Benefits of Turmeric and Curcumin
Last week (and tomorrow), I had a monster leg workout; trying some different exercises and heavier weights. It left me with some extremely sore legs. Fortunately I have my bottle of magnesium lotion and did hot/cold contrast showers. Since it was a super big workout and was left more sore than usual, I needed some additional natural help. Enter turmeric and curcumin.
Turmeric has been used in India for thousands of years as a spice and medicinal herb. It provides one of the most potent anti-inflammatories you can get from food. Turmeric has been used for centuries to fight infections, help heal wounds, and even decrease the risk of cancer. It’s high in carotenoids (organic pigments found in plants, algae, and some bacteria), which is what gives it a yellow hue. One of its carotenoids is curcumin.
Curcumin is the main active ingredient in turmeric. It has powerful anti-inflammatory effects and is a very strong antioxidant. It carries the goods so to speak. There are studies on turmeric and how beneficial it is, however, most of the studies used turmeric extracts that contain mostly curcumin itself. It would be hard to get the full effects just by using the turmeric spice in foods. There is a product, EXOS Curcumin, that is absorbed far better than other curcumin products. I use turmeric on a daily basis but since I needed a little extra “boost”, I used the curcumin capsules.
Some benefits of turmeric/curcumin:
Supports joint health and liver function
Supports gut health
Helps with cardiovascular efficiency
Assists maintaining the body’s normal inflammatory response by shutting down excessive inflammation
How I use turmeric / curcumin on a daily basis:
I place a tablespoon or so of turmeric powder in my morning green smoothies
How I use it post (really hard) workout:
In this case since it was severe soreness lasting multiple days, I used a couple capsules of the curcumin extract, EXOS Curcumin, over a few days. As I mentioned, I also used magnesium lotion and did hot/cold contrast showers. In addition, I avoided inflammatory foods i.e. bread, processed foods, sweets, etc.
Other benefits:
Chronic inflammation is known to be a contributor to many common Western diseases. Curcumin can inhibit many molecules known to play major roles in inflammation
Curcumin boosts levels of brain hormone BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) which increases the growth of new neurons and fights various degenerative processes in the brain
Many studies show that curcumin can help treat symptoms of arthritis and is in some cases more effective than anti-inflamatory drugs
You can see the many benefits that this offers. Something to consider for incorporating into your healthy lifestyle. To see a picture of my turmeric powder and EXOS Curcumin capsules visit my FB page.
Reminder - I post pictures of the products I use on the GreenNote Fitness page. Be sure to to check it out and use as a resource!
To your journey,
Lisa Schaffer
GreenNote Fitness
P.S. Checkout my Facebook page.
