I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather recently, full of sniffles and coughs, so I decided to make myself a little ginger concoction to help me get out of this rut! Ginger is an amazing herb that is used not only as a spice in certain food dishes, but also as a medicine. In Ayurveda, it’s actually recommended that you eat ginger before each meal to enhance your digestion.
Medicinally, ginger is used to alleviate various types of stomach ailments including things like motion sickness, morning sickness (hello all my mama’s out there!), digestive distress, gas, diarrhea, nausea, and loss of appetite. It’s also known to help with upper respiratory tract infections, coughs and colds, bronchitis and inflammation…but, here’s the real kicker: ginger is said to help prevent colorectal cancer AND to induce cell death in ovarian cancer cells! If that’s not enough reason for you to down some of this delicious, peppery superfood, I’ll give you another…it’s also a great source of vitamins C, E and B6.
Ginger can not only be warming on a cold day (Ginger tea anyone?), but can help promote healthy sweating, which is a must during cold and flu season. Surprisingly, a good old sweat session may do a lot more than simply assist in detoxification: Did you know your sweat contains a potent germ-fighting agent that may help fight off infections, providing protection against invading microorganisms, including bacteria such as E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus (a common cause of skin infections), and fungi, including Candida albicans? Bring on the post yoga, ginger tea please!
Ginger can be used fresh, dried, powdered, as a juice, or as an oil. I like to add it fresh to my stir fry dishes, juices and smoothies such as this one:
Blueberry Ginger Smoothie
1 Large handful of spinach
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 banana
1 Hunk of ginger (about the size of your thumb)
1 tbs Bee pollen (I’ll be posting about the benefits of this one soon!)
For nausea, try making ginger tea by steeping one or two 1/2-inch slices of fresh ginger in a cup of hot water. For arthritis, typically consuming as little as a 1/4-inch slice of fresh ginger cooked in food provides temporary relief of symptoms.
Sources:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/961.htmlmedicine.
http://www.mapi.com/ayurveda_health_care/newsletters/ayurvedic_ginger.html
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=72
