Spices are good for your taste buds AND your health, so spice it up! Dried spices can be found in just about every kitchen around the world, can liven up boring meals, and some people even use spices therapeutically. Everyone can and should know how to use spices to boost wellness.
Tara’s Tuesday Tips:
How To Use Spices To Boost Wellness
Historically speaking, spices were a luxury of only the wealthy. Today, spices are readily available in lots of grocery stores. Here at MVF, we believe that food is medicine. Spices are food. Your main ingredients matter, but the spices you add to those ingredients matter as well. There are hundreds of different spices to choose from. This is the best part: ALL spices have properties that can protect us from disease!
Spices are a total kitchen game changer. Today we are exploring a few of the most common spices you probably already have stocked in your pantry. Let’s use those spices to increase the healing properties of your everyday foods!
What Are The Differences Between Herbs + Spices?
- Herbs come from the fresh part of a plant + spices come from the dried parts (seeds, bark, or root). The best example of this is the herb cilantro + the spice coriander. Same plant!
- Herbs are added at the end of cooking, spices are added to the beginning and have a much stronger flavor profile.
Why Use Spices To Boost Wellness?
- Make boring food taste good
- Use less sodium, fat, or sugar when cooking with spices
- Easy to incorporate into meals
- Readily available
- Available in bulk + if stored properly can be used for months after purchasing
- Calorie-free, gluten-free, vegan
- A little goes a long way
- Boost wellness without even thinking about it, a little goes a long way
Should You Take Spices In Pill Form?
It is best to eat herbs + spices with your everyday foods instead of taking a supplement. Why? Supplements are not regulated therefore, you don’t know how much of the spice you are actually getting. In addition, there are no regulations on what additives are going into these supplements. Most importantly, when learning how to use spices to boost wellness, one of the key concepts to remember is that spices allows your foods to work together to optimize the health benefits of both the main ingredients + your spices.
How To Store Spices:
- Follow the “best by” date on the bottle
- NOT in the cabinet above your stove
- The ideal temperature is 70 degrees F
- A cool + dark place is best
- In amber colored jars or mason jars with tight-fitting lids
- Heat, humidity, and sunlight will alter the potency + taste of the spice
- Ground spices should last 6 months to 1 year, they will lose their taste with time
- Don’t buy spices you might use, buy only the ones you need
- Keep them organized so that you can find what you need when you need it
My Favorite Spices To Boost Wellness
Turmeric
Why It’s Good For You: I feel so strongly about this, I dedicated an entire Tuesday Tips to this wonder-spice: The Vegetarian’s Guide to Turmeric, check it out! The cousin of ginger, turmeric contains the magical ingredient curcumin. Studies done on curcumin have revealed that turmeric can boost your mood, memory, and metabolism. It also has lots of vitamin B6, can help bring down LDL cholesterol + inflammation.
How To Use It: Turmeric gives food that fabulous yellow glow! Above all, this trendy spice can be sprinkled into smoothies, teas, desserts, and I even found a few things on the Starbucks menu with turmeric!
Need a place to start? Check out my recipes that easily incorporate turmeric into your life: Baked Indian Tofu Recipe, Baked Indian Potatoes with Cauliflower, Instant Pot Indian Turmeric Quinoa, Air Fryer Okra Fries, Easy vegetable curry, Dal tadka, Chana Masala, Tofu Scramble, Lentils, Instant Pot Black Eyed Peas, Indian Potatoes With Peas (Aloo Matar).
Cinnamon
Why It’s Good For You: I LOVE cinnamon for the taste but I also love cinnamon because of its blood sugar stabilizing properties. Specifically Ceylon cinnamon. The magic of cinnamon’s properties happen as it interacts with other foods we eat. The cinnamon will slow the breakdown of the carbohydrates we eat with it, thereby improving insulin sensitivity, and keeping blood sugars stabilized. This is evidenced based stuff you guys, it is real! Diabetics were tested to have a lower fasting blood sugar (10-29% lower!) by eating 2 teaspoons of cinnamon per day! This is just one tool in my toolbox of How To Eat To Prevent Diabetes, (great article to check out!)
How To Use It: I add one tablespoon of Ceylon cinnamon to my oatmeal every single day! I believe in it that strongly! It is super easy to sprinkle cinnamon on your oatmeal, in your tea or coffee, on top of yogurt, in granola, and even in your smoothie.
Need a place to start? Check out my recipes that easily incorporate cinnamon into your life: Rice Flour Cinnamon Sugar Cookies, Cinnamon Oat Milk, Vegan Cinnamon Rolls with Icing, Vegan Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies, Baked Vegan Pumpkin Donuts, Pumpkin Spice Nice Cream, Instant Pot Pumpkin Steel Cut Oatmeal, Vegan Chai Sugar Cookies.
Cumin
Why It’s Good For You: Cumin’s popularity is rising. Most of the studies have yet to be performed on humans (so far the majority have been on rats). However, in the world of herbal medicine, cumin has been being used to treat diarrhea, control blood sugar, and fight parasites for many years. Recent medical research has targeted cumin to help support the many claims of this spice’s health benefits. Some of these include combatting congestion, indigestion + diarrhea, and boosting metabolism.
How To Use It: In our home, we use cumin a lot! Cumin seeds + ground cumin. It is the perfect spice for Mexican foods as well as many of our traditional Indian dishes. It is a powerful spice and has lots and lots of flavor. One can easily overdo it with the cumin so be careful! Cumin seeds are best used in the beginning of cooking, heated to release the flavor. The ground version is added once your ingredients are warmed up and the powder melts into your other ingredients.
Need a place to start? Check out my recipes that easily incorporate cumin into your life: Instant Pot Vegetarian Refried Beans, Mexican Mashed Potatoes, Pumpkin Black Bean Tacos, Tempeh Sweet Potato Tacos, Easy Batata Poha, Chana Masala, Baked Indian Potatoes with Cauliflower, Easy Vegan Tofu Fajitas.
Chili Pepper
Why It’s Good For You: Thanks to capsaicin, this amazing spice can help boost metabolism, lower blood pressure, increase longevity, and protect your heart, just to name a few! To learn more about why turning up the heat is a good idea, check this in-depth article out: Turn Up The Heat: Spicy Food IS Healthy
How To Use It: Capsaicin is found in peppers of all kinds! Some examples include cayenne pepper, red chili pepper powder, red pepper flakes, hot sauce, dried + fresh peppers of all kinds! Take your pick!
Need a place to start? Check out my recipes that easily incorporate peppers into your life: Vegan Black Bean Stuffed Poblano Peppers, Roasted Habanero Tomato Salsa, Air Fryer Buffalo Tempeh, Vegan Buffalo Cauliflower Pizza, Chipotle Hot Salsa Copycat Recipe, Easy Vegetarian Tempeh Chili.
Black Pepper
Why It’s Good For You: Thanks to piperine (the active ingredient in black pepper), some studies are showing that black pepper can slow tumor growth, and scavenge for free radicals. Black pepper even has some antidepressant + antimicrobial properties, and helps protect the gastrointestinal system and improve GI functionality.
How To Use It: Sprinkle away! This is the most commonly used spice in the world! If you like the flavor, you can sprinkle black pepper on just about anything savory. Black pepper pairs well with turmeric, lemon, garlic, and cumin. Some people find that using more black pepper helps them use less salt in or on their foods.
Rosemary
Why It’s Good For You: Rosmarinic acid is the active ingredient in rosemary. This awesome compound has been found to decrease allergy symptoms + nasal congestion. Don’t you just love the smell of rosemary? I do!
How To Use It: Dried, ground rosemary is made from the leaves of the rosemary plant. Super easy to grow! Some people enjoy adding the leaves right to their tea while it is brewing. The most common ways to cook with rosemary is with breads + potatoes. Simply cut the leaves into smaller pieces + sprinkle them in while cooking.
Need a place to start?: This is one of my favorites: Vegan Rosemary Potato Salad (Eggless!).
When Using Spices To Boost Wellness, Proceed With Caution
There are very few human studies on the potential dangers of using dried herbs + spices as a supplements for medicinal/therapeutic purposes. The interaction between traditional medications, pre-existing health conditions, and supplementing with high dose spices have not yet been studied enough for us to know all the risks involved. Until there are better regulations, I simply use dried spices in my food, and that is my suggestion for you too! Above all, I have a doctorate degree but I am not your doctor. Therefore, check with your doctor to see if anything in this article is right for you and the treatment of your medical conditions or for disease prevention. Always consult your doctor before changing anything in your medication, supplement, or nutrition regimen.
Spice up your life + stay healthy, fam!
All the best,
Tara 💙
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