground into chilli

powder get their heat from healing

compounds called capsaicinoids, the

most abundant and well-researched

being capsaicin. The hotter the pepper,

the more capsaicin it contains, says

Krishnapura Srinivasan, PhD, chief

scientist at the Central Food

Technological Research Institute in

Mysore, India. Capsaicin has antioxidant

and anti-inflammatory powers and

protects you on many fronts. For

example, it can lower cholesterol, which

reduces your risk of heart disease and

of cholesterol-related gallstones.

(Srinivasan notes that Indians who eat a

lot of chilli peppers, have a lower risk of

gallstones compared to other cultures.)

The spice might also help you maintain a

healthy weight by delivering feelings of

satiation and a temporary bump in

metabolic rate: People took in 74 fewer

calories after eating spicy meals or taking

a capsaicin supplement with their food,

compared to when they ate blander fare

or took a placebo, according to a review

in the journal Appetite. While this may

not sound like much, over a few meals it

adds up.

And chilli powder may help you get

more out of foods: “It enhances the

absorption of vitamins by enlarging

villi—tiny hairlike structures in the

intestine that transport nutrients into

the bloodstream,” Srinivasan explains.

DAILY GOAL It’s hard to know exactly—

animal studies used 5 to 1o times the

amounts eaten in hot-pepper-loving

parts of India. Srinivasan suggests 1/2

to 3/4 teaspoons a day spread out over

several meals; this equals about 2 to

4 dried hot peppers, half the average

intake of Indians.

FOOD STYLIST: ERICA MCNEISH; PROP STYLIST: NICOLE DOMINIC; GERARIA/ISTOCKPH

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