Gingery Turmeric Tea
Makes ► 4 servings
Total Time ► 45 minutes
INGREDIENTs —
2 teaspoons ground turmeric (or 1 - 2 tablespoons minced fresh turmeric root, if you can get it)
1 1/2 tablespoons minced ginger
10 grinds fresh black pepper
8 1/2 cups water
For each serving —
Juice of half a lemon
Honey to taste
TO MAKE IT
In a medium pot, combine the turmeric, ginger black pepper, and water. Bring a simmer. Just before it reaches a boil, reduce the heat and gently simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it cool down with the lid on.
Strain the tea into quart-size mason jars (or any other container you have - just not plastic!) using a fine-mesh strainer. Store in the refrigerator...or make a cup now.
For each serving, put 1 1/2-cups of the tea in a mug; stir in the juice of half a lemon and some honey to taste (I like it less sweet in the morning, around 1/2 teaspoon. With a little more, it becomes a treat.)
This is what you drink when you want to say,
"Hey body, thanks for being so great to me and not falling apart, even though I'm stressed out of my mind and I ate too many chocolate chip cookies in the middle of the night".
Perking up health and immunity is what a tonic is good at. And if you're disappointed that there's no gin in this tonic - sorry, it's not that kind - then you may need this healing drink the most.
From turmeric to black pepper, there's a whole lotta healing action going on in this drink. You've probably already caught word of the benefits of turmeric, praised in many health studies for being an anti-inflammatory boss of the the plant-world (that's how I think of turmeric - a fierce defender of order and tameness in the body). Turmeric's a superfood if there ever was one.
The lemon gently wakes up the digestive system and is naturally cleansing to your liver, which can get pretty beat up from filtering a daily cocktail of stress, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. Drinking it in the morning before your breakfast is most effective.
Ginger warms up circulation and metabolism, giving you a flush of energy and natural stimulation. Black pepper enables the absorption of curcumin, the active cancer-fighting ingredient in turmeric. (If it sounds weird to grind pepper into a drink, just trust! It's good.)
Inflammation: Your body’s trying to tell you something!
Inflammation acts as the body's mechanism for self-healing. Short-term, inflammation is very welcome for its ability to direct repair to damaged areas of the body, but its long-term presence raises serious trouble. Angry, inflamed tissues precede and underlie every poor health condition, from heart disease to diabetes to cancer.Where there is inflammation, there is illness.
Since inflammation can be viewed as a red flag for disease, it's a good idea to reduce and eliminate inflammation in its early stages to halt disease in its tracks. Your body has a remarkable ability to repair - even reverse - most diseases, given the right materials.
You can actively reduce inflammation every day by avoiding super-processed foods with flours and sugar, filling your plate with a rainbow of veggies and whole foods, and calling on nature's natural anti-inflammatory "drugs" like turmeric and ginger. In truth, nearly all real foods are anti-inflammatory geniuses.
Food is a powerful ally against disease. And aren't you lucky, 'cause what you eat is under your control! Now, start with some tea...