Herbal teas are a soothing and natural way to improve your health and alleviate common ailments.
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Herbal teas are an integral part of the holistic approach to wellness along with diet and exercise.
Sipping a cup of herbal tea helps your body by boosting your immune system, improving your digestive health and relieving everyday stress.
There simply is not enough time to talk about all the wonderful teas available. The ones listed below are five of the most common and offer some of the best overall health benefits. Herbal teas are delicious on their own, however adding locally sourced honey, lemon or milk to suit your taste does not lessen their efficacy. Honey should always be locally sourced to receive the added benefit of protection against local pollens.
1. Chamomile
Probably the most recognized and commonly used, chamomile tea soothes many ailments and calms the strongest of anxieties. Grandmothers have been giving it to babies with colic for generations, women drink it to ease the bloating and cramping associated with menstruation.
Chamomile is a mild tea made from a daisy-like flower and supports your immune response while you fight viral infections. It is so effective that chemists are studying the tea and its medicinal properties.
For you science geeks, chamomile helps in the production of glycine, an amino acid that relaxes nerves. It also contains phenolics, a fancy word for antioxidants that work on the digestive system to help the body fight viruses. Chamomile is a mild, relaxing and excellent overall tea for improved health.
2. Ginger Tea
Ginger tea is high in antioxidants, has anti-inflammatory properties and increases the body’s production of digestive juices. Ginger tea is a pungent tea, leaving a spicy flavor on the palette. The aroma from a good cup of ginger tea eases the congestion from a cold, sinus infection or allergies.
Ginger tea is good for sore muscles, and it has been used in India for centuries as a soak for achy joints. Ginger helps the body in the production of bile, aiding the liver and gallbladder in processing the body’s fat and cholesterol, helping in weight loss.
Ginger is wonderful for a headache, as it expands the smaller blood vessels, opening up your circulation system.
3. Dandelion Tea
Dandelion tea, yes the weeds in your front yard, is actually very good for you. There are two teas made from the bane of any proud lawn keeper’s existence: dandelion root and dandelion tea.
Dandelion root is, as the name implies, a tea made from the roots of the plant. Drink the root tea to remove the toxins from your liver and kidneys.
Experts believe drinking dandelion tea slows the progression of cancer cells, and the tea helps to reduce water weight and bloating. Many also find that dandelion tea helps improve the appetite of people undergoing medical treatment.
Just don’t go out, pull a dandelion from your lawn and make tea out of it. The plant can be toxic, so it’s best to leave it to the experts and purchase premade tea bags and leaves.
4. Peppermint
Peppermint tea is a favorite for relieving stress. Peppermint is the natural source for menthol, a muscle relaxant making it an excellent choice for aiding in sleep and muscle aches.
Diet, exercise and proper rest are key factors in weight loss. Peppermint tea assists weight loss by working as an appetite suppressant, promoting sleep and easing your aching muscles after a workout.
Peppermint tea is also wonderful for relieving gas, bloating and heartburn. Peppermint, as anyone who has taken cough medicine knows, helps the body fight a cold or flu.
5. Lemon Balm Tea
A lesser-known herb, lemon balm, is usually blended with ginger or chamomile. Lemon balm has all the properties of peppermint tea because it is also a mint. Tea made from lemon balm offers the added benefits of increased memory, reduced anxiety and skin lesion healing.
Lemon balm tea has been shown to improve the memory of patients suffering from mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s, and drinking it regularly slows memory loss from aging.
Lemon balm tea, when used as a topical ointment, has shown to speed up the healing of cold sores and other skin lesions. Lemon Balm is a very good herb to mix with ginger tea for a great tasting cup.
Herbal teas are a delicious way to improve your health and wellness naturally. This list is a short list of the more common varieties.
Herbal medicine has been around for centuries, and science is just beginning to study and understand the healing qualities of nature’s gifts.
Drink a cup a day, mix and match them to taste. Here’s to your health!
