Wisdom of Healing

Many parents these days have been snookered into thinking that giving their kids plenty of fruit juice is good for their health. Advertisements everywhere tell us it’s so. Sure, it’s better than soda pop and the chemically colored and flavored sugar water they used to call juice that many of us grew up on. But drinking bottled juices is not health promoting for a variety of reasons.

And all these newfangled expensive fancy bottled ‘water’ like products on the market are all hype (and sugar and chemicals) with clever names, as if they’re somehow benefiting our bodies or minds. They are, in reality, benefiting the bottom lines of the manufacturers; often able to be produced for pennies then sold for much, much more.

But if you want to provide real healthy choices for your children, please consider offering them lots of fresh, pure filtered water (contact me for more information) and lots of herbal teas.

Now, there are several keys to success with making herb teas for children so that they’ll drink them and enjoy the experience. First, determine whether or not they like strong or milder tea, and make it to their preference. Then experiment with various flavors. Offer herbal teas to them unsweetened before automatically adding any sweetener. Most of them don’t need anything added.

Remember to ALWAYS put a lid on the tea, so as to receive all the nutritional benefits from the herbs. Most herb teas need to steep for 8 to 15 minutes, or longer. I often make herb teas up in pint, quart or even half gallon Mason jars at night before I go to bed. The next day, we have a delicious, nutritious beverage for room temperature consumption (the healthiest temperature for teas in warm weather) or to warm up a bit on chilly days (in a saucepan on the stove, please; not in a microwave).

To learn to make healthy herbal teas from bulk herbs, fresh or dried, please read “Quality is Everything!”

We may serve teas to children warm, at room temperature or chilled. But adding lots of ice may actually inhibit the body’s digestion and ability to reap the nutritional benefits of the herbs.

When she was younger, my older daughter always preferred weaker tea made with only one tea bag per pint of hot water. Kaia enjoyed having nettles added to just about every tea she drank. It was a helpful choice for her dry skin, and she loved it.

My younger daughter, Mollie, liked her teas as strong as possible; 2 tea bags, and sometimes even 3, per pint of hot water. She liked to have raspberry leaf added to whatever tea she was into at the time. Over the years, she enjoyed raspberry leaf added to Throat Coat, Herbatussin and even Pregnancy Tea! (She enjoyed the Pregnancy tea from four years old until about age eleven, when it began to be just a little too weird!)

One of our family’s favorite teas is made from one of my long time favorite New Chapter products; the

Ginger Honey Tonic (also called Ginger Wonder Syrup or Digestion Ginger Honey Tonic; same wonderful product with three different names). Just add a teaspoon (or more to taste) of this delicious syrup to some warm, (not hot, as we don’t want to destroy some of the enzymes, vitamins and phytonutrients) water; sip and enjoy this tasty, nourishing, invigorating, tummy soothing tea.

I also love to add a good Elderberry syrup to warm water to make a soothing delicious tea, especially during cold and flu season or when I know we’ve been exposed to something I don’t want to come down with. My favorite commercially available Elderberry syrup is Sambu

(or Sambu Guard) from Flora Health. Just a teaspoon or two or this protective syrup in the morning and at night has gotten me through many a cold and flu season feeling healthy, strong and free of the respiratory problems I used to suffer from regularly. It’s a great tea for sinus and allergy sufferers, too.

I have known many children, babies to teens, that have enjoyed the following (and other) teas, warm or cool, over the years. I hope that you will have some fun experimenting with a variety of flavors, and find many herbal teas that your kids will enjoy as much as mine have.

Tulsi Teas – from Organic India (comes in 18 flavors, you may want to try them all!)

Sweet Rose Tulsi
Sweet Lemon Tulsi
Lemon Ginger Tulsi
Chai Massala Tulsi
Pomegranate Green Tulsi
Red Mango Tulsi
Vanilla Crème Tulsi

Raspberry Peach Tulsi
Orange Mint Tulsi
Red Chai Masala Tulsi
Passionfruit Tulsi
Licorice Spice Tulsi
Honey Chamomile Tulsi
Bija Teas (distributed by Flora)
Cold Stop
Cranberry With Rooibos
Sleepwell
Hawthorn

Traditional Medicinals
Just for Kids Organic Throat Coat
Just for Kids Organic Tummy Comfort
Just for Kids Organic Nighty Night
Just for Kids Organic Cold Care
Eater’s Digest
Organic Ginger
Organic Ginger Aid
Organic Roasted Dandelion Root
Organic Chai

Organic Lemon Yerba Mate
Organic Nighty Night
Organic Rooibos with Honeybush
Organic Rose Hips
Organic Spearmint
Throat Coat
Organic Lemon Echinacea Throat Coat
Herba Tussin Herbal Tea
Breathe Easy
Cold Care PM
Gypsy Cold Care

Cran Aid
Female Toner
Organic Mother’s Milk Tea
Organic Pregnancy Tea
Organic Raspberry Leaf
Women’s Liberty Tea

Yogi Teas
African Redbush Peach
Bedtime
Berry Antioxidant
Berry Detox (soon to be released)
Breathe Deep
Calming
Organic Cold Season Tea
Detox
Egyptian Licorice
Egyptian Licorice Mint
Ginger
Himalayan Apple Spice
Honey Lemon Throat Comfort
Kava Stress Relief
Mayan Cocoa Spice
Meditative Time
Mexican Sweet Chili
Moroccan Orange Spice
Peach Detox
St. John’s wort Uplift
Stomach Ease
Tahitian Vanilla Hazelnut
Throat Comfort
Woman’s Nursing Mom
Woman’s Raspberry Leaf

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