Working alongside doctors and nurses everyday means they are
all subjected to me firing questions at them about medical complaints, of which
I have plenty. About five months ago, I was busy complaining about how badly I
suffer from late periods and pains and oily skin and hair at the joyous time of
the month, when a colleague popped up and told me I needed parsley. I have
never given much thought to parsley, I mean; it’s not that riveting is it? I
knew nothing about it apart from that it came in two forms: flat leaf or curly.
Fascinating stuff.
I was very apprehensive when I was told that I should brew
myself some parsley tea. I am a tea enthusiast. I love the stuff. Normal tea,
green tea, cranberry tea, ginger tea, black tea, tea with milk, tea with honey.
All of the tea. The idea of parsley tea however, did not really fill me with
caffeine delight. Apparently parsley, which is rich in vitamin C and A, both
powerful antioxidants, is actually laden with health benefits. The most
surprising thing to hear is that it can help to regulate periods and hurry
along late ones. Upon hearing this, I politely nodded and thought to myself ‘errr,
yeah okay.’
However, after a really horrible stressful month, my period
was very late (about 2 weeks and I was definitely not pregnant), I was bloated,
I was grumpy, my skin was horrible and my hair needed washing twice a day to
look presentable. I was so fed up that I swung by Sainsbury’s and got some parsley
(and about 2000 calories worth of M&Ms). My housemates were mildly
horrified to see me throwing some freshly chopped herbs into a cup of boiled
water, and to be honest, I was with them. It doesn’t look or smell like much
fun. I was instructed to drink two cups for two days. It was pretty easy, just
finely chop a handful, pour over the water and wait five minutes. Guess what
happened after cup 3?
It worked. Or it was a coincidence, but either way, I was
impressed. I also had the most mild and quickly passing stomach cramps for a
very long time. I began googling parsley tea and stumbled across loads of
forums and posts stating that it really helped with periods and bad skin and a
number of other things. There were also a few that said it was rubbish, of
course. I decided to try it again the following month, and drank a few cups in
between for good measure, and hey presto, barely any period pains and it was
bang on time, another extremely novel and sadly exciting thing in my life.
After two months of herby, bitty, light green tea, my skin was also looking
better. I am as sceptical as the next person about this kind of thing, but I
believe in parsley tea. I have used it for four months, and my period pains
have subsided, it’s been on time and I don’t look seven months pregnant the
week before. I mentioned it in passing to my GP, who said it was definitely
good for you, though in true GP fashion when it comes to herbal remedies, she
didn’t have much else to say.
I would recommend giving it a try if you have similar woes.
However, please brace yourself for the taste. Unless you are parsley groupie, I
would add honey or lemon to soften the blow. Drinking it quite hot works too,
as the longer you leave it the stronger the taste. It can also apparently help
with fatigue and is good for cleansing the kidneys as it is rich in potassium; ideal
after a heavy weekend or mid-week happy hour. However I have been told that it
isn’t recommended for people with kidney conditions and shouldn’t be drank when
pregnant.
If you suffer from misbehaving periods however, I would give
it a go. Just another reason why tea is
fabulous.
