Aesthetic medicine treatments, mysterious pills, intense exercise or expensive creams. People all over the world are still looking for and using various methods to stop time. Fear of old age and the desire to live healthy for many years make us constantly want to look and feel like 20-year-olds.
It turns out that you will find an effective remedy for fighting old age in your kitchen. Here are seven spices that, if consumed on a regular basis, can help protect us from disease and therefore improve our life expectancy.
Anti-aging Spices: Turmeric
Turmeric is a root which, thanks to the intensity of its color and nutrients, is one of the most versatile natural medicines. Fresh or dried turmeric has made its way to every kitchen.
Health benefits:
- The active compound Curcumin found in turmeric can potential cardiovascular health benefits.
- Curcumin may also help relieve the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, and fight cancer.
- Studies have shown that daily use of turmeric may lower the risks of developing various forms of cancer.
- Turmeric also helps with a healthy digestive system and liver.
- The spice has strong anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties, hence help relieve depression.
To consume, you can add turmeric powder directly into your dishes. Turmeric powder is also used as food color in major Indian cosines.
Spices for Longevity: Cinnamon
Besides making your dishes taste yummy, this natural ingredient has amazing health benefits as well. As a spice, cinnamon is generally used as to add aroma to dishes.
Health Benefits:
- Cinnamon, or powdered cinnamon bark, is a powerful antimicrobial agent.
- When added to dishes, it may inhibit the growth of bacteria, fungi and yeasts.
- According to experts , cinnamon oil can even affect the activity of E.coli bacteria.
- Cinnamon has strong anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties.
- The natural ingredient also helps lower blood sugar and helps with type-2 diabetes.
- Having some type of stomach discomfort? You may give cinnamon tea a try.
Avoid using turmeric in baking as it prevents the dough from rising.
Parsley for Diabetes
Few people know that this amazing spice can actually limit the amount of medications we take. Native to the Mediterranean, and used all over the world, the spice comes with a catalogue of great health benefits.
Health Benefits:
- Study conducted by a group of Turkish scientists revealed that parsley can greatly help reduce blood sugar levels in diabetic patients.
- Diabetics in Turkey who ate parsley every day had significantly lower blood glucose levels than those who did not include it in their diet.
- The spice is especially rich in vitamin A, C, and K.
- Due to its anti-oxidant properties, parsley may help reducing the risks of developing cancer.
How to include it in your diet? Sprinkle chopped parsley over dinner. You may also want to prepare a cocktail with parsley.
Coriander to Cleanse Body
Traditionally used in Mediterranean, Asian and African cuisines, coriander has the ability to top this list. It is a great spice for any kind of food. You can also infuse coriander in water and drink every morning.
Health Benefits:
- It has been proven that it is able to effectively remove heavy metals from the body .
- This is especially true of lead and mercury from contaminated food. The removal of dangerous substances from the body usually takes no more than 2 weeks.
- Drinking a glass of water infused with coriander in the morning can keep the digestive system smooth and healthy.
- May help with weight loss.
- Rich is vitamins A, C, and K, the spice is great for hair and skin health.
Ginger For Weight Loss
Ginger a root used as a spice in fresh or powdered form. The spice is widely used worldwide, and for Indians, no dish is complete without that mouthwatering smell of ginger.
Health Benefits:
- The unique flavor of ginger comes from it’s most bioactive compound called gingerol, gingerol has strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
- Gingerol can effectively reduce oxidative stress resulting from free radicals.
- Great to relieve the symptoms of nausea, especially morning sickness. Some studies also show that ginger can help with chemotherapy related nausea.
- A study conducted in 2016 on 80 women with obesity showed that ginger, and ginger supplements reduce BMI (Body Mass Index), reduced blood sugar levels.
- Other studies showed that mice that were fed with ginger water significantly reduced their body weight.
- It has been proven that ginger can help to cure colds faster.
- Ginger can increase satiety and reduce the feeling of lingering in the stomach. It has also been used for a long time to treat mild digestive ailments such as heartburn , flatulence and loss of appetite.
Ginger is a spice that will perfectly match salty dishes, cocktails and desserts. So, the number of ways you can consume ginger are literally endless.
Cumin for Gastrointestinal Health
Cumin has a distinctive, slightly earthy and spicy flavor. That is why there are as many of its consumers as there are people who cannot convince themselves it
Health Benefits:
- Cumin is the cheapest and at the same time most effective remedy for irritable bowel syndrome.
- The two main antioxidants apigenin and luteolin fight free radicals reducing the risk of developing cancer.
- Other important functions of these antioxidants is keeping you energetic, and keep the skin young.
- A study conducted on rats by Dr. Mohan Lal Kori, Department of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, Vedica College of Pharmacy, Bhopal showed cumin extracts cured diarrhea in rats.
- While the cumin oil doesn’t show effective anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties, cumin seeds have both strong anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties.
- It reduces abdominal pain , gas and other other stomach discomforts.
- Other major health benefits include improved memory, reduced cholesterol, and faster weight loss.
Cumin is worth adding to any bloated dishes, such as those based on onions, meat, cabbage or beans.
Garlic for Flue and Cold
Garlic is a spice that has permanently settled in our cuisine. We love to use it especially in autumn and winter when we prepare more substantial and filling dishes.
- Research has shown that people who used garlic for three months had twice as less flu and cold as compared to those who did not include it in their diet. And when they got sick, their cold lasted much quicker.
- Scientists have found out that most the health benefits of garlic come from it’s rich sulfur compounds.
- Garlic extracts have proven to be effective against high blood pressure and hypertension.
- Other health benefits of garlic include improved cholesterol.
Therefore, it is not worth worrying about the characteristic smell of garlic that remains after eating it – let’s reach for it as often as possible to protect yourself against the flu in the upcoming autumn and winter season.
Related: World’s Oldest Living Man Shares His 3 Secrets of Longevity