We now know that commercial tea bags can be laden with pesticides.  The best way to be sure your commercial tea choices are free of toxicity is to buy organics, but organics can be an expensive pot of tea .  The fix is pretty easy once you get past the notion that homemade tea is a bit different.  The good news is that the difference can be delicious and nutrient packed.

Almost anything edible, pesticide-free and organic from your yard or kitchen can become tea.  Why limit yourself to a teabag and someone else's imagination.  The potential is endless and fun to create.   

A favorite of mine is to use citrus as a base.  A home crop of tangerines, oranges or lemons can last a till next season if you take the time to dry the peel and jar them.  Mix them with cinnamon, clove or star anise for a really interesting start. You can off set the base with an organic tea bag for deeper flavor.  Making a full pot leaves extra to drink at room temperature or cold.  Kids just know it as a drink that tastes good and they love creating it.

Just boil some of your favorite bits into combinations or steep to find the right flavors for you.  Consider choices like
​dried orange, lemon or lime peel, fresh citrus, fresh or dried fruit, hibiscus flowers, passion fruit, green onion, clove, ginger, cinnamon, star anise for a licorice flavor, guava skins, bay leaves, rosemary and dandelion.  All of your ingredients will have nutrients that your body can use while your cost can be close to zero.

Note:  You can freeze fruits and bits or dry them.  If you have a crop of too much citrus, you can actually put the entire fruit, whole in the freezer and bring it out when you are ready to juice it or make tea.

Stevia is a plant by the same name.  Its sweetness is about 200 times that of sugar and so, only takes a tiny bit to sweeten.  There are no reported connections to cancer or diabetes, yet manufacturers found a way to package problems for your body under the promise of offering you the safety of stevia.  

You must read every label now to find out what exactly in the product packaged to look like stevia.  Without a doubt, if you are using an individual serving package the sweetener has been extended with something.  Pure stevia in that quantity would overpower any single use.

There are many products being used as extenders to create a teaspoon serving and to lower production costs.  Most of these are things you would rather keep out of your body.  Many are corn products that are produced from GMO crops which bring another set of issues to the unsuspecting user.  Some of these products include:

• Lactose is a very common extender with the added side effects of inflammation and chemicals from cows fed GMO crops and treated with antibiotics.
• Dextrose is a simple sugar that is usually a GMO corn product.  Look for it in ordinary table salt too.
• Fructose is insulin resistant and is known to cause obesity and hypertension.
• Erythritol can occur naturally in foods, but is a manufactured sugar alcohol causing gas, bloat, diarrhea and is also a GMO corn product.
• Maltodextrin promotes the growth of candida in the gut with symptoms that mimic IBS, flu, chronic pain and fibromyalgia.

Probiotics and
Protein
​in a Power Packed Pie

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