I love a good cup of tea, don’t you? To me, it doesn’t get much better than spending my morning waking up on the front porch with a good book and hot cup of tea. I’ve never been much of a coffee drinker, but a fantastic cup of tea? Totally down for that. Most of the teas that I enjoy are herbal teas. It isn’t because I’m particularly “crunchy,” it’s more that they taste great and the benefits of drinking herbal tea are so great that I just can’t ignore them. In fact, there are several herbal teas that play an epic part in how I manage my diabetes naturally.
One of my favorite herbal teas to drink is Stinging Nettle tea. It has an entire boatload of health benefits but the one that I adore is how stinging nettles can help reduce stress. Dandelion Root tea is another one of my favorite herbal teas because it has absolutely fantastic benefits. It’s a detox tea and is one that I use in my daily routines to help manage my chronic pain. It’s also chock full of a lot of the nutrients that my body seems to not hold onto correctly like Vitam A, B-complex vitamins, Vitamin C, D, and iron. Yes, they can taste different than you’re used to but the benefits of drinking herbal teas far outweigh any off taste. Stinging nettle reminds me of how fresh cut grass tastes and dandelion root has a taste that is really close to the taste of coffee.
Herbal Teas – Benefits of Drinking Herbal Tea
I do want to offer a word of caution before we talk about the benefits of drinking herbal teas. If your body isn’t used to an herbal tea that has a detox effect, you may experience headaches, stomach aches or sweating the first couple of times that you drink it. What I did when that happened was to dilute the tea the next time I drank it. By working my way up to a full strength tea, I allowed my body the time that it needed to adjust to the herbs and their effects. This doesn’t happen to everyone who drinks herbal tea, but I wanted to put it out there.
As with any of the natural remedies I post, I highly advise you to check with your doctor before you drink any of these. I am not a doctor and can’t tell you what is best for your health. Some of them can actually interact with prescription medicines in bad ways so PLEASE make sure that you check first. It is better to be safe than sorry.
Drink herbal tea for an upset stomach – Peppermint tea is not only extremely easy to grow, but it is also extremely tasty with awesome benefits. Peppermint is very soothing so drinking it in as herbal tea can help to relax your gastrointestinal system. It has been shown to be very beneficial in helping to stop nausea and an upset stomach. One catch about peppermint tea. It’s not recommended for heartburn and it may actually exacerbate it.
Herbal tea can help reduce sinus infections and inflammation – Peppermint teas aromatic menthol has been shown to help relieve congested sinuses and can help to soothe sore throats. Blackberry tea and chamomile tea are both also great for sinuses issues. If you’re having a lot of mucous issues, adding a few drops of lemon with a teaspoon of raw honey can help with coughing raw honey can help with coughing and to thin mucus to provide even more relief from those nasty symptoms.
Herbal teas to help reduce gas symptoms – Relieving painful gas symptoms is another benefit of drinking herbal tea and peppermint tea is fantastic at this too! It relaxes the gastrointestinal system giving relief from cramps and painful…”bubbles” that may be stuck. (yes, I did just go there) Lemon balm tea is another herbal tea that can help with gas. It’s main herbal compound, Eugenol, has the ability to numb pain caused by cramping and to ease muscle spasms in your gut. Lemon balm tea can cause drowsiness though so only take it when you don’t plan on driving. Finally, my old favorite, dandelion root tea is great for gas too.
Use herbal teas to fight insomnia – It has been said that something like 60 million Americans suffer from insomnia. (source) Luckily for all of us, there are several herbal teas that can help reduce insomnia. Chamomile tea and lavender tea are by far the most popular herbal teas with the ability to help you sleep. Drink a cup about 30 minutes before you want to sleep then lie down in a dark room. You’ll be “sawing logs” in now time. As I mentioned above, lemon balm tea can also act as a sedative so it can also help you fall asleep too if you don’t want to try the others.
Herbal teas to relieve PMS symptoms – Ladies, there’s no need to suffer each month. One of the many benefits of herbal tea is that it can relieve PMS symptoms. Lemon balm, skullcap tea, chamamole tea, dandelion root tea and fennel tea are all fantastic herbal teas for reducing PMS symptoms. They each have their own benefits such as helping with cramps or upset stomach and bloating so be sure you research each one carefully to get one that will treat exactly what you need it to.
Use herbal teas to help fight anxiety and depression – If you suffer from anxiety and depression, you’re in luck because one of the benefits of herbal teas is to help reduce things like stress and anxiety while lifting spirits. Lavender tea is great for its calming effect. Green tea contains L-theaine amino acids that can help you relax and passionfruit tea can as well. Lemon balm can also help you relax if you’re feeling uptight or anxious too.
Herbal teas that help boost your immune system – One of the most well known herbal teas to boost immune function is Echinacea tea so be sure you add it to your list. Dandelion root tea once again makes the list because as a detox tea, it can help remove toxins and other nasties from your system helping to keep you healthy. Ginsing tea has been shown to help increase white blood cell count which in turn helps you fight off illensses better and green tea is full of plant antioxidants called polyphenols which may help reduce your risk of catching the flu.
Herbal teas that help with weight loss – I’m not going to mention all of the herbal teas that can help you lose weight, because there are a lot of them. A few really great ones though are green tea, lemon tea, white tea, oolong tea, peppermint tea, ginger tea, and hibiscus tea. They’re all great for blocking fat or reducing cravings and more. Plus? They’ve all got many other health benefits too making them totally worth it!
Help in stabilizing blood sugar: Drinking cinnamon tea regularly can be beneficial in stabilizing blood sugar levels since it has been shown help increase insulin sensitivity. Hibiscus tea has been shown to lower both blood sugar and cholesterol, and bilberry tea can help as well. It contains glucoquinine which is known for lowering blood sugars.
Help fight against cancer: Rooibos herbal tea is a red tea, mostly grown in South Africa and is high in vitamin C with power packing flavonoids. Flavonoids can help protect our cells from free radicals and help fight against damage that can lead to cancer. Want to give your tea a bigger boost? Add tart cherry juice to it since it is packed with flavonoids as well!
Help decrease inflammation: One of the greatest benefits of herbal tea for me is the ability to reduce inflammation and chronic pain. After living with it for almost 10 years of my life, it has been Heaven to find relief. Stinging nettle leaf tea is great for treatas arthritis symptoms. Rose hips tea also has anti-inflammatory benefits, as does black tea.
Help decrease asthma and allergies with herbal tea: Black tea, ginger tea, licorice root tea and peppermint tea can all help reduce asthma and allergy symptoms and open up airways a bit better. If you want to get the full benefits of herbal tea for asthma, mix in a bit of raw local honey. Your body will build up an immunity overtime to the pollen that is in the honey.
Herbal teas for skin problems – Rooibos herbal tea has also been shown to help skin disorders like eczema and to even ward off signs of aging. Detoxing teas like dandelion root, cranberry and green tea can help with this as well sine they can remove the toxins in your body that cause acne in the first place.
Herbal teas that lower blood pressure – If your blood pressure is running too high, drink a cup of herbal tea! Hibiscus tea, green tea, cinnamon tea, ginger tea, and hawthorn tea have all been shown to have success in dropping blood pressure numbers. Lavender and chamomile tea should also help too if your numbers are high because you are stressed or upset since both have a calming and stress reducing effect.
Herbal teas to reduce headaches -If you suffer from frequent headaches, brew yourself a cup of tea. Skullcap tea, peppermint tea, ginger root tea or chamomile tea can all help significantly reduce headache symptoms and the side effects that come with a bad headache like nausea. If none of those strike your fancy, brew a tea made from fresh oregano leaves to treat a headache.
As you can see, there are so many benefits of drinking herbal tea that it really doens’t make much sense not to do it. Finding the right herbal tea or combination of different herbal teas for your partciular issue might take some work, but it is well worth it in the end. Do you have a favorite tea or tea recipe? Leave me a comment and let me know! I’m a tea addict and am always looking to add new recipes to my routine!
