Tea
Dandelion tea
The dandelion is the plant everyone spends a fortune removing from the lawn, and that old women once paid money for. The leaves are bitter and diuretic, and among the best things there are for swollen ankles and a body that feels puffed up.
What is special about dandelion is that it moves water without emptying you of potassium, the way water tablets do. The leaves hold so much potassium themselves that they replace what they flush out.
Pick young leaves in spring, they are mildest. Late-summer leaves are coarser and more bitter.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp dried dandelion leaves
- 250 ml boiling water
Equipment
- Strainer or tea infuser
- Cup
- Plate to cover with
Method
- 1
Pour 250 ml boiling water over 2 tsp dried dandelion leaves, steep 10 minutes.
Dosage
1-3 cups daily, preferably before 4 pm, so you are not up in the night.
Shelf life
Dried leaves keep 1 year, dark and airtight.
Safety
Dandelion is in the daisy family. If you are allergic to mugwort, ragweed, chamomile or ox-eye daisy, try a small cup first.
Do not drink it with gallstones or narrowed bile ducts. Dandelion increases bile production.
It is diuretic. If you take water tablets, potassium-sparing medication or lithium, ask your doctor. The combination can shift both fluid and salts.
If you have kidney disease or heart failure, speak with your doctor before drinking it regularly.
Do not forage at roadsides, on sprayed fields, or where dogs are walked.
And most important: swollen legs and ankles can come from the heart, the kidneys or the liver. If the swelling is new, in one leg only, or comes with breathlessness, see a doctor first, not the teapot. One-sided swelling can be a blood clot.
How the herbs work
Dandelion leaves move water through the kidneys and increase urine output. That is why they work against fluid retention.
The unusual part is the potassium. Ordinary water tablets flush potassium out, and it often has to be replaced with supplements. Dandelion leaves contain plenty of potassium themselves and so return what they remove.
The bitter compounds also set bile and digestion going, which is why the plant is used as a liver tonic too.
The content here is general knowledge and folk herbal lore, not medical treatment. In illness, pregnancy, breastfeeding or alongside medication: always talk to your doctor first.