Curries

[ll_billym]

Are curries bad for you?  If so what are they better for you than and worse for you than.

[ursula62]

Takeaway curries are not the healthiest of food, because they are often very high in fat and salt. If you choose chicken tikka and salad or dhal and chappatis then you can't go too far wrong.

Or if you cook curries healthily at home then the spices are very good for you.  Fresh ginger, fresh garlic, galangale, cumin, coriander, fresh and ground chillies all have health benefits.

[Buenchico]

There's no such thing as an unhealthy food (unless it's contaminated in some way). There are only unhealthy diets. It's the complete combination of foods that you eat which determines whether your diet is healthy rather than individual items.

A diet of curries and little else would probably not be good for you but, eaten in moderation, there's nothing wrong (and quite a lot right) with eating curries.


Ursula62 has already pointed out that many of the constituents of curry have health benefits but curries may also enhance your psychological well-being through the creation of dopamine within the brain. (This is the 'pleasure chemical' which makes us feel happy and content. Chocolate and chilli have a similar effect).

Chris

[Buenchico]

While researching an answer to a completely different question, I came upon this link to the BBC Asian Network site. It seems to have some relevance here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork/features/big_challenge /help_yrself.shtml

Chris

(PS: Thanks for the 3 stars!)