Herbal Tea Remedies

Benefits Of Drinking Herbal Teas

Herbal teas have long been known to have medicinal benefits as well as being tasty to drink! Some of my favorite teas are chamomile tea, jasmine tea and ginger tea. Each of these has a distinctive taste as well as health benefit.

Chamomile tea is a favorite herbal tea that many use if they have trouble sleeping. It has natural sedative, antiinflamatory and antispasmodic properties so is also good for cramps. Due to it’s calming benefits it is often used to help relieve anxiety. It is rich in essential oil and can help the digestive system function properly. Chamomile is also very good for your skin and you can wet a cloth in the tea and use it as a skin cleanser or compress.

Jasmine tea is a combination of green tea leaves and jasmine flowers. It has a lovely jasmine scent and flabor with all the wonderful antioxidant properties of the green tea. Jasmine tea has long been used for it’s relaxing and warming qualities and is also soothing to the digestive system. This tea also may help lower cholesterol according to recent studies and may even help with longevity.

Ginger tea has powerful medicinal properties. It is reputed to be a aphrodisiac and can help freshen your breath! It has anti fungal and anti spasmodic properties and can help sooth stomach upset by neutralizing acids and aiding digestion. Ginger is also reputed to help relieve nausea, motion sickness, dizziness, flatulence and even help to ease muscle pain.

To properly make herbal tea, use 1 tea bag per person or, if you are making it from the dried herbs, use 1 teaspoon of the herb. Add boiling water to the herb mixture and let sit for 5 minutes. Don’t let it sit for too long or it will start to taste bitter. Don’t drink it too soon or the herb won’t have imparted it’s flavor into the water enough. Typically herbal teas are taken “black” but you could add a little milk or some sugar or honey to taste if you like.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Lee Dobbins is owner and editor of Vitamin and Herb Guide For Natural Care and Healing.

Herbal Teas

Herbal teas have been used through out the centuries for relieving pain and soothing away stress. They are also used for entertainment and social functions as well, but we are going to focus on the use of herbal teas for the relief of various ailments.

Please do not attempt to grow your own herbs for remedy teas unless you have taken a class to learn how to do so. Some herbs are poisonous until cooked, some are poisonous after being cooked, and most just won't be strong enough to make any difference, because of soil conditions.

I do not like tea. I never drink it, herbal or otherwise. This is because I had parents who were very into herbal remedies, and at the slightest hint of stomach trouble, I would be forced to drink the worst smelling, foulest, vile tasting teas in the universe. However, they did work, and so I do recommend them, just don't try to make me drink them! While all the other kids were running around with Bactine and a Band-Aide on their knees, I was forced to hop along with a comfrey poultice tied around my leg…

Please note that most of these remedies refer to a tincture rather than a tea. A tincture is thicker than a tea and contains more of the actual herb, infused in the mixture rather than steeped, as in tea.

Anemia: Boil stinging nettle leaves and drink the tincture. ( Yum!, no it really does work, but remember that stinging needle leaves HURT if they're not boiled, so wear gloves when handling them.)

Arthritis: Birch, celery seed, devils claw, or juniper made into a tincture will help alleviate pain. Yes, it tastes as bad as it sounds, and it's not the celery seed you have in your cooking cupboard.

Siberian ginseng root tincture helps with the side effects of chemotherapy and is one of the tinctures which taste good. It sooths the insides and helps keep skin healthy. It has been found to alleviate fatigue associated with chemo treatment, and the ginseng is an ancient herb used in healing.

For a colicky baby, make a tincture of fennel and dill, and add 5-10 drops to their bottle. Fennel tastes like licorice and they like it. You can keep this tincture stored in the fridge for up to a week.

A liter of rhubarb root a day will help with constipation, but I think it has as much to do with the water intake as I do with the rhubarb. ( just a thought.)

A tea made from garlic bulbs and ribwort leaves will quiet a cough.

Depression: Grind up an entire oat plant, root to tip, and add St. John's wart flowers. Boil in just enough water to cover the mixture, and let it steep down to a tincture, drink daily.

A very hot tea of lemon balm, yarrow, and ginger will take down a fever and is palatable.

Caraway, fennel, ginger, and peppermint made into a strong tea will ease flatulence.

Catnip, Echinacea, and yarrow made into a tincture will ease flu symptoms.

The list goes on and on. You can also use herbs for creating your own lip balms, creams, and ointments. Most herb stores or family co ops have classes were you can learn to make all of your own herbal remedies, make up, balms and ointments for unique gifts or instant pain and fever relief. Herbs have been around since the beginning of time-learning how to use them properly could save you tons of money on doctor bills and over the counter medications.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Krishan Bakhru

Health Benefits of Lemon Grass

Be it ever so humble, there is no grass like a lemon grass. A very useful medicinal plant and a tasty food flavoring.

Lemon grass or the local tanglad (scientific name: Cymbopogon ciatrus) is one of those wondrous herbs that one can always associate with Asian cooking Thai, Malaysian and Vietnamese homegrown meal enthusiasts always have this tropical grass at hand for its aromatic citrus flavor with a trace of ginger. Few people know that its other popular name is citronella - the common scent you usually find in candles, perfumes and soaps.

Citronella is known for its calming effect that relieves insomnia or stress. It is also considered as a mild insect repellant. But more than scent, tanglad or lemon grass provides a lot of health benefits. Studies have shown that the lemon grass has antibacterial and antifungal properties. Mixed with pepper, it's a home therapy for menstrual troubles and nausea. Drank as tea, it is an effective diuretic. When it comes to pets, citronella is used to neutralize excessive barking of dogs. Since dogs hate citronella, it is sprayed to dogs to prevent them from barking or just to lessen the behavior.

The Lemon grass is a good cleanser that helps to detoxify the Liver, pancreas, kidney, bladder and the digestive tract. It cuts down uric acid, cholesterol, excess fats and other toxins in the body while stimulating digestion, blood circulation, and lactation; it also alleviates indigestion and gastroenteritis. It is said that lemongrass also helps improve the skin by reducing acne and pimples and acts as a muscle and tissue toner. Also, it can reduce blood pressure. Just make a concoction by boiling some lemon grass leaves, let it cool for a while and drink the liquid. The leaves and base of this tender perennial are used as a food flavoring, particularly in fish and poultry dishes, and its essential oils are used medicinally. Its distinctive flavor balances hot chillies and contributes to the elaborate, multi-layered flavors of many dishes in South East Asian cuisine.

As the long, thin, grey-green leaves are tough and fibrous, the outside leaves and the tips are usually chopped very finely or discarded from the dish before it is served. The base is often ground. Citral, an essential oil also found in lemon peel, is the constituent responsible for its taste and aroma.

Lemon grass, also known as Sweet Rush and sometimes called Fever Grass in the Caribbean, can be used as a remedy for ague, fevers, and colds.

Filipino ingenuity has produced a commercial beverage made from lemon grass. A concentrate composed of lemon grass juice and muscovado sugar bottled in attractive design. A recent study by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the department of Science and technology ( DOST ) claims that every 100g of edible tanglad when boiled can contain up to 24.

205 micrograms of beta-carotene the anti-oxidant that scientists believe can help prevent cancer. Another DOST study shows that lemon grass oil has the potential as a tropical eye medication against keratomycosis, an inflammation of cornea often associated with burning or blurring of vision.