What Teas are Good for Digestion

I have loved switching to iced tea at the Healing Arts Tea Bar this summer.  We have found a way to do personalized iced tea for your enjoyment and have loved the feedback from everyone, especially on our digestion tea blends.  Whether it's indigestion, bloating, IBS, constipation etc. using tea as medicine can really help especially if taken on a daily basis.  Food is medicine and I enjoy tea so much that I forget that it can actually help your body too.

Our tea menu is different than anything you have ever seen before.  Yes, we have the teas listed and you can pick one and enjoy it to either stay at the tea bar or take it to go but what is different is on the back of the menu is a list of symptoms and you can choose the symptom you want to work on and then get muscle tested for which 3 herbs your body needs.  So you don't choose your tea but your body does!

Besides getting a cup of iced or hot tea we can also make a container for you of your personalized blend that is 12 servings. Before opening the Tea Bar we experimented for months and came up with some great blends when muscle testing for helping digestion.  Here is the list of teas we have that can help your gut and other things as well.

Bergamot    Digestion, lowers cholesterol, brain health, acid reflux, immunity booster, energy booster, weight loss, skin support, constipation, hydrates

Black Tea    Digestion, blood sugar, lowers cholesterol, brain health, heart health, improves blood pressure 

Cat's Claw   Digestion, brain health, immune support, improves blood pressure

Earl Grey     Digestion, brain health, immune booster, energy booster, weight loss, hydrates, skin support

Echinacea    Immune booster, respiratory health, digestion, anti-inflammatory, brain health, skin, anti-aging

Fennel          Digestion, weight loss, immunity booster, energy booster, women’s health, respiratory health, eye support, detox, improves blood pressure, diuretic 

Ginger          Digestion, anti-inflammatory, lower cholesterol, brain health, immunity booster, weight loss, women’s health, pain relief, heart support

Holy Basil    Digestion, blood sugar, anti-inflammatory, lower cholesterol, brain health, immunity booster, weight loss support, skin support, respiratory support, eye support, detox

Jasmine       Liver support, relaxation, brain health, digestion

Marshmallow Root Digestion, blood sugar, acid reflux, immunity booster, weight loss, women’s health, skin support anti-aging, constipation, detox, liver support pain relief, heart support

Mugwort      Diuretic, women’s health, energy booster, brain health, digestion

Peppermint Digestion, respiratory, anti-inflammatory, brain health, pain relief, sleep support, women’s health, weight loss, skin support, immune support, relaxation, brain health

Rose            Hydrates, respiratory support, skin support, sleep support, women’s health, immunity booster, brain health, digestion 

Turmeric      Pain relief, eye support, immunity booster, brain health, lower cholesterol, anti-inflammatory (for more on turmeric, click here)

We also have blends to help inflammation, energy, women’s health, brain health, high blood pressure and more.  So if you haven’t tried a personalized tea blend yet you must at your next visit!

Herbal Teas for Better Gut Health

I help a lot of people with gut issues that include people having trouble with constipation, diarrhea, acid reflux, IBS, malabsorption and bloating.  It seems that no matter what the gut issue is if I help that patient reduce inflammation that is irritating the gut the body tends to heal itself given the right nutrition.  One of the things I use in order to reduce inflammation and heal the gut is to suggest to my patients to drink teas.  The top 4 teas that help my patients reduce inflammation while healing the gut are fennel, ginger, marshmallow root and peppermint.  

Fennel tea is great to help the body digest.  It tastes a little like licorice.  It can relieve constipation and is known to prevent stomach ulcers.  It also has anti-inflammatory properties due to its high level of antioxidants which the body needs to fight harmful things you ingest like bacteria, plastics that leach from food containers, or aluminum that food absorbed from foil.  

Ginger is a great tea to drink if you have an upset stomach for any reason.  Ginger tea is also good for preventing or stopping nausea. Drinking ginger tea is useful in improving digestion and increasing absorption of food.  Drink ginger tea when feeling bloated after eating too much.  It has such strong anti-inflammatory properties that drinking tea can also help reduce inflammation in other parts of the body including joints, head and uterus so it’s good for arthritis, headaches and menstrual cramps.  

Marshmallow root tea is very soothing for the gut.   It reduces inflammation of the stomach lining and even heals stomach ulcers. It creates a protective lining in the digestive tract, thereby treating leaky gut syndrome and soothing acid reflux. Marshmallow root also helps individuals suffering from inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

Drinking peppermint tea is a good way to balance pH levels and promote a healthy blood flow throughout the body.  In this way peppermint tea reduces inflammation not only in the gut but also your joints.  Peppermint tea is also good for nausea.

It is best to drink the loose leaf, organic version of any of these teas at any time of day.  Steep one teaspoon of tea in 6 ounces of hot water for at least 3 minutes.  

Good Gut Flora = Good Brain Health

At Healing Arts we do a lot of work with patients of reestablishing their gut environment.  This type of healing usually starts with giving patients supplements to kill bad gut flora and remove toxins from the gut.  Once that phase is over, we then give supplements to put good gut flora back in and other supplements that may be needed to rebuild the gut.  This process of getting rid of toxins, bad microbes, heavy metals or chemicals, and inflammatory foods by using food supplements from an organic farm is how we give people back their health.  We see all the time how helping detox from the gut in particular helps with brain chemistry.  The majority of your neurotransmitters for your brain are made in the large intestine by bacteria.  Yes, the bacteria actually produce serotonin, dopamine and GABA all of which play a key role in mood.   So if the large intestinal environment is not healthy one could feel anxious, moody or depressed.

Functional medicine calls this the gut-brain axis and we need to make sure that it is healthy.  One example of the relationship between the brain and the gut is IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) which has the common symptom of getting worse with stress.  So not only does the gut make the neurotransmitters for the brain but it's a two way street and the mental stress in the brain can affect the function of the bowels. 

                                

Sleep can also be affected by the health of the gut for melatonin which was thought to only be produced in the brain by the pineal gland is also produced in the gut.  By getting rid of toxins and reestablishing a healthier gut flora with good bacteria we help people get off their sleeping aids and antidepressants.  We have been doing this for over 13 years at Healing Arts and are so glad science is catching up to our results in the office for about 11 months ago scientists actually started identifying which bacteria were linked to depression in this study in Nature Microbiology.

Advanced Allergy Clearing Technique

A New Service at Healing Arts

Accelerated Allergy Clearing Technique

Do you experience:

Environmental allergies that make you dread seasonal changes?
“Food Allergies” that severely limit your diet (and nourishment)?
Sensitivities to things in your environment that restrict your quality of life?
Symptoms or unwanted health conditions that simply won’t respond, or only respond to treatment temporarily?

These symptoms could be signs of allergies.  If you have allergies, there is an alternative to medication and the impracticality of avoidance…
It is AACT, Accelerated Allergy Clearing Technique. And if you do have seasonal allergies, luckily for you, Nova learned this technique just in time for spring!

Allergies are versatile. They can show up just about anywhere in your body and provide a variety of issues. They can affect your nose, eyes, throat, lungs, stomach, skin and nervous system. They can give you a bellyache, a rash and even bring on fatigue and headache.
In our experience, when major allergies, both food and/or environmental, are present and not handled, they are often interfering with the body’s normal function, repair, and self-correcting mechanisms. Autoimmune disease have risen dramatically due to high levels of polution in the air. This represents a major health problem that experts now think affects one third of the whole population. And if they are not managed properly, people begin to deal with it by avoiding the modern world.

Food sensitivities, environmental allergies, and chemical sensitivities are afflicting more and more people and an individual can be allergic or sensitive to any number of substances including: foods, molds, pollens, animal dander, chemicals, fabrics, medications, MSG, food additives, etc. Allergy symptoms can be over-reactions of the immune system while and/or an imbalance in the body's nervous system. An imbalance in the body's energy can lead to decreased health, so clearing allergies and sensitivities is one way to improve the overall immune system. 

The allergy clearing procedure is a gentle, painless, non-invasive way to relieve symptoms by utilizing acupressure, muscle testing, and nutrition to address underlying problems and bring balance to the body. It is safe on the youngest to oldest of patients. Most begin to notice improvement in just a few sessions, but the full benefit is seen as a patient's overall health improves with the combination of the clearing plus vitamin supplementation. Some common changes with the allergy clearing include: elimination of lactose intolerance, reduction or elimination of IBS, sinus relief, seasonal allergy relief, elimination of eczema and hives, reduction of fatigue, improvement of ADD symptoms, decreased gluten intolerance and bowel gas, and elimination of asthma, just to name a few. 

The following are symptoms that may be related to allergies or sensitivities. If you experience any of these conditions and have not found relief, you may be a candidate for allergy clearing. Symptoms including: acne, canker sores, dark circles under eyes, eczema, hives, itching, constipation, diarrhea, gas, heartburn, vomiting, IBS, asthma, coughing, sinusitis, stuffy nose, bedwetting, joint pains, anxiety, fatigue, bloating, hyperactivity, learning disorders, arthritis, hay fever, post nasal drip, red ear lobes, red cheeks, ear infections, headaches, sore throats, and weight gain.

If you think you may be a candidate for Advanced Allergy Clearing Technique (AACT) call the office, (866) 585-5999 to schedule an initial exam.  

Eat This: Bone Broth

There’s a South American Proverb that says, “A good broth can raise the dead.” There is a reason why we eat soup when we are sick. A real bone broth has been simmering for hours to leach all the minerals and vitamins out of the bone making it liquid gold for our immune system. There are other great benefits to drinking bone broth on a daily basis.

If you slow cook the bone it draws out the collagen, marrow, and other healing elements from the bones, including amino acids, minerals, glycine, and gelatin—which helps heal the gut and reduce inflammation for the whole body.

Collagen, the protein matrix in bones, tendons, ligaments, and other flexible tissues, is broken down during the cooking process into another protein called gelatin. Gelatin is the reason properly prepared broth congeals in the fridge. This gelatin has in it the raw materials to rebuild your own connective tissue, especially tendons (which connect muscles to bones) and ligaments (which connect bones to each other).

Another benefit of bone broth for joint health comes from glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), a family of carbohydrates found in bones and connective tissue that show interesting effects in reducing joint pain. One of these GAGs, hyaluronic acid, is an effective treatment for osteoarthritis.



Bone broth helps in digestion by containing glycine, because it stimulates the production of stomach acid. Who may need more stomach acid, you ask? People who have acid reflux do because acid reflux is actually a problem of too little stomach acid, not too much. By prompting your body to secrete more stomach acid, glycine can help prevent or treat this painful and potentially dangerous problem. This makes bone broth a delicious supplemental food for anyone suffering from acid reflux, IBS, or FODMAPS intolerance.

Adding to its metabolic virtues, glycine is also an important component of bile acid, which is necessary for fat digestion in the small intestine, and also helps maintain healthy blood cholesterol levels. Especially for people who are new to Paleo and switching from a carb-based to a fat-based diet, this has the potential to keep the digestive process running a lot more smoothly.

Glycine isn’t the only useful protein for gut health, either. glutamine, another amino acid found in bone broth, is a natural remedy for “leaky gut,” that unpleasant and dangerous condition where the barrier between your gut and the rest of your body isn’t working properly, allowing molecules that should stay inside the gut to cross over into the bloodstream and potentially set of a cascade of autoimmune reactions. Glutamine helps maintain the function of the intestinal wall, preventing this damage from occurring.

Glycine also helps in detoxification because it supports the liver in removing anything dangerous from the body.
Glycine is also necessary for the synthesis of glutathione and uric acid, the body’s most important endogenous antioxidants.

Yet another detox-related benefit is that glycine helps clear out excess methionine, another amino acid found in large quantities in eggs and muscle meat. Methionine is an essential amino acid, but too much of it can raise blood levels of another amino acid called homocysteine, and the process of breaking down homocysteine increases the body’s need for B vitamins (thus increasing the risk of B vitamin deficiency even if your intake is adequate). Glycine from broths and cartilage can help break down homocysteine without the need for B vitamins.

Bone broth is extremely high in minerals. Bones from land animals are rich in calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus, and fish bones also contain iodine. We know that at least some of this mineral content leaches out into the water, because the bones are crumbly and demineralized when the broth is done cooking – often they’re so weak that they’ll fall apart if you put any pressure on them. If you use smaller bones, like chicken or fish, they’ll sometimes even entirely dissolve into the stock.

Another interesting anti-inflammatory benefit of the proteins in bone broth is more rapid recovery from injury. Under the stress of an injury or disease, the body’s needs for these amino acids increases and bone broth is perfect for supplementing this increased need for the body to repair.

So the old advice of drink soup when you are sick still stands. Drink soup when inflamed, when joints hurt, to heal the gut or when recovering from an injury as well! If you don't want to make your own bone broth there's a great organic bone broth place in NYC, Brodo and online, even though it comes in plastic, The Osso Good Co.