Foods Emetophobics Should Stock Up On – Ginger and Peppermint

For this blog entry, I decided to write something a little different. I thought I’d include some helpful information for those readers who are also emetophobic, rather than whine, bitch and complain about it. So this post will be about healing foods. These foods will be of particular interest to emetophobia sufferers as they either help with symptoms of nausea and vomiting, or they have anti-viral and anti-bacterial qualities.

Let’s start with the two most obvious foods: Ginger and Peppermint.

Ginger is an ancient remedy for nausea, gas and indigestion. Scientific studies have shown its effective for motion sickness, morning sickness, chemotherapy, and following surgery. A big plus about ginger is that it’s easy to get and inexpensive.

I keep ginger tea in my pantry, ginger capsules in my medicine cabinet, ginger chews in the candy canister, and fresh ginger in my kitchen for cooking. Ginger chews are available in major health food stores or at this web site www.gingerpeople.com.

Ginger is also said to help inflammation and have anti-cancer effects.

Links to sites about the medicinal qualities of ginger:

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/ginger-000246.htm

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_5_3X_Ginger.asp?sitearea=ETO

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/REM00012

Peppermint relieves indigestion by calming the muscles of the stomach and improves the flow of bile, which the body uses to digest fats. As a result, food passes through the stomach more quickly. It relaxes the muscles that allow the body to relieve gas and enteric-coated peppermint capsules help with irritable bowel syndrome.

Scientific evidence shows peppermint was found to treat nausea after surgery and relieve menstrual cramps. But here’s the best part, Peppermint oil has exhibited antiviral properties against a number of infectious agents, including herpes. I’m not sure if norovirus is one of these viruses but it still sounds encouraging. In addition, peppermint helps chest congestion from that nasty cold and headaches.

Peppermint oil is the most effective for nausea but peppermint tea, and mint candy are suitable for a small stomach upset due to overeating or bloating.

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/peppermint-000269.htm