Garlic & Ginger

During this time of uncertainty, we can only sit and ride it out, keeping in touch with loved ones to make sure they are staying safe and doing all we can to ensure we keep ourselves and others well.
Below are details about two foods that love to help us and by incorporating them into our diets they can only benefit us.

The first is my all-time favourite, garlic. I would literally eat garlic with everything!  I have even made my own bottle of garlic oil, just fill up a nice glass bottle with your favourite oil, pop a few cloves of crushed garlic in and voila, wait a week for the flavours to infuse and you’re well away.
Garlic has, for years been used for its medicinal properties and was well documented by the Egyptians, Romans and Greeks. What makes garlic so special?
Well one clove of garlic can contain manganese, vitamin b6, vitamin c, selenium, fibre, calcium, copper, potassium, phosphorous, iron, and basically a little bit of everything you need. Garlic is also known to boost the function of the immune system. The therapeutic effects are found in the allicin that is contained in garlic. Luckily this is activated when you crush or chop the garlic. The sulphur containing compound of allicin is what gives garlic it’s pungent taste and smell.
Garlic also has the potential to reduce the risk of heart disease, cholesterol levels and cancer. For those people with high cholesterol garlic supplements have been seen to reduce LDL cholesterol by about 10-15%.
Garlic can also widen blood vessels which can help combat high blood pressure, reducing the risk of strokes and heart attacks. Free radicals (unstable atoms that can damage other cells), can aid the ageing process not just physically but internally, in our brain. However, garlic is full of antioxidants meaning it fights the body’s oxidative damage, making it useful in preventing Alzheimer’s. There are plenty more health benefits of this wonderful little bulb, so why not stock up or better still start growing your own.
 
Ginger! This wonderful spice has so many medicinal properties where do we start. Well with everything going on at the minute, we’ll start with the fact that it’s a diaphoretic. This means it encourages perspiration so can help combat a fever.
The anti-inflammatory compound gingerol could be why it is useful for people who suffer from osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Being an anti-inflammatory means is can also be useful in muscle injury, menstrual pain and it protects against accelerated decline in brain function, meaning it can help combat Alzheimer’s.
Ginger has a long history of being used for sea sickness. It can help reduce nausea, even in patients undergoing chemotherapy. It can also be used to combat morning sickness. (Please seek medical advice if you are pregnant or undergoing chemotherapy before using a high dosage of ginger).
A relatively new discovery is that ginger may combat diabetes. A small survey conducted in 2015 indicated that ginger could lower fasting blood sugar levels and a reduction in markers for oxidized lipoproteins (harmful type of cholesterol) which also are a factor in heart disease.  The digestive system can also benefit from ginger. It is very effective at alleviating pain in the stomach and sooths the internal tract. The result is you digest your food quicker and with less discomfort if you have overeaten. However, be aware it promotes the elimination of excess gas! I usually have a slice of ginger in hot water in the morning with a slice of lemon and splash of agave. Or you can chop, grate or buy the powdered version to start adding into your diet.
 
So, there are two foods that can help us in our daily lives no matter what we have going on. Share this information with loved ones if you think they may benefit from the health properties in ginger and garlic.  
I did extensive research when I became vegan and some of this information, I found out then with the help of the following sources:
www.healthline.com
www.nhs.uk/news,
​www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov,
www.powerofpositivity.com www.bbcgoodfood.com