Super Herbs for Maintaining Gut Health
There’s a reason why naturopathic medicine has been around for millennia. It works. Herbs have long played an important role in keeping us fit, especially when it comes to promoting digestive health.
1. Tummy Settlers
Remember how your mother would pour out a glass of ginger ale when you complained of an upset tummy? Ginger has a hallowed reputation for settling the stomach. Naturopaths and practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine routinely prescribe ginger root for pregnant women and travelers to keep their stomachs on an even keel throughout their respective journeys.
Speaking of journeys, have you ever flown to the Subcontinent? If so, a licorice-like fragrance probably filled the passenger cabin after dinner, as Indian travelers chewed fennel seeds. The fenchone in those seeds relaxes smooth muscle to promote happy digestion. South Asians aren’t the only fennel fans. Back in the eighth century, Charlemagne pronounced fennel an essential healing plant for every European garden.
Catnip may make cats loopy, but it also calms the human gut and helps out bodies handle stress in a healthy way. This calming quality was one reason why catnip tea was a popular post-prandial treat in 17th century Europe.
Clearly, we’re staying true to history by including ginger, fennel and catnip in our Stomach Settler, one of our 100% alcohol-free liquid herbal supplements.
2. Liver Toners
Healthy digestion presupposes a healthy liver. One of the best liver-toning herbs is milk thistle, the key ingredient in our Liver Build tincture. The milk thistle plant might not inspire poetic rapture, with its sharp prickles and screwy white veins, but its key compound, silymarin, has attracted enthusiasm from modern researchers attesting to milk thistle’s protective properties for the liver, the body’s key detoxifying organ. The prickly plant is also loaded with antioxidants, which can keep the entire body, not just the digestive system, fit. By the way, those white veins in milk thistle might look slightly weird, but they inspired a lovely legend. They supposedly surfaced after a drop of the Virgin Mary’s milk fell on the plant.
3. GI Cleanses
A healthy gut is one capable of expelling unwelcome interlopers and, better yet, having sufficient tone to resist them. Herbs have long supported both functions. Wormwood numbers among the most effective, which explains this herb’s spread far beyond its native Europe. The hardy plant, with velvety leaves and a distinctive woody aroma, not only cleanses the intestines, but also boosts liver and gall bladder function and stimulates appetite.
Another cleansing aid got its start much closer to home: the black walnut, native to the eastern United States. The tannins and juglone contained in its hull are effective deterrents to unwanted gastrointestinal interlopers. Black walnuts also contain high levels of essential fatty acids, protective of heart health.
What’s more, you won’t need to haul out the sledgehammer to crack those awesomely strong shells. We’ve done it for you, by incorporating black walnut hull and wormwood into our Intestinal Cleanse supplement.
