An ancient saying goes: "Eating ginger in the morning is better than drinking ginseng soup!" This shows the benefits of eating ginger for your health. Eating ginger in the morning can promote intestinal peristalsis and improve the function of the spleen and stomach. But how should you eat ginger to benefit your health? Let me tell you the correct way to eat ginger, and how it can help you live a longer life...
Morning ginger consumption has 3 major health benefits
First, it prevents colds; second, it keeps you away from bile duct stones; and third, it protects liver function. The method of consuming ginger is: Peel the ginger (the ginger peel is considered cooling). Cut four or five slices of ginger daily (as thin as thick paper; if they are too thick, they will be very spicy) and place them in a bowl. Every morning, first drink a glass of warm water, then pour the warm water over the ginger slices in the bowl to sterilize them. Then place the ginger slices in your mouth and chew them slowly, holding them for 10 to 30 minutes. Chew the slices until they are crushed, allowing the ginger's aroma to spread throughout your mouth, down into your stomach and out through your nostrils.
Why ginger is not suitable for consumption at night
A day has its yin and yang. From midnight, the natural yang energy gradually rises, reaching its peak at noon. After noon, yang energy gradually declines until it is weakest and yin is strongest at midnight. After midnight, yang energy gradually recovers.
Traditional Chinese Medicine believes in the correspondence between humans and nature. When yang is abundant during the day, one should be more active. Consuming warming-tonic herbs can help generate yang energy, and one can take appropriate yang (warming) foods, such as ginger. In the evening, as yin gradually becomes abundant, yang energy should be conserved and not remain as excited as it does during the day. If you consume too many warming foods or supplements at this time, it can affect sleep, impact the body's anabolic processes, and hinder the body's self-repair after exertion, which is harmful to health. Therefore, under normal circumstances, eating ginger during the day is beneficial, but it is not suitable at night.
Ginger is a natural anti-aging food. Even Confucius, in the late Spring and Autumn Period, consumed ginger for health preservation and to extend his lifespan. Nowadays, everyone knows the benefits of ginger, but it is also important to understand how to consume it to best achieve its health effects. Experts suggest that ginger should be eaten in the morning and not at night.
5 tips for eating ginger
1. Do not peel it. Some people like to peel ginger when they eat it, but doing so prevents ginger from achieving its full effect. Generally, fresh ginger can be washed and then sliced or shredded.
2. Those with yin deficiency and excessive fire, or with symptoms such as red eyes and internal heat, or suffering from carbuncles, sores, pneumonia, lung abscess, tuberculosis, stomach ulcers, cholecystitis, pyelonephritis, diabetes, or hemorrhoids, should not consume ginger long-term.
3. It cannot be used to treat heatstroke. Ginger brown sugar water is only suitable for patients with wind-cold colds or those who have caught in the rain and have a cold stomach and fever. It should not be used for summer-heat colds or wind-heat colds, nor can it be used to treat heatstroke. Fresh ginger juice can treat vomiting caused by cold exposure, but it is not suitable for other types of vomiting.
4. Do not eat rotten ginger. Rotten ginger produces a highly toxic substance that can cause degeneration and necrosis of liver cells, thus inducing liver cancer, esophageal cancer, and other diseases.
5. Do not eat too much. In summer, the weather is hot, and people are prone to dry mouth, irritability, thirst, sore throat, and excessive sweating. Ginger is pungent and warm, and belongs to the category of "hot" foods. According to the principle of "treating heat with cold," it should not be consumed in large amounts.