Naturopath ANITA CHAKRABURTTY takes us on a life-affirming journey into the natural wonders of herbal tea..
Herbal tea are growing in popularity as people are combining socialising with friends in a cafe with an opportunity to also improve their health. The soothing effects of sipping a hot cup of tea can provide some respite from our frantic work environments. We stop, pause and rest in those moments – hence the term “tea break”.
Popular herbal tea available in cafes include chamomile, peppermint and green tea. Historically chamomile was used by Anglo-Saxons as one of their nine sacred herbs. It was also used to embalm the body of the Egyptian Pharaoh Rhamses II. Chamomile is an excellent tea to relieve digestive disturbances related to stress, as it is an anti-spasmodic and is soothing to the stomach and the nerves. It also has a mild anti-inflammatory effect and anti-allergy effect.
Chamomile is a marvellous tea to use for fractious children – serve it at room temperature and observe its magical calming effect. It has also demonstrated clinically an anti-anxiety and a sedative effect.
“Drugs are medicines for various diseases, but tea is the medicine for all diseases.” – Chen Zang, Chinese pharmacist, 8th Century.
Peppermint is also used to treat digestive disturbances, especially Irritable Bowel Syndrome as it has a spasmodic activity, relaxing the gastrointestinal area.
It also helps with ailments of the gall bladder and bile duct as it helps stimulate the production of bile via the liver and gall bladder. This will help with fat metabolism, which is why mint sauce is used as an accompaniment to lamb. It has a cooling effect on the body, so is excellent on a hot steamy Australian Summer’s day.
Green tea is produced from the same plant as black and oolong tea, however green tea is not oxidised. This results in it having a greater therapeutic effect than black or oolong tea.
Green tea has been shown to have antioxidant effects and antibacterial activity, especially with regards to bacteria in the mouth that can cause gingivitis.
Studies have shown that countries with a higher consumption of green tea have a lower incidence of cancer. It is also associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.
Herbal teas are a great way of combining socialising with friends with the ability to improve your health – and they are delicious!
About our Writer:
Anita Chakraburtty is a Naturopath with an MSc in Analytical Chemistry, practicing in the Eastern Suburbs and Inner West of Sydney. Anita was born in London and became an Australian citizen 4 years ago. So, she supports Australia during international swimming competitions, and England in the cricket, soccer and rugby union! For more information on Anita, check her out via www.anitanaturallifestyle.com.au
What People on Social Media Say about Tea Being Healthy:
Jacqui Weber: raspberry leaf tea during pregnancy….
Brad McEwen: Only last trimester Jacqui. Preferably during the last month.
Adrian Winfield: Always helps me when I have a hang over.
Jenn Temm: mint tea for tummy troubles
Dominique Molyneux: great for sunburn…allegedly. Applied cold topically!
Antigone Victoria: yeah, mint tea for digestion … sleepy tea (many combos) for helping to send you to snoozeland
Karen Bayly: Yeah, fully caffiinated black tea with milk to get me out of bed every morning! Seriously camomile is useful in calming the kids down for bed.
Jeanette Cooper Melnike: peppermint tead for me too…digestive system clean out and regularity 🙂
Pauls Hart: ginger tea for pregnancy and driving sickness. When on seriously tummy curdling windy roads of Laos we came across a lady with a roadside stall selling ginger teas…worked a treat!
Stephanie Dawes-watt: Ginger tea for nausea (my mother would give us flat ginger ale when we were sprouts and were throwing up – that was well before people were drinking herbal teas – ginger’s awesome). still rely on ginger ale and ginger tea. I was just in the hospital for 10 days and drank copious amounts of flat ginger ale – they didn’t have ginger tea.
James Wallis Martin: Peppermint for tummy, ginger tea for nausea, chamomile tea for calming, hibiscus and lemon tea for colds, black tea for alertness, and sinceri-tea for all other reasons
Kahuna Bob: senna tea – good for cleansing… tulsi tea – good for stress
Julie Amendola: Dr Red’s spearole tea it had come out in oz when I was there, there were scientific studies done on it at Queensland Uni etc… They had talked about it on the news .. it was suppose to be the most detoxifying tea out there.
Juliana Gorgonio: green tea is also good … all kinds of tea have good health benefits specially on digestive system.
Stephanie Dawes-watt: And it’s not just the therapeutic benefits – the psychological benefits are just important. there’s something wonderfully calming about tea – you can’t (at least I can’t) rush through a cup of tea. I need to sip it, not gulp it. Tea soothes.
Elizabeth Renfrey: White tea is delicious and we use lemon and ginger tea with lots of fresh mint, and lemon and ginger slices for a cold. Heaven.
Tanya Roesler: We all need a herbal book in out T(ea) cupboard to know the therapeutic actions- throw away all commercial teas and buy or grow the fresh herbs
Victoria Sharmandine Hiley: chamomile really does sedate you if you feel a bit stressed.
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