Introduction
Ginger is also known as Zingiber officinale is often touted as a sick day panacea in the ancient Ayurvedic zones. Ginger is most delicious and healthiest spice in the world that will make you gluttony.
Impressive Health Benefits and Uses Of Ginger
- It's root is loaded with immense nutrients and its benefits cover a lot of ground. It is beneficial to the body as well as for the brain, making you skilled & sharp.
- It is considered a super food for anti aging, 'stay younger and live longer.' In health it is beneficial in arthritis and osteoarthritis, prevents cancer, enhances respiratory functions, subsides nausea and pain, increases appetite and strengthens your immune system, which gets strong enough to deal with any kind of disease.
- Since centuries it is used to drive away common cold, flu and help in digestion.
- This spice is amazing in enhancing your libido, reducing obesity and minimizing pain during menstrual periods.
- It can be used in various ways and is versatile enough to be consumed in so many different ways, can be added to your smoothies, grate some of it on a stir fry, add it in some soup or you can sip your ginger tea.
By this time you must be having ginger in your kitchen and let me explain some benefits in detail:
Medicinal Benefits
- Ginger contains Gingerol, the main player that provides so many powerful medicinal benefits.
- It belongs to a family that is closely related to turmeric, galangal and cardamom.
- Mostly the underground part of the stem - the rhizome, is used as a spice.
- It can be used in a fresh form, dried or powdered form, or can also be used as a soup or juice, as oil can also be added to processed foods and cosmetics.
- Mostly acts as an ingredient in cooked dishes, at least in India.
- Its incongruous fragrance and flavor come from its natural oil called Gingerol.
- It is the main bio-active compound in ginger that possesses medicinal properties in huge numbers.
- It has strong anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
Ginger's effect on Nausea:
- Ginger is immensely effective in cases of nausea. The people who get the chemotherapy done may begin vomiting and nausea after surgery, it reduces that. It is quite effective in nausea during pregnancy and especially when facing the morning blues.
- Although ginger is very safe to use but before proceeding better consult your doctor.
- Don't know if it is gossip or a fact that consuming it in excess can cause miscarriage to the pregnant ladies and 'anything in excess is always bad.' Research on this subject is done very less and needs further research.
Helpful in Osteoarthritis
- Helps in osteoarthritis as it is an anti-inflammatory: Osteoarthritis has become the most common problem worldwide due to our lifestyle changes and the food intake currently. It involves the degeneration of the joints, causing pain and stiffness, restricting our physical movements.
- A study was conducted to judge the facts and it was found that people who ate ginger need less pain medication than those who do not eat it.
- Another study told us that when ginger is combined with mastic, cinnamon, and sesame oil and applied topically to reduce the pain and stiffness showed great results.
Ginger is beneficial in diabetes:
- More research is needed, but has a strong ability to control blood sugar levels, which is the main culprit for causing heart attacks.
People also found that ginger helped in lowering the level of;
- hemoglobin A1c
- apolipoprotein B
- apolipoprotein A-1
- malondialdehyde
Certain dietary complications are dealt by ginger's anti-inflammatory properties.
Helps in Chronic indigestion (dyspepsia):
- The upper part of your stomach gets horrible feeling when you get struck by chronic indigestion (dyspepsia). It is evidently true that the delayed emptying of the stomach causes this disease to spread its wings.
- Ginger accelerates the movement of the stools and pushes them out of the body in a fast manner.
- An experiment was done to see the effects and it was found that normally a person used to empty his stomach after eating normal food after 16 minutes and after eating ginger laced diet began emptying in 12 minutes.
Useful in Menstrual Periods
- Ginger reduces the pain that happens due to troubles during menstrual periods in females:
- When the females have unusual menstrual cycles and feel the pain, 1 gram of ginger powder taken everyday reduces the chances of pain, if taken in the first 3 days of the period.
- Even traditionally it was used to bring relief to the females who had trouble with their menstrual periods.
Helps in Preventing Cancer:
- The dreadful name cancer tells the story that it is a very serious disease, which happens due to an uncontrolled build up of abnormal cells.
- It's ingredient, 6-gingerol, a substance that is found in large amounts in raw ginger has anti-cancer properties.
- In a study that was conducted on many individuals 2 grams of ginger everyday significantly lowered pro-inflammatory molecules in the colon.
- Ginger has provided evidence that it helps and is quite effective in pancreatic cancer, breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
Enhances brain power and helps in Alzheimer's disease:
- The aging process speeds up when one remains tense and has chronic inflammation. These are believed to be the main drivers that lead to Alzheimer's disease and age-related psychological decline.
- But the studies on ginger suggest that bio-active compounds and anti-oxidant properties do inhibit inflammatory responses that keep happening in brains.
- Strong evidence shows that ginger can enhance the brain functions it also displayed that ginger consumption enhances reaction time and improving memory.
- Lots of studies in animals showing that ginger can protect against age-related decline in brain function. More research is required.
Conclusion:
- Ginger is not called super food in ignorance, but has numerous properties that make it special, especially in an Ayurvedic world as lots of remedies are made using ginger's exclusive features to heal so many diseases.
- You can buy it from your local grocery store or order online as it doesn't lose its immense power even when it gets dry or is used in powder form or in any other way.
- Just make sure that the ginger is in organic form and not laced with sprays or other chemicals to reap in the maximum benefits.
