Herbs and spices don't just taste great. Most of the time they're also great for you.
- Spicier foods ironically are strongly anti-inflammatory and chronic inflammation is one of the major drivers of poor health
- Roots, like turmeric/ginger/garlic/onion, are also strongly anti-inflammatory
- Herbs, like parsley and oregano, are super high in vitamins K, C, beta carotene, folate, and others, as well as potassium, manganese, and other minerals.
- Seeds, like cumin or coriander, are super mineral dense.
- Sea salt (unrefined) has a broad array and excellent balance of minerals.
So, what's the health principle?
Eat tastier more flavorful food. It's tasty because it's good for us (shut up sugar!).
That's some pretty solid advice, not to mention all of those things are almost no calories.
I guess I didn't stress the point, but yeah these are all incredibly nutrient dense foods that are also very flavorful, so you don't need to use them in large quantities. (We do use garlic in large quantities, though)
My wife is a garlic maniac. She uses an absurd amounts of it whenever she cooks. You'd probably get along.
I invented a delicious meal in college and when people asked how to make it one of the instructions was "Add as much garlic salt as your conscience allows. Now, add that amount again."
She regularly more than doubles the amount of garlic a recipe requires.
I like Celtic salt.
Add pepper to tumeric for better results.
I usually do, but why?
Sorry, I should have been more precise. It's to improve absorption of the Curcumin, the active ingredient in tumeric.
That's interesting. I love learning stuff like that.
I wonder if that's why the amounts of curcumin in turmeric can be healthy, when they have to use much greater quantities to see effects in nutrition studies.
A coworker told me tumeric seems to help his joints a lot. I might have to start putting some in my cooking. I think arabs put it in their rice to make it yellow?
Indian food has tons of it, as does Thai.
Right. It seems they add a lot of healthy spices. I have always felt indian food made in america seems very rich flavored.
The condiments and dressings give each cuisine its special touch. I am Latin American, the essence and gourmet richness of this continent is incredible 🫢.