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This summer, while you are enjoying the exquisite beauty of hibiscus in your garden, drink chilled hibiscus tea to refresh your body and mind. Hibiscus tea is a famous refreshment called Jamaica in Latin America. The astringency of hibiscus provides cooling relief from the summer heat. Hibiscus cools your liver & even down to your blood by purging hot bile from the gall bladder. Thanks to high levels of antioxidants, hibiscus reduces low-grade systemic inflammation, common if your lymphatic system is congested. Together, these refrigerating qualities help your liver complete a natural spring detox cycle. In late spring / early summer your body naturally craves foods and berries with the deep red hue of hibiscus.
Courtship & Romance
The bright red color & sensual texture of hibiscus is a symbol of courtship and romance. In traditional Hawaiian culture, a luscious hibiscus worn behind a woman's left ear indicates that she is married, or in a relationship. If she wears a bright hibiscus behind her right ear, however, she is single and available. Beyond romance, perfectionist Pitta types find soothing relief in the exquisite beauty, delicate grace, and finery embodied by hibiscus.
Hair Growth Tonic
Hibiscus promotes hair growth and prevents premature hair greying by stimulating blood circulation to the scalp and increasing the supply of essential nutrients to the hair follicles. Intellectually disposed pitta predominant people who study, read and work all day, tend to "burn" away their hair with by thinking too much! To harness the hair tonify effects of hibiscus, make the following shampoo (Yields 1c): Simmer 3 flowers in 3/4c coconut oil until they turn pink / lighten to make a medicated oil. In a blender, puree 3 flowers and 5 leaves with 1/4c water. The mucilage in the leaves will make a paste that is useful as a shampoo plus conditioner. Add the medicated oil and continue blending. Rub 1/4c or more into your scalp and let sit 10 minutes before rinsing. Refrigerate remaining product up to 3-4 days.
Recipes with Hibiscus: Hibiscus Blueberry Jello
Reduces Blood Pressure
Hibiscus is a traditional remedy for high blood pressure due to its diuretic action and blood thinning properties. This traditional use of hibiscus is backed up by a 2008 USDA study. Participants who drank hibiscus tea had 8 times more positive effect than the placebo group. If high blood pressure is an issue for you, enjoy hibiscus tea daily. Hibiscus tea protects your heart in more ways than one: It contains bio-flavonoids, believed to prevent build-up of plaque in the arteries.
Skin Care
Beautiful, vibrant hibiscus brings out your natural beauty. You may mix a small amount of hibiscus powder into a nutritive mask of colloidal oatmeal and powdered coconut for smooth, creamy skin with a healthy, sunkissed glow. Hibiscus extract has been shown to function as an anti-solar agent by absorbing ultraviolet radiation, reducing signs of aging topically. Add the powder or essential oil to your homemade moisturizer! If your skin lacks luster and vitality, a dash of red powder will bring a rosy glow to your cheeks. If your skin is already a lively red, using the white flowers will cool and soften the tone.
Appetite Suppressant & Other Uses
The astringent and cooling properties of hibsicus calm an overheated stomach, reducing your appetite to natural levels. The diuretic and blood thinning qualities of hibiscus help you lighten up your waistline and your mood. The restoration of healthy circulation gives your metabolism a boost, essential in any weight loss program.
By its diuretic action, hibiscus helps support the body when you are dealing with kidney disease, diabetes, obesity and liver issues. Hibiscus contains high levels of vitamin C. It supports female reproductive health. Then next time you sip a hibiscus cooler, let these facts slip into your mind and appreciate it's refreshing gifts even more. Too much hibiscus can dry out vata types, leaving them quite thirsty and dry.
About Hibiscus
Hibiscus is from the same family as okra, cotton, and chocolate. More obscure members include durian, marshmallow root, & kola nut.
Buying & Preparation
You can purchase the dried flower in most Latino stores, or grow hibiscus in your garden.
Cooking Hibiscus
Steep the dried flowers as a tea for 3-5 minutes. Hibiscus is often served chilled with a dash of blueberry juice.
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You'll learn your body type, and whether 'Hibiscus' is a good fit.
Complete the basic quiz in 1 minute, or go deeper with additional quizzes
at your own leisure to learn more about your body.
AYURVEDA'S GUIDE TO VITALITY & WHOLESOME NOURISHMENT
Your Ayurvedic diet is tailored to your individual body and your specific imbalances.
With an Ayurvedic diet you feel joy and satisfaction because what you are eating truly nourishes and balances you.
Disease results from diets and lifestyles that are incompatible with your nature.
By eating a personalized diet matched to your body, you experience optimal health.
See How it Works.
Ayurveda assesses metabolic imbalances through 20 main biocharacteristics
(gunas).
Aggravating them weakens your body and causes imbalance.
By knowing which biocharacteristics are habitually imbalanced in your body, you will be able to identify and correct metabolic imbalances before you get sick.
Every biocharacteristic has an opposite which balances it (i.e. hot balances cold).
You restore balance by favoring diet and lifestyle choices that increase the opposite biocharacteristic.
Taste is used to sense the most basic properties and effects of food.
Each taste has a specific medicinal effect on your body.
Cravings for food with certain tastes indicate your body is craving specific medicinal results from food.
Taste is experienced on the tongue and represents your body's reaction to foods.
Sweet taste causes physical satisfaction and attraction whereas bitter taste causes discomfort and aversion.
Kapha should use less sweet taste while Vata and Pitta would benefit from using more sweet taste.
One of the first signs of illness is that your taste and appetite for food changes.
The six tastes are sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent.
Do you crave foods with any of the tastes below?
Ayurveda is a metabolic theory of medicine that explains individual health, tendencies, and disease patterns through the concept of doshas, which can be understood as your metabolic patterns and tendencies.
Each dosha reflects a distinct metabolic nature and describes strengths & weaknesses in bodily function, and how these affect energy levels, digestion, susceptibility to disease, and many other tendencies.
Your metabolic nature not only affects your physical characteristics, but also influences your mental thought patterns, confidence, and enthusiasm.
Ayurveda balances these metabolic strengths & weaknesses to support your body's vitality and prevent recurrent disease cycles. This support is a critical aid, especially in chronic or incurable disease conditions.
The 3 metabolic body types
(doshas),
are Catabolic (Vata), Metabolic (Pitta), and Anabolic (Kapha).
Through dosha, Ayurveda empowers people to identify metabolic imbalances early, break repetitive patterns of disease, and cultivate habits that support long-term vitality and well-being.
Ultimately, these metabolic patterns also provide a framework for understanding yourself, including body, mind, and spiritual tendencies.
Ayurveda & Greek Medicine were the dominant form of medicine along the Silk Road from England to China and South Asia.
They work by assessing your metabolic type, patterns, and nature.
Greek medicine recognizes 4 metabolic temperaments, Melancholic, Choleric, Sanguine, and Phlegmatic.
Has a hot and dry metabolic nature. Enthusiastic, vibrant and bright. In excess burns up fluids and ojas, irritable. Corresponds to high bilirubin in the blood that irritates and heats up the body and liver.
Hot and oily with a moderate metabolism and a well nourished body. Vigorous, vivacious, outgoing and generous, and prone to impulsivity and self indulgence. Bullish and intense when out of balance.
Cold and dry with a slow, variable or erratic metabolism. Colicky, tense. Withdrawn, pensive, anxious, and hesitant. Analytical, intelligent, detail oriented and creative. Prone to ojas depletion, dehydration, an overactive nervous system, and depression.
Medicinal Benefits, Uses & Herbal Actions of Hibiscus
Experiences are Personal
Experiences vary according to the person and constitution. Individual results may vary.
The list of herbal-actions below has not be approved by the FDA and should not be used to treat a medical condition.
An antioxidant is a molecule that inhibits oxidation. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that can produce free radicals that lead to a chain reaction causing damage or death to cells. Antioxidants terminate these oxidation reactions.
A herb that contracts tissue or blood vessels. Generally styptics are astringent. They are often used topically as a hemostatic to stop bleeding, or to reduce secretions.
Herbs that promote urine formation, thereby flushing the kidneys and urinary tract while eliminating any excess water retention. As diuretics reduce water retention, they are often used to reduce blood pressure.
Cholagogues stimulate the production & release of bile from the liver & gallbladder. This refreshes and cleanses these organs, as well as increases bile in the small intestines.
STRONG FLAVONOIDS
Flavonoids are a colorful type of polyphenol. As all polyphenols, they have a strong antioxidant effect. Many flavonoids have an anti-inflammatory, and/or antiallergen effect.
Hibiscus may be beneficial for these symptoms.
The suitability of any food for a condition is highly dependent on the individual.
Please see your doctor before using this food to treat a medical condition.
We will use this information to better predict food that helps you.
CONTRAINDICATED FOR THESE SYMPTOMS
Hibiscus may be harmful or contraindicated for these symptoms.
Note this is not a complete list of all possible contraindications.
Please see your doctor before using this food to treat a medical condition.
Herb Drug Interaction Risk
Here are some potential herb drug interactions with Hibiscus. Please see your health care provider for more information.
Blood-thinner: Patients on warfarin (coumadin) and other anticoagulants, or who have clotting difficulties, should take special caution to only use blood thinners under the supervision of a medical doctor.
Cholagogue: Anything that strengthens or cleanses the liver can clear drugs more quickly, requiring a higher dose.
Diuretic: Diuretics may clear pharmaceutical drugs more quickly, lowering the effect. Avoid if taking water pills or pharmaceutical diuretics.
Hypotensive: Herbs that lower blood pressure can magnify the effect of blood pressure reducing pharmaceuticals.
Lowers-blood-sugar: Avoid if taking diabetes or other blood sugar lowering medication
View other ingredients for Summer
Hibiscus is recommended for Summer. Check out these other Summer foods here.
Eating Ayurvedically makes you feel nourished and energized. Food digests with ease when
right for your body type (dosha). Healthy digestion is seen as the cornerstone of well-being in
Ayurveda. Healthy digestion generally prevents illness. If you do get sick, a strong digestive fire
reduces the severity of illness and increases your resilience. It also improves your mood. Once
you begin eating Ayurvedically, you will feel refreshed, vital and strong.
John Immel, the founder of Joyful Belly, teaches people how to have a
healthy diet and lifestyle with Ayurveda.
His approach to Ayurveda is clinical, yet exudes an ease which many find enjoyable and insightful.
John also directs the Joyful Belly College of Ayurveda,
offering professional clinical training in Ayurveda for over 15 years.
John's hobbies & specialties include advanced digestive disorders, medieval Catholic philosophy,
& botany. He holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Harvard University.
His wife and family of 7 kids live in Asheville, NC.
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* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
The information and products on this website are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any
disease.
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