Ever walk along the produce aisle and find yourself staring at the earthy fascination of a ginger root? Oddly shaped, and with a distinctive flavor, this "wonder root" is an excellent dietary addition because it includes varying amounts of magnesium, manganese, potassium, and vitamins B6, C, and E. Besides being loaded with anti-inflammatory properties, ginger root offers a variety of other health benefits. Some studies indicate it is an aid to digestion, is beneficial both to cholesterol levels and blood pressure, helps with arthritis, and even aids nausea. It is quite a versatile root to boot! Ginger can be incorporated into countless recipes and should be included in your regular diet.
Considered a staple in China and India, ginger root has been used for centuries in cooking and for medicinal purposes. It has a thick, tan, knotty, and bulbous appearance and grows somewhat horizontally. In actuality, it is not a root, but rather it is a "rhizome," an underground stem. Harvested year-round, ginger root is available fresh in most grocery stores, usually in the produce section.
Several studies have investigated the health benefits of ginger. The advantages range from decreased joint inflammation and arthritis to help with nausea, athlete's foot, heart disease, lowered cholesterol, and better circulation. Ever get bloated? Ginger may be the answer. Many people take the strange-looking stem in some form to help with their digestion. Ginger has also been shown to be anti-viral, making it a great support for your immune system during periods of increased risk of common colds and flu. It helps to reduce muscle spasms, and some women take ginger for menstrual cramping. Ginger is also an aid in managing fevers, bronchitis, respiratory symptoms, and headaches. Feel dizzy during a ride on an airplane or while traveling on a cruise? The characteristics of ginger have even been shown to help people with motion sickness.
In our practice, we have seen the most success when ginger is used to assist with digestive, bowel, and gastrointestinal issues, stomach cramping, and arthritis of the fingers. For many of our pregnant patients ginger has provided relief from their symptoms of nausea. Some individuals choose ginger in place of pain relievers. Ginger also benefits healing in cases of skin wounds, aiding in the decrease of pus and infected areas. Note that ginger is contraindicated for people with gallstones and gastric/peptic ulcers and should not be used by them. During a recent symposium hosted by the American Association of Cancer Research, a particular study demonstrated that ginger suppressed cancer cells and cleansed the body of toxins. Although more research is needed, the documented curative effects of ginger are welcome news.
Ginger can be taken in whole, liquid, or powder form. If the wonder root does not appeal to your taste buds, try taking it in capsules, which are available in most health food or nutritional stores. The dosage for adults is typically 25 to 100 milligrams (or 1.5 to 3 milliliters of liquid) daily, although for digestive issues it may be helpful to increase the dosage. Use of ginger root in its natural state is preferred, and it is particularly beneficial and tasty when steeped in hot water with green or white tea. See the recipe at the end of this article for a pleasant concoction known as "Oooss Juice."
Ginger has many uses beyond medicinal and is versatile in the kitchen. Several cultures include it in making wine, and it is an ingredient in various candies, teas, curry, sushi, and some French liquors. In the US, ginger is probably most popularly known as the basis for ginger ale, gingerbread men cookies, cakes (gingerbread), jellies, jams, and other delicious confections and flavorings. Consider adding ginger to your favorite stir-fry recipe, dressings, salads, and even barbecue sauce.
As already described, ginger is a multipurpose and extraordinary herb! Its numerous health-promoting and symptom-fighting components make it desirable and appreciated. Whether the issues are digestive or fighting inflammation and bloating, ginger can contribute to the good health of people at any age.
One of my favorite ginger-based "brews" is Oooss Juice, for which the recipe follows:
Oooss Juice
- Use a high-quality, heat-retaining, stainless steel 2- to 4-gallon pot.
- Boil 1 gallon of water; add ½ pound of sliced ginger; lightly boil for 5 minutes, and turn the burner off.
- Add 2 to 6 organic green tea bags, steep for 30 to 60 minutes, and remove.
- After 4 to 12 hours, strain out the ginger, place the juice in a glass container, and cool in the refrigerator. Drink cold or hot.
Ginger, the wonder root, is an ingredient in many interesting recipes, adds a pungent and exotic flavor to foods and beverages, and offers notable health benefits to those who add it to their diet.
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My experience with New Year Resolutions has taught me some lessons which I am sharing with you.
Don't leave New Year Resolutions for the last moment to write! If you do, on the last day of the year you may end up hurriedly writing down something not better than a shopping list. Spend some time and energy in writing them. At the same time, if you fail to write them before the New Year commences, don't think that now it is too late. Write in the first week of the year or later. It is better writing late than never. In fact, every religion and, therefore, most of the countries, have different New Year days. India alone has more than half a dozen New Year days depending upon which religion you belong to or which calendar you followed!
Before writing the New Year resolutions, think about the bigger questions of life: God, creation, life, death, etc. Is life pre-determined? Is there an after life? What is the aim of life? Is rat race for success good? What is the place of happiness, health, family and friends in our life? You need not be or become a philosopher; but do give these questions some pondering. Before writing about the New Year and future, cast a glance at your past and the old year also. How has your life been? What are your successes and failures? What are your regrets? How was the old year? Did you keep your resolutions? If yes, to what extent? If not, why? Given another chance, how would you plan and live the old year. Have a vision of the future. How would you like to see yourself after one year or thereafter? Base your resolutions on this analysis.
Make new year resolutions a vehicle for change. While we are comfortable with status quo, we want to change our life too. Everybody thinks that he is in a rut. He or she would have been happier in another job, in different circumstances, in new places. But we fear change. Don't just foolhardily jump into change, but plan for it.
Plan for new and exciting things in life. Learn something new-dancing, playing a musical instrument, a new language, tennis, web-designing, or writing poetry. If you have never loved, love. It is an exciting thing. If you are in love, get married. It is intoxicating.
Write down specific goals rather than general. Instead of writing, "I will reduce weight," specify how many pounds or kilograms you want to reduce within which period and by what means. So write, during the year I will reduce my weight by 30 pounds. I will aim at reducing 10 pounds every quarter (so that I have some extra time towards the year-end). I will regulate my diet (be specific about diet too), will exercise or play some game, go for morning or evening walk, start yoga, and lead an active life.
Break down bigger whole year aims to smaller quarterly and monthly aims. In fact, each week write down the aim for that week also. Of course, also keep a daily to-do list (to be written at the start of the day or one day in advance). Revise the monthly and quarterly targets in the light of progress made and aims abandoned and new aims added. In fact, write down a continually evolving list of to-do for the year. Whatever you want to do in the year, just add to this list and Do when the right time comes.
Supplement the Resolutions list with other lists: Daily Prayer in which you may pray to God for giving you happiness, success, and health, etc. Daily Affirmations, in which you may use the power of affirmations. Daily Do's in which you may fix your daily routine which may be helpful in fulfilling your Resolutions, Daily Don'ts, things you should not do.
Use positive power! Most of our resolutions fail because they are about negatives rather than positives. We want to reduce weight or quit smoking, or drinking. But all these are negatives. We will surely be defeated fighting against them. Instead, if we decide to start playing tennis, it would be a positive thing. Little by little we will get interested in it. We will get addicted to it. We will not be able to stay at home when it is play time, whether it is at 5 a.m. or 5 p.m. We will have to go when our partner calls us. If we are over-weight, we will jog, eat less and sensibly. If we get fatigued easily, we will quit smoking and drinking. We would like to be at the top of our tennis team! We will reduce weight, quit smoking and drinking easily (because our game of tennis demands it!).
Don't forget the taken for granted important things in life! When we write our Resolutions we concentrate what we want to achieve in worldly sense. But we fail to mention other important things in life, like: I will be happy, I will love my family, and I will enjoy nature, etc. These unwritten resolutions are more important than the written ones. If we fulfill them and even fail at achieving the written aims, we have still won. If we succeed at both, that is superb! For this, I would suggest, make two lists of New Year resolutions-one for important basics of life (happiness, love, etc.) and another for worldly success (you may like to make one separate one for your job or office life, if required).
Don't forget others! New Year resolutions are not for and about you only. They concern others too. Make resolutions concerning others also. Resolve that you will give more time and love to your family and friends. You will help the unfortunate and poor people. You will give a fraction of your gains back to the society who made your worldly success possible in the first place. These resolutions may be a part of your other (I would say first) list mentioned in last paragraph.
The Christmas Holidays are among the most precious and pleasant ones throughout the whole year. But there is one major disadvantage of the Christmas Holidays and this is the weight we gain during this time of the year. There are several factors that simply cannot be avoided - loads of parties and visits of relatives and friends, skipping exercise, eating much more than you have been used to before the holidays.
Sometimes Christmas holidays even take longer than some days, because most people tend to get their vacations, travel, and forget about strict diet and exercise routines. But don't worry, there are many things you can do to lose all extra pounds you've put on during this period. Just stick to some simple rules and you'll lose the gained weight in no time.
1. Reduce the amount of food you eat
Once the Christmas holidays are over, you don't have to eat the same amount of food as during the holidays. You have to start reducing your portions. At the beginning it could seem difficult to do so, and if it really is difficult for you to accomplish it, don't starve yourself, just eat 2-3 times more, but smaller portions so you don't feel hungry.
2. Change your exercise routine
If you already have an exercising routine, then in the first days after the holiday "season" you would have to change it - not drastically, but for instance doing more cardio would accelerate the results. You can also try exercising 1-2 days more than usual, or simply increase the duration of your training. Try to run or cycle at least 30 minutes, preferably at the end of your training. If you don't do cardio every day of your workout program, then you should start doing so, in order to accelerate your metabolism, or you could simply add one day only for cardio.
3. Drink a lot of water
Forget about alcohol, juices and sweet drinks. It's all about water - increase the amount of water you drink every day. This would accelerate your metabolism, and help your body get rid of the unnecessary toxins easier.
4. Forget about alcohol
Well, we mentioned it in the previous point, however, it is necessary to point out, that alcohol is more than caloric - it stops your body from burning the calories it usually does. Imagine what happens to your body when you eat more than usual, less healthier than usual, and not being able to burn the calories, as the alcohol actually prevents your organism from doing so.
And we all know that we've drunk at least some wine regularly during the Christmas holidays. And besides this, every single diet outlines the lack of alcohol as a necessary measure for you to have a successful weight loss.
5. Reduce the carbs
Well, that may seem the hardest part to accomplish, but do you remember how much carbohydrate rich food you've eating during the Holidays - loads of sweets, loads of bread, loads of cookies. Try to avoid all these only for some time, and you'll notice a significant reduce in your weight.
6. Weight loss supplements
If all of the above tips seem to hard to accomplish, remember you can always use some weight loss supplements in order to accelerate weight loss and get back to your previous routines. There is a great majority of weight loss supplements, that is why it is not hard to choose one exactly according to your needs.
If you follow these basic tips we can guarantee you, you'll get back to your normal weight from before the holidays much faster than you expect. It is pretty certain that the most of the weight you've put on during these days is due to your organism retaining water, which means, that you'll be able to get rid of the extra pounds much easier, when they are not only extra fats.
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We wish you a Merry Christmas!!!
These are the magic words that are around us this festive season. We start using them a few weeks prior to the Christmas holiday. It is believed that an English admiral first used the term "Merry Christmas" in an informal letter, way back in 1699. Merry means pleasant and we are happy to wish all a pleasant Christmas during the happy celebrations. What better way than to gift our family and friends a reminder of these wishes.
Merry Christmas imprinted on gifts like mugs makes you fondly remembered the year through. Cards and postcards help to carry your message to all. An average household in America will mail out 28 Christmas cards each year and see 28 cards arrive in their place. This festive season sending your greetings with Merry Christmas wording will add a special touch to your greetings.
X-mas is the most widely celebrated festival and is the season for joy and sharing. It is the time for time spent with family and friends, for sparkling lights and brightly decorated gifts. Christmas is for love and sharing gifts and cards has become a sort of universal way to communicate joy and good wishes. Let us express the wishes this festive season in a different way. Let our gifts too spell these words to cast the spell of the festive season over all. My Christmas wishes to all those who are reading this article. May this season fill you with joy and happiness.
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