Herbs that protect the heart and circulation enhance improvement in all areas of life. Drink Chinese teas that keep your heart young. Coronary artery disease develops when a build-up of plaque in the arteries on the surface of the heart clogs its blood and oxygen supply. Asian herb foods that reduce cholesterol, improve circulation, and make the vessels more supple can increase oxygen supply to the heart. Chinese teas are among our best-loved home remedies for daily use. Gently stimulating, cleansing, and delicious, they lift your spirits and firm your figure.
To make tea, add 1 - 2 teaspoons of dried tea leaves to your ceramic or glass tea pot. Add just enough nearly boiling water to cover the leaves. Swish the hot water around in the pot once or twice then pour out the water. That rinses the leaves to awaken their flavor and remove most of the caffeine, which is released during the first twenty seconds of brewing. Then fill your tea pot with hot water and steep the leaves for 3 - 5 minutes before drinking.
Green Tea
Chinese green teas are refreshing beverages that offer protection from illness, depression and fatigue. Flavonoids found in tea have similar health benefits to those found in citrus fruits. Tea's tannic acid and slight caffeine content stimulate metabolism. Green teas can range from mild Lung Ching to bracing Gun Powder and fragrant Jasmine. Enjoyed all day, green tea is digestive, slightly laxative and diuretic, which makes it perfect for reducing fat and cholesterol.
Drinking green tea daily provides a rich source of antioxidants which clears the senses, boosts immune strength, and gently stimulates digestion. Research has shown green tea-drinking to be a useful preventative for breast cancer. Enjoy 6 - 10 cups daily, but avoid it at bedtime.
Weightloss and your Heart
Quite a lot of research has shown that you have a better chance to avoid major illnesses if you maintain a healthy weight. Chances are if you have gained over 20 pounds or added 5 inches to your waistline since college, you need to reduce.
Chinese weightloss teas provide an easy pleasant way to reduce. Read the label to avoid irritating herbs such as senna, which may cause cramps. Most Chinese weightloss teas contain white or oolong tea as well as digestive herbs such as hawthorn berries, which safely speed metabolism and reduce cholesterol and triglycerides. Because hawthorn tones digestion and strengthens the heart muscle, it creates a strong energy boost for people who feel sleepy after eating. Hawthorn's bitter and sour flavor and digestive effects supports the liver's ability to reduce fat and impurities. When using a tea containing hawthorn, drink only one cup in the morning until you get used to its effects. Then slowly adjust the dosage to one to two cups daily. Or take one hawthorn capsule after breakfast or lunch then gradually increase the dosage to two or three daily. Avoid hawthorn if you have ulcers or gastritis. Hawthorn can make you feel speedy, nervous, dizzy or give you a headache when taken too frequently.
Anti-hypertension Teas
Chinese groceries sell 3hypertension-reducing2 teas that cool inflammatory symptoms and indirectly reduce cholesterol because they are relaxing. Anti-inflammatory herbs used as ingredients include skullcap, oldenlandia or essence of tienchi flowers, which treat a hyper active liver. They reduce hypertension-related headaches, nervousness, insomnia or irritability. Such teas also work well for PMS blemishes and crankiness, menopausal heat symptoms, and anxiety.
Tuocha
Tuocha is one of the best-known anti-hypertension teas originating from China's Yunnan province. The dried tea leaves come in bags or shaped into hard cones you have to break apart with a knife. Steep one pinch of tea in a porcelain pot along with three cups of boiling water for five minutes. Tuocha's fragrance is the dank, dreamy mists from tea fields in south China. It makes a soothing hot evening beverage, good for a meditative mood. One cup feels grounding. Persons without hypertension might feel sedated from this tea.
Anti-cholesterol Ginseng Teas
Chinese raw tienchi ginseng powder is an excellent remedy for chest pain, poor circulation, bruising, and excess cholesterol. During the Ming dynasty, tienchi ginseng was considered more valuable and was more expensive than gold. It helps prevent heart and circulation troubles. It is anti-inflammatory and cleansing for blood vessels in the chest so that it improves the heart's oxygen uptake as well as general vitality. The raw processed powder is best suited for persons with chronic fever conditions, menopausal hot flashes, bleeding gums, heart palpitations, or excess thirst.
It feels cooling. Steamed tienchi powder is warming: it increases blood formation for anemia, chronic weakness, and chills. Both herbal powders are considered rejuvenating health and beauty tonics. Add one teaspoon of the appropriate powder daily to juice. For additional information on the ginsengs and other herbs for maintaining optimum health, see Asian Health Secrets.
Gynostemma Pentaphyllum (Jiaogulan) is known as the southern ginseng. Gynostemma tea helps maintain normal cholesterol levels, while it protects the elasticity of blood vessels. You can add the instant powder to your morning green tea. It is also available in capsules. The normal dosage is 3 or 4 soft gels daily with meals.
Chinese Herbs and Pills that Strengthen the Heart
Most traditional Chinese heart tonics combine herbs that ease circulation along with others that strengthen heart action. One traditional formula Dan Shen Wan (pills) uses natural camphor, a vasodilator, and Chinese red sage Salvia miltiorrhiza), which according to research done in China, increases circulation and reduces certain damaging effects of free radicals. The dosage of Dan Shen Wan pills is normally three or four pills after meals.
Kitchen Spices
Many heart healthy spices can be found in your kitchen. Adding one pinch of them per pot can add flavor to your hot green tea. Cardamon seeds stimulates digestion and heart action. It is a sweet delicious pick-you-up for cold dreary mornings or when you are depressed. Add one pinch of powdered cardamon to green tea. Too much can increase hunger and nervousness.
Rosemary is a strong stimulant to heart and adrenal energy. It improves vitality, memory and afternoon fatigue. Avoid this heating herb if you have fever, headaches, anxiety or insomnia. Otherwise, use one small pinch of raw or dried herb per pot of green tea.
Turmeric, a deep yellow-colored pungent spice found in Indian cuisine contains curcumin, which has been proved effective in inhibiting certain cases of platelet aggregation. That makes plaque less sticky and congesting. If cold weather or weakness makes you feel stiff, use 1/4 teaspoon each of turmeric powder and cinnamon powder in hot water to warm circulation.
Happy Garden Tea
This healing instant beverage made with finely powdered wheat sprouts, hawthorn berries, and licorice eases digestive complaints, menopausal tensions, and improves sleep. Unlike a sedative, it does not dull the mind, but calms the spirit. Add the contents of one foil-wrapped packet to hot water or juice for a relaxing trip to your private garden. Keep it by your bedside along with a nice long romantic novel. If you do not have love in your life , relax and visualize one. All good things come with a kind, peaceful heart.
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A selection of herbal beverages are now available for purchase
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