Spice It Up: Indulge Your Senses And Your Body

Excerpt from The Truth About Beauty

by Kat James

Nothing elevates a dish to gourmet, mouth-watering status more easily and healthily than herbs and spices. Two of my favorite tricks are adding sautéed fennel seed to ground turkey to give it that savory Italian sausage taste and adding a pinch of tarragon to my scrambled eggs or cream cheese for a touch of buttery sweetness. Just about every herb studied has been found to have unique health properties, including antibacterial and antifungal actions. In hot climates where refrigeration is scarce, people of many cultures, such as those in India, have depended on spices like curry to preserve food. (Please don’t try that at home!)

• Garlic is a potent antibiotic that has been reported to lower cholesterol in some cases. It is sulfur-rich, which supports the skin.
• Cayenne, eaten in large amounts, has been shown to increase satiety and reduce calorie intake.
• Ginger improves digestion, eases nausea, improves circulation, and is being researched as a heart tonic.
• Turmeric, a component of Indian curry, has shown potent anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and liver-protective benefits in numerous studies. It is a natural cox-2 inhibitor, blocks the absorption of estrogen-mimicking chemicals, prevents breast cancer metastasis, and even blocks radiation to varying degrees. I take turmeric every day in supplement form.
• Cilantro, in a study using cilantro pesto, has been shown to detoxify heavy metals by carrying them out of the body.
• Cinnamon has shown antibacterial activity, and one of its active components demonstrated improved sugar metabolism in a USDA study.

These tidbits are just the tip of the iceberg. Stunning benefits are just now being identified and studied for nearly every fresh herb, cold-pressed oil, and spice you can think of.

Excerpt from The Truth About Beauty, winner of the 2009 Silver Nautius Award for Health and Healing

Beauty is not about hard work after all—if you have the right tools. This revolutionary guide peels away the layers of conventional body and beauty wisdom to uncover the crucial missing information needed for real transformation. Nationally renowned beauty and holistic health expert Kat James reveals the life-altering secrets she discovered after more than a decade of self-destructive living, and an eating disorder that almost took her life.