It's Winter, You're Disgusting Self Care Guide prt 1

Jk, the other kind of ginger

An actual serious picture because I had to google it in order to find the root in Whole Foods.

by Sadie

We have made it to the dead of winter, folks.  Now we have to survive.  I have several hippy dippy homeopathic-ish tricks up my sleeve that I will be sharing to help see us through.  So far these simple tricks have helped me stay off a bitchy warpath when all I really want to do is flounder in my winter misery.  First up is my world famous (read: newly introduced into my daily routine) Anti-Crappy Morning Elixir.

This bad boy looks scary, but is in fact quick, easy and delicious.  It harnesses the power of fresh ginger, turmeric, lemons, and hot water and makes you feel like a yoga surf babe when you are really a netflix lasagna babe.  What are the benefits of these ingredients?  Let me enlighten you with some quality cutting and pasting of my internet searches.

Lemon: Lotsa vitamin C which not only keeps you healthy, but also apparently leads to younger looking skin.  Has a good amount of potassium, aides digestion, and helps you feel full longer. 

Ginger: Super powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.  Aides digestion, nausea, and cold and flu symptoms.  Also very delicious. 

Turmeric: Anti-inflammatory, super antioxidant that actually stimulates other antioxidants already in your body.  Some studies even go so far as to claim curcumin (found in turmeric) can stave off Alzheimers, increase brain activity and help with depression.  I'll buy it because why not and at the very least the placebo effect will help me live a longer and happier life. Sold.

Mix these suckers together and BAM, you have a delicious elixir to slip in your morning hot water.  Sip while you are making your other magic morning elixir (coffee) or while you are on your morning commute.  You will feel radiant and smug for the rest of the day.

Anti-Crappy Morning Elixir Recipe

• 6 lemons
• 4 inches of peeled fresh ginger
• 3 inches of peeled fresh turmeric (found at whole foods or other such foo foo grocers)
• pinch of black pepper

Juice the lemons into a measuring cup and set aside.  Put the fresh ginger and turmeric in a blender with 2 table spoons of lemon juice and blend until you have an orange paste.  Pour the paste into a metal strainer a little at a time.  Place strainer over the measuring cup with juiced lemons and use a spoon to squish the paste around to get all the juice out.  Discard the dry paste and pour some more wet paste into the strainer.  Continue until you have strained all the ginger/turmeric paste.  Add your sprinkle of black pepper to the liquid and stir around.  You can stop here and spoon 1-2 table spoons into about a cup of hot water every morning.  I like to take a little extra step to make my mornings even easier.  A stitch in time saves nine, or whatever that saying is.  At this point I like to add water to the mixture to dilute it enough to fill two ice cube trays.  That way, I can just pop an ice cube into my boiling water every morning and have an effortless yet delicious morning drink in seconds.  I usually add 1.5 cups of water to the mixture since I use a pretty small thermos and it helps keep the flavor ratio in check.  I've used pure elixir ice cubes in the past and it is tasty, but quite a zing.  A little too much for me first thing in the morning.  Feel free to add some honey to your tea for those days when you need a little extra boost of sweetness to clear your resting bitch face.