Turmeric. She’s a knobby little root. All versatile and orange (except when she hits your fingers and becomes the most brilliant shade of stuck-on yellow), come fall this lassie enjoys her moment as seasonal produce since she’s most abundant right now.
(But, Shh: We hardly love her beecause she won’t play hard to get.)
This popular and comforting flavoring for curries is one of the most healing roots in rootdom thanks to turmeric’s curcumin, a powerful compound that has been long heralded for its ability to boost brain health. It’s well cited—documented in articles like these by the National Institutes of Health and the Alzheimer’s Society—that turmeric positively effects cognitive function in Alzheimer’s disease patients; and from Parkinson’s to glioblastomas, it’s a diet addition on the lips of neurologists and oncologists alike.
For better or worse, more than a few TJS Team Bees have been told to feed it to ailing family members, and while it’s a hard metaphorical pill to swallow, knowing there’s something natural to combat disease that causes more sadness than smiles can be a life preserver amid a sea of bad diagnoses…the needle in the haystack when you need to sew your favorite button back on.
But as if it weren’t enough that it helps salve issues in the brain, turmeric is revered even more for being an everyday inflammation tamer. Research by the Cleveland Clinic (and aren’t we lucky to have our very own campus right here in Las Vegas?) and University of Maryland’s Medical Center shows that when taken for things like aches, pains and arthritis—inflammation that’s not caused by serious secondary condition or disease but the kind we can feel when the barometer drops or as we grow old gracefully (right?)—turmeric can be as effective as ibuprofen.
If you ever have the pleasure of talking with TJS co-founder and CEO Jamie Stephenson about the far-reaching benefits of one of TJS’s darling ingredients, you’ll hear her wax poetic about turmeric juice’s beeautiful ability to easily deliver its prized curcumin beecause drinking it makes it so easy to absorb into our system. It gets into our bloodstream even faster when paired with a pinch of cracked black pepper: The curcumin in turmeric acts as a bodyguard against molecules that aim to cause chronic inflammation, and black pepper increases our ability to absorb it by 1000 percent.
Throwback! Our signature green never goes out of style.
At home, it’s easy to inject your diet with turmeric (though take care when handling it: root and powder will turn everything it touches a stubborn gold). Doctors who prescribe it (as in this reference from the New York Times) often recommend a 1000 mg/day dose, available in capsules, though intense ones can hit 2000 mg. But for the sake of cold-pressed juicy convenience, try the delish products into which Marcella and Jamie have already integrated turmeric for you. (WELLcome!)
- BEE ON POINT (a blend of cucumber, celery, carrot, apple, kale, beet, dandelion, radish, lemon, ginger, turmeric and black pepper);
- BEE TRUE TO YOU (a sweet-yet-spicy juice with cucumber, lemon, ginger, turmeric, honey, and cayenne);
- BEE WHEALTHY™ (our signature recipe featuring cucumber, celery, romaine, kale, apple, dandelion, parsley, lemon, ginger, and turmeric); and
- BEE LEGENDARY (our eggnog-inspired nut milk made with raw cashew, raw Brazil nut, raw walnut, turmeric, ginger, vanilla bean, cardamom, nutmeg, clove, pink Himalayan salt, cracked black pepper, and raw local honey).
Also on the menu are turmeric shots—strong doses of the big “T” combined with oregano oil, ginger and apple cider vinegar—that combine just the right ingredients to promote full absorption of curcumin.
And though this has nada to do with turmeric, we’re shouting out just one little thing, oh, in the name of something else that’s seasonal and kind of orange and sorta yellow. For a limited time (i.e., until organic pumpkin leaves for another year), coffee lovers can spice up their typical Bee Invincible with our favorite fall flavors. Our newly released Harvest Spice Bee Invincible includes organic espresso, house-made pumpkin pureé, cinnamon, clove, vanilla, ginger, raw agave, cardamom, coconut oil, and your choice of grass-fed butter or ghee.
To know TJS is to know we’re all about the flavor base (no: not that kind, but she’s got a rockin’ message). If healthy stuff doesn’t taste good it’s hella harder to slog it down. But rarely, if never, do Marcella and Jamie make a decision that’s not based in the betterment of improving your WHealth™ and glowing self. And having turmeric in your ingredient arsenal is just one more way to keep yourself healthy so you can enjoy living the the fullest as long as we all shall live.
Sing it, Girl.