Turmeric Is the Trick to Reduce Inflammation

A couple of years ago my yoga instructor Indira hosted a fund-raising dinner in an effort to provide sewing machines to poor areas in India.  Indira cooked all of the Indian dishes with the assistance of several helpers.  There were about 7-8 different vegetarian dishes and they were awesome!  (I love Indian food).

I stuffed myself after taking food from the buffet line THREE times.

The dinner was on a Friday night.  For the rest of the weekend I felt great!  I had a personal record for my Saturday morning run and did not have any aches or soreness.  I also had a lot of energy for the rest of the weekend.

I thought maybe it the was the impact of eating so much turmeric so I did a little research and found that turmeric does help reduce inflammation.

Turmeric is a flowering plant of the ginger family.  It has been used since ancient times in India for flavor and medicinal qualities.  It is one of the spices that is included in curry.  Curcumin which is part of the turmeric plant provides the healthy benefits.

I mentioned to my Doctor during a routine check-up that I felt great after the Indian dinner and she confirmed that turmeric helps reduce inflammation.

Inflammation is the body's natural reaction to injury and infection.  When acute inflammation occurs chemicals from the body's white blood cells are released into the blood or affected tissues to protect the body from foreign substances.  The area of injury or infection may result in redness and warmth.

Chronic inflamation occurs when the immune system gets set to permanently "on".  As a result damaging chemicals are released into the body which can sicken the cells.  Recent research suggests that chronic inflammation is associated with many modern diseases such as obesity and heart disease.

In addition chronic inflammation could make you feel tired and "washed out".

Curcumin can help fight degenerative processes in the brain, prevent heart disease and cancer, improve Alzheimer and depression symptoms. Healthline

While there are many long term benefits of taking turmeric I started taking a turmeric supplement immediately after experiencing the impact of eating turmeric at the Indian dinner.  I noticed the impact of turmeric the next day.

I take two Spring Valley Tumeric Curcumin 500 mg pills per day.  Spring Valley Tumeric has only natural ingredients and is inexpensive from Walmart.

I recently started making tea using fresh turmeric.  It tasted good.  I followed the recipe in this link:  eat 2 run.  If you don't have a tea infuser (I don't) you can use a strainer in a large bowl or bottle.

I plan to start using the tumeric spice in some of my meals such as soups, vegetables and salad dressing, eggs and hummus.

You should try taking turmeric for a couple of weeks.  You may find that you feel less muscle soreness and achy joints and have more energy.   Also, the long term benefits are awesome.  

You could take a supplement, add the spice to your meals, or drink turmeric tea.