At CasaVive, we pride ourselves on taking a holistic approach to health and wellness. We manage physical health through exercise, lifestyle coaching, and nutrition and supplement counseling; we support and coach our clients through stress management, sleep management, and mental health, and refer out when we know our clients would benefit elsewhere.
It's one thing to talk about how social health is important, and the importance of having community to engage with and to lean on, but it's another to actually make it happen. When Jacqueline and I started CasaVive, we knew that for us to truly embody holistic health, and for CasaVive to be a true success, we would need to build a community for our clients to support each other on their health journeys, and to be able to surround themselves with health-minded individuals to learn from and learn with.
This is where the Lunch and Learn! series comes in: Bi-monthly, we are committed to providing a free and open space for our clients, and members of our surrounding business and residential community to come eat and learn together.
On Oct 27, 2024, we had our first ever Spicy Sunday! where we talked all about the benefit of regularly including herbs and spices in our diets. It was a great afternoon, with lots of chatting, and sharing, and most importantly, learning together. Below is a recap of our initial talk about herbs and spices for anyone who missed it, or who was there and wants a refresher!
So to start with here, let's just define what is a herb and what is a spice. Herbs refer specifically to the leaves of plants, while spices refer basically to any of other part of the plant, e.g. the root, bark, bulb, flower, etc. Herbs and spices generally contain negligible amounts of our macronutrients, i.e. proteins, carbs, and fats, and our added to foods instead to add flavour. Often, there is negligible amounts of our micronutrients, i.e. vitamins and minerals in herbs and spices due to the generally small amount we tend to eat of them at a time.
Herbs and spices, while adding flavour and therefore more enjoyment to eating our food, can also provide benefit to us as they often contain high amounts of phytochemicals, i.e. bioactive chemicals found in plants. Bioactive means that these chemicals will have an effect on a living being.
Certain kinds of phytochemicals are harmful (think cyanide, nicotine, etc) and can be classified as phytotoxins or anti-nutrients, but some can be beneficial to our health, especially polyphenols (think tannins, flavinoids, and quercitin), capsaicinoides (think capsaicins that make things like peppers spicy), and carotenoids (think beta-carotene, the vitamin A pre cursor that makes carrots orange.) The positive properties these phytochemicals can have includes but is not limited to: anti-inflammation, anti-oxidation, anti-coagulation, anti-carcinogenic, anti-tumerogenic, and anti-hypertensive, as well as effecting blood glucose and blood lipid metabolism.
Studies have repeatedly shown that diets high in a culinary dose of herbs and spices, i.e. they are included in the diet and not taken in a supplement form, can improve 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure, which is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
Spicier diets are shown to be linked to a lower risk of death from cancer, ischemic heart disease, and respiratory disease. There is also evidence to suggest a neuroprotective effect of a spicier diet, as rates of dementia and Alzheimer's disease are relatively lower in populations that consume spicier foods.
It has been shown that a relatively increased use of herbs and spices decreases one's use of salt in their food, and can actually increase one's sensitivity to salt. This can lead to an overall decreased salt intake, and less enjoyment from overly salty (often ultra processed) foods. We know diets that are excessive in sodium are correlated with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and higher rated of metabolic and cardiovascular disease.
Increased use of herbs and spices in food can increase satisfaction from plant based meals, specifically those containing beans and lentils. This can increase the palatability and enjoyment of these high fibre, nutrient dense foods, and therefore they'll be included more often in one's diet.
Let's be clear that we are talking here not about using a specific phytochemical to treat a specific issue or disease, but rather we are talking about getting regular low dose effects of herbs and spices. There can very well be a time and place for supplementation with a specific goal for a specific purpose, but our goal today is to help promote and maintain overall health. We want a varied and consistent input.
While English-language studies are somewhat limited on the beneficial effects of many herbs and spices in their natural form, there are a few that we have good data on. Let's start with Cinnamon:
Cinnamon is a spice, as it comes from the bark of trees of the genus cinnamomum, and it is an absolute powerhouse of healthy benefits. We used cinnamon at Spicy Sunday! in the Morrocan stew, the lentil curry, the ginger cookies, and the spice cake. Cinnamon has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, and is shown to be specifically effective for GI and respiratory pathogens. It has anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and is often used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Cinnamon has been shown to decrease production of lipoproteins and serum triglycerides (i.e. our blood cholesterol levels) after a meal, as well as regular consumption of cinnamon can have a positive effect on our blood sugar by decreasing our fasting glucose levels.
There are so many great ways to incorporate cinnamon into our diet! You can have a cinnamon or chai tea after a meal, or sprinkle it over fruit, yogurt, or oats; add it to stews or into a spice blend to season meat. There are so many possibilities, comment on this post with your favourite!
Next up we'll talk about ginger. Now, this is by no means a deep dive into ginger, we could do a whole Spicy Sunday! about ginger. The ginger we're referring to is the root of the ginger plant, and it used both fresh and dried. Like cinnamon, ginger is packed with potential benefits for the body.
It is a powerful anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory, for both acute and chronic inflammation. This has implications for helping to prevent and manage chronic diseases like osteoarthritis. There are also studies showing that ginger has anti-platelet (think less blood clotting), anti-hypertensive (decreasing blood pressure), and hypolipidemic (decrease blood cholesterol) effects, which means ginger can be a big player in helping to manage a variety of metabolic and heart diseases.
Ginger also can have effects on our GI system. It can decrease our perception of hunger, as well as increase our body's fat oxidation, which mean it can be a great adjunct to overall diet and exercise for weight loss. Probably one of the most well known effects of ginger is it's ability to decrease nausea, especially in people who are pregnant or undergoing chemotherapy.
Ginger is used a ton in Asian and South Asian cuisines, as well as in American spiced desserts. Try grating fresh ginger into stir fries or curries; you can also use it in spice muffins or baked oatmeal. Ginger tea or in kombucha is also delicious. We used it at Spicy Sunday! in the lentil curry, the cookies, and the spice cake.
Third, is garlic. I feel the same about garlic: we could do a whole Lunch and Learn just about garlic! The garlic we used as a spice is the bulb of the flowering garlic plant. Garlic's health benefits most come from it's sulfur containing phytochemicals that are released when the bulb is damaged, e.g. when chopped, crushed or chewed.
Garlic is anti-inflammatory, and is specifically shown to be effective at decreasing perceptions of pain from osteoarthritis. Garlic can promote cardiovascular health by slowing atherosclerotic processes, decreasing blood vessel plaque, and decreasing the oxidation of LDL cholesterol. It also increases our blood vessels endothelial function, and stimulates nitric oxide synthesis, both of which help us to maintain a healthy blood pressure.
Garlic also has several immune enhancing effects, which makes it great to add to soups that are easier to eat when we aren't feeling well. Garlic goes great in most savoury applications, but we might want to keep this one out of our dessert. Try adding minced garlic to a meat marinade, spread roasted garlic on toast, or blend raw garlic into a pesto sauce. We used garlic in the Moroccan stew, lentil curry, and herby goat cheese dip
Last, but certainly not least, let's talk about rosemary. Rosemary is a herb as we use the leaves of the rosemary plant, fresh or dried, to season our food.
Rosemary is a powerful anti-oxidant, specifically lipid-oxidation. The membranes surrounding all the cells in our body is made of lipids, so this is a super important benefit! Rosemary can suppress inflammatory cytokine activity, which can be helpful when managing cold and flu symptoms (pair it with garlic for some extra oomph.)
A specific polyphenol in rosemary can protect skin from UV damage both with topical application and ingestion. It can also help manage inflammation specifically from environmental toxins, therefore having an anti-carcinogenic effect. Rosemary is delicious with poultry, and to season roast vegetables. It can also pair really well with lemon in desserts and savoury applications. Try rosemary in a tea, or add a few sprigs when making chicken soup. We didn't end up using any rosemary at Spicy Sunday! but let us know in the comments, some of your favourite ways to use rosemary.
We didn't talk about turmeric too much, just because we ended up speaking about it at length at our August Lunch & Learn, but it definitely deserves an honorable mention. Turmeric is the root of the flowering turmeric plant. Curcumin, a polyphenol in turmeric, has potent anti-inflammatory properties, and is commonly shown to reduce symptoms of osteoarthritis and other inflammatory conditions. Turmeric is used extensively in Indian cuisine, and goes great in curries, but can also be mixed into soups and smoothies.
While the five so far discussed herbs and spices have been quite extensively studies, many other herbs and spices have been shown to have beneficial potential, but more studies are needed for confirmation. Here are just some examples:
Saffron has been shown to decrease perception of pain in rheumatoid arthritis and
fibromyalgia sufferers
Basil, cardamom, and sage have been shown to be effective in managing some inflammatory respiratory diseases
Fenugreek can help to increase or bile acid production, therefore helping us to better manage cholesterol metabolism
Capsaicins have been shown have anti-cancer properties, as well as to manage asthma and skin inflammation
Cloves can be beneficial for managing asthma, and clove oil is anti bacterial, and an ideal storage for avulsed teeth
Cinnamon, fennel, and ginger have been shown to help manage pains associated with menstruation
Dill shows promise for both cholesterol and blood glucose management
Star anise is a great anti-inflammatory, especially for the brain
Chamomile and lavender have been studied for their anti-depressive and anti-anxiety effects
Comment any others that I've missed here!
There is so many good things we can get from including herbs and spices in our diet, there is no excuse not to. We hoped you learned something new with us today that you can use for your health journey. See you at the next Lunch and Learn!
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