Photograph by the author, Deeann D. Mathews
Meet my three friends, the lemon, the ginger root, and the cayenne pepper. Sleeping and waking, they are my daily pals – two fruits and a root, so none of them TECHNICALLY a herb, but, I do what works for me.
Ginger, cooked right, is both sweet and hot as a spice – most often I slice it thin without peeling it, boil it hard for 10-20 minutes, and simmer it for an hour. It makes a golden, fragrant tea that I combine with lemon, and sometimes honey or molasses … the latter gives that deep taste of winter and holiday treats, and the former more of a warm summer night. I like my tea strong, so for every 16 ounces of water I simmer out about a thumb-sized piece of ginger and use a whole lemon (or lime when they are on sale).
The other advantage of the ginger and lemon regime at night is that it tames my allergies – the extra vitamin C also helps with that, and gets the body calm and the circulation running well but calmly before bed. If I have a huge sinus flareup, the best thing for me to do is to take my antihistamine in conjunction with the ginger tea – I wake up with total relief or just about to clear out. However, what generally happens is that I get huge sinus flareups only when I miss my ginger and lemon regime for several days or allow too much sugar in my diet – if I am correcting for that, I do ginger and lemon with zero sweeteners until things have calmed down again.
I tend to make a pitcher's worth of ginger tea when I make it, and juice lemons as I go, but, for variety and more vitamin C, I will sometimes juice the lemons and boil the peels out with the thinly sliced ginger for 20 minutes, and then simmer for 20 minutes, strain, cool, and then add the lemon juice back. This creates a wonderfully fragrant, citrus-dominant drink with a smooth mouth feel. Most often I enjoy this without any sweetener, but a spoonful of honey, molasses or a slightly smaller spoonful of brown sugar is delightful in this when hot.
If I have done my lemon and ginger at night to assist my rest, to wake up, the only thing I need to do is add a pinch up to a quarter-teaspoon of cayenne powder. Hot peppers pick the metabolism up and get the circulation picked up – no caffeine, no jitters, no stomach problems (although, granted, too much cayenne if you are not used to it can cause problems – start SLOW).
Sometimes I will do the lemon and cayenne alone with a little spoon of honey or molasses – ginger and cayenne together can be too intense a starter while my home city is largely boycotting winter. Ginger has a deep, calm warmth to me, and cayenne has that get up and go type of heat – like pinches of dynamite! In terms of waking up in the morning, cayenne will EASILY overpower the sleepier effects of ginger, but the heat can be a bit too much when they are combined if it is just not cold enough to balance the heat.
I live in San Francisco, CA, and for two years in a row, in November we were getting up to the low and mid-60s, and in late January we returned to the low to mid-60s! Staying awake and alert all day is great, but sweating until lunchtime is not unless it is a morning I can devote to exercise!
But, suppose I have a day off ... I might start the day with lemon and ginger again, without cayenne ... makes for a restful, mellow day for the body, and the citrus-dominant variation is super mellow and satisfying. It is mid-winter ... I do tend to take this time of year and rest more, not push too hard, not overdo, and sometimes taking lemon and ginger during the day is a good physical support to staying calm and not doing too much. I powered through the fall and used the cayenne most days ... but I have chosen fewer "power through" days for the winter except for taking advantage of the fine weather for exercise!
So, my three friends, the lemon, the ginger root, and the cayenne pepper – they go with me on the bookends of the day. At the time I am writing this I am about to have lemon and ginger with a spoon of molasses and go to my nightly rest, and by the time you read this, I will have had my lemon and cayenne with MAYBE some ginger depending on whether San Francisco is going to act like winter actually exists tomorrow – gotta be fully awake for the chores of the day, but not jittery or sweaty when handling some BIG business later on! I know my three friends have got my back!
Tagging @owasco to join this challenge with her wealth of earth-healing knowledge!