Hibiscus Tea For Summer Hydration

One of the challenges of summer can be staying hydrated in a healthy way.

When we are fully hydrated our joints ache less, we are less likely to feel lethargic, get a headache or feel hungry. Our digestion is improved , our skin is more supple and our brain functions more efficiently with better cognitive function.

Numerous studies tell us that North Americans are chronically dehydrated with an estimated 75% of us needing to drink more liquid on a daily basis.
Survey of 3003 Americans, Nutrition Information Center, New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center (April 14, 1998).

Just like with foods and nutrition, there is a good better and best when it comes to hydration and as we passed through a ‘heat dome’ earlier this month, I turned to Iced Hibiscus Tea for hydration as one of the best options out there.

Many of us turn to fountain sodas and canned pops when the going gets hot and the challenge is to avoid drinking insulin spiking regular and diet soda. (Yep! Your read that right. Diet sodas also ‘trick’ the body into spiking our inflammatory hormone insulin when the taste of false sweetness hits the tongue.) When insulin is spiking regularly in the body, you are going to feel out of control symptoms of peri-menopause and will be pushing yourself towards insulin resistance; the first step on the path towards diabetes.
Mathur K, Agrawal RK, Nagpure S, Deshpande D. Effect of artificial sweeteners on insulin resistance among type-2 diabetes mellitus patients. J Family Med Prim Care. 2020;9(1):69-71. Published 2020 Jan 28. doi:10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_329_19

Red hibiscus flowers are packed with anti-oxidants in the form of anthocyanins which give the flower its colour. These anti-oxidants help to mute the effects of free radicals in the body and it is free radicles that promote aging and fan the flames of inflammation.
Ajiboye TO, Salawu NA, Yakubu MT, Oladiji AT, Akanji MA, Okogun JI. Antioxidant and drug detoxification potentials of Hibiscus sabdariffa anthocyanin extract. Drug Chem Toxicol. 2011 Apr;34(2):109-15. doi: 10.3109/01480545.2010.536767. PMID: 21314460.

The hibiscus flower is a power house for lowering blood pressure due to its mild diuretic properties and studies show both diastolic and systolic pressure is reduced with the introduction of tea made from hibiscus into the daily diet. 75% of us may be dehydrated but 1/3rd of all folks in the USA are believed to have high blood pressure and hibiscus tea offers a safe and natural way to hydrate and tackle this cardiovascular health issue.
Serban C, Sahebkar A, Ursoniu S, Andrica F, Banach M. Effect of sour tea (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) on arterial hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Hypertens. 2015 Jun;33(6):1119-27. doi: 10.1097/HJH.0000000000000585. PMID: 25875025.

Of even more interest to the midlife woman is that fact that hibiscus flowers are rich in phytoestrogens. These are plant chemicals that gently mimic estrogen inside the body. As our ovaries are slowing down production of estrogen in order to get some well earned rest, gentle support from plants can help to reduce our symptoms of peri-menopause as we move into estrogen deficiency.

The food and nutrition that you eat daily can either support you or tear your health down and in peri-menopause we can make choices that support a reduction in uncomfortable symptoms in the body.
Saeed IA, Ali L, Jabeen A, Khasawneh M, Rizvi TA, Ashraf SS. Estrogenic activities of ten medicinal herbs from the Middle East. J Chromatogr Sci. 2013 Jan;51(1):33-9. doi: 10.1093/chromsci/bms101. Epub 2012 Jun 14. PMID: 22700791.

When I talk about the naturally occurring plant estrogens found in soy, hibiscus and raspberries, I invariably get asked about breast cancer. There has been some inaccurate press that states foods that contain phytoestrogens are dangerous as they increase our risk of breast cancer. Nothing could be further from the truth. Naturally occurring plant estrogens are recognized by the body and accepted into beta estrogen receptors in the breast which trigger the slowing of cell turnover. Hibiscus estrogens have been found to go further and cause the death of cancer cells found in the breast making hibiscus breast protective.
Nguyen C, Baskaran K, Pupulin A, et al. Hibiscus flower extract selectively induces apoptosis in breast cancer cells and positively interacts with common chemotherapeutics. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2019;19(1):98. Published 2019 May 6. doi:10.1186/s12906-019-2505-9

When we include micro doses of plant based estrogen into our diet, we calm uncomfortable hormonal symptoms at midlife and protect our breast and vaginal health and the health of our libido.

Fruity and delicious to taste, perhaps the best reason for sourcing hibiscus flowers or tea bags and keeping a jug of iced Hibiscus Tea in your refrigerator is the fact that you get to ditch sugar laden and chemical riddled diet sodas from your day and instead embrace one of natures pops of flavour. A simple switch that builds better health.

Ingredients

1/4 cup, 2 tbsp Red Hibiscus flowers or 1-2 Hibiscus tea bags
8 cups boiling water
Ice to taste
1 Lime juiced (optional)

Instructions

Pile the hibiscus flowers or tea bags into a tea pot and boil the water.
Steep the flowers for 5 minutes and either allow to cool or add ice until cool.
Serve refrigerated and add a squeeze of lime for more juicy sourness and a shot of electrolytes and vitamin C.

Coffee Replacement Chocolate Morning Drink

One of the most beautiful things we can do for ourselves at midlife is to get to know ourselves without caffeine.

Each time we introduce caffeine into the body, we trigger our flight or flight response and your stress hormone cortisol spikes in your beautiful midlife body. We rely on this early morning jolt for daily energy and often do not realize that it is robbing us of our innate vitality and our sleep at the other end of our day.

As estrogen our juicy hormone and progesterone our balancing hormone are in decline during midlife, it is easy for our stress hormone cortisol to dominate our hormone profile leaving us anxious, losing sleep at night and feeling burnt out daily. Ironically this can cause us to lean more heavily on caffeine to jump start our day and we exacerbate the cycle down into exhaustion with our morning cup of joe!

Our job at midlife is to love on ourselves with dense nutrition and stress reducing lifestyle practices so that we support our bodies through hormonal change and reduce the uncomfortable symptoms of peri-menopause that come with changing and dominant hormones.

This may mean giving ourself healthy boundaries and a midlife break up with caffeine as we move through hormonal change. In this way we can get to know where our natural daily energy lies and ensure we can sleep like a baby through our forties and fifties and avoid feeling tires wired and frazzled.

Hot Take: you can always make up with caffeine later when your hormones are on an even keel!

This morning beverage is a recipe designed to nourish the body first thing in the morning.

It is rich in our relaxation mineral magnesium found in raw cacao and boosts our happy neurotransmitter serotonin to give you that lift in the morning that you enjoy from coffee. It includes anti-inflammatory spices and calms the brain early in the day by providing healthy fats from coconut butter and the omega 3 fatty acids found in protein rich hemp seeds.

Dates are rich in iron and the B group of vitamins and collagen provides the amino acids needed to build health skin, joints and a healthy gut lining.

Above all else, where coffee jolts the brain and leaches nutrition from the body as it dehydrates our skin, this morning elixir nourishes, calms and builds your midlife health.

Coffee Replacement Chocolate Morning Drink

Ingredients

4 tbsp raw cacao

4 tbsp hemp seeds

2 tbsp coconut oil

4 dates

1 pinch sea salt

4 cups boiled water

2 tbsp Collagen (optional)

1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)

1/4 tsp ground turmeric (optional)

1/4' fresh ginger (optional)

Instructions

Add all the ingredients into a vented blender and blend until silky smooth.

Decant into mason jars and cool.

Top with lid and refrigerate until required daily.

Sleepy Time Chocolate Cherry Smoothie

For many of us, our first indicator that we are experiencing hormonal change is a loss of sleep and a rise in our anxiety levels. We lie awake at 4am every night running over our to-do list and putting the world to right.

Peri-menopause is the mother of all wake up calls for women and symptoms are the language our bodies use to tell us to listen in and take action to meet our own needs…perhaps for the first time in our lives.

Loss of sleep and heightened anxiety are telling us that our stress hormone cortisol has become dominant in the body as estrogen our juicy hormone depletes.

Lack of sleep speeds the aging process, puts at risk of dementia 10 to 20 years down the line and effects our mood on a daily basis. Sleeping too few hours at night is linked to weight gain and sugar cravings.

It is time to take responsibility for your sleep at night and establish healthy sleep hygiene.

1. Sleep hygiene begins first thing in the morning when it is helpful to get exposure to daylight on rising to ‘prime’ the sleep hormone melatonin released in the brain in the evening.

2. A good nights sleep can also be destroyed by your morning coffee, so switch to a Matcha Latte or herbal tea to avoid spiking the natural cortisol morning spike that is a part of your circadian rhythm. Shift your caffeine intake to the middle of the day between 11am and 1pm.

3. Move your body during the day and sweat.

4. Set a reminder on your phone to turn off all electronics by 7pm so that you can avoid the blue spectrum light that prevents melatonin your sleep hormone from being secreted.

5. Form a night time routine that helps you to relax in the evening. Go analogue and read a book or soak in an Epsom salts bath with lavender oil, knowing that your skin is absorbing the relaxation mineral magnesium into the body.

6. Keep your bedroom cool. The best room temperature for sleep has been found to be 60 - 67C.

You can add this adrenal gland supporting smoothie to your evening routine to promote sleep.

Vitamin C rich cherries are a rich source of naturally occurring melatonin (our sleep hormone) and the B group of vitamins. With the addition of the healthy fat, coconut oil, this smoothie supports the health of tired adrenal glands. When our adrenal glands are exhausted it indicates that cortisol our stress hormone is running high in the body, we find it hard to drag ourselves out of bed in the morning but can get a second wind and feel frazzled and wired in the evening unable to sleep.

This smoothie contains protein and raw cacao which actively boosts our happy neurotransmitter serotonin. This is important as serotonin and melatonin share the same building blocks in the body and serotonin is the pre-cursor to our body producing melatonin to help us to sleep at night. You do not need a clinical trial to tell you that your happiness and sleep are related!!!

The addition of valerian root serves to relax you and promote restful sleep. A randomized placebo controlled (This is the gold standard ladies) study of post menopausal women with insomnia found a statistical significant number of women registered better sleep outcomes when taking valerian.
Taavoni S, Ekbatani N, Kashaniyan M, Haghani H. Effect of valerian on sleep quality in postmenopausal women: a randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial. Menopause. 2011 Sep;18(9):951-5. doi: 10.1097/gme.0b013e31820e9acf. PMID: 21775910.

As the evening draws in and the body registers the natural darkness, without disruption from electronics and screens, melatonin is released to start the natural sleep cycle.

Midlife is the perfect time to get empowered around your sleep hygiene to turn off your electronic devices at 7pm, make yourself this smoothie, release the stress of the day and allow yourself to relax.

Ingredients

½ cup hot water

2 tbsp raw cacao powder

2 tbsp hemp hearts

1 tbsp organic virgin coconut oil

1 cup cherries, thawed if frozen

10 drops valerian extract

1 pinch sea salt

Instructions

Put all ingredients into the blender and liquefy until smooth.