Herbal Tea
My Top Eight Recommendations

If you are looking for an alternative to tea and coffee, then yerba mate should be high on your list.

All tea beverages are energy boosters, but yerba mate may be the most powerful of all. It contains significant amount of caffeine, but is less likely than coffee to give you the jitters.

Also, it hosts significant health benefits by protecting your heart and providing antioxidants. Although it may contain less health benefits than green tea, if you need something more caffeinated, it is healthier than coffee.

Best of all, this beverage has been widely consumed in South America for hundreds of years. There is very little that goes go wrong if you drink in moderation and follow proper guidelines to minimize any side effects.

Yerba Mate Guide - Which to Buy? Loose Leaf vs Powder vs Extract

Another one of my favorite healthy drinks is rooibos, sometimes incorrectly referred to as "red tea."

Rooibos is not tea at all. It is a tisane, an herbal infusion from a plant that is not even remotely related to Camellia sinensis. The rooibos plant is actually a type of legume.

Rooibos is grown in South Africa, but its popularity has spread to the rest of the world. Rooibos has antioxidants and no caffeine, so it is a good choice if you want something healthy and caffeine-free to drink.

However, it was traditionally used in South Africa to soothe colicky babies, to treat asthma and to treat skin conditions. It may even have some health benefits for your stomach, liver and allergies.

African Rooibos Tea - Caffeine Free Tisane Buyer's Guide

Tulsi, also called holy basil, has been used by practitioners of traditional Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years.

They call it an "elixir of life."

What health benefits does tulsi offer to merit such a lofty title?

Quite a few...and scientists are just beginning to uncover them.

For example, studies have shown that tulsi could help reduce the amount of LDL (bad) cholesterol in your body without affecting the amount of HDL (good) cholesterol.

Tulsi also contains potent antioxidants and has an anti-inflammatory effect on the body. Plus, it may help non-insulin-dependent diabetics regulate their blood sugar.

In addition to its health benefits, tulsi is pleasant-tasting and caffeine-free.

So, if you are trying to cut back on your caffeine intake, consider substituting tulsi for some of the coffee and/or tea you normally drink.

Tulsi - Indian Queen of Herb Buyer's Guide

For many centuries, milk thistle extracts are widely used as liver tonics. The herb has been reported to have protective effects on the liver and to greatly improve its function.

The liver is a very important organ in your body. Two of its key functions are detoxification and production of enzymes for digestion.

Taking milk thirstle on regularly can help your body gets rid of toxic substances, and help your body processes food more efficiently.

Milk Thirstle Herb - Liver Tonic Has Amazing Uses

Essiac tea is an herbal blend developed by a Canadian nurse named Rene Caisse from an ancient Native American formula.

The tea is used primarily to treat cancer.

However, although there are many anecdotes and personal testimonials to support this use, the scientific evidence is very preliminary and still rather sketchy

Essiac's original formula contains four common North American herbs: sheep sorrel, burdock root, slippery elm bark and rhubarb bark.

Other formulas, such as Flor-Essence, add additional herbs.

These additional herbs may or may not provide additional benefits. Until we know more, it is probably best to stick with the original formula.

Even if Essiac tea's cancer treatment potential is unproven, it is still a good overall health tonic, with herbs that support the immune system and help your body detoxify itself. 

Essiac Herbs Ingredients - Functions And Benefits

Dandelion tea has a long history of human usage. Chinese medicinal practitioners used dandelion to treat digestive disorders, appendicitis, and breast problems (such as inflammation or lack of milk flow).

And even now, it is not considered old-fashioned to use dandelion root, leaves or extract for common ailments.

Fitness guru Gillian Michaels famously drank dandelion to help lose water weight fast.

Dandelion tea can be used as an herbal detox to help cleanse your liver and kidneys. It can be taken on its own, or in combination with other herbs.

Dandelion Tea Facts and Information - A Woman's Best Friend?

If you have ever considered going on an herbal detox diet, you know that you have a vast selection of products to choose from.

Walk into any natural health store, and you will be surrounded by products promising to help you become healthier (and often skinnier) through herbal detox.

However, not all of these products are worth the money. In fact, many of them are merely tea bags full of psyllium fiber (a laxative).

Also, most herbal detox blends only target one organ or system. For example, they might detox the liver or the blood, but not necessarily both.

Illumination Herbal blend is different. Made from a blend of potent herbs from the Amazon rainforest, it is a fairly complete detox treatment that targets most of your body's systems at once.

Illumination is made from herbal extracts obtained through a special extraction process that includes all of the many phytochemicals, vitamins and trace minerals that are available in the whole plant.

This makes it superior to other detox blends that do not contain all of the constituents of the whole plants they are based on.

If you are looking for an herbal detox tea, this safe but effective blend is a great place to start.

Best Detox Diet Review - Illumination Herbal Blend

No list of healthy drinks would be complete without mentioning chamomile tea. Although chamomile has not been extensively studied in humans, it has been extensively used by humans for centuries.

Traditionally, chamomile is most commonly used to calm upset stomachs, reduce stress, and induce sleep.

The Medline Plus page on chamomile also mentions that one study suggested that inhaling steam from chamomile tea could help ease cold symptoms.

However, none of the studies performed so far on the benefits of drinking chamomile tea has been large enough or in-depth enough for Medline to recommend the herb for a specific condition.

According to Wikipedia, chamomile has shown some promise for controlling cholesterol and diabetes, and some research has confirmed its traditional uses to treat anxiety and nausea.

However, more research needs to be done, and we will have to wait for science to unlock the secrets of chamomile before we will truly understand the health benefits of this herb.

However,  I also drink it simply because I love the taste.

Chamomile tea (made from whole flowers, not the ground-up powder in a tea bag) tastes amazing. It is fruity and floral all at the same time, like apples dipped in honey.

Some people are allergic to chamomile. In general, you should avoid it if you are allergic to anything in the daisy family.

If you constantly drink soda or other sugar-laden beverages, consider switching over to one of these healthy beverages instead.

Choosing to drink  beverages that are good for you is a small change, but it is one that could have a big impact on your health and well being.

Try it and see!

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