Let’s take a break from all the booze talk for a minute and discuss another kind of beverage that I appreciate: healthy ones. Indeed, despite my utmost respect for a good personal vice, I also do put a fair amount of focus on my health (except when I don’t), and this includes exercise, healthy meals (thanks Sab), daily supplements, and a daily Morning Blaster Immunity Tea that I’ve refactored over the years and that I make for Sab and me almost every day. Let’s talk about this tea, shall we?
I’m pretty sure this tea alone will keep me alive forever, and so far it seems to be working (currently not dead), but if I do die, well that’s fine, because I’ll be too dead to be ashamed about being wrong.
I’ll share the recipe, but do allow me to briefly indulge for a few paragraphs, won’t you?
I was taking an Uber to the airport one morning back in 2019, if I recall, and the driver was this highly energetic, chatty, charismatic guy. He was obviously older than me, but I was taken aback when he said he was in his 70s. I would have guessed early 60s at most, and I told him so, and I asked him to please share his secrets to the neophyte in the backseat who is always looking for a good hack that can contribute to his personal age denialism.
He shared a couple wonderful, insightful philosophies that I didn’t write down, so those are gone, but he also shared this simple culinary tidbit: “Steep a heaping tablespoon of fresh chopped ginger root in boiling water, and drink a glass of it everyday, and you’ll never get sick.” He said that his family follows the practice daily and none of them have been sick in years.
I wisely did write this down and I thanked the Uber driver for his wisdom and we said our goodbyes. Upon returning home from three days of awesome unhealthy vacationing, I brewed up my first batch of this magical tea of hot ginger water. Being a chronic routine freak, I immediately turned this into a daily morning ritual for my wife and me. Then, like most things in my reality, it soon became necessary for me to over-engineer and complicate it, and I obsessively researched what other healthy crap I could put in there, eventually leading to the recipe of today.
I wish I could remember the name of the Uber driver because his suggestion introduced me to the wonders of ginger, and then turmeric, and then into a whole new world of homemade daily supplements. I’ve been making the tea at least 5 days a week almost religiously since that Uber trip.
Has it prevented me from getting sick? Can’t say for sure, as I really didn’t get sick all that often before. But I very rarely get sick these days either and I’m no young man anymore. I do feel like it’s helping in some way, whether it’s the placebo effect or legit, and the morning tea-making/drinking ritual alone is a healthy meditative process for me. As far as taste, I’m not even mad at that. It’s not like you’d crawl over your co-workers to get to the break room for it after receiving one of those “leftover treats in the break room” emails, but you don’t have to gag it down either.
Morning Blaster Immunity Tea:
Ingredients:
- 1 tsp Lion’s Mane mushroom powder
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (the kind with the “mother” in the bottle)
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger root
- 1 tsp chopped fresh turmeric
Steps:
- Add the mushroom powder, pepper, and apple cider vinegar to a mug
- Fill mug with boiling water
- Add the crushed ginger and turmeric to a tea steeper (kinda like this) and steep in the mug for 10 minutes or more
- Remove ginger/tumeric
- Stir, drink, and be stoked
Notes:
- Don’t skip out on the pepper. It’s needed for your body to absorb the curcumin compound in the turmeric, which is where the healthy shit in the turmeric comes from. Don’t ask me why, I’m not a scientist.
- Save yourself time and chop/grate plenty of extra ginger and turmeric and store it in the fridge. Stays good for about a week. I use a food processor or a vegetable chopper (something like this).
Ok, I know what you’re thinking: “Sounds amazing, Bones, and this tea is probably why you’re so handsome. But what will it do for me exactly? Will your tea make me handsome?”
It will not. I am not a God. But here’s a little rundown on the goodness of each ingredient:
Ginger:
- Aids with digestive health and pain relief.
- Rich in antioxidants that can aid in reducing the risk of chronic disease
Also has other potential health benefits such as:
- Lowering blood sugar
- Boosting the immune system
- Lowering bad cholesterol levels
Ginger’s a powerhouse.
Turmeric:
- Strong anti-inflammatory effects that can help with arthritis/joint pain
- Strong anti-oxidant which can help protect against oxidative stress linked to cancer and heart disease.
Potential benefits include:
- Improvement of memory/brain function
- Helping to alleviate symptoms of depression
- Helping to alleviate symptoms of digestive disorders
- Helping to manage cholesterol levels.
Turmeric is a badass like ginger, but take my advice above and include pepper in your tea to soak up the curcumin compounds that do all the stuff.
Apple Cider Vinegar:
Lots of potential benefits such as:
- Rich in antioxidants that can aid in reducing the risk of chronic disease
- Improving gut health and aiding with constipation
- Helping lower blood sugar levels
- Increasing feelings of fullness that can help with weight management
- Lowering total cholesterol while increasing the good kind
Lions Mane Mushroom Powder:
I love this stuff. I use the brand Om. Good for the brain in many potential ways, such as:
- Promoting brain cell growth
- Improving cognitive function and memory
- Helping to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression
- Lowering stress levels
Also potentially provides other goodness like:
- Aiding in protection against stomach ulcers
- Promoting growth of beneficial gut bacteria
- Reducing chronic information
- Antioxidants that can help prevent chronic disease
*Notice how I stated that almost all of these benefits are potential. Further studies are needed. But still, if even some of them turn out to be solid, that’s a win in my book.*
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