1% Thursday: Fun with Ginger

This week, try some ginger to calm your tummy.

We’re going to have a little fun this week, but still this is something that may be a major help to many of you.

Ginger is, of course, a type of root (a root tuber, actually) often used in cooking.  But it also has been used for medicinal purposes, many of which are of interest to those with headache and/or migraine.

First, there is some evidence that it has blood thinning and cholesterol lowering properties (we’re going to talk more about migraine and cholesterol next week).

But perhaps more famous is the way it helps with your stomach – indigestion, nausea, and stomach acid.  Not only can this obviously help with symptoms, it may also help with prevention.

Ginger for nausea has become popular in recent years, helping patients with cancer dealing with nausea from chemotherapy, and with those suffering nausea from pregnancy, as well as, of course, nausea from migraine.

Now before we give ginger a try, a few precautions.  As usual, it’s wise to talk to your doctor before taking a significant amount of anything, such as ginger in capsule form.  Large amounts of ginger can be problematic for those taking NSAIDs such as ibuprofen, aspirin, drugs controlling blood sugar levels, and heart medication (especially warfarin).

Of course, we’re going to start with the milder amounts in this article.  Quite popular is candied ginger, and simply sucking on ginger root.  But another way to get ginger is in ginger ale.

Contrary to popular belief, just because ginger ale doesn’t say "ginger" in the list of ingredients doesn’t mean it doesn’t contain ginger.  Often "natural flavors" or "spices" will be listed – that’s because the exact mixture of ingredients is a highly guarded trade secret.  Most likely ginger is included in there, and simply drinking a ginger ale from the supermarket may indeed help.

But we can have some fun and make our own ginger ale!  A nice refreshing drink for the holiday season, or any time of year, you can vary the ingredients exactly as you like, and you know you’re getting some great real natural ginger.

Here’s a real simple recipe for making your own ginger ale.  Try adding some lime juice, or green tea (which also has many great qualities to fight headache and migraine).  A favourite of ours is 100% cranberry juice, which is great at cleaning out your system and makes a wonderful drink for a special meal.

Here’s an even more fun, but more involved, recipe for ginger ale.

One more note – do be cautious of recipes that carbonate using yeast.  Yeast can be a major trigger for migraine, especially when it’s still fresh.

Now go and have some fun!

What is 1% Thursday?

Every Thursday at Headache and Migraine News (weather permitting) we’ll talk about one measurable, practical thing we can do to make our lives just 1% better.  Usually it will be something very easy, sometimes it will be a challenge.  Let us know if you try it, or share an idea of your own – and maybe a year from now we’ll see that things have really changed for the better!