Why You Need Spices
Turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, chile pepper, mint.
You know, it’s funny, I try to come up with new ideas and different spices for interesting topics, but every time I always come back to pretty much these same spices. These flavors are common in many cultures, but when used in the right combinations, you can create phenomenal taste profiles that make a dish from any country memorable. And I never get tired of these flavors! When you add spices to a dish, even one you’ve made many times before, but make one change by adding a different spice, it’s a whole new recipe! Spice it YOUR Way, and you’ll never have that boring old dish again! This is why you need spices!
What’s really cool, is that spices are so easy to add to your everyday meal and snack routine, that is comes almost second nature to consume these regularly! This is why you should incorporate them into your daily rituals.
Of course, these are not the only healthy spices you need, but they are definitely my top five! We can’t forget herbs. They are fun to grow and make a great finish to every meal.
Herbs give all your dishes your own special touch. Easy to grow herbs include basil, cilantro, thyme, rosemary, lemon balm, to name a few. Of course, depending on where you live, these are mostly annual growers, so you are limited to the spring and summer seasons. But don’t let that stop you!
If you are as infatuated with herbs and spices as I am, investing in a way to grow them inside during the winter months is a plus, and you always have your own organic produce. My favorite and easiest way to grow herbs indoors is with an AeroGarden.
There are many reasons why you need spices for health!
Eating is how we nourish our bodies and soul. Eating brings us together with family and friends. We can learn so much about different cultures just by the food that we eat. Since food has been used to keep so many cultures healthy all around the world, we need to explore all of these cuisines.
So consider this your introduction to Asian, Thai, Mexican, TexMex, Italian, and more! These are just a few of the cultures I will be adding pages upon pages of yummy spicy, herby, dishes in the days and weeks to come!
Food brings us together, shall we say it’s the ultimate peace keeper!
Cook with herbs and spices regularly to boost your health, and if possible, use several at a time.
Herbs, like basil and cilantro, are the leaves of a plant, while spices, like cinnamon and peppercorns, are usually made from the seeds, berries, bark, or roots of a plant. Both are used to flavor food, but research shows they’re full of healthy compounds and may have many health benefits. Herbs and spices fight inflammation and reduce damage to your body’s cells. “That’s because both herbs and spices are rich in phytochemicals, which are healthful plant chemicals.”
Adding herbs and spices to your diet has another very exciting benefit: Because they have so much flavor, cutting back on less healthy ingredients like salt, sugar, and added fat, make it an easy and a tasty way to enjoy your food more.
Spices have long been treasured both for their flavor and for their potential to improve our health. Many explorers have traveled high and low in search of these yummy products.
Doctors used to consider the health-promoting properties of herbs and spices to be old wives’ tales. This is quickly changing! Research shows that many popular spices and herbs have powerful effects on our circulation, immune system and cognitive function. Scientists are coming up with new supplements from different herbal mixtures that can help with anything from aches and pains to improving cellular health! When your cells are happy and working properly, you feel great and can function better.
You can use spices and herbs in recipes and home remedies. For thousands of years spices for health have been at the forefront of medicine.
Many spices and herbs can help you deal with common health complaints from colds and coughs to arthritis, high cholesterol, hypertension and lower blood sugar. Spices can aid digestion and help you sleep better. Who doesn’t want that?
While there are supplements that you can take that do the same thing, swallowing loads of pills every day, often many times throughout the day, can get old really, really fast. Food tastes so much better! I’m not saying that eating healthy foods enhanced with spices and herbs will take the place of medication, but you never know, it might help!
Making an exotic meal can be an adventure and it’s not that hard. Get the kids or your other half involved and make it an activity.
Check out the ethnic sections in your grocery store, both in the aisles as well as the produce section. You can take a trip around the world everyday just by cooking supper! If you think ahead, as I often do, make extra and take the rest for lunch to work the next day and make all your coworkers jealous. They’ll wonder how you do it!
Not just for cooking, , Eastern civilizations have been incorporating spices and herbs into their daily teas and tinctures to keep themselves healthy! Talk about awesome medicine!
I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather drink a cup of tea or eat a healthy plate of food, than swallow a handful of pills!
This is my goal, to help you, my followers, to stay as healthy on the 
inside as you can be, while enjoying tasty meals and snacks along the way. This is where the fun begins!
Now that winter is upon us, many of us look to comfort foods to keep us warm and happy. There are more colds and flu during the winter months, thereby making it more important to pay attention to what you put into your body. You can basically eat your medicine and keep those nasty germs away! Take any meal from bland to bold, by adding spices to your winter dishes as well as providing serious health benefits.
All this being said, lets get started with some new ideas for you to try. Use your family and friends this holiday season to try your new creations, it might start you on your own spice journey!