➡️5. Lemon Balm: Calming and Healing
There’s another flower that smells like lemon, lemon balm, which shares that ability to calm and heal, but with a different focus. Lemon balm does something special with your blood sugar. It doesn’t just lower it; it also improves how your body uses the insulin it makes. When you make lemon balm tea and drink it half an hour before eating, your cells become more open. Sugar goes where it should. If you add fresh lemon balm leaves to your water throughout the day, you keep this effect going, giving your metabolism a steady, gentle push.
And here, lemon balm again attacks that common enemy, quiet inflammation, but it does it differently from other herbs. Its compounds work on inflammatory cytokines, the chemical messengers that keep inflammation active. By drinking two cups of lemon balm tea a day, you quiet these messengers, inflammation goes down, and with it, many problems disappear.
One of those problems is stubborn belly fat. High cortisol, that stress hormone we mentioned earlier, tells your body to store fat around your waist. And lemon balm is good at lowering cortisol. A lemon balm tea at night not only helps you sleep better, but it also reduces those cortisol levels that make you store fat where you least want it.
The best way to use lemon balm is to grow it at home. It grows easily in pots, and its scent brightens any space. To make the perfect tea, use two tablespoons of fresh leaves or one of dried leaves per cup. Pour hot, not boiling, water and cover. Let it sit for 8 minutes. The result is a golden drink with a lemon flavor. However, lemon balm loses properties with too much heat, so it’s better to add it at the end of your stews or use it fresh in green smoothies. It goes especially well with fruits and leafy green vegetables.