Just because I haven’t posted about my healthy living adventure doesn’t mean I gave up…just crazy busy! I even forgot to weigh-in this month!! May is already right around the corner so I will wait until then. I am expecting my numbers to be about the same as the beginning of March. However, now that my life has calmed down a bit and I no longer have daily commitments eating up my time I can and have been walking at least a half hour each day. I also plan to add some light weightlifting to my routine in a week or two.

During this past month I did an experiment with ginger. I’ve been taking ginger for a few months and I believed it was helping me with my finger and knee-joint pains. I told everyone about it. As I felt less pain I wondered if it was really due to ginger or to my new exercise and eating habits. Maybe I was delusional and had psyched myself to believe in ginger!? I was beginning to doubt myself and feared that I sounded like some sort of convert to the ginger religion. Maybe it was all in my head! So I decided to test the healing benefits of ginger and removed it from my diet.

I didn’t notice any difference the first week or so after quitting ginger. By the second week without ginger I felt the pain. I never knew how useful my pinky finger was until everything caused it pain. The inflammation in my hands became so painful that I had trouble holding a cup of tea with one hand. My knees began to ache and I became aware of a weakness within them while trying to exercise. I started having trouble with my hands and noticed a loss of strength. After two weeks without ginger I hurt so much that I took ibuprofen and wanted to cry.

I’m not crazy. I wasn’t psyching myself out. Ginger works!!! I restarted ginger this week. I know it will take time to build its effects back up in my body and begin working again. Which is why I am waiting a week or two before beginning a weight lifting routine. Ginger takes away the pain and swelling in my joints. It helps me recover the lack of strength in my knees, fingers and wrists. Ginger is now, and likely forever will be, a constant in my diet. I’ll start sharing my favorite ginger recipes with you next week. I can’t cook with it since the rest of my family despises ginger. I drink chai every day and have a lovely ginger salad dressing recipe I’ll share with you next week.

I chat on here a lot about the physical side of choosing a healthier life style. The truth is there is more spirituality involved than I write about. My friend Claire writes about the spiritual side of seeking a healthier lifestyle. She has two honest and amazing posts you should consider reading here and here.  Her honest and candid posts speak directly into my heart. She is the reason I share and write these healthy living posts.

Also, I personally believe that when God created all plants that Jesus personally kissed and blessed the ginger plant. If you run into me I will extol the blessed benefits of ginger till the day I die.