Anti-inflammatory foods are so important to incorporate into your diet to slow and prevent inflammation and keep your body healthy and happy.
Inflammation is the immune system’s response to injury or an infection and causes swelling, redness and pain in the body. It is the body’s sign that the immune system needs to heal and repair damaged cells or tissue or fight against foreign bacteria or viruses which may have entered the body.
Science research into the topic has found that chronic, low grade inflammation can turn into a silent killer that can increase risk of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, cancer and other conditions.
So it is super important to prevent this by eating anti-inflammatory foods. Most anti-inflammatory foods are fruits, nuts, seeds and lean protein.
What does anti-inflammatory food do?
Your immune system becomes activated when your body recognises anything that is foreign—such as an invading microbe, plant pollen, or chemical which triggers the inflammation process faster, making it more effective and directed at the site of invasion.
Daikon, cruciferous vegetable
Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Daikon
Daikon, my favourite Japanese Superfood is full of isothiocyanate which is an anti-inflammatory.
Not only does isothiocyanate have the compound sulforaphane that can help fight cancer but also has anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagen and anti-microbial properties.
BUT isothiocyanate is only present when daikon is grated and the cells have been split and broken down by grating or processing.
Another thing you need to be aware of, is that isothiocyanate is sensitive to heat so to avoid destroying it, you need to eat it raw. One last thing to consider and be careful about, is that isothiocyanate is only present for up to half an hour so always best to eat it immediately after it has been grated.
TIPS TO MAXIMISE THE ANTI-INFLAMMATORY NATURE OF DAIKON
To get the effects of isothiocyanate you need to remember to:
- GRATE
- EAT RAW
- AND EAT within 30 mins after grating
That is why daikon oroshi is one of the best ways to make or eat daikon. Daikon oroshi is a big part of Japanese cuisine and accompanies a lot of dishes because of it’s incredible health benefits.
Daikon Oroshi (one of the best ways to eat daikon)
Each of these tips can help improve your intake of the important isothiocyanate compound and help protect your body against disease and illness this Winter.
If you are looking for some recipes to use Daikon in how about you look at my Japanese Superfood Cookbook, which is filled with both recipes and other important tips to get the most out of Japanese Superfoods in your cooking.
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Plant Based Cookbooks
If you want to cook more easy and tasty Japanese vegan meals using Japanese superfoods – real key for Japanese health, please grab my vegan cookbook “Japanese Superfoods” or “Top 3 Japanese Superfoods for Natural Weightloss” or even better, you can have “Japanese Superfoods combo deal” to master Japanese Superfoods.
