The Top 10 Super-Spices that Protect Your Body

These 10 powerful spices help to control blood sugar, reduce inflammation, boost your metabolism, aid fat loss, and reduce your risk of cancer and heart disease

by Catherine Ebeling - RN, BSN & Mike Geary - Certified Nutrition Specialist
co-authors - The Fat Burning Kitchen

Every time you flavor your meals with herbs or spices you are supercharging your food without adding a single calorie. You can transform something ordinary and bland into something truly extraordinary tasting and good for your body, just by generously adding herbs and spices to your meals.

Did you know that certain herbs and spices contain a wide variety of some of the most potent antioxidants of any food? In fact, many herbs and spices rank even higher in antioxidant activity than many fruits and vegetables, with some spices such as cloves, turmeric, and cinnamon having as much as 10-50x more antioxidants measured by ORAC value (on a weight to weight comparison) compared to blueberries.

The benefits of the antioxidants in spices include some very powerful protection against many serious diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, macular degeneration, Alzheimer’s, and overall aging.
Herbs and spices add tons of extra flavor, and when combined with the nutrition in other foods, they actually exponentially boost the natural antioxidants, phytonutrients, and anti-inflammatory power of the food.

Besides the super antioxidants, herbs and spices can also:

• Aid Fat Burning and Boost Metabolism - many herbs and spices are thermogenic, which means they naturally help to increase metabolism, partly because they are so nutrient-dense.
• Help Stabilize Blood Sugar - Some spices are also good at regulating blood sugar and controlling insulin--even as good as some diabetic drugs! When your blood sugar is well controlled, you are more likely to burn fat and not store calories as excess weight.
• Powerful Anti-Inflammatory Properties –Scientific studies show that herbs and spices can actually work as well or better than some medications at calming inflammation without the negative side effects of isolated drugs.

Additives “Add” Pounds and Endanger Your Health!

For decades, food manufacturer’s have been adding “additives” to our foods and beverages to help increase shelf life, make foods/drinks taste better, and in some cases—to help us lose weight. At the same time, an “Obesity Epidemic” began that has intensified to the point that more than 60% of US adults are considered overweight and nearly 1/3 of children are obese. Coincidence?

Not even close…

The truth is that only are food/drink additives likely to add pounds to your waistline, they can also endanger your health and put you at risk for serious medical problems in the future!

Ok, so how is this even possible and why aren’t food companies doing something about this problem?
As to how additives are causing unwanted weight gain and potential medical problems, the answer is Biology.

Basically, your body breaks down the foods and beverages you ingest during digestion so that your body can extract the nutrients for energy, repair, etc. Unfortunately, additives are created in laboratories using synthetic ingredients our organic bodies just don’t recognize. And any substance that your body doesn’t recognize or used is considered a toxin that must be flushed from your system…and that is where the trouble begins…
You see, whenever your body flushes toxins from its system, it causes your body to produce tiny molecules known as “free radicals”. The problem with free radicals is that they travel all over your body damaging cells down to the DNA-level. By damaging cells down to the DNA level, free radicals have been linked to wide range of degenerative diseases and health problems, including:

• Increased Risk for Coronary Artery Disease, Heart Attack, and Stroke
• Increased Risk for Alzheimer’s
• Increased Risk for Arthritis and Atherosclerosis
• Increased Risk for Some Forms of Cancer
• Slower Digestive Function and Increased Gastrointestinal Problems including IBS and Constipation
• Poor Eyesight