Tumeric + Garlic = Inflammation's Antithesis!

So, if you haven't guessed by now (even though I haven't really talked about it), I LOVE to cook.  And I love to try new flavors, even making up my own weird combinations along my merry way--I'm usually the only one eating my concoctions, so I can try things without worrying about divorce papers being filed post-experiment!
The best thing I find about cooking and knowing the little that I do about nutrition and healthy eating is that there are soooooo many things out there that are good for you and that are just damn tasty!  I'm so tired of the "I can't eat diet food because it tastes nasty," or the ever-popular "don't you ever get bored eating the same boring crap all the time?"  UGH--just thinking about how many times I've heard similar statements out of peoples' mouths gives me another reason to mildly consider Botox! 
Truth of the matter is that eating healthy food means eating a variety of different things.  Variety not only in proteins, carbs, and fats, BUT in herbs and spices--ya know, the things that make the "boring crap" have FLAVOR!  What is even cooler is that all that flavor comes with so much other added benefit that most folks don't even have a clue about.  Here they are with their daily/weekly/monthly pill box of beta-blocking, anti-inflaming, corticosteroid-filled, anti-blah blah blah who knows what, all the while probably causing symptoms that they didn't even have before they started their 3-time-daily pharmy cocktail.  Little do they know that they may actually be able to cure whatever it is that is ailing them simply by taking their tails to the spice counter instead of the pharmaceutical counter the next time they're on their grocery run.
In my culinary excursions over the past while I've discovered how much I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE tumeric and garlic, especially together.  Both of these fab faves of mine are highly praised for their natural anti-inflammatory abilities.  (Listen up those of you with chronic pain and irritation!)  Let's start with tumeric--a lovely colored spice, I might add!
Tumeric's active ingredient that makes it such a potent powerhouse is curcumin, a compound that has been shown to prevent the growth of cancer and slow the progression of Alzheimer's.  It's best known for it's anti-inflammatory benefit.   It can be used for treatment of pain associated with arthritis and other joint-related disorders as well as in the treatment of inflammatory skin problems such as eczema and psoriasis.  Using tumeric can also speed wound healing and the rebuild and regrowth of new, healthy skin.  Another profound benefit of adding tumeric to your diet is it's ability to aid in liver detoxification--we all need it, not just those of us who enjoy happy hour every now and again!  Now, if you're not into the smell or the taste of tumeric in cooking (that's unfortunate), then it can be found in pill form at your local health food store.  Either way is fine, I prefer to cook with it because I LOVE TO EAT and I'm not bothered by the aroma.  My fave thing to do is add it into a GIANT pan of sauteed veggies (cooked in coconut oil, of course!).  It's pungent, so if you're new to it, start small and add more as your taste develops for it.
Let's move to garlic, nature's trump card for fresh breath!  For me, I can deal with my stank breath after eating garlic because it is just so amazingly good for me (and you!) and adds such a depth of flavor to any savory dish.  Man, what an addition to any cook's must-have list!  This pod of power is overflowing with all sorts of health benefits--not sure I'll have enough space to list them all but I'll give it a go (in bulleted list form, to save your eyes!):

• Aid in fighting inflammation associated with joints and other systemic inflammation
• Provide protection against damage to arterial linings due to oxidative stress
• Prevent clots from forming in the arteries
• Lower blood pressure
• High in vitamin C, B6, selenium and manganese--all are heart-protective
• Improve airway inflammation as seen in asthma
• Decrease chronic, low level inflammation associated with obesity
• Prevent onset and development of bacterial and viral disease
• Prevent of stomach ulcer
• Improve iron metabolism (YAY for me--a long-term anemic!)

If you're going to use garlic, go with fresh when you can.  This way you can enjoy all the benefit from the flavor to the health aspects.  Crushing or chopping fresh cloves activates the enzymes in garlic that help you attain the benefits of eating it.  In addition to this, allowing the cloves to sit, crushed or chopped, for a period of about 10 minutes will heighten their health quality (crazy, huh?).  Of course, it's best to eat the garlic raw; however, I know some you just can't tolerate the bite that it gives when eating raw.  So, you want to have as little of cooking time as possible with garlic to benefit from eating it.  Make sure you add it into your cooked dishes towards the end of cooking time if you can't tolerate it raw--plus, garlic is easy to burn, so this is a good tip for that reason as well.  If you're roasting garlic, either alone or with other vegs, the lower the temp the better--think low and slow.  You'll get as much benefit as you can this way and the slow cooking really develops the cloves into a rich, warm, almost sweet flavor (OMG, I think I just drooled a little!).
Well, that's not all I could say about tumeric and garlic, BUT one thing I have accomplished is figuring out what I'm going to have along with my dinner tonight:  sauteed cauliflower and onion with tumeric and garlic.  My joints oughta feel FABULOUS when I wake up in the morning!