Wonderful Ginger

We’ve all heard of ginger before, the herb, the root, the essential oil. But what can it do to help you, whether on a daily basis or as and when needed. Ginger is warming and calming, and has anti-inflammatory and pain relieving properties.

The likelihood is at some point you will have cooked or baked with ginger, maybe you’ve used it ground in a cake or perhaps eaten the crystallised version, or used the root cut up in your cooking or with hot water to have as a lovely warming tea. There are so many ways for you to use it that the sky is the limit!

I suffer from motion sickness, being a passenger in a car along twisty turny roads really gets me feeling nauseated and awful. Over the years I have learnt to take ginger tea with me on many journeys as it really does help! I wish I’d known about it at the time when I was travelling and did quite a few boat trips in Australia! Oh well, I’m passing that knowledge onto you now, so always have some with you.

I can also highly recommend a chewy and hard sweet version of ginger it’s by a company called Gin Gins and having them available to slowly eat is great on a journey! Sipping water too helps, but the spicy warmth of ginger just takes away that pukey 🤢 feeling!

Also try ginger biscuits as well, they are excellent for morning sickness so I’ve been told, I’ve also taken them on journeys but found I ate loads of them and they weren’t as effective as the ginger tea for me! But don’t rule them out till you try them and if you are pregnant, make sure you seek advice to make sure it’s suitable for you, only have it in small doses!

But there are lots of other things that ginger is good for. It has warming and stimulating properties and is great for aching muscles so if you use the essential oil, then dilute with a carrier oil and massage into your sore muscles. Please ensure you do mix with a carrier oil as no essential oil should be placed undiluted onto your skin.

The essential oil can also help loosen catarrh so if you are suffering with a cough or cold then pop several drops into a bowl of hot water and cover your head with a tea towel and breath in the steam. Please take care with boiling water.

If you have a cold then pop a slice of ginger root in with some lemon juice/fresh wedge of lemon and honey and pour over some hot water, allow to steep for a few minutes and stir and when cool enough, drink.

Whilst I’ve spoken about ginger to help with nausea it can also help greatly with digestion and food absorption, it has a calming effect on the intestinal tract and helps to eliminate excess gas and bloating.

It’s a natural painkiller and helps to reduce pain and inflammation and has been suggested in a study that taking a ginger extract is good for osteoarthritis particularly of the knee. The study found it helped to reduce pain after walking.

You may find it surprising that you can use ginger essential oil to help ease anxiety, I know, amazing eh! It has a calming effect (as noted above) helping to reduce negative feelings. So why not pop a few drops into a vaporiser or an oil burner and let the fragrance envelope you! Ginger essential oil is quite strong so you will only need a couple of drops!

Hopefully you will find this useful, a few things to note:

1. Make sure you seek medical advice from your GP if you are unsure if ginger is suitable for you, ie, if you are pregnant or on medication.

2. Don’t over use it, whether you are eating it in your food, drinking the tea or using the essential oil for massage or inhalation, it can be very potent and can have a negative effect if you use too much. So always use in small amounts.

3. It’s not for everyone, some people don’t like it, so don’t force yourself to use it, if you dislike it.

4. Never put undiluted essential oil direct onto your skin. Always dilute in a carrier oil such as sweet almond or grapeseed.

5. Never ingest essential oils.

I like ginger a lot, but my husband doesn’t, so while I’d happily try the above, he wouldn’t, so look for alternatives if ginger isn’t for you!

Have a wonderful week, thank you for reading and look after you!

Love Emma xx