Happy Easter! We celebrated Easter in our home country with our families and hope you had a great holiday too! Although it is officially spring, I came home to a house full of people who had a cold... Jikes! My boyfriend has been coughing all day today, and I think it is time to start drinking turmeric non-stop! This drink is full of amazing benefits, mainly from the turmeric. Now, if you have never heard of turmeric before (it is that deep-yellow coloured spice, often used in curries as well!) it is time we tell you about it, since lately it is popping up in everything because of its healing nature.
This ancient deep-golden spice has been used in Indian cultures for many years and has high amounts of nutrients, antioxidants and anti inflammatory benefits. It has been studied a lot in relation to cancer prevention, but also has other amazing properties: it can improve immune health, improve liver function and reduce the risk of diabetes, just to name a few (I added some links to scientific studies at the end of this post if you want to read more about it). One note to these kind of studies is that they normally use a high dose of the specific product or ingredient or in this case: a high dose of turmeric. What we advise you to do is to incorporate a bit of turmeric in your daily life to start with (but if you want to use high doses, it is smart to contact a doctor or physician first!).
One way we incorporate turmeric in our diet is by drinking Turmeric milk or Turmeric lattes. I have always been a tea drinker and a cup of tea before bed is my best sleep-aid. That was until I found out about this golden drink. You can drink it all day long, but I especially like to drink it before bed because the warm milk with the gentle spices are sure to make you feel comfortable and ready for bed.
The Turmeric latte is quite new to us too. It is like coffee, without the coffee, haha. By steaming the milk, you create a super delicious latte that is so much more nutritious than coffee and sure to make you feel better again.
I like to make this milk with half (rice) milk and boiling water. Sometimes I add a bag of chamomile tea to the boiling water, sometimes I don’t, it is definitely not needed. When you make the Turmeric Latte, add some honey, to give it some sweetness, and some coconut oil for a rich consistency and because it keeps you satisfied a little longer. Besides adding turmeric, add some cinnamon and ginger for a nice kick. To finish, some black pepper because it helps our bodies to enhance the turmeric much better. All these ingredients are beneficial, especially when you have an entire household either, coughing already, just getting better or, just like me at the moment, trying not to catch this cold.
Turmeric Milk
for 1 cup
1/2 cup boiling water (or chamomile tea)
1/2 cup milk (we use rice milk, but any milk will do)
1,5 tbsp turmeric
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger or 1 cm peeled and sliced fresh
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp coconut oil
1 tsp black pepper
Mix the water (or tea) with the milk in a pan and heat over medium heat. Stir in all the other ingredients. You can steep this on a low heat for a bit, or enjoy immediately.
Optional: top with some cinnamon or turmeric just before serving
Turmeric Latte variation
Use recipe above, but instead of 1/2 cup boiling water use 1/2 cup more milk (1 cup milk in total). Froth or steam the milk and stir in the other ingredients.
Links*:
Immune health: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17210719
Inhibit cancer cell growth: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16556014
Improve liver function: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1742-7843.2006.pto_228.x/full
Reduction of risk of diabetes: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/112273.php
* There are many more articles regarding the benefits of turmeric, if you are interested in reading more, Google Scholar is a good way to start searching.
#turmeric #milk #latte #evening #drink #cinnamon #ginger #warm #chamomile #tea