Teas are a really wonderful way to boost your body’s hydration, and because we’re
made of 65-80 percent water, the constituents that hot (and cold) water pulls out of the herbs are really absorbable for us.Youthful Skin Tea Blends
The loveliest thing about herbs is how versatile they are. Most herbs have a myriad of actions associated with them, so it isn’t hard to come up with a tasty blend that does a lot of good in your body. We’re always looking for ways to keep our skin glowing and youthful and a good tea blend can offer us some really beautiful results!
When you’re creating an herbal tea blend (or any kind of herbal formula) you always want to look at what your goal is and what issues might be standing in the way of that goal. It might be obvious, but when the goal is ‘youthful skin’ you want to work to counter the causes of aging.
Age Fighting
There’s no way to slow down time, so let’s think about aging in a different way. As we age our DNA is changed and damaged by natural wear and tear. We breathe oxygen to live, so we are literally oxidizing our bodies every time we take a breath.
Our cells are fed by glucose, so our body breaks down our nutrients into sugars. Though many of us consume too much sugar — and that’s something we can work on — glycation is a natural part of the living process.
Stress is also a natural part of our lives — without a bit of stress we would have a hard time accomplishing our goals. Over time, stress hormones and especially excess stress are considered to have a negative effect on us — yet again, it’s another part of aging.
The idea behind a youthful skin tea blend is to equip your body with tools to nourish the skin even though these processes are going on. Since we know the actions of herbs through knowledge that has been passed down through the ages and (very recently) through scientifically breaking down plants into their constituents, we’re able to directly combat the effects that aging has on the skin.
We know that free radicals and oxidation can cause changes to DNA, and that antioxidants bind with those free radicals in the bloodstream to stop them from causing damage. So we want to include an ample supply of antioxidants in our daily diets and in our youthful skin tea recipe.
We know our liver and kidneys help to balance blood sugar, break down our nutrients, and process toxins out of our body, so we want to gently support their functioning and offer them minerals to help keep them strong.
We can work with stress on two different levels with our tea — adaptogens for long term support and nervines for short term relaxation.
That’s a great start for anyone, right? Since we’re all aging (no matter what age you are currently), we all need antioxidants, liver and kidney support, minerals,adaptogens, and nervines. So ingredients that have these attributes alone would make a great anti-aging tea.
But let’s go a little bit deeper and create some tasty, youthful skin teas based on skin type.
Youthful Skin Teas Based on Skin Type
When you’re making a tea for daily use, you want to work with gentle tonic herbs that will help bring your skin into balance rather than a tea blend that will push your skin in the opposite direction.
Additionally, I ascribe to the traditional way to drink tea — I suggest steeping tea 2-3 times before throwing out your herbs. This will make sure that you’re getting all of the nutrients out of your herbs (some take longer to be released), you’ll have more water in your body, and your blend will last much longer.
I suggest supporting your local herb store for your tea blend, but if there isn’t one close to you Mountain Rose Herbs or Pacific Botanicals are great online retail stores for your herbs.
Youthful Skin Tea for Oily Skin
If you’re experiencing oily skin, you want to add herbs that will help balance out your extra sebum production. Astringent and cooling herbs are helpful in quelling excess and blood movers stimulate circulation, which is great for creating balance in the whole system.
Equal parts: Steep 2-3 times.
- Lemon balm
- Yarrow
- Burdock root
- Hibicus
- Tulsi
Youthful Skin Tea for Dry Skin
What you’re experiencing on the outside of the body is really indicative to what’s happening internally. If you have dry skin externally, I always add juicy (demulcent) herbs to help heal that internal mucosa and offer support to the skin. I also want to add a blood building herb because dry skin is indicative of a deficiency in the skin, since the skin is fed by the blood, you want to build the blood up so that all the nutrients you’re giving it can make it all the way out to the skin.
Equal parts: Steep 2-3 times
- Marshmallow root
- Alfalfa
- Vervain
- Rosehips
- Ashwagandha
Keep it balanced! Youthful Skin Tea for Combination Skin
Combination skin is the most difficult to work with externally, but internal skin work is all about balance! Like with oily skin, we want to add a blood mover and like dry skin we want a demulcent herb. We also want to focus on nutrients and minerals to help feed the skin so that it can balance itself.
Equal parts: Steep 2-3 times
- Dandelion root
- Nettle leaf
- Burdock root
- Chamomile
- Schizandra
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий