Winter Spices And Herbs To Protect Your Body This Season

The weather is already getting colder, soon our chimneys and heating systems will be hard at work, attempting to keep us warm as the wintertime fast approaches.

Winter weather brings us all together by bringing forth a yearning for warmth and connection, partially due to the fact that some of our fave holidays also come around and provide a feeling of family and gratitude.

Time and nature all seem to slow down as the first winter breeze cruises through the air. During the winter, you can feel the essence of the world around you.

However, while wintertime is truly a magical time for snow activities and curling up by a warm fire, it also provides a host of winter ailments. The short days, bone-chilling temperatures, and lack of sunlight, can lead to cabin fever, poor eating habits, stagnation, and of course, cases of flu and sicknesses. That sounds, well, not so magical.

Good hygiene, plenty of sleep, cold creams, and warm blankets are smart actions to take to stay from some of the effects of cold in winters. But, truthfully, if we want the best chance of naturally staying as healthy as possible during the winter, our bodies are going need additional help.

Fortunately, Mother Nature supplies us with what we need to defend our human temples naturally. This winter, we need to harness the power of nature and fortify our gut health and immunity from the struggles that wintertime can usher in.

During these cloudy and colder months, it is very important to protect your immune system, maintain a healthy microbiome, and keep proper blood circulation.

Healthy Immunity, Gut, And Blood Flow

With the fact that viruses that cause colds spread more easily in lower temperatures, you must protect your immune system. Strong immunity will help fight infectious bacteria, keeping cold, congestion, coughing, and flu at bay.

Additionally, you'll probably be doing a lot more sitting during the cold season. So, you'll need to get your blood moving. Proper blood circulation is key for bringing warmth to your body in the cold and regulating blood sugar levels.

Lastly, gut health is vital. Did you know that the key to overall wellness lies in your stomach?

Gut bacteria don't just help in digesting foods, but also work all over your body, and are important for both physical, and mental health.

Gut health is paramount during the winter when your digestive system isn't running at optimum. When your body is exposed regularly to colder temperatures, it starts attempting to save energy and heat, resulting in a slower metabolism, consequently negatively affecting your digestion system.

Plus, since immunity decreases with cold temperatures, we are at a higher risk of infectious digestive ailments.

Hence, we need to adjust to changes in the environment by exploring important herbs and spices that are rich in health-promoting properties, nutrients, vitamins, and polyphenols. You can't control the weather or other natural external factors but incorporating some new vital foods into your daily diet can make a big difference.

You can wrap yourself up in the warmest winter clothing, but that usually that simply isn't enough.

Let's bolster our diets with the best herbs and spices to keep ourselves, healthy, warm, and hopefully sickness-free. These winter herbs and spices are nature's gift to shield us from the cold weather. They're packed with antibacterial and anti-inflammatory compounds that'll support our bodies throughout the winter season.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is strong, pungent, spicy, and one of the most-beloved spices' in the world over. It plays a crucial supporting role in hundreds of savory meals and desserts. With its spiced, warm aroma, cinnamon is a versatile and flavorful spice that is an incredible antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, with plenty of helpful benefits.

Made from the dried inner bark of the Cinnamomum tree. Strips of the dried bark are rolled into cinnamon sticks, ground into powder, or made into an extract.

Cinnamon was originally only grown in Sri Lanka, and centuries ago it was once more valuable than gold. In Egypt and medieval Europe, cinnamon was desired for religious practices. It was also used widely as a medicine to treat a variety of conditions such as sore throat, diarrhea, and arthritis.

Furthermore, modern-day medical science has backed cinnamon as a powerful medicine.

Packed with antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties, it can help in beating a cold, cough, and sore throat. Most surprisingly, cinnamon is so powerful that it has more antioxidants than garlic. It's rich in natural immunity guardians - antioxidant polyphenols and proanthocyanidins.

This spice also acts as a regulator in your body, drying dampness, improving blood circulation, and stimulating sluggish digestion.

Pu-erh

Made from the leaves and stems of ancient trees that come from a strain of Camellia sinensis plants called “Yunnan Dayeh”, pu-erh tea, commonly as known as “black tea”, is a rich bold tea with fruity, grassy, musky, woody, and herbal notes. Each sip of this tea is usually smooth, earthy, slightly bitter, with a sweet aftertaste.

Pu-erh tea is a unique kind of microbial, fermented tea. It is processed in such a way that increases the encouragement of microbial fermentation. Once fermented, the dried tea leaves are aged. Along with contributing to pu-erh's delectable distinct flavor, the specialized steps of aging and fermentation are believed to be what gives this tea some of its amazingly unique health-promoting properties.

For hundreds of years, pu-erh tea has long been sipped in China for a variety of health perks and many of those vibrant health benefits have been proven in this modern-day age.

Research has shown that the antioxidants and polyphenols found in pu-erh teas help in guarding your immune system and aid in digestion and fat breakdown. This means that sipping on pu-erh tea might be able to assist you in weight loss and help in improving heart health and a reduction in cholesterol levels.

A study on animals and in test tubes from the Journal of Zhejiang University observed that pu-erh tea may have the capability to regulate blood sugar levels and manage oxidative stress.

Cloves

Another classic holiday and cozy time spice. The delightfully aromatic cloves are the dried reddish-brown flower bud of an evergreen tree called Myrtaceae, indigenous to Indonesia.

You can buy cloves whole or as a ground powder. Usually, in the western world, this spice is used for its wonderfully warming fragrance and cozy flavor in foods and drinks. Cloves is a rich and slightly sweet spice, balanced perfectly by its slight notes of bitterness and astringency.

Cloves are found in everything from hot beverages, pastries, to pot roasts. However, this spice goes beyond its yummy sweet woody flavor. Surprisingly to many, cloves are rich in vital nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and even fiber.

Most amazingly, cloves are one of the best antioxidant spices. Cloves have a higher antioxidant and antimicrobial activity than many vegetables and fruits. The antioxidant content of cloves is over 60 times the amount of that found in blueberries and blueberries are believed to have one of the highest antioxidant levels of all common fruits.

The rich antimicrobial properties of cloves can fight bacteria and research has shown that cloves may even be capable of killing bacteria such as E. coli.

This ample amount of antimicrobials and anti-inflammatory compounds will be useful during these cold-weather increased chances of sore throat, cough, colds, and other illnesses.

Licorice

If you're like most people, when you hear the word licorice, you may think of black jelly beans or Twizzler candies. Nevertheless, this common idea of licorice does this wonderful plant no justice.

Grown in parts of Europe and Asia, licorice is a flowering plant. A sweet and aromatic substance can be extracted from the root, which is used as a flavoring. However, the root can be used for its medicinal properties.

Licorice root contains many bioactive compounds and these compounds have actions in the body that can promote good and positive effects in the body. Additionally, licorice has potent antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory effects.

This multipurpose herb can be utilized in easing ailments such as heartburn, coughs; bacterial and viral infections; and soothing tummy aches.

Although licorice root is a very healthy addition to your winter diet, there can be too much of a good thing. Limit your intake to no more than around 57 grams per day because over-consumption may potentially lead to health problems.

Stay Healthy This Winter

Winter can be a difficult time for our bodies. The winter and our immunity and gut health don't exactly have the most cordial relationship. As soon as the weather starts to drop, we become more increasingly susceptible to infections, sicknesses, tiredness, and other archetypal winter issues.

Fortunately, nature provides us with some of the tools we need to help fight against winter ailments. These 4 incredibly powerful herbs and spices will help provide your body with the necessary health properties that you'll need to keep your immunity strong, digestion running smoothly, and blood sugar levels balanced during this cold weather.

The Best Way To Enjoy These Healthful Winter Herbs and Spices

Are you ready to start actively working toward safeguarding your body this winter?

Well, we're here to provide you with the yummiest best way to enjoy and get your dose of all four of these powerful herbs and spices: cinnamon, cloves, licorice, and pu-erh tea.

Our limited edition Wise Ape Gingerbread Fortress tea blend is a fortifying seasonal blend that combines cinnamon, cloves, licorice, and pu-erh tea with even more winter-wellness driven spices and herbs like fenugreek, ginger, etc.

Spirited herbs and spices converge in this blend to bolster your body and empower your microbiome this winter. Oh, and did we mention the flavor is a rich mix of classic gingerbread spices, decadent aromas of vanilla, and the combination of our yunnan black tea and puerh tea creating a smooth texture with a kiss of sweetness.

Click here to check out our limited edition Wise Ape Gingerbread Fortress tea blend.

This informative article is written, by Sophia Mckenzie. Sophia is head content creator and writer, for several premium websites, where her expertise lie in health, nutrition, and wellness. Her content is heavily focused on providing and sharing doable solutions to help people truly thrive, and live their happiest, healthiest, fulfilled life.