Laura’s Pen explains what Golden Paste is and how it has helped her (although perhaps not in the way you would expect)…
I’ve been taking Golden Paste for about a year and a half. In fact, I wrote about it when I first started up this blog.
Golden paste is a (you guessed it) Paste made from Turmeric, freshly ground pepper and either coconut oil or olive oil.
It is taken to help with inflammation and pain caused by that inflammation. It seems to be very useful for those with arthritis, but as I don’t have that I can’t write about it.
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But how does it help me?
Well, Turmeric is taken in both the Fibromyalgia and Endometriosis communities. I have both of these conditions and it can be hard to separate one from the other.
I was also told to take Curcumin by my Lyme Disease clinic, which is a component of Turmeric, and they were happy for me to use the Paste instead when I told them about it.
I’m going to say something a bit weird here for someone who has been using Golden Paste as long as I have: It only has a very mild effect on my pain.
But it is the only supplement I’ve taken for as long as a year and a half and I am getting benefits from it, just not what you would perhaps expect.
More about that later. First, I better go over the basics
What is Golden Paste and what does it do?
As I mentioned, it is a mix of turmeric, water, freshly ground black pepper and olive or coconut oil.
There’s a great group (it is international despite the UK in the name) on Facebook that has a recipe that I use, and they also have advice on dosages (as well as offering general support with making and using Golden Paste). Join it here.
The heat from gentle cooking (see recipe) and the pepper increase the bioavailability of the Turmeric and the oil increases solubility.
Basically, this means that your body is able to use and absorb the Turmeric more effectively than by just eating it on its own.
Another benefit: it’s pretty cheap to make.
Drug contraindications
I am not a doctor so please run this by your doctor before starting it. There are certain drug contraindications that will need to be considered, including any other anti inflammatories you may be taking.
You also need to make sure you tell your doctors/nurses about it before any surgery as it is a mild anti platelet (like Aspirin) and you’ll need to stop taking it for a while before and after surgery. Again, please ask your doctors for advice on this.
Making Golden Paste with fatigue and pain
This is an issue I have that is fully understood by the admins in the group I suggested joining but not all the members. The Fatigue and pain of Fibromyalgia and Endometriosis may make this difficult to make.
Here are some points you may find handy:
– If you are generally able to cook you should be fine making this
-There are about 10 mins of actual cooking and once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty easy
– If you suffer from fatigue or any pain that would be irritated by grinding pepper (actually I’d suggest this anyway) buy yourself an electric pepper grinder or use a smoothie maker/blender/coffee grinder. I cannot physically grind enough by hand.
There are also hand coffee grinders that are easier than pepper grinders to use but obviously still harder than electronic gadgets!
– Cover your surfaces/yourself. You do not want to have to deal with cleaning this up. It stains. I’ve luckily got a dark floor and surfaces in my kitchen so I don’t have to be quite so careful!
– I use clip top jars for storing my Paste (You can find the exact ones on Amazon.co.uk or an alternative here on Amazon.com). I recommend getting three small jars. You will fill two with the Paste (put one in the freezer until you need it and open the lid for first two hours so it doesn’t crack when the Paste freezes) and have one spare so you can make more Golden Paste while you’re on your last jar.
With the unpredictability of pain and fatigue in Endometriosis, ME and Fibromyalgia, I can’t wait till I’ve finished my Paste to make some more, as I can’t know if I will be well enough to make it that day.
The taste
I wrote a post about this back when I started Golden Paste. This stuff doesn’t taste nice.
The blog above will give you a couple of ideas on how to disguise the taste but you can also freeze it into pellets (again, the Facebook group is great for tips on this).
I’ve found adding Ceylon Cinnamon helps hugely for some reason too. But after a year and a half, I’ve actually got used to it and swallow it straight with a glass of water.
My results
Ok, so no huge reduction in pain. So why am I still using it?
Several reasons:
-It has had a mild effect on my shoulder pain, and a mild effect is as good as opiate pain killers, so that’s actually worth it.
– It sorted out my constipation, which makes it very much worth taking
– My GFR levels (a kidney function measure) were previously in the “below normal but don’t worry about it” range.
But the first time they were tested several months after starting Golden Paste, they went back into normal range (and stayed there in subsequent tests).
I don’t know why, it may have nothing to do with the Paste, but that was the only factor I could identify that had really changed.
It may have jumped back now. I will have to let you know next time it is tested.
So, while I didn’t get the big reduction in pain I was looking for, I hope you can see why I continued taking it. I know some people with Fibromyalgia have great results from Golden Paste, in fact, one of the admins of the group I keep referring to suffers from Fibromyalgia. (Here’s the group link again to save you scrolling up!)
With the Endometriosis, I don’t get any benefit from dietary changes, whereas many find this very helpful. If you are one of these, Golden Paste could be a great addition to your diet, as all the elements of Endometriosis diets tend to be aimed at reducing inflammation.
I hope you found this useful and please tell me about your experiences with Golden Paste (good and bad) in the comments, I’d like to hear them!
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