#29 - ASK JORGE: The power of curcumin and its best organic source with guest co-hosts @navitaszach and @megadelmanrn.

It's a fact, 91% of us have a dangerous amount of belly fat, and it isn't just unsightly. When you have too much belly fat, you lower your immunity and increase your chances of diabetes, stroke, cancer, and even poor respiratory health. The good news is that the New York Times has reported that really short interval movements are one of the most effective ways to get rid of belly fat. Hi, my name is Jorge Cruise, and I'm known as the 8 Minute in the Morning trainer to the world's busiest celebrities. I've been a fitness trainer for over 20 years, and you may have seen my work with Oprah Winfrey, Khloé Kardashian, Kelly Ripa, Tyra Banks, Wendy Williams, Kelly Clarkson, Dr. Oz, Tony Robbins, or even Steve Harvey. My passion to find the best science-backed fitness shortcuts has allowed me to write over 30 books and become a multiple New York Times bestselling author with over 9 million books in print. And I know I can help you too. Imagine getting the confidence you want during this COVID-19 world by having a fitness edge in your 40s, 50s, 60s, or beyond. Even if you don't think you have enough time, money, or the willpower to exercise, I know this podcast will show you how to finally get a total life reboot and flat belly. Welcome to the Jorge Cruise Podcast.

All right, welcome to the podcast, everyone. May is here, guys. The first month in May and quarantine, oh my goodness, you know. Um, the good thing is I think we're all, at least I am, my kids and myself are, are feeling more at ease with this kind of routine of being at home and being healthy as best we can. And in that spirit of bolstering immunity, you guys know that I'm here with Meg and Zach Adelman, and they're the, the duo of Navitas. And I have been honored to be using their products for a couple years now. And every week we've been talking about a different type of superfood, and this one is no exception. I always tell my kids when we go out to Shake Shack or have a meal they're always like, "Oh, Dad, I want ketchup." And a little ketchup is okay and has sugar, but one of my favorite condiments is mustard because it's low sugar and anti-inflammatory. My kids don't believe me. They're like, "Dad, no, it isn't." And it is. It has turmeric in it, which is the yellow powder in mustard. And Meg, I know I was asking before the show here that this is not mustard. This is, I mean, it's got an essence of it, but just first, welcome guys. I have to ask because it is the pandemic and I, I know we're all indoors and you've got your family and all that. How have you guys been doing? And then let's dive into turmeric and how we can utilize this to bolster immunity a little bit further. And have you guys been doing well? Meg, how are the kids? How are you? And how are you, Zach?

We're good, thank you, Jorge. Yeah, we're holding up and, you know, sort of starting to see light at the end of the tunnel here, hopefully. And we're optimistic that, you know, we've got some things to look forward to now. And I think that's helping keeping our spirits up.

I know. I hope so.

Yeah, I would agree.

Yeah, you too, Zach. You're doing well? Have you guys been doing a lot of at-home workouts like me? Are you guys— I'm actually happy now to be working out at home. I don't know if you guys been doing a lot more at home or sneaking out a little bit, because I do walk every night usually.

We're walking. Dogs are getting lots of walks. And we are working out at home pretty religiously at this point and thankful that we have space to do that.

Yeah.

You know, we're pretty deep into this shelter-in-place now. So getting used to doing Zoom meetings that we're thankful for all the technology to help us keep our business operating and our team engaged. It's been a unique and challenging and interesting time for sure.

It is a new beginning, you know, and I've been training people remotely with Zoom meetings too. And it's just great that we can talk to you via Zoom too right now. Without further ado, turmeric powder. I mean, for me, I knew of this because of a couple mentors of mine and their age and how I would always ask them what did they take to stay young and they would say, "Well, it's all about anti-inflammation and removing inflammation from your body." And for me, sugar was the big thing I had to remove, but to add something, not everyone knows what to add to improve the body's health and all that and kind of keep us young and disease-proof us and all that. But turmeric, maybe Meg, I know you use it as I do in my nutrition and all that, but can you explain to us the difference? Because, you know, straight up, I love mustard and it doesn't taste sweet, but it doesn't taste bad. It tastes great. And I love that it gives me this anti-aging effect. But this is a little different, right? The powder itself can Can you go into that, how it's different than what we see in mustard? And a lot of people don't even realize what turmeric is, but it's part of this Ayurvedic kind of staple. Maybe get into that as well, Meg, if you don't mind.

Yeah, it's, turmeric is sort of a powerful medicinal spice. It's been used in Ayurvedic medicine for centuries, and it really is a tool in creating sort of balance and harmony in the body. Uh, it definitely helps prevent illness. Anything you take that has really high anti-inflammatory benefits, like a plant-based diet or superfoods in general, really help reduce inflammation, fight free radicals in the body, and, and prevent illness. So all disease processes of pretty much everything from the metabolic panel disease-wise comes from problems with inflammation. So, you know, eating it in mustard is great, but also try and find ways to integrate it into the rest of your diet as well is even better.

Well, I want you to suggest some things at the end of our podcast, like recipes we can bring this into. But this product, tell us the origins maybe, Zach. What part of the world does this come from? Because I always think of India, but is it just India or is that just a myth?

Well, it's obviously steeped in Indian tradition. You know, it's very colorful, orange, bright orange, yellow, can be used as dye. So it's steeped in Indian tradition, but all around that part of, you know, Asian, you know, the Asian continent, it's pretty widely used. So, you know, just a little bit about how we source our turmeric. Turmeric is, you know, it's a root powder. So we grind, we dry the root and then we mill it up at low temps to preserve the curcumin, which is the active ingredient in it that gives its nutritional benefits and try to keep it to the highest level. But this is a whole food or a whole plant product that we create, which is most common for all our products. So we get our curcumin up to 4%. A lot of like, if you buy turmeric in a spice aisle, it's maybe 1 or 2%.

Could you take a minute to explain that word? I'm not saying it right. Say it for me.

Curcumin, C-U-R-C-U-M-I-N. And why is that so important?

Because I know this word and I didn't realize the grade being at 4% versus what most are like 1%. But tell us a little bit of what that is and why we need to be interested and embrace it, really.

Yeah. So, it's specific to turmeric. Curcumin is— it's a naturally occurring element to it. So, it's an antioxidant and it's what people consume it for, to get the nutritional and health benefits from it. It's got anti-inflammatory. I think that's what turmeric is most widely known for, is to be anti-inflammatory. You hear a lot of athletes incorporating curcumin supplements or turmeric supplements. You see, again, back to how we sell it, which is kind of part of our ethos, and is as a whole food powder versus doing extracts. Obviously all our products are organic, which is steeped in our history as being Navitas Organics. Everything we do is 100% organic. And then we incorporate it in a wide variety of ways into recipes, you know, putting it into smoothies and soups and all sorts of different desserts. And then obviously what's become very popular over the last few years is golden milks or turmeric lattes. And we actually have a ready-to-make instant turmeric latte that you just add water to, and they come in little single-serve sachets, which is a great way to easily incorporate turmeric into your daily diet if you don't want to just take a teaspoon or half a teaspoon and put it into a shake or what have you. It's got a very strong flavor, very strong colors, very powerful ingredient.

Meg, how would you describe the flavor for everyone at home? Because I put it in my soup and I always follow what you guys suggest on the packaging to add black pepper and explain how that helps with the absorption, right Meg?

Yeah, that's a principle of our Ayurvedic medicine and essentially it helps absorb the, the turmeric better. It's the capsaicin in the black pepper that either, to be honest, you know, either as a cofactor or coenzyme for the absorption of the curcumin. So the two go hand in hand, like many things do in the natural world and also in the dietary world. So it's better absorbed if you pair it with a black pepper. And there's so many different ways you can use it. As far as the flavor, you know, it has that sort of quintessential flavor that you would taste in a curry. You know, it's got that spice, that Indian spice sort of hint of that. It's delicious, really, and it can really enhance pretty much a lot of recipes that you use it with.

Well, I'm a huge fan of cauliflower. You know, I use cauliflower to substitute out wheat and And I hate to share, but everyone knows that I've cut out most of my grains during this pandemic, pandemic, just to really stay into the vegetable world. And I've embraced my cauliflower and, you know, I've done cauliflower pizzas and we do cauliflower, you know, different types of like mashes, like potatoes and all that, like mashed potatoes. But I love that you guys have on your website a cauliflower soup that features turmeric, and I think That's something I'm going to make tonight because it just looks so rich and delicious. And I know I've been to real expensive restaurants. One of my dearest friends is Dr. Andrew Weil, or Andy Weil, that sometimes he's called, W-E-I-L. And he kind of has that white beard and he's been on, you know, as a doctor, kind of an integrative doctor for years. And he has a restaurant in the West Coast. I think it's spreading. Have you guys ever been to his restaurants, True Foods, at all?

Hi, this is Jorge, and I wanted to interrupt the show just for a minute because I want to make sure that you're on my VIP mailing list, uh, for future podcasts and for insights and shortcuts on how to improve your health, uh, from everything on intermittent fasting to yoga to 8-minute workouts to how to just work better and how to have less stress and also how to manage pain. I mean, you name it, all my The best shortcuts come out every Monday and it's totally free. You heard it right. So I'm gonna encourage you right now to take a second and jump onto your laptop and go to jorgecruise.com. You can do it on your mobile device, obviously, and sign up for the Jorge Cruise Report. And it's totally free. Tell your loved ones about it, join it. It's over a quarter of a million people that are getting this email. And it's going out every Monday and I want you to be a part of it so you know what's coming up next every week. All right guys, let's get back to the show.

Yeah, we love it, love it.

They're so good. And he has soups like this seasonally, but the great thing is cauliflower we can get all the time. And can you tell people, can you pull that up on your site over on your end, that the cauliflower soup, it looks absolutely like heaven, and it uses coconut oil and garlic and ginger, but obviously the There's no question that it has turmeric in it, but it's such an easy way. And obviously we sprinkle it with pepper, right guys, to better absorb the qualities. But tell us about that. I'm sure you've made it, Meg. I mean, does it look as good as it— or does it taste as good as it look?

It's delicious. I love cauliflower and turmeric recipes that are combined. I mean, I even just roast it in the oven and sprinkle it with our turmeric and black pepper, and it's just delicious. It almost tastes like substitute for a Pop-Tart. What are they called? Pop-Tart? Oh, Pop-Tart. What are they? Those— we eat those potato things every night, those hash brown things. My kids do anyway, but it tastes just like that. It's a great stuff. Tater tots. Tater tots. Sorry.

Oh, there we go. Yes, yes.

Tater tots. But it tastes— it's almost just as a great substitute for something like that. And kids like it too.

Yeah. Oh, it sounds amazing.

Jorge Cruise is You brought up ginger and really, turmeric, ginger, and pepper are more often than not combined together because as you were discussing with Megan a few minutes ago is they work really well in concert together from a flavor profile but also from an absorption side. So, you'll often see the ginger added in with the turmeric and the pepper as well. So quite spicy though. I mean, you're talking about spicy, not like spicy hot, but spicy flavor and aroma.

Well, you know, I mean, when I break my fast, I like to eat food that I can enjoy and that's not bland. So that definitely checks the mark. So with that said, guys, for anyone who's not tried it or has mustard, I mean, hopefully everyone has mustard, but you know, no one uses it. It seems like, at least my kids don't, they just use the ketchup and all that, we got to embrace turmeric. And I feel like it's such an easy thing to get when you get it in your satchels, because you just use it, sprinkle it on, whether you're making a soup that's kind of centering it or— What are some sneaky ways to get it? And give us one more idea and we'll wrap up because I want everyone to hopefully get some of this and it's always available online on Amazon, on your site, et cetera. We'll give the website and all that again. But what's a stealth way to get this in there? Or is it hard to hide, Meg? 'cause it is so potent, right? But delicious in my opinion.

Yeah, I mean, I really love our lattes. I'm not sure if you've tried them, Jorge, but they are kind of keto-friendly. They're high fat with MCT oil in there. There's a tiny little bit of sweetness from monk fruit, but not much. So it probably would fit into your flat belly plan. Yeah. But if not, I mean, you can make these amazing drinks with it too. You know, as it gets warmer out, perhaps people are looking for, a spring immunity tonic that you can make with the turmeric. And we have a recipe on our website that has honey on it. Of course, you can replace that with your stevia, your Sweet Drops, or perhaps monk fruit. That's kind of what we use a lot here. Yeah.

Well, I'd say this, that you're— No, go ahead.

Yeah.

It just has lemon, water, turmeric, and ginger, like a juiced ginger, a tiny bit of sweetener. Sweetener and take the kind of acidity off and balance that off and mint. And you can either use our immunity boost in it or not and it's still really immune boosting.

No, and I will say I have been doing the latte at night because, you know, when you give up wine, which I've done for now, and as much as I love my Dry Farms wine and I may have that on a weekend on occasion, but I really have just been hardcore about I need a replacement and I think you're, like an evening latte, what a great dessert, shall we say, because it is delicious and you use monk fruit, right? Right, Meg?

Yeah, yeah, we do.

And I love that and it doesn't raise blood sugar and when you're in your eating window, guys, I mean, enjoy this and I would say, you know, I like the teeter tot or the teeter tots, is that how we say them, right guys? That sounds amazing.

Yeah, tater tots.

Tater tots.

You know, like it's your quintessential kid junk food, but I think the cauliflower with turmeric is a really nice replacement.

And how do you make it real quick? I mean, can it be from frozen or does it have to be fresh cauliflower? You just basically fresh or frozen, right? And then sauté it with some oil, like avocado oil or something or coconut?

Yeah, or baked. I mean, you see, we've seen like this proliferation of cauliflower over the last year in particular, and then the organic and natural food industry replacing cauliflower replacing potatoes. So, you know, cauliflower crust on pizza, cauliflower replacing potatoes in tater tots or French fries even. And it's just a much healthier vegetable compared to a potato, but has a very similar consistency and texture. And ultimately you flavor it, you know, with traditionally with salt, but here we're saying, oh, throw a little bit of turmeric in there. As a little way to spice it up a bit.

Well, if your kids love it, I think mine are going to love it. I'm going to try it this weekend with them. I'm going to tell them it's just delicious.

Try this.

You can buy the cauliflower tots. I think Trader Joe's is a big one, but you can also make it yourself.

Yeah, I'd say let's make it.

You're adventurous, Jorge. You like to cook.

Well, you know, and we've got some time at home, we all do. So I say let's experiment and make some good stuff. And you know, out of this time that we have at home. I mean, I feel like we're all learning old skills again as new skills, like cooking again. I mean, we— I've relied so much on frozen stuff in the past or going out, and I think this is such a great way to bring in not just a super immune type food but also just some great flavor and something that maybe we're not familiar with as often. So thank you guys for sharing. Remind us, Meg, that the, the URL and your guys' social so people can check it out, and remind them, Zach, about Amazon and and the online folks, and if they're shopping, for those that are brave that are going out there with their masks, tell us where they can go as well.

Yeah, so, um, at all the big retailers around the country— Whole Foods Market, Sprouts, farmers market, Amazon— uh, are probably the top places to shop for our products directly from us at navitasorganics.com. That's N-A-V-I-T-A-S organics.com. Uh, you can find me on Instagram at Navidus Zach, and that's Z-A-C-H. Uh, and yourself, Megan, where are you at on Instagram?

Uh, you can find me at Meg Adelman RN.

Perfect.

And then, and you know, people forget that you have this incredible background in nutrition, but I, I'm so grateful that we have you on these calls to explain this because as much as I love nutrition and training and fitness, it's so good that you have that. And so, Meg, I can't thank you and Zach enough, and your whole family, for what you guys have done and for your insights and, and really giving us, uh, up some positive insight here so we can utilize tonight, hopefully, in the kitchen, or at least this week. And, uh, I'll see you next week as well, both— or, but, well, I won't see you guys, I guess I'll hear from you guys. But we're going to do— next week we're going to talk about my— one of my favorite foods that I used to cheat the fast, chia seeds, right, Meg?

Absolutely.

I'm excited.

Yeah, I've learned a lot from you too, Jorge, throughout this process.

Well, you know, uh, I, I, I, I learned from, from just being in this business for so many years as an author, and, and I'm excited to have someone that— well, both of you guys that really understand the nutritional aspect. And, uh, chia seeds next week, guys. I'm excited because I know we had that conference a couple weeks ago where you you joined us via Zoom and my clients were so excited, Meg. So let's do that next week and cheers to, to Marek this week. And thank you guys. Have a great rest of your week and thank you everyone for listening. Take good care. Peace and purpose, everyone. Well, I really do hope you enjoyed the podcast today.

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