Organic Ginger for Optimal Digestion

Ginger, Zingiber Officinale, originally from Asia, is revered throughout the world. It has been consumed for thousands of years as a food, culinary spice and medicinal herb. The rhizome, or horizontal and branching root, is the part that is widely used for all three purposes. The pale brown skin should appear thin and smooth for maximum flavor and benefits. The flesh is best when it's juicy, and may be yellow, off-white or pale red. Please purchase organic ginger whenever possible, for improved flavor and greater medicinal properties.

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Did you know?

Ginger is used in a variety of dishes and the flavor can vary with variety, size and whether it is cooked a long while, added toward the end of preparation, or used raw.

Ginger is one of the highest known sources of proteolytic (protein-digesting) enzymes, approximately 180 times higher than papaya.

Vegetable and meat marinades, prepared with fresh or dried ginger, help tenderize proteins and makes other nutrients more available, increasing their digestibility.

Ginger is shown to possess a wide variety of beneficial constituents to improve digestive and overall health. Ginger is well known to help protect us from many food-borne pathogens, including those found in several food scares in recent years, E. coli, Salmonella and Shigella.

​Some of the numerous benefits associated with ginger include:

• selectively antibacterial, (meaning it helps fight strep, staph and other common or serious infections as it supports our beneficial bacteria),
• anti-fungal,
• anti-ulcer,
• pain relieving,
• anti-tumor,
• anti-inflammatory,
• and much, much more.

Fresh ginger, or ginger tea, tincture, syrup or capsules can be consumed with meals to improve digestion and help relieve digestive distress. Try organic ginger when you've overeaten, chosen poor food combining, eaten foods you know upset your digestion, or if you've had too many party foods. Ginger has been used for centuries for hangovers, too!

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), ginger is called for with dozens of digestive complaints, including stomachache, diarrhea, IBS and flatulence. It's supportive in more serious conditions, such as colitis, Crohn's, and diverticulosis, too. More than half of all TCM patent prescription formulas contain ginger! This is likely because it protects the digestive tract, increases the potency of other herbs and helps balance virtually all of our body's organs and systems.

There is a growing body of research crediting ginger for helping with the symptoms of motion sickness, morning sickness and chemotherapy-induced nausea. Relief was found by the majority of participants in most of these studies, regardless of circumstances.

I once worked with a young girl, the daughter of someone I know well, that greatly benefitted from ginger. Emily was eight years old. She had developed acid reflux, causing her to experience uncomfortable pain and bloating after meals or snacks. These attacks were so severe, they sometimes led to vomiting.
 
She didn’t want to worry her family, so she kept this to herself for weeks. When her parents finally realized what she was going through, they immediately took her to the doctor and discovered she had actually developed an ulcer.
 
Emily immediately began to sip homemade ginger ale, made with ginger syrup added to a glass of Gerolsteiner naturally carbonated mineral water. She was apprehensive at first; after all, virtually everything she’d eaten for weeks had upset her stomach. As she took a sip, a smile appeared. “Could it be helping me already? My stomach feels better already! It's calmed down. It doesn't hurt. And this is delicious!” she declared and then emptied the glass.
 
For the next six months, Emily sipped a small glass of homemade ginger ale or a warm ginger tea five times a day, usually with or just before each of her meals and snacks. She reported frequently about how much better her tummy felt and she didn’t experience any more bouts of digestive discomfort.

And did you know that there are a number of different ways to make a great cup of ginger tea? (Make sure to check out my article about properly making tea as well!)

You can simmer or steep any of the following for several minutes:

• Slices of fresh ginger root
• Powdered dried ginger root
• Ginger tea bags

My favorite way, so as to retain the enzymes and other heat sensitive compounds, is to finely grate fresh organic ginger root and squeeze the juice into warm, not too hot, water. (I add the pulp to my eggs or veggies.) Or you can add Ginger syrup or Ginger tincture to the warm, not too hot, water.

If you need it sweeter, try a 1/4 tsp of raw honey or maple syrup, or a dash of green stevia.

For more information on Ginger's usage, research and health benefits, pick up a copy of the wonderful book, Ginger: Common Spice & Wonder Drug by Paul Schulick.

Whether you're new to using ginger like this, or have been doing so for decades, I'd love to hear about your experiences with it in the comments below!