Latest / Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease / 160 // Herbal teas offer a simple way to support Hashimoto’s health naturally [Hashimoto's Health Lab]

Transcript

160 // Herbal teas offer a simple way to support Hashimoto’s health naturally [Hashimoto's Health Lab] · Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease

• 0:00
  Today's tool for the Hashimoto's Health Lab is something that you can enjoy
• 0:03
  in the summer, you can enjoy in the winter.
• 0:05
  It's going to reduce your inflammation, it can boost your energy,
• 0:09
  do so many things. Today we are talking about herbal teas.
• 0:12
  We're going to go over several different teas and how to use them best for Hashimoto's health.
• 0:18
  Welcome to the Health with Hashimoto's podcast. Our summer series is the Hashimoto's Health Lab.
• 0:23
  This series is going to be 10-minute episodes.
• 0:26
  Every week we'll talk about a specific tool or practice. We're going to cover
• 0:29
  everything from environmental detox to stress reduction, energy boosters,
• 0:34
  biohacks, and all of it is going to be designed to give you tools for better
• 0:38
  health with Hashimoto's.
• 0:40
  I'm your host, Esther Yunkin. I'm a registered nurse helping women uncover their
• 0:44
  root causes and regain energy.
• 0:46
  So these episodes are going to be short. If you are ready for a deeper transformation.
• 0:50
  Check out the Holistic Hashimoto's course.
• 0:53
  It will help you identify your unique triggers and root causes so that you can
• 0:57
  focus your own energy on what really matters for your health.
• 1:01
  Are you ready to explore a new strategy for thriving with Hashimoto's?
• 1:04
  Let's dive in. This is the Hashimoto's Health Lab.
• 1:07
  What do you think of when you hear herbal tea?
• 1:10
  For me, I assume that herbal tea is anything that's not black, green, or white tea.
• 1:16
  And when I looked it up for this episode, like I should kind of know the official definition is true.
• 1:21
  That is what herbal teas are. Herbal teas are infusions made from herbs,
• 1:25
  spices, or plants that are not true tea, which is the black,
• 1:30
  green, and white that are derived from the actual tea plant.
• 1:34
  And the black, green, and white, I think oolong is also one.
• 1:38
  It is just dependent on like when the leaves are picked, like where they're
• 1:42
  picked, how they're dried, things like that.
• 1:43
  So herbal teas are not the actual true tea.
• 1:47
  And they are relevant for Hashimoto's. I picked them for this series because
• 1:52
  they are a gentle and natural way to support your health.
• 1:55
  And that is what we want, right? We want gentle, we want natural,
• 1:59
  we want simple, we want sustainable and gentle and natural.
• 2:03
  Really, you know, tie into simple and sustainable.
• 2:06
  So why is this relevant for Hashimoto's? And what benefits are you going to see?
• 2:12
  Well, some of the teas, now different teas are going to have different properties.
• 2:16
  So some of the T's are going to reduce inflammation. We really want to reduce
• 2:21
  inflammation if you're dealing with anything autoimmune, because when you have a lot of inflammation,
• 2:27
  that is what causes one of the big things that causes your immune system to
• 2:32
  become overreactive and start attacking things that it shouldn't, like your thyroid.
• 2:37
  When your immune system is dealing with all of this inflammation and when it's
• 2:41
  always on alert, sometimes it misfires. And we want to calm that down.
• 2:46
  Herbal teas can also support digestion. If you have gone through the holistic
• 2:51
  Hashimoto's program, you know that digestion is huge. It is one of the things
• 2:57
  that we absolutely need to work on.
• 2:59
  It is both a root cause and it is a symptom when you have Hashimoto's.
• 3:04
  So everybody with an autoimmune condition has three things. You have a genetic component.
• 3:10
  You can't change your genes. You can't change where you came from,
• 3:13
  but you can use neutrogenomics and other things to determine how your genes express.
• 3:19
  We talk about that in the Holistic Hashimoto's program as well.
• 3:22
  And everybody with an autoimmune condition also has a gut component.
• 3:26
  So you want to support your digestion.
• 3:29
  Also, a symptom of Hashimoto's can be constipation. And so again,
• 3:34
  we can use herbal teas for some of the symptoms of Hashimoto's.
• 3:38
  We also can use herbal teas to promote relaxation and better sleep.
• 3:43
  Now, these two things are both, again, a root cause and a symptom.
• 3:48
  So if you have Hashimoto's, what is one of the primary complaints that I hear?
• 3:54
  Fatigue. So exhausted. Bone tired.
• 3:59
  Can't function. You're so just, you don't have any energy.
• 4:03
  Well, herbal teas can help with relaxation and can help you get better sleep.
• 4:09
  And sometimes you feel like you could sleep for, you know, 20 hours and wake
• 4:13
  up and still be exhausted.
• 4:14
  We want also to boost energy and some herbal teas help with that.
• 4:20
  So let's talk first about how to choose the right herbal tea.
• 4:23
  And then I'll go through a list of maybe 10 different types of tea or 10 different
• 4:27
  types of herbs that you can turn into teas so that you can figure out which ones to pick.
• 4:31
  So how to choose the correct or the best herbal tea for you. Number one, this.
• 4:37
  This might go without saying, pick one that you're actually going to drink.
• 4:41
  I don't know how many teas I have purchased because I read the benefits and
• 4:46
  I was like, oh, this sounds amazing.
• 4:47
  And I, you know, steeped bag or brewed some loose leaves. I'm like,
• 4:51
  oh my goodness, this is disgusting. And I never made it again.
• 4:55
  So know your own flavor preferences and kind of go in that direction,
• 5:00
  especially if you're just starting out.
• 5:02
  Now, I love historical fiction books.
• 5:05
  And in, you know, know, the old time books in those stories,
• 5:10
  a lot of times they brew a tea and they give it to somebody for pain relief or for sleep.
• 5:16
  Or there's one story I read and, you know, they gave it to their sister-in-law
• 5:21
  because they wanted to cause harm.
• 5:23
  You know, there's a lot of uses for tea. And I think that they didn't care about
• 5:27
  the taste. They might have cared, but they drank it medicinally.
• 5:31
  So it's kind of like when you're a little kid and you have the medicine that's
• 5:36
  a syrup, and it's so nasty, but you have to drink it.
• 5:39
  Some people do approach tea that way, and you can as well.
• 5:42
  So if you know yourself, and you know that you're only going to drink it if
• 5:47
  you like it, then know your flavors.
• 5:50
  If you know that you're going to drink it no matter what, you're going to treat
• 5:53
  it like medicine, then go that route too.
• 5:55
  All right, so how to choose the right herbal tea? You want to look for organic
• 5:59
  or high quality teas, because you do not want to be steeping pesticides.
• 6:03
  You do not want to be like brewing them and drinking them. So organic if possible.
• 6:08
  And then the next thing is avoid teas with added flavors.
• 6:13
  I had one company that I liked and I went to purchase some tea and I looked
• 6:18
  at the ingredients and it said natural flavors added. And I was like, wait, what?
• 6:22
  No, like the tea should just be the tea. It should just be the herbs and the spices.
• 6:28
  I don't want chemicals. And it didn't say what those natural flavors are,
• 6:32
  but from other reading I have done, usually...
• 6:36
  That little phrase, natural flavors, it means that it's some sort of chemicals.
• 6:41
  And so you can contact the company and find out what they are and make sure
• 6:44
  they're actually natural.
• 6:46
  Make sure they're, you know, things that you want, or you can just skip them
• 6:49
  because there's so many different tea companies.
• 6:51
  And then finally, consider your symptoms and figure out what you want to target.
• 6:57
  Do you want to target, you know, a root cause? Do you want to target a symptom?
• 7:01
  Do you want to target both?
• 7:03
  Well, then let's go into what the different teas are.
• 7:06
  Chamomile. I've talked about chamomile before because chamomile,
• 7:10
  it calms inflammation, it promotes better sleep, it reduces stress,
• 7:14
  and in a previous episode,
• 7:17
  I talked about how it actually changes your risk for thyroid problems,
• 7:23
  and I cannot remember what episode that was,
• 7:25
  but I do remember looking up the research and being blown away that something
• 7:29
  simple like chamomile tea every evening can be beneficial if you have Hashimoto's.
• 7:35
  Peppermint tea is another thing that can soothe digestion. It can relieve bloating,
• 7:40
  and both of those things are common with Hashimoto's.
• 7:43
  The next one is ginger.
• 7:46
  Ginger herbal tea is anti-inflammatory. It can support your digestion,
• 7:50
  and it can boost circulation.
• 7:53
  Nettle is another one. Now, I have
• 7:55
  a woods, and there's so much stinging nettle, so when I think of that.
• 7:58
  I think of like a rash and pain on my arm and on my legs, but nettle is actually really good in a tea.
• 8:05
  It's so rich in nutrients. It supports your detoxification pathways and it can
• 8:11
  reduce allergies for some people.
• 8:13
  Dandelion root. Now this is something where you want to buy organic.
• 8:17
  You want to, if you're going to go dig your own, you want to make sure that
• 8:19
  nothing has been sprayed, that it's clean, but dandelion root can support your liver detox as well.
• 8:25
  It can also aid in digestion. It can help you get rid of toxins.
• 8:29
  And of course, as we've talked about in this summer series, ridding your body
• 8:34
  of your toxic burden is huge.
• 8:37
  Your exposome. We want to bring that down.
• 8:41
  Lemon balm is another herbal tea. This one can reduce stress. It can reduce anxiety.
• 8:46
  It promotes a feeling of calmness, and it can also support your thyroid function.
• 8:51
  Another one is licorice root. Now personally, this is one where if it says licorice
• 8:57
  root on it, I know that I am not going to drink it because I don't like licorice root.
• 9:03
  But a lot of people really, really do.
• 9:06
  And licorice root is so good for adrenal health and for detox.
• 9:11
  So licorice root is actually pretty common in the detox aid teas, at least that I've seen.
• 9:17
  Turmeric is another one. It's a powerful anti-inflammatory herb.
• 9:21
  It can support your joint health. It can reduce autoimmune flare-ups.
• 9:25
  And finally, we have holy basil or tulsi.
• 9:30
  This is adaptogenic, so it means it supports your body's stress response.
• 9:35
  This is holy basil herb or tea. It also can support your energy and can,
• 9:40
  like I said, balance your stress response.
• 9:42
  So those are some specific herbal teas that you might want to try.
• 9:46
  So with all of these, of course, check for interactions with any medications.
• 9:51
  For example, if you are on blood pressure medication, licorice root might not be good for you.
• 9:58
  Licorice root can raise your blood pressure. So be aware of that.
• 10:02
  Always start with small amounts of tea to make sure that it's good for you,
• 10:07
  that you're not going to be sensitive.
• 10:08
  And then as we talked about last week, keep a journal. Keep a log of what you
• 10:12
  try and what happens, how you feel, what you were trying the tea for,
• 10:16
  and what kind of response you saw.
• 10:18
  So I hope that this episode is fun for you. It's something just like I love
• 10:23
  browsing tea selections and trying something new. I hope you do too.
• 10:28
  Pop over to our Health with Hashimoto's community over on school.com and start
• 10:33
  a discussion about your favorite tea. And do you like it hot?
• 10:36
  And do you like it iced? Like how do you like your tea?
• 10:39
  Let's share with others so that we can all benefit, and have better health with Hashimoto's.
• 10:45
  This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only.
• 10:48
  Please discuss any changes with your trusted healthcare provider.
• 10:51
  To take your next step, join our school community and explore the courses available there.
• 10:56
  You do not have to figure your health out alone.
• 10:59
  So that is school, S-K-O-O-L.com, and it is the Health with Hashimoto's community.
• 11:05
  I'll see you next time on The Health with Hashimoto's.