Bland No More

Every once in a while, a food story comes along that fulfills all my witchly, witchly desires to make potions and brews.


The Green Smoothie movement has done me well. My typical smoothie now includes spirulina, raw cacao, spinach and cucumber as staples, rendering a lovely, swampy colour of green that makes others wretch.


More recently, I started making my own herbal infusions from fresh and dry herbs, fruits and flowers inside a French Press,


This past weekend, I heard Bharat Aggarwal, a professor of experimental therapeutics at the University of Texas’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, on 680 News talking about his book, Healing Spices: How to Use 50 Everyday and Exotic Spices to Boost Health and Beat Disease. He’s gotten a lot of play in the Toronto media scene for his research, which examined the cancer-fighting properties of curcumin, the active ingredient in buzzworthy turmeric.


Aggarwal says that many chronic diseases result from inflammation in the body and spices counteract this directly with their anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.


The idea of food as medicine is not a new one. More and more, researchers are looking to the foods we eat and the lifestyles we lead for cures for chronic diseases.  What if our diet holds all the answers?
Aggarwal struggled for years with his spice research before his peers took his theories seriously. Now, more and more research is concluding that spices do in fact have a profound effect on health. 


Here are some of the spices and their reputed health benefits:


Black Pepper – May lower blood pressure and reduce inflammation
Cinnamon – May lower LDL cholesterol, may have a regulatory effect on blood sugar, heals yeast infections, can reduce arthiritis pain
Coriander – May settle digestive issues like IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)
Cumin – May provide relief and cures from flatulence, indigestion, and diarrhea, may also help with the common cold
Fenugreek – may prevent the formation of kidney stones
Ginger – provides relief from nausea, migraines and stomachaches
Red Chilies – decrease appetite and thin blood (to prevent blood clots, similar to Aspirin)
Saffron – may be effective in treating mild to moderate depression
Turmeric – shown to prevent several forms of cancer


Aggarwal is careful to point out that these spices are best when cooked and incorporated into a meal as it breaks down and activates the chemicals that will have a positive effect on our bodies.


My personal belief/advice is that the easiest way to absorb the benefits of all these beautiful spices is by eating Indian food. The Indian diet is rich in spice blends- I think we could all do with a weekly, cleansing douse of Indian food.


Many times I’ve eaten Indian food and then remarked at the profound soporific effect of the meal. Although there was plenty of ghee (clarified butter) and cream in that butter chicken sauce, I persisted in my belief that the food was very, very good for me. 


I was right.