Digestive Tea

What’s in it? 

Well, each digestive tea has the same base of equal parts of organic medicinal grade cumin, coriander and fennel. (In fact, should you run out of your tea, this “3 seed” herb mix a good proxy for the interim) Then I add various other herbs depending on the doshas we are wanting to balance. The name of your digestive tea indicates which doshas we are addressing (trying to attenuate, as imbalance is a state of doshic excess). So P digestive is a blend that is helping to balance pitta in the digestive tract.

What does it do for me?

1. As mentioned above, we are beginning to address your prominant doshic imbalance.
2. Perhaps more importantly, we are working to increase your digestive capacity (agni). This is the ability of your body to harness all of the nutrients from your food and to digest it completely. When we have a diminished digestive capacity, we have malabsorption, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and partially digested food that ferments as it transits the colon. This fermentation produces what we call “nitrogenous waste” in Western medicine, or “ama” in ayurveda. It’s easy to understand that the digestive system (which plays important roles in not only digestion, but also excretion and immunity) has trouble functioning efficiently when there is toxic buildup there.  As we support the digestive system by balancing doshas, improving digestion, and reducing toxic buildup, you will notice a healthier appetite, improved digestion (aka reduction in digestive symptoms), and improved tolerance to hard-to-digest foods such as gluten, dairy, and meat. In ayurveda, we believe that a strong digestive fire (agni) can handle most any food. Rather than placing people on restrictive diets for the rest of their lives when they show food sensitivities, we aim to strengthen and rejuvenate the digestive system so it can handle the troublesome foods better. If you developed food sensitivities later in life, they are likely reversible.
3. A third important function of your digestive tea is to prevent imbalances in deeper tissue systems. The way the body is hardwired is to take whatever is in the digestive tract and distribute it to deeper tissues. The deeper tissues incorporate whatever the digestive system sends them. In this manner, excess vata/pitta/kapha, or toxic buildup can be regularly assimilated into deeper tissues. This will result in symptoms of doshic excess or toxic waste in those tissues. By shunting the excess dosha or waste buildup out of the digestive system, we are accomplishing powerful prevention for all deeper tissues.

How do I take it? 

My starting dose is 3 teaspoons of steeped herbs per day. The amount of water you use to steep the herbs is inconsequential. If you’d like a starting point, I use about 1 cup of water per teaspoon of herb.

FAQ

1. When should I drink it? Ideally, you’ll drink this in the early part of the day. We want the tea to be around to increase appetite and metabolism and digestive enzymes during the hours when we are digesting the working the most.
2. What if I forget to have my tea in the morning? That’s ok. Have it at night. Just get it in. A day here and there or having the tea in the evening will not hurt you. We are aiming for long term consistency and showing up for yourself on a daily basis.
3. Do I ingest the sediment? Sure, if you like to. It’s not necessary.
4. Is this supposed to cause a big change in my poop, or digestive symptoms? It may. Many people may experience some old vata (air gas gurgling),  old pitta (heat pungency looser stool) or old kapha (mucus) moving down and out the first few days. Wait for it to settle out. If this lasts longer than 3 days, or you have any other bothersome effects, please contact me.
5. Can I have it cold? Nothing cold! room temperature is ok. With an herbal flavored tea is okay too. For example, you can put your digestive tea in a chai latte, or in a peach ice tea.
6. I don’t like the taste; can you encapsulate my digestive tea? Of course darling. You have to meet yourself where you are at. I’d rather you get in your dose than have inconsistent dosing. We can always wean you off the caps and back onto the loose version in the future (your tastes will change).  Most people start to have a shift in the way their tea tastes to them within 2 weeks, so see if you can manage that long and re-assess if you need caps.
7. How long will I be on this tea? Forever! Just kidding. I took my digestive tea for about 2 years and since then I just keep some in the cabinet for those tough times.
8. How do I reorder my tea? Well, that’s easy. Click right here to go to our online store. (Remember, orders received by Thursday at 3pm will be processed by the following Monday at 3pm.)