Immunity Tea with Cayenne Pepper
Drink - non-alcoholic, Healthy Snack or Drink
Ingredients
1 heaping tablespoon ginger chopped chunks
water
half lemon (or 1/4)
1– 2 shakes cayenne pepper
NuNaturals Stevia to taste
Description
This tea is really spectacular to drink through the winter. It works when you are already sick, when there are sick people living in your same house (or tiny apt!) or at work, OR when you feel the beginnings of a pesky cold coming on. This tea boosts immunity because the combination of the lemon and ginger will promote circulation of the blood and lymph and help remove stagnation. In other words, it will help promote toxins constantly circulating to exit the body. The ginger has warming qualities will help burn out harmful bacteria. An organic lemon is packed with over 200 enzymes that will help restore the liver, one of our big detoxifying organs. The cayenne pepper works to break up mucus in the body.
However, the ORDER you make this tea makes all the difference. For instance, you do not want to pour your lemon juice into boiling water, which would destroy the enzymes…and the whole effectiveness of the tea. So here I’ve broken it down for you, step by step:
Directions
Step 1: Peel and chop ginger into chunks. For 1 cup, aim for about 1 heaping Tbs. You want to slice it up so the properties of the ginger will seep into the tea, but don’t make the pieces too small- otherwise you’ll get a bunch of “floaters” that will keep coming up to the surface.
Step 2: Heat up water. It can boil, or if you can catch it right before it starts to boil that would be great. Turn off the heat, and let the water cool down for a minute. Pour the hot water over the ginger pieces, which you’ve placed at the bottom of a large coffee mug. Let the hot water steep over the ginger by itself for about 2 minutes. The ginger needs longer time for its flavor to fully unleash.
Step 3. Cut a lemon in half.
Step 4: After waiting at least 2 minutes, the ginger and hot water should be cooled down enough that you could pick up the mug with your hands and start to sip it. At that time, squeeze half a lemon into the mug. If you have a hard time with lemon, do at least 1/4 of a lemon, and build yourself up. But 1/2 would be ideal!
Step 5: Give at least one good shake of cayenne pepper right into the tea. If you can handle spice, like me, you can try 2 shakes! Don’t overdo it though.
Step 6: Sweeten with a packet of Stevia. Another choice is xylitol. Stevia is the best, as it has 0 effect on our blood-sugar levels. Above all, do not use Splenda or any other fake sugars!
Step 7: Mix with a tea spoon…and you are ready to go! And ready to start giving your immunity a big boost.