Ginger For The Holidays

The Holidays are here and you have had a cold or flu for the past week.  Your office holiday party is in two days, and you have not begun shopping for gifts.  Your nose is clogged, you have chills, a stiff neck, muscle aches, nausea, and your face and eyes are so puffy you look Toronto's Mayor Rob Ford with a hang over…now what do you do?

The answer is very simple . . . ginger tea.  Bring four
cups of water to a low boil, add one ginger root.   , let this decoction steep for 15 minutes.  For maximum benefit add 5 chopped scallions (allium fistulosum) and 2 cinnamon sticks (rumulus Cinnamoni). This ginger combination, that I call “nasty tea”, is based on a traditional formula call Scallion and Prepared Soybean Decoction (cong chi tang) which has been used by Chinese physicians successfully for thousands of years to prevent and resolve a cold or flu. The above ingredients can also be use in miso or chicken soup.

How does this tea work?  According to Chinese medicine the lungs are responsible for governing and protecting the body from external pathogenic influences such as wind, cold, heat, germs, and environmental toxins.  The lungs produce an energy called “Wei Qi” or defensive energy.  This energy is an integral part of our immune system; it circulates throughout the exterior of the body creating the inflammatory response that is our immune systems first response against pathogenic.

Moreover, the inflammatory response will elevate the body temperature producing a sweat, opening and closing our pores which will begin to expelling all pathogens from the body.  Basically, Wei Qi is our first line of defense against disease. If the body is weak, run down from stress, lack of sleep, or poor eating habits, this seriously compromises the Wei Qi or the immune system.

The weakening of the immune system seriously compromises our body’s ability to fight off external pathogens.  

settle in the body creating chronic symptoms of chills, headaches, seasonal allergies, stiff neck, muscle and joint pain, nausea, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. 

Nasty tea will resolve all the above symptoms.  Ginger, Cinnamon and scallions all expel external cold, resolve phlegm, stop coughing, relax the muscles and regulate the digestive system. Ginger will also alleviate

diarrhea, and mild food poisoning.

. Research has shown ginger, cinnamon and scallions all have antibacterial, antiviral, and antiparastie properties. .  In order to strengthen your immune system and ward off a cold or flu, you must incorporate  Astragulas Root (hunagqi) into your diet.

Astragulas is a Qi tonic which has an affinity for the lungs.  As an immune tonic its main function is to regulate the exterior of the body strengthening the Wei Qi thereby assisting in expelling external pathogens

Also see Top ten Ways To Prevent and Treat Colds & Flu.

To Your Health, 

Professor Drew

New York Institute of Herbal Medicine & Nutrition

Founder/Primary Instructor