Ginger,

Ginger, the powerful herb used as a spice in many dishes, can also be used as a treatment for a variety of ailments. Whether dried, fresh, in juice form or as a powder in a pill, ginger has many therapeutic properties. Here are some to just name a few.

1. Cold Remedy: Drinking homemade ginger tea (which by the way, I'm addicted to), can help relieve congestion, that icky symptom of the common cold.
2. Soothes Sore Muscles: Two separate studies showed that participants who had sore muscles due to a variety of exercises and who took ginger supplements had a reduction in pain of almost 25 percent compared to the placebo group. This study demonstrated ginger's healing anti-inflammatory properties.
3. Motion Sickness: Put me in the back seat of a car and it's a nauseous nightmare. Several studies have found ginger to be effective against nausea from seasickness and other motion sickness related conditions. Taking just two capsules of ginger in powdered form can delay the onset of sickness about twice as long as antinausea medication. And not only that, but another study showed that ginger improved the symptoms of nausea and vomiting in pregnant women and is a low-risk effective treatment.

What else can ginger do?

4. Digestive Health: It's claimed that the compounds within ginger can stimulate digestive secretions, improve intestinal muscle tone, and helps move food through the gastrointestinal tract.

If you do decide to take ginger for any of the above, keep in mind that you should not ingest more than four grams of ginger daily and for motion sickness prevention, take one gram of powdered ginger (1/2 tsp) or its equivalent, every four hours as needed (not to exceed four doses daily), or two ginger capsules (1 gram), three times daily. If pills and powder aren't your thing, you can also chew on a piece of fresh ginger or a piece of ginger candy.

Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Nicole Perry