Getting The Morning Going

I am not a night owl and typically have a hard time staying awake after 2100 or so, but with eight hours of sleep I am good to go again by 0500.  That is early to get up but I learned long ago trying to get back to sleep is not the best thing for me.

If your natural body rhythm is telling you to get up I believe you should listen to it and manage the rest of your days cycle around that.  Until I understood that, trying to get back to sleep for a few hours would usually involve weird dreams and feeling more tired when I did get up; and waking a sleeping bear is rarely a good idea.  So I started getting up when I woke up.  When I was working that would mean getting up, making that pot of coffee so Pat would get up at some point, and leave for the office around 0700.  Now that I am retired I still wake at the same time, but now do some exercises, have a cup of tea while reading the news, play Connections and Wordle, send the results to my sister to find out she beat me again, and wait until about 0700 to make that pot of coffee.

My grandfather used to drink fresh lemon in hot water every morning and he lived a good life.  He also drank Guinness with a raw egg so I am not sure which one helped with his longevity.  I have tried the raw egg trick and so think it was the fresh lemon. 

Guinness and Raw Egg

• One Guiness glass
• One egg cracked into the glass (it doesn’t matter if the egg breaks or not)
• Open a can of Guinness and pour slowly into the glass
• Consume in one or two gulps because I can almost guarantee you wont like the feeling of the egg sliding out of the glass if it stayed whole

So about the time I retired, I didn't have to head off to work and started drinking hot water with lemon juice and honey.  I had read something about taking local honey to ward off allergies and such that are prevalent in different areas.  With our travels being to various regions I began buying local fresh honey and using it in my hot water.  When we first arrived in Arizona my Southern Ontario honey was just about gone so I bought some mesquite honey.

I had never seen that before so was intrigued to try it out.  It is an amber colour with a slightly smoky caramel flavour to it.  I am just about finished that jar and found a vendor at the Quartzsite RV Show selling local honey from their farm in Blythe, California about twenty miles from here.  I have found that a lot of farmers have ‘flavoured’ honey, but most of that is just regular honey infused with flavouring.  If you can find it, the price might be a bit more but you can find honey that is made from the specific flower components they list on the label.  This supplier has honey from bees that harvest pollen from desert wildflowers, cotton, fruits and vegetables and almond trees.  $20 for a 3 pound jar.

I also began adding little chopped up bits of fresh ginger as well and found that provided a great zing to the taste.  Getting reliable sources of fresh ginger is not always possible and some of the ginger in the stores looks like it was picked a year ago so I started looking for a substitute.  I use Turmeric in a rice recipe that I make a few times a week and have found since including it in the preparation of the rice I have experienced less finger joint pain.  If I stop eating the rice for a week or so it doesn't take long for the tightness to return in the finger joints.

So, I tried to add some to my hot water and lemon and honey in the morning, but it doesn't work.  Regular Turmeric is not really soluble enough to make it an appetizing drink first thing in the morning.  We did find however a supplier of Turmeric that is water soluble and is formulated as a dietary supplement.  It does have some other additives but is turning out to be a great substitute for the ginger.  It tastes great and with its purported health benefits for the inevitable inflammatory type issues that are creeping in, I will give it a go for a while to see what difference it may make.

Honey Lemon Ginger Tea

• One slice of lemon squeezed or 1 teaspoon of a good quality RealLemon juice
• One teaspoon of your favourite honey
• One quarter inch chunk of fresh ginger chopped finely
• Hot water to fill mug
• Let stand for about five minutes or until the ginger sinks before consuming

Honey Lemon Turmeric Tea

• One slice of lemon squeezed or 1 teaspoon of a good quality RealLemon juice
• One teaspoon of your favourite honey
• One half teaspoon of Turmerix Dietary Supplement
• Hot water to fill mug
• Let stand for a few minutes before consuming