Sage Advice

If you're looking to consume more "superfoods" - those edibles with nutritional and functional riches at little caloric cost - search no further than your spice rack! A pinch here, a dash there and you not only add taste and aroma, you wind up cutting down on iffy ingredients such as salt, sugar and butter. You also do your body and brain multiple favors, as the antioxidants in many spices curb inflammation - widely recognized as an early step in vascular disease, cancer, diabetes and other chronic conditions.

Enhance sweetness with the following: allspice, cinnamon, cloves or ginger. To enhance savory flavors or substitute for salt, use basil, cumin, mustard, oregano, pepper, rosemary or sage. Or, try a combination of them. Start your spice odyssey by taking a trusted recipe and adding just one seasoning each time you make it, allowing about one quarter of a teaspoon (the official definition of a pinch) per pound of meat or pint of liquid.

Just a few interesting spice tidbits...

Allspice: Contains more than a dozen antioxidants, including eugenol, quercetin, ellagic and gallic acids. Ellagic acid has anticancer effects, decreases proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells.

Sage: Contains antioxidants thymol and eugenol. Aptly named, sage extracts have been found to boost cognitive function among those with Alzheimer's disease.