{"id":181,"date":"2021-11-04T20:02:44","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T20:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/?p=181"},"modified":"2021-11-04T20:02:46","modified_gmt":"2021-11-04T20:02:46","slug":"get-excited-about-ginger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/get-excited-about-ginger\/","title":{"rendered":"Get excited about ginger"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

No I am not talking about the politically incorrect slang for red heads, or the television character from \u201cGilligan\u2019s Island\u201d.\u00a0 I am talking about getting excited about the herb ginger. I know, you are thinking this guy has really lost it.\u00a0 Who gets excited about ginger besides those who grew up eating the cookies?\u00a0 Well, I do and here is why. As I mentioned in another blog, turmeric and ginger are in the same plant family.\u00a0 The ginger plant produces white and pink flower buds that bloom yellow and is sometimes used for landscaping in warmer climates. But it is the root that makes the herb, or spice, we usually consume.\u00a0 Ginger root has a brown skin with yellow, white or red flesh depending on the variety and age of the plant.\u00a0 The top world producers of ginger are India, China, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Japan, Philippines, and Cameroon; however it is also grown in the Caribbean.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ginger can be found as\nextracts, tinctures, capsules, oils, fresh or dried ginger root, and powder.  Ginger is consumed as a spice, delicacy, and\nmedicine.  Often ginger can be found\nprepared as pickled, steeped in water to make a tea, made into candy, made into\nwine, used as a preservative, ginger ale, ginger beer, gingerbread, ginger\nsnaps, cookies, crackers, cakes, garnish, and more.  Manufacturing even uses ginger for fragrance\nin soaps and other cosmetics.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The known nutritional make up\nof ginger includes thiamine vitamin B1, riboflavin vitamin B2, Niacin vitamin B3,\nPantothenic acid vitamin B5, vitamin B6, Folate vitamin B9, vitamin C, vitamin A,\nvitamin E, calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, selenium, phosphorous,\npotassium, sodium, zinc, fiber, both omega 3 and omega 6 oils, protein,\ncholine, and betaine.  Researchers believe\nthe active components of ginger, or the components responsible for the majority\nof the health benefits, are the oils, anti-oxidants, phenols, and other\ncompounds such as terpenoids, gingerols, zingerones, and shogaols; don\u2019t get bogged\ndown with the terminology here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Research suggests that ginger\nhas the following health benefits:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

daily consumption can help ease exercise induced muscle pain, reduce colon inflammation, reduce nausea\/vomiting\/motion\/morning sickness, reduce osteoarthritis pain, blood thinning properties, cholesterol lowering properties, used to help with diarrhea, promote motility of the GI tract, reduce pain, a sedative, antibacterial, used against skin cancer in rats, one study showed ginger\u2019s ability to kill ovarian cancer cells, used for constipation, reduces inflammation, reduces oxidative stress, used against Staph. A. and other drug resistant bacteria (often in a preparation with garlic), anti viral, tooth ache relief, promotes circulation, help get sugar from the blood into your cells reducing blood sugar and diabetes related issues, protects the body against metabolic syndrome, respiratory aliments as an expectorant, clear intestinal worms\/parasites, fight against prostate cancer, reducing and preventing atherosclerosis.\u00a0 While others have used ginger as a remedy for thousands of years for colds, preventing the flu, cough suppressant, reduce the symptoms of rheumatism, as a throat lozenge for sore throats, for stomach aches, promote digestive enzymes and increase production and secretion of bile, support cardiovascular system by supporting healthy platelet function, \u00a0treat colic, and preventing colorectal cancer.\u00a0 Consensus amongst the researchers is that the proper adult dosage for adults is around 1 gram per day; divided dosages seem to be best.\u00a0 Like a lot of herbs more research is necessary to fully understand the health and healing properties of this herb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as side effects are\nconcerned, the FDA has ginger listed as generally recognized as safe.  However, some people may experience hypoglycemia\nsymptoms if the blood sugar levels get too low, low blood pressure, gas,\nbloating, heartburn, nausea, possible allergic reactions like rash, and\nmedication\/herb interactions. \nParticularly, ginger may interact with blood thinning medications like\nwarfarin, Coumadin, Plavix, or aspirin, and have an effect on blood sugar so\ndiabetics should be cautious.  Ginger is\ncontraindicated in people with gallstones, due to its ability to promote the\nproduction of bile.  The use of ginger\nwhile pregnant and breast feeding is controversial, so as always consult with\nyour health care professional prior to using ginger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When choosing ginger, look for fresh root, which will have better flavor and more nutrients; and typically is cheaper.\u00a0 The root should be firm, smooth, and free of mold.\u00a0 Ginger can be stored for about three weeks if unpeeled in the fridge and six months unpeeled in the freezer.\u00a0 Ginger is not on the dirty dozen list so if the budget doesn\u2019t allow for organic do not stress.\u00a0 Getting ginger into your diet is easy.\u00a0 Simply add ginger to a smoothie (my personal favorite), tea, rice, salad dressings, with baked apples, in cooked vegetables, in applesauce, in a stir fry, or in yogurt.\u00a0 As you can see this little herb has been lurking in spice racks and produce isles for thousands of years and packing a healthy punch for those looking to promote good health.\u00a0 So, that leaves the question.\u00a0 What has got me excited about ginger? Specifically, I am excited about the anti inflammatory, anti viral, anti bacterial, anti oxidant, and anti cancer properties; just to name a few.\u00a0 Join me next time and we will continue this journey towards a health promoting lifestyle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No I am not talking about the politically incorrect slang for red heads, or the television character from \u201cGilligan\u2019s Island\u201d.\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[50,31,43,113,97,30,115,114],"class_list":["post-181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-antioxidants","tag-arthritis","tag-digestion","tag-ginger","tag-inflammation","tag-osteoarthritis","tag-spice","tag-spices"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":448,"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions\/448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}