Warm turmeric milk is an Ayurvedic beverage that is typically drunk before bed. The drink is a traditional beverage in India. The habit of drinking warm milk before bed is common between India and the States. This delicious beverage is for everyone, even those that dislike drinking warm milk enjoy it. The warm, soothing effect of turmeric milk helps you in sleeping.

Turmeric naturally has anti-inflammatory properties, however, these properties can be enhanced by adding ginger. You can also add honey as a sweetener. Honey also has additional medicinal properties which will further increase the benefit of the recipe. If you do not like to use dairy milk, then suitable alternative such as coconut milk can be used. Coconut milk, in addition to healthy fats, has a number of healthy ingredients such as lauric acid and capric acid. Capric acid has antimicrobial properties which protect you against bacterial, fungal, and viral infections.

Turmeric has numerous health benefits and studies show that:

• Its anti-inflammatory properties help with arthritis pain
• It improves liver function and helps with bile flow which decreases the risk of gallstones
• It improves blood circulation and thins it for easy circulation (If you are on a blood thinning medicine, please be cautious)
• It improves health of digestive tract by preventing ulcers and healing the tract
• It helps with symptoms of illness such as fever and pain

Scientific studies also show that curcumin also helps with cancer. Curcumin slows or prevents skin cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer, and cancers of the digestive tract. It slows down the formation of blood vessels that supply blood to tumours, therefore it helps in fighting the growth and metastases of malignant tumours [1].

Ingredients

Milk of choice (2 cups)

Turmeric powder (1 teaspoon)

Black pepper (1/4 teaspoon) black pepper increases turmeric absorption

Ginger (1” slice)

Honey (to taste)

Instructions

1. Add all ingredients except honey in a saucepan and whisk
2. Provide medium heat till bubbling starts
3. Simmer on low heat for 5 minutes to enrich the flavour
4. Separate the ginger from the milk
5. Add honey to liking and stir

Alternative Recipe

Ingredients

Turmeric powder (3 tablespoon)

Black pepper (2 tablespoon)

Ginger powder (1 tablespoon)

1. Add all ingredients to a jar
2. cover and shake to mix the ingredients
3. Add 1 teaspoon of the mix to 1 cup of warm milk and stir to mix

Note: Omit black pepper from the recipe if you have ulcers in the digestive tract as black pepper can be problematic for ulcers. People with Crohn’s disease should also omit black pepper as it can create micro cuts in the guts.

Resources:

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23303705

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20214562

    https://arunshanbhag.com/2009/06/05/turmeric-milk/

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9619120

Note:

This article is based on the article published at https://realfoodrn.com/non-dairy-turmeric-milk/