I have heard and read a lot in the past about Turmeric Tea and there are some good and some bad experiences that I have had with it.
First of all, why Turmeric Tea? Well my family is all a bit nervous about cooking with Turmeric roots which is a bit strange but at the same time when you see fresh turmeric it is a bit bright colored. Turmeric is know as a very strong anti-inflammatory and since my Kidney donation a couple of weeks ago I have had a lot of aches and pains that I thought the turmeric could help me with.
Anti-Inflammatories and Kidneys
Most anti-inflammatory pills are tough on your kidneys. I am allowed to take Tylenol for pain but have to avoid NSAID drugs which I have commonly used in the past. I have used Naproxen whenever I hurt myself just to take the swelling down but have since learned, especially with one kidney, that these pills really can damage a kidney.
The other common pill for me to take would be Ibuprofen – also known as Advil. This is also bad for your kidneys so that is on the outs with me too.
So Turmeric it is. Most studies seem to show that Turmeric is good on your kidneys and the fact that it can get rid of inflammation made it something I really want to experiment with this week.
First I tried using Turmeric powder. Most of us have this in our cupboards and in my case I decided to just add it to a smoothie. I don’t know who these bloggers are that speak of how good turmeric powder is but from first hand experience I can tell you that it was terrible in a fruit smoothie.
I drank it because I hate to throw food out but I really was not a fan.
Next try, find fresh turmeric roots. I have looked in the past and only found Turmeric at a whole foods/ natural food store and the closest one to me is an awful long distance so I tried looking over time in grocery stores and have never had any luck finding it.
I tried on the weekend at an Asian grocery store, T and T Groceries, and I was fortunate enough to find a package of the roots for only $2.84 – right in my price range (cheap).
How to Make Turmeric Tea
So in looking at the pic here you can see that to prepare the Turmeric Tea I just had to slice it thinly, some people grate it, but the stuff is bright orange and stains everything easily. I sliced up a couple of roots into my tea maker and added boiling water.
I let it steep for about 10 or 15 minutes and then let it drop into my Mickey Mouse mug. This tea is a bright orange and the smell and taste I think is really great.
There are a couple of things to say about why turmeric is a great anti-inflammatory and first of all it is due to the substance called Curcumin that is contained within the Turmeric itself. Curcumin has been shown in studies to work well although there is a bioavailability problem. This means that your body will not easily absorb the curcumin very easily.
There are a couple of things that we can do to enhance this bioavaiability.
First I added a teaspoon of coconut oil to me tea – the presence on fats instead of water increases the bioavailability of curcumin
Secondly I added some pepper to the tea – Piperine is the key chemical in black pepper and it is the piperine in pepper that slows down the metabolism of the curcurmin and allows it to do its work in your bloodstream instead.
I liked the taste of this tea a lot and adding the bit of coconut oil and pepper made me feel like a bit of a biohacker.
We will see if this helps me out but there is at least a few hundred years of Ayervedic history on my side thinking that this is helpful
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