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My Experience Using Ginger

I blend a piece of ginger the size of half of my thumb in my veggie juice in the morning. Ginger can be very hot to some people in large doses, so I would suggest to find the right amount that you can tolerate. I love how ginger soothes my stomach and keeps it that way. I started adding ginger to my daily regimen six months ago and I haven't had a queasy stomach since.

Now I know the body is an ecosystem, and since I went on a wholefood plant-based diet at the same time, it also had a role in keeping my stomach soothed.

Even in saying this, I compared how I felt drinking a thick veggie juice with and without ginger in it. A really liquefied veggie juice is much easier for me to drink than a thicker juice, but sometimes I just want to pack in a lot of veggies into the same 32 ounces of juice I make in the morning. My veggie juices don't contain much fruits, only a half or a whole apple and it is not very sweet. I believe in keeping veggies and fruits separate because of my understanding that veggies and fruits are digested differently, but apples are OK to mixed with veggies because they are basically neutral.

When I drink veggie juices with ginger in it, it is much easier it to swallow. The taste of the ginger adds a nice spiciness and cuts through the blandness of veggies, and makes it very easy to swallow. Ginger reduces the gag reflex and also soothes the stomach. Previously I have boiled ginger root into a tea to combat upset stomachs from food poisoning, the flu, and colds, and to remove mucus from my sinus and body.

Benefits Of Ginger

Ginger is the underground stem, or rhizome, of the plant Zingiber officinale. Ginger has been used in herbal traditions for thousands of years to help digestion and to treat upset stomachs, diarrhea, and nausea. Ginger has also been used to help treat arthritis, colic, diarrhea, the common cold, flu-like symptoms, headaches, and painful menstrual periods.

Gingers healing properties come from it’s volatile oils, including gingerols and shogaols.

Ginger stimulates the production of saliva which makes swallowing easier.

Ginger reduces high blood pressure by acting like blood pressure medications called "calcium channel blockers." Ginger blocks the flow of calcium into heart cells and blood vessels, which reduces blood pressure.

Ginger reduces chronic (or bad) inflammation that is destructive to the body. Ginger suppresses the synthesis the pro-inflammatory molecules in the body known as prostaglandins. Recent work is emerging that shows that ginger extract can inhibit or deactivate genes in our body that encode the molecules involved in chronic inflammation. Evidence supports that ginger helps reduce pain from osteoarthritis. Chronic inflammation actually hurts and attacks the body, whereas normal inflammation as an immune response to an infection, an irritation, or an injury is a good thing. Ginger's shogaols are linked to inflammation reduction.

Ginger is used to combat the side effects of motion sickness: nausea, vomiting and an overall queasy feeling. Ginger's soothing effect on the stomach calms these side effects. Ginger's gingerols are linked to its ability to reduce the nausea associated with motion sickness.

Ginger has antibacterial properties. Ginger roots extracts, viz.nhexane, ethyl acetate and soxhlet extracts have antibacterial activities on colliform bacillus, staphylococcus epidermidis and streptococcus viridians.

References:
Gingerol
Calcium channel blockers
Ginger
Inlfammation