Are you wondering, what is turmeric good for?
This amazing spice has hit the headlines a lot in recent years and has now been scientifically proven be one of Mother Nature’s most potent superfoods.
Turmeric can be effective against a wide variety of ailments ranging from the common cold to more serious diseases such as cognitive decline, arthritis and even some cancers.
Yes turmeric’s super powers truly do spread far and wide. In this homemade turmeric paste review, you will hear a testimony from (a now very loyal turmeric fan) about its truly awesome benefits and how his life was changed for the better. AND, how all of these benefits occurred after not even a couple of months of use!
HOW I DISCOVERED TURMERIC
The potent spice turmeric first came to my notice about a year ago when I saw an episode of “Trust me, I’m a doctor”. The programme was running a feature on a range of so called super-foods, about which extravagant claims were being made along the lines of “miraculous, life changing, youth restoring, energy enhancing, complexion rejuvenating etc, etc.
The programme’s conclusion was that, for all of the super-foods under scrutiny, the unbelievable claims proved to be exactly that. Unbelievable. All, that is, apart from turmeric.
At this point I made a half-baked mental note to try out this wonder stuff, but in reality, did no more than think about it. No action. Until, about a month ago, I was presented with a pot of turmeric paste (recipe available on request) by my daughter-in-law, Steffy. I took my first spoonful, and immediately loved it.
I listened with excited interest to Steffy’s accounts of others who have become recent converts, and the impressive list of health gains and mood improvements which they report. Since my first spoonful, I have been ingesting this stuff on a daily basis. What follows is my account of the effects.
1. SHINGLES
For the past 40 odd years, I have suffered recurrent bouts of shingles. Mild versions amount to blistered lips, ears and head, and feeling generally grotty. More severe attacks lay me up in bed for several days, feeling sick as parrots and miserably woebegone.
Doctors have prescribed topical ointment/creams and anti-viral tablets. All of which have helped to alleviate symptoms but failed to address causes. Since starting on the turmeric, I have completely dispensed with the creams and anti-virals, and have felt almost completely free of this wretched affliction. If it tries to rear its ugly head, I simply take an extra spoonful of the paste.
2. MEMORY
I’m a 67 year old ( just turned) who has been increasingly struggling with various aspects of memory. I frequently have the idea or picture in mind, but the word refuses to come, routinely getting stuck on my tongue-tip. This has applied particularly with people’s names, reducing what could have been entertaining anecdotes to ridiculous farce… “ You remember what’s-his-name, used to work with me at what-do-you-call it, you know him, thing-a-mi-jig’s brother”.
Returning Memory:
Well, over the course of my turmeric ingesting month so far, I have noticed, to my astonishment, that a whole bunch of these forgotten names have come back to mind. Sometimes quite gradually… “Started with a C, I think, yeah, Charley, that’s it…” But,astonishingly, once I have remembered these names, they stick, and I can then recall them instantly and accurately. I’m also now much quicker when watching TV quiz stuff. And, the improved memory feels like only one aspect of a generally clearer, sharper mind set.
3. LYMPH NODE SWELLING
For 30 odd years, I have had a swelling in one of the lymph-nodes in my neck. It has never gone away, but has grown from soft petit-pois size at its best, to large, hard and angry runner bean size during episodes of shingles outbreaks. Now, it has completely disappeared. Left not a trace. Amazing.
4. COLDS AND COUGHS
Over the past 3 weeks, various members of my immediate family have been suffering from nasty colds. Last Friday evening, I got what appeared to be the initial symptoms of: headache, streaming nose, shivers, aching limbs. These exactly replicated the onset symptoms which had laid 1 wife + 2 daughters in bed for several days. I thought I was doomed to follow their pattern. But, I took additional paste dosage the following day, and within 24 hours, all of the early signs and symptoms had disappeared.
CONCLUSION
There are obvious questions about mind over matter, placebo effects, the prospects of a kind of self-hypnosis. For now, those remain remotely academic questions to me. What I see, and am happy to live with, is the incontrovertible evidence of physical improvements, and a sense of enhanced well-being. And, I like the taste.
Written by: Geoff Warr.
If you would like the recipe for this delicious healing paste and more information about turmeric in general, then please head over here to my homemade turmeric paste recipe.
Hi Raymond, I’m glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for checking it out!
Hi Stefanie and thanks for a great post! I did not know that turmeric could be used as a health food. I only used in cooking for the “color” it produces in the food.
Anyway, now I know better after reading your article!
Patrik
Hi Patrik, I’m glad you learned something new about turmeric with my post. Yes, there has been so much research on turmeric these last few years and many of its benefits are now proven. It is that ‘color’ in the turmeric that makes it a powerful antioxidant which helps to slow down the aging process both inside and out. Just keep eating it, in fact you should try to eat it more!
Hi Stefanie, great article!
I have previously done research in the past and read that pepper and turmeric together will assist and enhance turmeric’s health benefits. Have you heard this before at all ?
Hi Joel, yes that’s absolutely right, apparently black pepper (and it has to be black, not white) does actually up the absorption of the turmeric. The same also applies to fats, which is why you should always try to take your turmeric with both of these. In fact, my turmeric paste recipe does have both of these already in it. You should give it a try!
How do you take it? Straight from the jar or mix with something?
Hi Tracey, you can just spoon it straight out of the jar as it tastes nice. If you have added sweetener or lemon juice in the process of making it then it will taste pretty good. I guess you could also add warm nut milk and make a golden milk out of it (only if you haven’t used lemon juice obviously or it will probably curdle).
Another thing you can do is to just put a teaspoon of turmeric powder in your hot milk at night, this is how I use mine. And be sure to use it in cooking too, such as curry’s, chillis, roasted veggies; in fact, you can sneak it in lots of dishes.