Homemade Honey Lemon Ginger Tea

Dear Reader,

A few days ago E turned to me and said, "I feel like I'm coming down with something." These words cause a million alarms to go off in my head because E is quite often sick and very very often tired (which leads to him be sick, etc.). Our remedy is to usually take a food based multi vitamin, probiotics, cod liver oil, and vitamin C. Oftentimes this does the trick but if we catch it too late we load him up with a cup of nice hot tea. Ginger, with its natural healing properties and the boost it gives to your immune system is key, but you need to take it fresh, raw and in large quantities. Here is my homemade recipe. I usually fill a mason jar and keep it in the fridge and it stays fresh for at least 3 weeks!

Honey Lemon Ginger Tea
Makes about 1 quart 

Ingredients

1 cup of grated or sliced ginger (about 5-6 medium sized ginger pieces)

3 lemons

8 ounces of honey (I usually end up using 12 ounces)

Honey Lemon Ginger Tea

Scrape off the skin of the ginger using a peeler or the back of a spoon. Once all the skin is off rinse the ginger to clean off any bits that may still be attached. You can thinly slice the ginger or you can put them into a food processor and purée.  I grated mine because I like to get it really small so that it's easier to consume and all the nice juices come out into the tea. Put into a bowl. Next, clean your lemons and zest the skin of two lemons into the ginger. Slice the lemon pieces and cut into quarters and add to the ginger. Then add the honey. Mix well and pour into a bottle (air tight if possible). You can drink some right away but it will get more potent when you let it marinate. After the tea has been in the jar for a day or two, the ginger taste will be noticeably spicier, but don't fear because that's the good stuff! Feel free to eat the ginger as well, the more the better. Turmeric is another great addition with some amazing healing properties. I haven't tried it yet, but hope to for my next round. Stay healthy this winter!

Body Aches

ast night I headed over to my new gym, Equinox on Wall Street, for a Kettleball Class. It was brutal. In fact, I think this is the most amount of pain I've ever been in from working out. Kettleballs are these cast iron balls with handles (I used two 10lb-ers and one 15lb-er). You use your body and your legs to throw the balls back and forth between your legs, swinging with the momentum, you pump them up into the air, and you do push ups and push one arm with the weight into the air...sigh. Needless to say, it was quite a work out. So today I am extremely sore, and every muscle in my body hurts, including my feet (feet??). Everything but my calves, oddly enough.

In any case, this is just another way my body is reminding me that I need to start working out more often! In other news (not really), Equinox is pretty amazing. The showers are clean with Kiehls shampoo, conditioner, and lotion. The towels are fresh, and studio rooms are spacious, it's lovely. I highly recommend it!

Honey Lemon Tea

think my body has been trying to tell me something for the last 6 weeks. It does not like to be woken up before 8, it is revolting against the late hours of staring at a computer screen, and it is boycotting the stress poured over dumb mistakes made at work. Since I've started working, my tension headaches have continued on, I've gotten multiple cankersores (gross, I know, it happens), and now I have a cold. What's a girl to do? Just throw in the towel and call it quits? Not this girl. I'm taking the rest of Sunday off and reading Pride and Prejudice, watching tv, taking a bath and drinking the best cold remedy ever, honey lemon tea. My sister and I learned of this tea from our previous pastor's beautiful and wise wife. She actually had a blog called "honey lemon tea" a couple of years ago but 4 baby girls later, that blog has long been put to rest. But whenever my sister and I catch wind of a cold, we take a walk to the store and buy several lemons, a jar of honey, and whip us up some honey lemon tea. Right now I'm sitting with my tea on hand and ready to start getting better. I buy about 8 lemons, slice them up into lemon wheels, put them all in a mason jar with a 12 -16 oz bottle of honey. Then I spoon some into my cup and pour hot water and voila! You're very own remedy in a cup.

Happy Sunday everyone, and have a great week. Oh and please remember, it takes very little to share some happiness, and very little to ruin someone's day. So please remember to smile to those who pass you by and say a little word of encouragement to anyone around you. I'm learning more and more everyday that this makes a big difference.

Just What I Needed...

ords of encouragement do wonders for me and help me get through the day. Something tells me that I will be needing a bottle of these in the near future. Hm. Maybe I'll actually make one to keep at the office. That way I can unwrap one day by day ... something to keep me going. Here are a few I found just by googling!

"Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you."
~ Aldous Huxley

"One has to remember that every failure can be a stepping stone to something better."
~ Col. Harland Sanders

"When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for so long in the first place."

~ Unknown

"Instead of giving myself reasons why I can't, I give myself reasons why I can"
~ Author Unknown

Working Out--ugh

o I've been trying to get a little more work out into my life, as per doctor's recommendations. But the problem is that I really hate working out. I just do! It's really difficult for me to drag myself to the gym and want to exhaust myself running on a treadmill that leads to nowhere. I can think of other things I would like to do with my time say, blogging! Or reading! Or cooking! Alas, my doctor says that working out is a necessary part of life and that I must do it to strengthen my body and to de-stress. Honestly, working out does not de-stress me. I don't get that endorphin high that people love. I've tried yoga as well and wasn't really in love with it. Point is, I think one must "buy in" to these healthy lifestyles in order to really believe in their benefits and want to do more. I am not there yet. However, I AM into eating healthy. I'm not a super health nut, I don't eat organic or take lots of vitamins. But I definitely try to put in healthy alternatives into my diet when I can. Which brings me to this post. Self magazine has a list of 100 of the healthiest cities for women based on working out, food, etc. NYC is not even within that top 100 list. That's very sad. Find your city here to check your stats.

On a happier note, I found a list of 5 stress fighting super foods which may be helpful to us all.
1) Spinach: Contains magnesium, a mineral that blunts stress's effects on the body by stopping blood pressure from spiking.
2) Oranges: Tension can influence your immune system but vitamin C in citrus bolsters your body's cold fighters!
3) Chocolate: Contains pacifying powers. Cocoa boosts your body's levels of neurochemicals, which act on parts of the brain to help produce a sense of happiness.
4) Fish: Omega 3 Fatty acids can help quell anxiety. Halts surges of stress hormones when faced with stressful situations
5) Oatmeal: B vitamins in oats can stimulate production of serotonin, a key neutrotransmitter that sends soothing signals to your brain. You body digests oatmeal slowly so you absorb serotonin steadily.

Definitely going to keep this list for when I start work!