6 Beneficial Herbs and Spices For Weight Loss

Did you think about the benefits of using herbs and spices to speed up your weight loss efforts?

We all know that herbs and spices are used with cooking to varying degrees, and of course the primary reason for doing so is to make food much more tasty and interesting.

I suspect however that you might be surprised at the considerable benefits for losing weight that you can gain by using some of them. In saying this I am referring to those everyday items that can be found in most larders, and not necessarily those exotic and probably not so well known varieties.

I happened to discover the many benefits of herbs and spices and the fact that they can be most beneficial to a weight loss program, when I was doing extremely detailed research for my latest book. Here I just want to describe you a few selected items which you could easily find from any good herbal supplier:

Garcinia: (Garcinia cambogia) is a herb which is primarily for enhancing weight loss and boosting the growth of lean muscle. It is also better known as hila or brindell berry.

One of the major benfits of Garcinia is that it acts as an appetite suppressant and stops the body from storing fat.

Pysillium: (Plantago spp.) This cheeky little herb has quite a few health benefits. Physillium is known to help lower cholesterol, and another major benefit is that it also helps to prevent constipation. However, please drink plenty of water - it is specially important with this herb - to get the most benefits out of it.

If you use it as part of your weight loss program, it can help you to eat less calories and yet still feel really full. This is because of the amount of fibers that it contains.

Siberian Gingsing: (Eleutherococcus senticosus) If you are going to start regular exercise or weightlifting as part of your health and weight loss routine, which is normally to be highly recommended, then this is a really useful herb.

It can help your body adapt to the stress of unaccustomed changes, and it will help to make you feel less tired even when you are not used to doing even simple exercises like walking for example. So, you are more likely to stick to your exercise routine.

Cayenne: (also known as Capsicum, hot pepper, chilli pepper, tabasco pepper). The majority of us have cayenne in our larders, and it is very commonly used in many food dishes. Cayenne can be found in many forms such as ground spices, teas, and would you believe it, in topical creams.

It is well known for its antitoxidant action, and greatly helps with osteoathritis and rhumatoid athritis, shingles, and diabetic neuropathy.

Cayenne is known since ages as an accelerator for digestion and helps to burn fat, specially when you take it in dishes with high protein values and low carbo and low fat ingredients. A word of caution however: Cayenne may also irritate the intestinal tract, if used excessively.

Fennel: This herb (also spice and vegetable) is native to the Mediterranean and widely utilized throughout the world. You can find it in teas, capsules, tinctures and lozenges.

Fennel can be used to help with bloating, flatulence, mild digestive spasms, catarrh, and coughs. It also has antimicrobal, antispasmodic, and anti inflammatory properties.

It lowers appetite and it takes a longer time to get the feeling hunger. Not everyone likes the taste, but you can actually use little quantities in every kind of dishes with vegetable, fish or meat. I like it specially in soups.

Garlic: Whether you get this fresh or dried, the downside of garlic is the odour which it leaves on your breath, but chewing some parsley after eating will soon sort out that problem. Another trick: Use only the juice - the odour will hardly be recognized even when taken raw.

Garlic is also known to help stimulate the immune system, and to help in fighting cancer. Well documented health benefits include lowering cholesterol, fighting infections, and reducing blood pressure.

These are just a few of the herbs and spices you can use in cooking, but remember that there are many many more, and the benefits in using them frequently can be quite remarkable.

Of course you will realize to use them sparingly as part of any dish, as when you add too much, it would just spoil the meal. As with everything in life one should try and strike a balance, you know the saying: “all things in moderation”.

Hope to inspire you to make frequent use of those natural helpers.

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Juergen