Try ginger for nausea, colds and more

When brainstorming what I should blog about today, ginger randomly popped into my head. I couldn't believe I hadn't written about ginger yet, considering it is one of my very favorite medicinal herbs and its yummy. Of all the herbs I have tried medicinally, this is the one that I see the strongest results with almost immediately. According to the book Prescription for Herbal Healing (great herbal reference), Ginger:

"is the most widely available and most widely used herbal remedy on the planet. Billions of people use ginger daily as food and medicine."

Ginger's most common use is for nausea. It can be nausea associated with anything from motion sickness to flu to morning sickness to food poisoning. I tend to get motion sickness in cars, so guess what came with me on my cross-country trip. Actually it goes with me pretty much everywhere. I keep a little ziplock of candied ginger in my purse in case I ever feel sick to my stomach. If I happen to over eat at a delicious restaurant, I whip it out.

While nausea is the most common reason ginger is used, it also used for pain, arthritis and headaches, because it reduces inflammation and increases circulation. Prescription for Herbal Healing explains that ginger "inhibits the production of immune system components called cytokines, chemicals that create a long-term tendency toward inflammation." While Michael Murray's The Healing Power of Herbs further explains that "ginger's ability to inhibit the formation of inflammatory prostaglandins, thromboxanes and leukotrienes, along with its strong antioxidant activities and protease component, suggest a possible benefit in inflammatory conditions."

It also has anti-viral properties, so it is used for colds and other infections, such as strep. A compound in the root, shagaol, has been shown to kill the cold virus and even salmonella.

Ginger comes in many forms. You can buy the whole root, candied root, capsules, teas, powdered root, extracts, juices and sodas. Since I have really grown to love the taste, I prefer to buy the candied root or tea. If you are going to use the soda to fight nausea, do not get your typical ginger ale. Buy a brand like Reeds that actually has ginger in it and is rather strong tasting (and void of preservatives, colors, artificial sweeteners and what not).

Speaking of Reeds, their lemon gauva ginger juice is bottled heaven. If I have a cold, drinking it to sooth my stomach makes me forget I was even sick. :)

As for the candied ginger, I like Frontier's crystallized slices, which contain nothing but ginger, cane sugar and fructose. These are pretty standard in most natural food stores, but I have even seen them at select Giant's recently.

If you are sick, a great way to get your ginger is to grate fresh root into a healing soup with lots of garlic, pepper and onions (which are also good for your cold). While you're at it, boil the freshly grated root alone and then strain it out to make your own tea without buying bags. Find some other ginger recipes here.

Have you taken ginger before? What did you think? Do you have a great recipe that involves ginger? Share it below.

source:blog.pennlive.com