Traveling? these tinctures are must-haves

Traveling? these tinctures are must-haves

I'm a tea drinker. Always have been.  But when I travel, making and taking medicinal teas are too tricky. The herbs I use for tea demand too much space in my bags (and definitely look suspicious going through Security!) Unless I'm staying in a cabin or airbnb all day it's just not practical.
Instead I rely heavily on tinctures during trips. Tinctures are made by extracting herbs into alcohol. They come in little dropper bottles, usually one or two ounces each and are typically taken by mouth. I can easily fit half a dozen tincture bottles into a little bag. They come with me to use any time: in a car, on a plane, while I'm hiking, sitting on a beach (oh, wouldn't sitting on a beach be nice?), walking around a city, or during a work event. They're CONVENIENT. I'm a huge fan of easy now that I have kids.
This list of herbs for travel is just my personal favorite. I want to know -- Would you take the same ones with you?

To support digestion - Ginger root or candy and peppermint (digestive bitters are an option too

Peppermint tincture is what started me on my path as an herbalist. In my early and mid 20s I had horrible stomach pain after every meal that was affecting my ability to work, eat, socialize, and leave my home. I went to so many poking and prodding specialists, and I was bounced between doctors for more than a year who had no help or hope to offer other than assuring me I didn’t have Crohn’s or cancer. Finally my family doctor mentioned he’d read a convincing study about the effect of peppermint tincture on stomach pain. I tried it and the pain melted away immediately. And it worked every time I used it after. Understand that it didn't correct the imbalances that were causing the pain in the first place. I had to eat fermented foods and take digestive bitters with every meal for a little while that to happen. But the peppermint tincture acted as an effective anesthetic to the stomach lining. And I still use it for all stomach pain - bloating, cramping, whatever. It’s potent if you get hold of a good tincture. It’s invaluable on a trip when you are eating different food on a different schedule and you really don’t want to get waylaid by an upset stomach. 

If you get motion sick or nauseous while traveling you might want to also include ginger in addition to a peppermint tincture. You could also take it instead of peppermint if you want to be minimal about it. It helps with all stomach ailments but in my experience it isn’t always quite as stellar as the peppermint with debilitating stomach pain.  It could be a small piece of ginger root to chew on, ginger tincture, or even a ginger candy. I’ve used all of them successfully. Ginger is warming and stimulating so it helps with issues caused by sluggish digestion. In studies ginger is just as effective as motion sickness medication. It's also a pretty potent antiviral and can help stimulate circulation when you're feeling chilled. A spectacular one to have on hand for all kinds of things that can come up.

Read more here on what else to take in a little travel kit to support all kinds of issues that come up when you're on the road (or in the air or just not at home):  fitful sleep, physical exhaustion and stress from busy days, a run down immune system, sore, achy, or tight muscles, and deer tick bites.
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