Ginger: An Herb for All Reasons

The following information has been gathered and compiled through personal experience while traveling, teaching T'ai Chi, Qi Gong, Chinese Herbal medicine, martial arts and contains feedback from students and anecdotal information from readers of my columns. The following are my opinions and deductions from those sources.

Ginger grew wild in the canals and ditches where we lived in Hawaii.

I sailed a lot and, if I hadn't been at sea for a week or two, I'd suffer from sea sickness. When you're the captain, it's not a good idea to be incapacitated. I found pills and prescription drugs made me drowsy or irritable, but didn't have either problem with ginger. I told a friend about my experiences and when he had an opportunity to go salmon fishing off the Oregon coast, he tried the ginger. The next time I talked to him he said the ginger was worse than being sea sick. I was surprised, i hadn't known anyone who it didn't help. Later, I found out he'd eaten a very large amount, it only takes a little slice. No wonder it was worse, ginger is a very hot herb and probably gave him acid stomach.

Many herbalists recommend ginger as a natural replacement for chemical blood thinners. Most chemical blood thinners are composed of the same active ingredient in rat poison. The rat eats it and dies of internal hemorrhaging. If a person is on blood thinners, they need to check with their health care provider before making any changes and have their blood readings monitored. Ginger is used worldwide by herbalists for boosting the immune response.

Ginger is used in India to improve slow digestion, poor appetite and indigestion due to stress, illness and sickness. Oriental herbalists use ginger compresses to relieve muscle aches and pains. A mixture of ginger juice squeezed from the root, sesame oil and lemon juice is used in Egypt to treat dandruff and sebhorrea problems.