Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - Re: [Homestead] Update on health: turmeric and milk thistle

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Lynda" <lurine AT com-pair.net>
  • To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Update on health: turmeric and milk thistle
  • Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2009 23:18:39 -0800

Herbal turmeric and "traditional" cooking powders aren't made the same way and that might also be the difference. Herbal/therapeutic are boiled and made into powder. "Traditional" powders are dehydrated roots and then powdered. At least the folks we knew in SF when I was a kid did them that way. You'd go down to the shops in Chinatown or the fringes and get the fresh or dried turmeric and ginger and tamarind and gur and spring curry leaves and all that other good stuff. Oh, and strings of peppers and mustard seed and cumin and corriander. Then go home and toast and grind.

I would think that would make a world of difference. Plus, with "traditional" you would get more than just a "standardized" concoction that is mainly concerned with the curcuma and not all the other things that are in turmeric.

I'd think maybe James could tell us how much you loose in the translation from the traditionally dehydrated to the commercially processed??? So, I don't think you need as much. Not nearly as much.

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- From: "EarthNSky" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>

sjc wrote:

If I just said "with fats", I offer my apologies, because what he
actually said was more along the line of 'heated with fats, as in the
dietary usage'.

I think you did say that, my bad, but I did get the right impression,
that he was referring to the cooking spice, not some store-bought
extract. When I cook with curry/turmeric, I usually do use butter or
olive oil, so that should cover it. However, it would be difficult to
cook up a 'therapeutic dose' of it...I can see that now, 1/2 cup rice, 1
TBSP butter and 1/2 cup turmeric..lol


He also offered his opinion that it was on the order of
10 times more effective used that way. I haven't, of course, tried
it, but even if a portion were consumed that way, seems it would cut
down on the need for the encapsulated version.

I can agree that incorporating more turmeric into one's diet is a good
thing especially for those who need it for preventative reasons or who
suffer from mild inflammatory processes, and it is good to know that it
needs the fat for whatever reason, but I get a bit frustrated at times
because it seems that no matter what I do, someone says "well, it didn't
work for you because..." I know you are not saying that, but I am
touchy on that point because I am trying very hard to find something
that will work for me.

...Although he didn't make the
comparison, he did go on some about its (turmeric) traditional Asian
usage and the way it's used now in the West, as a 'straight' dose of
herb. He considers the use of the ground version as available here
to be of negligible benefit.

Ok, so how would he be traditionally using it if not powdered, and is he
talking about a prophylactic use just by adding it to the regular diet,
or a therapeutic use to treat an illness?
I know it was used topically as an antiseptic poultice, often mixed with
other herbs. I know it is considered a condiment. Would the poultice
be used on inflamed joints? If so, that would almost seem to be
wasteful of it's systemic anti-inflammatory properties. I wonder if they
grate the fresh root into food-I believe that is done in SE Asia like in
Thailand. I'm not sure where I would be able to get a fresh turmeric
rhizome, or a steady supply of it.



If, though, in all the research you did about it, that never showed
up, maybe not worth bothering with.....

No no, I am always curious...this whole thread has been super
enlightening for me. I thought turmeric was just for arthritis but as
it turns out, it treats a whole lot more. I was reading some earlier
this evening and it may be more responsible for my liver improvement
than I am giving it credit for. I can certain see it's anti-histamine
like effects, and I read this evening it lowers cholesterol. I talked
it over with DH and I think I will definitely try to increase our
turmeric intake. As an experiment(that worked), I added 2 tablespoons
to a half a jar of mayonnaise..anything to increase it in my diet...I
add it to chicken soup, all rice, a shake or two in potatoes or anything
with cheese, a shake or two on baked fish, etc. So, while I may or may
not attempt the mega dose regime again, I did make some lasting dietary
changes. Don't tell DH, but I added a few additional tablespoons to his
mustard as well. After all it is, according to many websites, the
yellow in yellow mustard.




It would soon seem to be 'medicine', though, in either usage---a
little like garlic, which I like and use regularly but when I get too
much people start fussing at me....lucky I live by myself, maybe. I
do cut back on it considerably when I know I'm going to be gone, and
fortunately, it doesn't take too long to get rid of it, just a
couple of days. Plus you can eat quite a bit of garlic before it
starts to work its way through. And I remember my kids smelling like
walking vitamin tablets when they were little, from the extra B
trying to ward off marsh mosquitoes.


To me, garlic smells wonderful. I even like garlic breath. To each his
own, I guess. I am just glad that turmeric itself doesn't smell like I
do when I take it. But the worst part, for me, is the digestive upset.
It is supposed to treat irritable bowel and gas complaints, but in my
case, it caused a lot of upset, especially after I went to 1000 mg a
day. It wasn't bad on the 500 mg dose. Perhaps the lasting change of
adding it to my diet in new ways will be enough to lower cholesterol and
give me some antihistamine benefit as well as improved anti-inflammatory
response.
I really wish I could say that it helped the pain and stopped the
disease process, but it did not. That doesn't mean it is without merit,
however.

Bev

--
"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will
not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius
will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the
world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone
are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve
the problems of the human race"

~ Calvin Coolidge
_______________________________________________
Homestead list and subscription:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/homestead
Change your homestead list member options:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/homestead/lurine%40com-pair.net
View the archives at:
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/homestead


--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.552 / Virus Database: 270.10.16/1930 - Release Date: 2/2/2009 7:51 AM







Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page