Dr. Zick's Savory Tips to Spice up Your Health

Filed in archive Treatment on January 7, 2007

In search of some New Year health resolutions, I found out that aside from adding more fruits and vegetables, and less salt and fat to our diet, we should also try to add a dash of basil and oregano, or a few cloves of garlic.

According to Suzanna Zick, N.D., M.P.H., a naturopathic physician and researcher at the University of Michigan Health System:

"Adding herbs and spices can help you maintain a healthy weight. Plus, they can help prevent certain cancers, and even lower blood pressure, control blood sugar and improve cardiovascular health."

Dr. Zick offers these tips for picking the best spices for your overall health:

• Instead of salt, use herbs.

[Common herbs like oregano, thyme, rosemary, parsley and garlic can really bring out the natural flavors in a meal.]

• Fight aging by eating rosemary.

[Rosemary is one of nature's most powerful antioxidants. It's also thought to help with memory, and research is currently underway to determine rosemary's potential cancer-prevention properties.]

• Basil, oregano and rosemary can help fight colds.

[Since these three herbs contain strong essential oils, they potentially can fight against colds and flu.]

• Treat chronic coughs with thyme.

[The health benefits of thyme are unique. It has been traditionally used to treat coughs, even whooping cough. Thyme is often drunk as a tea.]

• Eat curry to lessen back pain.

[Research has shown that the substance commonly found in turmeric -- a common, bright red spice added to curry mixes -- has known anti-inflammatory properties. The substance, curcumin, works in a very similar way to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.]

• Eat more curry to fight cancer.

[In addition to its anti-inflammatory properties, research on curcumin has also shown it to shrink pre-cancerous lesions known as colon polyps. Though the amount needed for its health benefits is unclear, Dr. Zick suggests including a generous helping of curry or turmeric in a meal.]

• Lower your blood pressure with "warming spices" : ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, pepper, cayenne pepper and others.

[These can make a person feel warm because they bring blood from the center of the body to the skin. This disperses blood throughout the body more evenly, which may decrease blood pressure.]

• Soothe aching tummy with ginger.

[Ginger contains gingerols, which decrease oxidative products in the digestive tract that cause nausea. The key is to eat real ginger and not things flavored artificially like many ginger-ales, in order to reap the benefits.]

• Reduce the sugar, add the spice.

[If you need to cut back on sugar, Dr. Zick suggests adding spices like cinnamon and nutmeg to your sweet snacks instead of sugar. For instance, if you buy unsweetened applesauce, add cinnamon to give it an extra kick.]

Read more from the press release.

[In Photo:Using more herbs and spices and fewer traditional seasonings like sugar, salt and fat, can help to improve the overall health benefits -- and flavor -- of the foods we eat every day, says Suzanna Zick, N.D., M.P.H., a naturopathic physician and researcher at the University of Michigan Health System. (Image courtesy of University Of Michigan Health System)]