Garlic Redux, etc...

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Spices and condiments...

Love 'em? Leave 'em?

Why do we call them spices?

And how about the phrase " Spice of Life " ?

 

From Wikipedia:

A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark or vegetative substance

used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for

the purpose of flavoring, and indirectly for the purpose of killing

and preventing growth of pathogenic bacteria[1].

 

Many of the same substances have other uses in which they are

referred to by different terms, e.g. in food preservation, medicine,

religious rituals, cosmetics, perfumery or as vegetables. For

example, turmeric is also used as a preservative; licorice as a

medicine; garlic as a vegetable and nutmeg as a recreational drug.

 

Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are leafy, green plant

parts used for flavoring purposes. Herbs, such as basil or oregano,

may be used fresh, and are commonly chopped into smaller pieces;

spices, however, are dried and usually ground into a powder.

 

 

and...

 

Food Bacteria-Spice Survey Shows Why Some Cultures Like It Hot Quote:

“...Garlic, onion, allspice and oregano, for example, were found to

be the best all-around bacteria killers (they kill everything)...Top

30 Spices with Antimicrobial Properties...”

 

Just because something has a historical context doesn't make it a

best practice. People have been killing each other over who's right

or whose religion is right, or whose language is right, etc for

millennia. That doesn't make it a best practice.

 

The Chinese use ginger. The Hispanics use pepper. The Indians use

curry. The Italians use garlic. They were the plants that grew in

those areas. Today we have access to it all and get marketed to that

we should have it all, should use it all.

 

I stopped using spices - including salt back in the 70s when I met

the folks at Hippocrates Health Institute in Boston. What I was

taught made sense to me. From a practical point of view, spices may

have been used for purposes of killing bacteria in prior times,

however we don't need to preserve foods that way anymore. Don't need

to eat rotten foods anymore and kill the bacteria living therein in

our guts with strong spices.

 

I was taught to ask, " Does the metabolism change after eating it? "

Does the body go into survival mode - initiate process of

detoxification: sweating, increased body heat, increased blood

pressure, increased pulse, increased urination, diarrhea, etc.? Eat

pepper and the bodies temperature and heart rate rise. The body is

trying to eliminate the substance by burning it off. Eat garlic and

the pores open up, the breath smells, the urine smells, etc as the

body works on eliminating it. Eat salt and the body holds water to

dilute the salt in the system. Salt over a specific level is toxic.

The more salt you eat, the more water the body will hold to dilute it

to safe levels.

 

I was taught, if the body reacts by dramatically raising the level of

a normal metabolic activity after eating the substance, treat it as

poison. These are the same reactions the body produces when chemical

poisons are ingested.

 

The Use spices or Don't Use spices question seems most relevant to

people trying to eat what I call Early Transition raw foods. For many

people the transition to all an all raw diet it's enough of an

emotional battle without including the war with their taste buds.

Just going raw or mostly raw while eliminating all animal products -

being a vegan - will make a dramatic improvement in how one feels. My

experience with people is that if they get 100% raw first, with as

much attention to food combining, carb/fat/protein proportions as

they can bear emotionally, they don't have as many battles with going

on and off diet. Then once stabilized on raw food they can

consciously work on adjusting what they eat as their taste bud

choices and emotional choices begin to change.

 

What I've experienced is that after a year or two on the SAD look and

taste substitute raw diets, people do begin to eat simpler. The body

begins to stop craving those high maintenance and high flavor foods.

Over a longer time, most people naturally begin to eat simpler and

mono meals, without feeling deprived of anything.

 

Footnote:

This kind of transition would not be the recommendation for anyone

who has a seriously chronic condition, but we see many people who are

making the change to raw on principle - philosophically because it

makes sense - they are not driven by current health concerns.

 

..wyn

The Raw Retreat

http://TheRawRetreat.com

o) 888.EAT.RAW4LIFE

f) 877.236.6999