Unmanaged weight could be the reason for several diseases including obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Pair it with low immunity, and your body loses the ability to fight these diseases, putting you at an increased risk of mortality. So, what can you do to lose weight and boost immunity? Drink ginger juice!
By drinking fresh ginger juice (that uses no more than 4g of ginger), you can not only reduce the severity of various illnesses but also boost immunity and lose weight. Ayurveda, in fact, calls ginger the “healing spice” and notes its effectiveness in the treatment of joint pain, digestion-related ailments, and respiratory issues. Here’s how ginger helps.
Ginger For Weight Loss
If you’re aiming at shedding extra pounds, you might want to turn to ginger. Maintaining a weight that is proportional to your height is important, as studies have confirmed that being overweight increases your risk of several health conditions, such as the following.1
- Type 2 diabetes
- High blood pressure
- Heart disease and strokes
- Certain types of cancer
- Sleep apnea
- Osteoarthritis
- Fatty liver disease
- Kidney disease
- Pregnancy and delivery related problems
While most people resort to fad diets to drastically drop their weight, it’s not a healthy practice. The effects of these diets are temporary, and the sudden weight loss is harmful to the body. For a healthy way to reduce your weight, drink fresh ginger juice instead.
1. Boosts Metabolism
Thermogenesis is your body’s process of converting food into energy and heat. Ginger is a thermogenic food that can boost your metabolism by 4–5%, and burn up to 10–15% more fat than foods that are not thermogenic in nature.2
2. Controls Overeating
Often, we turn to low-fat foods in the hope of losing weight. However, most of these foods are not filling. This forces you to eat more than what your body requires. The food that’s not digested by the body is stored as fat, which ultimately increases your weight. However, drinking ginger juice before food can reduce excess hunger and prevent you from overeating. Alternatively, you can also add chopped pieces of ginger to your food to achieve the benefits.3
Ginger For Boosting Immunity
A low immunity means a higher risk of conditions like flu, cold, and even serious illnesses like cancer. With an increasing number of people falling prey to compromised immune systems, it’s important that we take measures to boost immunity.
1. Reduces Oxidative Damage
The active component of ginger is a compound called gingerol, which is a potent antioxidant. It helps reduce the oxidative damage in the body cells caused by free radicals, thus reducing your risk of developing chronic illnesses.4
2. Treats Inflammation
Inflammation is the root cause of conditions like osteoarthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, and asthma. Ginger has anti-inflammatory properties that reduce the swelling in sensitive organs of the body.5 Hence, drinking ginger juice regularly helps reduce the intensity of these inflammatory diseases and prevents them from becoming chronic. Moreover, it also acts as an analgesic and helps reduce joint and muscle inflammation caused due to intense physical activity.6
Other Health Benefits Of Ginger
Along with managing weight and boosting immunity, ginger also has several other health benefits. Because of its antioxidant properties, ginger is effective in the treatment and cure of many health conditions. It is also used, surprisingly, to treat certain skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema. Other benefits of ginger are as follows.
- Reduces nausea
- Treats motion sickness
- Reduces the risk of diabetes
- Reduces the risk of heart disease
- Helps with menstrual pain
- Treats chronic indigestion
- Prevents cancer
- Improves memory
- Boosts brain function
- Reduces cellulite
- Fights dandruff and treats dry scalp
- Promotes hair growth
- Rejuvenates skin
While ginger is highly beneficial to the body, there is such a thing as “too much ginger.” If you consume over 3–4g of ginger in a day, you could experience heartburn, gas, and nausea. Also, ginger isn’t good for everybody. You need to avoid ginger if you are about to undergo surgery. If you’re on medication, consult your doctor to ensure that ginger will not react with your prescription drugs.
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