Lemon Verbena

Lemon Verbena (Aloysia triphylla) is just one of the special herbs cultivated on the Greek Island of Crete. Crete is of course home to the Cretan Diet which has been scientifically proven as the healthiest diet in the world and is a close cousin of the Mediterranean diet.

Lemon Verbena is a small deciduous perennial shrub renowned for its citrus lemony fragrance, and smells wonderful. When the leaves are crushed, the lemon verbena gives off a gorgeous lemon citrus aroma.

It reportedly has many health benefits including acting as an anti-depressant and digestive aid, helping with metabolism. A tea made from lemon verbena is very calming and mildly sedative too.

Although not native to the Greek Island of Crete, lemon verbena has become a firm favourite with the Cretans to use as a tea or tisane. Lemon verbena is becoming renowned as an herb for weight loss and for helping reduce cellulite.

Lemon Verbena is sold on Crete at the farmers’ markets and village shops as a diet tea. Packets of the fresh smelling dried leaves of the lemon verbena are labelled as a “Slimming Tea” or “Tea for Weight Loss.”

Along with drinking the weight loss tea, women are using the herb as an aid to reducing cellulite. A top tip for this is to use lemon verbena as a scrub.

To make a good homemade cellulite reducing scrub, grind lemon verbena, dried leaves and mix in with ground oatmeal. Add some olive oil to form a paste. Use each day before showering to tackle stubborn cellulite.

So both internally and externally, lemon verbena can be used to enhance health and beauty!

Graham Yates wrote this article. To learn more about the Cretan Diet visit http://www.completely-crete.com/cretan-diet.html and http://www.the-cretan-bowl-diet.com/
Writer: Graham Yates
Source: ezinearticles.com