Join us Tuesday, October 16thfor our Eat Well Workshop @ 5:30pm

We all know by now that the “superfood” label gets thrown around a bit haphazardly…but GINGER is actually a food worth holding this title.  I’ll share a few reasons why.  Ginger has long been used for medicinal purposes, it can be used fresh, dried, powdered, or as an oil or juice.  The unique flavor of ginger and it’s smell come from its natural oils, the most important of which is gingerol.  Gingerol is the main bioactive compound in ginger, responsible for much of its medicinal properties. It has powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects.

Ginger can help with various types of nausea (sea sickness, nausea after surgery or nausea from morning sickness, and chemo-related nausea).  It can reduce muscle pain, soreness and even pain from osteoarthritis due to its anti-inflammatory properties.  One of the most exciting things I read about ginger recently was a study on Type-2 Diabetes patients which helped lower fasting blood sugar, and improved HbA1c (a marker for long-term blood sugar levels). Ginger can also speed-up the time it takes for food to empty out of the stomach, which can greatly help indigestion and stomach pains. Another great benefit of Ginger is it’s help for menstrual pain when taken at the beginning of the period.  There have been studies performed showing evidence that ginger can reduce LDL cholesterol (the one deemed “bad” cholesterol) and also reduce triglyceride levels.  In addition to these other great benefits, ginger has been shown to improve brain function because of its antioxidant effects even showing improvement amongst women studied in reaction times and working memory.  Lastly, we’ll conclude with ginger’s effect on killing infections!

See Article from Healthline containing all references to the studies mentioned above.