How to Eat Turmeric: 3 Ways to Lower Your Inflammation
When I first heard about the term "Golden Latte" my mind went immediately to Ninjago. You see, I have two young boys, and my world is filled with fart jokes, smelly socks, and Ninjago. (If you don't have boys you have NO idea what I'm talking about - all you need to know is that Ninjago is a Lego-themed imaginary world.)
So I thought we were talking about a Golden Ninja's morning Joe, or something like that. You have the Golden Ninja, the Golden Dragon, the Golden Sword thingy, why not a Golden Latte too?
A Golden Latte has nothing to do with Legos
Of course, I was so off the mark. It turns out that a Golden Latte has nothing to do with Legos. (Thank god!)
In fact, it turns out that a Golden Latte is actually quite a delicious drink made with turmeric! How had I never had one before? It got me thinking...what other healthy and delicious methods of eating (or drinking) turmeric had I been missing out on??
Turmeric is a superfood
Did you know how AMAZING this little root is? Besides being well known as a natural inflammation reducer in the body, turmeric also kills cancer cells (1), can reduce depression symptoms (2) (3) (4), may outperform arthritis drugs (5), helps manage diabetes (6) (7), can be used for therapeutic management for ulcerative colitis (including IBD and IBS) (8), and even works well as a natural pain reliever (9) (10).
The active substance in turmeric is curcumin, and the journal Oncogene published the results of a study that evaluated several anti-inflammatory compounds and found that curcumin is among the most effective anti-inflammatory compounds in the world! (11) Want more proof of how great this food is? Read over 13,000 studies on the health benefits of curcumin.
Just to be sure that you don't miss out on the amazing benefits of turmeric, here are 3 easy ways to eat turmeric and thus lower your inflammation and boost your health.
1. Drink It (iced or hot)
Golden Milk Recipe (and image) from Gimme Some Oven
Golden Lattes
What I love about a good Golden Milk Latte recipe is that you can drink it year round. No matter what the weather is, you can have a cold iced Golden Latte in the summer and switch it up to drink a frothy hot latte in the colder months.
With distinct earthy and warming spice flavors, some people are raving fans and others not so much. Personally, I think the Golden Latte drink grows on you. Many drink it purely for its health benefits - there are so many as I stated earlier in regards to turmeric.
Pro Tip: you can add a shot of espresso to your Golden Latte if you must have your caffeine (personally, I love the flavor too!)
Get the full Golden Latte (iced or hot) Recipe at Gimme Some Oven.
Smoothies with Turmeric
Beyond Golden Lattes, there are Golden Smoothies. Here are a few delicious recipe to try:
You could also make your own smoothie recipe (using this formula) and add some turmeric as a super boost!
2. Cook with It (or Bake)
Image Credit: Fresh Planet Flavor
Here's a #truthbomb...while there are plenty of delicious recipes to bake with turmeric, like these delectable Paleo Turmeric Scones, or to cook with, like this fast and easy Kerala Coconut Chicken Curry, the likelihood of you eating enough turmeric from one serving to be therapeutic is pretty low.
In order to get adequate amounts of turmeric from your cooking and baking to make a difference in your health, you need to eat several servings each day. How much exactly? The University of Maryland Medical Center suggests 1/2 to 1.5 tsp per day.
Wanna go for it? Here are some more ideas...
PRO TIP: Always take turmeric with black pepper to increase your body's ability to absorb all the benefits.
Keep in mind, turmeric is a powerful medicinal food. As such, when taking large quantities, you should always inform your medical care provider. Especially if you are on certain blood thinning or diabetes medications.
3. DIY Turmeric Supplements
If you don't want to drink turmeric lattes, or eat recipes rich in this beautiful yellow spice, then rejoice to know that there is a third way to ingest this amazing natural inflammatory spice...DIY supplements!
Turmeric Bombs
Image Credit Empowered Sustenance
Just to be clear here, these are not dainty dessert pieces that you nibble away on. No way, nope, never, don't do it.
These little balls are meant to be swallowed like pills. The honey or oil is meant to simply bind the turmeric together so you can get it down the hatch. This is a genius DIY way how to eat turmeric in doses that are effective. Don't eat them like a treat!
Get the full recipe for turmeric bombs here.
Cold Busting Coconut Gummies (with turmeric)
Image Credit: The Cook's Pyjamas
Now, this cute little homemade gummy can be enjoyed more like a dessert. Entertain your inner child with a fun gummy (or be boring and make squares shapes) while getting all the benefits of turmeric and collagen! (Collagen is great for joint health, gut health, and benefiting hair, skin, and nails. Read more here.)
Get the full Cold Busting Coconut Turmeric Recipes here.
How to Eat Turmeric: 3 ways
I've given you three different ways to ingest turmeric now. I can't say that one is better than the other, but I can say that they will all benefit your health!
Leave a comment below about how you like to eat turmeric. Maybe there is a 4th or 5th way?
Tame the pain with turmeric!
P.S. You can also take turmeric internally as an essential oil! This is the one I use. Learn more about the essential oils I recommend and reach out to me if you have more questions, I would be happy to be your essential oil educator!
Sources Used
Ancient Drug Curcumin Impedes 26s Proteasome Activity By Direct Inhibition Of Dual-specificity Tyrosine-regulated Kinase 2
Sourav Banerjee-Chenggong Ji-Joshua Mayfield-Apollina Goel-Junyu Xiao-Jack Dixon-Xing Guo - https://www.pnas.org/content/115/32/8155Efficacy and Safety Of Curcumin in Major Depressive Disorder: a Randomized Controlled Trial
Jayesh Sanmukhani-Vimal Satodia-Jaladhi Trivedi-Tejas Patel-Deepak Tiwari-Bharat Panchal-Ajay Goel-Chandra Tripathi - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23832433Curcumin For the Treatment Of Major Depression: a Randomised, Double-blind, Placebo-Controlled Study
Adrian Lopresti-Michael Maes-Garth Maker-Sean Hood-Peter Drummond - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25046624Chronic Supplementation Of Curcumin Enhances the Efficacy... : Journal Of Clinical Psychopharmacology
https://journals.lww.com/psychopharmacology/Abstract/2015/08000/Chronic_Supplementation_of_Curcumin_Enhances_the.9.aspxA Randomized, Pilot Study To Assess the Efficacy and Safety Of Curcumin in Patients with Active Rheumatoid Arthritis
Binu Chandran-Ajay Goel - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22407780Curcumin Activates Ampk and Suppresses Gluconeogenic Gene Expression in Hepatoma Cells
Teayoun Kim-Jessica Davis-Albert Zhang-Xiaoming He-Suresh Mathews - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19665995Effect Of Curcumin on Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathic Pain: Possible Involvement Of Opioid System
Hamid Banafshe-Gholam Hamidi-Mahdi Noureddini-Seyyed Mirhashemi-Rasool Mokhtari-Mehdi Shoferpour - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24315931Therapeutic Strategies For the Management Of Ulcerative Colitis
Ng- Kamm-Michael A.- Siew C. - https://academic.oup.com/ibdjournal/article-abstract/15/6/935/4647654Efficacy Of Turmeric Extracts and Curcumin For Alleviating the Symptoms Of Joint Arthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Of Randomized Clinical Trials
James Daily-Mini Yang-Sunmin Park - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27533649Efficacy Of Turmeric (curcumin) in Pain and Postoperative Fatigue After Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: a Double-blind, Randomized Placebo-controlled Study
Krishna Agarwal-C. Tripathi-Brij Agarwal-Satish Saluja - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00464-011-1793-zNonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents differ in their ability to suppress NF-kappaB activation, inhibition of expression of cyclooxygenase-2 and cyclin D1, and abrogation of tumor cell proliferation.
Yasunari Takada-Anjana Bhardwaj-Pravin Potdar-Bharat Aggarwal - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15489888
