Health Benefits Of Fennel,
One of Nature's Top Antioxidant Foods

Like many other spices, fennel contains its own unique combination of antioxidant phytonutrients — including the flavonoids rutin, quercetin. These and and various other antioxidants provide many of the health benefits of fennel.

Fennel is also an excellent source of vitamin C, which works in partnership with these other nutrients. Vitamin C is the body's primary water-soluble antioxidant.

Herbs and Spices are Some of the
Top Antioxidant Foods

It's a little-known fact that herbs (and spices) such as fennel have far greater concentrations of antioxidants than any common fruit or vegetable. Herbs also contain a particularly wide variety of antioxidants as well, making them one of the top antioxidant foods around.

Antioxidants are nutrient compounds found in virtually all plant foods (and also manufactured in your body). The primary job of antioxidants is to protect your cells against the oxidative stress caused by free radicals, considered to be the primary cause of the aging process.

Protecting yourself against free radicals with antioxidants is the most effective way to reduce the risk of many health problems associated with aging. The benefits of antioxidants include powerful protection against all types of degenerative diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, macular degeneration, Alzheimer's disease, and many more.

Antioxidants work together, synergistically, and each one has its own specific characteristics and benefits. One antioxidant may work in places in the body where another one can't go, and neutralize free radicals that other antioxidants miss. Therefore, getting the widest variety of antioxidants is just as important as how much of any one antioxidant you get. See my page on How Do Antioxidants Work? to learn more about this.

Specific Benefits of Fennel

The health benefits of fennel include prevention and treatment of anemia, indigestion, flatulence, constipation, colic, diarrhea, respiratory problems, menstrual disorders, vision problems and more.

Improved Digestion. It' a common practice in India to chew fennel seeds after meals. to facilitate digestion and prevent bad breath. The essential oils in fennel stimulate the secretion of digestive juices, reduce inflammation of stomach and intestines and facilitate proper absorption of nutrients. Fennel also has anti-acidic properties and is frequently used in antacid preparations.

Fennel is most popularly used to cure flatulence and to expel gases from the stomach. Fennel aids digestion and proper functioning of digestive system, and helps cure diarrhea due to indigestion. Fennel can also act as a laxative. It helps clear your bowels and its stimulating effect helps maintain the proper peristaltic motion of your intestines.

Respiratory Disorders. Fennel is useful in respiratory disorders such congestion, bronchitis, cough etc. due to its expectorant properties.

Menstrual Disorders. Fennel also eases and regulates menstruation by regulating hormonal action properly in the body.

Anti-Inflammation Properties. Fennel has been shown to reduce inflammation and helps protect your eyes from disorders related to aging, such as macular degeneration.

Antibacterial Benefits of Fennel. Some components of essential oils in fennel have disinfectant and antibacterial properties. Fennel is widely used around the world in mouth fresheners, toothpastes and antacid remedies, as well as its use as a spice.

Other Benefits of Fennel. Fennel is effective as a diuretic, helping removal of toxic substances from the body and relieving rheumatism and swelling. It also increases the production of milk in lactating mothers and since the milk contains some of the benefits of fennel, it is antiflatulent for the baby, too.

An Easy Way to Get
the Health Benefits of Fennel Every Day

The health benefits of fennel are so numerous, ideally you'd want to have some every day. However, as with any herb or spice, you may find it impractical to include fennel in your meal plans that often. There's an easy way to accomplish this — by making yourself a fresh smoothie every day and adding some fennel and other spices to your recipe.

Fresh smoothies make for some of the most nutritious, delicious and easy-to-make meals you could imagine. They're a great way to get more of those "good for you" antioxidant-rich foods (that you may not get enough of) into your diet.

I personally use herbs such as basil, cilantro and parsley in my green smoothie recipes to give them more of the benefits of dark green leafy vegetables. Because they're so concentrated with antioxidants, you can use a much smaller amount than you would with other greens like kale or spinach, and they won't overwhelm the flavor of your smoothie recipe.

I don't stop there, either. I like to use other spices such as cinnamon, cloves, ginger, turmeric and others in my smoothie recipes, mostly for their added antioxidant benefits. Once they're blended in with all the other ingredients, you can't really distinguish any one particular taste. You just need to experiment a little to get the flavor just right for you.

To learn more about the art of making smoothies, skip on over to my page on How to Make a Smoothie the Healthy Way and learn all my tricks for making delicious and nutritious smoothies!

Recommendations for Fennel
and Other Herbs and Spices

Research indicates that a few spicy meals a week won't get you much of the antioxidant benefits of spices; you must consume larger quantities on a daily basis.

So if you want to get all of the health benefits of fennel, you'll need more than the small bottles you see at the supermarket. Those won't go very far — and will cost much more by the pound than if you buy in bulk. Fortunately, I've got a wonderful source online for premium-quality, bulk organic fennel as well as other fennel products — Starwest Botanicals and iHerb.com.

Starwest Botanicals started as a small retail herb shop in 1975. Their primary objective, from the beginning, was to focus on quality — even building their own herb mill to ensure that goal.

Today, Starwest is one of the largest suppliers of organic herbs in the United States, with over a million pounds of herbs and spices in stock.

Get the best price on Starwest Organic Fennel Seeds at my iHerb.com store. You can also browse through Starwest's wide variety of herbs and spices at the Starwest Botanical Store at iHerb.

The health benefits of fennel are also available in capsules and liquid extracts. You can find a great selection of fennel products, as well as thousands of other nutritional supplements and natural health products, at iHerb.com. There's many reasons why iHerb is a great place to shop:

• Great Prices — 30% to 60% off most name-brand products
• Selection — over 16,000 products and 600 brand-names
• Same-Day Shipping — $4 Flat Rate, FREE on orders over $40
• International Shipping — as low as $4 on orders up to $80
• Live Customer-Care Service — on the phone or live chat
• Additional Discounts — extra 5% off for orders over $60
• Rewards Program — earn store credit for referring your friends!