Every morning your cup of tea must be incomplete if made without using a dash of ginger. We are used to the famed ‘Adrak-wali Chai’! Ginger is such a versatile ingredient used widely. It not only provides flavour & zest but also has amazing health benefits.
Let’s know more about the healthiest food – Ginger
Ginger is officially known as ‘Zingiber officinale’. It is a flowering plant with the edible parts – rhizome and root/ginger root. It is an underground rhizome. The peculiar fragrance and flavour of ginger come from the volatile oils – zingerone, shogaols, and gingerols. Gingerol is the main compound that is responsible for the pungency.
Raw Ginger (Adrak) or dried ginger (Saunth) has been extensively used for culinary (condiment) as well as home (herb) remedial purposes since ages. It was traditionally used as a home remedy for various ailments because of ginger’s therapeutic properties such as carminative, anti-inflammatory, anti-nausea, anti-carcinogenic, and cardio-vascular & other disease preventive effects.
Ginger has plenty of nutrients and bioactive compounds that have potential therapeutic effects on our body. Several scientific studies are carried out to study the active compounds and their medicinal properties.
Ginger is named as a ‘Superfood’. Do you want to know why? Below are the reasons that make the powerful herb earn the name ‘superfood’.
Digestion – Ginger helps in stimulating digestion. It helps in the absorption and assimilation of essential nutrients in the body. Ginger is commonly used in all typical digestive system issues like indigestion, flatulence, gas, bloating & stomach colic.
Amrutam has an excellent remedy Zeo Malt for all of your stomach problems.
Blood Pressure – It lowers the blood pressure. It contains potassium that helps in reducing BP, so it’s very useful for hypertension patients.
Nausea – Ginger helps in reducing nausea; due to motion sickness, morning sickness, pregnancy, post-surgery effects or chemotherapy side-effects.
Anti-inflammatory – It reduces inflammation that is the root cause of several diseases like heart diseases. The active compounds gingerol, shogaol & paradol are the ones that provide anti-inflammatory properties to ginger. It is a natural painkiller.
Anti-bacterial – It has found to be effective against many drug-resistant bacteria and treatment of microbial diseases.
Diabetes – It regulates your blood-sugar levels. Therefore, it prevents chronic hyperglycemia.
Menstrual Pains – It reduces menstrual cramping and provides relief to dysmenorrhea. Isn’t it great for all women who can use ginger instead of popping pills?
Cold & Cough – Relieves from cold, cough, throat & nose congestion. It reduces fever and also helpful for sore throat problems. It strengthens immunity and helps fight the body against allergies and common infections.
Ginger is a natural heartburn remedy, energizes the body and mind and boosts the metabolism. Ginger benefits the circulatory system, digestive system and respiratory system. Ayurveda explains ginger’s properties as rasa (taste-pungent), virya (temperature/potency-hot) and vipaka (post-digestive effect-sweet). According to Ayurveda, ginger promotes health and wellness due to its stimulating effect on digestion; that makes it valuable. Moreover, it balances Kapha Dosha. The herb is mentioned in Charaka suthrastanan (chapter 27), Charaka chikitsa (chapter 21) & Shushruta Samhita.
Let’s incorporate this powerful herb in our daily diet to imbibe the goodness of ginger and lead a healthy life.
References:
