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The health benefits of ginger
Eating healthily should be exciting, the food should be delicious and you should be cooking meals that make you want to keep creating new, delicious recipes which are great for yourself and the health of your family and friends you're sharing the meal with. One of the ingredients you'll find in several of our recipes and which has a long history of health benefits is ginger. Not only is this root vegetable a delicious natural sweetener, it will give your dishes a wonderful flavour whilst boosting your health at the same time! Below we've listed some of the main health benefits you'll enjoy from cooking with and eating ginger.
The root itself can be eaten fresh (with the tough skin removed) or in powdered form in recipes. Often when taking ginger for symptoms of nausea, people choose to drink it in juice or shot form to maximise the benefits from the vegetable. It's become popular to drink ginger in tea too; in fact, adding a bit of the fresh root ginger to a cup of hot (but not boiling) water and drinking it before a journey has been known to prevent feelings of motion sickness.
Dried ginger, which is its spice form, is turned into a powder and used in many recipes. Fresh ginger from the root is also regularly used in cooking, including our own Lamb Rogan Josh, Chicken Jalfrezi and Hot Chicken curry recipes. The root is particularly popular in Asian dishes throughout India, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.
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How adding seasoning to your meals can benefit your health
Although many people associate low fat diets with bland or unappetising food, a healthy diet doesn’t have to be this way at all. In fact, there are easy ways to ensure you’re able to consume key nutrients, without restricting your diet.
While you may strive to fit in all of your ‘five a day’ and get the right amount of protein in your meals, you could be overlooking the benefits that additional ingredients, such as spices, can bring. By adding seasonings to low fat meals, you can enhance the flavour and reap the health benefits associated with each ingredient.
Boost your immune system
Many people strive to follow a healthy diet in order to keep fit and obtain the body shape they’d like. However, when you incorporate the right ingredients into your meal, you can effectively boost your immune system and reduce the chances of succumbing to coughs and colds as well.
Turmeric, for example, is well-known for its medicinal properties and can be used in a wide variety of dishes. Often incorporated into curries, the flavour blends well and it won’t overpower other ingredients.
The anti-inflammatory properties associated with turmeric mean that it is extremely beneficial in managing chronic diseases. It’s believed that most chronic illnesses either arise from, or are associated with, ongoing low-level inflammation.
Unfortunately, this can start to damage the body and result in long-term ill health. By fighting inflammation on a molecular level, the effects of turmeric have even compared to pharmaceutical medications.
Increase your energy levels
A major benefit of adding spices to your meals is that increased levels of energy you’ll feel. In addition to aiding cognitive function and fighting infections, chilli powder is regularly used to reduce lethargy.
Containing a good amount of manganese, adding chilli powder to a dish may help you to obtain vitamins and nutrients that you wouldn’t get from other foods.
Despite the benefits of using spices in meals, some people are wary of overpowering a dish. However, our range of spices, rubs and meal kits makes it easy to create tasty and healthy meals. With 100% natural ingredients, you can be sure to benefit from the unique blend of spices while enjoying healthy, low fat meals.
Health benefits of Turmeric
Discovered around two centuries ago, curcumin is an active ingredient of turmeric, a root stalk of the Curcuma longa plant that grows wild in the tropical forests of South and Southeast Asia. It has been used for its health benefits in Indian and Asian cooking and medicine for thousands of years and was described by Marco Polo as having the properties of saffron.
With its distinctive bright yellow colour and aromatic yet bitter taste, turmeric has traditionally been used for flavouring, as a textile dye, and in medicine since 600 BC. The spice is primarily produced in India where it is an integral ingredient of curry, but also grows extensively in Vietnam and Indonesia where it is also widely used.
The health benefits of turmeric are numerous and wide ranging as it has been used for centuries in Chinese and Indian Ayurvedic medicine. Since then there have been thousands of studies into the benefits of curcumin in turmeric and numerous comparisons to modern day pharmaceutical medicines.
One well known beneficial property of turmeric is its ability to act as a natural anti-inflammatory agent. Inflammation helps the body fight invasive pathogens so can be advantageous in the short term, however if it becomes chronic it could lead to a whole range of diseases including cancer, Alzheimer's, arthritis, and heart disease. Curcumin contains bioactive compounds which block molecules linked to genes that control inflammation.
As a potent antioxidant, turmeric can neutralise free radicals, highly reactive molecules accelerating oxidative damage in the body, to reduce their reaction with proteins, fatty acids and DNA. It also energises the activity of the immune system’s own antioxidant enzymes.
In previous studies, curcumin has been compared to Prozac to test its beneficial qualities as an antidepressant where it was discovered to be equally effective. Curcumin rich turmeric has even been linked to anti-ageing and chronic disease prevention with these health boosting attributes. The list of health advantages is long and possible delays in the onset of liver damage, diabetes, dementia, cancer, and heart disease have all been associated with the beneficial biological components of that yellow curry component, Turmeric.
Many of our recipes include turmeric to make great tasting meals. Contact JD Seasonings today for more information.
