SKY HIGH ON HEALTH reports on nutritional, wellness, and green lyfe fads both crazy and helpful.
If there were a drug that would zonk you out, wake you up, get you high, help you get over a breakup, and (bonus!) eliminate cellulite, it would probably be illegal, right? Well, over the past two weeks, I tried a half-dozen versions of said drug… and its name is tea. No, this wasn’t sketchy opium pod tea à la that Girls episode. A host of upstart tea companies are now offering perfectly legal beverages that claim to cure a truly boggling array of mind/body issues. Clearly, this green lyfe correspondent had to investigate.
I started with a blend called The Heart Healer, a “post breakup tea” that basically brands itself as a BFF in beverage form. (Product description: “Let’s face it, breakups suck. They just do. Yet, they also serve as an important time of reflection and growth.”) According to Charmaine, the owner of Gullah Girl Tea, the Heat Healer is a blend of rose petals (which are supposed to attract love and encourage self-love), hawthorn berry powder (which has been used to treat diseases of the heart and blood vessels), lemon balm and Motherwort (which assist in alleviating depression), and cinnamon (to remind ourselves of our power and fire within, Charmaine says).
Even if, like me, you’re personally a big advocate of tea—it’s teeming with antioxidants and is believed to help prevent cancers and help fight free radicals—this sounds a little far fetched, right? Could it really reverse all the tears and drunk texts from the night before? Well, no. But actually, among the vast array of consumer products purporting to cure heartache—self-help books, weird Internet psychics, back-episodes of Sex And the City—The Heart Healer measures up pretty well. The tea did indeed stimulate a feeling of comfort within me, and definitely gave me a bit of a pep immediately after drinking (though Charmaine swears it's caffeine-free). It wasn’t the same as popping a Xanax—or the pinnacle of great break-up cures, really great rebound sex—but is clearly superior to other tempting beverage options that might be hidden in the depths of your freezer. Bonus: the rose petals really come through when you brew it. Flowers, for me? Oh, you shouldn't have.
So forget the temporary. What about the tea brands that purport to change you for the long term? The next batch of mood-altering teas I tried came via Natalie Kringoudis, a doctor of Chinese medicine behind Anti c Tea, which acts an internal detoxifier and is billed as a cellulite reducer. The way the Anti-C Tea is supposed to work is by doing a thorough cleanse of the kidneys and liver, expelling impurities from your body. The tea is made with Oolong tea (removes toxins), ginger (warms the body), Chrysanthemum (clears the skin), and Lycium Chinense (nourishes the liver and supports digestion). Natalie, who runs the company YOUR TEA, also recommended Her Te
If there were a drug that would zonk you out, wake you up, get you high, help you get over a breakup, and (bonus!) eliminate cellulite, it would probably be illegal, right? Well, over the past two weeks, I tried a half-dozen versions of said drug… and its name is tea. No, this wasn’t sketchy opium pod tea à la that Girls episode. A host of upstart tea companies are now offering perfectly legal beverages that claim to cure a truly boggling array of mind/body issues. Clearly, this green lyfe correspondent had to investigate.
I started with a blend called The Heart Healer, a “post breakup tea” that basically brands itself as a BFF in beverage form. (Product description: “Let’s face it, breakups suck. They just do. Yet, they also serve as an important time of reflection and growth.”) According to Charmaine, the owner of Gullah Girl Tea, the Heat Healer is a blend of rose petals (which are supposed to attract love and encourage self-love), hawthorn berry powder (which has been used to treat diseases of the heart and blood vessels), lemon balm and Motherwort (which assist in alleviating depression), and cinnamon (to remind ourselves of our power and fire within, Charmaine says).
Even if, like me, you’re personally a big advocate of tea—it’s teeming with antioxidants and is believed to help prevent cancers and help fight free radicals—this sounds a little far fetched, right? Could it really reverse all the tears and drunk texts from the night before? Well, no. But actually, among the vast array of consumer products purporting to cure heartache—self-help books, weird Internet psychics, back-episodes of Sex And the City—The Heart Healer measures up pretty well. The tea did indeed stimulate a feeling of comfort within me, and definitely gave me a bit of a pep immediately after drinking (though Charmaine swears it's caffeine-free). It wasn’t the same as popping a Xanax—or the pinnacle of great break-up cures, really great rebound sex—but is clearly superior to other tempting beverage options that might be hidden in the depths of your freezer. Bonus: the rose petals really come through when you brew it. Flowers, for me? Oh, you shouldn't have.
So forget the temporary. What about the tea brands that purport to change you for the long term? The next batch of mood-altering teas I tried came via Natalie Kringoudis, a doctor of Chinese medicine behind Anti c Tea, which acts an internal detoxifier and is billed as a cellulite reducer. The way the Anti-C Tea is supposed to work is by doing a thorough cleanse of the kidneys and liver, expelling impurities from your body. The tea is made with Oolong tea (removes toxins), ginger (warms the body), Chrysanthemum (clears the skin), and Lycium Chinense (nourishes the liver and supports digestion). Natalie, who runs the company YOUR TEA, also recommended Her Te