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Herbalism is the way we create balance within body systems utilizing different botanical preparations of plants & fungi. Plants are medicine & can reestablish effective, wild & easeful solutions for long term patterns of disease. A few systems that can benefit from herbs are the immune system, reproductive system, nervous system & digestive system. Herbs can be used in addition to pharmaceuticals or on their own. Per usual, consult your herbalist for your specific symptom scenario to ensure your care is approached from a whole person perspective! As we welcome a season that's infused with gathering & opportunities to digest our food well, here are a few ways herbalism can nourish your digestive system & support the microbial life that is you & your gut biome!
There are platefuls of research that indicate the vagus nerve, one of our 12 cranial nerves, transmits signals from the gut biome & nearby organs up to the brain & vice versa. We offer these herbal recommendations from this perspective that the dynamic chit chat between the belly & the brain (specifically belly to brain) is important & dynamic to consider when improving overall health.
Within your digestive track you have the epithelium layer of mucosa/tissue. Mucosa is moist tissue. Since tea is a bath for your internal tissues, let's start here. Enjoy tea 10-15 minutes before a meal. Drinking liquids while eating can dilute digestive enzymes and fire so sip warm digestive teas slowly if having during or after a meal. When drinking tea, consider the amount you are drinking. 5g-10g of herb per cup; 2-3 cups of tea per day is a therapeutic dose. What can go in your cup? Besides the lifestyle benefit of slowing down, here are three categories of herbs to brew up & serve up now that will take care of your gut biome in yummy, simple & ongoing ways:
Add in carminatives. All carminative herbs are antispasmodic. These help with relaxing the stressed out states that can lead to a tighter, clenched tone in our digestive organs & tissues. Carminatives like fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), black pepper (Piper nigrum) & licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) are a few to consider. Fennel was always passed around at our family's gatherings. My grandfather "Poppy" sliced it & we ate it like watermelon after meals. You can prepare it as a tea with the seeds. Black pepper is lovely to jumpstart the acid that helps you absorb nutrients & minerals so crank a little bit over your chic beige mashed potatoes all winter long & add it to a spicy chai. Licorice root is so good if you brew it for twenty minutes on medium heat with a lid on & serve as is, with rice milk or add a quarter cup to your water bottle. It's a literal sweet gastroprotective & tonal healer. Plus it's an adaptogen which is that category of herbs that deeply balance people by bolstering &/or toning down the hypothalamus pituitary adrenal axis.
Long-term nourish with nervines, the herbs that have an affinity with the nervous system. Nervines can play a big role in digestion! Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla), catnip (Nepeta cataria), meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) are gentle loose leaf flowers & leaves to infuse & sip!
Take some bitters like Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora). It's kind of a sweet bitter to be honest. You can source loose leaf skullcap or find a local herbalist (like us... hey!) to make you a custom tincture, too. It's easy enough to grow so if you want to ask for seeds for the holidays, add this to your list! Skullcap tea is so good! Orange peel (Citrus sinensis) is another wonderful, accessible option.
You can find chamomile & orange peel among other herbs blended in Gut Tea.
Because the gut biome thrives with plentiful micronutrients, plants are a means to deliver the gut biome plenty of micronutrients. Vitamins like B1, B2 & C, calcium, potassium & trace minerals like iron & zinc can all be found in plants!
Sidenote: If you layer in these gentle herbs & they don't feel as effective as you'd like, consider food intolerances. Think corn, soy, citrus, dairy, coffee, etc. You can rule these out with different tests. Let me know if you need help! Because intolerance can lead to increased inflammation (not what we're looking for!) & increased permeability (also not a positive thing).
I hope preparing tea & connecting with yourself will afford you the ability to connect with others. We are social creatures; relationships in & of themselves are foundational for our well being. When we feel connected, we are reminded that we are connected and that is a truth worth digesting.
May your holidays be yummy & healing in nature.