This native Indian plant from the ginger family is mostly known for its use as a spice in various foods, but this spice is more than just a spice. It’s a nutritional powerhouse.

Turmeric is also considered one of the world’s healthiest herbs. The reason for this is due to the fact that for thousands of years people from Asiatic countries have used turmeric to treat all sorts of health related conditions.

Here are a few things that can happen if you consume Turmeric regularly:

#1 Brain Optimization

One of turmeric’s main compounds is curcumin. Researchers have found that curcumin has the ability to enhance our ability to learn and even process in different environments. There’s also some research that suggests that curcumin could help fend off neurodegenerative conditions such as dementia or Alzheimers.

Researchers studied rats for a 12 week period. They fortified their diets with curcumin. They found that the rats had an enhanced spatial and non spatial memory. Also, there were some hints the curcumin may aid in neuroplasticity ( the development of new brain connections).

Let’s dig a little deeper into this neuroplasticity thing.

Science used to believe that neurons weren’t able to divide and multiply after our early childhood. We now know that that’s not the case.

(BDNF) , or brain – derived neurotrophic factor, which is a type of growth hormone that functions in our brain. It is one of the main reasons our brains neurons can continue to multiply and divide after early childhood.

Many of our commonly known brain disorders like Alzheimers and depression report having decreased levels of BDNF hormone.

This means that curcumin may be effective in delaying or even reversing many brain diseases.

Also, curcumin may make you smarter. Basically, curcumin boosts BDNF levels which in turn increase the growth of new neurons. This process fights various neurodegenerative processes in our brains.

#2 Improves Heart Health

Curcumin can help with ensuring a healthy heart. Plaque builds in our arteries, and that build up can lead to us having heart attacks and strokes. Curcumin has been shown to help aid in plaque removal.

LDL aka, bad cholesterol is reduced with the use of curcumin. Turmeric can also help prevent blood clots. Conversely, turmeric may interact with certain blood clot medications,- so please be sure to check with your doctor.

Heart disease is the #1 cause of death in the world. There are various factors that contribute to heart disease.

Here’s an interesting benefit of curcumin when it comes to heart disease. Curcumin has been shown to improve the function of the endothelium; (the lining of your blood vessels)

Endothelial dysfunction is a major culprit in the heart disease game. If the endothelium is not working properly, it can’t properly regulate blood pressure, blood clotting and various other functions.

There are studies that show that using curcumin can improve endothelial function. One study from the Dept of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, show that curcumin works as well as the drug Atorvastatin. Note: Patients took 150 mg of curcumin twice a day for 8 weeks.

To add to this, curcumin reduces inflammation and oxidation in the body, which also contributes to heart disease.

#3 Reduces Inflammation

Inflammation has a bit of a bad reputation. It’s commonly associated with pain and illness. Funny thing is, that inflammation actually helps our bodies fight foreign invaders and has a role in repairing damaged cells. If we didn’t have inflammation, pathogens like bacteria could easily take over our bodies and kill us.

While short term inflammation is good. You get a cut, it hurts, and the body’s inflammation process goes to work. Inflammation becomes a problem when it becomes chronic. The phrase, “Too much of a good thing”, comes to mind.

Did you know that it is commonly believed in medical circles that chronic low level inflammation is at the root of almost every disease.

Now here’s some good news. Research has shown that curcumin has been shown to match the effectiveness of some anti- inflammatory drugs, without the harsh side effects.

All in all Tumeric is a powerful ally to have in your health arsenal. I use it often because I put my body to the test and I want to make sure that I am giving myself the best chance to not only recover properly, but also, to live optimally. If you want to know the type of Turmeric that I use, I placed a link below. It has 300 mg of curcumin in it, which has been found to be effective in studies. Plus, it has collagen and some other good stuff in it. It doesn’t hurt that it doesn’t taste bad either.

“Without a positive morning routine, your day can easily turn out precisely how it started – unfocused, uninspired, and unmotivated with everything becoming a potential distraction.”- Stefan James

What’s all of this talk about having a morning ritual?

Why do we need to wake up a certain way?

Life is hard enough, why make it more cumbersome with things like mandatory prayer, meditation, and reading.

You just answered yourself I said to myself.

What’s the answer?

Because I think life is cumbersome and hard. That’s why I need a mandatory way of getting up each day.

In fact I notice a demonstrative difference in how I live and perform when I wake up and do my morning ritual. Or should I say, I allow it to do me.

While it’s not 100 percent true that how you start your day is how you will end it, but it’s a pretty good indicator of how your day will go more than likely.

Having a morning ritual is more about power and control than anything else.

You have power over how you decide to approach your day.

We can’t control the traffic, our coworkers attitudes, or the stock market. Yet, when exert our will over our approach to our day each and every single day. We subconsciously prime our mind’s to be mentally tough even in the face of herculean situations. We without ever knowing it create our own David, that is patiently waiting for his opportunity to slay our Goliath’s.

“We become tough by consistently doing mentally tough things.” – Me

Again why is it so darn hard to get up and follow a morning ritual that’s not full of b.s. like scrolling through social media first thing in the morning, or hitting the snooze button?

I believe it’s hard because we’re conditioned  to live our lives disconnected from ourselves. This makes it easier for us to not have to really look in the mirror of our souls. Instead we can look at someone else’s mess and not feel so bad about our own. This of course leads to us being forced to experience more of the same prosaic life experiences that we already have. We’re ok with be reactive and negative, because we believe that we can at least predict what’s going to happen next.

Having and doing a morning ritual requires us to be uncommon in a common world. This for me explains why it’s so hard to keep consistent with our routines.

We secretly don’t want to be all that different from everyone else.

So the main thing that we really have to ask ourselves is how much do we really want a life of greatness and are we willing to sacrifice our current lives for it.

Here’s an example of how Tony Robbins morning ritual looks

1) Wake up
2) Drink Something Nutritious

3)  Do Priming/ Gratitude Practice

4) Workout

5) Eats breakfast

FYI, he does this everyday. He wakes up with a plan already for his day. He’s not waking up waiting for the bottom to fall out like most of us.

The point in writing this is to say that if success is what you and I really want. We have to set up successful ways of approaching our days so that we live with our purpose and not the purpose that life throws at us.