Herbal Tinctures and Everything you Need to Know

Let's start with 

What's a tincture?

There are so many different ways you can use medicinal plants in your daily life. Like, teas, infused oils, teas, salves, decoctions, and my favorite tinctures. 

Tinctures are medicinal extracts of any herb or herbal blend steeped in alcohol, vinegar, or in a glycerin base. Alcohol is my preferred method because it has the ability to extract the essential oils from the herbs as well as the other chemical compounds that water isn't able to extract. This is why I freaking love them so much!!!

How do tinctures work?

Tinctures have my interest because they have the ability to absorb into the body faster than any other means of using an herbal supplement/ medicine. It skips the digestion process and begins absorbing into the bloodstream within 30 seconds upon dropping in the mouth. I prefer quick and easy with just a few drops and moving along in my day. It’s easy to carry in my purse to have as needed. Whether it’s for support your immune system, digestion, or even blood-sugar. Really the options are endless. To me capsules have a time and place, but I prefer this method over all of them first.

When to use a tincture?

Most tinctures are safe and effective to take daily. However, it's important to give your body a break from some of them from time to time and some of them are to be used only as needed. Some of the anti- properties need to have time to allow your gut flora to recover and repopulate. For instance Lemon Balm is effective daily for anxiousness and as a mood lifter. While Echinacea would be used on an as needed basis around ten days at a time.

Acute typically come on suddenly, reach a crisis quickly, and need immediate response. Examples are like a toothache, earaches, headaches, and colds. When addressing anything acute, herbs are typically used as early as possible and often throughout the day until relief begins to happen.

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Chronic are the long-term imbalance’s that develop slowly over a period of weeks, months, or years and generally require a long-term commitment to correct the imbalance. When addressing anything chronic don’t expect to see results quickly. It could take consistent daily efforts for weeks or months while using an herbal remedy to realign the body to it’s intended state.

How to use Tinctures?

I generally prefer the sublingual (under the tongue) method. Most tinctures don't have a harsh flavor to me so dropping in my mouth provides a fast and highly effective way to get it into my system and go about my day. Personally, I'm not a good pill popper and my digestive system doesn't enjoy too many things hitting it so, tinctures dropped in my mouth works beautifully for me. It works great with my lack of patience to get things moving in a more positive direction. 

However, if that isn’t your jam you can take a tincture in a glass of water, in a glass of juice, a spoon full of honey or in a tea. Many parents give their children their tincture in a cup of tea because the hot water will evaporate the little alcohol in just a moment. Though taking the micro dosing is not going to do much in just the few drops. As it is made there is about 1/10th teaspoon or less of alcohol. For whatever reason a tincture needs to be skipped there are glycerin and apple cider vinegar options out there. I’ve chosen for now to focus on tinctures made with vodka because of its most effective way to use them.

I typically do 2-3 droppers full. When I say droppers full- it won't typically fill the whole glass dropper but more like 1/3 full which is about 20-30 drops worth. You can do one drop at a time and test how many you get and base it off of that. Micro dosing is doing a small number of drops over a period of time by doing 5 drops every 15 minutes for one hour. This is a good option to help your body adjust to this means of support. Children typically do 3-5 drops depending on age and weight. Do your research to find the best option for you and your family.

I'm always here to help answer any questions you might have so, don't hesitate to reach out as you need.

At Mackey Meadows we use a high-grade vodka to extract the medicinal properties for a very concentrated and potent remedy. 

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Bonus 

Tinctures are long lasting. Years and years they will stay potent and effective. I think that's worth it all in itself. 

🪶Paula