What are the best spices to use for digestion?
I know spices are good for your health, and different spices are good for different things. What are the best spices you can eat if you have digestive disorders, feelings of gassiness and bloating? Thanks!
I know that ginger and turmeric are good for digestive disorders.
Ginger helps stimulate saliva, bile and gastric juice production to aid in digestion. By improving digestion, ginger will naturally reduce the potential for intestinal gas and flatulence. Ginger tea has muscle relaxant properties that can help relieve gases trapped in the digestive system.
Turmeric stimulates the gall bladder to release bile, a substance that helps fat digestion. It also is a potent antioxidant. Turmeric calms upper digestive system by getting rid of gas. It is also known to help increase absorption in intestine and promote intestinal flora. Turmeric is also increasing gastric wall mucus which acts as a protective layer.
From the Ayurvedic tradition – the use of three commonly used spices — ajwain (aniseed/Indian celery seed), saunf (fennel) and zeera (cumin) can help alleviate the problem of flatulence to a large extent. In addition, these spices bring other medicinal and health benefits as well. Traditionally, celery seeds and aniseed are added to those dishes that have a tendency to cause flatulence.
Ajwain is well known as a digestive aid. Indeed, it is the most effective of all carminative herbs and its oil-also called caraway — has some anti-microbial properties as well. Infant colic has been traditionally treated with a poultice of ajwain.
The seeds of Cumin, commonly known as zeera, have earned considerable repute as a corrective agent for flatulence, colic and dyspepsia and as an appetite stimulant.
Almost every Indian restaurant — especially the Mughlai ones that I have been to in different parts of India and abroad — offer saunf (fennel seeds) after a meal to aid digestion.
Keep a mixture of roasted cumin seeds, fennel and aniseed in equal proportions handy. After each meal, take half to one teaspoon of this mixture, chew well and swallow with one-third of a cup of warm water to zap up the gas molecules.
