Nature's Secrets: Spice Rack Treasures

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RadioMD Presents: Wellness for Life Radio | Original Air Date: April 10, 2015
Host: Susanne Bennett, DC

It's time to feel better with Dr. Susanne Bennett. Allergies, nutrition, ultimate wellness, all discussed right here, right now. It's Wellness for Life Radio on RadioMD. Here's your host, Dr. Susanne.

DR SUSANNE: I love to cook and I use a lot of spices, especially Asian spices and Korean spices. Not only do spices add unique and flavorful tastes to your dishes, but by using them, you'll likely use less salt and sugar, which is so much healthier for you and your family. Now, spices also contain powerful phytonutrients that can protect you from illnesses and diseases. I'm going to teach you five of my favorites.

Number one: ginger. This spicy herb has been used for thousands of years in India, Korean and Chinese medicine as an anti-inflammatory tonic fruit. It's now readily available, obviously, fresh, but it's also dried and powdered. You can even find it in juice and oil form. You may think that fresh ginger is like an ugly root, but it really, the appearance can be deceiving. It's so good for you. You just need a little bit. New studies are showing that the power of ginger as a super antioxidant and anti-diabetic remedy. It reduces blood markers called "hemoglobin A1C, insulin and glucose levels". It is an anti-inflammatory and also reduces inflammatory blood markers including c-reactive protein. Researchers also found that ginger accumulates in the GI tract and perhaps that's part of the reason why it helps us as a nausea remedy. So, it soothes nausea, vomiting and other GI distresses. Also, you can use it for pregnancy, motion sickness and even chemotherapy. Ginger is being study for a possible protective role in cancer, cardiovascular function and other diseases as well. Some people say that it helps them with congestion, phlegm build up and coughs. So, it's all different forms of symptoms and chronic illness including menstrual, arthritis pain and stomach pain. So, take a look at ginger. It's going to be one of the best for you to have daily.

Now, my number two spice is cinnamon. Cinnamon is a very common baking spice that has all sorts of significant health benefits as well. It really does taste and smell delicious. So, there's a good deal of research relating to cinnamon saying that it actually is a powerful anti-oxidant and anti-microbial agent. In addition, it helps lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels. They find that it can lower the cholesterol level, but also, at the same time, it satisfies your craving for sweets which is what we constantly deal with, since America is basically a sugar eating country.

It's been studied, also, to help possibly reducing the tangling of the protein called tau protein tangles. This is for Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's! So, it's really exciting to know that cinnamon can help with neurological input. Now, together ginger and cinnamon are the powerhouse couple of spices. I love them so much that I made an informative video on the two and how to use them to make an ancient drink called Soo Jung Gwa. You can watch that video and get the recipe at DrSusanne.com/spicedrink.

Now, number three is oregano. Oregano is one of my top spices. I love this spice. Now, it's an Italian herb and so flavorful, loaded with chemical compounds that decrease inflammation and promote good health. Mediterranean dishes actually, they are really well-known to be health and reverse the aging process. They, actually, in Mediterranean countries, they use 5-10 times more of this dried herb than what we use in North America. So, you know what? We've got to use more of this herb, oregano. Now, many of my patients grow oregano and rosemary at home right in their kitchen. So, you can do that, too yourself. Fresh and organic is the best. Oregano is high in vitamin K which promotes bone growth as well as increasing bone density. It's also an antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and you can consider this nature's antibiotic. It kills parasites, staph bacteria and even E-coli infections. It's the active ingredient in Listerine, that mouthwash that you remember many, many years ago. Now, oregano has been studied as a possible treatment therapy for diabetes and it's involved in the insulin signaling. So, it really can help reduce your blood sugar level. It's also excellent for GI antifungal and shown to reduce the bad cholesterol called "LDL". It increases the good cholesterol called "HDL" so it will help maintain a healthier overall cholesterol count in your blood stream. So, make sure that when you do get oregano, you can take it in the herb, but it's also found in liquid form and in gel caps. You an even use a few drops of oregano oil in a vaporizer or in a bowl of hot water and by inhaling it, it will soothe your nasal passages and fend off bacteria and reduce coughs.

So, what's next? Cilantro. It's one of my favorite herbs. I love to eat cilantro as a fresh herb--the leaves of the coriander plant. Now, cilantro looks a lot like parsley and often you find it at Mexican restaurants in like, let's say, guacamole or salsa. But, it's a very delicate leaf and tastes citrusy. I add it quite a bit to many of my dishes and, particularly, I love crockpot Paleo dishes and I've created one. You can find my cilantro chicken curry recipe on my website, DrSusanne.com. The reason why I love it so much, not only for the taste, but it's packed with super antioxidants. Super antioxidants will help prevent DNA damage and damage to your tissues. It's also packed with phytochemicals, so it's very, very nutrient dense. So, I also love cilantro because it's also a digestive aid and it also helps lower your blood sugar again. We keep on talking about lowering blood sugar, right? It is called the anti-diabetic plant in parts of Europe and it also lowers the saturated fats and helps control cholesterol and it's also, you know, one of the researchers, Dr. Yoshi An Aki Amoura. He discovered that when he gave his patients cilantro, it excreted toxic metals after consuming it in like a soup, like this Chinese soup type of thing that he recommended. Again, it's the leafy part of coriander, the green, leafy part. So, what he found, Dr. Amoura, was that you can detox and cleanse out toxic metals such as mercury, lead and aluminum out of the body and even the brain. The brain. So, for me, I use that quite a bit in my practice, giving cilantro tablets so that we can get the toxicity out of the brain and the less toxic metals in your brain, the cleaner and the brighter your brain will be for focusing, memory, mental clarity and remember, it's also a good digestive aid.

My last is rosemary. It's this wonderful piney scented plant in the mint family. It's excellent for skin topical issues but also for hair growth and muscle pain. This herb has a powerful antioxidant called carnosic acid and it's been evaluated to be a possible anti-cancer effect.

Now, plants can be healing and as times go by, I think you'll see more and more interest in using natural botanicals versus antibiotics and other drugs to gain health benefits without the side effects and the risk of potential pharmaceuticals. Remember, all of the top five that I spoke about will help you.

Number one, ginger, cinnamon, oregano, rosemary and cilantro. Excellent. Now, try growing your own spices right there in your own kitchen.

Okay, until then, this is Dr. Susanne. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to serve you. I am dedicated to helping you feel the best you can today.

This is wellness for life radio and on RadioMD. See you next time.

Stay well.