Is Ginger Hot or Warm?

[Guest guest]

Ginger fresh and dry has a 'hot' taste - but it's effect is not

heating it is a simple warming stimulation. It is a useful herb in

all defeciency states. The proof that this herb is not 'hot' is it

does not stress the Yin in any way in those who are Yin defecient.

In fact this herb is helpful in many excessive states as well as

defeciency. Millions of people take ginger as an item of food

everyday with no negative effects. All 'cold' symptoms will benefit

even those with strong 'false' heat symptoms. No need to worry about

this herb. Fresh ginger is a better medicine in general than dry but

dry is often used and of course it is more convenient. In my home

place ginger is a major medicine and a food used from infancy to

death. My father who is a Master healer uses it reguarly as a

balancing substance with food. It has no equal for stagnation

processes in the stomach - such as nausea.

 

There is no comparison whatsoever between ginger and Aconite (and

other Yang stimulating herbs). The major difference is that hot

substances that act as CNS stimulants must be approached with

caution in all over stimulated people - but ginger is not a CNS

stimulant and can not over rev the Yang or stress the Yin - in fact

it's warming qualaties can much benefit the over stimulated and

contracted nerves by soothing and relaxing - in fact many famous

medicines include warming substances that do not stimulate the CNS

along with diuretics as standard tranquilizers. Ginger is reguarly

used along with 'cold' herbs to balance the tendancy to cause

stagnations. I reccomend all those suffering defeciency with cold

symptoms to take ginger several times a day - it is very helpful

with no side effects at all in standard doses. Large doses on an

empty stomach is not intelligent but few would do this. Please take

all herbs and foods in moderate amounts. Large doses of any

substance can imbalance if the taste is excessive - remember my

frequent caution against taking excessive qualaties without an

experts advice. Excessive qualaties create a medicinal effect that

can potentially imbalance.

 

If one takes any substance that disturbs in any way then of course

stop. In the case of ginger I have never seen any negative effects

in the thousands I have personally observed taking it.

[Guest guest]

> Ginger fresh and dry has a 'hot' taste - but it's effect is not

> heating it is a simple warming stimulation. It is a useful herb in

> all defeciency states. The proof that this herb is not 'hot' is it

> does not stress the Yin in any way in those who are Yin defecient.

> In fact this herb is helpful in many excessive states as well as

> defeciency. Millions of people take ginger as an item of food

> everyday with no negative effects. All 'cold' symptoms will benefit

> even those with strong 'false' heat symptoms.

 

How about cinnamon in this regard - science is suggesting this may be useful

for insulin resistance but...?

 

Jackie

 

 

 

--

 

 

Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.5.3/331 - Release 03/05/2006

[Guest guest]

According to various Materia Medicas - including Dan Bensky's and

Andrew Gamble's Chinese Herbal Medicine Materia Medica - the thermal

energy of raw ginger is warm (p. 37) but that of dried ginger is hot

(p. 300).

 

I'm going into some detail here so the people on the list who are

new to TCM can follow the discussion.

 

A Chinese Materia Medica is a list of all the healing substances

used in TCM (Traditional ). Think of it as an

herbal PDR.

 

All substances which are consumed will have either a heating,

cooling, or neutral effect on the body. Some Western writers refer

to this as the substance's " thermal energy " . TCM classifies thermal

energy as hot, warm, neutral, cool, or cold. (Sometimes it will be

better to use an herb which is cool instead of cold, or warm instead

of hot.)

 

Dried ginger is used to Warm the Interior (the trunk of the body,

specifically the Organs) whereas raw ginger is used to Warm and

Release the Exterior (the head, neck, arms, legs, skin, muscles,

meridians, and bones).

 

The thermal energy of an herb is a consensus among herbalists. For

most of the substances listed in the Materia Medica the consensus

goes back centuries. There are some recent additions which only go

back decades. (Like American ginseng.)

 

Part of the training of an herbalist at some schools is to taste an

unknown herb and identify the taste(s) (sweet, sour, salty, bitter,

or acrid or in some cases bland) and the thermal energy. The health

balance of the person doing the testing is going to influence what

the person perceives as the thermal energy (and in some cases even

the taste). For example, when I was the sickest and had some severe

Cold problems, I didn't perceive ginger tea as being hot but warm.

Slightly warming at that. A person whose health is good probably

would perceive it as hot. A person who is too hot probably would

perceive it as having an extreme heating effect on the body.

 

The foods that a person eats regularly also are going to effect the

perceived thermal effect. For example, if one is used to authenic

Mexican cooking or Somoan or certain Indian cuisines, it's going to

take something that is very hot (very heating) to be perceived

as " hot " .

 

Bensky and Gamble list the following " Cautions and

Contraindications " :

 

" Contraindicated in cases of yin deficiency with heat signs, or the

reckless movement of hot blood. Use with caution during pregnancy. "

(p. 301)

 

A lot of beginning TCM students wonder exactly what " yin deficiency

with heat signs " means. Doesn't Yin Deficiency always result in

Deficiency Heat (Heat caused by there not being enough Yin to

properly cool the body)? No, it doesn't. Sometimes there will be

Yin Deficiency without Heat signs. There are several reasons why

this can occur. One of them is that the person's Yang Deficiency

(not enough Yang to warm the body properly) is so much greater than

the person's Yin Deficieny that the Yang Deficiency symptoms and

signs completely or near completely mask the signs and symptoms of

the Yin Deficiency.

 

Vinod put it better when he said " it does not stress the Yin in any

way in those who are Yin defecient " . So when you see that

phase " yin deficiency with heat signs " (and you'll see it a lot),

know that it means that even though the substance has warm or even

hot thermal energy, it's not going to harm the Yin. However, it is

going to make the person hotter, and if the person already is too

hot (either from Deficiency Heat (not enough Yin to cool the body

properly) or from Excess Heat), this could be a problem for the

individual.

 

Something else to keep in mind is that cultures that use ginger a

lot in cooking frequently are balancing the dishes or the meals as a

whole with foods that are cooling. When herbalists concoct formulas

for individuals, they use the same principle. Say for example that

there are other properties of ginger that a too-Hot individual needs

and there's not an herb with those exact properties that can be

substituted for ginger. One thing that the herbalist can do is to

include other herbs with Cool or Cold thermal energy in the formula

to bring the overall average thermal energy of the formula to

neutral or even cool. That way the person gets the properties of

ginger which he or she needed without additional heat being added.

 

There is another way of categorizing herbs that Bensky and Gamble

don't go into that much. Is the herb a food herb (one that can be

consumed fairly regularly), one that should be consumed briefly, or

one that should only be used when there is an outstanding need? This

can be extremely important. For example, both dried ginger and

aconite have Hot thermal energy and are classified as Herbs That

Warm the Interior. But ginger is safe for most people to consume as

part of meals. Aconite is a toxic herb that should only be used in

certain extreme cases. In some states one cannot even buy aconite

unless one is an OMD (Oriental Medical Doctor), MD, or DO. Ginger

can be bought in practically any supermarket. There also is a list

of herbs that aconite should not be taken with because they react

badly with each other. Not to mention the extra cautions and

contraindications like making sure it's not a case of Yin Deiciency

with False Cold - True Heat.

 

The best analogy I can come up with to compare the Hot thermal

energy of ginger and that of aconite is to compare them both to 500

watt bulbs. They're both classified as " 500 watts " (Hot), but

taking a dose of ginger is like flipping on one or two of those 500

watt bulbs whereas taking a dose of aconite is like flipping on a

dozen or more 500 watt bulbs.

 

Chinese Traditional Medicine , " Vinod Kumar " <vinod3x3

wrote:

>

> Ginger fresh and dry has a 'hot' taste - but it's effect is not

> heating it is a simple warming stimulation. It is a useful herb in

> all defeciency states. The proof that this herb is not 'hot' is it

> does not stress the Yin in any way in those who are Yin defecient.

> In fact this herb is helpful in many excessive states as well as

> defeciency. Millions of people take ginger as an item of food

> everyday with no negative effects. All 'cold' symptoms will

benefit

> even those with strong 'false' heat symptoms. No need to worry

about

> this herb. Fresh ginger is a better medicine in general than dry

but

> dry is often used and of course it is more convenient. In my home

> place ginger is a major medicine and a food used from infancy to

> death. My father who is a Master healer uses it reguarly as a

> balancing substance with food. It has no equal for stagnation

> processes in the stomach - such as nausea.

>

> There is no comparison whatsoever between ginger and Aconite (and

> other Yang stimulating herbs). The major difference is that hot

> substances that act as CNS stimulants must be approached with

> caution in all over stimulated people - but ginger is not a CNS

> stimulant and can not over rev the Yang or stress the Yin - in

fact

> it's warming qualaties can much benefit the over stimulated and

> contracted nerves by soothing and relaxing - in fact many famous

> medicines include warming substances that do not stimulate the CNS

> along with diuretics as standard tranquilizers. Ginger is reguarly

> used along with 'cold' herbs to balance the tendancy to cause

> stagnations. I reccomend all those suffering defeciency with cold

> symptoms to take ginger several times a day - it is very helpful

> with no side effects at all in standard doses. Large doses on an

> empty stomach is not intelligent but few would do this. Please

take

> all herbs and foods in moderate amounts. Large doses of any

> substance can imbalance if the taste is excessive - remember my

> frequent caution against taking excessive qualaties without an

> experts advice. Excessive qualaties create a medicinal effect that

> can potentially imbalance.

>

> If one takes any substance that disturbs in any way then of course

> stop. In the case of ginger I have never seen any negative effects

> in the thousands I have personally observed taking it.

>