Turmeric is a popular spice in Asian cooking and has been used in Ayurveda, which is traditional Indian medicine, for thousands of years. Curcumin, a compound with strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, is responsible for most of turmeric’s health benefits.
Recent research suggests that turmeric may help people lose weight. But you might wonder if it works and how much you’d have to take to see results. This article talks about whether turmeric helps you lose weight.
How To Lose Weight With Turmeric?
- Drinking turmeric tea is one way. Just put a cup or two of water in a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Add a pinch of turmeric to the water once it starts to boil. If you want to add cinnamon, you could put it in a stick or some ground cinnamon.
- Cinnamon is also good for weight loss. Stir it well, pour it into a cup, and wait until it’s lukewarm to drink.
- Another way is to use it regularly in curries, rice dishes, desserts, and other tasty foods.
- There is also turmeric milk. Heat the milk on medium heat for about six to seven minutes. Pour the milk into a glass and sprinkle the turmeric powder on top. Stir well.
Remember that turmeric is not a magic spice. If you want to lose weight, you will need to eat well and exercise. The same goes for spices, herbs, and any other healthy food, even if it has been shown that they can help you lose weight.
Benefits of Turmeric Supplements
Aside from helping you lose weight, turmeric and curcumin supplements can help with a lot of other things as well.
Reduce Inflammation
The number of people with chronic diseases is going up all over the world. There are two different kinds of inflammation: short-term and long-term. Systemic inflammation that lasts for a long time is a cause of many long-term diseases.
Chronic inflammation can be a sign of long-term problems, like metabolic disorders, that are hard to spot. Dr. Kara Fitzgerald says, “Most people don’t realize that inflammation is at the heart of almost all chronic diseases and their symptoms.
Inflammation is the cause of joint and muscle pain, brain fog, fatigue, depression, anxiety, weight gain, and more. Studies on people and in test tubes have shown that curcumin can help lower biomarkers of inflammation.
By treating chronic inflammation in your body, you’re not only getting rid of a symptom, but you’re also trying to reverse the root cause of chronic disease and move your body towards health and homeostasis.
An Alternative to NSAIDs
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, like aspirin, were once recommended by doctors for long-term, regular use. In the last few years, though, regular use of NSAIDs has been discouraged because they can have bad side effects.
It has been shown that turmeric works just as well as NSAIDs but has fewer side effects. The results of a study that was published in BMC showed that turmeric was just as good at relieving arthritis symptoms as the NSAID diclofenac.
“94% of people who took curcumin and 97% of people who took diclofenac said they felt at least 50% better. Curcumin was said to have fewer side effects. For example, none of the people in the study who took curcumin needed treatment for stomach pain, but 28% of the people who took diclofenac did.
Other studies that looked at how ibuprofen and turmeric affected knee pain came to the same conclusions.
Improve Metabolic Syndrome
When turmeric is taken regularly as a supplement for medical reasons, it can help people with metabolic syndrome. “Metabolic syndrome (MetS), obesity, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are becoming more common around the world very quickly.
This may be because of how people live their lives” (Akbari, Lankarani, et al.). Our country is in the middle of an obesity and diabetes epidemic because of how we live and what we eat. It shouldn’t be a surprise that making changes to our lifestyle and diet, like eating more whole foods and powerful herbs, spices, and supplements, can help us fix this problem.
“Overall, we found that when people with metabolic syndrome and related disorders took curcumin, their BMI, weight, waist circumference (WC), and leptin levels went down and their adiponectin levels went up” (Akbari, Lankarani, et al.).
In another PubMed article that looked at research on curcumin, it was found that it reduces oxidative stress and inflammation in people with metabolic syndrome and arthritis. Turmeric has been shown to help people with a variety of inflammatory conditions feel better.
Detoxification
The liver is your body’s built-in way to clean itself out. It gets rid of toxins in your blood every day. But the liver can get too busy if we take too many over-the-counter medicines or drink too much.
Curcuma has a natural ability to clean. When taken regularly, turmeric can help the liver get rid of any toxins that have built up. Plus, the liver is a key part of how fats are broken down, so when you get rid of toxins that have built up in it, it’s better able to help get rid of fats and may help you lose weight.
Beauty Benefits
Turmeric also has great effects on how you look on the outside. It can be hard to work with as a powder because it stains everything, but it is a great ingredient for facial masks. People see an improvement in the way their skin looks right away.
But after a turmeric facial, your face will leave a stain on your pillowcase. The fact that turmeric’s color is strong and dark and that it stains everything shows how many antioxidants it has.