Looking for a way to get out of the coffee habit? Try some homemade ginger tea.
I enjoy a single cup of good coffee in the morning like most people. Nevertheless, I try to take a break from it every now and then and have found that homemade ginger tea is a good substitute.
The attractive thing about homemade ginger tea is the spicy kick it gives you. There’s no other drink quite like it. I find that the spiciness gives me a good amount of energy in the morning. And, as well, the amount of benefits ginger brings is well worth noting.
How to Make Ginger Tea
It’s simple. Really simple. Take some fresh ginger, slice it in strips, and let it steep in a cup of hot water. Add a dash of honey or maple syrup. That’s it.
Why Should I Drink Ginger Tea?
It’s more than just a tasty drink in the morning. Ginger offers a whole range of health benefits as well. In fact, the Chinese and South Asians have eaten ginger for its medicinal properties for thousands of years. Ginger is even included in a Chinese encyclopedia of herbs that dates back to 2000BC.
3 Health Benefits of Ginger Root
1. Cure indigestion
If you feel gassy, bloated, or you’re lacking appetite, have some ginger. Drink it as tea. Ginger can also cure stomach upsets1 and pain.
2. Reduce the risk of heart attacks
Some research tells us that ginger may reduce blood pressure. There is some evidence that ginger lowers cholesterol2 and prevents blood clotting. Both reduce your risk of heart attacks and strokes. There’s enough evidence that I recommend you add ginger to your diet. It will likely help.
3. Fight cancer
Here’s one of the largest reasons for adding ginger to your diet. We know that ginger prevents cancer in rats and possibly helps humans fight cancer as well. Here’s why ginger might help.
First, a little bit of background on cancer. Cancerous tumors need blood vessels to grow. For these blood vessels to develop, a protein called the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)3 has to exist in your body. If you eat food that reduces your VEGF levels, you have a lesser chance of developing cancer.
In ginger is a substance called [6]-gingerol. That’s the key to ginger’s ability to prevent cancer. We know that [6]-gingerol can reduce the VEGF levels in animals. In a research lab, gingerol actually stopped cell growth caused by VEGF. That’s promising. What’s more, scientists found in rat studies that gingerol actually prevented the growth of cancerous cells in hearts. Yet another study showed that rats fed ginger had more antioxidants and lower rates of cancer.
We have enough research that I recommend you add ginger to your diet. It can only help, and will likely help more than we have pinpointed so far in medical research.
Chew on this
Here’s an important note. Drinking ginger tea alone won’t prevent cancer or cure any chronic diseases. There are no panaceas in medicine. Here’s a long-term strategy, though, that’s been proven by research to work: having a good diet and lifestyle. Research has proven that how you live and eat has more effect on your health than your genes do. You’ve got this!
Have you started changing up your diet? Share your story with us in the comments. We’d love to hear it.
