Yerba Mate and why you should start to drink it like the locals.
Do you lack mental alertness and feel like you need a kick? Are you pulling your hair out with stress and can't stay on your diet because of cravings? Mate might be the answer.
You might be grumbling "Here we go again, another drink that promises but doesn't deliver"
Wait! It can also cleanse the colon, accelerate the healing process, calm allergies, fortify the immune system and increase longevity.
Are you still a bit suspicious? The Guarani Indians of South America have certainly never been.
Yerba Mate (pronounce 'Sherba Mahtay' is a South American herb related to the holly bush family. The only subtropical region of the world where the plant can grow is the crossways between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. This is an area where the ancestors of the Guarani Indians settled.
It was here the Guarani tribes planted crops, moving from place to place once the soil had eroded and farming became impossible.
There is a Guarani legend that tells of an ageing Indian who was so tired of this continuous moving he refused to move on. His beautiful daughter, Jary, was torn between going on with the tribe, or remaining alone with her father until he died. She stayed with her father. This loving touch didn't go unnoticed. A Shaman appeared and asked Jary what she wanted to feel happy. The girl was silent. so the old man stood and spoke. "I want the strength to continue and take my daughter to the tribe where she belongs" The Shaman gave him a plant. "Plant this, pick its leaves, dry them, add water and drink its infusion" The old man sipped the green sap, regained his youthfulness and took his daughter to the tribe where she belonged. Once there they were told of this plant that the Shaman had introduced to them.
So what is in it that helps you? Scientific studies on Mate have been conducted in the University of Medicine in Buenos Aires, the National Institute in Paraguay, the Pasteur Institute in Paris and the Free Hygienic Institute of Hamburg, Germany.
These studies showed that Mate has healthful attributes unlike any other herbal remedy previously encountered. Modern medical science has shown Mate to aid digestion, reduce blood pressure, combat heart disease, increase mental acuity, reduce anxiety and produce deep, restful sleep.
One of Mate's active ingredients is mateine. This is similar to caffeine but without the side effects. It induces better not worse attributes of sleep.
It would take 100 tea bags of Mate in a six-ounce cup of water to equal the caffeine in a six-ounce serving of normal coffee!
Mate also contains: vitamins A,C,E,B-1,B-2, calcium, iron, sodium, potassium, manganese, phosphates and chlorophyll. It therefore contains many of the nutrients and vitamins necessary for a healthy, productive life.
Gabriela Lezcano is a Paraguayan who has enjoyed slurping Mate since she possessed her sucking reflex. She said: "But it's not only these ingredients that makes Mate such a healthy option. Mate drinking is such an intense friendship event makes it also good for your soul"
In Buenos Aires, like many parts of the Conosur, you can't walk along any boardwalk or through any plaza without seeing groups of close friends, family members and couples sitting together with a thermos and their Mate equipment. This consists of a Gourd (a vessel that holds the loose Yerba Mate), and a Bombilla (a filter straw used for sipping).
In these public places, when you're invited to drink and join in, it is to be taken as a compliment. On doing so you feel as if you have known everyone for years as conversation breaks out and the time goes unknowingly by.
Yerba Mate is more than just a drink. Its ancient medicinal origins and feelings of well being make it worth taking the risk of including it on your list of herbal wonder teas you have tried before.
