Say It Ain't Cilantro - Be Fit Again

Amazing Benefits Of Cilantro

If you’ve read this far, you’re probably not in the small minority of people won’t touch these greens — no matter how healthy cilantro is!

That’s because there’s a DNA variant in some of us that causes cilantro to smell and taste like . . . soap! (if you’re wondering, yes, that includes me)

And, if you’re “normal”, cilantro should taste like a mild orange.

Fortunately, cilantro has no relationship to soap, but remembering this association helps us also remember that cilantro scrubs toxins out of your body.

So, in a sense, it is a type of cleanser after all! In fact, it is “The King of Herbs” when it comes to detoxing and removing heavy metals from our bodies.

HERE ARE 4 REASONS WHY CILANTRO BENEFITS YOUR BODY!

Let’s get specific: cilantro rids your body of the heavy metals arsenic, cadmium, aluminum, lead, and mercury. These heavy metals accumulate in body tissue and can lead to heart disease, hormonal imbalances, neurological conditions, infertility, and other toxin-related ailments. Cilantro (Latin “Coriandrum Sativum”) and its extracts bind to these toxic metals, loosens them from tissue, and helps to facilitate elimination of these metals from the body.

Heavy Metal Detox

One study found that cilantro “significantly protects [the body] against lead induced oxidative stress”, and another study concluded that “cilantro actually accelerates the removal of heavy metals from the body.”

Dr. Omura, director of Medical Research at the Heart Disease Foundation, discovered that antibiotic use is associated with heavy metal accumulation in the body. He believes that antibiotics actually protect the heavy metals which cause certain infections to relapse cyclically — yep, many antibiotics protect the bad guys (click the link in the footnotes for the specifics). However, he also found that cilantro removed these stubborn, fortressed deposits, and kept the body free from similar infections!

Neuroprotective Nutraceuticals

There have been several studies indicating that chronic inflammation plays a significant role in the development of neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, types of brain tumors, and meningitis. And, if you haven’t noticed, these diseases are rampantly growing in the West. Now, why is this?

We are told that lifestyle factors and quality of diet enhance longevity. Ironically, neurodegenerative diseases develop as we age. But consider that the number of folks suffering neurodegenerative diseases on the Asian subcontinent, where people, though economically poor, regularly consume whole herbs and spices, is astoundingly lower than the western world — and these populations live comparably longer life spans. Maybe herb consumption is one reason why?

Indeed, these populations consume significantly more whole herbs, including cilantro. According to one study, it benefits brain health by protecting the blood-brain barrier. Some recent studies have concluded that the rate of Cilantro’s ability to chelate (bond to heavy metals) is unmatched, and works rapidly to strip aluminum, mercury, and lead from the bones and brain tissue better than any other food.

1. Stress & Sleep
Cilantro’s natural sedative effects can naturally benefit your sleep cycle. A recent study published in the Indian Journal of Pharmacology found high levels of cilantro extract produce the “same levels of anti-anxiety effects as the popular prescription drugs, such as diazepam (aka Valium), without those nasty side effects — like hallucinations, agitation, recklessness, aggression, memory issues, and muscle weakness, etc.”

Fun Fact: Cilantro is one of the world’s oldest spices and its use can be traced back 7000 years via residue analysis from ceramic storage jars. Cilantro is considered both an herb and a spice since both its leaves and its seeds are used as a seasoning condiment. Cilantro bears a strong resemblance in appearance to Italian flat leaf parsley, but they smell completely different.
1. Natural Antibacterial
Cilantro protects us from infections and toxins. It is particularly powerful in fighting waterborne diseases such as salmonella, dysentery, cholera, and listeria. Indeed, WebMD wrote more than a decade ago that ‘Cilantro Slays Food Poisoning.’ Pretty cool, eh?

Interestingly, my natural-path advisor suggested that I gargle with cilantro oil (five drops in a warm tea three times a day) when I had my last cold to prevent secondary infections. Amazingly, my throat healed of all irritation in about one day, and there were no secondary infections at all.

HERE’S WHERE YOU CAN HELP…

For two years, I’ve scoured the Internet seeking sources that can back up the health and benefit claims of fruits, vegetables, and supplements (sometimes called “boost”).

In the chart below are the health claims I and others have discovered about cilantro. Where you see a footnote, you’ll find a link to the source. If there is not a footnote, then that means that the specific health claim is made, but neither I nor anyone I know has been able to locate sources of research or credible anecdotes to back up the claim.

So, if you are aware of a direct source of research or anecdotes to back up the claims, please post them in the comments. I’ll check them out and if they meet our standards, I’ll make sure that they’re included in the next edition of the blog and give you a shout-out!

Health Benefits of Cilantro

Lowers cholesterol [1]

Antioxidant [1][2][4][6][10][11][12]

Promotes skin health [1]

Prevents some forms of cancer [1][7][10][13]

Strengthens bones [1][9][12]

Prevents Alzheimer's disease [1][10]

Our best advice is to add cilantro as an ingredient in juices regularly to get the most benefit — especially for true detoxification and brain-health. A large, single handful in a green juice is perfect.

Sources

https://healthyfocus.org/cilantro-benefits/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22301773

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22022003

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22671941

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21360003

https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/how-i-got-myself-to-eat-cilantro

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10940583

https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20040527/cilantro-slays-food-poisoning

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3654245/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25776008

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19902160