Turmeric, Tomato & Black Pepper Soup to Fight Cancer & Inflammation
This simple soup is not only full of
delicious fresh flavors that will give you that fuzzy warmed up feeling
of safety, it’s also an unbelievably healthy dish that can reduce the
risks of cancer and stave of dangerous inflammations. You can get all
this with help from 3 key ingredients: turmeric, tomatoes and black
pepper. This could be the golden combination that your health has been
calling for all year.
Inflammation and Chronic Diseases
Inflammation is indeed a natural and
essential immune system response that protects you from health threats.
However, inflammation can occur for no good reason, which is actually
dangerous to your health. Research now establishes that inflammation of
this kind, if unchecked, can lead to disease. Indeed, this unnecessary
inflammation has been cited as the cause of the following chronic
diseases:
• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Multiple sclerosis
• Bowel disease
To avoid these terrible diseases, the best thing you can do is combat
inappropriate inflammation with an improved lifestyle and diet.
According to a recent study on this subject, T. Edwards has stated:
‘We have enough information presently to make the necessary changes in
our lifestyles to significantly affect the inflammatory process and
potentially live longer, healthier lives, with fewer burdens to an
overburdened and failing medical system.'
Fighting Inflammation
Therefore, to fight inflammation it’s necessary to take steps to improve
our diet. We can do so by learning which ingredients will actually
reduce the likelihood of inflammation – and hopefully provide plenty of
other unrelated health benefits too. Of course, some foods may actually
cause inflammation, but there are also some that abate and soothe
inflammations, the most important of which is turmeric.
Benefits of Turmeric
Turmeric has a long history of being used medicinally in the Orient,
especially for its anti-inflammatory abilities. Unsurprisingly, the West
has now woken up to the wonders of this spice’s benefits. A recent
scientific study, comparing the anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric
and ginger, found that turmeric is even better equipped to decrease the
production of inflammatory cytokines and increase the production of
their anti-inflammatory equivalents. Though this study was performed on
rats, there is great hope that a human study will confirm this.
Turmeric is not just useful when it comes to combating inflammation,
however. Have a look at this comprehensive article to find out more. But
here is a brief summary of the ailments that turmeric can help fight:
• Promotes digestive health
• Treats Crohn’s disease
• Treats ulcers
• Treats inflammatory bowel disease
As an antioxidant, it also helps prevent cancers, such as:
• Breast cancer
• Colon cancer
• Leukemia
• Melanoma cancer
Benefits of Black Pepper
To get the best of these turmeric benefits, we recommend eating it with
black pepper. By itself, black pepper is a useful ally in the fight
against oxidation in our bodies, and can also help stimulate digestion.
Yet the wonderful thing here is that black pepper contains piperine,
which increases our ability to absorb turmeric by a whopping 2000%.
Absorption (also known as bioavailability) should always be taken into
account when it comes to wonder substances like turmeric powder, and
that’s why black pepper should be considered its perfect complement.
Benefits of Tomatoes 
Tomatoes also have some wonderfully healthy attributes, which you can
read about here. The most important of these here is that tomatoes are
full of lycopene (this, in fact, makes them appear beautifully bright
red), which makes them incredibly anti-oxidant.
This means tomatoes can:
• Lower the risk of cancer
• Help prevent heart disease
• Lower your cholesterol levels
• Lower or balance your blood pressure
And did you know that to increase your body’s absorption
(bioavailability) of cancer-fighting tomatoes, you should choose cooked
over raw tomatoes?
Turmeric-Tomato-Black Pepper Soup Recipe
To take advantage of these three wonderful cancer and
inflammation-fighting ingredients in one sumptuous vegan-friendly meal,
try this easy-to-make soup. Since it only takes 15 minutes, this must be
one of the best ways you can fight inflammation and cancer as part of a
healthy lifestyle.
Ingredients
• ¾ cup cherry tomatoes, rinsed then sliced in half
• 3-4 medium-sized tomatoes, diced and de-seeded
• ½ cup low-sodium vegetable stock
• 1 minced onion
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 2 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tsp. virgin coconut oil
• Sea salt (to taste)
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• A pinch freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
Directions
1. In a pan fry the onion and garlic with coconut oil for just 1 minute
on a medium heat.
2. Add the cherry tomatoes and turmeric, cooking until the former
becomes soft.
3. Then add the stock, apple cider vinegar, diced tomatoes, and basil.
On a medium-high heat bring the mix to the boil. Cover and simmer for 5
minutes on a low heat.
4. Using either a hand mixer or blender, blend until creamy, or however
you prefer.
5. Finally, season with black pepper and salt. Serve, and enjoy!