Cooking With The Worlds Best Beauty Spice

Turmeric, an oddly shaped, bright orange thumb of a root that is taking the world by storm for its myriad of health benefits is also good for beauty? I mean, it’s not all that easy on the eye so it all sounds a little too good to be true doesn’t it?

BUT here’s the thing with Mother Nature, she ain’t playin’ no games *lists every natural disaster ever* right? So Turmeric really is as good as it sounds, heck we’d go so far as to say its even better! We know you didn’t come here for another “benefits of turmeric” list so we’re going to fill you in on how this special spice can contribute to what matters most – your aesthetic. Only kidding of course but it’s true that if we’re going to keep up with the age of technology we need to look the best we possibly can in 97.7% of our selfies.

Without further ado here is how Turmeric can help you be your most beautiful self and a few easy ways you can get it in your diet on a daily basis.

via @incswim

Scars, Stretch Marks & Wrinkles

Turmeric helps to stop scarring?! Now this might seem like a bit of a stretch of the imagination.. get it, stretch - stretch marks!.. okay not funny, but seriously Turmeric might just be the culinary answer to boosting collagen production which is the aim of the game when it comes to preventing scarring, wrinkles and the like. Turmeric manages to do this in a few ways, not least of which is increasing the amount of fibroblasts in the skin. Fibroblasts are the little action cells of connective tissue that basically build tissues like collagen, so by increasing the amount of them, we increase their activity, and by increasing their activity we increase collagen deposition where it is needed (particularly around scar tissue/stretch marks)  and you got it, by increasing this deposition we get HEY PRESTO less visible scarring and better skin integrity[1]. So yay for fibroblasts you smart little guys.

Getting the Glow

It’s the hottest word in the beauty industry right now and everyone wants it. You know what I’m talking about, the elusive “glow” that only pregnant women and insta famous stars with 20 layers of illuminator seem to have? Yep that’s the one. But you guessed it, you can have it too and Turmeric is going to give it to you -NATURALLY. How might you ask? The simple answer is antioxidants. When we talk about antioxidants it’s often only berries that come to mind but Turmeric really boots berries in the butt on this one. Turmeric contains a multitude of phytochemicals that have anti-oxidative properties, particularly curcumin. You might already know but our skin is technically our largest organ but not only this – it is our most vulnerable organ at that by being the first point of contact for the majority of environmental toxins ie. UV rays, air pollution etc. This means it is constantly under some form of outside stress and there is a huge need for antioxidants to come in and protect skin cells from excess damage. Insert curcumin which has demonstrated its antioxidant powers by protecting our dear little fibroblasts and keratinocytes (other tissue forming cells) from oxidative damage[2]. This allows our skin cells to remain damage free and healthy resulting in a more even skin tone and radiant glow. Got it?

via @byrdiebeauty

 Problematic Skin

So now that we’re clear that our skin is a pretty damn important organ its understandable that when we don’t take care of our bodies that it can present itself through our skin. This means that underlying inflammation causing conditions like food intolerances, allergies or even bowel issues can display themselves as acne, rosacea or psoriasis.  Turmeric can certainly help here through its systemic anti-inflammatory effects. The curcumin within turmeric is particularly good at inhibiting pro-inflammatory messengers from doing business such as COX-2, LOX and iNOS which would explain why turmeric has also been traditionally used as a topical treatment for these issues[3].

Here at Morlife we definitely believe in inner wellness and following this number one rule, you might be up for are a few simple and delicious foodie additions to get turmeric turnt on. In comes our delightful Turmeric Latte, we even added a high potency turmeric extract and have taken the liberty of measuring the curcumin content so you know you’re getting the good stuff.  Though if you’re not up for swapping out the coffee just yet we’ve got some savoury options too like our Tangy Turmeric Super Dip Mix. It’s definitely a crowd pleaser when made as suggested but we know you like versatility too so we reckon it can even be used as a tangy seasoning for meats in dinner dishes.

Finally for all you super-duper-health foodies out there we do stock high quality Certified Organic Turmeric Powder. Just adding as little as 1-2 tablespoons into any cooking be it savoury scrambled eggs or curries will have you reaping the benefits of this beauty spice. But by all means, a turmeric face-mask might just be your jam but we’ll leave the ball in your court on that one.

[1] Thangapazham, R.L., Sharma, A. and Maheshwari, R.K., 2007. Beneficial role of curcumin in skin diseases. In The Molecular Targets and Therapeutic Uses of Curcumin in Health and Disease (pp. 343-357). Springer US.

[2] Phan, T.T., See, P., Lee, S.T. and Chan, S.Y., 2001. Protective effects of curcumin against oxidative damage on skin cells in vitro: its implication for wound healing. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, 51(5), pp.927-931.

[3] Menon, V.P. and Sudheer, A.R., 2007. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of curcumin. In The molecular targets and therapeutic uses of curcumin in health and disease (pp. 105-125). Springer US.