Yes, inflammation…
The nastiest of nasties.
It is vital for the healing process. However, we all try to avoid it when possible. It can increase our pain, and the time it takes to heal an injury. It can make workouts almost pointless if your body cannot deal with the inflammation caused by working out.
And some of us have an abnormal amount of it, perhaps due to a chronic condition, or maybe due to life style choices like a poor diet.
I have been experimenting with a recipe I picked up from the very athletic, Grace Rockwell, from Zaonutrition.com.
I changed one of the ingredients and added a couple others but the purpose remains the same…modulate inflammation to improve recovery time!
Typically, I will consume it after working out to quickly help with recovery. It is relatively simple to make and has many potential variations to play around with.
While I continue to play with variations on the recipe, here are the ingredients you will need for the base recipe:
- Gynostemma Tea as a base, around 8 oz. (You could substitute green tea if desired)
- 1-inch Ginger Root
- 1-inch Turmeric Root
- Few pinches of Cayenne
- Lemon juice to taste (typically half a lemon)
How to make it:
- Begin boiling water for the Gynostemma Tea.
-
While that is going, you can trim the skin off both the ginger and turmeric roots. I generally remove most of the skin but not all as some people believe the skin holds a lot of the bioactive components. Leave too much though, and the drink can become very fibrous. The choice is yours.
- Just before the water boils, pull it and rinse your gynostemma leaves. Steep it in a little hot water for 10-20 seconds then throw this remove any possible residues of the growing, processing or handling it has undertaken before coming to you.
- Steep your gynostemma for 2-4 minutes. The longer you go, the thicker the flavor.
- Remove the tea and pour the liquid into a blender (I use a Nutribullet). The tea is really hot so you can add some extra water or ice at this point if you desire. Add the ginger, turmeric, cayenne, and lemon juice.
- Blend.
- If you didn’t add water or ice to it before, this is a good time too. Drink up.
The taste shouldn’t be a problem. I rather enjoy it.
And after that, there are endless variations to the recipe that can increase its recovery potential. I am currently experimenting with adding some shilajit powder, ground flax seeds, ashwagandha, frozen berries, and olive or coconut oils. I prefer a more liquid version of this recipe but it could easily be adapted to a smoothy type of drink.
If you have any ideas or find some combination of ingredients that work well for you, we would enjoy you sharing it with everyone. Please, leave a comment below.
Helping healing!
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navin.dabiesingh says
is drinking this once a week suffiicent enough? looks really blehh..