Favorite Herbs for the Holidays

Thanksgiving and Christmas are wonderful times to enjoy various herbs and spices. There are so many foods that include all sorts of spices and herbs! We often are familiar with the smells of these ingredients, but we may not know what they are.

There are all sorts of great ways to enjoy these herbs and spices as part of dishes, and for health purposes as well. Some of the most common herbs and spices around the holidays include these:

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is often in all sorts of baked goods around the holidays, including cookies, applesauce and various drinks. This spice also is useful to ease an upset stomach and to reduce indigestion.

Cloves

The little hard, spiky cloves that are in many spice jars are actually the dried bud of the clove plant. Cloves are used often on the outside of a ham, and also can help bad breath!

Nutmeg

Nutmeg is a very popular spice that is used in many pies and cakes. Many people also find that nutmeg can aid digestion. To settle down your stomach, try to add a bit of nutmeg to a cut of hot ginger tea.

Some parents also like to use a glass of warm milk with ground nutmeg to settle children at bedtime. This can be a great night cap to help the kids sleep during all of the excitement of the holidays.

Ginger

Ginger adds great zest and flavor to many foods. It also is one of the most popular herbs, and is useful to relieve nausea and upset stomach and to increase circulation. While some people use modern drugs to reduce stomach upset, one of the most effective, yet gentle ways to ease an upset stomach is to use ginger.

One of our most popular ginger-based products is Lan Zhou Foci-Xiang Sha Liu Jun Wan. This is a very effective product to reduce an upset stomach. It also is useful to support the health of the gastrointestinal system.

It contains the highest quality ginger that prevents many types of nausea. It works by reducing the production of acid in the stomach, which reduces stomach upset.

Rosemary

This is one of the most delicious culinary herbs that is frequently added to soups, stews and roasts. It has all types of wonderful health benefits. For instance, it can rejuvenate the skin and hair, help with headaches and reduce stomach upset.

Mint

Mint is often used with many meat dishes at the holidays, such as lamb. Peppermint is very helpful to stimulate digestion and to soothe an upset stomach.

Mint plants are the basis of menthol, which is used in many herbal products to reduce pain. For example, Axe Brand Pain Relieving Oil is effective to rub into the skin and joints to reduce muscular and joint pain. While menthol is a synthetic substance made in the laboratory, it is made from natural mint leaves. Mint leaves also were used to dress wounds and cuts in ancient times.

Astragalus

Astragalus is not used so much for foods, but it is very helpful to increase the strength of the immune system. This can be very important during the holidays, when we are around more people and can get sick. It is a good idea to take astragalus in a tea or capsule during the holidays to ward off cold and flu.

A highly effective herbal supplement to improve the health of the immune system is Ching Chun Bao Anti-Aging Tablets. This is a very popular natural herbal supplement to provide strong health support for the immune system, nervous system, brain and heart. Astragalus also helps to improve strength and stamina, which can wane with age.

Many of these herbs can be used year round, but many of them are especially common at the holidays. We hope you give a few of them a try and let us know how they work for you.