Hot Tea Therapy for Cramps

Sipping Tea...

It's about 20 minutes after eleven on a Friday night. I'm sipping a cup of hot tea, a special blend that I am experimenting with to help ease the horrendous cramps I get during my period. I won't start for another week or so (my cycle is like clock-work, every 28 to 30 days) but it's good to take preventative measures.

I have recently started working with a local herbalist, and she says that in order to get to the root of the problem (which we both think is some type of nutritional deficiency - magnesium, calcium, iron - coupled with those fiendish cramp-inducing hormones known as prostaglandins) I need to adopt some new lifestyle habits. So, I'm starting with something relatively easy to squeeze into my daily routine: soothing, herbal tea.

Herbal Magic

And not just any run-of-the-mill box of Yogi or Tazo tea. No, indeed. This is a handcrafted, loose leaf blend of herbal magic. The 'Moon Cycle Blend', as it is aptly called, contains a mixture of cleansing and fortifying herbs like raspberry leaf, oat straw, horsetail, red clover, and (one of my favorite plants) stinging nettle. It also contains pleasant and calming herbs like chamomile, cinnamon, and vibrant flakes of pink rose petals. Did I mention that it's tasty, too?

A twist on the hot tea is to ice it and add sweetened almond milk. I tried this for the first time a couple days ago, and it was delicious!

Finito

For those of you suffering from severe cramps (clinically known as Dysmenorrhea), I would be happy to share the contact information of the herbalist I am seeing if you'd like her advice or would like to try this tea. I'm still experimenting, and I have some other nutritional changes to implement...so I will try to document them in this blog.

My tea cup is now empty, and it's nearly midnight. I have an early morning tomorrow as my friend Kim and I venture out to the Polk County Farmers Market for a change of scenery and selection. Who knows what fresh grown foods and adventures await?