Turmeric: Superfood Spice

Used as a spice and medicinal herb in India for thousands of years, turmeric is an amazing spice with healing properties and gives curry its’ yellow colour. 

Turmeric has been touted as one of the most effective nutritional supplements in existence.  At Honey Bee Meals, a popular healthy, meal delivery service in Toronto we use turmeric in many of our meals such as our Tandoori Chicken, Been & Zucchini Curry, Shrimp & Chicken Paella and Chickpea Eggplant Ratatouille. We think it is important (and delicious!) to incorporate turmeric in any diet be that traditional, paleo, keto, vegetarian or vegan!

Turmeric has been hailed as a superfood - thanks to its powerful active ingredient: curcumin. Curcumin is the main ingredient in turmeric and it is an antioxidant which produces anti-inflammatory effects.

Numerous scientific studies have shown curcumin to have potent anti-inflammatory properties similar to those found in pharmaceutical drugs. Turmeric has been shown to treat arthritis, metabolic syndrome, pain and some degenerative eye conditions.

As the curcumin content of turmeric is only about 3%, you would need to consume a lotof turmeric to see significant changes. However, curcumin can be purchased as a nutritional supplement in addition to enjoying its flavour in your healthy prepared meals.

Curcumin is poorly absorbed into the bloodstream however enjoying turmeric with black pepper, which contains piperine, allows our bodies to enhance the absorption of curcumin by 2,000%. Many curcumin supplements contain piperine for that reason.  In addition, studies have shown that it may be a good idea to take curcumin with a fatty meal as it is also fat soluble, which will further aid in absorption.

At Honey Bee Meals, we believe that eating a healthy diet composed of foods in their natural state like a variety of fruits, vegetables and high-quality protein, like you'll find in our healthy prepared meals, makes it easy to make good choices. Healthy prepared meals will also help you maintain a healthy body weight. We deliver twice per week across the GTA to help you make eating healthy choices easy by taking care of the shopping, chopping, cooking and cleaning!