Spices as Medicine: How to Use Them Effectively
The use of spices is the same as the use of herbs in the energy science model of nutrition and health A spice is considered a herb but not all herbs are spices The spice cabinet in your kitchen can be a medicine cabinet full of energetic remedies if you want to see it that way But just as medicines can help us, some can cause us dis-ease so we need to learn how to use spice for our benefit
Because most spices are used to help the digestive fire That is spices make it stronger so that our own digestive process is more effective in breaking down food, absorbing it, and assimilating it into our bodies as organ(eg, liver and brain) and tissue cells(eg muscle and blood)
Spices....Cooling or Heating?
Most of the commonly used spices in recipes today are heating Mediterranean recipes call for hot spices such as oregano, garlic, rosemary, and thyme These spices are not only heating but have the taste of pungent which is composed of the qualities of hot, dry, light, mobile. sharp, and rough This heating group of spices is particularly good during winter time when our mindbodies need extra heat for digestion of foods
However when your mindbody already shows signs of excess heat as in condition such as the IC bladder pain syndrome where the symptoms of the hot quality are present the above heating spices can be very problematic as most with IC can attest to
14 Cooling Spices
Among the spices there are a group that can be cooling and because of this can be medicinal when too much heat is present You're interested in improving your digestion, absorption, and assimilation but not at the expense of worsening your IC symptoms and risking a flare
There are 10 spices or herbs that you can use all the time and not risk too much heat They are balancing for everyone with high Pitta or too much heat
Use all the time
Cardamom Coriander Cumin Dill Fennel Mint Rosewater Saffron Turmeric Vanilla Do some of these sound familiar? Our common medicinal CCF tea is made from the cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds Furthermore they are medicinal to the urinary tract Other herbs you may recognize are mint, dill, rosewater and vanilla Turmeric is on of the most powerful antiinflammatories in this group and saffron even though expensive can be another great alternative in this cooling group
Cooling but use with self evaluation
Cinnamon Fresh basil Fresh ginger Neem leaves Parsley These spices can be heating and cooling so should be used with some caution and awareness, testing the spice to see what effects it has on your own energetic physiology For example fresh ginger due to its liquid quality(dry ginger is really hot and should not be used) can have this heating quality reduced So ginger tea made with fresh ginger can be medicinal for some but in some situations with Pitta really out of whack, even fresh ginger can be too hot This is also true of fresh basil Of the group parsley is the hottest and probably least tolerated
Remember parsley's look a like in the store Cilantro which is an excellent cooling veggie since it is fresh coriander leaves
