How Herbal Tea Has Changed My Life

I was 15 years old when I decided to quit drinking sodas. I remember when my "Quinceaneras" was approaching and I said to my mom, "no more sodas for me" I wanted to be in good shape for my party and that was a decision I made until today. Growing up and in my childhood, it was very common to drink sugary drinks full of artificial colors and sweeteners! At that time I was struggling with weight problems in part because of my bad eating habits (a diet high in flour, bread, cheese, oil, etc,) and all these drinks full of sugar! I traveled abroad for an Intercultural exchange program to Belgium, a country known for its beers and fries, of course, I immersed myself in the culture by eating as many chocolates, "broodjes en bier " (bread and beer), fried food, and much more. As a result, I ended up gaining weight again.

I replaced my soda habit with coffee because I thought coffee was perfect to keep me energized during the day, when I moved to the US I was working full time, and going to college part-time. It had me stressed out, so I thought coffee would keep me up during the entire day out of the home. It got to a point where I would have 5-6 cups of coffee in a day and Cuban coffee which has even more sugar than regular American coffee. I was more anxious than ever and increased my sugar craves (I gained weight again).

Five years ago, I had a wake-up call in my life when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. A disease that had never run in my family, nor did we ever imagine will happen to anyone of us. Yet, she had to undertake all the invasive medical treatments recommended by modern medicine to keep cancer cells in control. While I am thankful now that she's out of it, I was worried and in deep concern during that horrible year of uncertainty. Before being diagnosed, my mom adopted the standard American diet and was going through depression for missing her hometown.

I met my husband a year before her diagnosis, the news of my mom's sickness was really bad it could have broken us apart from each other because my only focus was to have my mom healthy again. Instead, it made us a stronger couple because we both began researching natural approaches for cancer patients and found out about documentaries recommending a Whole Food Plant-based diet. We never thought about leaving animal protein behind, however, we decided to try that path of reducing meat, dairy, and sugar. Immediately after those changes, we saw a difference in inflammation and energy levels.

My husband had years of suffering from chronic digestive issues, which he noticed had improved a little as well. He continued researching on his own until he found a health coach specialist in detoxing with juices. I thought to myself that was a little extreme, however, I followed him on the program drinking lots of green juices and eating clean for 30 days. The changes were more noticeable, we lost pounds and felt younger, like teenagers again lol.

Our health coach suggested we quit our coffee addiction for herbal teas, herbal teas? we were so used to drinking coffee, it sounded weird and all new to us who never thought of drinking herbal teas in our lives. I wanted to try an herbal tea blend from the supermarket just to see how good it tasted, but yuk! those teas were horrible, how on earth would I give up coffee for that? we both went to a farmer's market in Miami that is very popular for its organic produce. To my surprise, they had all kinds of loose-leaf herbs so we took home a bunch of them without even knowing how to prepare them or their benefits at all.

This was the first time I fell in love with herbs. I realized the difference in flavor and aroma, I was not sure about the benefits but did want to learn more about them. Growing up in Venezuela, my grandmother was knowledgeable about plants and her approach to all symptoms was always a warm cup of tea. I did not have that habit in my life because I was raised with medicines, but God I wish I had learned from grandma all she knew about herbs.

Although we are still growing our knowledge of plants, we are happy to use them for our benefit every single day. We had a baby after that year of changes in our habits, and we could not be happier to have her in our lives as a result of this new lifestyle. My husband was able to heal his digestive issues and my mom made it a habit to drink tea after completing her medical treatment. I also drink a cup of herbal tea every morning on an empty stomach, one midday, and before going to bed, this helped me replace my coffee addiction which has balanced my anxiety and stress feelings. For this reason, we decided to create our own herbal tea blends that would taste good, feel good, and only have organic loose-leaf herbs for good health.

Author: Veronica Araujo