6 Top Herbal Teas for Health (great to feed a herbal tea addiction)

Do you love drinking herbal tea for health benefits?

This time of year, when the air feels worthy of your warmest winter coat, a hot mug of tea feels like a great big hug when you need it most. If you’re looking for a big warm hug in a mug, try some of my top herbal teas for health.

Personally, I prefer herbal teas, which are usually non-caffeinated. I can drink them all day and not worry that they’ll keep me up all night. I also won’t get the jitters from drinking two full pots of the stuff.

Herbal teas can support our health by keeping us well-hydrated in extreme weather. Plain herbal tea enjoyed without milk, sugar or other add-ins also contains very few (if any) calories. The nutritional benefits of many of these top herbal teas for health are also impressive.

Whether you choose caffeinated or not, tea of all kinds packs a nutritional punch. It could play a role as an everyday superfood in our lives.

Here are a few of my favourite top herbal teas for health:

1. Camomile Tea

This calming tea is ideal for de-stressing and unwinding after a busy day. Especially if your day involved lots and lots of holiday shopping! It can be mildly sedating to help reduce high stress levels and ease tension and anxiety. Keep in mind that it can be a common allergen for some people.

2. Fennel Tea

Fennel, with its licorice-like taste, is ideal when your digestion is sluggish. It has anti-spasmodic properties that help relax the muscles in the intestine. This helps “move things along” when it comes to constipation, gas and indigestion.

3. Ginger Tea

A spicy tea that may help nausea, morning sickness and upset stomachs, ginger can also help boost the immune system. It can support healthy digestion, stimulate appetite and metabolism, as well as promote healthy circulation.

You can boil chopped, fresh ginger root in water and sip on that. Enjoy it warm during fall/winter, or cool during the summer for an easy homemade tea.

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4. Peppermint Tea

Peppermint helps ease bloating, gas and indigestion after you may have overindulged in things you shouldn’t have… [insert your favourite guilty pleasure food] Mine would likely be sugary sweet or rich and creamy!

5. Cranberry Tea

A delicious choice for those who have felt the pain of a urinary tract infection (UTI)! Cranberry tea may help acidify the urine and prevent the buildup of unhealthy bacteria in the bladder.

Cranberries are also astringent and high in Vitamin C so they are an immune-supporting and seasonal delight. Look for unsweetened versions since sugar can depress the immune system and prolong infection.

6. Nettle Tea

Nettle tea has a distinctly ‘earthy’ flavour that won’t appeal to everyone. However, when you’re tired or feeling out of sorts, nettle tea supplies a rich source of vitamins and minerals. Magnesium, potassium, calcium, vitamins A and C, phosphorus and more are just a few to help you regain your energy.

Nettle tea can also improve the body’s ability to absorb iron from foods. It also offers quercetin, studied for its abilities to combat seasonal allergies by helping manage the body’s natural antihistamine reaction.

Are there any contraindications for these top herbal teas for health?

Many herbal teas for health (including several of the above!) are not recommended for pregnant mamas. Check with your doctor or other health care provider before you replace your morning coffee with an herbal tea addiction. You can find some additional information about enjoying herbal teas during pregnancy here.

Whether or not all of the nutritional benefits and uses of tea are substantiated remains to be seen, but tea can certainly be part of a healthy lifestyle.

If nothing else, herbal tea offers soothing comfort during the dark days of fall and winter. And I’ll drink to that!

Life is a plate… Eat up!

Ashleigh

P.S. Looking for more ways to use herbal teas? Try them in a smoothie like this Blueberry Ginger Smoothie.