There are just so many ingredients that you’re told to add into your diet. Many doctors will tell you what you should eat, but not exactly why. While you want to follow doctors’ orders, you want to know just how you’re going to benefit. It’s important to understand just how good a certain food or ingredient is.
Ginger is one of those ingredients that are commonly recommended. You may find suggestions to have a cup of ginger tea or to chew on a raw piece of ginger throughout the day. Here’s a look at 12 ways that you will benefit from eating more ginger in your diet, and why you need to start using it now.
Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease
One of the biggest benefits of eating ginger is the reduced risk of heart disease. Heart disease is a silent but deadly problem in the body. It can lead to heart attack and strokes.
There are a few ways that ginger helps. Ginger is from the same family as onions and garlic, and they all help to reduce the blogging of the blood. When all three are eating together, it’s possible to prevent the blood from clotting in the wrong places in the bloodstream, avoiding lack of oxygen to the heart and brain.
Ginger has also been linked to reducing the blood sugar levels, which helps to avoid heart disease. One study has shown it’s possible to reduce the fasting levels by as much as 12%, just by eating ginger powder on a daily basis. Those with high blood sugar levels are more at risk of heart problems.
Likewise, ginger has also been linked to reducing the oxidized lipoproteins, which are major problems in causing heart disease.
More research is still needed, but the results so far look good. Just don’t rely on ginger solely for reducing your risk of heart disease just yet. If you’ve been given medication, take it!
Reduce the Feeling of Nausea
Do you ever get that feeling of your stomach doing somersaults? Many pregnancy women will hear the suggestion of drinking ginger tea or eating ginger biscuits. Ginger tea is also a suggestion made for those who are ill.
Why ginger specifically? This is an ingredient used for reducing the feeling of morning sickness and stomach aches for centuries. The ability for both of these benefits is in the intestines. The ginger helps the stomach to release the contents straight into the intestines, reducing the delayed gastric emptying. This helps to get rid of that feeling of being full and sick all the time.
It’s not just those with morning sickness which will gain benefit. Studies have shown that ginger helps curb all types of sicknesses, including sea sickness and nausea after surgery.
If you are pregnant, you will want to discuss using ginger with your doctor. Larger amounts have been linked to miscarriages.
Improve the Digestive System
There is also a benefit in those who have indigestion. The stomach releases the food, allowing the intestines to get to work. That feeling of being constipated and bloated will disappear. Drinking ginger tea is especially beneficial because it helps to add some liquid to the build up of food.
At the same time, the ginger helps to relax the muscles within the intestines, encouraging them to work properly. The food moves through gradually, helping to get rid of aches, pains, and sickness.
Ginger is most effective in those with dyspepsia, which is also known as chronic indigestion. This is a condition where the stomach doesn’t empty when it should, causing various side effects including bowel problems.
Repair Malabsorption in the Body
Malabsorption is also known as poor absorption of nutrients. There are various reasons that this can happen. Your digestive system may not work effectively, you may not have the right nutrients to absorb other nutrients, or you may have an issue with the intestine lining. Those with some chronic digestive diseases can suffer from malabsorption the most.
Ginger has been linked to reducing the risk of malabsorption in the body. It helps to keep the food moving through the body. When food doesn’t get through the intestines, it will start to rot and create a blockage somewhere within your body. You may need surgery to get rid of the blockage.
Not absorbing the nutrients properly will also mean nutrient deficiencies. These can cause problems with the whole health.
Ginger helps to improve the whole digestive process. You’re not just getting rid of wind and constipation, but you’re also getting rid of life-threatening conditions. 80% of your immune system is in your gut, so you want it to work as effectively and fully as possible.
Improves Your Immune System
As mentioned, 80% of your immune system is in your gut. When your digestive system doesn’t work properly, neither will your immune system. You’re left with a body that is constantly suffering illnesses and ailments. This is where ginger will help.
Ginger has been used in Eastern medicine for centuries to help boost the immune system. You get your digestive system working properly again, making it easier for the immune system there to work.
At the same time, the ginger helps your body break down toxins that collect inside. These toxins stop your body working the way they should. Your body is so busy dealing with them that it can’t deal with the bacteria, viruses, and fungi building. You’re not just at risk of gut diseases, but diseases all over the body.
With less work to do on the toxins, the immune system can fight against what matters. Ginger with eucalyptus oil is considered the perfect remedy to improve your immune system.
Kill Off Bacterial Infections
It’s not just your improved immune system that helps to fight against bacterial infections. The ginger itself will help to improve your health. This is important considering we’re in a world where bacteria are gaining immunity from antibiotics. You want something natural that they can’t develop against.
Studies have shown that ginger can kill off bacteria that cause staph and strep infections. Ginger is better than some prescription antibiotics, especially ampicillin and chloramphenicol.
If you are going to hospital at all, you want to consider stocking up on ginger. Ask your friends and relatives to bring the ingredient in or make some ginger tea to bring to you. Hospitals are the worst place for the strep and staph infections, but antibiotics do very little against them. You’ll keep your body safe from post-surgery bacterial infections. This does also mean that your healing time can be reduced because your body isn’t going to have to fight against dangerous infections.
Ginger has also been linked to fighting against other bacterial infections, especially in the mouth. It can starve off periodontitis and gingivitis.
Fight Against Fungal Infections
It’s not just bacterial infections that are the problem. Ginger has also been linked to fighting against fungal infections, which tend to be harder to cure with conventional medicine. Ginger has proven effective against 29 different types of fungi!
You can mix it with some coconut oil or tea tree oil and apply directly to the affected area.
Help Improve Pain Management
If you regularly feel pain, you will want to add some ginger to your diet. The benefit here is in the capsaicin, which is found in other spices too. Capsaicin has natural pain relief properties that help to stop the nerve endings from experiencing the painful signals. Unlike spices, the burning sensation with garlic is mild, but the benefits are still the same.
Studies have also shown that regularly consuming ginger can help to avoid muscle spasms and tightness. This helps to alleviate muscle soreness. It’s especially beneficial in those performing elbow exercises, such as playing tennis. This benefit isn’t immediate but does have the long-term benefit since ginger has no side effects.
The muscle relaxation benefits also help to improve menstrual pain. Women have used ginger for centuries to stop the feeling of the muscles in the uterine wall contracting and experiencing spasms.
This benefit is linked to the next one.
Treat GERD and Ulcers
If you have issues with acid reflux or stomach ulcers, you’ll want to add more ginger to your diet. Studies have shown that ginger can cure stomach ulcers, as well as prevent them from occurring. Part of this is due to the ability to push the food into the intestines, meaning less stomach acid is needed and ulcers are less likely to occur.
Studies have also known that GERD can be avoided. This is severe acid reflux. Since the stomach doesn’t need to produce as much acid, there isn’t as much to work the wrong way up the body!
Reduce Inflammation in the Body
A lot of pain is attributing to inflammation. When the body swells, there is extra pressure placed on the nerves. This transmits the idea of pain to the brain.
Inflammation is an immune response. It’s perfectly normal to help the body heal, but the body can get an immune response within it being necessary. This is often due to the immune system believing that a particle or two are causing harm to the body.
The anti-inflammatory benefit is due to the gingerol compound. This is a compound in the natural oils of the ingredient, so you can get them whichever way you eat or drink the ingredients. The gingerol offers both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, both of which are extremely important.
The anti-inflammatory benefit helps to overcome the issue of osteoarthritis. This is a common degenerative issue that causes stiffness and pain within the joints. It usually affects people in the knees, but it can affect any part of the body. Patients with osteoarthritis found that using ginger helped them to reduce the amount of pain medication they take. The reduction in inflammation took the pressure off the joints.
A reduction in inflammation also helped to improve the brain health. Chronic inflammation causes the body and brain to age rapidly and has been linked to causing cognitive diseases, such as Alzheimer’s. Of course, the antioxidant benefits also help to overcome Alzheimer’s. The antioxidants help to fight against oxidative stress, which causes the cells to die. With healthy cells, the abnormal ones that cause dementia aren’t as prevalent.
And there isn’t just the benefit of fighting against dementia. A reduction in inflammation can also help to improve the overall cognitive health. People are less likely to suffer from brain fog, learning difficulties, and short-term memory issues. They will feel more energized and awake since the blood flow is improved throughout the brain.
And then there are muscular benefits without the inflammation. They’re less likely to spasm, helping to avoid the pain mentioned above.
Help to Reverse Diabetes
Diabetes is a problematic condition that comes in two forms: Type I and Type II. Gingerol can help improve both types but is most effective on Type II diabetes. It has shown the ability to reverse diabetes, improving insulin sensitivity naturally.
Gingerol does this by suppressing the sorbitol accumulation within the blood cells. In other words, it helps to reverse the whole reason the body can’t manage the amount of insulin in the body. It can also avoid complications that uncontrolled diabetes brings.
There May Be Cancer Benefits
This is something that needs more research, but one of the believed benefits of ginger is fighting against cancer. It’s all about the gingerol again. Studies in mice have shown that the gingerol can’ help to delay cancer cell growth in the colon. These studies are in mice without immune systems, too.
Some studies have also looked at patients with ovarian cancer. The use of ginger on the cultured ovarian cancer cells shows a reduced growth. While cancer won’t be treated, it can be slowed down and prevented.
There are also the benefits of antioxidants. Since ginger is full of antioxidants, the body is protected from free radical damage. This is one of the main reasons for cancerous cells to grow. The free radicals affect the dying or newer cells, causing them to develop abnormally. These abnormal cells canmultiply quickly.
Other types of cancers are currently being researched. This isn’t something to use instead of chemo and other cancer treatments, but it can work with your cancer treatments. It can also help to avoid the sickness when going through the chemotherapy.
It’s Time to Add Ginger to Your Diet
If you only want to add one type of spice or herb to your diet, make sure it’s ginger. This is one of the most beneficial when it comes to the overall diet. You will see a reduction in inflammation around the body and find that your pain management and cognitive functions improve. You can also find that you don’t suffer from as many colds.
It’s very easy to add ginger to your diet. Many people will add some ginger powder to their cooking, but you can also use raw ginger grated. Try adding it to cakes and cookies or make a tea out of it to help absorb more nutrients and improve your health ten-fold.
