By: Cat Ebeling, RN, MSN-PHN, co-author of the best-sellers:  The Fat Burning Kitchen, The Top 101 Foods that Fight Aging & The Diabetes Fix

If you’ve ever sipped on a warm chai or supped on a delicious Indian dinner, that exotic, tantalizing spice you’re tasting could be cardamom. Cardamom has a sweet, pungent flavor with a touch of light, floral, lemony sweetness. It’s often used in Indian seasonings like garam masala and curries. It’s also delicious in chai, or Arabic coffee, breads, pastries and other recipes.

Cardamom is one of those age-old spices that has been used for years to treat health disorders like diarrhea, indigestion, depression, and even as an aphrodisiac.

Like many spices, cardamom is full of powerful phytonutrients and antioxidants.

It contains manganese that helps the body create connective tissue, bones and the sex hormones. It’s also critical for nerve and brain function and helps the body metabolize carbohydrates and fats.

Cardamom contains other phytochemicals, including limonene, pinene, myrcene, alpha phellandrene, alpha terpineol, alpha terpineol acetate, cineol, heptane, phytol and more. These compounds contribute to the medicinal properties of cardamom.

Cardamom has lots of dietary fiber, iron and manganese. It also contains plenty of vitamin C, magnesium, calcium, potassium and zinc.

1. Digestive Health

Cardamom has been used for thousands of years to help with digestion. One study published in the World Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology found cardamom to be active against H.pylori infections, which is responsible for ulcers and some forms of gastric cancer. Another study found that cardamom alone could completely prevent or reduce the size of gastric ulcers by at least 50%.

2. Cavities and Bad Breath

Cardamom is useful for bad breath. In fact, in some countries, cardamom is chewed just for the purpose of fresher breath. A study from Kurukshetra University in India looked at the antimicrobial effects on oral bacteria. It was found that extracts of cardamom can inhibit or kill Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans, as well as bacteria that cause bad breath.

Cardamom is also effective as a cavity preventative, helping kill the bacteria that cause tooth decay. This study shows that cardamom extract was effective in fighting five different types of bacteria that cause cavities.

3. Blood Pressure

Cardamom may be helpful for people with high blood pressure. This spice has a diuretic effect on the body, increasing urination and helping to decrease blood pressure. In one study, three grams of cardamom powder were given to 20 adults with high blood pressure, and after 12 weeks, blood pressure levels decreased to a normal range.

In addition to working as a diuretic to lower blood pressure, cardamom’s high levels of antioxidants may also be at work as well lowering blood pressure.

4. Blood Sugar

Since cardamom is high in manganese, it helps diabetics and other maintain more stable blood sugar levels. Research shows that people with diabetes tend to have low levels of manganese.

Some studies have shown that manganese deficiency can lead to glucose intolerance, which is what happens in diabetes. In addition, manganese is concentrated in the pancreas, which is also involved in producing insulin to lower blood sugar levels.

5. Cancer

Cardamom may contain antioxidants and other compounds that increase the activity of cancer fighting enzymes. In addition, cardamom may stimulate our body’s natural killer cells to fight off cancer and attack tumors.

Cardamom has also been shown to help slow the growth of colon cancer and stop its spread. And additionally, the eugenol it contains can help reduce the risk for tobacco-induced cancers in the lung.

Types of Cardamom

Cardamom can be found in most grocery stores. It comes in three different types: green (most common), black, and Madagascar. The green cardamom is used most often and is easiest to find.

Cardamom comes in pods or already ground but is most flavorful when purchased in the pods. You can add whole pods of it into dishes. These pods contain brown aromatic seeds that can be ground to release a potent flavor.

Be sure to keep in mind that ground cardamom seeds lose their flavor and aroma quickly, so it’s best to grind them just before cooking. Good quality cardamom can be expensive, but it’s potent, so not much is needed.

Add cardamom to your favorite chai tea, or golden milk for an added flavor boost. Or try this delicious warm chai recipe with cardamom.

Cardamom belongs to the same botanical family as turmeric & ginger.  Both cardamom and turmeric pair well together in many spice blends and dishes, and they have many health benefits. If you want to give turmeric a whirl, take a look at this….

A side note from our friends at Organixx:

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References
https://foodfacts.mercola.com/cardamom.html
https://draxe.com/nutrition/cardamom/
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/cardamom-benefits

The post Five Health Benefits of Cardamom appeared first on thenutritionwatchdog.com.

By: Cat Ebeling, RN, MSN-PHN, co-author of the best-sellers:  The Fat Burning Kitchen, The Top 101 Foods that Fight Aging & The Diabetes Fix

Years ago, I discovered an amazing, but little known tea from South America. It was recommended to me by a very enlightened preventative medicine doctor I knew. I drank it to relieve Candida symptoms, allergy issues, and inflammation. It had a delicious woody, slightly spicy flavor. And it turns out, it is a valuable tea to drink for many other wide-ranging health benefits as well.

The tea is called Pau d’Arco, and it is known to benefit arthritis, pain, and inflammation, fever, diarrhea, and even various cancers. One of the easiest ways to use pau d’arco is by consuming the tea made from the inner bark of pau d’arco or applying the tea water to the skin.

Pau d’Arco, or Taheebo, comes from the inner bark of a tree grown in South America. The inner bark and the live wood can be made into tea which is useful when ingested or even applied externally. While there are many species of pau d’arco trees, only a few types are specifically effective as a health tonic.

Pau d’arco actually contains two primary active ingredients, lapachol and beta-lapachone. These two natural chemicals are what make it effective against bacteria, fungi, yeasts, viruses and even parasites. Lapachol is known to not only kill many different types of fungi, bacteria and yeasts, but it also lowers inflammation. These ingredients are also effective at preventing the spread of cancer from one organ system to another.

Kills Resistant Microorganisms, Including Candida

Pau d’arco has been known to kill certain bacteria, yeasts and fungi, possibly by inhibiting their reproductive cycle. Test tube studies (not tested on human subjects) show that extracts from the bark fight disease-causing organisms including deadly methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which is extremely antibiotic-resistant and very difficult to control, especially in hospitals and other medical clinics.

This powerful bark also protects against other disease-causing pathogens, including H.pylori, the bacteria that can attack the stomach lining, causing ulcers. Pau d’arco also fights E.coli bacteria, Clostridium and other staph infections without adverse effects on important beneficial bacteria growing in the digestive system. Pharmaceutical antibiotics, on the other hand, kill ALL bacteria in the body, good and bad, leaving room for the regrowth of harmful bacteria.

Pau d’arco is also useful against Candida albicans, a common fungus that grows in the digestive system. Normally, healthy bacteria growing in the intestines keep Candida levels under control, but often candida can grow out of control when the immune system is compromised, healthy bacteria are killed off by antibiotics, or a diet high in sugar and carbohydrates is consumed.

Overgrowth of candida can cause a multitude of health problems like brain fog, joint aches, fatigue, urinary infections, vaginal infections, digestive issues, sinus problems and even thrush (a candida overgrowth in the mouth). Drinking pau d’arco on a regular basis will help keep this opportunistic yeast under control and lead to more optimal health.

Fights Inflammation

Many people are fighting inflammation in the body due to a poor diet high in processed ingredients, toxins in the environment, allergies, over-exercising, stress and more. When the immune system gets activated, it causes harm to the body by attacking it. Inflammation is involved in the development of diseases such as asthma, arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, heart disease, diabetes, Alzhiemer’s, cancer and more. Think of inflammation as being similar to pouring gasoline on a fire, and you have an idea of how devastating it can be to the human body.

This 2014 study published in The Journal of Toxicological Sciences shows pau d’arco increases the expression of a type of protein, Nrf2, that regulates the expression of antioxidant proteins. These antioxidant proteins actually help protect against cellular damage triggered by inflammation.

The results of this study show that the activation of this protein can be particularly beneficial in the intestine, which is often severely affected by inflammation, through diet, food allergies, gluten, and more. This study, conducted on mice, also shows inflammation was reduced 30-50% when compared to a placebo. Reducing inflammation makes this a valuable part of anyone’s diet, particularly those who deal with inflammation in any body system.

Cancer Fighting

Pau d’arco is known as an effective tool to help fight cancer as well as helping relieve pain from cancer. A study conducted by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston found that beta-lapachone, a major compound in pau d’arco tea, is a potential compound which can be added to cancer therapy to improve the outcomes.

Another 2002 study concluded that beta-lapachone is one of a few novel anticancer drugs that shows promise for chemotherapy alone, and especially in combinations. This powerful compound resulted in killing cancer cells in mice, without any adverse effects, as many chemotherapy drugs seem to have.

Effects of beta-lapachone was also observed in a human leukemia cells. Among other human cancer cells tested, beta-lapachone was active against prostate, breast and ovarian cancer cells, as well. These results suggest that beta-lapachone is a potential compound to be added to a variety of cancer chemotherapies.

Reduces Weight

Pau d’arco seems to be valuable for weight loss. Studies in mice demonstrate that pau d’arco extract inhibits a pancreatic enzyme that helps the body digest and absorb dietary fat. This means that dietary fat is not absorbed, resulting in fewer calories.

In one 16-week study, mice fed pau d’arco extract lost significantly more weight than those on a placebo — even with no changes in food intake or calories ingested. Similarly, pau d’arco prevented weight gain in this trial with mice fed a high-fat diet.

Even though preventing fat from being absorbed may seem like an effective way to lose weight, many dietary fats are beneficial, so preventing their absorption on a regular basis may be detrimental to health. And it’s important to keep in mind that these studies were done on mice, and little research has yet been done on humans with pau d’arco and weight loss.

Detoxifies

Pau d’arco tea is helpful to detoxify the body, especially when removing heavy metals, like lead and mercury—as well as pesticides, preservatives, and toxic residue from chemotherapy.

One of the methods for its detoxifying process is through its laxative effects. While it aids digestion, it also helps to relax the bowels, making evacuation easier, ridding the body of any toxins.

Eating a diet of highly processed, refined, artificial foods overloads our digestive systems, and causes imbalances in our healthy gut microbiome. Drinking pau d’arco tea helps the body to eliminate these toxic substances quicker, cleaning out the system.

This allows the body’s natural detoxification process to function more efficiently moving waste through the lymph system, the blood and the cells.

Conclusion

Pau d’ arco or taheebo tea is very beneficial as for its anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, candida controlling, cancer fighting, weight reduction, and detoxifying properties.

Pau d’arco has few side effects and can be taken as a tea, in capsules, liquid or powder form. It is important to note, however, that many of the benefits of pau d’arco have not been fully tested on human subjects, and pau d’arco can be toxic in large quantities, so follow directions carefully.

References
http://pennstatehershey.adam.com/content.aspx?productId=107&pid=33&gid=000268
https://draxe.com/pau-darco-tea/
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/pau-d-arco#forms-and-dosage

The post What This Amazing South American Tree Bark Can Do For Your Body (Pau d’arco) appeared first on thenutritionwatchdog.com.

By: Cat Ebeling 
Co-author of the best-sellers:  The Fat Burning Kitchen, The Top 101 Foods that Fight Aging & The Diabetes Fix

I love to travel and was fortunate enough to travel to Colombia, Thailand, Peru, and Nepal last year. While these countries are beautiful, exotic and fascinating to visit, their sanitation, and water supplies—as well as food preparation—are not up to the same standards as we have in the United States. In spite of taking all the usual precautions, both my significant other and I got very ill in Colombia. In fact, we were sick for a good two and a half weeks after we got home, with all the symptoms of a serious Giardia infection, which is an amoebic parasitic infection. Symptoms include: fever, aches, pains, chills, severe stomach pains, diarrhea, nausea, weight loss. It was miserable!

The general conventional treatment for giardia infections is a prescription antibiotic, which as  you probably already know, will wipe out all the beneficial bacteria in your body, as well as the bad stuff. In addition, many infections are now antibiotic-resistant, making them even harder to eliminate with conventional medical antibiotics. Before resorting to antibiotics, I thought I’d try a proven natural remedy first.

After doing some research, I purchased oregano oil capsules, took as directed, and was good as new in 24 hours. Now we never travel without it—and it has saved us numerous times! As soon as I feel any kind of tummy troubles coming on, I start taking the recommended amount as a precaution, and viola! All good! In fact, I can say, that since that trip to Colombia, I have traveled to Thailand, Peru and Nepal and have not had any ‘issues’ whatsoever!

Oregano oil to the rescue!

Oregano has been used all the way back in ancient Grecian times as a highly effective medicinal herb. The Greeks used it for wounds, insect bites, snakebites, digestive and respiratory infections–and for good reason–oregano oil is the ultimate natural antibiotic, antiviral, and antifungal!

Oregano essential oil has been proven scientifically to kill bacteria, viruses, fungal infections, and parasites, including giardia, an amoebic infection. Oregano oil has actually been scientifically proven to be effective against even antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

Oregano oil is also incredibly effective against food poisoning, stomach flu, candida infections, ringworm, eczema, sinus infections, nail fungus, acne, skin infections, insect bites, warts, allergies, and more. However, oregano oil is very strong and can be irritating, so it must be diluted in a carrier oil when using on the skin.

When taken internally, it is best to purchase and take as a prepared capsule, so you get the proper strength and dosage.

The active ingredients in oregano oil include phenols, carvacrol (60-80%) and thymol (5%) which provide its antiseptic, anti-fungal, anti-viral and antioxidant components. Other ingredients include terpenes, pinene and terinene which contribute to the antiseptic, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and anesthetic properties.

All in all, over 800 studies have been conducted on oregano oil and its amazing healing abilities.

Carvacrol is scientifically proven to be highly effective in killing off dangerous staphylococcus, norovirus, E.coli, listeria, campylobacter, and salmonella—all organisms that can cause violent food poisoning. Even better than an antibiotic (which only kills of bacteria), carvacrol is a highly effective antiviral as well. Carvacrol is also an anti-inflammatory aid, and can be used to calm down redness and swelling due to injuries or allergic reactions and insect bites. Studies show carvacrol works against candida overgrowth in the mouth or digestive tract, helps kill cancer cells, and even helps to lower blood sugar.

Oregano essential oil is one of the most potent, versatile natural medicines. Keep it on hand at all times, and you are sure to enjoy its powerful and effective healing properties.  Speaking of other anti-viral substances, this article shows how powerful Quercetin is at fighting viruses.

Also, don’t miss this article:

4 essential oils more powerful than antibiotics

References

Dr. Josh Axe, https://draxe.com/oregano-oil-benefits-superior-prescription-antibiotics/

Oregano Oil For Beginners © upnature.com

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10815019

http://www.microbiologyresearch.org/docserver/fulltext/jmm/56/4/519.pdf?expires=1492185805&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=3A30452FCBD8B7A80FB110824E14C569

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24779581

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Misagh_Alipour/publication/263014005_The_Bioactivity_and_Toxicological_Actions_of_Carvacrol/links/542b29aa0cf277d58e8a1352.pdf

http://www.medicaldaily.com

http://www.liu.edu

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

http://www.sciencedaily.com

http://www.reuters.com

http://www.globalhealingcenter.com

http://science.naturalnews.com

The post Oregano Oil: More Powerful Than Antibiotics? (Unlike antibiotics, oregano oil kills viruses and parasites too) appeared first on thenutritionwatchdog.com.