Hello friends. I am not a doctor, or holistic expert, or certified in any alternative healing practice. But I am a person who lives with a chronic inflammatory disease…Crohn’s disease. I have been on a loooong healing journey and this journey has lead me down many roads of diets, herbs, oils, teas, and whatever else you could possibly think of, I’ve tried over these last 12 years. Most recently I’ve made a breakthrough connection between my Crohn’s flares and stress that has provided me with an enormous amount of power and control over my health…and I hope to share this with you very soon. But for now, I want to share a little bit about turmeric and how I’ve been using it in my healing regimen. A few months ago my sweet beautiful friend Julia showed me a turmeric tincture she made and was raving about. I told her I have turmeric capsules that I use once in a while for inflammation, but didn’t feel a big difference. I tried her tincture and loved it. So I made myself a batch. I have to say, I feel the difference and the tincture feels more powerful than the capsules (for some reason). I don’t know, maybe it’s just placebo, but I can tell it decreases intestinal inflammation..and decreases pain. Here is an excellent article about turmeric with research to back up health claims. But please also read about turmeric’s side effects here.
Like all herbs and alternative medicinal foods, please use caution and talk with your doctor before starting any regular diet change. Please read my disclaimer HERE. Thank you.
Four years ago I started taking a new drug for Crohn’s called Lialda. In double blind research studies Lialda worked just as good as placebo for many of the participants. Personally, it works about 50% of the time for me and I’ve had many flares while taking Lialda. So it doesn’t work consistently, and when I am well, I stop taking it and my flares do not instantly return. There are 94 reported side effects from Lialda ranging from common to severe. You can see them all here. So I try to do all I can to decrease inflammation and heal my body so I don’t have to take this medication. It’s important to look at the side effects of both FDA approved drugs and herbal remedies. Personally, turmeric wins for me over Lialda (but again, this is my personal opinion).
- 3 tablespoons ground turmeric
- 5 tablespoons walnut oil (refined or unrefined)
- ¾ teaspoon finely ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
- In a small glass container, add the above ingredients and mix well.
- For the pepper, I use a mortar and pestle to grind the pepper to a finely ground texture that blends well with the oil and turmeric.
- Mix well before eating.
- I take 1 teaspoon in the morning before I eat breakfast.
*Use any oil you desire. I choose walnut oil because it's exceptionally high in omega 3 fatty acids which has amazing anti-inflammatory properties. One tablespoon has 1900mg of Omega-3 ALA.
*Research now shows that piperine, a key active component of black pepper, may boost the health benefits of curcumin, the main health-boosting component in turmeric root. - So don't omit from recipe!
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Wow that’s a powerful one. We love turmeric in our home. I need to get some more because we’re all out. Hope all is well Amber. xo
Thanks Emily! It’s great stuff.
I’d love to try this but swap ginger & black pepper essential oils. Have you heard about using unradiated Turmeric /Curcumin? Or do you check to make sure what you’re taking isn’t radiated?
Thanks for the information.