How Does This Ayurvedic Food Improve Wellness?

CLINICAL AYURVEDIC REVIEW

Introduction

A steaming hot mug of ginger tea on a damp day warms up your bones and burns away thick, heavy congestion. When the weather is soggy, you feel tired and groggy. You naturally crave sunlight and heat. Pungent and light, fresh ginger clears away the damp clouds of winter, invigorating your whole system as it lifts your mood and boosts enthusiasm. The perkiness of ginger bids you to say goodbye to dullness and depression.

Ginger, Sore Throats & Congestion

Ginger's heat & pungency is key to warming you up and liquefying mucus. On damp, rainy days you may feel heavy and sluggish. Even your skin feels clammy. The back of your throat may be swollen and irritated due to a thick coating of "reactive" mucus - mucus filled with dead bacteria. By stimulating your heart to beat faster and opening up blood vessels, ginger flushes damp, cold areas with warm, enlivening blood. It is particularly beneficial for clearing congestion in the upper respiratory tract, including the throat, nose and sinuses.

A simple cup of fresh ginger tea, made by boiling an inch of the root in two cups of water, does the trick. As it warms the head and your whole body, it brings a sense of lightness back to a heavy, congested head. A client explained how fresh ginger helped them relieve this stuffed up feeling, "My nasal passages opened up and my congestion cleared." Another shared, "Breathing was much easier. My mind had more clarity. My chest felt far less dense, like I had been doing breathing exercises to open up my thoracic cavity." You can also place grated ginger in a pot of boiling water and inhale the steam to clear a stuffy nose.

Try this syrup for a sore throat: Mix together 1/2" grated fresh ginger root, 1/4 tsp dried turmeric, and 1/4 tsp black pepper with 1 tsp raw honey. Slowly lick over 15 minutes and repeat up to three times a day to clear throat congestion. Ginger is most effective in late winter. Its light, clear, and warm qualities combat a slushy and soggy time of year.

Restore Warmth

The mobile, revitalizing quality of fresh ginger allows it to support peripheral circulation, dispelling feelings of cold from extremities. Although many spices share ginger's warmth, they also make you sweat which leaves you vulnerable to catching a chill as the effects wear off. Ginger operates internally only (in antara marga), kindling heat & agni without making you sweat.

A client notes, "My hands and feet tend to be cool. With ginger, I did not sweat but felt warmer to my core." Another reports, "After eating fresh ginger, the center of my chest felt hot, as if I had a heating pad inside the back of my sternum."

On cold days, a hot ginger and baking soda bath is one of the best ways to warm your entire body, stimulate circulation, and rev up metabolism. To enjoy these benefits, simply mix 1/2c of ginger and 1/2c of baking soda into a hot bath.

Ginger & Digestion

Fresh ginger is considered to be one of the best digestives, and for this reason is among the most revered roots in Ayurveda. It is suitable for all body types (tridoshic) to stimulate digestive strength (agni). A few pieces of tummy warming ginger, salt, & lime appetizer before a meal stimulates appetite, and gets digestive juices flowing. "It was like my digestive system was getting a kickstart," a client noted.

Ginger & Inflammation

One of the amazing qualities of fresh ginger is that it stimulates digestion without aggravating acidity. Despite the heat of this root, fresh ginger is actually anti-inflammatory. Only fresh ginger, due to the volatile oils, has this special anti-inflammatory quality. Dry ginger does not, due to evaporation of essential oils.

Even though fresh ginger tastes initially pungent on your tongue, it has a sweet post digestive effect (vipaka). In Ayurveda, the post digestive effect means the effect a substance has throughout your body, after you have digested it. The sweet post digestive effect of ginger moistens and nourishes tissues, and is anti-inflammatory.

Dry ginger is much hotter than fresh ginger, and can be aggravating to the digestive tract. It does not have the same soothing or nutritive effect of fresh ginger, but increases heat and dryness in the body. A fiery spice, those who are overheated or feel agitated by heat should steer clear of dry ginger and favor fresh. Those who need the extra heat, however, can benefit from dry ginger. It depends on the individual.