DIY Tea Recipes for Allergy Season

When you’re dealing with the struggle of seasonal allergies, a warm cup of tea can be truly comforting. However, studies show that the type of tea you drink in the midst of seasonal allergies can play a role in reducing your symptoms. Certain teas contain compounds and nutrients that calm the irritated sinuses and histamines that are set off by an allergic reaction whether your struggle with indoor or outdoor allergies.

Keep reading to learn more about which tea recipes and herbal ingredients you should turn to in the midst of the misery of allergy season.

Best Ingredients for Allergy-Effective Tea Recipes

Nettle

Nettle is by far the most relied-upon ingredient in allergy tea recipes and blends as it contains a natural antihistamine. It can also be taken in capsule form as a daily supplement but is delicious in a tea blend. To try nettle tea for yourself, steep 2 tsp of dried nettle with ¼ tsp of dried ginger and ½ tsp of cinnamon.

If you’d rather purchase a nettle tea that’s 100% pure and ready to steep, try this organic, loose-leaf tea from Mountain Rose Herbs.

Peppermint

Peppermint tea seems to be a wonder-remedy for almost any ailment, including digestion, mood stability, and allergies. The refreshing taste of peppermint can act as a natural decongestant and may help reduce the inflammation associated with allergy symptoms. Nettle and peppermint teas work well together and can be steeped side by side for a powerful defense against sneezing and congestion.

Ginger

Available in both dried and fresh forms, ginger holds a wealth of health benefits including natural antihistamine properties. Ginger tea can be steeped on the stovetop using fresh ginger but is also available in dried tea blends. To put ginger to work for you this allergy season, steep a slice of fresh ginger, a fresh lemon wedge, 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar and a drizzle of raw, local honey for 10 minutes before drinking warm.

Yerba Mate

This popular and naturally caffeinated tea comes from South America and can help the body increase corticosteroid production. Corticosteroids are a helpful anti-inflammatory that may also help open airways and reduce the nasal swelling and itching associated with allergies. If you want to try yerba mate tea to ease your allergies, steep 1 tbsp in 6 oz of hot water and then serve with a splash of almond or coconut milk and a bit of local honey.

Rooibos

Rooibos is a red tea that is grown in South Africa and is naturally caffeine-free and full of powerful, health-boosting compounds. Rooibos tea contains the bioflavonoids rutin and quercetin, both of which are natural histamine blockers and may reduce an inflammatory response.

How To Steep Tea For Best Results

These tea recipes can be enjoyed as needed or as a preventative against allergic reactions. Natural, herbal teas are best when steeped covered, to keep all the helpful compounds inside the mug rather than letting them evaporate into the air. For best results, steep herbal teas for at least 10 minutes and enjoy with a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of local honey, which can dramatically reduce your seasonal allergy struggles.

Which tea recipes do you turn to when allergies get you down? Share your tips and tricks in for surviving allergy season in the comments section below.

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Get Allergy Relief with Nettle Leaf

With spring in full force and summer on the way, many people are in the middle of another season – allergy season. At best, allergies can be annoying and at worst, they can keep you trapped inside on sunny days, unable to enjoy the warm weather with your family and friends.

If you’re one of the 50 million Americans who experiences allergies every year, nettle leaf may help! Known for many natural healing properties, nettle leaf has long been embraced for its ability to provide temporary relief from allergy symptoms. Keep reading to learn about the little plant that may make a big difference in fighting allergies this spring and summer.

What is Nettle Leaf?

Before they are broken down into a natural health supplement, nettle plants are those pesky plants that sting your legs as you walk by them on a hike through the woods. This herbaceous perennial is originally native to Europe, but is now prevalent throughout Asia, Africa, and North America as well. Used for thousands of years as a traditional medicinal herb, both the root and leaves of nettle plants are embraced for potential benefits related to everything from healthy pregnancies to joint mobility. Of course, nettle leaf is perhaps best known for its support in the relief of symptoms related to allergies.

How Can Nettle Leaf Help with Allergy Relief?

As you may already know, seasonal allergies are often a result of the body overreacting to its outside environment, causing the pathways in your immune system to become inflamed and blocked. Thanks to both the anti-inflammatory and hypoallergenic properties of nettle leaf, this little plant can be a powerful supporter of your immune system in the middle of allergy season, helping your body find balance in its reaction to nature without going crazy.

Nettle leaf is also a great alternative to over-the-counter antihistamine medications. While these mainstream products are effective in helping you to stop sniffling and sneezing, chemicals that block the histamines that your body naturally creates in order to flush out an irritant could actually make you sicker. By switching your mainstream allergy drug with a natural nettle leaf supplement instead, you can let your body do what it needs to do in order to flush out irritants, while still experiencing temporary relief from allergy symptoms.

How Can You Use Nettle Leaf for Allergy Relief?

There are multiple ways that nettle leaf can be used to combat allergies. From teas to powders to tablets, nettle leaf makes it easy to get allergy relief naturally. Here are a few of our favorites.

Nettle Leaf Capsules

Perhaps the most common way to see the full benefits of nettle leaf for allergy relief is to take the same dose everyday in capsule or tablet form. Vegetarian and gluten-free Nettle Leaf capsules can be taken once or twice daily to promote natural levels of histamine and help your immune system balance its reaction to allergens.

Nettle Leaf Tea

If you’re looking for quick relief from allergy congestion and symptoms, nettle leaf tea is a great option. Dried nettle leaves and flowers make up teas like Nettle Leaf Organic Tea by Alvita Teas, providing a soothing tea and an effective natural combattant against allergies. And bonus – this tea supports joint health and mobility as well!

Nettle Leaf Extract

Nettle leaves and roots can also be turned into liquid extracts to support a healthy immune and respiratory system during allergy season. Simply mix 30-40 drops of an extract like Certified Organic Nettle Leaf from Gaia Herbs with water on a daily basis or as needed. The anti-allergen properties in the nettle lead will get to work and have you breathing easier in no time!

Are you ready to fight your seasonal allergies the natural way with nettle leaf? Take a look at all the amazing products available and Natural Healthy Concepts and let us know which nettle leaf supplement you choose!

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Try Blessed Thistle During Cold & Flu Season

Ever wonder what it takes for a plant to be called blessed? Turns out, it just needs to help stave off the common cold! For more than 2,000 years, a small plant called blessed thistle has promoted everything from a healthy appetite and digestion to hormonal balance and reproductive health. And especially during cold and flu season, blessed thistle might just be your saving grace!

Blessed thistle is an annual flowering plant that originated in the Mediterranean but is now found all over the world in regions of Europe, Asia, South Africa, Central and South America, and even the United States. It grows on dry and stony ground, mostly in open and sunny areas, with a thin red stem, spiky leaves, and yellow or purple flowers – it may not look like much, but it packs a punch!

Also known as holy thistle, this hairy little plant actually got its name in the Middle Ages when Benedictine Monks used it to treat victims of the bubonic plague, which was also called the Black Death. And although we don’t need it for such a dangerous illness today, blessed thistle can still make a big difference in life today – especially when it comes to the flu.

Not to be confused with milk thistle, which is known to protect the liver, blessed thistle is most commonly used in support of a healthy immune system, respiratory system, and digestive system. Read on for a few ways that this little plant can help in a big way, especially when it comes to that early springtime cold you might be fighting.

Potential Health Benefits of Blessed Thistle

Digestive Health

Blessed thistle is a blessing (pun intended!) for the digestive system in more ways than one. It helps stimulate the production of bile and stomach acid, which is needed to break down waste and nutrients so the body can digest food more effectively. Blessed thistle also has natural diuretic qualities, which can support detoxification and cleansing, helping vital organs like the liver, kidneys, and colon eliminate excess waste and stay healthy.

Immune System Health

Blessed thistle can also promote a healthy immune system, especially during allergy and cold season. When occurring in the wild active ingredients in milk thistle help protect the plant from environmental attacks. These same ingredients can be synthesized to help humans in the same way, creating a calming effect for an overactive immune system and potentially helping to block histamine reactions that result in allergy attacks.

Upper Respiratory Health

In the same way that blessed thistle can help ease allergies or the common cold by supporting the immune system, it can also help with these symptoms by supporting the upper respiratory system. Characteristics of blessed thistle have been found to have an expectorant effect on the respiratory system, helping to reduce inflammation and promote clear air passages, helping the body to breathe easier … even when you’re all stuffed up!

Skin Health & Healing

Blessed thistle has long been used in traditional folk medicine to promote healthy skin. With antimicrobial, astringent, and anti-inflammatory properties, blessed thistle can help support the skin’s ability to absorb antioxidants and stay toned and looking fresh. Studies have also found that blessed thistle can promote improved healing from burns and wounds and prevent infection.

Female Reproductive Health

Last but certainly not least, blessed thistle can promote a wide range of potential benefits for the female reproductive system. Not only has it been used in traditional herbal medicine to alleviate symptoms related to painful menstruation, cramps, and menstrual headaches, blessed thistle can even help with milk production for nursing mothers and menopausal symptoms in older women.

One Note of Caution

Before hopping on the blessed thistle bandwagon, check with your doctor or allergist, as it may cause an allergic reaction in people who are sensitive things like daisy, sunflower, or ragweed. No allergies? Great! Here’s how to use blessed thistle!

How to Use Blessed Thistle

There are countless ways to integrate blessed thistle into your everyday life. If you want to take it everyday for things like digestive support or allergies, blessed thistle capsules are an easy and quick way to get your daily dose. Blessed thistle extract is also a way to explore its daily benefits – just place a few drops in your favorite drink two or three times a day and you’re set!

If you want to take a more DIY approach to blessed thistle, there are a few ways you can do so while also alleviating symptoms related to digestive issues, menstrual pain, or the cold or flu. We recommend placing a few teaspoons for dried blessed thistle in boiling water and steeping for 5 to 15 minutes (depending on how strong you want it). It may be bitter to the taste, but drinking 1 cup two or three times daily may make a difference when it comes to temporary pain relief or respiratory challenges.

How will you incorporate blessed thistle into your everyday routine and start exploring it’s many benefits? Let us know in the comments below!

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