Turmeric – is it useless? – Find the truth now!

You will have seen many posts telling you the wonders of Turmeric – Is it useless? Let’s find the truth because we want to be proactive in protecting the Bloggers health.

The Root of Diseases

“Although inflammation has long been known to play a role in allergic diseases like asthma, arthritis, and Crohn’s disease, Edwards says that Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and Parkinson’s disease may all be related to chronic inflammation in the body.” (Source Dr. Axe)

So chronic inflammation is the bad guy.  Acute inflammation is an immune response that is helpful in healing. But chronic inflammation is a whole different enemy.

Keeping with Dr. Axe, he sites these dietary items as causes of chronic inflammation.

• Corn and Soybean oils
• Pasteurized dairy
• Refined carbohydrates
• Conventional meat
• Sugars
• Trans fats

We could add stress, lack of exercise etc as other causative agents.

There are many foods and diets that are anti-inflammatory, but there is one food in particular, has had thousands of studies done on it, that may leave the rest in the dust. Do a search on the PubMed site for Turmeric studies to see the huge number of results.

You will read that the active ingredient in turmeric is curcumin. When I read this some time back I bought curcumin capsules. My husband was recovering from spinal surgery and took curcumin capsules, it was hard to gauge any effect.

Later we learned that taking the whole food with all the complementary compounds that make up turmeric were showing a wider effect as an anti-inflammatory.

A short time after using the whole food turmeric in Golden Paste my husband’s spinal operation site stopped being painful.

Golden Paste

Golden paste is an economical way to take turmeric as a whole food.

Here is the official Golden Paste recipe that originates from Dr Doug English (vet).

This is the Number One Golden Paste (GP) recipe that has been tried and tested by thousands of TUG users across the globe.

This recipe may be used for humans as well as animals.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (125 mls/60gms) turmeric powder
• 1 cup water (250 mls) PLUS 1 cup water in reserve, if needed
• 1/3 cup (70 mls) cold pressed Olive or Coconut oil
• 2-3 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Please Note: the amount of pepper added has recently been increased (May 2016) on Doug English’s recommendations.

(This official recipe has been used with permission from Dr. Doug English)

I will show you how to make Golden Paste below. First, we will look at the ingredients of the paste.

Turmeric on its own does not absorb into our system very well at all and the benefits are limited. It is best to buy Organic Turmeric as the quality of other turmeric powders is unsure, some even remove the curcumin from the turmeric.

Oil: cold pressed Olive or Coconut oil. Turmeric is oil soluble, so oil is needed to dissolve the turmeric in the stomach and allow the body to absorb the turmeric powder. Good quality oils and preferably cold pressed organic.

Black Pepper: The addition of freshly ground black peppercorns dramatically increases the absorption of turmeric. The ingredient in black peppercorns is an enzyme called Piperine. Piperine loses its effect in powdered pepper and stale pepper. That is why the recipe requires freshly ground peppercorns.  It can be pre-ground and kept in the freezer.

Note that the black pepper should be whole and then freshly ground. I did not know that until I found the original recipe.

How to make Golden Paste

After you have made this once it is super quick and easy to make.

1. Put the turmeric and 1 cup of water in a saucepan and mix well, gently heat and stir for 7-10 minutes. This is a gentle simmer, the mixture will thicken keep adding a little extra water so that the consistency of a paste is maintained.

2. Turn the heat off and add the oil and freshly ground pepper.  Stir briskly to make sure that the oil and all ingredients are well mixed.

I store the paste in glass jars with lids. I like to scold out the jars with near boiling water before I place the paste in them.

The paste will keep at least two weeks in the fridge. Making two jars, I keep one in the freezer to keep it fresh.

Three ways to optimize the absorption of turmeric

Adding freshly ground black pepper.

Adding good quality oil.

Heating the turmeric increases its solubility.

Tips: The powder and the paste have high pigment color and tend to stain. Before measuring the turmeric lay down a sheet of paper to catch any stray powder.

When grinding the pepper, a coffee grinder would make it easier. I just use a hand grinder. I grind onto a piece of paper with a fold mark down the middle.  Grind away and then gather the grounds into the fold mark and tip it into a spoon to measure.

If the amount of pepper is too much e.g. children may not like a strong pepper taste, it can be adjusted downwards but that does decrease the absorption.

How to eat golden paste

There is no set dose as it is a whole food and each person will have different needs and absorption.

Dr. Doug suggests starting with 1/4 teaspoon and to take it with food.

He says it is more important to take a small amount more often than one large lot. He suggests taking it up to five times a day.

I will warn you that the taste is not bad but it is not real good either.  I put half a teaspoon full in my mouth and then take a mouthful of water to wash it down. This is then followed with my meal or whatever I am eating at the time.

When should you see results?  Some report results in just a few days. Others see results after two weeks.  For the dementia patients, it may take several months.

If there is a mechanical problem like a worn out hip joint or a protruding spinal disk, no amount of anti-inflammatory will take the pain away.

You will find much more information for humans and animals on the Turmeric Life website.

Dr. Doug’s 6 favorite benefits of turmeric in humans and animals –

Skin health, arthritis, immunity, dementia and liver detoxifier

Remarkable results reported after the use of turmeric in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Check this out on GreenMed Info, it is also on PubMed.

Depression

– trials showed that absorb enhanced curcumin was just as effective treating depression as Prozac and with no side effects.

The study team concluded that this “is the first randomized clinical trial that clearly highlights that curcumin may be an effective and safe agent when used as a modality of treatment in patients of MDD [major depressive disorder].” (Source Life extension mag.)

Turmeric – is it useless?

I think we have answered that question well. Finding that turmeric used with the right ingredients to optimize absorption is very effective.  The many studies and trials have found as many as 600 benefits of turmeric.

Side effects and safety

Turmeric Life website has a discussion page on reported side effects of turmeric.

More ways to be proactive in protecting the Bloggers health

Blogging is a health hazard. Those at the most risk are bloggers without young children. Bloggers who work in an office and come home to blogging.  Those who do not work outside the home who are serious bloggers putting in the hours necessary to get ahead.

The huge risk factor is the sedentary nature of working long hours on a computer. I wrote on this subject giving many ways to overcome the effects of blogging on health.

It is a well-known fact that has recently been confirmed that aerobic type exercise not only improves brain function, but it can reverse brain shrinkage. I don’t know about you, but I find that good motivation to keep moving.

Summary

• The huge benefits of including turmeric into your diet.

• Combining turmeric with the right ingredients to have it absorb into the body to relieve chronic inflammation. Studies are finding chronic inflammation is the root cause of a large number of diseases.

• Keep moving to combat the sedentary nature of blogging and the inflammation and diseases it causes.  Authorities are now saying that a sedentary lifestyle causes negative effects as bad as smoking.

Do you think that turmeric in Golden Paste would be worth trying to relieve some of your chronic inflammation?

Dear Blogger remember to move it, move it.

 

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