Health Benefits Of Herbs & Spices

Bulk organic herbs, spices and essential oils.

If you'd really like to add more nutrition to your family's fare, you simply need to go gourmet and add herbs and spices. That doesn't mean you'll need to purchase exotic foods from the high priced selection at your grocery. Most spices come as a power package of nutrition, don't cost that much and a very little goes a long way. Something as simple as a hamburger cooked on the grill can be packed with extra nutrition if you mix a few spices into the meat. These flavor-enhancing additions bring great reviews from those that consume the delectable packages that carry a big nutritional punch.

For thousands of years man has used herbs in medicine and also to improve the flavor of the foods. Today, scientists find that the early doctors and herbalists knew a lot more than the credit they previously received. Most historians believed that many of the herbs were assigned their roles as medicine because they either resembled a part of the body or by simple observation when the user showed improvement after taking the herb.

According to Alison Gernand from the School of Public Health at the University of Texas, "People who generally cook at home and use fresh spices tend to be healthier and have less disease." Why? Because many of the herbs used in household cooking provide the nutrients that the body needs to improve health.

One of the shortcomings of the fast food life is that everything is stripped from the flavor to the nutrition when they're cooked. America's favorite spice is salt and pepper because they're the only ones that most people ever get to taste. If a fraction of a cent is saved on each dish served at a fast food chain, it translates into millions of dollars across the nation.

America has become obese and there are several reasons. One important and often overlooked reason is the body's need for nutrition. Aside from exercise and fried foods, two of the most obvious reasons for increased weight, the body has specific nutritional requirements. If you don't eat the foods that fill these requirements, often the hunger sign remains in on position and eating continues until that need is satisfied. In earlier times, Mothers had herb gardens that supplied the extra boost of vitamins, minerals and photonutrients to help satisfy the body's quest. Today, most working mothers barely have the time to swallow their coffee in the morning, so the herb garden and many of the benefits remain only a memory.

The addition of herbs to meals brings more nutrition without adding more bulk or calories. If you have a fussy eater in the family that only wants potatoes, supplement the nutrition in their food selection by adding the antioxidant oregano or lower the risk of heart disease by flavoring the potatoes with some garlic.

Long gone are the days where a shaker of cinnamon and sugar was on the shelf as the staple treat on toast and oatmeal but they need to be revived. If you choose to raise an herb garden to get fresh herbs like oregano or rosemary, it's simple and easy to do, but not necessary. In fact, you don't even have to do the cooking. If you simply add a few shakes of your favorite herbs onto fast foods, you'll put extra nutrition into dishes not known for their high nutritional quality. The term "tasting healthy" takes on an entirely new meaning when you consider the addition of herbs and spices to make it that.