Ginger
This is a good article about Ginger. I can tell you my own experience with it. It was by accident that I found the benefits of this great spice. During the time I was a caregiver for my mom I always looked for treats that she would enjoy eating no matter how little of an appetite she had. There were a few favorites that came along and one of them was ginger snaps, and in particular the ginger snaps I found at Trader Joe's. Unfortunately, I learned to like them too and before long I watched my weight balloon up by simply eating more of these than was smart. Here is the upside though. First, I found that these snaps in particular gave me a stress reduction better than anything else I found. When things became challenging I'd grab the ginger snaps tub and go sit down and share them with my mom. She loved them and so did I and it is amazing how well this one little treat worked to help cut my stress during that very stressful time. I'm not sure if it was the great taste or the ginger that caused this, or maybe just sitting down with my mom, but it was a great thing to look forward to.
Ginger for Tennis Players
Now for the tennis upside. Tennis doesn't generally need stress reduction treats, though I can recommend taking along some snaps for some match energy or if things aren't going well. The benefit I am talking about are inflammation reduction. I can tell you that I noticed a major reduction in arthritic pain by adding Ginger to my diet. The cookies just happened to be the way I did it initially because it was a pleasant snack. I often had to climb four flights of stairs dozens of times a day in my mom's townhouse in Annapolis during that caregiver phase and it was tough on my already heavily overused knees and hips from decades of sports. I noticed the difference when I stopped eating the ginger snaps. I had gained so much weight from eating them all the time that I decided to go cold turkey and stop completely. About that time my mom had given up eating anything but soft foods like rice pudding and Ensure drinks so it was an easier choice than it might have been had those tubs of snaps still been there to tempt me. Again, it was the stress reduction and pure wonderful taste of these things kept me going at times. Funny huh.
My Experience
Well, once I stopped eating those snaps I began to notice my joints began to hurt more. It had to be the ginger or now the lack of it since that was the only thing that changed in my diet. Rather than go back to the tub of cookies I decided to find a supplement of some kind. First I tried raw ginger which can also be found at Trader Joe's and most other grocery stores. That required finding ways to add it to food and took time to cut it up etc. Over time I found ginger supplements on Amazon in capsule form that contained ginger powder. Sometimes I'll just take apart a gel cap and dump the ginger powder into a recipe or when cooking chicken or fish. Also, you can find ginger in a spice bottle at your local grocery store. Any way that you can find the bring it into your diet is a net positive toward joint pain and inflammation. It is part of my regimen and if you are having arthritis pain and want to stay on the tennis court I found that it helps me. I haven't heard of any serious side effects from taking in Ginger and for myself I have found none. It is another tool in my battle against arthritis.
