11 Superfood Powders to Sprinkle Into Your Diet
Eating a healthy, balanced diet of whole, minimally processed foods is the best way to harness the long-term nutritional benefits, important fiber, micronutrients, phytochemicals, and other organic compounds that support a healthy body and mind. But did you know that an easy way to boost those all-important nutrients, fill in nutritional gaps, and add supportive herbs is to make herbal powders part of your daily life?
Powdered herbs—whether we speak of culinary spices like cinnamon and garlic powder or nutritive herbs like acai, nettle leaf, and mushrooms— are highly nutritious, easily absorbed by our bodies, wonderfully convenient, and versatile in how we can use them. When stored correctly, they retain their nutrients, fiber, and flavor for months at a time. We can cook with them, make tea from them, add them to smoothies and juices, put them in capsules, or simply take them with water. They can also be added to skin and hair-care products and used as poultices and compresses.
Check out these 11 herbal powders that make it easy to bring added health benefits into your life!
Herbs for Health: 11 Superfood Powders to Sprinkle Into Your Diet
Powdered herbs—whether we speak of culinary spices like cinnamon and garlic powder or nutritive herbs like acai, nettle leaf, and mushrooms—bring together the best of several worlds. They are highly nutritious, easily absorbed by our bodies, wonderfully convenient, and versatile in how we can use them. When stored correctly, herbal powders retain their nutrients, fiber, and flavor for about a year. And they are supremely easy to use. We can cook with them, make tea from them, add them to smoothies and juices, put them in capsules, or simply take them with water. They can also be added to skin and hair-care products and used as poultices for everyday insect bites/stings or minor abrasions. For many of us, herbal powders are the first herbs we ever used: in the form of the dried spices and herbs we add to our food for flavor. Let’s take a look at some of the healthful powdered herbs that are as easy to incorporate into our daily lives as adding salt and pepper to a meal.
Herbs Are Not Pharmaceuticals | Featuring Dr. Christopher Hobbs
This podcast episode comes from Dr. Christopher Hobbs’ presentation for the Fall 2022 Free Herbalism Project. This was a virtual event that took place over Zoom on October 14, 2022. Dr. Hobbs discusses why herbs and herbal medicine is fundamentally different than drugs. Since the pandemic, the popularity of herbal medicine in households has continued to grow rapidly. Dr. Hobbs help us to look closely and practically at how herbal medicine can transform your health and wellness while helping to relieve symptoms and chronic ailments. His presentation also details why choosing herbal medicine as our first line of prevention and treatment in most ailments can not only benefit us—side benefits rather than side effects—while being completely sustainable and beneficial for our beautiful planet and all the inhabitants. Dr. Christopher Hobbs occasionally references slides throughout his presentation. You can find his slides by watching the presentation on our YouTube channel.
Plant Stories | Featuring Julia O. Bianco
For this week’s Plant Stories podcast, we interview multi-disciplinary artist Julia O. Bianco. Julia was a Deep Ecology Artist Fellow at the United Plant Savers (UpS) Sanctuary, one of our favorite non-profit organizations focused on protecting native medicinal plants, fungi, and their ecosystems. Hear how an online foraging class, the artist in residency program at the UpS Sanctuary, and the plants Julia encountered in the Appalachian foothills, all helped to shape the course of her life and her creative inspiration. Julia closes the show by reading three of her nature-inspired poems.
DIY Shower Steamer Recipes (Calming & Uplifting Variations)
Treat yourself or someone you love to a spa-scented shower experience with easy-to-create “Shower Steamer” tablets. Shower steamers use all-natural salts (typically baking soda) and essential oils. These little aromatherapy pucks can turn your shower into a spa-like experience. It is a simple product made up of just a few household ingredients and your favorite essential oils. The tablets dissolve slowly as you shower to create a lasting aromatherapy experience and the warm steam helps diffuse the scent. You can select scents that will energize, relax, or help with seasonal congestion.
Body Into Balance, With Maria Noël Groves | Tea Talks With Jiling
Jiling and Maria discuss favorite easy-to-grow herbs for a medicinal herb garden, “remedy gardens,” favorite herbs for delicious teas, increasing access for herbal classes within a for-profit business model, and more. We hope this conversation inspires your spring planting, growing, learning, and harvesting projects!
How to Make Herbal Syrups for Cocktails, Mocktails, Pancakes, & More!
Homemade simple syrups infused with dried herbs are a handy ingredient to have at the ready and as the name implies, they are incredibly easy to make! If you can boil water, you can make simple syrup. Herb-infused syrups can be added to carbonated water, brushed on cakes, drizzled on yogurt or pancakes, and, of course, added to mocktails! They are also a great way to take herbs without the use of alcohol and are especially great for getting kids to willfully add healthy ingredients to their diet.
An Integrative Wellness Approach | Featuring 7Song
In 2006, esteemed herbalist 7Song (@7Songsevensong ) reluctantly attended a planning meeting for a new clinic in his hometown of Ithaca, New York. He was surprised to learn that there were plans to provide an herbalism practice alongside other alternative therapies and conventional healing modalities–an approach in which our mainstream healthcare system often falls short. Not only was this multi-faceted approach fresh and exciting, but all services would be offered to the community for free. Seventeen years later, the Ithaca Free Clinic is still serving Tompkins County with 100% free integrative medical services.
Interviews On Herbal Radio With Thomas Dick | Featuring Rosemary Gladstar
We hope you enjoy this week’s episode as we chat about Rosemary’s upbringing, the importance of bringing community together towards action, her current favorite simple tea blend (listed below), and so much more.
How To Clean And Upcycle Bottles, Jars, & Other Empty Containers
If you’re anything like me, you don’t like to waste. When you enjoy herbal preparations as part of your daily routine, you are bound to wind up with a stockpile of perfectly good containers that can still be used. But how can you make sure they are cleaned well enough to reuse, and how can you continue to put them to use time and time again? Here are some tips and tricks to help you keep those bottles in circulation.
