Herbs for your Physical & Mental Health
“Easy,” is a word thrown around a lot in the Do It Yourself world, but maybe not so often when it comes to your general health. Here are 4 herbs, you can propagate with minimal effort, and make use of on a regular basis with as little investment as boiling water, pouring some oil, or crushing in your fingers. Additionally, they are all perennials and will grow back to a year.
Lemon Balm, Stevia, Bee Balm, and Lemon Verbena, are some hearty plants that can provide big health effects and can be grown indoors or out. They have all been used medicinally and culinarily for hundreds of years. Do your own due diligence before attempting to use them for any serious conditions, but for minor issues, they can work great.
Lemon Balm
Lemon Balm visually resembles mint, with wrinkly leaves and a similar pattern. It also grows a lot like mint, which is to say it will fill a large space outdoors if left unchecked. It will do fantastic in a pot on a windowsill where it gets a decent amount of sun during the day, so no need to dedicate outdoor garden space if it is limited. In fact, this is a great way to grow it in cooler climates.
When crushed, lemon balm leaves give off a sweet, candy-like, lemony scent. They can be added to salads or work well as a subtle seasoning for healthy hot dishes, particularly fish and chicken. The most common way to use them culinarily is as a tea, whether dried or fresh. It is a versatile herb and worth experimenting with in a variety of applications, like cocktails, desserts, sodas, and savory baked goods.
Lemon balm is credited by many for relieving anxiety, inflammation, and nausea. It is also used as a salve, in lip balms and soaps. Topically it is good for bites and stings, dry skin and some rashes. It also has some antibacterial properties that can be useful for minor cuts and scrapes. A simple poultice can be made by pulverizing the leaves with some boiled water into a pulp.
Stevia
Stevia is a perennial in warmer climates, but can survive indoors in other parts of the world for most of the year, if not continually. The plant will grow slow and steady in a container indoors, with at least half a day worth of sunshine. In warm to hot climates, it can get very large outdoors and will come back vigorously year to year. It is becoming much more common to find sold at garden centers and nurseries.
Nearly all grocery stores now sell this keto-friendly, healthy alternative alongside other sugar substitutes. Recent commercials have made light of the concept of growing it yourself, but it is actually both easy and economical. Because stevia packs such a punch by volume in comparison to cane sugar (up to 300 times as sweet), one plant is more than adequate for a household. It contains no calories or carbohydrates. Add stevia to any drink you may normally add sugar to, like tea.
It works well muddled into cocktails with other herbs, such as mint. The downside is the distinct herbal flavor in larger quantities, which may not always be desirable. Also, it does not function chemically in baking the same way as sugar works. On the upside, stevia is way better for your blood pressure, blood sugar levels and mental health.
Bee Balm
Bee Balm is a little trickier to grow, as it needs to be outside at least part of the year. You will want it to make contact with pollinators. The reward is a plant that produces beautiful flowers and a host of fantastic benefits. During the colder months, it can be brought indoors and left by a window with decent light.
When it comes to quick relief from stings and bites, there is no better remedy than bee balm. The itchy bumps from mosquitoes disappear in short order with a little bee balm leaf crushed and rubbed on the skin. Bee stings (provided you are not allergic) will also fade away, though it will take a bit longer. The leaves and flowers can be air dried and left to steep in olive oil, to create a year-round, antiseptic salve.
Besides its antiseptic and physically soothing properties, bee balm has many more uses. It is one of the most versatile dried herbs when it comes to remedies and mental health. Bee balm can be dried and kept all year to make teas and the flowers are particularly flavorful. The tea is used for something as basic as a soothing end of the night cup, to treating insomnia, sore throats, cold and flus, stomach aches, anxiety, depression, the list goes on.
Lemon Verbena
Lemon Verbena will grow nicely indoors and has the added benefit of being quite aromatic. As opposed to the candy-like scent of lemon balm, lemon verbena has a more acidic, almost zesty smell. If grown indoors, it is wise to trim the plant down by about half, when it gets to be in excess of 24 inches. This way you reap enough of the herb to be useful, while keeping the plant from becoming too big for a pot to sustain its perpetual growth.
Perhaps you have seen lemon verbena tea in a grocery or health food store? The popular brand Mrs Meyers and others use it to naturally perfume soaps and creams, but lemon verbena’s real claim to fame is in tea form. Once you have dried the leaves, all you need to do is steep them in boiled water by themselves or in combination with other teas.
Verbena tea is credited with a multitude of positive effects on digestion issues as well as anxiety and stress. Like bee balm, it is also used to treat cold symptoms and in particular congestion. Some people also find it is beneficial for joint and muscle pain.
