Feeling Good with Food: Mint

This article is about real mints, not the kind you suck on like peppermint candy or the kind you chew like spearmint candy. The real mints I’m writing about are the kind that grow in your garden, provide a different story. They stimulate digestion, encourage circulation and even knock out some of our most common infections. (When it comes to using essential oils, please be careful).

I like to use peppermint oil when I am feeling a bit queasy. I simply uncap a vial of peppermint essential oil and inhale for a few seconds. As for having more of an upset stomach, I place a single drop of peppermint oil on my tongue and I feel better.

Peppermint can also help with insomnia, gas, and snoring. I’m sure you’ve heard of valerian, a sedative herb that no one likes to drink because it smells like stinky socks. Peppermint tea is a tasty alte
ative when you’re struggling with insomnia because it promotes restful sleep.

Now, when it comes to decreasing flatulence, peppermints are given at most restaurants, not as a bribe for a better tip, but it’s ability to boost the flow of digestive juices and reduce gassiness and cramps. Personally, the kind given out at restaurants doesn’t help my gas problem, but I do purchase a specific peppermint candy cane from a company and it does help! I carry a few of these candy canes in my purse.

Now, of course, who would ever think that peppermint oil would help to prevent snoring. It is recommended to inhale steam from water laced with mucus-moving peppermint oil. First, add a few drops of oil to a pot of boiling water. Put the pot on a table or counter and lean over it. (Of course, it should be at a safe distance so you won’t burn your face). Drape a towel over your head and shoulders to capture the steam, then inhale deeply through your mouth and nose. The menthol in peppermint will give you the sensation of free-flowing air and shrink swollen throat and nasal passages.

(Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, just someone who is an avid reader and likes to share knowledge, personal as well as researched by others.)

I live with, ‘photophobia’, a visual processing disorder, which is easily misdiagnosed as ‘dyslexia,’ and that’s why I wrote the book, “My Curly Hair Self: Living with a Visual Processing Disorder.” Now, I do live with glaucoma, but someone not diagnosed with glaucoma, can also have photophobia (a medical condition which falls under the category of physical disability) and that’s why my book is so important for those individuals who have trouble with reading, writing, or looking a Smartboard.
https://www.amazon.com/My-Curly-Hair-Self-Processing-ebook/dp/B07SH1JVYG