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[00:00] Now, we've got to talk about heartburn. You see, heartburn is probably one of the most important things we can use ginger to help reduce. There's millions of people around the world that are struggling with heartburn. And ginger is the most effective natural treatment for this condition. This is because heartburn is related to low stomach acid production. I know that seems weird because you feel like you've got stomach acid, you do have stomach acid actually jumping into your esophagus. So you think you have too much acid, but most cases of heartburn are actually too little stomach acid. One of the most common root causes for reflux and heartburn is— Welcome back to the podcast. This is a audio recording of one of my most popular YouTube videos. It's on the number one herb for gut health, joint pain and heartburn. And so this is something I personally use on a regular basis. It is an amazing herb. Well, really it's a root and we're gonna break all that down. You're gonna learn exactly what this is and how to use it properly to support your gut, your joints, to reduce heartburn and support overall digestion. So you guys are in for a treat here. Take a moment, leave us a five-star review if you're listening to this on Apple iTunes or Spotify, wherever you're listening to it. Leave us a review. Share it with somebody that you know and that you care about. And if you're looking for detailed, personalized health coaching, we offer that at drjockers.com. Send us an email at info at drjockers.com. Any health questions you have, the place to email us is info at drjockers.com. And also, if you're looking for health coaching, just type in healthcoaching at drjockers.com. We'll be happy to help you with any questions and obviously set you up with one of our great health coaches where they will do a detailed health history, look at any lab testing you've had or help order, help you order lab testing and customize a protocol based on your lab testing and your detailed health history. This is one-on-one health coaching, so not group health coaching. We have the best health coaches in the world, so just email us at info at drjockers.com and we're going to jump right into the episode, but first we've got a message from one of our sponsors. God bless you guys. Thanks so much for being a part of our podcast community and let's go into this message from our sponsor. I have great news. You can regrow your hair. You see, scientists in Switzerland have made a stark discovery. Hair loss doesn't have anything to do with age. In fact, it has to do with your hair follicles getting turned off and now they found out how to turn them back on. 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To access this exclusive buy one, get one free deal and turn your hair follicles back on, simply visit renewyourhair.com/drj. That's renewyourhair.com/drj to start regrowing your hair today. Hey, Dr. Jockers here. We're talking about the number one herb for gut health, joint pain and heartburn. Almost every culture has historically used this herb or the root for its powerful ability to enhance immunity, improve digestion and reduce inflammation. It has been made into medicinal teas as well as a number of unhealthy products, things like beers, sodas, bread, snap cookies, biscuits and more. Have you guessed what it is? It's ginger. Ginger is a flowering plant whose rhizome or root has been traced back to Southeast Asia, where it has been used for culinary and medicinal purposes for over 5,000 years and is now one of the most commonly used medicinal roots in the world. In this video, I am going to review the active compounds in ginger and how they impact our body and help to stop nausea, heal the gut, reduce heartburn and joint inflammation and improve our immune system and prevent cancer. I am also going to review the best ways to use ginger to get these great benefits. So let's get started. Now first, ginger is one of the most antioxidant-rich foods with an impressive oxygen-radical absorbency capacity score. That's a measure of its ability to deal with oxidative stress and inflammation. You see, oxidative stress is what damages the mitochondria in all the cells of our body. The more damaged our mitochondria are, that damaged mitochondria will actually release compounds that increase inflammation. So inflammation comes out as a response to high amounts of oxidative stress within our cells. When we look at ginger, we realize that ginger is composed of several volatile oils that give it its characteristic flavor and odor, and they also have really powerful antioxidant benefits. It's going to be things like zingerone, shaggials, paradols, and gingerols. Again, these oils are powerful antimicrobials. They have antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and antiparasitic agents within them. In addition, they inhibit cancer cell formation while firing up our body's own inborn ability to destroy the cancer cells that were present in our system. So let's review these unique compounds. Gingerols are found abundantly in fresh ginger. So if you were to get a ginger supplement, or if you were to get dry ginger, there's going to be less overall gingerols. Gingerols possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer properties. They turn up autophagy, where the body breaks down all damaged cellular organelles, like mitochondria, damaged mitochondria, and recycles it. They also turn up apoptosis. That's programmed cell death. So when cells have become so damaged that they can't be metabolized and recycled, we need to kill them off. These are typically what we call zombie cells. Zombie cells have lost their normal function, and they're actually really problematic for our body because they will actually release chemicals, inflammatory agents, inflammatory metabolites that poison all the cells around them. The way we get rid of these is through programmed cell death. Something called apoptosis. Those zombie cells have lost their normal apoptotic switch, and they don't die, they stay alive forever. But guess what? Ginger has compounds that will actually turn up apoptosis and get rid of these zombie cells, and overall protect our genetics, protect our genome from damage. So another compound is shaggails, and they're the major phenols. They're the phenolic compounds in dry ginger. They have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer effects. They inhibit cell invasion and stop cancer cell proliferation. So when cells start to become damaged, they start to literally spew their contents and invade into other cells. This is kind of how a tumor forms. And so the shaggails help prevent against that. There's another compound called a paradol. This has antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-cancer properties. And then you have terpenes. Ginger contains terpenes which act as antioxidants and adaptogens. Terpenes are compounds that we find in a lot of our adaptogens. Things like ashwagandha and rhodiola. Well, we also have them in ginger. And they contribute to the spicy flavor of the ginger root. And they act like a thermostat. So if our body needs to be heated up a little bit, ginger will heat us up. If we need to be cooled down a little bit, ginger can actually act to cool us down. It's an adaptogen. It helps us adapt to stress in our environment. Ginger has also been classically used to improve digestion. In fact, nine different compounds within ginger have been found to stimulate serotonin receptors in the gut. By stimulating those serotonin receptors, it reduces gut-related inflammation and enhances nutrient absorption. Ginger is classified in herbal medicine as a carminative. That means it's very effective at reducing intestinal gas and soothing the intestinal tract while also improving gut motility. That means you get less gas, less cramping, and better overall bowel movements. Now, ginger is also quite famous for its ability to reduce nausea, and this includes fever-related nausea, motion sickness, and morning sickness that is commonly seen during pregnancy. And that's really important to note that ginger is actually very safe to use during pregnancy, unlike many other medicinal herbs. There's a lot of herbs, things like milk thistle. That is a great herb, but I don't recommend it during pregnancy. It can impact the developing child, right? But ginger is perfectly safe to take while you're pregnant. Now, ginger is also great at improving liver function and bile production. That means you detox and excrete waste more effectively when you use ginger. You see, bile is needed to break down fats. It's produced in your liver and it's stored in your gallbladder. So even if you don't have a gallbladder, you need good bile flow. It's produced in the liver. You can't live without a liver. So even if you've had your gallbladder taken out, you still have a liver that's producing bile all the time. And that bile is needed to break down fats and absorb key fat-soluble nutrients, things like vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K. One of the reasons why ginger is so good for your digestive system is that it stimulates the vagus nerve and it activates parasympathetic function. Parasympathetic function means we're in a state of healing, relaxation and digestion. It's the opposite of the sympathetic nervous system, which is associated with fight or flight. Most people are in sympathetic dominance, so they're constantly in the state of fight or flight. We want to activate the parasympathetic nervous system so we can relax, heal and digest our food. That's what ginger does. In fact, just taking a little bit of ginger root will activate your vagus nerve and your parasympathetic nervous system and turn on digestive juice production. That means it activates the production of stomach acid, bile and pancreatic enzymes to help the body metabolize food and absorb the nutrients more effectively. So if you're dealing with digestive challenges, I highly encourage you to try out ginger in your diet and health routine. You can use ginger tea on a daily basis. It's a great way to begin. A lot of people enjoy kind of a warm ginger tea first thing in the morning or with meals or even at night before you go to bed. We also have a fantastic de-inflaming ginger ale recipe that I'll share at the end of this video. Chronic sleep issues don't just wreck your productivity. They can impact everything from blood sugar balance and inflammation to brain health, stress resilience and healthy aging. That's why getting better sleep is hands down one of the best things you can do for your health and quality of life. Unfortunately, one in three adults don't get enough sleep and nearly 60 million Americans struggle with sleep issues each year. And it's not for a lack of trying. One of the most common things I see in practice is people doing many of the right things for sleep and still not sleeping well. Most of us have tried melatonin, magnesium and herbal teas, yet we might still struggle to fall asleep, stay asleep or wake up feeling truly restored. That's why I always remind people that sleep is not controlled by just one pathway. Your body has to calm the nervous system, produce the right sleep signals, maintain stable blood sugar through the night, and stay asleep long enough to complete the restorative phases of sleep. When one or more of those pieces is off, sleep quality suffers. That's also why so many conventional sleep aids fall short. Most only target one part of the process. So if you're looking for a cleaner, more holistic option, I want to share one I recommend from Paleo Valley. For a limited time, they're offering 15% off Superfood Sleep Protein. What I like about this formula is that it naturally supports sleep as a full body process, rather than simply trying to sedate you. It only uses whole food ingredients that won't leave you groggy, like whole food melatonin from tomatoes, to support your natural circadian rhythm. Magnesium to help promote relaxation and healthy neurotransmitter activity. Chamomile and reishi to help the body unwind and adapt to stress. And grass fed bone broth protein, which naturally provides naturally occurring glycine to support relaxation, deeper sleep and overnight recovery. All these work together to help your body relax, transition into sleep more naturally and stay asleep more consistently. So if you've been chasing better quality sleep without any luck, give your body all the building blocks it needs for a good night's rest, every night. Try out Paleo Valley Sleep Protein today and save 15% by going to paleovalley.com/jockers. Again, that's paleovalley.com/jockers. That saves you 15% off on the Paleo Valley Superfood Sleep Protein. Remember, quality sleep is one of the most powerful tools for healing, recovery, brain function, metabolic health and healthy aging. If you've been looking for a more natural whole food approach to better sleep, Paleo Valley Superfood Sleep Protein is the one I recommend. Go to paleovalley.com/jockers to save 15% off today. Now, we've got to talk about heartburn. You see, heartburn is probably one of the most important things we can use ginger to help reduce. There's millions of people around the world that are struggling with heartburn and ginger is the most effective natural treatment for this condition. This is because heartburn is related to low stomach acid production. I know that seems weird because you feel like you've got stomach acid. You do have stomach acid actually jumping into your esophagus. You think you have too much acid, but most cases of heartburn are actually too little stomach acid. You see, stomach acid is critical for disinfecting the food that's coming into your stomach and metabolizing protein and absorbing key minerals and it also activates bile release from the liver and the gallbladder. One of the most common root causes for reflux and heartburn is H pylori overgrowth in the stomach. Now, I've done previous videos on H pylori, but it's important to know this bacteria releases toxins that shut down stomach acid production. So when you don't produce enough stomach acid, the food will literally sit in your stomach, it will rot and produce gas and that gas will push open the esophageal sphincter and allow stomach acid and food to actually jump up into the esophagus, which will burn the esophagus, will trigger heartburn, the sensation of heartburn, and it will damage the esophagus. This is how heartburn is created. And if you were to just take a proton pump inhibitor or some sort of acid blocker, you're not actually getting to the root cause and you're actually blocking your ability to digest protein effectively, to digest and absorb key minerals like magnesium, calcium and zinc as well as iron. And you're also creating an environment that's right for the overgrowth of H pylori, parasites and other unwanted pathogenic bacteria in our system. So really important that we're doing things to stimulate parasympathetic tone, vagal tone, vagus, the tone of our vagus nerve. So we can produce enough stomach acid, enough bile and enough pancreatic enzymes to digest food effectively. And the compounds in ginger, especially something called 6-Gingerol, have been shown to be highly effective against H pylori. And reducing H pylori levels helps improve our stomach acid levels. Now, ginger also provides pain relief. And it's an important part of a natural pain relief program. You see, people with chronic pain have elevated inflammation. And there's a key critical transcription factor called NFKV, or nuclear factor kappa beta, which I've done other videos on. I call the inflammation trigger. When it's activated, it amplifies the inflammation process. In particular, elevated NFKV is associated with chronic pain conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, migraines, and other inflammatory pain-related conditions. Studies have shown that ginger extract, due to the gingerols and the shaggyols, can suppress NFKV activation and reduce inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis models. Other studies have shown ginger can help reduce pain and stiffness associated with degenerative osteoarthritis. Some of those studies have found that it was comparable to naproxen, a common pain reliever, a common opioid-based pain reliever. So it can be as good as opioids. It's also been shown to be as good as ibuprofen for menstrual cramps and headaches. So all these commonly prescribed medications or over-the-counter things like ibuprofen, tons of side effects. Ibuprofen we know actually can cause stomach ulcers. It can cause all kinds of unwanted side effects, cause leaky gut syndrome. The opioids can cause addiction. Ginger can work just as good and without the side effects. So ginger also protects the mitochondria. There's a compound called 6-Gingerol that's been shown to significantly inhibit the production of a highly reactive nitrogen molecule called peroxynitrate. This peroxynitrate is highly reactive and it's one of the most devastating free radicals that our cells produce in our bodies. And it's really key for good cellular health that we keep peroxynitrate under control because peroxynitrate destroys mitochondrial function when it isn't kept in check. So again, ginger helps to protect the body's stores of glutathione and it helps reduce peroxynitrate. Glutathione is called the super antioxidant and free radical destroyers. Due to its effect on glutathione and peroxynitrate, ginger has been shown to protect the brain and the nervous system, which are the most mitochondrial dense areas from degenerative stress. So it helps protect against dementia, Alzheimer's and all forms of neurodegeneration. Ginger is also great for improving energy levels. Ginger not only boosts your mitochondria, but it's also very high in potassium, which aids in electrical energy production and detoxification. It also helps assimilate calcium and reduces inflammation in the bone tissue, aiding in the development of strong bones, nails and teeth. So what are some functional uses for ginger? Well personally, ginger is something I recommend for a majority of my clients to use on a regular basis. This includes using ginger in teas. We talked about ginger tea. But also grating the fresh root on salads and meats and in juices or smoothies. You actually get more of that sixth ginger all when ginger is fresh. So freshly ground or juiced, putting it in smoothies, juices and also on your salads. Now it's real pungent, so you don't need a whole lot to get the benefits. That's a good thing, but it's really powerful. Sometimes I recommend supplementing with detox products that have this herb, because it can help in the digestive function and liver detoxification. Ginger also helps stimulate digestive juices, things like hydrochloric acid. We talked about that from the stomach, bile from the liver and the gallbladder. And that's why it's good to have ginger on your largest meals. In the Asian culture, like for example, you think about sushi, they have dried ginger or pickled ginger. In the Asian culture, they use it on all kinds of things. So pretty much you would always eat some sort of dried ginger or pickled ginger before you start eating your meal in the Asian cultures. And that was a great habit because that would stimulate these digestive juices, it would also help stimulate bio flow, and it would help to reduce inflammation in the body, support the mitochondria, and help you digest and absorb the nutrients more effectively. So I recommend grating fresh ginger on your meat, salads, and stews. You can also use dry or powdered forms of ginger if you're not able to access fresh ginger. You can also just take like a small, like a half an inch of fresh ginger, and even just chewing on that can be really, really powerful. Now, you got to remember it's really pungent, and so you don't eat a whole lot, and it will provide you with excellent health benefits. You just got to be ready, it's going to be kind of sharp when you put it in your mouth, got to be ready for that flavor, but it's really, really good. In fact, the Europeans developed ginger ale many years ago. It was basically a fermented form of ginger with ginger and sugar, and it was thought to be a health tonic that would benefit a wide variety of ailments. People still drink ginger ale for heartburn, for indigestion, right? Of course, in the 20th century, it became highly processed and full of sugar and artificial flavorings. I don't recommend that, but again, traditional ginger ale was simply fermented ginger tea. The fermentation process activates ginger's full nutritional potential, and it produces enzymes and probiotics as well as postbiotics that help basically improve your digestion and reduce inflammation. Now, my de-inflaming ginger ale uses coconut water, which is rich in electrolytes and low in fructose. The sugar in the coconut water provides nourishment for good microbes to flourish. As they metabolize the sugar, they produce B vitamins and organic acids, these postbiotic compounds that give the drink its natural effervescence and its characteristic flavor, but also really help support your gut mitochondrial function. So you start with a coconut water kefir. So you can either ferment your own, right? And you can start with this coconut water kefir. I get it from Inner Eco, which you can find either at your local health food store or online. I'll have a link in the show notes. You take two tablespoons of the coconut water kefir, and then you add in one to two cups of coconut water. So the kefir has the bacterial starter that will eat up the sugar in the coconut water, lowering the sugar content and increasing the amount of organic acid, postbiotic compounds. You add in two to four ounces of fresh ginger, grated fresh ginger. You combine all those ingredients and let sit and ferment for twenty-four hours to provide an amazing probiotic-enriched soda alternative. It will get kind of a natural effervescence. So it may not be quite as bubbly as your normal soda, but it will have a lot lower sugar content and will still have a natural effervescence that you'll enjoy. And so it's really, really good. And I would recommend drinking a half a cup of that every day if possible. And again, you can just continue to make more. You can use that as a starter, right? And take two tablespoons of that and use that as a starter for your next batch if you want, or just continue to use the coconut water keeper from the Inner Eco. So that's really how you're going to use that. And then a couple of common questions people ask, what if my body doesn't do well with ginger? Are there anything else that I can use? Well, yeah, you can use apple cider vinegar. You can take a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in water, and that can be really helpful. So that's something that you can try. And apple cider vinegar has acetic acid, which supports the mitochondria in the intestinal cells. It's also a bitter, kind of like ginger, that helps activate the vagus nerve and helps you feel better, right? It helps you relax and stimulate the production of digestive juices. You can also use lemon or lime, and those work really well as well. But nothing quirks quite as well as ginger for all the benefits we talked about. The pain relief, the support of the gut microbiome and the intestinal cells in the gut, as well as the bile release that takes place with ginger, and the ability to absorb nutrients more effectively. There's not a true replacement for ginger. I would definitely recommend incorporating ginger into your diet on a regular basis. And of course, there are supplements with ginger that can also be beneficial as well. So hopefully you guys enjoyed this video. Please share it with anybody that you know and that you care about. We'll see you in a future video training. Be blessed. Well, that's all for this show. And I want to thank you again for spending your valuable time with me today. And if there was something you heard in this interview that you have questions on, or you want to dive into deeper, then drjockers.com is the best place to go. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider taking just a quick moment and giving us a great review. Your reviews help us influence more people and transform more lives. And if you took something valuable away from this episode, then please share it with someone in your life. You know it can help. We'll see you soon on a future podcast. Be blessed, everybody.