Milk Thistle Tea

Survival food is essential in 2023, just as water supplies are. What also matters is your ability to adjust to the situation and your survival skills. If you can take care of your nutrition, your chances magnify. Moreover, a solid bag full of survival gear can significantly maximize your survival chances.

Tea is one of the most common drinks in the world. People drink it hot and cold (iced) and use it as a base for cocktails and desserts. However, there is such a group of tea drinks and herbal teas. Depending on which plant you use for brewing, there are drinks to raise the tone or achieve a relaxing effect. Herbal tea is also good for refreshing when it is boiling outside. However, most herbal teas are medicinal, and organic milk thistle tea is no exception.

Herbal teas not only taste good but are also renowned for being rich in vitamins, antioxidants, and other natural stimulants. However, to get the desired effect, you need to consume them for a long time. You shouldn’t drink it more than once a day, though. Instead, you can alternate a cup of herbal tea with regular black or green tea, water, and other drinks.

In this article, you will learn everything you need to know about milk thistle tea. What does it taste like, its benefits for health, and even how you make it! Surely, homesteaders, keen survivalists, and preppers should take care and should have the knowledge to be able to sustain themselves should they have to. Read on to learn more!

What is Milk Thistle Tea?

Before brewing or adding any herb or weed to tea, always ensure you know how to distinguish and use each species properly.

The milk thistle plant (Silybum Marianum, sometimes called a variegated thistle, Scotch thistle, holy thistle, or Mary thistle) is often considered a harmful plant, but this is not true. Since ancient times, milk thistle has been used both as food and as a medicine. Nowadays, this plant is mainly used for making remedial tea. Milk thistle tea is one of the most popular herbal teas for its health benefits.

Milk thistle is naturally caffeine-free. Tea made from this plant is perfect both as a tasty beverage before bed and as a morning cup of tea. Although you can brew milk thistle leaves, it is best to pre-infuse them in boiling water for a few minutes. So it works with bleach-free tea bags, which are recently used for teas for customers’ healthier consumption.

However, milk thistle is not only good for medicinal tea. All parts of milk thistle are edible: leaves, flowers, roots, petioles, and even stems.

• The leaves are used as a substitute for spinach, and roasted seeds are used for coffee;
• Milk thistle is a healthy ingredient for various dishes and seasonings;
• Young stems are good cabbage replacement, boiled, or consumed as raw snacks.

Please do not use milk thistle tea as medicine without consulting a healthcare professional who can provide medical advice and monitor your physical condition for allergic reactions (especially if you react to certain flowers of the Asteraceae family). Milk thistle is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, and prescribe any medications yourself.

Best Ways to Make a Milk Thistle Tea

1. Seeds

Tea made from finely ground milk thistle may be of much use to treat or prevent diseases of the liver and digestive organs. To prepare such tea, you should throw in a teaspoon of dry plant seeds and one bag of ordinary black tea in two to three cups of boiling water and let it brew for a while (15-20 minutes).

Let the tea/ cool, then drink a glass of this tea (including sediment) before each meal. Use tea bags for making black tea, not tea leaves, so that only milk thistle meal remains in the sediment.

2. Teabags

In fact, the two steps are not very different. However, when brewing a teabag of milk thistle plant in a cup, it is recommended to reduce the brewing time to 10 minutes, and then you do not need to add black tea. Remove the tea bag, add your favorite sweetener, and you’re good to go!

3. Powder

Again, everything is the same, but the brewing time is 15 minutes. Whole Mary thistle seed, which can be ground in a mortar just before consumption, for example, as an infusion, provides us with the most valuable nutrients.

You can also add whole or ground milk thistle seeds to meals such as salads, groats, and smoothies. They have a neutral taste, so they go well with almost any food.

Milk Thistle Tea Flavor

The taste of milk thistle tea is rather bitter but has a pleasant floral-sweet aftertaste, similar to dandelion tea and its mild flavor. However, the “earthy” shade in the taste should not confuse you. Milk thistle tea flavor is generally well tolerated, especially since this herb is easy to combine with others.

People usually drink organic herbal teas without added sugar. But if you like to sweeten it, then the best solution would be to add natural honey. Also, many people choose to add a leaf of fresh mint, as it improves the taste and gives a feeling of freshness, increases energy, and stimulates the digestive system.

Milk thistle is cheap compared to many herbal organic products and practically has no side effects except allergies to ragweed and other flowers and plants of this kind. Milk thistle tea is a wonderful natural remedy for treating liver disease and improving overall health.

Potential Health Benefits of Milk Thistle

Organic milk thistle has been consumed for thousands of years as an anti-inflammatory product to treat liver health and other health problems. It contains the natural compound called Silymarinarin, a mixture of glycosides that includes:

• silybin
• silidian
• silichristin

Silymarin has antioxidant properties and has two positive effects on liver health: it strengthens cell membranes and promotes the formation of new cells, stimulating protein synthesis, which increases the production of bile.

1. Liver issues

The benefits of milk thistle tea are mainly related to its beneficial effects on liver health. Though drinking milk thistle tea is beneficial for improving overall physical health, it is most beneficial for people suffering from liver disease.

Moreover, long-term use of certain medications can lead to liver damage, so milk thistle tea helps to improve the function of liver cells. It can repair the damage from cirrhosis of the liver caused by excessive alcohol consumption. Milk thistle extracts are components of hepaprotective alternative medicine or treatment that one can purchase at any pharmacy. If the liver works normally, then milk thistle supports the entire immune system.

A special study was published in Pharmaceutical Biology magazine, where the subject of study was the effectSilymarinarin on mice with liver damage. As it turned out, in mice that receiSilymarinarin regularly, the level of obesity was significantly lower. Silymarin also reduces inflammation and liver damage.

2. Heart disease

The anti-inflammatory healing properties of milk thistle tea are very beneficial for heart health. The antioxidants found in milk thistle plants improve blood circulation, reducing the risk of blood clots. Since this tea is great for disease development prevention, it can lower your high cholesterol levels, which will protect you from serious heart problems.

Milk thistle tea is a richer source of flavonoids, especially tea polyphenols, and these bioactive compounds may protect against heart attack.

3. Diabetes treatment

Diabetes is a disease of the endocrine system caused by a lack of insulin or its low activity. As a result, all types of metabolism are disturbed in the patient’s body. Diabetes mellitus implies mandatory control of the patient’s blood sugar level, therefore, adherence to a special diet for diabetes.

Inappropriate nutrition and non-compliance with a healthy diet naturally lead to an increase in the risk of diabetes.

Milk thistle tea lowers blood glucose and blood sugar levels, which is very important for people with both types of diabetes. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of the milk thistle diet reduce the risk of complications of chronic diseases for this category of people.

Drinking milk thistle as a decreasing inflammation treatment not only helps maintain health and cures diabetes. It also promotes weight loss due to its curative properties. It gets more in handy when you don’t have enough free time to make healthy snacks, so you can pour boiling water over milk thistle tea bags and take a short break for a small tea ceremony.

4. Other health benefits

Weight loss

Milk thistle tea is widely used in the prevention of obesity. Not only can overeating cause excess weight, but also hormonal disruptions and the accumulation of toxins in the body.

Milk thistle can help the liver break down fats faster, preventing them from accumulating and leading to beneficial and healthy weight loss while stabilizing hormones and metabolism.

Alcohol poisoning

Among other potential health benefits, milk thistle tea is recommended as a hangover treatment, as it regenerates the cells of an important organ that is harmed by alcohol poisoning. It protects the liver from free radicals produced during alcohol metabolism. Milk thistle tea also has a diuretic effect, helping to reduce swelling and lower blood pressure.

Milk thistle teas have a beneficial effect on metabolism, as a sufficient amount of bile ensures complete digestion of fats and optimal absorption of fat-soluble vitamins.

Skin problems

Many people use the milk thistle plant to treat, cure, or prevent psoriasis, periods of exacerbation of which are clearly associated with a deterioration in hepatic function or, in other words, liver problems.

Note: simpler dermatological problems like various skin rashes (skin irritation) may be the first symptoms of liver dysfunction.

In addition to its important properties for improving the immune system, milk thistle is also a good treatment for maintaining beauty and care.

In cosmetology, the milk thistle plant’s oil is the most commonly used option. It contains a high concentration of useful elements that help improve skin elasticity, prevent acne, etc. The milk thistle oil moisturizes the skin perfectly, protecting it from dehydration and early aging.

However, the health of your skin and hair does not only depend on external care. It would help if you also considered drinking milk thistle tea for the best result.

Women health

Age-related transformations in the female body are sometimes the result of a decrease in intellectual activity, which may cause the development of serious diseases.

Milk thistle tea can be useful for preventing free radicals and neutralizing oxidative processes. It can prevent early brain aging and provide prevention against migraines, weakness, and heart disease risks. Drinking milk thistle tea helps prevent diseases of the female reproductive organs and even normalizes breast milk production.

Cancer

The main advantage of milk thistle herbs is that they contSilymarinarin, a fairly strong anti-inflammatory natural agent. The silymarin component contained in milk thistle is actively used to prevent cancer and maintain the effect of radiation therapy in the fight against oncology. Drinking milk thistle tea, which comes in bleach-free tea bags, is also very helpful to prevent bone loss after all of the cancer therapies.

Final Thoughts

Milk thistle can be used as a dietary supplement, whole or ground grains, infusions, holy thistle seeds oil, or tea. For example, a small cup of milk thistle tea a day can improve health without significant side effects.

The beneficial properties of milk thistle tea in brief:

• participates in the regeneration of liver cells
• relieves inflammation of the liver
• neutralizes toxins
• regulates blood glucose levels
• stimulates the kidneys
• boosts the immune system

Milk thistle teas are an excellent remedy for the prevention and treatment of serious diseases and for maintaining important body functions. But before consuming such a tea, you should first do more research to learn more about milk thistle and its pros and cons. Many of the articles that the Food and Drug Administration has evaluated will help you familiarize yourself with the benefits of milk thistle and its indications for use. But mind the fact that it still needs to be discussed with a professional.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Can you drink milk thistle tea every day?

In reasonable amounts, milk thistle may be consumed every day. But taking such teas on an empty stomach is harmful since it irritates the mucous membrane of even a healthy stomach. So it’s best to consume milk thistle teas before or after meals.

How often should you drink milk thistle tea?

Studies suggest that, as with green teas, adults should take no more than 6 cups a day. The fine amount to have a milk thistle tea bag is three times a day. But it’s worth noting that if you’re not a fan of herbal teas, one cup a day is also beneficial for your health.

How long does milk thistle stay in your body?

Many of the teas are now undergoing more research. Regardless, adding milk thistle to your diet is beneficial for overall health. Such tea removes harmful toxins from the body naturally, while the body absorbs the necessary micro and macro elements. So there is no need to worry that milk thistle will remain in your body.