turmeric (curcuma)

If you are newly diagnosed with diabetes type 2, here is a guide that helps you through The First Year: Type 2 Diabetes: An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed (First Year, The).

But have a look at what NaturalNews has to contribute, too:

Via: NaturalNews

The common cooking spice turmeric may help prevent against Type 2 diabetes, as well as reducing the dangerous inflammation associated with obesity, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University Medical Center, published in the journal Endocrinology and presented at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in San Francisco.

The effect is believed to come from curcumin, a key ingredient in turmeric that is known to function as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.

“It’s too early to tell whether increasing dietary curcumin – via turmeric – intake in obese people with diabetes will show a similar benefit,” researcher Drew Tortoriello said. “Although the daily intake of curcumin one might have to consume as a primary diabetes treatment is likely impractical, it is entirely possible that lower dosages of curcumin could nicely complement our traditional therapies as a natural and safe treatment.”

The researchers fed high doses of dietary curcumin to obese male mice that had been fed a high-fat diet and to obese female mice that had been bred to be deficient in the appetite-regulating hormone leptin. Mice that were fed the curcumin experienced a small but statistically significant decrease in body weight and body fat percentage, even though their diet had not changed. They exhibited improved glucose tolerance and blood sugar levels, indicating a reduced risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. They also showed lower levels of inflammation in their fat tissue and livers.

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There are many ways of improving your health the natural way, and a lot of very helpful books have been written on the subject, such as The Herbal Medicine Maker’s Handbook: A Home Manual.  Spices have always been a part of Grandma’s Old-Time Remedies, so this article might repeat remedies you have already heard of, but I am sure it will also offer some new insight even if you are a well versed home remedy user already

Via: NaturalNews

Spices do more than make food taste great. Recent research is showing that spices can promote health and well being through a series of actions that are anti-aging and inhibiting of degenerative disease. The vegetarian diet so often associated with good health and lack of disease relies heavily on the use of spice. But you don’t have to be a vegetarian to gain the amazing health benefits these inexpensive flavor enhancers have to offer.

The addition of spices can turn up the taste of almost any food. Add some chili pepper, cumin or turmeric to mashed potatoes or rice. Sprinkle marjoram or rosemary on your salads, and dress up cottage cheese with whatever spicy flavor appeals to you. Add spice to vegetable dishes and sprinkle it on meats, poultry or fish before cooking. Spice up your veggie juices and smoothies. Any way you do it, adding spice means adding a wealth of health benefits.

Recent research continues to show the power of these natural medicines

Spices have more antioxidant power, measure for measure, than fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants help prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, and premature aging. In a study reported in the British Journal of Nutrition, fifteen aromatic herbs and spices consumed in Central Italy as part of the Mediterranean diet were studied to reveal total phenolic, flavonoid and flavanol content as well as their antioxidant potential as measured by oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC). Comparison was made between salads to which aromatic herbs had been added. The addition of lemon balm and marjoram increased by 150% and 200% respectively the antioxidant capacity of a salad portion, corresponding to an intake of 200 mg. of phenolics and 4000 ORAC units. Among other spices tested, cumin and fresh ginger made the most significant contribution to antioxidant capacity.

Full Story and a list of Spices that stand out for their health benefits

This is not new, but probably good to remember anyway

The life of spices: Science finds medical promise in the kitchen cabinet

Getting spices into your daily meals can be a tasty way to get an antioxidant boost. Here’s four that have been the subject of research.

• Turmeric: Its active ingredient is curcumin, used in traditional medicine to treat ailments from gallstones to anemia, to heal wounds and treat arthritis.

• Ginger: Grown underground, but not technically a root. It is one of the most-studied plants in the world and is known as an aid to relieve nausea.

• Cayenne: Includes capsaicin, another antioxidant and anti-inflammatory that may help reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and other pro-inflammatory diseases of aging.

• Cinnamon: A powerful antioxidant. A teaspoon of cinnamon has the same antioxidant power as a half cup of blueberries.

Read more about the four
In 1993, an eager biochemist at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center struggled to put the brakes on a protein he had discovered a few years earlier, a protein that can turn on cancers and inflammatory diseases.

Bharat Aggarwal knew that the protein, tumor necrosis factor, or TNF, could trigger a whole cascade of inflammation in the human body — a very bad thing. He also knew that turmeric, the yellow curry spice, was a potent anti-inflammatory in traditional Ayurvedic medicine.

The next step, sprinkling some turmeric on a culture of TNF, may seem like a bit of a leap. But it didn’t feel that way to Aggarwal, a professor of cancer medicine at M.D. Anderson.

“In Ayurveda, it is nothing new,” he said. “And the beauty is that it is very, very safe.”

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Cabbage, cayenne, ginger, turmeric (curcuma), yarrow, potato

• Cut out the midribs from several large green cabbage leaves and iron them with a steam iron until they are soft as velvet. Rub a little olive oil on one side and put them on the area of pain, covering them with a heavy towel. Leave for a while before changing again. GUARANTEED relief, every single time.
• Cayenne capsules are very effective as pain relievers. Take two capsules 3-4 times a day with milk or apple juice, on a consistent basis. Pain may increase early on for a short time, but will diminish soon enough.
• Hot ginger compresses relief pains of many sorts, including arthritis: 1.5 grated unpeeled ginger roots need to be tied in a small cloth, then hung for 7 minutes into a gallon of hot water that just stopped boiling. The ginger juice colors the water golden. Towels dipped in the still very hot water, then gently squeezed and applied to the aching spot, should stay warm for 15-20 minutes and grant relief. The procedure might be repeated for a total treatment of about 45 minutes, and repeated after 4-6 hours.
• Turmeric, one of the main ingredients of curry, has anti-inflammatory properties. Half a tsp in juice taken both morning and night can relief arthritic pains too.
• A tea from yarrow, in combination with CamoCare Pain Relieving creme, reduces all manners of inflammation nicely: Bring 2 cups of water to a boil and add 3 tbsp of yarrow. Cover and let simmer for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep for 20 minutes. Drink 1 cup several times a day when cool, and use the cream to rub the external points of inflammation at the same time.
• The following potato plaster reduces inflammations caused by contusions, sprains, burns, fractures, hemorrhoids, abscesses, arthritis, neuralgia and eczema: Peel and grate ordinary potatoes, mix half of them with an equal amount of green vegetable leaves (either spinach, radish or cabbage). The vegetable leaves should be coarsely pureed in t a food blender before mixing with the potatoes. To this wet mass add 10% white flower, then mix everything thoroughly by hand in a big bowl. Add just enough ice water (never warm water) to give the paste a wet, somewhat even and thick consistency. Apply plaster directly on the skin. For sensitive skin, rub the affected area with olive oil before applying the plaster. Put a clean cloth over the plaster and secure with a linen bandage. When the plaster dries out, apply warm water on the dry mass until it becomes moist again. Let the plaster sit in place for about 3.5 hours, while reclining. Remove plaster and rinse skin with warm water.