Easy, Digestion-Friendly Spiced Yogurt

Having had a lot of situational illness and stress-related problems over the past 15 years, I do whatever works for me to help smooth out the digestion. Digestive enzymes are a must, and I also eat digestion-friendly foods along with meals.

One new one that I've taken to lately is spiced organic yogurt. The spice I currently use is Trader Joe's Curry Powder, which is not expensive - a couple of bucks is all. Next month, I may be into some sort of fennel combo.

All you'll need:

• Your fave plain yogurt, preferably non-sweetened
• 3 grams or around a teaspoon of curry powder or other fave digestive-friendly spice or spice mixture

All you do is scoop out your serving of yogurt, then sprinkle your spices on it. This also works for plain kefir, labne (or kefir cheese) as well as all different yogurts (goat, sheep, cow, greek-style, regular, etc).

Recommended spices include those that are warming, soothing and anti-inflammatory:

• Turmeric (GREAT for inflammation from long-term frustration and other stress)
• Cumin (pungent and warming)
• Cinnamon (warming, great for blood sugar issues)
• Licorice and Fennel (soothing to digestion and good for hormonal changes that affect digestion)
• Peppermint (okay, this is a bit cooling, but it's great for digestion)
• Ginger (warming and one of the best for waking up the digestive fires)

Curry powder also contains a few others like cardamom and black pepper, but you can experiment to see which ones work best for you. I find that TJ's Curry is a great combination of spices for me personally and at this point in time.

I also recommend - STRONGLY - don't use anything with added sugars. Sugar creates an environment where the good critters in your gut are diminished and that never helps anyone's digestion. Plain and unsweetened is bitchin' for this recipe.