Ginger: Gastroparesis Super Food
Take a peek in my fridge, purse or pantry, and you’ll find some form of ginger in each one. I’m a big fan of natural remedies that actually work and not only is ginger a time-tested treatment for nausea and digestive discomfort, it’s also been shown to speed gastric emptying. If it’s not currently part of your management plan, I encourage you to give it a try. There’s a wide variety of ginger products available, so here’s a rundown of my favorites.
Tea – Perfect for late night (or middle-of-the-night) bouts of nausea, ginger tea can be made from fresh ginger or from purchased tea bags. Try drinking a cup about 30 minutes before meals to stimulate gastric juices or after meals to aid digestion. My favorite: Traditional Medicinals Organic Ginger tea.
Soda - There’s a reason your mom gave you ginger ale when you had an upset stomach — it works! If you find that the carbonation exacerbates bloating or belching, let the soda sit open for a while before drinking. Some brands don’t actually contain real ginger, so check the ingredient label and avoid high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners if possible. My favorite: Zevia Ginger Ale, which is made with the stevia, an herbal sweetener. (Zevia doesn’t taste quite like “regular” ginger ale, so if that’s what I’m craving, I choose Canada Dry since it’s now made with sugar instead of HFCS.)
Syrup - Ginger syrup, also called tonic, is usually a mixture of ginger extract and honey. It can be taken directly off the spoon (like cough syrup), stirred into hot water, mixed with tonic water, or even added to smoothies. My favorite: New Chapter Ginger Honey Tonic.
Gum - As I’ve mentioned before, chewing gum can help alleviate reflux and may enhance digestion. I’ve found ginger gum less effective than other ginger remedies, but if you’re going to be chewing gum anyway, it’s certainly worth a try. My favorite: Sea-Band Anti-Nausea Ginger Gum, which I reviewed last year.
Capsules - The study I referenced in the beginning of this post utilized ginger filled capsules, which are inexpensive and readily available. If you’re able to easily swallow and absorb pills, then taking 1,000 mg two to three times a day is one of the easiest ways to reap the benefits of ginger. My favorite: Solaray Organic Ginger Root Capsules.
Crystallized/Candied Ginger – These chewy, bite-size pieces of preserved ginger are sweet, spicy and very effective for alleviating nausea. (Not that while some GPers swear by it, others find it too fibrous. It depends on personal tolerance/preference.) My favorite: The Ginger People Organic Crystallized Ginger or the organic crystallized ginger in bulk foods at Wegmans.
Ginger Candies – Less intense and certainly more kid-friendly than crystallized ginger, ginger candies come in both hard and soft varieties. They’re great to keep in your purse or pocket while you’re out and about, especially while traveling. For kids with GP, sucking on ginger candies can be a discrete way to manage nausea during the school day. My favorites: Gin-Gins hard candy and Ginger Chews from the The Ginger People.
Cookies – No, I don’t recommend eating ginger cookies as a primary strategy for managing symptoms, but they can help to settle the stomach. I prefer homemade, but you can find low-fat ginger snaps in the grocery store. Just make sure ginger is actually listed as an ingredient! My favorite: my recipe for Gingerbread GPers.
Note: All of the products listed can be found in the new Living with Gastroparesis Shop, powered by Amazon.
Related Posts:
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
10 Responses to “Ginger: Gastroparesis Super Food”
Leave a Reply
If you are looking for a non-carbonated ginger ale, Ginger Soother by the Ginger People tastes just like a ‘flat’ ginger ale!
Ooh, thanks for sharing that, April! I haven’t tried that one.
great list. I think I’ll try the hard candies with my daughter…she’d have to go to the nurse to suck on one…but it’s better than her sitting in class feeling poorly.
Funny, I use ginger all the time for MY nausea…I never thought about trying it with her.
I’m so glad to hear that you don’t have to take as much Zofran anymore! Crystallized ginger works wonders for me, too, and I look forward to trying the syrup.
I don’t know about anybody else but when I was in a giant flare even the fibers in candied ginger bothered me. It wasn’t until I sucked on Gin-gins and sipped ginger tea that I got some relief.
Good reminder that we all need to find our own “best practices,” MK! That’s one of my favorite things about ginger as a nausea remedy — there are so many ways to utilize it and at least one is bound to be well-tolerated.
I’ve actually found some candied ginger is less fibrous than others. My absolute favorite is sold in the bulk food section at Wegmans. It’s more chewy than stringy; the texture reminds me of gum drops. The Ginger People product I listed is also very good, but a bit stringier.
[...] information was provided, I imagine it’s in reference to the Winter Vegetable Soup and the ginger treats I recently told you about, as well as my Eating for Gastroparesis eBook, which features recipes [...]
[...] all ginger lovers: the 8.5 oz. boxes of Ginger People’s Ginger Chews Trio is currently on sale for [...]
[...] treats: perfectly chewy, sweet and spicy…and of course they’re full of ginger, a gastroparesis super food. Below you’ll find the basic recipe, as well instructions for both the cut-out and the drop [...]
If you really have an itch for something crunchy (like a cookie), the Triple Ginger Snaps at Trader Joe’s are delicious and you can actually see the chewy chunks of ginger right in them! I’ll eat a couple as a sweet treat on a good day.