Ginger isn’t just an ingredient that you can add to your meals for a little extra flavour. It’s not just something that creates a soothing atmosphere or adds scents to kitchens that are to die for.
This is one of the most beneficial roots that you can add into your diet. Whether you opt for it as a tea or grate some in your meals, it will help all your organs, improve your sleep, and do so much more. If you’ve not started using it yet, today is the time to do it.
Well, I can’t just tell you without showing you just how you will benefit, can I? You need to know all the benefits and realise for yourself just how important it is in your food and as a drink.
Here are the 15 wondering health benefits of ginger and why you need to add it to your diet today. To get all the benefits below, try to use fresh ginger for your recipes as much as possible.
Eases Tummy Problems and Soothes Nausea
One of the most common reasons ginger is recommended to help soothe nausea and fight against tummy problems. Ginger tea is highly recommended because it is much easier to handle when you just don’t feel like eating anything; when the slightest thought of food makes you want to throw up!
Because this is a natural ingredient full of nutritional benefits, doctors and midwives recommend it for their patients. Pregnant women have used it to help settle their morning sickness for decades, and sometimes it can just help you get some fluids into your body when you’re suffering from extremely bad morning sickness. Just try a cup of ginger tea on a morning before you start making breakfast. You can have it with some salted crackers to help get rid of the nausea feeling.
It has also been linked to easing some bloating and tummy upsets. It helps to improve the digestive system to the point that it soothes constipation. Those who suffer from severe menstrual cramping can also find that ginger helps them. Just add some to your meals to help benefit from it in this way.
How does it help? The ginger has relaxation properties—and we’ll get onto more of why this is beneficial soon. The relaxation helps to ease the muscles, which are the reasons for some bloating, menstrual cramps, and many other stomach problems.
If you don’t link the taste of ginger tea, you can also juice the root to enjoy it cool. It’s also easy to grate and add to your dishes quickly.
Remove the Food that Gets Stuck and Rots
Food should just move smoothly from the mouth and into the digestive system. There are times that it will become stuck along the way in various sections. Getting stuck in parts of the intestinal section is one of the biggest issues. When the food gets stuck, it starts to rot, and this can cause major health and digestive problems.
You may find that you suffer from IBS or have to deal with chronic pain and even nutrient deficiency. This is all linked to that food getting stuck. The rotting prevents the digestive system being able to absorb all the nutrients and causes inflammation and bloating. In some of the more severe cases, the food blocks the digestive system and can create life-threatening illnesses.
Ginger will help your digestive system by stopping the food from getting stuck. It creates a smooth barrier against the other food that you eat and encourages food already stuck to loosen off and slip further down. This helps the body absorb more nutrients from your food, so you don’t have to deal with deficiencies in the likes of vitamins C and D or minerals like iron and zinc—and these are among the most common nutrients we become deficient in.
Reduces the Risk of Stroke and Heart Disease
By your body getting more nutrients, your overall health improves. Your risk of heart disease and stroke instantly reduce.
But improving nutrient absorption isn’t the only way that ginger will reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. This is one of those super foods that can help to reduce the amount that your blood clots. Well, it only encourages it to clot when it really needs to.
Blood clots can lead to stroke, which can lead to death. It is important to keep them under control as much as possible. But you don’t want your blood to stop clotting completely, as this can lead to internal or external bleeding, which can lead to death. Trying to find that balancing act seems difficult, which is why you need to get garlic to help absorb all the vitamin K you eat (to help with clotting) without producing clots in the wrong place.
The ginger can also help to keep your blood pressure levels down. High blood pressure leads to heart disease, stroke, and death. It is often referred to as the silent killer because there are little to no symptoms connected to it.
It’s worth drinking a cup of ginger tea or juice on a daily basis to help reduce the risk of clotting. You should also mix this super food with onion and garlic. Both of these also help to reduce clotting, blood pressure, and the risk of heart disease and stroke. They also work well together in taste when it comes to making meals.
Fight Against More Diseases
Your immunity is protected and improved through the use of ginger. If you look back through the centuries, you’ll find that ginger is one of those natural cures for battling the likes of colds and the flu. Think about what you’ve always reached for when it comes to natural cold treatments. The chances are that someone has suggested ginger tea to you, especially with lemon and honey mixed in with it.
This is because of the nutrients that ginger contains. It is full of vitamin C, which is a vitamin that your body can’t store or create. It only gets it from food. The benefit of ginger is that it also helps to improve the ability to absorb nutrients, as we’ve already discussed. So, not only are you getting more of the vitamin in your diet, but you’re also helping it to absorb the vitamin C at the same time.
You just need two tablespoons of grated ginger in some hot water to get all the benefits of this.
And the ginger won’t just help fight against cold and flu. Your immune system is boosted to fight against all health problems and conditions that you could face. There have been studies conducted that show it fights off other types of viruses, which can’t be treated with medication. These viruses include the RSV virus, which most commonly causes respiratory problems and infections.
Improve the Anti-Bacterial Response
As well as boosting the immune system, ginger also helps by improving the body’s ability to fight against bacterial infections. Over the years, our bodies have become immune to the antibacterial drugs that doctors prescribe us. The bacteria became resistant to the drugs and more aggressive in the way they affect us.
We need to find something that the bacteria haven’t become resistant against. This is where the ginger plays a part since it really just helps to boost the body’s natural abilities.
The ginger helps to stop the bacteria from growing and multiplying further. This helps to prevent a condition from getting any worse that it already is. But this doesn’t quite reverse the problem, does it? It does help to kill the current bacteria in the body, reverse health problems and giving you a clean bill of health.
Ginger is most beneficial for getting rid of bacteria in the mouth. It helps to reduce the risk of gingivitis and tooth decay, by attracting the bacteria and getting it out of the body through your saliva. Eating ginger is a great alternative option to oil pulling, which has also proven effective in getting rid of bacteria in the mouth.
Infections and illnesses involving bacteria are also diminished since there are fewer toxins in the body. The ginger helps to cleanse the whole system, pushing toxins into the kidneys where they are then removed from the body through the urine. You need to keep everything working properly to keep yourself fit and healthy.
There are studies that have shown ginger is much more effective than antibacterial medication. This is likely linked to the fact that bacteria have become resistant to many types of drugs. It is also due to the type of patients that are affected by the most common, deadly types of bacteria. The bacteria affect patients with autoimmunity diseases, where the body struggles to defend itself or attacks good bacteria in the system. These patients often can’t take antibacterial medication, but they can take ginger.
If you have a bacterial infection that is linked to the respiratory system, you can mix some ginger with eucalyptus oil. Breathing the two in (by inhaling the vapours from steaming water) will help to clear the airways and help your body attack the bacteria that are currently building up.
It is also worth mixing the ginger with oregano and clove. Both of these are full of antibacterial properties, and the bacterial haven’t become resistant to them.
If you do have sore throat symptoms whether your illness is viral or bacterial, ginger will also help. Drinking hot ginger tea will help, but you can also gargle it to help fight off anything that is at the back of your throat.
Fight Cancer with Fire
Cancer is a terrible disease that affects far too many people. It’s time to reduce the risk of developing it and give your body the fighting chance it needs if you do get it. You can do all this through the use of ginger.
We’ve already explored how ginger helps to boost the immune system and fight bacteria. It has also been linked to improving the cells, ensuring they don’t become damaged or reform abnormally. Ginger is full of antioxidants, which are especially good for fighting the free radicals in the system that tend to cause cancer.
While studies are still needed, the most recent ones have been proven positive. The University of Minnesota published one study that showed ginger could help slow down the growth of cancerous cells in the colon. There have also been studies that show it can slow and stop the growth rate of ovarian cancer cells.
The ginger may not have completely reversed the cancerous cells or stopped the growth completely, but it did help to keep the growth to a minimum. This would help to preserve life and aid treatments actually to work. There is also the benefit that people get more time while the development of a cancer drug is created.
At the moment, studies are being undertaken to find out how effective ginger extract is against skin cancer. There are six properties found in the ingredient that has anticancer benefits, and it is possible that the extract could become an alternative therapy. It would be a positivetherapy, since it doesn’t cause sickness and weakness.
Those who are going through cancer treatments may just benefit from some of the healing properties that ginger has. We’ve already looked at how it can curb sickness and help to support weaker immune systems. This is your chance to support your body while you go through treatments to kill the disease.
Treat Fungal Nail Infections
And let’s not forget just how beneficial ginger can be against fungal infections. That fungal nail infection that you have on your toenail could be a thing of the past by rubbing some of the ingredients straight onto it. With it being a natural, light root it isn’t going to cause sensitivity issues or soreness to any open cuts you have due to the nail infection.
You can also drink ginger tea to help soothe any fungal infection without your stomach. And yes, your stomach can suffer from fungal infection. A yeast called Candida grows within the body. Probiotics help to kill the Candida, which is linked to causing problems like irritable bowel syndrome and another chronic disease. It is also linked to the development of thrush.
There are some topical treatments available that use ginger as the main ingredient. These treatments are great for apply straight onto infected areas to fight the growing fungus.
Opt for a ginger yoghurt on a morning. Plain Greek yoghurt is full of probiotics that are good for fighting the Candida. Mix this with your ginger, and you have something refreshing and healthy to start your day.
Keep Your Blood Sugar Levels Down
How often have you heard that your diet puts you at a risk of developing type II diabetes? The western diet is one of the worst offenders for diabetes. It is high in sugar and saturated fat. Blood sugar levels are seriously on the rise, and the body needs to fight against this.
Insulin is released from the pancreas to bring the high blood sugar (glucose) levels down. While it works initially, like bacteria becomes resistant to antibiotics, the glucose becomes resistant to the insulin. The body needs to produce more and more to be able to do the same thing. This leads to type II diabetes, and you’ll need to make a complete overall to your diet.
Ginger can help to keep your blood sugar levels down. It breaks down slowly in the body and helps to support the metabolism. The insulin is more effective, so not as much needs to be produced.
At the same time, you won’t get the same sugar cravings. There won’t be the huge need to eat high sugar foods to fuel your mood or energy levels. You reduce the amount of insulin your body needs to produce anyway, which means you don’t get the same side effects.
Studies have shown that diabetic patients have lower fasting blood sugar levels when they have just 2g of ginger powder on a daily basis. This really isn’t that much to add into your diet, whether you do it through tea or adding it to your food. By having a lower fasting blood sugar level, your body is dealing with the glucose much better. You may find that your diabetes is reversed to the point where you don’t need to take medication.
This is something you will need to discuss with your doctor to make sure you do reverse your effects. Don’t stop taking the medication until you are definitely certain. One thing that this benefit has working against it is the lack of large studies at the moment.
Reduce the Inflammation in Your Body
We’ve already touched on this in passing, but the reduction of inflammation in the body is a huge benefit of ginger. And I mean huge!
Inflammation is the source of so many of our problems. Do you suffer from chronic pain? Maybe you have flare-ups of IBS or deal with constantly colds and illnesses. There are high chances that your body is reacting to something by inflaming. This is the body’s natural response when it believes something is attacking it.
Chances are there’s nothing attacking your immune system. Or your body is full of good bacteria that your immune system has confused for bad. You may just have one of those metabolisms that are slow and sluggish to respond to things, leading to the annoying inflammatory response.
Well, ginger will help to get rid of all that and more. We’ve already looked at the benefit of the immune system, but it also has anti-inflammatory properties. Put all those medications to one side and start focusing on a natural remedy. This is another benefit that we’ll cover in more detail later in this article.
At the same time, the root is full of natural painkillers. It will boost the amount of endorphins in your body—the body’s natural painkiller—so they flow through your body, and you don’t feel anywhere near as much as apain as you usually would.
Inflammation is also a problem for the joints. It starts to make it difficult to move your joints around, and you run the risk of developing arthritis. By reducing the inflammation, your blood flows much better.
If you do have chronic pain and other conditions that you receive medical treatment for, do discuss this natural remedy before you decide to cut out all medications. You want to reduce your reliance on them gradually, as suddenly cutting them all out could be detrimental to your body.
It’s worth mixing some ginger with sesame oil and cinnamon for the full anti-inflammatory benefits.
Boost Your Circulation
The circulation isn’t just poor because of your inflammation—although that is a major reason for it. Your circulation will drop because of a lack of the right minerals and a sluggish metabolism. Are you ready for how ginger will help with all this?
We’ve already looked into so many of the health benefits of ginger. When they all work together, your metabolism is faster, and your body absorbs all the nutrients you need. By using ginger in a fully balanced diet, you’ll get the iron that your body needs for all the red blood cells. Your organs get all the healthy blood they need to function.
Ginger also contains some necessary minerals for blood flow, notably magnesium, and zinc. They help to keep the blood flowing while helping to reduce any chills or fevers that you may get that affect your circulation.
At the same time, the arteries are protected. Ginger will lower your cholesterol and blood pressure levels. Clotting is a thing of the past, which means the blood is able to flow freely. There are no fatty deposits for it to cling to along the way or clots that prevent it from moving to another part of the body. And we already know from above that the lack of clots—so improved circulation—leads to a lower risk of stroke and death.
Get Your Brain Functioning Properly
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Our brains need help and support. The memory is like a muscle. If you don’t use it and support it like you would all the rest of the muscles in your body, you’re not going to keep it working the way it should. You start to lose memory and brain cells, and you’re at a higher risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer’s.
Yes, ginger is able to help with this. This is linked to so many of the health benefits that we’ve already looked at.
The first is the benefit that it improves circulation. When your blood is flowing properly, there is more oxygen passing around your body. This means that you have more oxygen getting to your brain to support its life. The cells are more likely to live longer, and when they are damaged or dying they repair better.
There is also the benefit of reducing inflammation in the body. Chronic inflammation has been linked to the aging process, and this includes the damage to cells. When inflammation occurs, the cells are more likely to be attacked by free radicals that can cause Alzheimer’s and cognitive problems.
Some studies have also show that ginger has more antioxidants and components that fight against the free radicals. Even if this root didn’t help to improve circulation and reduce inflammation, your brain would benefit from the lack of attacks on the cells. Your memory and cognitive functions are protected through the brain fighting back.
Some studies have gone on to show that ginger helps to improve working memory and reaction time. Other studies show that the root has protected the brain function in animals as they have gotten older.
With all this working together, you’ve got a better chance of living a life where you are able to do more. You won’t have to worry about waking up and not recognizing the people around you.
Of course, there are other components that gointo protecting the brain. Having a cup of ginger tea a day is just a great way to boost the protection and help to reduce your chances.
With a healthy brain, you’ll also find that your mind is healthier. Your brain is able to produce all the right chemicals, so you end up feeling happier and wanting to do more. This instantly helps to boost the health of your brain and body.
Boost Your Weight Loss Efforts
Are you fed up of being overweight? Do you hate feeling fat and sluggish all the time? Well, it’s time to add some ginger to your diet.
There are a few ways that ginger helps your weight loss efforts. The first benefit is that it has barely any calories. You can add it to hot water or your meals and not have to worry about the fat you’ll gain from it. All you’re really getting is all the health benefits. It is full of nutrients. Sure, there are a few starchy calories but not as many as in other fruits, vegetables, and healthy oils.
The next way is through the boost in circulation and improved brain functions. Your body gets all the energy it needs, meaning that you’re able to do more throughout the day. You won’t feel as tired, which will help with curbing sugar cravings or emotional eating. You’ll also feel like doing more exercise to boost some calories you burn in a day to create your calorie deficit further. The exercise will also help with the toning of muscles, so you burn the fat and create the shape that you want.
Ginger also offers your metabolism extra support. You give it a boost so that it works at its optimum level. This will help to support your healthy eating and exercise plan. You’ll find that you don’t end up as ill as often, so you can keep working towards your weight loss goals.
Also, as you do more exercise, your metabolism will speed up. So, by getting more energy, you’re able to push your body more. You can then burn more calories in a day and lose more weight.
And let’s not forget how many benefits there are to losing weight. Being within a healthy BMI helps to reduce your risk of heart disease, type II diabetes, high blood pressure, and stroke. There are so much more benefits that the list would be too long to write here. So, not only is ginger helping you reduce all your health problems, helping to lower your weight is then further helping to reduce those health problems. You’re in a win-win situation!
Reducing the Post-Exercise Fatigue
And since you’ll be doing more exercise, you’ll want something to help curb the muscle fatigue that you’ll feel. When you’re exercising, muscles tear and stretch. This is completely normal so don’t be too alarmed! It’s how they strengthen and tone.
A faster recovery period means that your muscles are getting stronger and you can handle more. So, you’ll want to find something that helps to boost that recovery time. Try adding some ginger powder to your protein shake. Ginger will help to reduce the pain and fatigue that you feel through a few ways.
Let’s go back to the reduction in the inflammatory response. When you are aworkout, there is a risk that your body starts to send an inflammatory response to your joints. They become stiff the next day, and the last thing you want to do is risk getting that feeling again.
Well, the ginger helps to reduce the inflammation, so the pain isn’t as bad. You’ll be able to do more and continue to support the anti-inflammatory response.
Then we take into account that the ginger helps to reduce your weight. You don’t have as much weight pounding on your joints and muscles. They don’t suffer as much, so you don’t feel as much pain the next day. Even if you don’t lose weight, your muscles are still strengthening, which means they better support your body.
And then there are the benefits to boosting the responses in your brain. We’ve already looked at how ginger can help to boost the amount of endorphins in your body. The natural painkillers work on all parts, including the muscles after exercising.
It is worth noting that the ginger hasn’t shown an immediate impact on reducing pain. The studies have also only been conducting on people doing elbow exercises. However, using ginger on a daily basis will help you to build your responses to minimise your pain.
Get Rid of the Stress on a Daily Basis
Wouldn’t you just love to be able to get rid of all that stress you feel? Well, ginger can help to do that. Your whole health will benefit from this, too.
Stress is known as a silent killer. It raises the blood pressure, increases the bad cholesterol, and puts you at a risk of heart disease, stroke, and death. The best thing you can do is to eliminate it from your life as much as possible.
The boost in energy levels means that you’re more likely to eat well and do more exercise. Your brain is also supported. Your body gets more happy hormones and fewer stress hormones.
You’ll also not have to deal with illnesses or symptoms of ailments on a daily basis. Just think about how much more you can get done and how much easier you will be able to breathe! Did you ever think that one ingredient could do all that for you?
The best way to benefit in this way is by drinking ginger tea. The heat of the water helps to soothe the muscles. Try to drink it at the end of the night, before you go to bed. Allow the calming influences to take you over to help you sleep.
Of course, when you sleep better, you will also feel less stressed. You lose more weight, feel more refreshed, and feel like you can take on much more throughout the day. This then helps you sleep better and look after your overall health. You’re in another win-win situation.
Cut Out the Chemicals You Put In Your Body
Finally, it’s time for one of the benefits that all of the above lead to. Ginger is a natural remedy. It helps to fight colds, bacterial infections, and fungal ailments. Your immune system is supported, while your metabolism works faster, and your cells are protected.
So many health problems today require medication to remedy. But do you really know what you’re putting into your body? Chances are you really don’t. There are so many chemicals added to these pharmaceutical products, whether you get them on prescription or over the counter.
And these drugs are addictive! In some cases, they are far more addictive than illegal drugs. Do we really want to keep putting ourselves at risk of becoming dependent on them?
Some of the drugs can cause side effects like inflammation and weight gain. Others have been linked to psychological problems and may lead to other ailments. We just don’t know the long-term effects of so many, because they haven’t been around long enough. And they’re not always effective. Just look at how bacteria have become resistant to some drugs.
There has to be a reason why the eastern world uses herbal remedies a lot of the time. There has to be a reason why we didn’t have some ailments in the past.
Ginger has powerful medical properties. It’s used in a lot of Chinese medicine, and we see so many benefits from Chinese medicine as a whole.
As we lower our risks of diabetes and find natural ways to deal with inflammation, we get to cut out the chemicals that we’re putting in our bodies. We get to take more control over what we put into our bodies.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that we can just cut all the medication out. There are some that our bodies do need. There are certain medications that help our bodies in ways that ginger can’t. But we do make a good start at cutting them out—or at least cutting down on the amount of them that we take.
Discuss your medication use with your doctor and look into the herbal remedy options. Ginger could help you deal with your main issues, especially if they are linked to poor immune systems, antibiotic resistance, and inflammation.
Now It’s Time to Start Adding Ginger to Your Diet
So, now that you know all that, it’s time to add the ingredient to your diet. Just what are the best ways to do it and how much do you really need on a daily basis?
If you’re pregnant, 1g of ginger throughout the day will be enough to help curb your morning sickness and deal with some of your pregnancy woes. Try spacing it out four times and add it to your meals or put it in some hot water to drink. You can add some honey and lemon in your hot water to create a sweeter ginger tea. Those who suffer from pregnancy travel sickness should have about 1g of tea an hour or so before traveling.
When not pregnant, you can have 2g a day without issue. Like during pregnancy, use it in hot water to make a tea or add it to your cooking. You can create ginger sweets that will give you something to suck on, which can help to curb some nausea. Try freezing your ginger tea to create ice pops if you are really struggling to eat something.
You really don’t need a lot to benefit. Just use it on a daily basis, and you will get all of the health benefits mentioned above. This is the perfect way to reduce the inflammation in your body and curb most of the illnesses and ailments that will affect your regular daily life.
