Gut health influences so much beyond digestion – energy, mood, immunity, brain function …. I’d go as far as saying it affects and feeds our vital force. We’ve all heard this, but so often we don’t really know how to support our gut outside of taking a supplement for our microbiome and digestive health.
Some days our gut just isn’t feeling its best. Despite that, we go on with our day, our work, school … meeting our responsibilities. In this blog I’d like to suggest gut healing tea as an opportunity to care for ourselves while continuing to soldier on, if that’s what we choose to do.
A tea that’s formulated for gut health can taste great. Ginger, fennel, peppermint … all delicious and easy to find. You can add honey, too, if you like your tea sweet. These herbs, along with others, can also be healing to the gut, support digestion, reduce inflammatory states, stimulate digestive secretion, relax and ease anxiety, support the lymphatic system, soothe and protect irritated or inflamed tissue in the stomach and gut, and even tone and strenthen the stomach. It’s a long list of benefits, isn’t it?
Some of my favorite herbs for a gut health tea follow below, with notes about their benefits. This is not an exhaustive list, the idea is that you can blend your own tea if you want to. Or just buy a fabulous blend from an organic tea maker with some of these herbs in it!
Chamomile –(Matricaria recutita) flower–warming and relaxing (nervous system and lower part of the digestive track), discourages nausea.
Catnip (Nepata cataria)– warming and relaxing (nervous system and upper digestive track; also antacid (helps with heartburn)
Ginger root – (Zingiber officinale) –antispasmodic, discourages nausea, warming and relaxing
Plantain leaf – (Plantago major) healing to the gut
Calendula (Calendula officinalis)- healing, also supports the lymphatic system
Peppermint (Mentha piperita) leaf, carminative, discourages nausea
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) seed, supports digestions, helps dispel gas, antispasmodic, antacid, anti-inflammatory.
Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) Anti-infammatory, supports digestions, helps dispel gas, antacid, astringent.
Marshmallow Root (Althaea officinalis) – soothing to the gut, anti-inflammatory.
or Licorice (Glycyrrhizza glabra), soothing to the gut, tones the stomach, sweetening, harmonizes your tea blend. Helps with digestive dryness, irritation, ulcers. [Can use up to ¼-⅓ part Licorice root in your tea. Note Licorice increases aldosterone,which can raise blood pressure, so not recommended for those with hypertension.]
