Medicinal Uses for Ginger from Chinese Medicine
26 March 2007Ginger Root (Rhizoma Zingiber Officianale) which can be found fresh in the produce section of any grocery store worth its salt is very handy to keep around the house for a few folk remedies common in Chinese Medicine. It is important here to say that only fresh ginger will have the properties I am about to describe, unless I say otherwise. When shopping for ginger you should look for plump (not wrinkly or dried out looking) light brown tubers that are yellow or pale yellow on the inside. If it looks bruised or rotten, or the inside is brown and wet looking, it’s probably not going to taste very good or keep very long, so pass on those.
A Remedy for the Tummy
The most common use I have for ginger root is to help calm an upset stomach. If you have a nauseas sensation or some spastic moments in the lower parts of the intestine, ginger can help you. Keep in mind here that this is not a substitute for the advice of your physician. I take the root and cut thin coins, about an eighth of an inch thick, and drop them into a mug of water. I generally use about 2 or 3 coins of ginger, then I heat it for a minute or so in the microwave. The broth should not taste too spicy, but should have a little kick to it. Later, as it steeps it’ll get very strong, so you may want to dilute it occasionally with some additional water if it gets too strong to stand the taste. Over the next few minutes (5-15) it should calm the stomach and move whatever is bothering you in a downward direction - such that it will end up in a toilet somewhere. Hopefully…
Preventing or Reducing the Symptoms of an Oncoming Cold
In the event that you have a nascent cold with the types early symptoms of an oncoming cold you’re going to get if you don’t do anything, ginger can also be very helpful. Maybe you have a mildly scratchy throat (not a severe sore throat, but just a little dry or uncomfortable because of mucous that may be draining down it), a little whininess, maybe a low grade fever, a strong desire not to work, but rather to sleep curled up on a chair in a quiet room, and tomorrow you have a full blown cold if you don’t take any action or overtire your body. When you start to feel the beginnings of these symptoms is the moment to take a slightly higher dose of ginger and sweat out the cold before it takes hold. I would use 6 or so of the coins from the previous recipe, and cook it much longer, around 4 to 5 minutes. The result will be a much more powerful ginger flavor, possibly to the point of irritating your tongue. This will cause you to sweat. The sweating should prompt you to drink some water, and be sure you do, if you know what’s good for you.
Taking Ginger Further
To go crazy overboard with this remedy, I recommend taking about 10 slices of the ginger of about the same thickness and boiling them in a medium pan of water for about 15 minutes. Then fill a bathtub with the hottest water you can stand. When the bath is full, dump in the ginger brew you made, then sit in the tub while drinking a separate mug of the remedy with 6 or so coins of ginger, and sweat like you’ve never sweated before. When you feel exhausted from it, it’s time to get out and dry off quickly (with no air blowing on you - *no hairdryers*) and wrap yourself tightly in a blanket and sleep for several hours…sweating the whole while. I recommend strategically placing a very large glass of water near the bed, because when you wake up you’ll be thirsty. When you wake up you’ll want to discard the sweaty blanket and get dressed. Keep taking care of yourself after this treatment, but you should now feel a lot better. Even if you don’t prevent an oncoming cold or reduce your symptoms, this treatment seems to shorten the duration of the cold when you do this early on. If it’s your third or second day into a full-blown cold, don’t do this treatment. There are better medicines once you hit that point. And of course keep drinking plenty of water.
On that note: there is no substitute for water. If I ever recommend water, I mean water, not juice, milk, coffee, tea, god forbid carbonated sugary beverages, or alcohol, or even vegetable juices. Just drink plain old water. When you feel better you can waste your energy on those other things…
A couple last words: there are many other uses of ginger in Chinese herbal medicine, but I found these to be the most useful. For more information consult your local library, or Chinese herbal medicine practitioner.
Brett
on March 31st, 2007 at 9:46 am
I can attest to the value of ginger, it is a staple in my kitchen and has been for some time. Nice blog by the way. I like the color scheme and layout as well.
Thanks for dropping by LifeIsRisky.Com earlier. I appreciate it and hope you will drop back in again. Adding you to my weekly web wanderings!
on April 1st, 2007 at 12:17 am
Carnival of Natural Health - April 1, 2007…
Welcome to the April 1, 2007 edition of the Carnival of Natural Health. I hope you’ll visit all of the participants and see what great things we can learn from all of them. Hal Sommerschield, Ph.D. presents North Star Mental…